More than 100 men working in the French film world have written an open letter in support of the #MeToo movement.
Signatories include filmmakers Jacques Audiard, Abderrahmane Sissako, Cyril Dion, Eric Lartigau, and Emmanuel Mouret, alongside actors such as Mathieu Amalric, Anatomy Of A Fall’s Swann Arlaud, and Reda Kateb.
France Televisions’ head of cinema Manuel Alduy, producer Marc Missonnier, and designer Christian Lacroix have also added ther names.
The letter, spearheaded by actress Anouk Grinberg’s husband and mathematician Michel Broué and published on Elle magazine’s website, stated “it is revolting that theatre and cinema should be used...
Signatories include filmmakers Jacques Audiard, Abderrahmane Sissako, Cyril Dion, Eric Lartigau, and Emmanuel Mouret, alongside actors such as Mathieu Amalric, Anatomy Of A Fall’s Swann Arlaud, and Reda Kateb.
France Televisions’ head of cinema Manuel Alduy, producer Marc Missonnier, and designer Christian Lacroix have also added ther names.
The letter, spearheaded by actress Anouk Grinberg’s husband and mathematician Michel Broué and published on Elle magazine’s website, stated “it is revolting that theatre and cinema should be used...
- 5/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
More than 100 men working in the French film world have written an open letter in support of the #MeToo movement.
Signatories include filmmakers Jacques Audiard, Abderrahmane Sissako, Cyril Dion, Eric Lartigau, and Emmanuel Mouret, alongside actors such as Mathieu Amalric, Anatomy Of A Fall’s Swann Arlaud, and Reda Kateb.
France Televisions’ head of cinema Manuel Alduy, producer Marc Missonnier, and designer Christian Lacroix have also added ther names.
The letter, spearheaded by actress Anouk Grinberg’s husband and mathematician Michel Broué and published on Elle magazine’s website, stated “it is revolting that theatre and cinema should be used...
Signatories include filmmakers Jacques Audiard, Abderrahmane Sissako, Cyril Dion, Eric Lartigau, and Emmanuel Mouret, alongside actors such as Mathieu Amalric, Anatomy Of A Fall’s Swann Arlaud, and Reda Kateb.
France Televisions’ head of cinema Manuel Alduy, producer Marc Missonnier, and designer Christian Lacroix have also added ther names.
The letter, spearheaded by actress Anouk Grinberg’s husband and mathematician Michel Broué and published on Elle magazine’s website, stated “it is revolting that theatre and cinema should be used...
- 5/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
Cannes’ Critics Week has rounded out the jury for its 63rd edition running running May 15-23.
The previously announced Spanish writer-director-producer Rodrigo Sorogoyen will preside over the festival’s parallel selection dedicated to first and second features alongside Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, French producer Sylvie Pialat, Belgian director of photography Virginie Surdej, and Canadian journalist and film critic Ben Croll.
Sorogoyen is known for psychological thriller The Beasts which premiered in the Cannes Premiere strand in 2022 and won nine Goya awards, plus 2019 drama Mother, 2018 Spanish-French thriller The Realm, 2016 crime thriller May God Save Us, 2013 romantic drama Stockholm, and 2008’s 8 Dates co-directed with Peris Romano.
The previously announced Spanish writer-director-producer Rodrigo Sorogoyen will preside over the festival’s parallel selection dedicated to first and second features alongside Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, French producer Sylvie Pialat, Belgian director of photography Virginie Surdej, and Canadian journalist and film critic Ben Croll.
Sorogoyen is known for psychological thriller The Beasts which premiered in the Cannes Premiere strand in 2022 and won nine Goya awards, plus 2019 drama Mother, 2018 Spanish-French thriller The Realm, 2016 crime thriller May God Save Us, 2013 romantic drama Stockholm, and 2008’s 8 Dates co-directed with Peris Romano.
- 4/10/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: After a five-year run at the company and the recent acquisition of Oscar nominee Io Capitano, Robert Aaronson has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Cohen Media Group (Cmg).
Aaronson has been overseeing Cmg’s LA office since 2019, primarily responsible for theatrical acquisitions, digital and ancillary distribution, licensing of the company’s classic movie archive, and programming its SVOD platform. He will continue to report directly to company CEO and founder Charles S. Cohen.
Among recent acquisitions for Cmg is Matteo Garrone’s Best International Feature Film nominee Io Capitano. Cmg is also coming out of the Berlin Film Festival where they picked up Black Tea by Abderrahmane Sissako, and Martin Scorsese-narrated doc Made In England: The Films Of Powell and Pressburger.
Prior to joining Cmg, Aaronson held domestic and worldwide acquisitions, co-productions and distribution positions at Universal Pictures Content Group, Netflix, Fox and New Line Cinema,...
Aaronson has been overseeing Cmg’s LA office since 2019, primarily responsible for theatrical acquisitions, digital and ancillary distribution, licensing of the company’s classic movie archive, and programming its SVOD platform. He will continue to report directly to company CEO and founder Charles S. Cohen.
Among recent acquisitions for Cmg is Matteo Garrone’s Best International Feature Film nominee Io Capitano. Cmg is also coming out of the Berlin Film Festival where they picked up Black Tea by Abderrahmane Sissako, and Martin Scorsese-narrated doc Made In England: The Films Of Powell and Pressburger.
Prior to joining Cmg, Aaronson held domestic and worldwide acquisitions, co-productions and distribution positions at Universal Pictures Content Group, Netflix, Fox and New Line Cinema,...
- 3/5/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) kicks off the 10th edition of its Qumra project and talent incubator event meeting this Friday.
Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.
Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...
Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.
Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...
- 2/28/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
After two weeks of new cinema, the Berlin Film Festival comes to a close this Sunday, February 25, with its annual awards ceremony. This year’s event marks one of change, as festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian, at his post since 2018, steps down to make way for Tricia Tuttle, who will take over for next year’s outing.
This year’s Berlinale has already stirred plenty of buzz for films like Alonso Ruizpalacios’s “La Cocina,” a drama set in a New York City kitchen and starring Rooney Mara, and Tim Mielants’ opener “Small Things Like These,” starring likely Oscar winner Cillian Murphy. Both films are eligible for awards, along with “Timbuktu” director Abderrahmane Sissako’s “Black Tea,” “Goodnight Mommy” filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s “The Devil’s Bath,” “The Guilty” director Gustav Möller’s “Sons,” Olivier Assayas’ “Suspended Time,” plus Aaron Schimberg’s Sundance hit “A Different Man,” and many more.
This year’s Berlinale has already stirred plenty of buzz for films like Alonso Ruizpalacios’s “La Cocina,” a drama set in a New York City kitchen and starring Rooney Mara, and Tim Mielants’ opener “Small Things Like These,” starring likely Oscar winner Cillian Murphy. Both films are eligible for awards, along with “Timbuktu” director Abderrahmane Sissako’s “Black Tea,” “Goodnight Mommy” filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s “The Devil’s Bath,” “The Guilty” director Gustav Möller’s “Sons,” Olivier Assayas’ “Suspended Time,” plus Aaron Schimberg’s Sundance hit “A Different Man,” and many more.
