Catalan films routinely punch above their weight at high-profile international festivals: Think 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs.” That trend looks primed to continue in 2024.
Catalan auteur Albert Serra will debut “Afternoons of Solitude,” co-produced by Catalan companies Andergraun Films and Lacima, with Ideale Audience and Tardes de Soledad.
A fall fest bet, “They Will Be Dust,” from Carlos Marqués- Marcet, is produced by Catalonia’s Lastor Media alongside Chile’s Alina Film and Kino Produzioni in Italy.
Few regions boast a lineup of female filmmakers as impressive as Catalonia. This year, new films from Goya Award winners Pilar Palomero (“Glimmers”) and Belén Funes (“The Turtles”) are strong contenders for festival recognition.
With the backing of Catalonia’s Minority Co-Production Fund, four international co-prods are poised to make a significant impact on this year’s festival circuit. Keep an eye out for Javier Rebollo’s “Close to the Sultan”, Calia Atan...
Catalan auteur Albert Serra will debut “Afternoons of Solitude,” co-produced by Catalan companies Andergraun Films and Lacima, with Ideale Audience and Tardes de Soledad.
A fall fest bet, “They Will Be Dust,” from Carlos Marqués- Marcet, is produced by Catalonia’s Lastor Media alongside Chile’s Alina Film and Kino Produzioni in Italy.
Few regions boast a lineup of female filmmakers as impressive as Catalonia. This year, new films from Goya Award winners Pilar Palomero (“Glimmers”) and Belén Funes (“The Turtles”) are strong contenders for festival recognition.
With the backing of Catalonia’s Minority Co-Production Fund, four international co-prods are poised to make a significant impact on this year’s festival circuit. Keep an eye out for Javier Rebollo’s “Close to the Sultan”, Calia Atan...
- 5/14/2024
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.Newsa Man of Integrity.Having banned producers of and actors in Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024) from leaving the country in an apparent attempt to pressure the director to pull the film from the Cannes Film Festival, Iranian authorities have now sentenced Rasoulof to eight years in prison, whipping, a fine, and confiscation of property, his lawyer announced today, adding that the courts consider the director’s films examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the nation’s security.A group of about 200 French festival workers called Sous les écrans la dèche (“Under the screens the waste”) announced Monday that it will move ahead with plans for a strike during Cannes,...
- 5/8/2024
- MUBI
Not even 12 hours ago we learned Kristen Stewart had nabbed a new auteur in Panos Cosmatos, a wise choice by the ever-adventurous actress. Her other choice on May 2, 2024 is quite another level of intrigue: Albert Serra, the perpetual festival favorite whose Pacifiction was something of a breakout hit, yes, if not quite to a level anyone anticipated. (Anyone but the man himself.) Per Film Stiftung, Serra’s previously announced Out of This World has secured funding, coinciding with a planned 2025 premiere.
Out of This World will likely feature an uncharacteristic level of English dialogue for Serra. As the official synopsis goes: “An American delegation travels to Russia in the midst of the Ukrainian war to try to find a solution to an economic dispute linked to sanctions. Out of This World explores the eternal rivalry between Russia and the USA.”
“As is often the case, one of the year’s...
Out of This World will likely feature an uncharacteristic level of English dialogue for Serra. As the official synopsis goes: “An American delegation travels to Russia in the midst of the Ukrainian war to try to find a solution to an economic dispute linked to sanctions. Out of This World explores the eternal rivalry between Russia and the USA.”
“As is often the case, one of the year’s...
- 5/3/2024
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Paris-based international sales and production company Totem Films has revealed its production slate, with projects by Nastia Korkia, Vytautas Katkus, Ernst de Geer and Anna Roller.
Totem Atelier, the development and production arm of the company, has revealed that it has boarded Korkia’s “A Short Summer.”
Korkia’s short documentary “Dreams About Putin” premiered at IDFA last year. Her first documentary feature “Ges-2” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.
“A Short Summer” is produced by Germany’s TamTam (“Pacifiction” by Albert Serra) together with independent producer Natalia Drozd (“Compartment N°6” by Juho Kuosmanen) and Serbia’s Art&Popcorn.
The film centers on eight-year-old Katya, who is going on vacation with her grandparents. In the summer heat, the war in Chechnya takes shape, while her grandparents’ relationship falls apart. Despite her youth, Katya wants to look at the world straight in the eyes.
“A Short Summer” has received support from Creative Europe Media,...
Totem Atelier, the development and production arm of the company, has revealed that it has boarded Korkia’s “A Short Summer.”
Korkia’s short documentary “Dreams About Putin” premiered at IDFA last year. Her first documentary feature “Ges-2” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.
“A Short Summer” is produced by Germany’s TamTam (“Pacifiction” by Albert Serra) together with independent producer Natalia Drozd (“Compartment N°6” by Juho Kuosmanen) and Serbia’s Art&Popcorn.
The film centers on eight-year-old Katya, who is going on vacation with her grandparents. In the summer heat, the war in Chechnya takes shape, while her grandparents’ relationship falls apart. Despite her youth, Katya wants to look at the world straight in the eyes.
“A Short Summer” has received support from Creative Europe Media,...
- 5/2/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Les Films du Losange has taken international sales rights to French filmmaker and Cannes regular Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia, set to world premiere at Cannes Film Festival’s in the non-competitive Premiere section.
The film, from prolific producer Charles Gillibert of CG Cinema, is described as a tense rural drama set in an oppressive French village where inhabitants struggle to hide their most intimate secrets and shameful sins.
Guiraudie returns to Cannes after premiering Staying Vertical in Competition in 2016, Stranger By The Lake in Un Certain Regard in 2013, The King Of Scape in Directors’ Fortnight in 2009 and No Rest For The Brave,...
The film, from prolific producer Charles Gillibert of CG Cinema, is described as a tense rural drama set in an oppressive French village where inhabitants struggle to hide their most intimate secrets and shameful sins.
Guiraudie returns to Cannes after premiering Staying Vertical in Competition in 2016, Stranger By The Lake in Un Certain Regard in 2013, The King Of Scape in Directors’ Fortnight in 2009 and No Rest For The Brave,...
- 4/11/2024
- ScreenDaily
Por segundo año consecutivo, Filmin distribuirá en España la ganadora del prestigioso Oso de Oro del Festival de Berlín 2024. © Filmin
Filmin se ha hecho con los derechos de distribución en España del documental “Dahomey”, dirigido por la actriz y cineasta Mati Diop, que ha sido galardonado este fin de semana con el Oso de Oro a la Mejor Película en el Festival de Berlín. El jurado de la Sección Oficial, presidido por Lupita Nyong’o y del que también formaba parte el director español Albert Serra, ha reconocido así el mérito de una película que aborda la descolonización de los museos occidentales y que documenta el viaje de vuelta al antiguo Reino de Dahomey (la actual Benín) de 26 obras de arte expoliadas por Francia y que hasta ahora se conservaban en Museo Quai Branly de París. En el foco de la película se pone a una de las piezas, una especie de deidad,...
