Mohammad Rasoulof’s ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ Wins Fipresci Award at Cannes: ‘A Courageous Story’
Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” won the Fipresci award at Cannes.
The jury of the International Federation of Film Critics called it “a courageous story set in modern-day Iran that deals with the conflict between tradition and progress, depicted in a very powerful and imaginative way.”
Following a rapturous screening and 2024 record 12-minute standing ovation, the film became a Palme d’Or frontrunner, reported Variety.
“The only reason I left Iran – and that was what made me take that decision – was to go on telling the stories of my land. That was really my only motivation.”
“I need to go on telling stories, creating stories. However, this does not mean that I have left the narratives of Iran. Iran is still inside me, and I still can go on telling Iranian stories and conveying them to the rest of the world,” Rasoulof told Variety’s Nick Vivarelli two days ago.
The jury of the International Federation of Film Critics called it “a courageous story set in modern-day Iran that deals with the conflict between tradition and progress, depicted in a very powerful and imaginative way.”
Following a rapturous screening and 2024 record 12-minute standing ovation, the film became a Palme d’Or frontrunner, reported Variety.
“The only reason I left Iran – and that was what made me take that decision – was to go on telling the stories of my land. That was really my only motivation.”
“I need to go on telling stories, creating stories. However, this does not mean that I have left the narratives of Iran. Iran is still inside me, and I still can go on telling Iranian stories and conveying them to the rest of the world,” Rasoulof told Variety’s Nick Vivarelli two days ago.
- 5/25/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, who fled Iran last week after being given an 8-year prison sentence, will be in Cannes for the world premiere of his new film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig.
Representatives of Rasoulof confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Rasoulof will attend the premiere of The Seed of the Sacred Tree in Cannes on Friday, May 24, and will do press events and promotion for the movie.
The director escaped Iran by ditching all his trackable electronic devices and fleeing by foot over the mountains out of the country. He has found shelter in Germany. In an interview with The Guardian, Rasoulof said he expects he will soon return to his home country and sit out his prison sentence, but that he had “no choice” but to flee the country because he was determined to continue to make movies about his people and the real situation in Iran.
Representatives of Rasoulof confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Rasoulof will attend the premiere of The Seed of the Sacred Tree in Cannes on Friday, May 24, and will do press events and promotion for the movie.
The director escaped Iran by ditching all his trackable electronic devices and fleeing by foot over the mountains out of the country. He has found shelter in Germany. In an interview with The Guardian, Rasoulof said he expects he will soon return to his home country and sit out his prison sentence, but that he had “no choice” but to flee the country because he was determined to continue to make movies about his people and the real situation in Iran.
- 5/22/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof is set to attend the Cannes premiere of his latest feature, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, after receiving an eight-year prison sentence from Iranian authorities and fleeing his home country.
Speculation had been rife that the dissident director would attend the festival when the film receives its world premiere in Competition on Friday (May 24), having found asylum in Germany, but Cannes’ general delegate Thierry Fremaux has now confirmed his attendance.
“We are particularly touched to welcome [Rasoulof] here as a filmmaker,” Fremaux said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (Afp).
Our joy will be that of...
Speculation had been rife that the dissident director would attend the festival when the film receives its world premiere in Competition on Friday (May 24), having found asylum in Germany, but Cannes’ general delegate Thierry Fremaux has now confirmed his attendance.
“We are particularly touched to welcome [Rasoulof] here as a filmmaker,” Fremaux said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (Afp).
Our joy will be that of...
- 5/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
International filmmakers are calling for solidarity with Mohammad Rasoulof and persecuted filmmakers in Iran in an open letter, shared with Variety.
Rasoulof – about to screen his latest film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in Cannes’ main competition – was sentenced to imprisonment and torture by the Islamic Republic of Iran. He fled the country.
“We condemn the inhumane treatment of Rasoulof and numerous other independent artists in Iran, who are being severely punished, criminalized and silenced for exercising their artistic freedom,” it was stated in the letter, already signed by “Holy Spider” star Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Fatih Akin, Atom Egoyan, Ildiko Enyedi, Andrew Haigh, Agnieszka Holland, Laura Poitras, Sandra Hüller, Sean Baker, Payal Kapadia and Ariane Labed.