- 2/24/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Berlin Film Festival kicked off its 74th edition February 15 with the opening-night world premiere screening of Small Things Like These, the Irish drama starring Oscar-nominated Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy. It started 10 days of debuts including for movies starring Rooney Mara, Isabelle Huppert, Gael García Bernal, Kristen Stewart and more.
This year’s Competition lineup features films from a swath of international filmmakers including Olivier Assayas, Mati Diop, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont and Abderrahmane Sissako.
The Berlinale runs through February 25.
Keep checking back below as Deadline reviews the best and buzziest movies of the festival. Click on the titles to read the full reviews.
Another End ‘Another End’
Section: Competition
Director: Piero Messina
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Renate Reinsve, Bérénice Bejo, Olivia Williams, Pal Aron
Deadline’s takeaway: The script, while ambitious, is laden with philosophical musings that often feel detached from the emotional core of the story. Another End...
This year’s Competition lineup features films from a swath of international filmmakers including Olivier Assayas, Mati Diop, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont and Abderrahmane Sissako.
The Berlinale runs through February 25.
Keep checking back below as Deadline reviews the best and buzziest movies of the festival. Click on the titles to read the full reviews.
Another End ‘Another End’
Section: Competition
Director: Piero Messina
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Renate Reinsve, Bérénice Bejo, Olivia Williams, Pal Aron
Deadline’s takeaway: The script, while ambitious, is laden with philosophical musings that often feel detached from the emotional core of the story. Another End...
- 2/24/2024
- by Stephanie Bunbury, Damon Wise, Pete Hammond and Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
The awards ceremony for the 74th Berlin International Film Festival kicks off Saturday night, where this year’s jury, headed by 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actress Lupita Nyong’o, will hand out the coveted Gold and Silver Bears.
Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s Iranian drama My Favourite Cake is being given good odds for an award this year. The drama, about a 70-year-old widow and her tentative attempts at romance with an age-appropriate taxi driver, was a critical fave. A win for the film would also send a political message after the Iranian government banned the directors from attending Berlin. If the jury picks out Cake for the Golden Bear it would be the third time in 10 years —following Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (2015) and There Is No Evil (2020) from Mohammad Rasoulof —that Berlin has given its top honor to Iranian directors in absentia. World sales for My...
Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s Iranian drama My Favourite Cake is being given good odds for an award this year. The drama, about a 70-year-old widow and her tentative attempts at romance with an age-appropriate taxi driver, was a critical fave. A win for the film would also send a political message after the Iranian government banned the directors from attending Berlin. If the jury picks out Cake for the Golden Bear it would be the third time in 10 years —following Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (2015) and There Is No Evil (2020) from Mohammad Rasoulof —that Berlin has given its top honor to Iranian directors in absentia. World sales for My...
- 2/23/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Psychological thriller The Devil’s Bath has scored an average of 3.1 from critics on Screen’s Berlin jury grid, meaning it is now the joint leader alongside My Favourite Cake.
The latest from Austrian Goodnight Mommy duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala received two four stars (excellent) from Barbara Hollender (Poland’s Rzeczpospolita) and Paolo Bertolin cinematografo.it while five critics gave it three (good). Rita Di Santo (UK’s Morning Star) was less in favour of the film, following a newly married woman in 1750 who commits a shocking act of violence, awarding it just one star (poor).
Click on the...
The latest from Austrian Goodnight Mommy duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala received two four stars (excellent) from Barbara Hollender (Poland’s Rzeczpospolita) and Paolo Bertolin cinematografo.it while five critics gave it three (good). Rita Di Santo (UK’s Morning Star) was less in favour of the film, following a newly married woman in 1750 who commits a shocking act of violence, awarding it just one star (poor).
Click on the...
- 2/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
Psychological thriller The Devil’s Bath has snapped up second place on Screen’s Berlin jury grid after scoring an average of 3.0 from the critics.
The latest from Austrian Goodnight Mommy duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala received one four (excellent) from Barbara Hollender (Poland’s Rzeczpospolita), followed by six threes (good) while Rita Di Santo (UK’s Morning Star) gave it a one (poor). Set in 1750, the thriller follows a newly married woman who commits a shocking act of violence.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Receiving a 1.9 average was Black Tea from Mauritania-born filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako.
The latest from Austrian Goodnight Mommy duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala received one four (excellent) from Barbara Hollender (Poland’s Rzeczpospolita), followed by six threes (good) while Rita Di Santo (UK’s Morning Star) gave it a one (poor). Set in 1750, the thriller follows a newly married woman who commits a shocking act of violence.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Receiving a 1.9 average was Black Tea from Mauritania-born filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako.
- 2/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
Psychological thriller The Devil’s Bath has snapped up second place on Screen’s Berlin jury grid after scoring an average of 3.0 from the critics.
The latest from Austrian Goodnight Mommy duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala received one four (excellent) from Barbara Hollender (Poland’s Rzeczpospolita), followed by six threes (good) while Rita Di Santo (UK’s Morning Star) gave it a one (poor). Set in 1750, the thriller follows a newly married woman who commits a shocking act of violence.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Receiving a 1.9 average was Black Tea from Mauritania-born filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako.
The latest from Austrian Goodnight Mommy duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala received one four (excellent) from Barbara Hollender (Poland’s Rzeczpospolita), followed by six threes (good) while Rita Di Santo (UK’s Morning Star) gave it a one (poor). Set in 1750, the thriller follows a newly married woman who commits a shocking act of violence.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Receiving a 1.9 average was Black Tea from Mauritania-born filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako.
- 2/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
Part of reviewing films for trades like The Hollywood Reporter is to provide a clear and concise plot summary for the reader. But this task may prove particularly difficult for Black Tea — the first feature in nearly ten years from Mauritanian auteur Abderrahmane Sissako, whose powerful 2014 drama Timbuktu won several César awards and was nominated for a foreign-language Oscar.
Ostensibly, the story follows Aya (the graceful Nina Mélo), an African bride who dumps her groom at the wedding and flees to China, where she works in a tea shop and winds up having an affair with her seductive boss, Cai (Chang Han). But is that what really happens?
The trailer, as well as the official synopsis, would lead you to think so. In reality, though, this completely enigmatic drama never offers up a succinct plotline, skipping from one character and story to another, jumping back and forth between countries and time periods,...
Ostensibly, the story follows Aya (the graceful Nina Mélo), an African bride who dumps her groom at the wedding and flees to China, where she works in a tea shop and winds up having an affair with her seductive boss, Cai (Chang Han). But is that what really happens?
The trailer, as well as the official synopsis, would lead you to think so. In reality, though, this completely enigmatic drama never offers up a succinct plotline, skipping from one character and story to another, jumping back and forth between countries and time periods,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tea can be an energizer or a sedative. “Black Tea,” the first film in a decade from veteran Mauritanian auteur Abderrahmane Sissako, sips exclusively from the latter end of the shelf, passing through chamomile-type calm into outright soporific territory. And if that seems a trite metaphor related to the beverage, this tepid Berlinale competition entry has plenty more of its own: A love story between a Chinese tea-shop owner and an Ivory Coast émigré that is rooted in the rituals of brewing and consuming the blessed leaves, the film aims for woozy sensualism but falls way short on the ambient richness and X-factor chemistry required to sell such an essentially confected exercise.