Filmin se ha hecho con los derechos de distribución en España del documental “Dahomey”, dirigido por la actriz y cineasta Mati Diop, que ha sido galardonado este fin de semana con el Oso de Oro a la Mejor Película en el Festival de Berlín. El jurado de la Sección Oficial, presidido por Lupita Nyong’o y del que también formaba parte el director español Albert Serra, ha reconocido así el mérito de una película que aborda la descolonización de los museos occidentales y que documenta el viaje de vuelta al antiguo Reino de Dahomey (la actual Benín) de 26 obras de arte expoliadas por Francia y que hasta ahora se conservaban en Museo Quai Branly de París. En el foco de la película se pone a una de las piezas, una especie de deidad,...
- 2/26/2024
- by Marta Medina
- mundoCine
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 74th Berlin International Film Festival announced the winners of the fest at the awards ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast on February 24.
20 films competed for the awards in this year’s competition with Lupita Nyong’o heading the International Jury alongside Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko. The Encounters Jury, Lisandro Alonso, Denis Côté and Tizza Covi choose the winners for Best Film, Best Director and the Special Jury Award.
The Golden Bear for Best Film was awarded to Dahomey by Mati Diop. Emily Watson won The Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance for her role in Small Things Like These, while Sebastian Stan received The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in A Different Man. Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias was honored with The Silver Bear for Best Director for his film Pepe, and the Silver Bear Jury Prize went to Bruno Dumont for Empire.
20 films competed for the awards in this year’s competition with Lupita Nyong’o heading the International Jury alongside Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko. The Encounters Jury, Lisandro Alonso, Denis Côté and Tizza Covi choose the winners for Best Film, Best Director and the Special Jury Award.
The Golden Bear for Best Film was awarded to Dahomey by Mati Diop. Emily Watson won The Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance for her role in Small Things Like These, while Sebastian Stan received The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in A Different Man. Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias was honored with The Silver Bear for Best Director for his film Pepe, and the Silver Bear Jury Prize went to Bruno Dumont for Empire.
- 2/22/2024
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
The Berlin International Film Festival faced up to several ongoing political controversies in a speech-heavy opening ceremony for the 74th edition tonight (February 15).
Following controversy around the invitation then disinvitation of AfD policitians to the ceremony; plus the crisis in Gaza; and ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, hosts Hadnet Tesfai and Jo Schuck confronted the political aspect of the festival in their opening remarks.
“Saying ‘this is how we did it in the last 200 years’ is not enough,” said Schuck, in a possible reference to criticism of the festival for inviting AfD politicians due to it being protocol in previous years.
Following controversy around the invitation then disinvitation of AfD policitians to the ceremony; plus the crisis in Gaza; and ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, hosts Hadnet Tesfai and Jo Schuck confronted the political aspect of the festival in their opening remarks.
“Saying ‘this is how we did it in the last 200 years’ is not enough,” said Schuck, in a possible reference to criticism of the festival for inviting AfD politicians due to it being protocol in previous years.
- 2/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Berlin Film Festival officially kicked off Thursday evening with an eventful opening ceremony at the Berlinale Palast theater in the German capital.
After a divisive build-up to the fest, the opening ceremony was, in contrast, a relatively conventional affair. High-profile attendees included veteran German filmmakers Wim Wenders and Fatih Akin, Phantom Thread actress Vicky Krieps, and international jury president Lupita Nyong’o alongside her fellow jury members Brady Corbet, Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko.
The evening’s opening film was Small Things Like These, starring Cillian Murphy, who was in attendance with producer Matt Damon and co-star Emily Watson. Directed by Tim Mielants (Peaky Blinders), Small Things Like These is the first Irish film to open the Berlinale.
Related: ‘Small Things Like These’ Review: Cillian Murphy Plays A Father In Torment In ’80s-Set Irish Trauma Tale
Before the pic opened, the crowd inside the...
After a divisive build-up to the fest, the opening ceremony was, in contrast, a relatively conventional affair. High-profile attendees included veteran German filmmakers Wim Wenders and Fatih Akin, Phantom Thread actress Vicky Krieps, and international jury president Lupita Nyong’o alongside her fellow jury members Brady Corbet, Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko.
The evening’s opening film was Small Things Like These, starring Cillian Murphy, who was in attendance with producer Matt Damon and co-star Emily Watson. Directed by Tim Mielants (Peaky Blinders), Small Things Like These is the first Irish film to open the Berlinale.
Related: ‘Small Things Like These’ Review: Cillian Murphy Plays A Father In Torment In ’80s-Set Irish Trauma Tale
Before the pic opened, the crowd inside the...
- 2/15/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Over the last seven years or so, the ever more capitalized Catalan industry, much based in capital Barcelona, has driven into domestic co-production with other parts of Spain. One result: an exciting new generation of young directors and producers, often women, which have scored a Berlin Golden Bear (Carla Simon’s “Alcarràs”) and best lead performance.
The Catalan film-tv industry is now, however, in the throes of a gathering industry makeover which is showing its first fruits. One driver, as so often in Europe, is public sector funding.
In 2019, total allocated Catalan government audiovisual funding stood at €12.6 million ($13.7 million). It rose to €40.8 million ($44.5 million) in 2022 and will rise again to an estimated €50 million ($54.5 million) in 2024, if the Catalan Parliament approves the budget, says Edgar Garcia, director of the governmental culture industry unit Icec.
In response to ramped-up funding, Catalonia industry has grown vibrantly. 130 execs and talent, representing 80 companies, attend 2024’s Berlin Film Market.
The Catalan film-tv industry is now, however, in the throes of a gathering industry makeover which is showing its first fruits. One driver, as so often in Europe, is public sector funding.
In 2019, total allocated Catalan government audiovisual funding stood at €12.6 million ($13.7 million). It rose to €40.8 million ($44.5 million) in 2022 and will rise again to an estimated €50 million ($54.5 million) in 2024, if the Catalan Parliament approves the budget, says Edgar Garcia, director of the governmental culture industry unit Icec.
In response to ramped-up funding, Catalonia industry has grown vibrantly. 130 execs and talent, representing 80 companies, attend 2024’s Berlin Film Market.
- 2/15/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Hot button topics like the Berlinale disinviting AfD politicians, the Israel-Gaza war and Vladimir Putin were on the agenda as the 2024 Berlin Film Festival got underway.
Jury president Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Black Panther) said she hoped political debate among Berlin international jury would center around film and the 20 competition titles to be viewed over the next 11 days. “When we were debating this as a jury, Oksana (Zabuzhko) said everything is political. And I think that’s true, in art. What we’re here to do is to see how artists are responding to the world we’re living in right now,” Nyong’o answered when asked how it felt to be a festival jury president in “these crazy times.”
