Message From Ukraine; Making Vortex; Sandler and Safdies Reunion; Remember Flint?

Why a film festival in Ukraine is still happening despite all odds; Gaspar Noé and Benoît Debie on the making of their dementia drama Vortex; a new documentary asks lingering questions about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan eight years after it began. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.

Message From Ukraine: Alika Kharchenko, the communication manager for the Kyiv Short Film Festival, wrote an amazing piece for MovieMaker about why they’re still putting on the festival despite Russia waging war against Ukraine. “Culture is one of the essential aspects of being, even during the war,” she writes. Read her full essay here.

Evolution Mallorca Deadline: The regular deadline is Monday to submit your film to the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. You can get 15 percent off if you use the special discount code “MovieMaker Mallorca” via FilmFreeway. And if you don’t want to screen your film on a beautiful Spanish island, we don’t really know what to say.

A Hard Look at Netflix: The Hollywood Reporter has a really interesting deep-dive into the “crash” that’s happening at Netflix right now, from the bursting of the content bubble to the downfall of Netflix’s former vice president of original content Cindy Holland. It’s worth a read if you’re interested in what we lovingly call the Streaming Wars.

C’mon Barbie: I was extremely disappointed to hear this morning that Aqua’s 1997 bop Barbie Girl will not be heard in the upcoming Barbie movie starring Margot Robbie as the titular doll, according to Variety. “C’mon Barbie, let’s go party” … somewhere else, I guess?

Remember Flint?: The water crisis that began in 2014 in Flint, Michigan is still ongoing, and Anthony Baxter’s new documentary Flint: Who Can You Trust?, narrated by Alec Baldwin, is asking some questions that need answers. Among the most important: What will be the long-term effects of lead poisoning for the children of Flint? You can read our full conversation with Baxter here. The documentary premieres in theaters and VOD today.

Uncut Jahms: Entertainment Weekly reports that Adam Sandler is teaming up with the Safdie brothers for another film following the success of Uncut Gems. (Pronounced “Uncut Jahms,” if you’re Josh Safdie’s muse, Julia Fox.) Sandler said the brothers’ “work ethic is bananas” and that he can’t say much about the new film, but “it’s gonna be very exciting. It’s different.”

Which Northman Hairstyle Are You?: There are several options to choose from Alexander Skarsgård’s Viking action movie, from Prince Amleth’s pageboy cut to what Vulture calls “head-banging berserker length.” I should warn you, however, that this hilarious pretend quiz does contain some spoilers from the movie, so if you haven’t seen it, beware.

Vortex: Director Gaspar Noé and cinematographer Benoît Debie told our own Caleb Hammond all about working together on their film Vortex, a split-screen drama about an elderly married French couple struggling with the wife’s dementia. Read the full story here.

I’ll Leave You With This: I know we’ve all watched this a million times, but please, just once more:

Main Image: A photo from the 2021 Kyiv International Short Film Festival, courtesy of the festival.