Rome-based sales outfit Intramovies has picked up international rights to “My Uncle Jens,” the directorial debut of Norwegian helmer of Kurdish origin Brwa Vahabpour, credited for the hit series “Countrymen.”
Renée Hansen Mlodyszewski, associate producer on “The Worst Person in the World,” is producing for True Content Production, the Oslo branch of Scandi group True Content Entertainment, headed by Yellow Bird founder Ole Søndberg.
Anda Ionescu of Bucharest-based Tangaj Production serves as co-producer.
Crew members include cinematographer Jørgen Klüver (“Nudes”) production designer Kristian Lahn Vestby (“Nach”) and seasoned Romanian editor Cătălin Cristuțiu (“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”) who collaborated with the Norwegian Brynjar Lien Aune.
Vahabpour first caught festival attention with his 2020 short film “Silence”, selected for the Palm Spring International ShortFest. He went on to direct two episodes of the Norwegian award-winning series “Countrymen”.
Known earlier as “Europa”, the feature about family ties and cultural identity stars Peiman Azizpour...
Renée Hansen Mlodyszewski, associate producer on “The Worst Person in the World,” is producing for True Content Production, the Oslo branch of Scandi group True Content Entertainment, headed by Yellow Bird founder Ole Søndberg.
Anda Ionescu of Bucharest-based Tangaj Production serves as co-producer.
Crew members include cinematographer Jørgen Klüver (“Nudes”) production designer Kristian Lahn Vestby (“Nach”) and seasoned Romanian editor Cătălin Cristuțiu (“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”) who collaborated with the Norwegian Brynjar Lien Aune.
Vahabpour first caught festival attention with his 2020 short film “Silence”, selected for the Palm Spring International ShortFest. He went on to direct two episodes of the Norwegian award-winning series “Countrymen”.
Known earlier as “Europa”, the feature about family ties and cultural identity stars Peiman Azizpour...
- 5/14/2024
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill)
You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are...
Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg (Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill)
You can’t always get what you want, unless you are a Rolling Stones fan hungering for documentary deep-dives into the band’s storied history. Indeed, it is spectacularly serendipitous that Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg arrives just a few months after The Stones and Brian Jones. The latter doc, from Nick Broomfield, centered on Jones, the band’s founder and leader until Mick Jagger and Keith Richards snatched that mantle. Catching Fire and The Stones and Brian Jones cover much of the same ground, use some of the same archival footage, and even feature the same anecdotes from delightful Tin Drum director Volker Schlöndorff. The films are...
- 5/3/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Sovereign is proud to announce that award-winning Mexican director Amat Escalante’s powerful thriller Lost In The Night received its UK premiere at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival, as part of the ‘Thrill’ section, and now the film is available to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
From acclaimed Mexican director Amat Escalante, following Heli, for which he won Best Director at Cannes in 2013, and The Untamed, which won him the Best Director prize at Venice in 2016, comes Lost In The Night, a taut, engrossing thriller that blends traditional elements of Latin American cinema with astute social commentary on Mexican society and contemporary influencer culture.
The film, which premiered at Cannes this year, stars Juan Daniel García Treviño (Narcos México), and Latin American influencer superstar Ester Expósito, who has 27 million followers, and features a superb score by Stranger Things composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein.
The film...
From acclaimed Mexican director Amat Escalante, following Heli, for which he won Best Director at Cannes in 2013, and The Untamed, which won him the Best Director prize at Venice in 2016, comes Lost In The Night, a taut, engrossing thriller that blends traditional elements of Latin American cinema with astute social commentary on Mexican society and contemporary influencer culture.
The film, which premiered at Cannes this year, stars Juan Daniel García Treviño (Narcos México), and Latin American influencer superstar Ester Expósito, who has 27 million followers, and features a superb score by Stranger Things composers Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein.
The film...
- 4/11/2024
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Radu Jude’s aptly and immensely titled new film, “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World,” only vaguely touches on the existential threat — or promise? — of artificial intelligence. But for any filmmaker, AI is a no-longer-looming reality one must tangle with. In fact, it’s an agent of chaos for the creative community even though machine learning has long been used to enhance productions.
So while artificial intelligence has been with us for a long time, it’s now taken on a scarier late-capitalist dimension, with ChatGPT and other AI-driven means to industry cost-cutting feeding fears about consent (with protections against AI a major point for SAG-AFTRA in its recent strike negotiations out of the strikes) and compressed job opportunity for actual human beings.
Suddenly, a self-navigating car seems more viable than an underpaid driver running late and exhausted. Suddenly, digitally capturing the likeness of an...
So while artificial intelligence has been with us for a long time, it’s now taken on a scarier late-capitalist dimension, with ChatGPT and other AI-driven means to industry cost-cutting feeding fears about consent (with protections against AI a major point for SAG-AFTRA in its recent strike negotiations out of the strikes) and compressed job opportunity for actual human beings.
Suddenly, a self-navigating car seems more viable than an underpaid driver running late and exhausted. Suddenly, digitally capturing the likeness of an...
- 3/22/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude has a pile of awards to his name — including a 2021 Berlinale Golden Bear for “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” — and isn’t too stressed about Academy Awards.
The provocation-making director, whose politically-bristly latest “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World” arrives in select U.S. theaters next week, has repped Romania four times in the Best International Feature Oscar race — including for “Do Not Expect Too Much.” He’s never even been shortlisted, and as he told IndieWire in a recent Zoom conversation from his homeland, where he’s already at work on new films, he’s never even watched the Oscars.
“I don’t care about the type of cinema that is promoted by the Oscars. I mean, most of them,” he said. “Of course, I watch [the films]. I appreciate some of them. I like very much Martin Scorsese’s film,...
The provocation-making director, whose politically-bristly latest “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World” arrives in select U.S. theaters next week, has repped Romania four times in the Best International Feature Oscar race — including for “Do Not Expect Too Much.” He’s never even been shortlisted, and as he told IndieWire in a recent Zoom conversation from his homeland, where he’s already at work on new films, he’s never even watched the Oscars.
“I don’t care about the type of cinema that is promoted by the Oscars. I mean, most of them,” he said. “Of course, I watch [the films]. I appreciate some of them. I like very much Martin Scorsese’s film,...
- 3/15/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
U.K.-based film production and distribution company Sovereign is expanding across the Atlantic with the launch of a distribution arm in the U.S.
With a plan to release two to three titles a year theatrically and across VOD platforms, the first film slated for release from the new entity is Laurent Nègre’s World War II thriller “A Forgotten Man,” which Sovereign also produced. Set in 1945 after the surrender of Nazi Germany, the story follows the Swiss ambassador (played by Michael Neuenschwander) after he leaves Berlin, but finds himself haunted by his past.
The film, which recently had its U.S. premiere at the Miami Jewish Film Festival and first bowed in Zurich, was released in the U.K. by Sovereign with support from the Swiss Confederation and Swiss Films. Its U.S. release is now slated for April.
Andreas Roald, who first founded Sovereign in 2008, and the head of U.
With a plan to release two to three titles a year theatrically and across VOD platforms, the first film slated for release from the new entity is Laurent Nègre’s World War II thriller “A Forgotten Man,” which Sovereign also produced. Set in 1945 after the surrender of Nazi Germany, the story follows the Swiss ambassador (played by Michael Neuenschwander) after he leaves Berlin, but finds himself haunted by his past.
The film, which recently had its U.S. premiere at the Miami Jewish Film Festival and first bowed in Zurich, was released in the U.K. by Sovereign with support from the Swiss Confederation and Swiss Films. Its U.S. release is now slated for April.
Andreas Roald, who first founded Sovereign in 2008, and the head of U.
- 1/25/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
The Berlin Film Festival, which runs Feb. 15-25, has revealed the lineup of its Berlinale Co-Production Market.
Producers of 34 film projects from 27 countries will be pitching to potential financing and co-production partners at the 21st Berlinale Co-Production Market, which runs Feb. 17-21. Seventeen projects are directed by women. There were 318 submissions, a slight increase from last year.