It’s altogether a mystifying misstep from Sissako, typically a filmmaker of such formal and political vigor; by its close, the ten years separating “Black Tea” from 2014’s beautiful, shattering “Timbuktu” feel closer to an eon. Though this...
It’s altogether a mystifying misstep from Sissako, typically a filmmaker of such formal and political vigor; by its close, the ten years separating “Black Tea” from 2014’s beautiful, shattering “Timbuktu” feel closer to an eon. Though this...
- 2/21/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
It’s been 10 years since Mauritanian–Malian director Abderrahmane Sissako last directed a film, but his much-anticipated return is suffused with a lightness that belies the long wait. A soft-focus romantic drama that channels some of the same humanism that steeped its way into “Timbuktu,” “Black Tea” finds Sissako applying his empathetic gaze towards the service of a much gentler vision.
It starts with a prologue of sorts set on the Ivory Coast. Aya (Nina Mélo), an Ivorian woman in her thirties, is about to get married but has just discovered that her future husband has been unfaithful. In a memorable opening image, a black insect walks through the folds of her white dress — an ominous fly in the ointment — as she waits for the nuptials to begin, her face twisting with uncertainty. At the altar, she astonishes her family by refusing to say “I do,” choosing instead to walk...
It starts with a prologue of sorts set on the Ivory Coast. Aya (Nina Mélo), an Ivorian woman in her thirties, is about to get married but has just discovered that her future husband has been unfaithful. In a memorable opening image, a black insect walks through the folds of her white dress — an ominous fly in the ointment — as she waits for the nuptials to begin, her face twisting with uncertainty. At the altar, she astonishes her family by refusing to say “I do,” choosing instead to walk...
- 2/21/2024
- by Rachel Pronger
- Indiewire
Spill the Tea: Sissako Flounders with Tepid Brew
The level of ineptitude apparent in every regard of Black Tea, Abderrahmane Sissako’s first narrative feature in a decade, is downright delirious. During its development, the project was known as The Perfumed Hill, and was subject to additional drama regarding its Taiwanese funding despite ultimately taking place in Guangzhou. The end result demands to be seen to be believed, though it’s a laborious, emotional void of a film besotted by affected dialogue and shallow subtexts. Playing as if it was cobbled together haphazardly during the editing process, which is made all the more apparent by a fantastically stupid last minute reveal, Sissako has created a propaganda styled brochure for a travelogue.…...
The level of ineptitude apparent in every regard of Black Tea, Abderrahmane Sissako’s first narrative feature in a decade, is downright delirious. During its development, the project was known as The Perfumed Hill, and was subject to additional drama regarding its Taiwanese funding despite ultimately taking place in Guangzhou. The end result demands to be seen to be believed, though it’s a laborious, emotional void of a film besotted by affected dialogue and shallow subtexts. Playing as if it was cobbled together haphazardly during the editing process, which is made all the more apparent by a fantastically stupid last minute reveal, Sissako has created a propaganda styled brochure for a travelogue.…...
- 2/21/2024
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
“Black Tea,” Abderrahmane Sissako‘s lushly lensed romance drama set in China, has been bought by major distributors in key territories ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.
Gaumont, which co-produced the film, has sold it to Caramel (Spain), Academy two (Italy), Pandora Films, Cineart (Benelux), Films4you (Portugal), Provzglyad (Cis), Mozinet (Hungary), Another World Entertainment (Norway), Film Bazar (Denmark), McF Megacom, Filmstop, Mb Taip Toliau (Lithuania), Imovision (Brazil), Av Jet (Taiwan), Falcon (Indonesia), Pathé BC and New Cinema (Israel).
The movie was also previously acquired by Cohen Media Group for distribution in the U.S. “Black Tea” marks Sissako’s follow up to his 2015 Oscar-nominated film “Timbuktu.”
“Black Tea” tells the story of Aya, who leaves the Ivory Coast after walking out on her wedding day and sets off to start a new life in Guangzhou, China. In this district where the African diaspora meets Chinese culture,...
Gaumont, which co-produced the film, has sold it to Caramel (Spain), Academy two (Italy), Pandora Films, Cineart (Benelux), Films4you (Portugal), Provzglyad (Cis), Mozinet (Hungary), Another World Entertainment (Norway), Film Bazar (Denmark), McF Megacom, Filmstop, Mb Taip Toliau (Lithuania), Imovision (Brazil), Av Jet (Taiwan), Falcon (Indonesia), Pathé BC and New Cinema (Israel).
The movie was also previously acquired by Cohen Media Group for distribution in the U.S. “Black Tea” marks Sissako’s follow up to his 2015 Oscar-nominated film “Timbuktu.”
“Black Tea” tells the story of Aya, who leaves the Ivory Coast after walking out on her wedding day and sets off to start a new life in Guangzhou, China. In this district where the African diaspora meets Chinese culture,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (Gea) has launched a new film fund called Big Time Investment to boost production of quality Arabic movies and announced a slate of Egyptian feature films toplined by a biopic of Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum who is considered the Arab world’s greatest singer.
Prominent Egyptian director Marwan Hamed, whose epic “Kira and El Gen” about local resistance to British occupation, is recent hit, will direct the film titled “El Set.” Egyptian star Mona Zaki will play Kulthum who from the late 1920s onwards became the first prominent Arab singer to disseminate her work to the masses via the new technologies of the times: radio, the phonograph, cinema and television.
The fund was announced in Cairo by Gea chairman Turki Alalshikh who said Gea will serve as the roughly $130 million fund’s primary sponsor with the Ministry of Culture acting as a co-sponsor, according...
Prominent Egyptian director Marwan Hamed, whose epic “Kira and El Gen” about local resistance to British occupation, is recent hit, will direct the film titled “El Set.” Egyptian star Mona Zaki will play Kulthum who from the late 1920s onwards became the first prominent Arab singer to disseminate her work to the masses via the new technologies of the times: radio, the phonograph, cinema and television.
The fund was announced in Cairo by Gea chairman Turki Alalshikh who said Gea will serve as the roughly $130 million fund’s primary sponsor with the Ministry of Culture acting as a co-sponsor, according...
- 2/19/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The first-ever edition of AfroBerlin put Africa in the spotlight at the Berlin Film Festival and in one key session asked how festivals, streamers, and the wider industry can — and should — support films and filmmakers from the continent.
AfroBerlin took over the conference center next to the European Film Market with standing room only for some sessions at the event, which was organized by Prudence Kolong’s consultancy biz Yanibes and the EFM.
Jacqueline Nsiah, a member of the Festival’s Selection Committee, spoke in a slot about empowering local filmmakers. She started her work for the Festival last summer and has bolstered its connections with the African film community. African films including Abderrahmane Sissako’s Black Tea, Mati Diop’s Dahomey, and Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Aria’s Pepe are in competition, and Mamadou Dia’s Demba is in the Encounters strand. “I think it’s not bad,...
AfroBerlin took over the conference center next to the European Film Market with standing room only for some sessions at the event, which was organized by Prudence Kolong’s consultancy biz Yanibes and the EFM.
Jacqueline Nsiah, a member of the Festival’s Selection Committee, spoke in a slot about empowering local filmmakers. She started her work for the Festival last summer and has bolstered its connections with the African film community. African films including Abderrahmane Sissako’s Black Tea, Mati Diop’s Dahomey, and Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Aria’s Pepe are in competition, and Mamadou Dia’s Demba is in the Encounters strand. “I think it’s not bad,...