Other jury members were more willing to directly address hot potatoes tossed in their direction during a heated press conference on Thursday. That included repeated queries about the Berlinale sparking controversy by first inviting,...
Jury president Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Black Panther) said she hoped political debate among Berlin international jury would center around film and the 20 competition titles to be viewed over the next 11 days. “When we were debating this as a jury, Oksana (Zabuzhko) said everything is political. And I think that’s true, in art. What we’re here to do is to see how artists are responding to the world we’re living in right now,” Nyong’o answered when asked how it felt to be a festival jury president in “these crazy times.”
Other jury members were more willing to directly address hot potatoes tossed in their direction during a heated press conference on Thursday. That included repeated queries about the Berlinale sparking controversy by first inviting,...
- 2/15/2024
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jury members for the 74th Berlinale answered and avoided numerous political questions in a tense press conference ahead of the opening of the 2024 festival.
In a 40-minute conference, the seven-person jury fielded questions on the invitation then disinvitation of Germany right-wing party Alternative fur Deutschland; the ongoing crisis in Gaza; and the war in Ukraine.
Responding to a question about Gaza, German filmmaker Christian Petzold said, “I don’t want to answer this question here because it’s not really one that belongs in this press conference.
“I’m in favour of peace, in favour of discussing, talking, which I...
In a 40-minute conference, the seven-person jury fielded questions on the invitation then disinvitation of Germany right-wing party Alternative fur Deutschland; the ongoing crisis in Gaza; and the war in Ukraine.
Responding to a question about Gaza, German filmmaker Christian Petzold said, “I don’t want to answer this question here because it’s not really one that belongs in this press conference.
“I’m in favour of peace, in favour of discussing, talking, which I...
- 2/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
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
During a press conference on Thursday, Berlinale jury president Lupita Nyong’o responded to the festival inviting and then disinviting politicians from far-right group AfD to its opening ceremony.
“I’m a foreigner here. I don’t know the ins and outs of the political situation here,” Nyong’o said in response to a question asking if she would have attended the ceremony had the politicians still been invited. “I’m glad I don’t have to answer that question. I’m glad I don’t have to be in that position.”
Jury member Christian Petzold, the German director of “Barbara” and “Phoenix,” had a different perspective.
“I think it’s not a problem to have five persons of the AfD in the audience,” he said. “We are no cowards. If you can’t stand five persons of the AfD as part of the audience, we will lose our fight.”
He later added,...
“I’m a foreigner here. I don’t know the ins and outs of the political situation here,” Nyong’o said in response to a question asking if she would have attended the ceremony had the politicians still been invited. “I’m glad I don’t have to answer that question. I’m glad I don’t have to be in that position.”
Jury member Christian Petzold, the German director of “Barbara” and “Phoenix,” had a different perspective.
“I think it’s not a problem to have five persons of the AfD in the audience,” he said. “We are no cowards. If you can’t stand five persons of the AfD as part of the audience, we will lose our fight.”
He later added,...
- 2/15/2024
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
The Berlin International Film Festival has confirmed its full juries for the 2024 edition (February 16-24), with Italian actress Jasmine Trinca and German filmmaker Christian Petzold among those joining president Lupita Nyong’o on the main international jury.
Also on the jury are filmmakers Ann Hui (Hong Kong) and Albert Serra (Spain) alongside Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
The international jury will select the winners of the Golden and Silver Bears from the 20 films playing in Competition.
The three-member jury for the Encounters strand comprises filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
The Encounters jury will choose the winners of best film,...
Also on the jury are filmmakers Ann Hui (Hong Kong) and Albert Serra (Spain) alongside Ukrainian novelist and poet Oksana Zabuzhko.
The international jury will select the winners of the Golden and Silver Bears from the 20 films playing in Competition.
The three-member jury for the Encounters strand comprises filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
The Encounters jury will choose the winners of best film,...
- 2/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Berlinale Film Festival has unveiled the jury members for its main International Competition, which will be presided over by Lupita Nyong’o.
The members of the International Jury are 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.
Nyong’o’s presidential appointment was announced in December.
The festival also unveiled the three-member jury for its Encounters strand. Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada), and Tizza Covi (Italy) will pick the competition sidebar’s Best Film, Best Director, and Special Jury award winners.
The 2024 Berlin Film Festival runs Feb 15 – Feb 25. The festival opens with the Cillian Murphy movie Small Things Like These. The film reveals truths about Ireland’s Magdalen laundries – horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform “fallen young women.” It...
The members of the International Jury are 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.
Nyong’o’s presidential appointment was announced in December.
The festival also unveiled the three-member jury for its Encounters strand. Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada), and Tizza Covi (Italy) will pick the competition sidebar’s Best Film, Best Director, and Special Jury award winners.
The 2024 Berlin Film Festival runs Feb 15 – Feb 25. The festival opens with the Cillian Murphy movie Small Things Like These. The film reveals truths about Ireland’s Magdalen laundries – horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform “fallen young women.” It...
- 2/1/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Berlin has unveiled the international jury for the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, which runs Feb. 15-25.
The 2024 jury will include U.S. director Brady Corbet (Vox Lux), Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui (Summer Snow), Berlinale regular Christian Petzold (Afire, Undine), Spanish director Albert Serra (Pacification), Italian actress Jasmine Trinca (The Son’s Room) and the Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko.
Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Black Panther) will serve as president of the International Jury.
The four-woman, three-man jury will screen the competition titles at this year’s Berlinale and select the winners of the 2024 festival, including the Golden Bear for best film. The winners of the 74th Berlinale will be announced live at a gala ceremony in Berlin on Saturday, Feb. 24.
Petzold is probably the most familiar face for Berlinale audiences. The German director has had 6 films in competition in Berlin, most recently Afire, which won...
The 2024 jury will include U.S. director Brady Corbet (Vox Lux), Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui (Summer Snow), Berlinale regular Christian Petzold (Afire, Undine), Spanish director Albert Serra (Pacification), Italian actress Jasmine Trinca (The Son’s Room) and the Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko.
Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Black Panther) will serve as president of the International Jury.
The four-woman, three-man jury will screen the competition titles at this year’s Berlinale and select the winners of the 2024 festival, including the Golden Bear for best film. The winners of the 74th Berlinale will be announced live at a gala ceremony in Berlin on Saturday, Feb. 24.
Petzold is probably the most familiar face for Berlinale audiences. The German director has had 6 films in competition in Berlin, most recently Afire, which won...
- 2/1/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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
Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.
The world came back in 2023. The box office, the labor strikes, the raging wars, the Who-declared end of official global emergency, the AI explosion. People were stir-crazy, anxious to act, be it in the name of violence or peace or productivity. It’s been a sobering reminder that life fully lived is defined by bedrock tragedy as much as triumph––that to enter back into open community with the rest of the world is to feel the effervescence of life flowing naturally again while simultaneously laying oneself bare to fresh devastation. It’s been a reminder of the duality of being: that real life is much wilder than the movies and yet the day-to-day is still defined by mundanity and monotony––the amassed in-between moments.