Eighteen of the projects are already partly financed with budgets ranging between Euros 600,000 and Euros 5 million ($5.47 million). Among the directors whose new works are likely to spark interest are Ukrainian filmmakers Kateryna Gornostai, who won a Crystal Bear for “Stop-Zemlia” in 2021, and Antonio Lukich, the director of “Luxembourg, Luxembourg,” which played in Venice in 2022, Italy’s Andrea Pallaoro, Serbian director and actor Mirjana Karanović, and the Chinese-Japanese directing duo Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka.
The Berlinale Directors section features three brand-new projects by directors who have had films at the Berlinale in the past: “Alma” from Sally Potter,...
Producers of 34 film projects from 27 countries will be pitching to potential financing and co-production partners at the 21st Berlinale Co-Production Market, which runs Feb. 17-21. Seventeen projects are directed by women. There were 318 submissions, a slight increase from last year.
Eighteen of the projects are already partly financed with budgets ranging between Euros 600,000 and Euros 5 million ($5.47 million). Among the directors whose new works are likely to spark interest are Ukrainian filmmakers Kateryna Gornostai, who won a Crystal Bear for “Stop-Zemlia” in 2021, and Antonio Lukich, the director of “Luxembourg, Luxembourg,” which played in Venice in 2022, Italy’s Andrea Pallaoro, Serbian director and actor Mirjana Karanović, and the Chinese-Japanese directing duo Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka.
The Berlinale Directors section features three brand-new projects by directors who have had films at the Berlinale in the past: “Alma” from Sally Potter,...
- 1/9/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
“Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” from Romania’s Radu Jude, added to its ever larger silverware collection, winning the top Albar Award at Spain’s Gijón Festival.
Gijón’s big win join not only a Special Jury Prize at August’s Locarno Film Festival, where the film was the most talked about – one of Jude’s aims– and lauded of competition titles among reviewers, plus a Chicago Silver Hugo best performance nod (Ilinca Manolache) in October and a Lisbon Fest Jury Prize late last month.
Over 61 editions, and most especially when José Luis Cienfuegos, now Valladolid chief, took over its reins in 1995, the Gijón-Xijón Film Festival (Ficx) has carved out an identity as highlighting edgier international auteurs and indie fare, moving into promoting often more singular movies from a burgeoning new generation of Spanish filmmakers, greeted with enthusiasm by discerning and predominantly YA audiences...
Gijón’s big win join not only a Special Jury Prize at August’s Locarno Film Festival, where the film was the most talked about – one of Jude’s aims– and lauded of competition titles among reviewers, plus a Chicago Silver Hugo best performance nod (Ilinca Manolache) in October and a Lisbon Fest Jury Prize late last month.
Over 61 editions, and most especially when José Luis Cienfuegos, now Valladolid chief, took over its reins in 1995, the Gijón-Xijón Film Festival (Ficx) has carved out an identity as highlighting edgier international auteurs and indie fare, moving into promoting often more singular movies from a burgeoning new generation of Spanish filmmakers, greeted with enthusiasm by discerning and predominantly YA audiences...
- 11/27/2023
- by Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
When Roma actress-turned-director Alina Șerban reflects on her life, rising from an impoverished background in Bucharest to become an acclaimed and groundbreaking force on stage and screen, she describes it as “an urban Cinderella story.” A review from one of her first stage shows, she says, sums it up best: “Roma actress beats the odds.”
As a multi-faceted artist, Șerban has dedicated her life and career to reframing the narrative about her marginalized community. Now she’s developing her feature-length directorial debut, “I Matter,” a deeply personal story about a young Roma woman studying to be an actor who, faced with the threat of being kicked out of her orphanage, must suddenly confront the reality of making it through life on her own.
“I Matter” is among the projects being pitched this week at the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, which takes places Nov. 5 – 9 during the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Written and directed by Șerban,...
As a multi-faceted artist, Șerban has dedicated her life and career to reframing the narrative about her marginalized community. Now she’s developing her feature-length directorial debut, “I Matter,” a deeply personal story about a young Roma woman studying to be an actor who, faced with the threat of being kicked out of her orphanage, must suddenly confront the reality of making it through life on her own.
“I Matter” is among the projects being pitched this week at the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, which takes places Nov. 5 – 9 during the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Written and directed by Șerban,...
- 11/5/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
In “Familiar,” Berlinale Golden Bear-winning director Călin Peter Netzer follows Dragoş Binder, a film director, as he delves into the murky secrets of his family, and tries to exorcise the trauma of his childhood by making a film about it. Beta Cinema is handling world sales for the film, which has its world premiere this month at Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia.
In the film, Dragoş is trying to understand how his family were able to leave Romania in the early 80s, during the most oppressive period of Nicolae Ceausescu’s rule. Dragoş also seeks to discover the truth of the breakdown in the marriage between his father, Emil, and mother, Valentina, and the true nature of Valentina’s relationship with swimming instructor Harald Stern, a suspected informant for the secret police, the Securitate.
The trailer for “Familiar”
Emanuel Pârvu, who appeared in Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes award winner “Graduation,...
In the film, Dragoş is trying to understand how his family were able to leave Romania in the early 80s, during the most oppressive period of Nicolae Ceausescu’s rule. Dragoş also seeks to discover the truth of the breakdown in the marriage between his father, Emil, and mother, Valentina, and the true nature of Valentina’s relationship with swimming instructor Harald Stern, a suspected informant for the secret police, the Securitate.
The trailer for “Familiar”
Emanuel Pârvu, who appeared in Cristian Mungiu’s Cannes award winner “Graduation,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Leading European artists, including Maria Choustova (“Donbass”), Sergei Loznitsa (“Donbass”), Pawel Lozinski (“Film balkonowy”) and Radu Jude (“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”), have taken a stand to support the Israeli film community as it seeks to rally voices and help free over 220 hostages in Gaza.
These names penned a heartfelt letter addressing the resurgence of antisemitism across Europe and the significant part that European artists must play in raising the alarm. The letter will be sent to the European Film Academy with a request to circulate it among its 3,000 members ahead of the European Film Awards ceremony on Dec. 9.
In Israel, prominent filmmakers such as Ari Folman, Hagai Levi, Jasmine Kainy, Eliran Peled and Joseph Cedar (“Footnote”) have spearheaded an online campaign called Bring Them Home Now, documenting the stories of relatives whose loved ones, including children and elderly people, were abducted during the Hamas terror attack on Oct.
These names penned a heartfelt letter addressing the resurgence of antisemitism across Europe and the significant part that European artists must play in raising the alarm. The letter will be sent to the European Film Academy with a request to circulate it among its 3,000 members ahead of the European Film Awards ceremony on Dec. 9.
In Israel, prominent filmmakers such as Ari Folman, Hagai Levi, Jasmine Kainy, Eliran Peled and Joseph Cedar (“Footnote”) have spearheaded an online campaign called Bring Them Home Now, documenting the stories of relatives whose loved ones, including children and elderly people, were abducted during the Hamas terror attack on Oct.
- 11/2/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Just when we thought that Radu Jude’s naming scheme couldn’t get any more complicated with his previous narrative essayistic experiment — Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn — he has decided to amuse us with yet another film with a tongue-twister as its name. Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End of the World is Jude’s latest experimental comedy. which recently won a Special Jury Prize in the International Competition selection at the Locarno Film Festival. The film is also due to play at Toronto, London, and New York film festivals in the coming months.
The action opens with a message saying that the film we’re about to watch is a conversation, or rather a dialogue, with an older Romanian film Angela Moves On (1981). This dialogue unfolds in a sort of one-two rhythm where, as we’re introduced to the contemporary state of affairs, we...
The action opens with a message saying that the film we’re about to watch is a conversation, or rather a dialogue, with an older Romanian film Angela Moves On (1981). This dialogue unfolds in a sort of one-two rhythm where, as we’re introduced to the contemporary state of affairs, we...
- 9/9/2023
- by Nikola Jovic
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, which has just been submitted as Romania’s official entry into the Best International Feature Film Oscar race, has been picked up by Mubi for multiple key territories.