- 2/18/2024
- by Stewart Clarke
- Deadline Film + TV
Africa’s growing screen industries are making their mark on this year’s Berlin Film Festival, with three titles in the main competition, but how to unlock the continent’s still-untapped potential was a question on the minds of many at a conference hosted on Saturday by the European Film Market.
A partnership between EFM and Prudence Kolong’s Stockholm-based consulting firm Yanibes, AfroBerlin was launched to give a platform to filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora and “to find a place where they can share stories and experiences and be heard,” said Kolong, who also organizes the Cannes Film Festival’s AfroCannes industry showcase.
The event brought together industry professionals from the continent with their counterparts in Europe and beyond, underscoring the ways in which the often-marginalized African screen industries have elevated their international profile. “When we’re talking about the global film market…we are part of the discussion,...
A partnership between EFM and Prudence Kolong’s Stockholm-based consulting firm Yanibes, AfroBerlin was launched to give a platform to filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora and “to find a place where they can share stories and experiences and be heard,” said Kolong, who also organizes the Cannes Film Festival’s AfroCannes industry showcase.
The event brought together industry professionals from the continent with their counterparts in Europe and beyond, underscoring the ways in which the often-marginalized African screen industries have elevated their international profile. “When we’re talking about the global film market…we are part of the discussion,...
- 2/18/2024
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Taiwan International Co-Funding Program (Ticp) from Taiwan Creative Content Agency (Taicca) continues to make an impact at the 74th Berlinale. Black Tea and Shambhala enter the main competition, while Sleep With Your Eyes Open competes at Encounters. Festival veteran Tsai Ming-Liang scored two official selections with his latest documentary Abiding Nowhere in Berlinale Special and The Wayward Cloud at Berlinale Classics Special.
Black Tea is Abderrahmane Sissako's follow up feature after Timbuktu with Taiwan as a key location and two Taiwanese actors Chang Han from A Brighter Summer Day and Wu Ke-Xi of Nina Wu playing alongside Nina Mélo in this cross-cultural romance. The film also received investment from Kaohsiung Film Fund.
Also in the main competition is Shambhala, the second feature from Nepal's Min Bahadur Bham, which sees a woman journey across the Himalayas to prove her innocence. Liao Ching-Sung and Roger Huang are two executive producers from...
Black Tea is Abderrahmane Sissako's follow up feature after Timbuktu with Taiwan as a key location and two Taiwanese actors Chang Han from A Brighter Summer Day and Wu Ke-Xi of Nina Wu playing alongside Nina Mélo in this cross-cultural romance. The film also received investment from Kaohsiung Film Fund.
Also in the main competition is Shambhala, the second feature from Nepal's Min Bahadur Bham, which sees a woman journey across the Himalayas to prove her innocence. Liao Ching-Sung and Roger Huang are two executive producers from...
- 2/16/2024
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
The build-up to the 74th Berlin Film Festival has been highly politicized, and the international jury press conference Thursday morning was no different.
Lupita Nyong’o presides over the International Competition jury, whose members include American actor and filmmaker Brady Corbet, Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui, German director Christian Petzold, Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra, Italian actress Jasmine Trinca and Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
This wasn’t like most jury press conferences, however, with members drawn into multiple — occasionally testy — discussions about their own political stances on events in Ukraine, Gaza and Germany.
Russia’s war in Ukraine was a central topic, with multiple journalists asking Serra about a 2018 interview in which he supposedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin. Serra was asked whether he had changed his mind on Putin since the war:
“I don’t know,” said the director. “This is a political question. Everyone is upset with Russia right now.
Lupita Nyong’o presides over the International Competition jury, whose members include American actor and filmmaker Brady Corbet, Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui, German director Christian Petzold, Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra, Italian actress Jasmine Trinca and Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
This wasn’t like most jury press conferences, however, with members drawn into multiple — occasionally testy — discussions about their own political stances on events in Ukraine, Gaza and Germany.
Russia’s war in Ukraine was a central topic, with multiple journalists asking Serra about a 2018 interview in which he supposedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin. Serra was asked whether he had changed his mind on Putin since the war:
“I don’t know,” said the director. “This is a political question. Everyone is upset with Russia right now.
- 2/15/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman and Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s the end of an era for the Berlin International Film Festival, as Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian and his co-head Mariette Rissenbeek — a pair of fearless cineastes and programmers who came onboard together in the summer of 2019, and helped steer the world’s largest film festival through the crisis of the pandemic years — are being unceremoniously shoved out to sea after the 2024 edition as a part of cost-cutting measures instituted by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Claudia Roth.
It’s too soon to say how the Berlinale will shrink and suffer in the absence of the leadership that has allowed the festival to remain such a vital arena for world cinema at a time of industry-wide constriction, but even a quick overview of this year’s program suggests that Chatrian and Rissenbeek will be going out with a bang.
As usual, the Berlinale will play...
It’s too soon to say how the Berlinale will shrink and suffer in the absence of the leadership that has allowed the festival to remain such a vital arena for world cinema at a time of industry-wide constriction, but even a quick overview of this year’s program suggests that Chatrian and Rissenbeek will be going out with a bang.
As usual, the Berlinale will play...
- 2/14/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
"It's very special." "I love the scent." "So do I." Gaumont in France has revealed the first promo trailer for an indie relationship drama titled Black Tea, a brand new film made by acclaimed Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako. This film is premiering in the Main Competition at the upcoming 2024 Berlin Film Festival kicking off soon this month. Looks like one of the best in the line-up! Aya, a young Ivory Coast woman in her early thirties, says "no" on her wedding day, to everyone's astonishment. After emigrating to China, she finds work in a tea export shop with Cai, a 45-year-old Chinese man. Aya and Cai soon fall in love but can their affair survive the turmoil of their pasts and other people's prejudices? Eight years after the breathtaking Timbuktu (in competition at Cannes 2014 and an Academy Award nominee for Best International Film), Sissako returns with Black Tea – starring Nina Mélo,...
- 2/8/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The international jury at the 74th Berlin Film Festival, led by Lupita Nyong’o, will include filmmakers Christian Petzold (Germany) and Ann Hui.
The international jury members also include actor-producer-director Brady Corbet (U.S.), filmmaker Albert Serra (Spain), actor-director Jasmine Trinca (Italy) and writer Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine). They will decide who will win the festival’s Golden and the Silver Bears.
The three-member jury that chooses the winners for best film, director and the special jury award at the Berlinale’s Encounters strand is made up of filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
Director and screenwriter Ilker Çatak (Germany), sound artist and researcher Xabier Erkizia (Spain) and director, screenwriter, video artist and lecturer Jennifer Reeder (U.S.) are the international short film jury for the 2024 Berlinale Shorts competition. They will be choosing the winner of the Golden Bear for best short film, the winner of the...
The international jury members also include actor-producer-director Brady Corbet (U.S.), filmmaker Albert Serra (Spain), actor-director Jasmine Trinca (Italy) and writer Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine). They will decide who will win the festival’s Golden and the Silver Bears.