In those in-betweens,...
The world came back in 2023. The box office, the labor strikes, the raging wars, the Who-declared end of official global emergency, the AI explosion. People were stir-crazy, anxious to act, be it in the name of violence or peace or productivity. It’s been a sobering reminder that life fully lived is defined by bedrock tragedy as much as triumph––that to enter back into open community with the rest of the world is to feel the effervescence of life flowing naturally again while simultaneously laying oneself bare to fresh devastation. It’s been a reminder of the duality of being: that real life is much wilder than the movies and yet the day-to-day is still defined by mundanity and monotony––the amassed in-between moments.
In those in-betweens,...
- 1/8/2024
- by Luke Hicks
- The Film Stage
What do some of the directors of the best movies of 2023 think about the year in cinema? Films in Frame polled Christian Petzold, Justine Triet, Pedro Costa, Victor Erice, Aki Kaurismäki, Bas Devos, Pham Thien An, Joanna Arnow, Radu Jude, Pedro Costa, Rodrigo Moreno, Lisandro Alonso, and more––and we’ll spotlight one of the best lists, from the Afire director, here.
While he admits he wasn’t able to check out the latest from Albert Serra, Jonathan Glazer, Radu Jude, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kelly Reichardt, Aki Kaurismäki, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, he did find time for this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Mexico’s 2023 Oscar entry, Ireland’s 2022 Oscar entry, and of course, the latest from one of his favorite actors on the planet, Gerard Butler.
Check out Petzold’s picks below and visit Films in Frame to see more lists.
The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairead)
Anatomy of a Fall...
While he admits he wasn’t able to check out the latest from Albert Serra, Jonathan Glazer, Radu Jude, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kelly Reichardt, Aki Kaurismäki, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, he did find time for this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Mexico’s 2023 Oscar entry, Ireland’s 2022 Oscar entry, and of course, the latest from one of his favorite actors on the planet, Gerard Butler.
Check out Petzold’s picks below and visit Films in Frame to see more lists.
The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairead)
Anatomy of a Fall...
- 12/20/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Arte France Cinéma are throwing their support behind the new projects (which will drop in 2025) from Albert Serra, Hafsia Herzi, Kleber Mendonça Filho and a new project by Tarik Saleh which was flying under the radar. We just reported on Serra moving into English language film with Out Of This World – we can now confirm that filming will take place from June to July in Latvia. Look for casting announcements in the new year.
Herzi’s third feature The Youngest Daughter (which follows in the footsteps of Cannes preemed Tu mérites un amour et Bonne Mère) is now confirmed as a March and April shoot.…...
Herzi’s third feature The Youngest Daughter (which follows in the footsteps of Cannes preemed Tu mérites un amour et Bonne Mère) is now confirmed as a March and April shoot.…...
- 12/20/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Having achieved the unprecedented feat of having a film in our top 20 of last year and the same film in our top five of this year with his astounding Pacifiction, expectations are certainly high for the next feature from Albert Serra.
It’s now been announced Serra will begin production this summer on his next film Out of This World, with a 2025 premiere in store. The project will find him tackling modern international relations head-on, as the synopsis reveals: “An American delegation travels to Russia in the midst of the Ukrainian war to try to find a solution to an economic dispute linked to sanctions. Out Of This World explores the eternal rivalry between Russia and the USA.”
“As is often the case, one of the year’s most compelling films comes in the form of one of its most unrelatable stories: the lonesome, lingering descent of a seasoned French...
It’s now been announced Serra will begin production this summer on his next film Out of This World, with a 2025 premiere in store. The project will find him tackling modern international relations head-on, as the synopsis reveals: “An American delegation travels to Russia in the midst of the Ukrainian war to try to find a solution to an economic dispute linked to sanctions. Out Of This World explores the eternal rivalry between Russia and the USA.”
“As is often the case, one of the year’s most compelling films comes in the form of one of its most unrelatable stories: the lonesome, lingering descent of a seasoned French...
- 12/20/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Post masterwork Pacifiction (read review), it appears that Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra will stick to murky politics and scope once again for what is indeed his English-language project debut. If Kristen Stewart is available, then this would indeed be the project to join. Serra will be moving into production next summer, likely earmarking a Cannes 2025 showcase.
The Les Films du Losange folks have identified Out of this World as Serra’s next project. This is about an American delegation who go to Russia amid the Ukrainian war to try to find a solution to an economic dispute linked to sanctions.…...
The Les Films du Losange folks have identified Out of this World as Serra’s next project. This is about an American delegation who go to Russia amid the Ukrainian war to try to find a solution to an economic dispute linked to sanctions.…...
- 12/20/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
As various critics groups and awards bodies dole out their top films of the year, it can be hard to parse which ones are actually worth paying attention to. Following our top 50 films of 2023, one such list has arrived today with Film Comment’s annual end-of-year survey. Revealed at a special live talk last night, Todd Haynes’s May December, Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up, and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon grabbed the top three spots, while Eduardo Williams’s The Human Surge 3, Lisandro Alonso’s Eureka, and Víctor Erice’s Close Your Eyes topped the best undistributed films.
“It speaks to the ongoing vitality of cinema as an art form, as well as the discernment of our critics in the year of ‘Barbenheimer,’ that this year’s top films represent some of the most boundary-pushing, complex movies of recent times—three new classics from contemporary masters,...
“It speaks to the ongoing vitality of cinema as an art form, as well as the discernment of our critics in the year of ‘Barbenheimer,’ that this year’s top films represent some of the most boundary-pushing, complex movies of recent times—three new classics from contemporary masters,...
- 12/15/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
It’s year two for the prix André Bazin by les Cahiers du Cinéma folks and the jury of Albert Serra, Marion Cotillard, Flora Fishbach, Jeanne Lapoirie, Fernando Ganzo, Olivia Cooper-Hadjian and one reader of the magazine have bestowed the honor on Pham Thiên Ân‘s Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell. The dreamy debut feature (my second favorite Cannes film after Glazer’s masterwork) was a Directors’ Fortnight selection and won the Camera d’Or prize in Cannes. Kino Lorber release this 177-minute gem on January 19th at the Film Linc. Here is how the jury responded to the film:
“It’s a trip we wanted to highlight tonight.…...
“It’s a trip we wanted to highlight tonight.…...
- 12/15/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
For many of the 158 critics and journalists who voted in IndieWire’s 2023 critics survey to determine the best movies and performances of the year, the wait was worth it. Six years since Martin Scorsese was first attached to “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and four years after it went into active development, the film topped our poll — in fact, even more decisively than Todd Field’s “TÁR” did in last year’s survey.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” appeared on 94 of the 158 ballots, a little over 59 percent. The critics who voted last year only mentioned “TÁR” on 45 percent of their ballots, and we declared that a landslide at the time. Scorsese’s film also received 25 first-place votes naming it the best film of the year, the most first-place votes in addition to the most overall mentions. Scorsese himself also topped Best Director voting. “Killers of the Flower Moon” previously had...