Related: Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners: Photo Gallery
The streamer has taken all rights for U.S. and streaming rights for Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Turkey and Latin America in advance of its North American premiere at Toronto on September 9.
Sales company Heretic has also cinched distribution deals in a flurry of territories: I Wonder Pictures (Italy); Filmin (Spain); Njutafilms; Films4U (Portugal); Aurora (Poland); Filmgarten (Austria); European Film Forum Scanorama (Lithuania); and Cinobo (Greece). Warner Bros. Discovery has picked up Eastern and Central European rights and will be shown on HBO, HBO Max and Cinemax in Czech Republic, Slovak Republic,...
Related: Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners: Photo Gallery
The streamer has taken all rights for U.S. and streaming rights for Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, India, Turkey and Latin America in advance of its North American premiere at Toronto on September 9.
Sales company Heretic has also cinched distribution deals in a flurry of territories: I Wonder Pictures (Italy); Filmin (Spain); Njutafilms; Films4U (Portugal); Aurora (Poland); Filmgarten (Austria); European Film Forum Scanorama (Lithuania); and Cinobo (Greece). Warner Bros. Discovery has picked up Eastern and Central European rights and will be shown on HBO, HBO Max and Cinemax in Czech Republic, Slovak Republic,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Sovereign has acquired the U.K. and Ireland rights to Radu Jude’s latest feature, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” which won the special jury prize at Locarno Film Festival.
Written and directed by Jude, the comedy stars Ilinca Manolache, Ovidiu Pîrșan, Dorina Lazăr, László Miske, Katia Pascariu and Sofia Nicolaescu, with cameos from Nina Hoss and Uwe Boll. According to its official synopsis, the film follows an overworked production assistant who is instructed to “film a workplace safety video commissioned by a multinational company. But an interviewee makes a statement which forces him to reinvent his story to suit the company’s narrative.”
“Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” recently premiered at Locarno, where it was nominated for the Golden Leopard Award for best film and won the festival’s special jury prize. The film was well-received by critics at the fest,...
Written and directed by Jude, the comedy stars Ilinca Manolache, Ovidiu Pîrșan, Dorina Lazăr, László Miske, Katia Pascariu and Sofia Nicolaescu, with cameos from Nina Hoss and Uwe Boll. According to its official synopsis, the film follows an overworked production assistant who is instructed to “film a workplace safety video commissioned by a multinational company. But an interviewee makes a statement which forces him to reinvent his story to suit the company’s narrative.”
“Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World” recently premiered at Locarno, where it was nominated for the Golden Leopard Award for best film and won the festival’s special jury prize. The film was well-received by critics at the fest,...
- 8/16/2023
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Locarno — Switzerland’s Locarno Fest hit its final straits on Wednesday evening with “Spring Breakers” director Harmony Korine, among a slim roster of on-site stars, set to arrive to accept in person an Honorary Golden Pard.
Otherwise, the dust is settling on activities at the festival’s vibrant industry arm, Locarno Pro, which broke all-time attendance records with 1,530 delegates, and on a market which, however relaxed, says much about larger forces rocking the arthouse and crossover business worldwide:
Arthouse Crunch
Over the last decade, theatrical arthouse markets have imploded soufflé-like. “We used to make 5,000 admissions per title, now the target audience is 500,” Peter Bognar, at Hungary’s CinefilCo, told Variety at Locarno. So, to close the gap and move hopefully into a little upside, having tapped subsidies and local TV pre-buys, producers are looking ever more to overseas public-sector coin, channelled via international co-producer partners. Tapping that not by chance...
Otherwise, the dust is settling on activities at the festival’s vibrant industry arm, Locarno Pro, which broke all-time attendance records with 1,530 delegates, and on a market which, however relaxed, says much about larger forces rocking the arthouse and crossover business worldwide:
Arthouse Crunch
Over the last decade, theatrical arthouse markets have imploded soufflé-like. “We used to make 5,000 admissions per title, now the target audience is 500,” Peter Bognar, at Hungary’s CinefilCo, told Variety at Locarno. So, to close the gap and move hopefully into a little upside, having tapped subsidies and local TV pre-buys, producers are looking ever more to overseas public-sector coin, channelled via international co-producer partners. Tapping that not by chance...
- 8/9/2023
- by John Hopewell and Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Nobody can be both the magnifying glass and the ant burning up under its glare. Nobody, that is, except shaggy Romanian shaman Radu Jude who, with his Locarno competition entry “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World,” follows up 2021’s Berlinale-winning “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” with a dizzying, dazzling feat of social critique, an all-fronts-at-once attack on the zeitgeist, and a mischievous, often hilarious work of art about the artifice of work. Funny and furious, crude and subtle, unkempt and thoroughly disciplined, this deranged movie is also maybe the sanest film of the year: a multifaceted manifesto exposing the absurd internalized fallacy that one must work in order to live, when it’s work — as in, the pitiless daily grind — that will be the death of us all.
Life is short but art is long, the saying goes. And at two hours 43 minutes, “Do Not Expect…...
Life is short but art is long, the saying goes. And at two hours 43 minutes, “Do Not Expect…...
- 8/7/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude, whose latest feature, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” premieres Aug. 4 in competition at the Locarno Film Festival, is in post-production on his next film, Variety can reveal.
“Eight Postcards From Utopia” is a found-footage documentary assembled from advertisements made during the post-socialist period in Romania. Co-directed by Jude and the philosopher Christian Ferencz-Flatz, and edited by long-time collaborator Catalin Cristutiu, the film turns the fictional and often ludicrous medium of advertising clips into a lens on the desires, beliefs, hopes and fears of a country making the turbulent transition to democratic capitalism.
The documentary, which will be completed by the end of the year, is a continuation of a “preoccupation of mine about how images are constructed in the world,” Jude told Variety. “The use of images, the way they are made, the way they are used.”
The...
“Eight Postcards From Utopia” is a found-footage documentary assembled from advertisements made during the post-socialist period in Romania. Co-directed by Jude and the philosopher Christian Ferencz-Flatz, and edited by long-time collaborator Catalin Cristutiu, the film turns the fictional and often ludicrous medium of advertising clips into a lens on the desires, beliefs, hopes and fears of a country making the turbulent transition to democratic capitalism.
The documentary, which will be completed by the end of the year, is a continuation of a “preoccupation of mine about how images are constructed in the world,” Jude told Variety. “The use of images, the way they are made, the way they are used.”
The...
- 8/3/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Easy to overlook in the looming shadow of the Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals (and all of the awards season hoopla they portend), Switzerland’s historic Locarno Film Festival has remained so distinct and essential precisely because of its refusal to concede to industry pressures or chase attention over artistry.
While the magical Piazza Grande has been home to its fair share of glitzy outdoor screenings over the years — last year saw the 8,000-seat town square transform into an impromptu “Bullet Train” station, for example, while this year’s fest will host open-air screenings of everything from “Theater Camp” to Federico Fellini’s “City of Women” — Locarno has always prided itself on providing a more curious and less hostile platform for elite auteurs whose work may not conform to the commercial demands of the international marketplace; recent winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Leopard award include Hong Sang-soo,...
While the magical Piazza Grande has been home to its fair share of glitzy outdoor screenings over the years — last year saw the 8,000-seat town square transform into an impromptu “Bullet Train” station, for example, while this year’s fest will host open-air screenings of everything from “Theater Camp” to Federico Fellini’s “City of Women” — Locarno has always prided itself on providing a more curious and less hostile platform for elite auteurs whose work may not conform to the commercial demands of the international marketplace; recent winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Leopard award include Hong Sang-soo,...
- 8/1/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
International competition features 16 world premieres.
The Locarno Film Festival (August 2-12) has revealed the line-up for its 76th edition, which includes the world premiere of Romanian director Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End Of The World.
Locarno’s international competition will comprise 17 films, including 16 world premieres, which will vie for the coveted Golden Leopard awards.
Scroll down for full list of titles
These titles include Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End Of The World, his first feature since winning the Berlinale Golden Bear for Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn in...
The Locarno Film Festival (August 2-12) has revealed the line-up for its 76th edition, which includes the world premiere of Romanian director Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End Of The World.