The three-member jury that chooses the winners for best film, director and the special jury award at the Berlinale’s Encounters strand is made up of filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
Director and screenwriter Ilker Çatak (Germany), sound artist and researcher Xabier Erkizia (Spain) and director, screenwriter, video artist and lecturer Jennifer Reeder (U.S.) are the international short film jury for the 2024 Berlinale Shorts competition. They will be choosing the winner of the Golden Bear for best short film, the winner of the...
- 2/1/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSBreathless.The Mubi Podcast returns on January 25. Titled “Tailor Made,” the fifth season will consider landmark movies that captured major fashions of their times—from Jean Seberg in Breathless to Sofia Coppola’s body of work to date—with insights from leading costume designers, fashion designers, cinematographers, and directors.Alongside the announcement of the Competition and Encounters sections, with the addition of new films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Ruth Beckermann, and more, we’ve updated our Berlinale lineup post ahead of the festival’s commencement on February 15.June Givanni, a writer on and curator of African and African diasporic cinema and the founder of the June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, is to be recognized by BAFTA with an Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
A Different Man.The Berlinale have begun to announce the first few titles selected for the 74th edition of their festival, set to take place from February 15 through 21, 2024. This page will be updated as further sections are announced.COMPETITIONAnother End (Piero Messina)Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)La Cocina (Alonso Ruiz Palacios) Dahomey (Mati Diop)A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)The Empire (Bruno Dumont)Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)My Favourite CakeLangue Etrangère (Claire Berger)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Joobeur)Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)Sterben (Matthias Glasner)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)Sleep With Your Eyes Open. ENCOUNTERSArcadia (Yorgos Zois)Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)Demba (Mamadou Dia)Direct ActionSleep With Your Eyes Open (Nele Wohlatz)The Fable (Raam Reddy...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
Berlinale Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian announced his final Competition and Encounters line-ups on Monday ahead of bowing out of the festival alongside Managing Director Mariette Rissenbeek at the end of the upcoming 74th edition in February.
News of Chatrian’s ousting by the German Culture Minister Claudia Roth back in September prompted anger in some quarters of Europe’s indie film biz. The seasoned festival programer made it clear at the time that he wanted to stay on but now appears to have made peace with the decision.
“It’s true that in the beginning I said I was willing to go on with the shared role. But then the people who are responsible for the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone,” he told Monday’s press conference in...
News of Chatrian’s ousting by the German Culture Minister Claudia Roth back in September prompted anger in some quarters of Europe’s indie film biz. The seasoned festival programer made it clear at the time that he wanted to stay on but now appears to have made peace with the decision.
“It’s true that in the beginning I said I was willing to go on with the shared role. But then the people who are responsible for the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone,” he told Monday’s press conference in...
- 1/23/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
For his fifth and final edition, outgoing Berlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian has assembled a promising lineup, rich in prestige, star-driven titles as well as more eclectic films containing the political elements intrinsic to the fest’s DNA.
“I am very happy and proud of this year’s lineup,” Chatrian tells Variety. “I think it achieved the balance between highly anticipated titles by filmmakers who are relevant in cinema history and, as always, films that you don’t expect to find in competition. At the same time I know that expectations can be a double-edged sword.”
The 74th annual Berlinale, held Feb. 15-25, will feature such films as “La Cocina” with Rooney Mara; sci-fi drama “Another End” with Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve; and the historical drama “Small Things Like These” starring “Oppenheimer’s” Cillian Murphy.
Chatrian spoke with Variety to break down the lineup that looks...
“I am very happy and proud of this year’s lineup,” Chatrian tells Variety. “I think it achieved the balance between highly anticipated titles by filmmakers who are relevant in cinema history and, as always, films that you don’t expect to find in competition. At the same time I know that expectations can be a double-edged sword.”
The 74th annual Berlinale, held Feb. 15-25, will feature such films as “La Cocina” with Rooney Mara; sci-fi drama “Another End” with Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve; and the historical drama “Small Things Like These” starring “Oppenheimer’s” Cillian Murphy.
Chatrian spoke with Variety to break down the lineup that looks...
- 1/22/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
More than 100 Taiwanese filmmakers have issued a joint statement, expressing their concerns about recent proposed changes to an international funding scheme by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (Taicca).
Headlined ‘Worried about Taicca tarnishing the international image of Taiwan’, local film and TV professionals who have signed the statement include actor Lee Kang-Sheng, producer-editor Liao Ching-Sung, producer Patrick Mao Huang, sound designer Tu Duu-Chih and music composer Lim Giong.
Earlier this month, it was announced that the Taiwan International Co-funding Program (Ticp), which has backed award-winning titles such as Tiger Stripes, would shift its focus to more mainstream projects as part...
Headlined ‘Worried about Taicca tarnishing the international image of Taiwan’, local film and TV professionals who have signed the statement include actor Lee Kang-Sheng, producer-editor Liao Ching-Sung, producer Patrick Mao Huang, sound designer Tu Duu-Chih and music composer Lim Giong.
Earlier this month, it was announced that the Taiwan International Co-funding Program (Ticp), which has backed award-winning titles such as Tiger Stripes, would shift its focus to more mainstream projects as part...
- 1/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
Berlinale co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek are going out with a bang in their final year, with a lineup unveiled today featuring the latest works by Olivier Assayas, Bruno Dumont, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Abderrahmane Sissako, Jane Schoenbrun, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Matias Pineiro, Travis Wilkerson, Kazik Radwanski, Annie Baker, and more.
When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.
When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.
- 1/22/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Gaumont has unveiled a first still and trailer for “Black Tea,” Abderrahmane Sissako’s highly anticipated follow-up to his 2015 Oscar-nominated film “Timbuktu.” The movie will world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.
A lushly-lensed romance drama, “Black Tea” (previously titled “The Perfumed Hill“) tells the story of Joice, who leaves the Ivory Coast after walking out on her wedding day and sets off to start a new life in Guangzhou, China. In this district where the African diaspora meets the Chinese culture, she gets hired in a tea boutique owned by Cai, a Chinese man. In the secrecy of the back shop, Cai decides to initiate Aya to the tea ceremony and their relationship slowly turns into tender love.
Gaumont, which is handling international sales and French distribution rights on the film, has described it as “a timeless, universal love story between two opposite characters” and a “sensory journey” set across China,...
A lushly-lensed romance drama, “Black Tea” (previously titled “The Perfumed Hill“) tells the story of Joice, who leaves the Ivory Coast after walking out on her wedding day and sets off to start a new life in Guangzhou, China. In this district where the African diaspora meets the Chinese culture, she gets hired in a tea boutique owned by Cai, a Chinese man. In the secrecy of the back shop, Cai decides to initiate Aya to the tea ceremony and their relationship slowly turns into tender love.
Gaumont, which is handling international sales and French distribution rights on the film, has described it as “a timeless, universal love story between two opposite characters” and a “sensory journey” set across China,...
- 1/22/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the 20 titles selected for its official Competition as well as its competitive Encounters strand.
Scroll down for full list
New films from Claire Burger, Olivier Assayas, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont, Abderrahmane Sissako and Mati Diop are among those selected for the Competition lineup, with stars including Rooney Mara, Gael Garcia Bernal, Sebastian Stan and Cillian Murphy, who leads the festival’s opening film Small Things Like These.
Festival heads Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek unveiled the selections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin today (January 22).
The 2024 Berlinale will run February...