“Killers of the Flower Moon” appeared on 94 of the 158 ballots, a little over 59 percent. The critics who voted last year only mentioned “TÁR” on 45 percent of their ballots, and we declared that a landslide at the time. Scorsese’s film also received 25 first-place votes naming it the best film of the year, the most first-place votes in addition to the most overall mentions. Scorsese himself also topped Best Director voting. “Killers of the Flower Moon” previously had...
- 12/11/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
As 2023 draws to a close and the Oscar race begins to heat up, film publications around the world continue to roll out their lists of the year’s top films. IndieWire recently named Celine Song’s “Past Lives” the best film of the year, topping a list that also included “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Asteroid City,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Now Cahiers du Cinema has gotten in on the action, selecting Laura Citarella’s “Trenque Lauquen” as its top pick.
The legendary French film publication, which served as an intellectual hub for the French New Wave after launching the careers of Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, and famously named “Twin Peaks: The Return” the best film of the 2010s, revealed its top 10 films of 2023 on Friday, December 1. The list only includes movies that opened theatrically in France in 2023, so many films that had American theatrical runs or festival premieres in past years made the cut.
The legendary French film publication, which served as an intellectual hub for the French New Wave after launching the careers of Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, and famously named “Twin Peaks: The Return” the best film of the 2010s, revealed its top 10 films of 2023 on Friday, December 1. The list only includes movies that opened theatrically in France in 2023, so many films that had American theatrical runs or festival premieres in past years made the cut.
- 12/1/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
They instructed her no one must turn their back to the king, but she did so anyway. They warned that she was not to look Louis Xv directly in the eyes, lest others take it as “an invitation,” but she ignored Versailles’ advisers on this point as well, defiantly meeting the king’s gaze.
Jeanne Bécu was not the type of woman to do as she was told. In this respect, divisive French actor-director Maïwenn can relate, casting herself as the courtesan-turned-comtess in “Jeanne du Barry,” a sensitive and surprisingly low-key portrait of the French monarch’s last mistress. That Maïwenn saw fit to engage tabloid-embattled Johnny Depp as “her king” is just one of the many hurdles she set for herself — but then, no one embarks on such a project with the intention of pleasing her critics.
Kicking off the Cannes Film Festival just two weeks after Charles III’s coronation across the Channel,...
Jeanne Bécu was not the type of woman to do as she was told. In this respect, divisive French actor-director Maïwenn can relate, casting herself as the courtesan-turned-comtess in “Jeanne du Barry,” a sensitive and surprisingly low-key portrait of the French monarch’s last mistress. That Maïwenn saw fit to engage tabloid-embattled Johnny Depp as “her king” is just one of the many hurdles she set for herself — but then, no one embarks on such a project with the intention of pleasing her critics.
Kicking off the Cannes Film Festival just two weeks after Charles III’s coronation across the Channel,...
- 11/16/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The Criterion Channel is closing the year out with a bang––they’ve announced their December lineup. Among the highlights are retrospectives on Yasujiro Ozu (featuring nearly 40 films!), Ousmane Sembène, Alfred Hitchcock (along with Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut), and Parker Posey. Well-timed for the season is a holiday noir series that includes They Live By Night, Blast of Silence, Lady in the Lake, and more.
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
Other highlights are the recent restoration of Abel Gance’s La roue, an MGM Musicals series with introduction by Michael Koresky, Helena Wittmann’s riveting second feature Human Flowers of Flesh, the recent Sundance highlight The Mountains Are a Dream That Call To Me, the new restoration of The Cassandra Cat, Lynne Ramsay’s Morvern Callar, Wong Kar Wai’s The Grandmaster, and more.
See the lineup below and learn more here.
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Terry Gilliam, 1988
An American in Paris, Vincente Minnelli,...
- 11/13/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In the closing days of the Tokyo International Film Festival, The Hollywood Reporter Japan sprinkled some old-school glamour on proceedings with a lavish party at The Peninsula Hotel in Ginza.
On Oct. 30, THR Japan took over Peter Restaurant for an event that saw some of the biggest names in Japan’s movie industry mingle, enjoy exquisite canapés and unique drinks from Sake Hundred surrounded on three sides by the spectacular nighttime views of Tokyo from the 24th floor of The Peninsula.
The opening ceremony saw speeches from Tokyo Film Festival chairman Hiroyasu Ando; Tsukasa Shiga, chairman of Hersey Shiga Global the digital media giant that licenses THR Japan in collaboration with Penske Media Corporation; Japan’s Environment Minister, and noted film buff, Shintaro Ito; and THR‘s Asia Bureau Chief Patrick Brzeski.
THR Asia Bureau Chief Patrick Brzeski
Among the local entertainment industry guests were Cannes Palme d’Or-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda,...
On Oct. 30, THR Japan took over Peter Restaurant for an event that saw some of the biggest names in Japan’s movie industry mingle, enjoy exquisite canapés and unique drinks from Sake Hundred surrounded on three sides by the spectacular nighttime views of Tokyo from the 24th floor of The Peninsula.
The opening ceremony saw speeches from Tokyo Film Festival chairman Hiroyasu Ando; Tsukasa Shiga, chairman of Hersey Shiga Global the digital media giant that licenses THR Japan in collaboration with Penske Media Corporation; Japan’s Environment Minister, and noted film buff, Shintaro Ito; and THR‘s Asia Bureau Chief Patrick Brzeski.
THR Asia Bureau Chief Patrick Brzeski
Among the local entertainment industry guests were Cannes Palme d’Or-winning and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda,...
- 11/7/2023
- by Abid Rahman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Family drama Snow Leopard, directed by the late Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden, has won the Tokyo Grand Prix, the top prize at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. Scroll down for the full list of winners.
The film, which is also nominated for three Asia Pacific Screen Awards, follows a rural family who debate whether they should kill a snow leopard that broke into their home and killed nine sheep. The full synopsis reads: In a mountain village where white leopards live, the film explores the symbiosis of humans and animals through the fantastical interaction of a young Tibetan monk and a leopard.
Snow Leopard is one of two films Tseden, who had Chinese citizenship, had been working on when he died in May, aged 53. His death was reported by Chinese media. No cause of death was given, but unverified Chinese media reports said he had a heart attack.
The film, which is also nominated for three Asia Pacific Screen Awards, follows a rural family who debate whether they should kill a snow leopard that broke into their home and killed nine sheep. The full synopsis reads: In a mountain village where white leopards live, the film explores the symbiosis of humans and animals through the fantastical interaction of a young Tibetan monk and a leopard.
Snow Leopard is one of two films Tseden, who had Chinese citizenship, had been working on when he died in May, aged 53. His death was reported by Chinese media. No cause of death was given, but unverified Chinese media reports said he had a heart attack.