“We stand in full solidarity with Rasoulof’s demands and call upon the international film community to raise our voices against an Islamist dictatorship that systematically oppresses every aspect of their society’s lives.
Rasoulof – about to screen his latest film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in Cannes’ main competition – was sentenced to imprisonment and torture by the Islamic Republic of Iran. He fled the country.
“We condemn the inhumane treatment of Rasoulof and numerous other independent artists in Iran, who are being severely punished, criminalized and silenced for exercising their artistic freedom,” it was stated in the letter, already signed by “Holy Spider” star Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Fatih Akin, Atom Egoyan, Ildiko Enyedi, Andrew Haigh, Agnieszka Holland, Laura Poitras, Sandra Hüller, Sean Baker, Payal Kapadia and Ariane Labed.
“We stand in full solidarity with Rasoulof’s demands and call upon the international film community to raise our voices against an Islamist dictatorship that systematically oppresses every aspect of their society’s lives.
- 5/22/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The Peabody Awards has revealed its 2024 winners, with Bluey, The Bear, The Last of Us and Fellow Travelers among the high-profile projects set to receive awards.
Other noteworthy winners among the 34 award recipients include Judy Blume Forever, 20 Days in Mariupol, All the Beauty and The Bloodshed, Bobi Wine: The People’s President, Dead Ringers, Jury Duty, Reality and Somebody Somewhere.
Last Week Tonight was also honored with its third Peabody award, while Reservation Dogs won its second Peabody.
Peabody is also honoring Star Trek with its Institutional Award and Witness with its first Global Impact Award, the organization announced Thursday.
The 84th annual Peabody Awards winners will be celebrated at a June 9 awards show in Los Angeles hosted by Kumail Nanjiani.
A full list of the 2024 Peabody Award winners, along with jurors’ comments about each selection and presented in alphabetical order by category, follows.
Arts
Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones...
Other noteworthy winners among the 34 award recipients include Judy Blume Forever, 20 Days in Mariupol, All the Beauty and The Bloodshed, Bobi Wine: The People’s President, Dead Ringers, Jury Duty, Reality and Somebody Somewhere.
Last Week Tonight was also honored with its third Peabody award, while Reservation Dogs won its second Peabody.
Peabody is also honoring Star Trek with its Institutional Award and Witness with its first Global Impact Award, the organization announced Thursday.
The 84th annual Peabody Awards winners will be celebrated at a June 9 awards show in Los Angeles hosted by Kumail Nanjiani.
A full list of the 2024 Peabody Award winners, along with jurors’ comments about each selection and presented in alphabetical order by category, follows.
Arts
Can You Bring It: Bill T. Jones...
- 5/9/2024
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The winners of the 84th Peabody Awards are out, and the list includes Emmy favorites The Bear, The Last of Us and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver along with other TV shows including the now-wrapped Reservation Dogs, kids toon sensation Bluey, breakout prank-umentary Jury Duty and the Oscar-winning Ukraine War documentary 20 Days in Mariupol.
Winners will be feted June 9 at the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles — its first in-person ceremony since 2019, hosted by Kumail Nanjiani. See the full list below; the 2024 nominees are here.
The beloved, enduring sci-fi franchise Star Trek is set for the 2024 Institutional Award, which recognizes institutions, organizations, series or programs for their body of work and their lasting impact on the media landscape and the public imagination.
Related: Peabody Adds More A-List TV Execs To Board Of Directors Posts; UTA’s David Kramer New West Coast Chair
Witness, the international rights group that assists...
Winners will be feted June 9 at the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles — its first in-person ceremony since 2019, hosted by Kumail Nanjiani. See the full list below; the 2024 nominees are here.
The beloved, enduring sci-fi franchise Star Trek is set for the 2024 Institutional Award, which recognizes institutions, organizations, series or programs for their body of work and their lasting impact on the media landscape and the public imagination.