Scroll down for full list
New films from Claire Burger, Olivier Assayas, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont, Abderrahmane Sissako and Mati Diop are among those selected for the Competition lineup, with stars including Rooney Mara, Gael Garcia Bernal, Sebastian Stan and Cillian Murphy, who leads the festival’s opening film Small Things Like These.
Festival heads Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek unveiled the selections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin today (January 22).
The 2024 Berlinale will run February...
- 1/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Berlin Film Festival on Monday unveiled the titles selected for its official competition and its sidebar Encounters competitive section.
A total of 20 films have been selected for the international competition, with highlights including La Cocina, directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios and starring Rooney Mara. The pic is described as a “kinetic and cinematic love story” set over a single day in a Times Square kitchen. French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop returns with Dahomey, a 60-minute doc about art repatriation and Hong Sangsoo plays in competition with A Traveler’s Needs, starring Isabelle Huppert. Scroll down for the full lineup.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 15-25.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon...
A total of 20 films have been selected for the international competition, with highlights including La Cocina, directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios and starring Rooney Mara. The pic is described as a “kinetic and cinematic love story” set over a single day in a Times Square kitchen. French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop returns with Dahomey, a 60-minute doc about art repatriation and Hong Sangsoo plays in competition with A Traveler’s Needs, starring Isabelle Huppert. Scroll down for the full lineup.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 15-25.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon...
- 1/22/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival unveiled its full lineup Monday at its official press conference in the House of World Cultures in Berlin. Berlinale managing director Mariëtte Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian presented the films that will compete for this year’s Golden and Silver Bears both in the competition and encounters sections.
Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, a Berlinale regular and two-time Silver Bear winner — for A Cop Movie in 2022 and Museo in 2018 — returns to Berlin competition with his English-language feature debut La Cocina. Rooney Mara and The Cop Movie alum Raúl Briones star in the drama set over the course of a single day in a bustling New York City restaurant. Briones plays an undocumented cook in a relationship with Julia (Mara), an American waitress who cannot commit to their relationship. Fifth Season and WME are selling North American rights to La Cocina with HanWay handling international sales.
Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, a Berlinale regular and two-time Silver Bear winner — for A Cop Movie in 2022 and Museo in 2018 — returns to Berlin competition with his English-language feature debut La Cocina. Rooney Mara and The Cop Movie alum Raúl Briones star in the drama set over the course of a single day in a bustling New York City restaurant. Briones plays an undocumented cook in a relationship with Julia (Mara), an American waitress who cannot commit to their relationship. Fifth Season and WME are selling North American rights to La Cocina with HanWay handling international sales.
- 1/22/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘Give A Little Beat’ is about a family who go on a road trip across France.
Gaumont has packed its diverse Paris Rendez-Vous line-up with Laurence Arné’s family road trip comedy Give A Little Beat starring the director-actress alongside Dany Boon.
The duo play a remarried couple who take their blended family on a road trip in an old Jeep Cherokee bound for the French Atlantic coast. The scenic journey quickly turns to disaster as antics ensue.
Titled Les Hennedricks in France, Give A Little Beat is produced by Michael Gentile’s The Film, Bonnes Soeurs Production and Gaumont.
Gaumont has packed its diverse Paris Rendez-Vous line-up with Laurence Arné’s family road trip comedy Give A Little Beat starring the director-actress alongside Dany Boon.
The duo play a remarried couple who take their blended family on a road trip in an old Jeep Cherokee bound for the French Atlantic coast. The scenic journey quickly turns to disaster as antics ensue.
Titled Les Hennedricks in France, Give A Little Beat is produced by Michael Gentile’s The Film, Bonnes Soeurs Production and Gaumont.
- 1/11/2024
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDry Leaf.On Criterion’s Daily, David Hudson has shared a useful roundup of films that might be expected to premiere during 2024. Among the inclusions are: Mickey 17, Bong Joon-ho’s first film since Parasite (2019); It’s Not Me, Leos Carax’s latest collaboration with Denis Lavant; and Dry Leaf, the enticing-sounding new film by Alexandre Koberidze (What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? [2021]), which is said to be about “a photographer who shoots soccer stadiums [who] goes missing.”A list of international filmmakers including Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pedro Costa, Radu Jude, Ira Sachs, Claire Denis, and Abderrahmane Sissako have signed a letter, published during the holiday season in the French newspaper Libération, demanding (as translated by the Film Stage) “an immediate end to the bombings on Gaza,...
- 1/10/2024
- MUBI
No reasonably intelligent person imagines an artist’s statement about the horrors in Gaza would, in fact, end those horrors, but there are always limits to what one can take and hopes for what one could do. It might even be said that, as observers of the world and human behavior, filmmakers are especially inclined to recoil. When I interviewed Pedro Costa last month he spoke, unprompted, of a situation that’s only grown worse: “It’s very clear that we cannot stand images anymore. I can’t. I can’t. The images of the world for me [Exhales] I can’t. I turn my eyes, and I’m sure you do the same. It’s unbearable.” When I spoke with Anthony Dod Mantle a couple of weeks later it, again, emerged––vis-a-vis The Zone of Interest, whose own cinematographer alluded to it the next day. It’s difficult being a person in the world,...
- 12/29/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival, taking place in Jeddah between Nov. 30 – Dec. 9, will be the culmination of a highly successful funding cycle for the Red Sea Film Foundation. Created in 2019 following the lifting of Saudi Arabia’s 30-year cinema ban, the foundation aims to support the local and regional film industry through the organizing and championing of the festival, plus a focus on education and grants.
In 2021, the foundation launched the Red Sea Fund, a financing arm focused on supporting emerging filmmakers and established directors from the Arab world and Africa. Grants were distributed between projects in development, production and post-production. The fund supported 94 projects in the first year and over 250 films in the two years since, including films by acclaimed filmmakers such as Abderrahmane Sissako, Haifaa Al-Mansour and Kaouther Ben Hania.
The impact of the fund was felt throughout the biggest festivals in the world...
In 2021, the foundation launched the Red Sea Fund, a financing arm focused on supporting emerging filmmakers and established directors from the Arab world and Africa. Grants were distributed between projects in development, production and post-production. The fund supported 94 projects in the first year and over 250 films in the two years since, including films by acclaimed filmmakers such as Abderrahmane Sissako, Haifaa Al-Mansour and Kaouther Ben Hania.
The impact of the fund was felt throughout the biggest festivals in the world...
- 12/1/2023
- by Rafa Sales Ross
- Variety Film + TV
Programme includes ‘top 10’ films selected by director Wang Bing and selection of Peter Greenaway films.
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has revealed the first 50 titles for this year’s edition, running Nov 8 to Nov 19.
As part of a previously announced Wang Bing retrospective, the director has been invited to programme his “top 10”. The films he has selected are all Chinese and all date from 1999 or later.
They are: Before the Flood (2005) directed by Yifan Li, Yu YanBing’ai (2007) by Yan Feng; Born in Beijing (2011) by Li Ma; Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan; The Next Life (2011) by Jian Fan...
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has revealed the first 50 titles for this year’s edition, running Nov 8 to Nov 19.
As part of a previously announced Wang Bing retrospective, the director has been invited to programme his “top 10”. The films he has selected are all Chinese and all date from 1999 or later.
