movies
Kane Parsons, Kevin Mayer, Tilly Norwood Booked For Zurich Summit 2026
EXCLUSIVE: The Zurich Summit has scored a coup with a strong lineup this year headlined by Backrooms director Kane Parsons.
The lineup of speakers at the annual industry conference, dubbed the “Davos of the film industry”, also includes Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer, Candle Media Co-Founder and Co-CEO Kevin Mayer, Mediawan Pictures CEO and Group Chief Content Officer Elisabeth d’Arvieu, MUBI founder and CEO Efe Cakarel, and Particle 6 Founder and CEO Eline van der Velden, who will be in conversation with her much-discussed AI actor creation Tilly Norwood.
As the official media partner for the Summit (which is the flagship industry event of the Zurich Film Festival), Deadline covers and moderates panels, hosts the Deadline Studio for executive interviews, and provides on-the-ground reporting.
Also speaking at the event will be 2026 Game Changer Award recipient Glen Basner, founder and CEO of FilmNation Entertainment, CAA Media Finance’s Roeg Sutherland and Sarah Schweitzman, UTA Independent Film Group Partner and Head, Rena Ronson, as well as former WME Independent Co-Lead and Partner, Alex Walton.
Themes expected to be tackled during the event, which takes place September 25 to 27, 2026, at The Dolder Grand, include AI, the creator economy, the box office boom and industry resilience.
Parsons and Kramer will be part of a panel about the theatrical box office’s resurgence this year, a bounceback in part thanks to movies like Parsons’ horror breakout Backrooms, A24’s biggest theatrical hit to date. The panel is expected to explore the importance of digital media for getting an audience’s attention as well as the growth of YouTube in the entertainment ecosystem. The Academy recently announced a landmark deal and partnership decision to stream the Oscars exclusively on the platform beginning in 2029. Kramer will kick off this session with a keynote focused on his vision for the Academy as a global film organization and the future of the Oscars.
Cakarel will deliver a keynote exploring MUBI’s evolution and rise, and the strategy behind building a global streamer, producer and distributor. Cakarel will then join a panel with Elisabeth D’Arvieu and Kevin Mayer, which explores scale and agility when it comes to building resilient media companies in a time of disruption and examining the role of mergers and acquisitions in shaping the future of the industry.
Cakarel and Sutherland will also be speaking days before at the San Sebastian finance summit but most of the other speakers mentioned above are expected to be exclusive to the Zurich Summit.
ZFF Festival Director Reta Guetg said today: “The Zurich Film Festival was named one of Europe’s ten best festivals by The Guardian and recognized as a trendsetter. While we embrace technology and innovation, our commitment to cinema and the theatrical experience remains as strong as ever. At the same time, we keep a close eye on the zeitgeist and emerging trends. This approach is deeply aligned with Zurich’s DNA. The city is one of Europe’s leading technology hubs and home to major offices of Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Disney. The Zurich Summit is designed to stay at the cutting edge and set the agenda on issues that continue to shape industry conversations for months, as last year’s viral discussion around Tilly Norwood demonstrated.”
She continued: “But the Summit is not only about conversation. It is also about collaboration, concrete action and deal-making. By bringing industry leaders, filmmakers, financiers and researchers together in Zurich, we create an environment where ideas can turn into partnerships and business opportunities. For us, it is essential to foster meaningful exchange, encourage collaboration and provide a platform where the industry can not only discuss the future, but actively help shape it.”
Christian Jungen, CEO of the Zurich Film Festival, commented: “The Zurich Summit is a business relevant event for many national and international decision-makers. In recent years, numerous participants have connected with investors through the Summit or significantly increased the value of their companies by presenting their vision, projects and growth plans. The Summit offers a crucial and unique opportunity to learn, network, build meaningful relationships and exchange ideas in an intimate and highly personal setting. Despite strong demand, we deliberately limit participation to 150 attendees and grant accreditations access exclusively to high-profile leaders in the global film industry.”
>
movies
Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick’s ‘Family Movie’ Gets Spring Release
EXCLUSIVE: The Bacon family’s slasher movie, Family Movie, will be hitting theaters in North America on April 23, 2027 via Variance.