Related: Peabody Adds More A-List TV Execs To Board Of Directors Posts; UTA’s David Kramer New West Coast Chair
Witness, the international rights group that assists...
- 5/9/2024
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Dozens of top Hollywood creatives and activists have signed an open letter in response to the shuttering of production company Participant — imploring the industry to continue to effect change through film and television as the defunct company once did.
George Clooney, Aflonso Cuarón, Ava DuVernay, Jane Fonda, Regina King, Viola Davis, #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Color of Change president Rashad Robinson and more are signators, in addition to groups like GLAAD and Human Rights Watch. The letter was coordinated by the National Domestic Workers Alliance (Ndwa), which collaborated with Participant and director Cuarón on a visibility campaign for his 2018 Oscar winner “Roma.”
“As we say goodbye to Participant, we must underscore that values-based storytelling is needed now more than ever,” the letter states. “There is a whole ecosystem of people, connected by the work of the last 20 years of Participant, ready to work with you.
George Clooney, Aflonso Cuarón, Ava DuVernay, Jane Fonda, Regina King, Viola Davis, #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Color of Change president Rashad Robinson and more are signators, in addition to groups like GLAAD and Human Rights Watch. The letter was coordinated by the National Domestic Workers Alliance (Ndwa), which collaborated with Participant and director Cuarón on a visibility campaign for his 2018 Oscar winner “Roma.”
“As we say goodbye to Participant, we must underscore that values-based storytelling is needed now more than ever,” the letter states. “There is a whole ecosystem of people, connected by the work of the last 20 years of Participant, ready to work with you.
- 5/7/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
New York-based director/producer Katy Scoggin has worked with high-profile U.S. documentary filmmaker/journalist Laura Poitras on two shorts and three features, notably as co-producer and Dp on Poitras’ Oscar-winner “Citizenfour” and Cannes Directors’ Fortnight’s “Risk.”
Poitras now serves as executive producer on Scoggin’s feature debut “Flood,” one of six creative documentaries to be pitched as works in progress April 16, at the Visions du Réel festival in Nyon, Switzerland.
“Flood” centers on Scoggin’s journey to repair her relationship with her former missionary father, with whom she has become estranged. As the story unfolds, she relies on evolution to try to grasp change over time: in the fossil record, in American evangelicalism and in her own shift away from her parents’ religion and back home to reconnect.
The documentary was produced by Scoggin and Will Lennon for Archelon Films, and executive produced by Poitras, Nico Opper and Adam Blackman.
Poitras now serves as executive producer on Scoggin’s feature debut “Flood,” one of six creative documentaries to be pitched as works in progress April 16, at the Visions du Réel festival in Nyon, Switzerland.
“Flood” centers on Scoggin’s journey to repair her relationship with her former missionary father, with whom she has become estranged. As the story unfolds, she relies on evolution to try to grasp change over time: in the fossil record, in American evangelicalism and in her own shift away from her parents’ religion and back home to reconnect.
The documentary was produced by Scoggin and Will Lennon for Archelon Films, and executive produced by Poitras, Nico Opper and Adam Blackman.
- 4/15/2024
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
For director Laura Poitras, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed represents a departure of sorts. After centering films around people ranging from a former bodyguard for Osama bin Laden in The Oath to Edward Snowden in Citizenfour and Julian Assange in Risk, her latest documentary focuses on an artist: legendary photographer Nan Goldin. But there’s still a strong political dimension to the film, since Goldin was a major force in bringing down the Sackler family, the owners of Purdue Pharma, one of the global pharmaceutical companies largely responsible for the opioid epidemic in the United States.
It’s a deeply personal mission for Goldin, as someone who found herself addicted to OxyContin for a period of time until she nearly died from an overdose. Goldin’s activism, though, is, the documentary suggests, born out of not just her brush with the opioid crisis, but from a lifetime of dealing with mental illness,...
It’s a deeply personal mission for Goldin, as someone who found herself addicted to OxyContin for a period of time until she nearly died from an overdose. Goldin’s activism, though, is, the documentary suggests, born out of not just her brush with the opioid crisis, but from a lifetime of dealing with mental illness,...