They are: Before the Flood (2005) directed by Yifan Li, Yu YanBing’ai (2007) by Yan Feng; Born in Beijing (2011) by Li Ma; Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan; The Next Life (2011) by Jian Fan...
- 9/20/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Documentary festival IDFA, which runs Nov. 8 to 19 in Amsterdam, has revealed its first 50 titles, including the top 10 Chinese films selected by Chinese filmmaker Wang Bing, IDFA’s Guest of Honor.
The festival has also revealed the films playing in two of the three Focus programs: Fabrications, which probes the difference between reality and realism, and 16 Worlds on 16, an homage to 16mm film.
Wang’s selection will take the viewer “on a contemplative journey into contemporary Chinese cinema,” according to the festival. “The films and their politics are subtle in their film language, representing a wave of filmmaking rarely shown internationally.”
The selection (see below), which covers films produced since 1999, includes Lixin Fan’s 2009 film “Last Train Home,” which was supported by IDFA’s Bertha Fund. The film documents the millions of migrant factory workers that travel home for Spring Festival each year.
Fabrications explores the relationship of trust between documentary film and audiences,...
The festival has also revealed the films playing in two of the three Focus programs: Fabrications, which probes the difference between reality and realism, and 16 Worlds on 16, an homage to 16mm film.
Wang’s selection will take the viewer “on a contemplative journey into contemporary Chinese cinema,” according to the festival. “The films and their politics are subtle in their film language, representing a wave of filmmaking rarely shown internationally.”
The selection (see below), which covers films produced since 1999, includes Lixin Fan’s 2009 film “Last Train Home,” which was supported by IDFA’s Bertha Fund. The film documents the millions of migrant factory workers that travel home for Spring Festival each year.
Fabrications explores the relationship of trust between documentary film and audiences,...
- 9/19/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Acclaimed director Wang Bing, this year’s guest of honor at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, will be using his IDFA platform to highlight nonfiction cinema of his native China.
The festival, which runs from Nov. 8-19, announced the 10 films Bing has selected to be screened at IDFA – one of the perquisites of being named guest of honor. Among the documentaries he’s choosing to highlight are Old Men (1999), directed by Lina Yang; Wheat Harvest (2008), directed by Tong Xu, and IDFA Bertha Fund-supported Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan, “documenting the millions of migrant factory workers that travel home for Spring Festival each year.” (Scroll to see Bing’s full top 10 list).
Director Wang Bing attends the Cannes Film Festival May 19, 2023.
The documentaries chosen by Bing “and their politics are subtle in their film language,” IDFA noted in a release, “representing a wave of filmmaking rarely shown internationally.
The festival, which runs from Nov. 8-19, announced the 10 films Bing has selected to be screened at IDFA – one of the perquisites of being named guest of honor. Among the documentaries he’s choosing to highlight are Old Men (1999), directed by Lina Yang; Wheat Harvest (2008), directed by Tong Xu, and IDFA Bertha Fund-supported Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan, “documenting the millions of migrant factory workers that travel home for Spring Festival each year.” (Scroll to see Bing’s full top 10 list).
Director Wang Bing attends the Cannes Film Festival May 19, 2023.
The documentaries chosen by Bing “and their politics are subtle in their film language,” IDFA noted in a release, “representing a wave of filmmaking rarely shown internationally.
- 9/19/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The perpetually busy Damon Albarn has revealed he is working on another opera. As part of our latest cover story, the Blur and Gorillaz frontman tells Consequence he is putting German playwright Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s The Magic Flute Part Two to music for the first time.
“I got offered this amazing opportunity to set Goethe’s Magic Flute Part Two to music and song,” says Albarn, who previously created an opera based on Elizabethan scientist John Dee in 2011. “I’m kind of teaching myself Goethe, which is not as great a task as it would have been if I hadn’t done a lot of study about, you know, other Renaissance men like Dr. John Dee. I’ve got a lot of the bases because I had to go a long way back to even vaguely understand what that was about. So, I did a lot of that 10 years ago.
“I got offered this amazing opportunity to set Goethe’s Magic Flute Part Two to music and song,” says Albarn, who previously created an opera based on Elizabethan scientist John Dee in 2011. “I’m kind of teaching myself Goethe, which is not as great a task as it would have been if I hadn’t done a lot of study about, you know, other Renaissance men like Dr. John Dee. I’ve got a lot of the bases because I had to go a long way back to even vaguely understand what that was about. So, I did a lot of that 10 years ago.
- 7/13/2023
- by Eddie Fu
- Consequence - Music
A record number of African films are premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival — including two titles in the main competition and four more in Un Certain Regard — promising a robust turnout on the Croisette from a continent that doesn’t often find itself being feted on world cinema’s grandest stage.
Perhaps a more noticeable shift, however, has been taking place in and around the Palais des Festivals, where participants at the Cannes Market are opening their arms — and their checkbooks — to an industry just beginning to realize its potential.
Witness the delegation of international film financiers, including Creative Wealth Media’s Jason Cloth and Convergent Media Capital’s Michael Cleaver, gathered on a recent, rainy morning to talk shop at a full house at the Pavillon Afriques. Or check the scene at the Palais des Festivals nearby, where three representatives of the Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank...
Perhaps a more noticeable shift, however, has been taking place in and around the Palais des Festivals, where participants at the Cannes Market are opening their arms — and their checkbooks — to an industry just beginning to realize its potential.
Witness the delegation of international film financiers, including Creative Wealth Media’s Jason Cloth and Convergent Media Capital’s Michael Cleaver, gathered on a recent, rainy morning to talk shop at a full house at the Pavillon Afriques. Or check the scene at the Palais des Festivals nearby, where three representatives of the Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank...
- 5/21/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
French Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak has said her ministry is looking at ways to resolve a funding crisis for France’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival after its regional support was cut out of the blue earlier this month.
“We will have to do something because it’s impossible to fragilize this festival. We’re in discussion with the mayor of Clermont-Ferrand and the other partners and we’ll decide what we do,” she told an international press briefing in Cannes on Saturday.
The event, the world’s biggest festival devoted to short films, unexpectedly had its funding slashed on May 12, after the regional council for the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in which Clermont-Ferrand is situated, voted to cut its funding by half to $121,000.
Over the years, the festival has shown the early works of a raft of now-established, award-winning filmmakers including Cannes regulars Jane Campion, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Mike Leigh,...
“We will have to do something because it’s impossible to fragilize this festival. We’re in discussion with the mayor of Clermont-Ferrand and the other partners and we’ll decide what we do,” she told an international press briefing in Cannes on Saturday.
The event, the world’s biggest festival devoted to short films, unexpectedly had its funding slashed on May 12, after the regional council for the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, in which Clermont-Ferrand is situated, voted to cut its funding by half to $121,000.
Over the years, the festival has shown the early works of a raft of now-established, award-winning filmmakers including Cannes regulars Jane Campion, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Mike Leigh,...
- 5/20/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
France’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the world’s biggest festival devoted to short films, is protesting an unexpected funding cut, amid claims by politicians that the move is politically motivated.
The festival learned on Friday that Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council had voted to cut its funding by half to $121,000, during a meeting allotting the region’s cultural spending.
Unfolding at the end of January in the central French city of Clermont-Ferrand, the event has evolved into the biggest short film festival in the world since its creation in 1979.