- 11/1/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Producer Pierre-Olivier Bardet has become a hero to filmmakers who rock the boat – feature and documentary revolutionaries who work in ways that he says are “completely unique,” as he puts it: Albert Serra, Frederick Wiseman, Wang Bing and Alexandr Sokurov.
And it’s hard to imagine anyone else who would have agreed to produce an English version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” directed by Kenneth Branagh (after Francis Ford Coppola and several luminaries declined the project), set in World War I.
But for Bardet, the fascination of working with those who reject the usual conventions of filmmaking is what drives him – which is a key reason he was honored at this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival for his contribution to cinema by the Czech producers association.
Bardet’s new film with Serra, focused on the rituals of bullfighting in Spain, is likely to push boundaries still further,...
And it’s hard to imagine anyone else who would have agreed to produce an English version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” directed by Kenneth Branagh (after Francis Ford Coppola and several luminaries declined the project), set in World War I.
But for Bardet, the fascination of working with those who reject the usual conventions of filmmaking is what drives him – which is a key reason he was honored at this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival for his contribution to cinema by the Czech producers association.
Bardet’s new film with Serra, focused on the rituals of bullfighting in Spain, is likely to push boundaries still further,...
- 10/28/2023
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Launching an ambitious program of compelling global and Czech work, the 27th edition of the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival opened on Tuesday, kicking off six days of more than 350 film screenings by veteran and new filmmakers.
Fest head and founder Marek Hovorka, who launched the event in his hometown in 1997, introduced what is now Central and Eastern Europe’s main event for docs, defining the fest mission as “a celebration of films, image, sound, gestures and diversity.”
The films selected this year are “all very original,” he told the opening gala audience, and show filmmakers “perceive the world very differently.”
The fest, raising its curtain in the location that remains its home, the communist-era Dko “house of culture,” as the pre-1989 regime dubbed such multi-purpose spaces, attracts for its launch hundreds of guests seated at white-decked tables, sipping local wine.
Opening night moderators embraced an ironic take on AI,...
Fest head and founder Marek Hovorka, who launched the event in his hometown in 1997, introduced what is now Central and Eastern Europe’s main event for docs, defining the fest mission as “a celebration of films, image, sound, gestures and diversity.”
The films selected this year are “all very original,” he told the opening gala audience, and show filmmakers “perceive the world very differently.”
The fest, raising its curtain in the location that remains its home, the communist-era Dko “house of culture,” as the pre-1989 regime dubbed such multi-purpose spaces, attracts for its launch hundreds of guests seated at white-decked tables, sipping local wine.
Opening night moderators embraced an ironic take on AI,...
- 10/25/2023
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival has unveiled the program for its 27th edition, which will take place in the Czech city of Jihlava between Oct. 24-29. The festival will showcase 357 films in both competitive and non-competitive sections, with 115 world premieres, 22 international premieres and 17 European premieres.
This year’s program touches on themes of artificial intelligence and new technologies, the changing planetary climate, migration, transformation of the democratic system and society, as well as the search for new paths to freedom and happiness.
Festival director Marek Hovorka says of the concept of this year’s edition: “The world in which we live is rapidly changing, and this year’s Ji.hlava brings images of these transformations. The films in the program are thematically and formally very diverse, allowing us to recognize and contemplate the world’s transformation.”
Works related to the theme of this year’s Ji.hlava include Sophie Compton...
This year’s program touches on themes of artificial intelligence and new technologies, the changing planetary climate, migration, transformation of the democratic system and society, as well as the search for new paths to freedom and happiness.
Festival director Marek Hovorka says of the concept of this year’s edition: “The world in which we live is rapidly changing, and this year’s Ji.hlava brings images of these transformations. The films in the program are thematically and formally very diverse, allowing us to recognize and contemplate the world’s transformation.”
Works related to the theme of this year’s Ji.hlava include Sophie Compton...
- 10/13/2023
- by Rafa Sales Ross
- Variety Film + TV
One of the most purely pleasurable films of the year, Tran Anh Hung’s The Taste of Things secured France’s pick as their Oscar entry over Anatomy of a Fall, which should be no surprise to those who have seen both films. Led by Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel, the culinary drama may go down easy, but there’s an impressive sense of heartbreak and longing to the film, which will next stop by the 61st New York Film Festival before opening from IFC Films. Along with a new trailer, they’ve set an awards-qualifying run in December 2023, then a limited opening on February 9, 2024 and expansion on February 14, 2024.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Last time Benoît Magimel appeared in the Cannes competition, a vision in Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, he played a foreign diplomat who stalked an island of French Polynesia like a trashy king. If Serra’s...
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “Last time Benoît Magimel appeared in the Cannes competition, a vision in Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, he played a foreign diplomat who stalked an island of French Polynesia like a trashy king. If Serra’s...
- 10/4/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature is a hazily seductive, frequently dreamlike study of life in the French Foreign Legion, fixated on masculine bodies in synchronized and sometimes violently clashing motion. It is also called “Disco Boy.” You almost certainly wouldn’t choose that subject, tone and title for a film if you didn’t want viewers’ minds to immediately wander to “Beau Travail,” Claire Denis’ seminal Foreign Legion cine-ballet, with its climactic solo number set to a thumping Eurodance classic; even if you somehow made that error, you wouldn’t compound it with electro-scored terpsichorean interludes of your own. Choosing homage this direct for a first feature is a brazen move, but notwithstanding its openly derivative qualities, “Disco Boy” doesn’t want for boldness or surprise — Abbruzzese’s hot, fluxional command of sound and image keeps us curious.
One feature of “Disco Boy,” at least, plays as expected: the reliably fragile,...
One feature of “Disco Boy,” at least, plays as expected: the reliably fragile,...
- 8/17/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- 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.
Armageddon Time (James Gray)
Armageddon Time is the sort of film usually invoked as a “portrait of the nation” or “state of the union address,” something taking the temperature of a country—most likely the United States—at a particular time in history. But it’s also a work that makes self-consciousness a virtue: its wonderful writer-director, James Gray, is informed up to his eyes about the virtues and pitfalls of films like these, and here makes something so idiosyncratically his own but that audiences and critics might still mislabel with one of those aforementioned ideas. – David K. (full review)
Where to Stream: Prime Video
Godland (Hlynur Pálmason)
Featuring onscreen text explaining how the film was inspired by left-behind photos taken by...
Armageddon Time (James Gray)
Armageddon Time is the sort of film usually invoked as a “portrait of the nation” or “state of the union address,” something taking the temperature of a country—most likely the United States—at a particular time in history. But it’s also a work that makes self-consciousness a virtue: its wonderful writer-director, James Gray, is informed up to his eyes about the virtues and pitfalls of films like these, and here makes something so idiosyncratically his own but that audiences and critics might still mislabel with one of those aforementioned ideas. – David K. (full review)
Where to Stream: Prime Video
Godland (Hlynur Pálmason)
Featuring onscreen text explaining how the film was inspired by left-behind photos taken by...