Locarno’s international competition will comprise 17 films, including 16 world premieres, which will vie for the coveted Golden Leopard awards.
Scroll down for full list of titles
These titles include Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much Of The End Of The World, his first feature since winning the Berlinale Golden Bear for Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn in...
- 7/5/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
The Locarno International Film Festival unveiled the full program for 2023 on Wednesday, with dozens of world premieres set to screen in the 76th edition of the Swiss festival.
Locarno’s main Piazza Grande section will include several of this season’s festival favorites, among them Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall from French director Justine Triet starring Sandra Hüller; Ken Loach’s latest (and possibly last) feature, The Old Oak; Noora Niasari’s Sundance audience award winner Shayda, featuring Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi; and Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman’s comedy Theater Camp, which won a special jury prize at Sundance. Other highlights include U.S. horror feature Falling Stars by directors Richard Karpala and Gabriel Bienczycki; Dammi from 71′ and White Boy Rick-helmer Yann Demange; and Magnetic Continent, the new nature documentary from March of the Penguins‘ filmmaker Luc Jacquet about the continent of Antarctica.
Locarno’s main Piazza Grande section will include several of this season’s festival favorites, among them Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall from French director Justine Triet starring Sandra Hüller; Ken Loach’s latest (and possibly last) feature, The Old Oak; Noora Niasari’s Sundance audience award winner Shayda, featuring Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi; and Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman’s comedy Theater Camp, which won a special jury prize at Sundance. Other highlights include U.S. horror feature Falling Stars by directors Richard Karpala and Gabriel Bienczycki; Dammi from 71′ and White Boy Rick-helmer Yann Demange; and Magnetic Continent, the new nature documentary from March of the Penguins‘ filmmaker Luc Jacquet about the continent of Antarctica.
- 7/5/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Amid turbulent times for global streaming services who continue to course correct after years of pursuing subscriber growth at all costs, TV writers and producers in Eastern Europe are pondering the next step for a region still searching for its first international breakout hit.
“The biggest challenge is the great Netflix correction — the recalibration, the reassessment of dollars,” Ioanina Pavel, who served as creative producer on the HBO Max original series “Spy/Master,” said Friday at the Transilvania Film Festival. “It’s not a bad thing, but it is a challenge. There’s been a glut. The Golden Age of TV is now coming to a close. It’s not a bad thing; it just means a reallocation of money.”
“Spy/Master,” a six-part drama series set during the Cold War that dropped its final episode last week, is one of the last productions from Central and Eastern Europe for Max, after...
“The biggest challenge is the great Netflix correction — the recalibration, the reassessment of dollars,” Ioanina Pavel, who served as creative producer on the HBO Max original series “Spy/Master,” said Friday at the Transilvania Film Festival. “It’s not a bad thing, but it is a challenge. There’s been a glut. The Golden Age of TV is now coming to a close. It’s not a bad thing; it just means a reallocation of money.”
“Spy/Master,” a six-part drama series set during the Cold War that dropped its final episode last week, is one of the last productions from Central and Eastern Europe for Max, after...
- 6/17/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
When “Avatar 2: Way of the Water” surged to the top of the Romanian box office earlier this year to become the highest-grossing film of all time, it marked an auspicious sign for a theatrical business still looking to recover from the doldrums of the coronavirus pandemic.
Yet local industry-watchers were even more encouraged to see a historic first in 2022, with two Romanian films cracking the top 10 at the year-end box office — a striking achievement for an industry that hasn’t historically been known for cranking out crowd-pleasing hits.
Topping the list was “Teambuilding,” a satirical workplace comedy from directors Matei Dima, Alex Coteț and Cosmin Nedelcu, which briefly reigned as the top-grossing film ever in Romania before being knocked from its perch by James Cameron’s blockbuster, which has raked in more than $8.3 million to date.
Meanwhile, first-time filmmaker Cristian Ilișuan’s “Mirciulică,” a comedy about a 30-year-old forced...
Yet local industry-watchers were even more encouraged to see a historic first in 2022, with two Romanian films cracking the top 10 at the year-end box office — a striking achievement for an industry that hasn’t historically been known for cranking out crowd-pleasing hits.
Topping the list was “Teambuilding,” a satirical workplace comedy from directors Matei Dima, Alex Coteț and Cosmin Nedelcu, which briefly reigned as the top-grossing film ever in Romania before being knocked from its perch by James Cameron’s blockbuster, which has raked in more than $8.3 million to date.
Meanwhile, first-time filmmaker Cristian Ilișuan’s “Mirciulică,” a comedy about a 30-year-old forced...
- 6/13/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we shine a spotlight on industry players outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week we’re talking to Heretic co-founder Giorgos Karnavas about the growth of his Athens-based production and sales house he started in 2013 with Konstantinos Kontovrakis. The company played a pivotal role in co-producing Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner and Oscar contender Triangle of Sadness, its first English-language production.
Giorgos Karnavas is a little jet-lagged, but it’s been for the worthiest of causes. When Deadline sits down with the Heretic co-founder, he has just arrived back in Athens after a whirlwind trip to L.A. where he attended the Oscars for the first time with his co-production Triangle of Sadness. The Palme d’Or-winning title was up for Best Picture as well as Best Director for Ruben Östlund and, while it came away empty-handed,...
Giorgos Karnavas is a little jet-lagged, but it’s been for the worthiest of causes. When Deadline sits down with the Heretic co-founder, he has just arrived back in Athens after a whirlwind trip to L.A. where he attended the Oscars for the first time with his co-production Triangle of Sadness. The Palme d’Or-winning title was up for Best Picture as well as Best Director for Ruben Östlund and, while it came away empty-handed,...
- 3/22/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Director Liu Jian was previously in Competition with ‘Have A Nice Day’ in 2017.
The Berlinale has made a last-minute addition to its Competition lineup with Chinese filmmaker Liu Jian’s animated feature Art College 1994 and revealed its competition juries.
Art College 1994 will receive its world premiere at the festival’s 73rd edition, which runs February 16-26, and marks Liu’s third feature after 2010’s Piercing I and Have A Nice Day, which became the first Chinese animation ever selected to play in Competition at the Berlinale in 2017.
Art College 1994 is set among a group of students in China in the...
The Berlinale has made a last-minute addition to its Competition lineup with Chinese filmmaker Liu Jian’s animated feature Art College 1994 and revealed its competition juries.
Art College 1994 will receive its world premiere at the festival’s 73rd edition, which runs February 16-26, and marks Liu’s third feature after 2010’s Piercing I and Have A Nice Day, which became the first Chinese animation ever selected to play in Competition at the Berlinale in 2017.
Art College 1994 is set among a group of students in China in the...
- 2/1/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Italy-based sales agent Lights On has acquired world rights for “Mammalia” by Romanian director Sebastian Mihăilescu, ahead of its world premiere in the Berlinale Forum strand. It has debuted the film’s trailer (below).
In “Mammalia,” 39-year-old Camil (István Téglás) embarks on a dreamlike trip where the banal and the surreal merge. Struggling to come to terms with losing control – of his work, his social status, his relationship – Camil sets off on a search that leads him to question the basis of his identity as a man. He pursues his girlfriend (Mălina Manovici) into an increasingly bizarre and disturbing world of community and ritual before being confronted by a tragi-comic role-reversal that leads us to question everything.
Mihăilescu comments: “The film satirizes the way that classic binary gender roles are often rigidly defined in society, and it highlights the performative nature of gender identity, emphasizing the ways in which, by assuming our gendered role,...
In “Mammalia,” 39-year-old Camil (István Téglás) embarks on a dreamlike trip where the banal and the surreal merge. Struggling to come to terms with losing control – of his work, his social status, his relationship – Camil sets off on a search that leads him to question the basis of his identity as a man. He pursues his girlfriend (Mălina Manovici) into an increasingly bizarre and disturbing world of community and ritual before being confronted by a tragi-comic role-reversal that leads us to question everything.
Mihăilescu comments: “The film satirizes the way that classic binary gender roles are often rigidly defined in society, and it highlights the performative nature of gender identity, emphasizing the ways in which, by assuming our gendered role,...