Directed, produced by and starring Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, Family Movie also headlines the duo’s children, Travis and Sosie Bacon, who also produced. The pic, which world premiered at SXSW to 93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, follows a filmmaking family, the Smiths, and their low-budget horror movie which turns into a real-life slasher when a dead body shows up on set. Chaos ensues as the Smiths fight to keep the production on track.
Pic also stars Liza Koshy, John Carroll Lynch, Jackie Earle Haley, Andrea Savage, Austin Amelio, and Scoot McNairy. Producers are Vince Jolivette, Casey Durant, Greg Lauritano, and Russell Wayne Groves, from a script by Dan Beers.
The feature is receiving a full theatrical window.
Said Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, “The entire process of making Family Movie has been a true labor of love and after seeing the audience reactions at multiple film festivals around the world, we knew this movie had to be experienced in the theater. While we considered traditional distribution options, we decided to put our faith in our film, the audience, and the evolving landscape of independent film and go straight to the theaters with this fun crowd pleaser.”
The deal was brokered with Jessica Lacy of Gersh and Dylan Marchetti of Variance Films. Gersh, Range Select and CAA continue to represent downstream rights for Family Movie‘s future windows.
Neon International is repping foreign sales rights.
Watch Deadline’s video interview with the Bacons out of SXSW below:
>
movies
‘Soul Surfer’s Sean McNamara To Direct Faith-Based Film ‘Blank Canvas’
EXCLUSIVE: Reagan and Soul Surfer filmmaker Sean McNamara is aboard to write and direct faith-based drama Blank Canvas.
The film is based on the 2022 memoir of the same name by author, speaker, and artist Marcy Gregg. The project is currently in development under Brookwell McNamara Entertainment.
The synopsis reads: “At the age of 30, Marcy Gregg experienced a serious medical complication during childbirth that resulted in the loss of 13 years of her memory. Faced with the challenge of rebuilding her identity, relationships, and faith, Gregg embarked on a deeply personal journey of healing and transformation that would ultimately shape her life’s work and the message she shares with audiences today.”
The film will be produced by David Brookwell and Sean McNamara, the longtime producing team behind Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, with Will Crenshaw of Beaumont, Texas, serving as executive producer.
Prolific filmmaker McNamara most recently directed biopics Soul On Fire, Reagan and Bau: Artist at War. His 2011 film Soul Surfer about Bethany Hamilton made close to $50M.
>
movies
Jennifer DeLia & Mark Webber Launch Beyond Culture Banner (EXCLUSIVE)
EXCLUSIVE: Mark Webber and Jennifer DeLia have partnered to launch Beyond Culture, an artist-led production banner, unveiling their initial slate.
Beyond Culture is billed as a company integrating film, art, music, technology and experience, which will champion uncompromising voices and stories that expand consciousness, provoke convention and transcend mediums. Built around a model that prioritizes creative ownership and greater financial control for artists, the company takes inspiration from the original United Artists, founded by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith in 1919 to give artists greater autonomy over their work.
The founding partners will celebrate the launch with a panel, live performance and reception taking place as part of the Speakers’ Summit Series at the 2026 Toronto Film Festival.
Beyond Culture launches with a slate that includes Webber’s Figments of Freedom, executive produced by global recording artist Sia; DeLia’s Mary Pickford: Love Wild, produced by DeLia, Jack Cook, Julie Pacino and Nitsa Benchetrit; documentary series Painting in the Dark; and the company’s namesake series, Beyond Culture.
In Figments of Freedom, written, directed by and starring Webber, a Marine goes AWOL, burns his life to ash, and vanishes into America’s fractured heart. Haunted by war and chasing ghosts of himself, he drifts through a divided nation that might be the only mirror left to find himself. Currently in post, the film also stars Afia Fields, Eugenia Yuan and Winona LaDuke.