- 6/23/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Last time Benoît Magimel appeared in the Cannes competition, a vision in Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, he played a foreign diplomat who stalked an island of French Polynesia like a trashy king. If Serra’s otherworldy film told a cautionary tale about feckless Euro-decadence, Magimel’s latest is more like a revelry. Adapted from Marcel Rouf’s 1924 novel The Passionate Epicure, The Pot-au-Feu is a film about the pleasures of preparing food and consuming it, the idea of cooking as an act of giving and even of love––if a leitmotif exists in this film’s script, it is the sigh of ecstasy.
The Pot-au-Feu is directed by Tran Anh Hung, a Vietnamese filmmaker who broke out at Cannes in 1993 with The Smell of Green Papaya. For Pot-au-Feu, Magimel stars as Dodin Bouffant, a restaurant owner and famed gourmet––or, as one character christens him, “the Napoleon of the culinary...
The Pot-au-Feu is directed by Tran Anh Hung, a Vietnamese filmmaker who broke out at Cannes in 1993 with The Smell of Green Papaya. For Pot-au-Feu, Magimel stars as Dodin Bouffant, a restaurant owner and famed gourmet––or, as one character christens him, “the Napoleon of the culinary...
- 6/20/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Benoît Magimel is a Slave to the Trade: Simon Moutaïrou Begins Production on “Ni chaînes ni maîtres”
He managed to “outdo” his 2022 Cannes experience of Revoir Paris and Albert Serra’s masterwork Pacifiction, with a three film presence on the croisette this year with premieres of The King of Algiers (aka Omar la fraise), Rosalie and the excellent The Pot au Feu. This week Benoît Magimel joins the cast of Ni chaînes ni maîtres – Black Box / Goliath scribe Simon Moutaïrou‘s directorial debut. Camille Cottin, Félix Lefebvre, Swala Emati, Ibrahima Mbaye Tchie and Anna Thiandoum are part of the cast. The Chi-Fou-mi’s Nicolas Dumont and Hugo Sélignac (Omar la fraise) produce the film.…...
- 6/7/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Nuri Bilge Ceylan likes to take his time. The Turkish director is one of the greatest living practitioners of slow cinema. The filmmaking ethos — pioneered by Russian auteur Andrei Tarkovsky and taken up by the likes of Theo Angelopoulos, Albert Serra, Béla Tarr, Kelly Reichardt and Lav Diaz — eschews the rapid editing and relentless nonstop forward-driving plots of the Hollywood blockbuster (looking at you, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) for a more contemplative, metaphysical approach.
The characters in a Ceylan movie don’t do much. There’s little action or traditional suspense, and the storylines are fairly basic. In 2002’s Distant, a rural factory worker visits his cousin in Istanbul. Homicide police unearth the body of a murder victim and take a long drive back to the city for the autopsy in 2011’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. An old actor, his wife and his sister sit...
The characters in a Ceylan movie don’t do much. There’s little action or traditional suspense, and the storylines are fairly basic. In 2002’s Distant, a rural factory worker visits his cousin in Istanbul. Homicide police unearth the body of a murder victim and take a long drive back to the city for the autopsy in 2011’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. An old actor, his wife and his sister sit...
- 5/27/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including the exclusive streaming premiere of Albert Serra’s extraordinary Pacifiction, a trio of films by Todd Haynes, two by Michael Haneke (Caché and Amour), plus works by David Cronenberg, Shin’ya Tsukamoto, and Derek Jarman.
Additional selections include Alice Rohrwacher’s Corpo Celeste, Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers, Sean Baker’s early film Starlet, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s short Mekong Hotel.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
June 1 – Is This Fate?, directed by Helga Reidemeister | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
June 2 – Safe, directed by Todd Haynes | I Really Love You: Three by Todd Hayne
June 3 – Caché, directed by Michael Haneke | Close-Up on Michael Haneke
June 4 – Amour, directed by Michael Haneke | Close-Up on Michael Haneke
June 5 – Topology of Sirens, directed by Jonathan Davies
June 6 – Tetsuo, the Iron Man, directed by Shin’ya...
Additional selections include Alice Rohrwacher’s Corpo Celeste, Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers, Sean Baker’s early film Starlet, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s short Mekong Hotel.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
June 1 – Is This Fate?, directed by Helga Reidemeister | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
June 2 – Safe, directed by Todd Haynes | I Really Love You: Three by Todd Hayne
June 3 – Caché, directed by Michael Haneke | Close-Up on Michael Haneke
June 4 – Amour, directed by Michael Haneke | Close-Up on Michael Haneke
June 5 – Topology of Sirens, directed by Jonathan Davies
June 6 – Tetsuo, the Iron Man, directed by Shin’ya...
- 5/23/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
New to Streaming: Pacifiction, R.M.N., Millennium Mambo, Nam June Paik: Moon is the Oldest TV & More
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.
Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam)
A vérité vignette of a small, expat-owned hair salon in Brussels’ African Quarter. Award-winning Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam’s sophomore feature explores displacement, resilience, and the small economies migrants build to temper ties to their homelands, through mid-braid gossip and humble confessions.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Giving Birth to a Butterfly (Theodore Schaefer)
We meet Diana Dent (Annie Parisse) readying matching wedding gowns soon revealed as not her own. She’s mending them to sell online—a necessity considering her bull-headed and controlling husband Daryl (Paul Sparks) is hell-bent on putting their life savings towards a dream of creating his own restaurant. That means no money for Drew (Owen Campbell) or Danielle’s (Rachel Resheff) college.
Chez Jolie Coiffure (Rosine Mbakam)
A vérité vignette of a small, expat-owned hair salon in Brussels’ African Quarter. Award-winning Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam’s sophomore feature explores displacement, resilience, and the small economies migrants build to temper ties to their homelands, through mid-braid gossip and humble confessions.
Where to Stream: Le Cinéma Club
Giving Birth to a Butterfly (Theodore Schaefer)
We meet Diana Dent (Annie Parisse) readying matching wedding gowns soon revealed as not her own. She’s mending them to sell online—a necessity considering her bull-headed and controlling husband Daryl (Paul Sparks) is hell-bent on putting their life savings towards a dream of creating his own restaurant. That means no money for Drew (Owen Campbell) or Danielle’s (Rachel Resheff) college.
- 5/19/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Spain’s status as Cannes’ Marché du Film’s Country of Honor is a “milestone,” says María Peña, CEO of Icex Spain Trade & Investment.
But it’s also a mark of recognition, she says, after Spain’s big wins just this year at the Berlinale and France’s Cesars.