- 1/26/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
For the 20th edition 33 films projects from 26 countries will take part.
New features from Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan and German director Leonie Krippendorff are among those to be presented at the 20th Berliane Co-production Market (February 18 to 22), the first in-person edition since 2020.
The market will provide the opportunity for 33 projects from 26 countries to secure financing and get fired up as international co-productions in the next few years, with sales agents, broadcasters, funding bodies, streaming platforms, film distributors and other financing partners in attendance.
For the official project selection, 17 fiction feature projects with budgets between €600,000 and €5m and chosen from among 302 submissions will take part.
New features from Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan and German director Leonie Krippendorff are among those to be presented at the 20th Berliane Co-production Market (February 18 to 22), the first in-person edition since 2020.
The market will provide the opportunity for 33 projects from 26 countries to secure financing and get fired up as international co-productions in the next few years, with sales agents, broadcasters, funding bodies, streaming platforms, film distributors and other financing partners in attendance.
For the official project selection, 17 fiction feature projects with budgets between €600,000 and €5m and chosen from among 302 submissions will take part.
- 1/9/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
With everything going the way it is in the world right now, we’re laughing to keep less cheery emotions at bay. At least this bizarre, still-very-much-in-progress century has already produced any number of great comedies that you can fire up any time you need a serotonin burst, thanks to the ever-growing cadre of streaming services. The pandemic may be starting to recede but the specter of war and a tortured economy have occupied our minds instead: so, in desperate need of some humor, we thought it was more important than ever to give our Greatest Comedies of the 21st Century list, originally published in 2017 (and last updated in August 2021), a rethink.
We’ve added 25 new films to the Top 50 list we unveiled in August. At that time, we dropped a number of titles from the original list that are funny, but not necessarily comedies. And we’ve added some...
We’ve added 25 new films to the Top 50 list we unveiled in August. At that time, we dropped a number of titles from the original list that are funny, but not necessarily comedies. And we’ve added some...
- 11/13/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson, Christian Zilko and Alison Foreman
- Indiewire
Hushed audiences witnessed footage of the first Russian shells hitting cities in Ukraine on the opening night of the Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival on Tuesday as frontline filmmaking was honored.
Oksana Moiseniuk’s “8th Day of the War” screened at the Czech city’s venerable Dko cultural hall after audiences heard from the Ukrainian director via video link from Kiev, which remains under shelling in the eighth month of the war. The film’s diary-like immediacy captures the outbreak of the Russian attacks through the eyes of Ukrainians in the Czech Republic as they try to carry on with a semblance of normalcy, while their minds are consumed with the events taking place back home and they try to help any way they can.
Amid dimly lit tables in the decades-old theater building, Romanian producer Ada Solomon, a key film figure in regional art film behind “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,...
Oksana Moiseniuk’s “8th Day of the War” screened at the Czech city’s venerable Dko cultural hall after audiences heard from the Ukrainian director via video link from Kiev, which remains under shelling in the eighth month of the war. The film’s diary-like immediacy captures the outbreak of the Russian attacks through the eyes of Ukrainians in the Czech Republic as they try to carry on with a semblance of normalcy, while their minds are consumed with the events taking place back home and they try to help any way they can.
Amid dimly lit tables in the decades-old theater building, Romanian producer Ada Solomon, a key film figure in regional art film behind “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,...
- 10/26/2022
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish production and distribution company Elamedia has acquired “Tengo sueños eléctricos” (I Have Electric Dreams), the Locarno prize-winning debut by director Valentina Maurel, which will screen in the Horizontes Latinos section of the San Sebastian Film Festival. Elamedia will be releasing the film in Spanish theaters later this year.
Set in Costa Rica, “Electric Dreams” follows Eva (Daniela Marin Navarro), a strong-willed 16-year-old girl who lives with her mother, her younger sister and their cat, but desperately wants to move in with her estranged father (Reinaldo Amien Guttierez). Clinging onto him as he goes through a second adolescence, she balances between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life and the ruthlessness of the adult world.
Produced by Wrong Men (Belgium) and Geko Films (France) and co-produced with Tres Tigres (Costa Rica), the film had its world premiere in the international competition at Locarno, where Maurel won the award for best...
Set in Costa Rica, “Electric Dreams” follows Eva (Daniela Marin Navarro), a strong-willed 16-year-old girl who lives with her mother, her younger sister and their cat, but desperately wants to move in with her estranged father (Reinaldo Amien Guttierez). Clinging onto him as he goes through a second adolescence, she balances between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life and the ruthlessness of the adult world.
Produced by Wrong Men (Belgium) and Geko Films (France) and co-produced with Tres Tigres (Costa Rica), the film had its world premiere in the international competition at Locarno, where Maurel won the award for best...
- 9/17/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Heretic, the Athens-based boutique production company and sales agent, has acquired world sales rights for “Runner,” by director Marian Mathias, which will have its world premiere in the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Already sparking upbeat word of mouth, “Runner” follows Haas (Hannah Schiller), an 18-year-old girl who was raised by her father in the rural Midwest. When her father suddenly dies, she must carry out his wish to be buried in the town where he was born. There, she meets a young man named Will (Darren Houle), a lonely, creative soul who is working to support his family back home. The two form a friendship that challenges their understanding of love and loss.
“Runner” was produced by Joy Jorgensen (Killjoy) and co-produced with Nadia Turincev, Omar El Kadi (Easy Riders) and Marian Mathias (Man Alive), whose short film “Give Up the Ghost” was an official selection...
Already sparking upbeat word of mouth, “Runner” follows Haas (Hannah Schiller), an 18-year-old girl who was raised by her father in the rural Midwest. When her father suddenly dies, she must carry out his wish to be buried in the town where he was born. There, she meets a young man named Will (Darren Houle), a lonely, creative soul who is working to support his family back home. The two form a friendship that challenges their understanding of love and loss.
“Runner” was produced by Joy Jorgensen (Killjoy) and co-produced with Nadia Turincev, Omar El Kadi (Easy Riders) and Marian Mathias (Man Alive), whose short film “Give Up the Ghost” was an official selection...
- 8/5/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Heretic, the Athens-based boutique production company and sales agent, has acquired world sales rights for “Tengo sueños eléctricos” (“I Have Electric Dreams”), by director Valentina Maurel, which will have its premiere in the Locarno Film Festival’s international competition.
Set in Costa Rica, the film follows Eva (Daniela Marin Navarro), a strong-willed 16-year-old girl who lives with her mother, her younger sister and their cat, but desperately wants to move in with her estranged father (Reinaldo Amien Guttierez). Clinging onto him as he goes through a second adolescence, she balances between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life and the ruthlessness of the adult world.
Produced by Wrong Men (Belgium) and co-produced with Geko Films (France) and Tres Tigres (Costa Rica), the film straddles the fine line between love and hate, in a world where aggression and rage are intertwined with the vertigo of female sexual awakening.
“‘I Have Electric...
Set in Costa Rica, the film follows Eva (Daniela Marin Navarro), a strong-willed 16-year-old girl who lives with her mother, her younger sister and their cat, but desperately wants to move in with her estranged father (Reinaldo Amien Guttierez). Clinging onto him as he goes through a second adolescence, she balances between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life and the ruthlessness of the adult world.
Produced by Wrong Men (Belgium) and co-produced with Geko Films (France) and Tres Tigres (Costa Rica), the film straddles the fine line between love and hate, in a world where aggression and rage are intertwined with the vertigo of female sexual awakening.
“‘I Have Electric...
- 7/28/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Upcoming animation from ’My Life As A Courgette’ director Claude Barras also among recipients.
Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude’s upcoming feature A Case History is one of 24 features to receive a share of €6.5m (6.87m) in the latest round of Eurimages co-production support funding.
The film, a co-production between Romania and Croatia, has received €150,000 and marks the Romanian filmmaker’s next feature after winning the Golden Bear in 2021 with Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn.
Produced by Ada Solomon and Adrian Sitaru of Bucharest-based 4Proof Film, the story will be told in two parts. The first follows a...
Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude’s upcoming feature A Case History is one of 24 features to receive a share of €6.5m (6.87m) in the latest round of Eurimages co-production support funding.
The film, a co-production between Romania and Croatia, has received €150,000 and marks the Romanian filmmaker’s next feature after winning the Golden Bear in 2021 with Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn.
Produced by Ada Solomon and Adrian Sitaru of Bucharest-based 4Proof Film, the story will be told in two parts. The first follows a...
- 6/27/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Cristian Mungiu likes to take his time.
In terms of his craft, the Romanian filmmaker behind the Palme d’Or-winning “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” opts for long, unbroken takes, building out tension as his camera stubbornly refuses to cut away. In terms of his career, he works at a measured clip, delivering a new project on average every five years.
And in terms of his latest effort, the dense and foreboding “R.M.N.,” which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, that means putting his pieces on the board at an unhurried pace, weaving a tapestry that takes nearly half a runtime to reveal the full intricacy and artistry of its construction.
Also Read:
Cristian Mungiu’s ‘R.M.N.’ Acquired by IFC Films Ahead of Cannes Premiere
At first we struggle with the pieces of this puzzle: Who is this man in...
In terms of his craft, the Romanian filmmaker behind the Palme d’Or-winning “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” opts for long, unbroken takes, building out tension as his camera stubbornly refuses to cut away. In terms of his career, he works at a measured clip, delivering a new project on average every five years.
And in terms of his latest effort, the dense and foreboding “R.M.N.,” which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, that means putting his pieces on the board at an unhurried pace, weaving a tapestry that takes nearly half a runtime to reveal the full intricacy and artistry of its construction.
Also Read:
Cristian Mungiu’s ‘R.M.N.’ Acquired by IFC Films Ahead of Cannes Premiere
At first we struggle with the pieces of this puzzle: Who is this man in...
- 5/22/2022
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
Producers will learn about sustaining business foundations.
Match Factory Productions’ Michael Weber is one of 12 producers and film professionals on the inaugural Ace Leadership Special, a workshop to improve business prospects for industry leaders.
Supported by Creative Europe Media and the Netherlands Film Fund, the programme will take place in the Netherlands in June and in France in September this year.
Scroll down for the full list of producers
In a workshop format, the selected producers will learn how to sustain sound business foundations, improve performance and prospects for their teams, and develop personal leadership and entrepreneurial skills.
Eve Gabereau,...
Match Factory Productions’ Michael Weber is one of 12 producers and film professionals on the inaugural Ace Leadership Special, a workshop to improve business prospects for industry leaders.
Supported by Creative Europe Media and the Netherlands Film Fund, the programme will take place in the Netherlands in June and in France in September this year.
Scroll down for the full list of producers
In a workshop format, the selected producers will learn how to sustain sound business foundations, improve performance and prospects for their teams, and develop personal leadership and entrepreneurial skills.
Eve Gabereau,...
- 5/4/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Accomplished screenwriter and avid movie watcher, Daniel Waters breaks down his ‘Best of the Best of 2021’ list with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Drive My Car (2021)
A History of Violence (2005)
Larry Crowne (2011)
The Vanishing (1988)
Don’t Look Up (2021)
Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)
Gerry (2002)
Swept Away (1974)
Swept Away (2002)
The Tender Bar (2021)
Riders Of Justice (2021)
Another Round (2020)
The Worst Person In The World (2021)
Pig (2021)
Dune (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Dune (2021)
Fifty Shades Freed (2018)
Den of Thieves (2018)
Copshop (2021)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) – Neil Marshall’s trailer commentary
Magnum Force (1973) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Driver (1978)
Memoria (2021)
Berberian Sound Studio (2012)
The Power of the Dog (2021)
Old Henry (2021)
The Village (2004)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Annette (2021)
Titane (2021)
Zola (2021)
The Killing of Two Lovers (2021)
Who You Think I Am (2021)
Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar (2021)
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Drive My Car (2021)
A History of Violence (2005)
Larry Crowne (2011)
The Vanishing (1988)
Don’t Look Up (2021)
Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)
Gerry (2002)
Swept Away (1974)
Swept Away (2002)
The Tender Bar (2021)
Riders Of Justice (2021)
Another Round (2020)
The Worst Person In The World (2021)
Pig (2021)
Dune (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Dune (2021)
Fifty Shades Freed (2018)
Den of Thieves (2018)
Copshop (2021)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) – Neil Marshall’s trailer commentary
Magnum Force (1973) – Alan Spencer’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
The Driver (1978)
Memoria (2021)
Berberian Sound Studio (2012)
The Power of the Dog (2021)
Old Henry (2021)
The Village (2004)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Annette (2021)
Titane (2021)
Zola (2021)
The Killing of Two Lovers (2021)
Who You Think I Am (2021)
Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar (2021)
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy...
- 3/29/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
A humanitarian aid distribution center, a mild chaos of activity and people, all of them gathering up bags of food and supplies, loading them into SUVs, and heading off down mountain roads. It’s a public-facing show of altruism that gets laid down flat in Romanian filmmaker Radu Muntean’s latest, “Întregalde,” an incisive, mirthlessly amusing satire about the social contours of charity.
The camera briefly settles on Bucharest aid workers Cristina (Carmen Lopazan) and Radu (a quick cameo from director Muntean), and just as quickly abandons them after a scene-setting conversation about grateful aid recipients and the moral quicksand of loving one’s own virtuousness.
The story then follows three volunteers who split off from the other two: easily irritated Dan, pragmatic Ilinca and earnest Maria. Once inside Dan’s Land Rover, they’re free to gossip about Radu and Cristina and the vacation home they’re buying.
The three are headed for Întregalde,...
The camera briefly settles on Bucharest aid workers Cristina (Carmen Lopazan) and Radu (a quick cameo from director Muntean), and just as quickly abandons them after a scene-setting conversation about grateful aid recipients and the moral quicksand of loving one’s own virtuousness.
The story then follows three volunteers who split off from the other two: easily irritated Dan, pragmatic Ilinca and earnest Maria. Once inside Dan’s Land Rover, they’re free to gossip about Radu and Cristina and the vacation home they’re buying.
The three are headed for Întregalde,...
- 3/18/2022
- by Dave White
- The Wrap
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Alex van Warmerdam Collection
If you only know the work of Alex van Warmerdam as it pertains to his breakout psychological thriller Borgman, one know has a chance to dive into five other films from the Dutch director. Abel, The Northerners, The Last Days of Emma Blank, Schneider vs. Bax, and his new re-edit of Grimm are now on Film Movement Plus. We said in our review of Schneider vs. Bax, “Hitman films tend to be action-packed and heavy with tropes familiar to that particular sub-genre of thrillers. Yet Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam hopes to subvert those expectations by crafting an almost absurdist, Beckett-style drama between two contract killers hired to take out the other.”
Where to Stream: Film Movement...
The Alex van Warmerdam Collection
If you only know the work of Alex van Warmerdam as it pertains to his breakout psychological thriller Borgman, one know has a chance to dive into five other films from the Dutch director. Abel, The Northerners, The Last Days of Emma Blank, Schneider vs. Bax, and his new re-edit of Grimm are now on Film Movement Plus. We said in our review of Schneider vs. Bax, “Hitman films tend to be action-packed and heavy with tropes familiar to that particular sub-genre of thrillers. Yet Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam hopes to subvert those expectations by crafting an almost absurdist, Beckett-style drama between two contract killers hired to take out the other.”
Where to Stream: Film Movement...
- 3/11/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Unfolding just a couple of weeks after this year’s all-virtual Sundance — and a couple of weeks before the in-person return of SXSW — the 2022 edition of the Berlin International Film Festival arrived at a particularly strange moment of the pandemic, and suffered a bit for the ambivalence that surrounded it. Buzz was muted despite a star-studded competition jury led by M. Night Shyamalan and world premieres from major auteurs such as Claire Denis and Bertrand Bonello (“Coma”), both of whom came to the festival with films that explicitly responded to a Covid crisis that cast a pall over almost every title in the lineup even when the virus didn’t factor into the plot (Peter Strickland’s excellent IFC acquisition “Flux Gourmet” being a prime example).