Mary Pickford: Love Wild is DeLia’s surrealist exploration of the life of pioneering actress, producer and United Artists co-founder Pickford. Sophie Kennedy Clark plays the title role, starring alongside Cary Elwes, Scott Haze, Balthazar Getty, Summer Phoenix, Fran Kranz, Mike Sirow, Adam Fergus, Luke Arnold, Allie McDonald, Jeroen van Koningsbrugge, Brionne Davis, Jane Stiles, Josephine de La Baume, Heath Freeman, and singer Angela McCluskey as Mary’s mother, Charlotte Pickford.
The Pickford project was shot by DP Dan Kneece, whose career included collaborations with David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino. Kneece passed away unexpectedly just five weeks after completing additional photography on the film; Freeman and McCluskey also passed away before its completion. Following a creative pause, the film has now entered its final stage of post-production.
Docuseries Painting in the Dark follows muralist Joel Bergner, aka Joel Artista, CEO and co-founder of Artolution, whose large-scale collaborative works span more than 30 countries across five continents. From refugee camps to prisons and underserved communities around the world, Artista uses collaborative art-making as a force for connection, expression and social transformation.
Beyond Culture is also currently developing a namesake series — a reality-documentary hybrid that takes artists and cultural figures beyond persona and into radical self-exploration. The inaugural journey, produced by Brody Baker and shot by Cameron Dunbar, follows Orange Is the New Black actor Taryn Manning alongside hosts DeLia and Taylor Olandt through a spiritual marathon of healing practices. Through tantra, breath, mantra and sweat, layers of identity are stripped away, revealing the human being beneath the public perception.
DeLia and Webber bring decades of combined experience across film, art and culture to their new company.
A director, producer and actor, DeLia’s credits include the films Billy Bates, Abracadabra and Aligned, as well as the Off-Broadway production Phoenix, starring Julia Stiles and James Wirt. She has also directed music videos for artists including Dr. John, Bobby Rush and Amadou & Mariam, created live experiences at Cannes, Berlin, TIFF, Sundance and New York Fashion Week, and founded Sovereignty Fest.
DeLia observed, “Artists are often asked to surrender some part of their vision in order to participate in the machinery around it. Beyond Culture is about imagining a different relationship between art and commerce, one where creators can remain sovereign, take meaningful risks and create work that has cultural and commercial power without losing the thing that made it alive in the first place.”
Webber, whose acting credits span more than 40 films, has worked with filmmakers including Jim Jarmusch, Todd Solondz, Lynn Shelton, Thomas Vinterberg, Lars von Trier, Edgar Wright and Gus Van Sant. As a writer-director, his films have screened at SXSW, Sundance and Tribeca.
“For me, the most meaningful work has always come from protecting the human impulse behind it,” Webber said. “Beyond Culture creates a space where artists can experiment, collaborate and create from a place of truth, rather than reverse-engineering their creativity around what a system thinks it knows how to sell.”
DeLia and Webber first collaborated on Webber’s feature directorial debut, Explicit Ills, with DeLia helping secure the film’s financing. The film went on to win the Audience Award for Narrative Feature and Best Cinematography at SXSW in 2008.
Beyond Culture’s launch event at TIFF will feature artists and collaborators from across its slate, including Senegalese-American singer Marieme, who will also perform. Additional participants include Eugenia Kuzmina (Noon), voice actor Karen Strassman, For Love filmmaker Matt Smiley, Narcos: Mexico actor Brionne Davis, Bergner, Olandt, Webber and DeLia.
>
-
movies3 months agoSearch For Canadian TV Actor Stewart McLean Now Homicide Investigation
-
Fashion9 years agoThese ’90s fashion trends are making a comeback in 2017
-
Fashion9 years agoAccording to Dior Couture, this taboo fashion accessory is back
-
Fashion9 years agoModel Jocelyn Chew’s Instagram is the best vacation you’ve ever had
-
Fashion9 years agoEmily Ratajkowski channels back-to-school style
-
Fashion9 years ago9 Celebrities who have spoken out about being photoshopped
-
Fashion9 years agoYour comprehensive guide to this fall’s biggest trends
-
Fashion9 years agoA photo diary of the nightlife scene from LA To Ibiza