Peña also points to April’s MipTV, where Rafael Cobos’ “The Left Handed Son,” from Movistar Plus+, won Canneseries’ Short Format Competition, and “The Caravan,” produced by Barcelona’s Caravan Films, the first MipDoc International Buyers Screenings honors.
Last year, Spain scooped up a Berlin Golden Bear (“Alcarràs”) and an Oscar (Alberto Mielgo’s “The Windshield Wiper”).
Spain is on a roll. That cuts multiple ways, however, explaining both the Country of Honor designation, and the country’s presence at large at Cannes this year. Seven takeaways about Spain:
Talent, Large Talent
Victor Erice, Pedro Almodóvar, Alberto Mielgo, Rodrigo Blaas — Cannes...
But it’s also a mark of recognition, she says, after Spain’s big wins just this year at the Berlinale and France’s Cesars.
Peña also points to April’s MipTV, where Rafael Cobos’ “The Left Handed Son,” from Movistar Plus+, won Canneseries’ Short Format Competition, and “The Caravan,” produced by Barcelona’s Caravan Films, the first MipDoc International Buyers Screenings honors.
Last year, Spain scooped up a Berlin Golden Bear (“Alcarràs”) and an Oscar (Alberto Mielgo’s “The Windshield Wiper”).
Spain is on a roll. That cuts multiple ways, however, explaining both the Country of Honor designation, and the country’s presence at large at Cannes this year. Seven takeaways about Spain:
Talent, Large Talent
Victor Erice, Pedro Almodóvar, Alberto Mielgo, Rodrigo Blaas — Cannes...
- 5/19/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.REMEMBRANCERyuichi Sakamoto: Coda.Ryuichi Sakamoto died last week at the age of 71. He was the keyboardist for Yellow Magic Orchestra, who revolutionized techno in the early ’80s, and later became a pioneering composer for film—notably Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) and Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), in which he stars. It is impossible to sum up his impact in a bullet point, but we offer up a few finds: below, a clip from the 1985 film Tokyo Melody, in which Sakamoto shows us how to compose on the then-state-of-the-art Fairlight Cmi. Here, a 2018 New York Times piece about his quest to create the ideal background playlist for a beloved restaurant. “If I was an architect, I would be a bad one,...
- 5/3/2023
- MUBI
Besting the likes of Albert Serra’s Pacifiction and Louis Garrel’s The Innocent to win Best Film at this year’s César Awards––not to mention picking up six other awards––Dominik Moll’s mystery thriller The Night of the 12th is now arriving at U.S. shores to kick off the summer. Based on a true crime book by Pauline Guéna, the film was picked up by Film Movement for a May 19 theatrical release, and we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer.
“In nearly every police precinct, detectives are inevitably confronted with a case that goes unsolved. The more heinous the crime, the more it haunts those whose duty it is solve it,” the synopsis reads. “Such is the dilemma for Yohan Vivès—a young, recently promoted police Captain—when he begins investigating the gruesome murder of a young women named Clara in the town of Grenoble.
“In nearly every police precinct, detectives are inevitably confronted with a case that goes unsolved. The more heinous the crime, the more it haunts those whose duty it is solve it,” the synopsis reads. “Such is the dilemma for Yohan Vivès—a young, recently promoted police Captain—when he begins investigating the gruesome murder of a young women named Clara in the town of Grenoble.
- 4/27/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Ficunam has been revealing the program of its upcoming 13th edition, set to take place in Mexico City from June 1 to 11. Highlights so far include a couple of retrospectives, one dedicated to Spanish auteur and showman Albert Serra, the other to French writer and filmmaker Marguerite Duras. Serra, whose latest, Pacifiction, topped Cahiers du Cinéma’s best of 2022 list, recently visited Mexico City to record a performance at the Tamayo museum, about the agony and eventual death of French King Louis Xiv. The finished work, a video titled Roi Soleil, can be seen at said museum until June 4. Serra will certainly return for more activities, although which of his films will be in the Ficunam retrospective is yet to be announced. The same...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/26/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Pacifiction is one of the best, most compelling and creatively stimulating films released in the past year, and when you watch it, you just know that the brains behind it are every bit as fascinating. So it came as little surprise to have that confirmed, when we had the pleasure of sitting down with Spanish auteur Albert Serra in Paris earlier this year, to discuss and dissect his latest production.
He talks about the power of imagery, and his approach to his craft, and the process to his execution. He talks about the blurred lines in humanity & politics, and the staggering work from his leading man Benoit Magimel. He also talks about his next feature film, and what his fans can expect, and tells us why he believes there aren’t any filmmakers out there like him. “I am that extreme”, he tells us. Ain’t that the truth.
One...
He talks about the power of imagery, and his approach to his craft, and the process to his execution. He talks about the blurred lines in humanity & politics, and the staggering work from his leading man Benoit Magimel. He also talks about his next feature film, and what his fans can expect, and tells us why he believes there aren’t any filmmakers out there like him. “I am that extreme”, he tells us. Ain’t that the truth.
One...
- 4/26/2023
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Another busy week sees 18 new titles in cinemas.
A major horror franchise resurrects itself at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, as Studiocanal’s Evil Dead Rise opens in 587 cinemas – the eighth-widest opening ever for an 18-rated film.
Written and directed by Lee Cronin, Evil Dead Rise follows two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by flesh-possessing demons thrusting them into a battle for survival.
The film stars Australian actresses Lily Sullivan, who starred in Amazon Studios series Picnic At Hanging Rock and features including Galore; and Alyssa Sutherland, from Amazon’s Vikings series.
Rise is the fifth film in the Evil Dead franchise,...
A major horror franchise resurrects itself at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, as Studiocanal’s Evil Dead Rise opens in 587 cinemas – the eighth-widest opening ever for an 18-rated film.
Written and directed by Lee Cronin, Evil Dead Rise follows two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by flesh-possessing demons thrusting them into a battle for survival.
The film stars Australian actresses Lily Sullivan, who starred in Amazon Studios series Picnic At Hanging Rock and features including Galore; and Alyssa Sutherland, from Amazon’s Vikings series.
Rise is the fifth film in the Evil Dead franchise,...
- 4/21/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Benoît Magimel won best actor César for his role in Pacifiction earlier this year, the second time in a row he had picked up the prize. He said at the time: 'I don’t think I ever had so much freedom as an actor as on this film'. Serra says of the star: 'He was very brave in his attitude' Photo: New Wave Actors either love or hate working with Catalan director Albert Serra, who creates his own special worlds on the set as he shoots. He knows that he puts his cast under a lot of pressure but that’s part of the deal when they sign on.
Whatever the recipe, clearly it can work in an actor’s favour. Benoît Magimel, star of the director’s latest Pacifiction, shot in Tahiti, won best actor César for the second year in a row for his performance as France’s...
Whatever the recipe, clearly it can work in an actor’s favour. Benoît Magimel, star of the director’s latest Pacifiction, shot in Tahiti, won best actor César for the second year in a row for his performance as France’s...
- 4/19/2023
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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