And yet, for all of the unique difficulties that confronted this year’s Berlinale, the fest remains one of the world’s biggest and...
And yet, for all of the unique difficulties that confronted this year’s Berlinale, the fest remains one of the world’s biggest and...
- 2/23/2022
- by David Ehrlich and Jude Dry
- Indiewire
The winners for the 2022 Berlin Film Festival have been revealed. The in-person event took place this year February 10–20. The competition jury, led by president M. Night Shyamalan, included filmmaker Karim Aïnouz, producer Saïd Ben Saïd, filmmaker Anne Zohra Berrached, filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga, Oscar-nominated “Drive My Car” director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, and actor Connie Nielsen.
The festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear for Best Film, was presented by Shyamalan. “For its extraordinary performances, from the child actors to the actors in their 80s, for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy and struggle,” he awarded Spanish drama “Alcarras,” from director Carla Simon.
The festival did away with gendered acting awards once again, instead offering Silver Bears for Best Supporting and Best Lead Performance. Beloved auteur Claire Denis won best director for her romantic psychodrama “Both Sides of the Blade” — or “Fire,” as it’s known in the United States. (IFC Films has stateside rights.
The festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear for Best Film, was presented by Shyamalan. “For its extraordinary performances, from the child actors to the actors in their 80s, for the ability to show the tenderness and comedy and struggle,” he awarded Spanish drama “Alcarras,” from director Carla Simon.
The festival did away with gendered acting awards once again, instead offering Silver Bears for Best Supporting and Best Lead Performance. Beloved auteur Claire Denis won best director for her romantic psychodrama “Both Sides of the Blade” — or “Fire,” as it’s known in the United States. (IFC Films has stateside rights.
- 2/16/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
A slate of feature films is currently in development.
UK entertainment and investment company Sovereign has unveiled its new action label, titled Action Xtreme.
The new label will focus on development and creation of action content, with a slate of feature films currently in development.
In a statement, the company said: “Action Xtreme will create content featuring spectacular physical action and stunts, with a targeted focus on grassroots talent growth, development and training, and a remit to develop franchisable content for a worldwide audience.”
The label aims to produce two or three titles a year, with budgets ranging from $1m-$10m,...
UK entertainment and investment company Sovereign has unveiled its new action label, titled Action Xtreme.
The new label will focus on development and creation of action content, with a slate of feature films currently in development.
In a statement, the company said: “Action Xtreme will create content featuring spectacular physical action and stunts, with a targeted focus on grassroots talent growth, development and training, and a remit to develop franchisable content for a worldwide audience.”
The label aims to produce two or three titles a year, with budgets ranging from $1m-$10m,...
- 2/16/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Sovereign Distribution has launched a new label to develop action content for film and TV.
Action Xtreme will be headed up by writer and director Chee Keong Cheung, with Sovereign founder and CEO Andreas Roald joining the board. The label will join the U.K. outfit’s various other arms, which span film production, distribution, television, theater and music publishing.
The company has said Action Xtreme will “create content featuring spectacular physical action and stunts, with a targeted focus on grassroots talent growth, development and training, and a remit to develop franchisable content for a worldwide audience.”
Action Xtreme will develop talent and action-based content across feature films, TV series, graphic novels, novels, multi-platform computer games and merchandise. It will also tap into a U.K. fan base for action content via social media, as well as recruiting brand ambassadors and collaborating with prominent figures in the action industry.
Cheung...
Action Xtreme will be headed up by writer and director Chee Keong Cheung, with Sovereign founder and CEO Andreas Roald joining the board. The label will join the U.K. outfit’s various other arms, which span film production, distribution, television, theater and music publishing.
The company has said Action Xtreme will “create content featuring spectacular physical action and stunts, with a targeted focus on grassroots talent growth, development and training, and a remit to develop franchisable content for a worldwide audience.”
Action Xtreme will develop talent and action-based content across feature films, TV series, graphic novels, novels, multi-platform computer games and merchandise. It will also tap into a U.K. fan base for action content via social media, as well as recruiting brand ambassadors and collaborating with prominent figures in the action industry.
Cheung...
- 2/15/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude (“Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”) is set to begin production in Romania on his next feature, Variety can reveal.
“A Case History” analyzes the relations between individuals and multinational companies in the mad dash of new Romanian capitalism, starting from the real story of preparing and shooting a problematic work safety video. Principal photography is slated to begin in summer or early fall.
“The film is composed of two parts which respond to each other, forming a diptych of sorts,” Jude told Variety. “Each of them explores a certain aspect of the main theme, and the final picture is obtained by juxtaposing the two of them in what we can call ‘a tale of cinema and economy.’” It is a film about work relations, but also a film about images and the way they are made and their place in society.
The first...
“A Case History” analyzes the relations between individuals and multinational companies in the mad dash of new Romanian capitalism, starting from the real story of preparing and shooting a problematic work safety video. Principal photography is slated to begin in summer or early fall.
“The film is composed of two parts which respond to each other, forming a diptych of sorts,” Jude told Variety. “Each of them explores a certain aspect of the main theme, and the final picture is obtained by juxtaposing the two of them in what we can call ‘a tale of cinema and economy.’” It is a film about work relations, but also a film about images and the way they are made and their place in society.
The first...
- 2/10/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
It’s rare that our favorite film of the year actually receives love from the Academy, but there’s an exception as Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car racked up four nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. The three-hour Murakami adaptation also features one of the best scores of the year, courtesy Eiko Ishibashi.
While the score has Drive My Car Score & Watch Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Music Video”>been available to listen for some time, it’s now getting an official release via Newhere Music/Space Shower Music featuring two bonus tracks. Working with longtime collaborator Jim O’Rourke (who also mixed and mastered the soundtrack), Ishibashiʼs wistful score synthesizes jazzy instrumentals with romantic strings and lush electronics. This release of the soundtrack features new songs “Drive My Car (Hiroshima)” and “ʻWeʼll live through the long, long days, and through the long nightsʼ...
While the score has Drive My Car Score & Watch Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Music Video”>been available to listen for some time, it’s now getting an official release via Newhere Music/Space Shower Music featuring two bonus tracks. Working with longtime collaborator Jim O’Rourke (who also mixed and mastered the soundtrack), Ishibashiʼs wistful score synthesizes jazzy instrumentals with romantic strings and lush electronics. This release of the soundtrack features new songs “Drive My Car (Hiroshima)” and “ʻWeʼll live through the long, long days, and through the long nightsʼ...
- 2/9/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
New Release Wall
“House of Gucci” (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) The legendary and legendarily vicious Gucci fashion empire gets the old-fashioned big movie treatment with Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Lady Gaga. Is it kind of ridiculous? Yes, but it’s also the reboot of “Dynasty” you never knew you wanted, one that’s best watched with a living room full of your rowdiest and most opinionated friends. Everyone in the movie is doing a variation on Italian-accented English, the settings are opulent, and Gaga is giving look after look after hat after hat and you will respect the wild, criminal duh-raaamaaa of it all.
Also Available:
“American Underdog” (Lionsgate) Zachary Levi stars as NFL champ Kurt Warner, who overcame multiple challenges and setbacks on the road to football glory.
“Apex” (Rlje Films) Bruce Willis must kill or be killed in order to escape prison.
“Clifford the Big Red Dog...
“House of Gucci” (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) The legendary and legendarily vicious Gucci fashion empire gets the old-fashioned big movie treatment with Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Lady Gaga. Is it kind of ridiculous? Yes, but it’s also the reboot of “Dynasty” you never knew you wanted, one that’s best watched with a living room full of your rowdiest and most opinionated friends. Everyone in the movie is doing a variation on Italian-accented English, the settings are opulent, and Gaga is giving look after look after hat after hat and you will respect the wild, criminal duh-raaamaaa of it all.
Also Available:
“American Underdog” (Lionsgate) Zachary Levi stars as NFL champ Kurt Warner, who overcame multiple challenges and setbacks on the road to football glory.
“Apex” (Rlje Films) Bruce Willis must kill or be killed in order to escape prison.
