Culture, style, and media — the stories, sounds, and scenes shaping the conversation.

Rising entrepreneur Steven Bartlett has teamed with Authentic Brands to launch OBSN, a business venture designed to support creators and facilitate the development of consumer products and services built around top creators. The deal calls for the partners to create a platform de

Since winning two Oscars in three years less than a decade ago, Mahershala Ali has bided his time as one of Hollywood’s great untapped commodities. Not counting some disposable franchise support duty, he’s had only a fine performance in the gloopy sci-fi “Swan Song” to remind us

Ella Langely’s fans are choosing her “Dandelion” album as a complete piece of work, and not just staying entirely trained on her long-running “Choosin’ Texas” smash. “Dandelion” has returned to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart for a third non-consecutive week at th

Brendan Carr, the Trump-aligned Republican chairman of the FCC, accused James Talarico, a Texas Democrat running for the U.S. Senate, of running a “hoax” to garner attention and campaign donations by sitting for an interview with Jimmy Kimmel — which ABC put on YouTube instead ai

Maria Bartiromo shared her first public comments since her sudden exit from Fox News and Fox Business last week. In a post on social media, Bartiromo thanked “all friends & followers” for their support, and shared a photo of a rainbow breaking through clouds. She also teased that

The Toronto International Film Festival is still obsessed with “Obsession.” The blockbuster horror indie sold out of the festival last year, launched digital creator Curry Barker as an auteur and has placed star Inde Navarrette in the awards conversation. It’s also provided a vic

Sandra Wollner’s “Everytime” lands in Toronto this week for its North American premiere, kicking off a run that includes both the New York and Vancouver film festivals, and aiming to amplify the buzz that began with a standing ovation and Un Certain Regard Prize win at Cannes. Th

Earlier this year, Belgium’s Flanders region returned to the Berlinale competition after a 45-year hiatus with Anke Blondé’s “Dust.” A few months later, Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, the two leads in Lukas Dhont’s “Coward,” won a rare joint best actor award in Cannes. D

Ben Platt and Russell Tovey have joined the fifth and final season of “Industry,” Variety has learned. Platt will play Matt Crenshaw, who is described as “a venture capitalist and an early backer of a wellness-tech company.” Tovey will play Declan P. Davis, said to be “deputy to

Nigerian super-producer Mo Abudu returns to the red carpet at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival this week, where “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives,” premiering in the TIFF Centrepiece strand, marks the fifth official selection in Toronto for her EbonyLife Films production bann

In making “Jo of Montreal,” Ameen Nayfeh, director of the award-winning Palestinian drama “200 Meters,” embarked on a very different kind of project than his debut feature, namely a feel-good family film that kids could enjoy. “Jo of Montreal” is about Yusuf (Hamzah Baareh), a sp

As U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle have taken aim at the growing cost and complexity for Americans to watch their favorite sports teams on streaming services, three of the industry’s biggest streamers — Netflix, Amazon and YouTube — have formed a new Washington, D.C.-