Over the years it has shown the early works of a raft of now-established, award-winning filmmakers including Jane Campion, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Mike Leigh, Abderrahmane Sissako, Olivier Assayas, Jessica Hausner, Vladimir Perisic, Keren Yadaya, Mati Diop, Léa Mysius and Ladj Ly.
The festival organizers say they are in shock and have put out a statement decrying the damage it could...
The festival learned on Friday that Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council had voted to cut its funding by half to $121,000, during a meeting allotting the region’s cultural spending.
Unfolding at the end of January in the central French city of Clermont-Ferrand, the event has evolved into the biggest short film festival in the world since its creation in 1979.
Over the years it has shown the early works of a raft of now-established, award-winning filmmakers including Jane Campion, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Mike Leigh, Abderrahmane Sissako, Olivier Assayas, Jessica Hausner, Vladimir Perisic, Keren Yadaya, Mati Diop, Léa Mysius and Ladj Ly.
The festival organizers say they are in shock and have put out a statement decrying the damage it could...
- 5/13/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Lucas Bernard’s romantic comedy ’In The Sub For Love’ is another new acquisition for French studio.
French studio Gaumont has unveiled a hefty genre-hopping Cannes slate complete with all new acquisitions Gilles de Maistre’s family adventure Moon The Panda, Stéphane Brizé’s romance drama Out Of Season and Lucas Bernard’s romantic comedy In The Sub For Love in addition to a slew of market premieres and official selection festival titles.
New acquisitions
Moon The Panda is the latest film from the master of the human-animal adventure tale Gilles de Maistre following Mia And The White Lion and The Wolf And The Lion.
French studio Gaumont has unveiled a hefty genre-hopping Cannes slate complete with all new acquisitions Gilles de Maistre’s family adventure Moon The Panda, Stéphane Brizé’s romance drama Out Of Season and Lucas Bernard’s romantic comedy In The Sub For Love in addition to a slew of market premieres and official selection festival titles.
New acquisitions
Moon The Panda is the latest film from the master of the human-animal adventure tale Gilles de Maistre following Mia And The White Lion and The Wolf And The Lion.
- 5/10/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including a Béla Tarr double bill, with new 4K restorations of Damnation and Sátántangó, Léa Mysius’ The Five Devils, Radu Jude’s short The Potemkinists, and Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching the Fists.
They will also present a series on past Cannes Film Festival selections with films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Alice Rohrwacher, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Jeremy Saulnier, and more. Ana Vaz’s The Age of Stone and most recent work It is Night in America will arrive on the service, plus a Merchant Ivory series.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
May 1 – Blind Spot, directed by Claudia von Alemann | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
May 2 – Heat and Dust, directed by James Ivory | Gilded Passions: Films by Merchant Ivory
May 3 – Damnation, directed by Béla Tarr | Béla Tarr: A Double Bill
May 4 – The Bostonians, directed by...
They will also present a series on past Cannes Film Festival selections with films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Alice Rohrwacher, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Jeremy Saulnier, and more. Ana Vaz’s The Age of Stone and most recent work It is Night in America will arrive on the service, plus a Merchant Ivory series.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
May 1 – Blind Spot, directed by Claudia von Alemann | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
May 2 – Heat and Dust, directed by James Ivory | Gilded Passions: Films by Merchant Ivory
May 3 – Damnation, directed by Béla Tarr | Béla Tarr: A Double Bill
May 4 – The Bostonians, directed by...
- 4/21/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here penning the weekly mailer a day after Cannes revealed its long-awaited lineup. Read on for all the details and plenty more, and sign up to the International Insider here.
Cannes Lineup Roars
Few surprises: Zac Ntim here reporting on Cannes …Cannes General Delegate Thierry Frémaux announced 52 titles Thursday morning that will debut at the festival’s 76th edition, which runs May 16-27 on the Riviera. There were few surprises in the Official Competition lineup, with festival favorites such as Wes Anderson, Ken Loach, Nanni Moretti and Hirokazu Kore-eda vying for the Palme d’Or alongside long-rumored entries from Alice Rohrwacher, Jonathan Glazer and Aki Kaurismäki. The festival did, however, clock six films with women filmmakers playing in competition, a new record for Cannes. With 19 competition titles announced, however, six still remains far below that elusive 50% parity mark. Progress has been slow. This year’s...
Cannes Lineup Roars
Few surprises: Zac Ntim here reporting on Cannes …Cannes General Delegate Thierry Frémaux announced 52 titles Thursday morning that will debut at the festival’s 76th edition, which runs May 16-27 on the Riviera. There were few surprises in the Official Competition lineup, with festival favorites such as Wes Anderson, Ken Loach, Nanni Moretti and Hirokazu Kore-eda vying for the Palme d’Or alongside long-rumored entries from Alice Rohrwacher, Jonathan Glazer and Aki Kaurismäki. The festival did, however, clock six films with women filmmakers playing in competition, a new record for Cannes. With 19 competition titles announced, however, six still remains far below that elusive 50% parity mark. Progress has been slow. This year’s...
- 4/14/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
The morning of the Cannes lineup press conference is often described by movie journalists as ‘Christmas for arthouse film-lovers’. Yesterday was no different, with fest head Thierry Frémaux returning in his role as Santa to dole out gifts to a bevvy of expectant industry and writers.
Below are some of the key talking points from another intriguing lineup, which will be officially unwrapped from May 16th.
To Compete Or Not To Compete?
As it stands, Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon will play Out Of Competition. However, Thierry Frémaux spelled out that he has been trying to convince Apple and Scorsese that their film should play in Competition. So far, the Moon is not for turning. The conversation is ongoing, so things could change — there is still space in the Competition. So what’s the issue? It was a real coup for the festival to get the Apple movie,...
Below are some of the key talking points from another intriguing lineup, which will be officially unwrapped from May 16th.
To Compete Or Not To Compete?
As it stands, Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon will play Out Of Competition. However, Thierry Frémaux spelled out that he has been trying to convince Apple and Scorsese that their film should play in Competition. So far, the Moon is not for turning. The conversation is ongoing, so things could change — there is still space in the Competition. So what’s the issue? It was a real coup for the festival to get the Apple movie,...
- 4/14/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
In total, Cannes Film Festival General Delegate Thierry Frémaux today announced 52 titles that will debut at the 76th edition, which runs May 16-27 on the Riviera, and which he dedicated to the late producer and Telluride co-founder Tom Luddy. It’s set up to be yet another starry affair — though to outdo last year’s Top Gun: Maverick screening replete with French fighter jets buzzing the Palais would be a real feat.
Perhaps Harrison Ford, just shy of his 81st birthday, could ride up the red carpet on a steed, snapping a bullwhip to John Williams’ iconic theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark when Disney/Lucasfilm’s James Mangold-directed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny world premieres out of competition on May 18. Certainly, if the mega-ensemble from Wes Anderson’s competition entry Asteroid City (Focus) — which includes Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bryan Cranston,...
Perhaps Harrison Ford, just shy of his 81st birthday, could ride up the red carpet on a steed, snapping a bullwhip to John Williams’ iconic theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark when Disney/Lucasfilm’s James Mangold-directed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny world premieres out of competition on May 18. Certainly, if the mega-ensemble from Wes Anderson’s competition entry Asteroid City (Focus) — which includes Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bryan Cranston,...
- 4/13/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
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