“Clifford the Big Red Dog...
- 2/7/2022
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
The top prize went to a family drama set entirely in an Ikea.
Croatian family drama Leave The Door Open has won the Eurimages Co-production Award, worth €20,000, at the closing of International Film Festival Rotterdam’s IFFR Pro Days and CineMart co-production market.
The film will mark the feature directorial debut of Judita Gamulin and is set entirely in an Ikea furniture store in Zagreb.
With early backing from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (Havc), the production aims to close financing in 2023 and shoot in 2024. Leave The Door Open is produced by Rea Rajcic, who is producing through her Zagreb-based film and TV outfit Eclectica.
Croatian family drama Leave The Door Open has won the Eurimages Co-production Award, worth €20,000, at the closing of International Film Festival Rotterdam’s IFFR Pro Days and CineMart co-production market.
The film will mark the feature directorial debut of Judita Gamulin and is set entirely in an Ikea furniture store in Zagreb.
With early backing from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (Havc), the production aims to close financing in 2023 and shoot in 2024. Leave The Door Open is produced by Rea Rajcic, who is producing through her Zagreb-based film and TV outfit Eclectica.
- 2/2/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)
In A Hero, the discovery of a bag of gold coins sets the scene for a knotted Bressonian morality tale. The director is Asghar Farhadi, a filmmaker who has spent his career examining those blurred lines between right and wrong; decency and hubris; righteousness and folly. Taking place in the city of Shiraz, it proves a return to familiar ground for him: both the first he has made in his native Iran after the awful misstep that was Everybody Knows, as well as a return to the moral complexities of A Separation, still his finest film to date. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
Attica (Stanley Nelson and Traci Curry)
There’s a moment towards...
A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)
In A Hero, the discovery of a bag of gold coins sets the scene for a knotted Bressonian morality tale. The director is Asghar Farhadi, a filmmaker who has spent his career examining those blurred lines between right and wrong; decency and hubris; righteousness and folly. Taking place in the city of Shiraz, it proves a return to familiar ground for him: both the first he has made in his native Iran after the awful misstep that was Everybody Knows, as well as a return to the moral complexities of A Separation, still his finest film to date. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon Prime
Attica (Stanley Nelson and Traci Curry)
There’s a moment towards...
- 1/21/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has revealed its longlist of nominees across 24 categories for its upcoming film awards.
“No Time to Die,” “Belfast,” and “West Side Story| are among the leading films announced on Wednesday following the first round of votes.
As revealed on Monday, not included in the long-list is “Spider-Man: No Way Home” after “failing to meet eligibility criteria,” according to BAFTA. The film had originally sought consideration for the best picture and best special effects categories. Sony declined to comment.
Round Two voting, to determine the nominations in the member voted categories, will open between Feb. 14 and 27 2022. Nominations will be announced on Feb 3.
Round Three voting, to determine the winners, will open between Feb. 9 and March 8.
The BAFTA Awards are set to take place in central London on March 13.
Check out the full longlist below:
Best Film
15 films go through to the Round Two of voting,...
“No Time to Die,” “Belfast,” and “West Side Story| are among the leading films announced on Wednesday following the first round of votes.
As revealed on Monday, not included in the long-list is “Spider-Man: No Way Home” after “failing to meet eligibility criteria,” according to BAFTA. The film had originally sought consideration for the best picture and best special effects categories. Sony declined to comment.
Round Two voting, to determine the nominations in the member voted categories, will open between Feb. 14 and 27 2022. Nominations will be announced on Feb 3.
Round Three voting, to determine the winners, will open between Feb. 9 and March 8.
The BAFTA Awards are set to take place in central London on March 13.
Check out the full longlist below:
Best Film
15 films go through to the Round Two of voting,...
- 1/12/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Having isolated a film enthusiast on a North Sea lighthouse island in 2021, this year’s Göteborg Film Festival, Scandinavia’s biggest movie-tv event, looks set to stage another bold metaphor for film consumption, subjecting audiences at three different movie screenings to mass hypnosis.
Dubbed The Hypnotic Cinema, the strand’s titles chosen for the singular experiment are Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2021 Cannes Jury Prize winner “Memoria,” starring Tilda Swinton; “Land of Dreams,” from Iran’s Venice Silver Lion winners Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari (“Women Without Men”) starring Sheila Vand, Matt Dillon and Isabella Rossellini; and Danish director Christian Tafdrup’s “Speak No Evil,” slated to world premiere at this month’s Sundance Festival.
Before each film, a hypnotist will perform a mass hypnosis from the main stage at the Stora Teatern in Göteborg, the festival announced Tuesday. Transforming the audience’s state of mind in accordance with the mood and theme of the film,...
Dubbed The Hypnotic Cinema, the strand’s titles chosen for the singular experiment are Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2021 Cannes Jury Prize winner “Memoria,” starring Tilda Swinton; “Land of Dreams,” from Iran’s Venice Silver Lion winners Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari (“Women Without Men”) starring Sheila Vand, Matt Dillon and Isabella Rossellini; and Danish director Christian Tafdrup’s “Speak No Evil,” slated to world premiere at this month’s Sundance Festival.
Before each film, a hypnotist will perform a mass hypnosis from the main stage at the Stora Teatern in Göteborg, the festival announced Tuesday. Transforming the audience’s state of mind in accordance with the mood and theme of the film,...
- 1/4/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Oscars Shortlists Out: ‘No Time To Die’ And ‘Dune’ Lead Mentions; France’s Palme D’Or Winner Snubbed
The 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die, made a strong showing the shortlists released Tuesday for the 94th Oscars, with mentions in five categories to lead all films. Dune, with four mentions in the same categories except Song was close behind.
The Oscars shortlists cover 10 categories overall including Documentary Feature; International Film; Animated, Live Action, and Documentary Shorts; Makeup and Hairstyling; Music Score; Original Song; Sound; and Visual Effects.
Denmark’s Flee made the cut for both Documentary Feature and International Film. It is also eligible for Animated Feature (not a shortlisted category) this year, and should it eventually score final nominations in all three categories it will set an Oscar record for that triple play.
See all the lists below.
Although there weren’t many surprises this morning, for some the most shocking omission will likely be in International Feature,...
The Oscars shortlists cover 10 categories overall including Documentary Feature; International Film; Animated, Live Action, and Documentary Shorts; Makeup and Hairstyling; Music Score; Original Song; Sound; and Visual Effects.
Denmark’s Flee made the cut for both Documentary Feature and International Film. It is also eligible for Animated Feature (not a shortlisted category) this year, and should it eventually score final nominations in all three categories it will set an Oscar record for that triple play.
See all the lists below.
Although there weren’t many surprises this morning, for some the most shocking omission will likely be in International Feature,...
- 12/21/2021
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Update: Jasmila Žbanić’s Quo Vadis, Aida? was the big winner at the 34th European Film Awards tonight. The story of a woman’s fight to save her family during the true events of the 1995 Bosnian War genocide in Srebrenica scooped the top European Film prize as well as European Director for Žbanić and European Actress for Jasna Đuričić. (Scroll down for the full list of winners.)
Quo Vadis, Aida? was nominated for an Oscar at the 93rd Academy Awards and its triumph tonight was indicative of how the European Film Academy leaned this year. While the EFAs can be somewhat predictive of the Oscar for Best International Feature, this evening’s ceremony saw a fair bit of crossover from the 2021 Oscars.
Other winners that had already achieved Oscar recognition included Florian Zeller’s The Father which repeated with wins for Anthony Hopkins as European Actor and for Zeller and Christopher Hampton’s screenplay.
Quo Vadis, Aida? was nominated for an Oscar at the 93rd Academy Awards and its triumph tonight was indicative of how the European Film Academy leaned this year. While the EFAs can be somewhat predictive of the Oscar for Best International Feature, this evening’s ceremony saw a fair bit of crossover from the 2021 Oscars.
Other winners that had already achieved Oscar recognition included Florian Zeller’s The Father which repeated with wins for Anthony Hopkins as European Actor and for Zeller and Christopher Hampton’s screenplay.
- 12/11/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
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