- 3/11/2024
- by Kenji Fujishima
- Slant Magazine
Supernatural horror Deliver US is out now on digital platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon in the UK & Ireland.
Maria Vera Ratti (Inspector Ricciardi) stars as a nun who claims to have conceived twins through immaculate conception – that the Vatican fear will fulfil an ancient prophecy that one is the Messiah, and the other the Antichrist. Deliver US also stars co-director Lee Roy Kunz, as well as Thomas Kretschmann (Infinity Pool), and Peaky Blinders star Alexander Siddig.
Co-directed by Cru Ennis, Deliver US us a slick, striking and seriously scary slice of religious horror that will appeal to horror fans who enjoyed The Pope’s Exorcist, The Omen and The Nun movies.
Synopsis: When a nun in a remote convent claims immaculate conception, the Vatican sends a team of priests to investigate, concerned about an ancient prophecy that a woman will give birth to twin boys: one the Messiah,...
Maria Vera Ratti (Inspector Ricciardi) stars as a nun who claims to have conceived twins through immaculate conception – that the Vatican fear will fulfil an ancient prophecy that one is the Messiah, and the other the Antichrist. Deliver US also stars co-director Lee Roy Kunz, as well as Thomas Kretschmann (Infinity Pool), and Peaky Blinders star Alexander Siddig.
Co-directed by Cru Ennis, Deliver US us a slick, striking and seriously scary slice of religious horror that will appeal to horror fans who enjoyed The Pope’s Exorcist, The Omen and The Nun movies.
Synopsis: When a nun in a remote convent claims immaculate conception, the Vatican sends a team of priests to investigate, concerned about an ancient prophecy that a woman will give birth to twin boys: one the Messiah,...
- 2/27/2024
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
A-listers Alice Eve and Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro) star in Cult Killer which is out now on Digital Platforms in the UK and Ireland. Also out on DVD on the 12th February 2024.
Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) is a fearless private eye (with Banderas as her mentor) who uncovers brutal secrets in a sleepy Irish town that puts her life in danger. The film also stars Shelley Henig (Unfriended), Olwen Fouéré (The Northman) and Nick Dunning (The Tudors).
Stylishly directed by John Keeyes (Codename Banshee), Cult Killer recalls the nerve-shredding thrills of Silence of the Lambs and 7even, and is unmissable for fans of intelligent, dark crime thrillers.
Synopsis: When a renowned private investigator is murdered, his protege takes on the case. As her investigation unfolds, she is forced into a dangerous alliance with his killer to uncover the town’s grisly secrets and bring justice to its victims.
Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) is a fearless private eye (with Banderas as her mentor) who uncovers brutal secrets in a sleepy Irish town that puts her life in danger. The film also stars Shelley Henig (Unfriended), Olwen Fouéré (The Northman) and Nick Dunning (The Tudors).
Stylishly directed by John Keeyes (Codename Banshee), Cult Killer recalls the nerve-shredding thrills of Silence of the Lambs and 7even, and is unmissable for fans of intelligent, dark crime thrillers.
Synopsis: When a renowned private investigator is murdered, his protege takes on the case. As her investigation unfolds, she is forced into a dangerous alliance with his killer to uncover the town’s grisly secrets and bring justice to its victims.
- 2/20/2024
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Ben Fowlie, founder of the Camden International Film Festival, is departing as executive and artistic director of the Points North Institute, the nonprofit that produces the highly-respected documentary festival in coastal Maine.
Rick Rector, a board member of the Points North Institute, has been appointed Pni’s interim executive director in Fowlie’s stead. Fowlie, in addition to founding the film festival in 2005, established the Points North Institute in 2016, co-founding the nonprofit with Sean Flynn and Caroline von Kuhn.
Von Kuhn will remain as Pni board chair and Flynn will continue to lead Pni’s artist programs and fellowships and expand his role to oversee the upcoming 20th Camden International Film Festival, set for September 12-15, 2024.
Ciff executive and artistic director Ben Fowlie with ‘The Rescue’ director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
“After twenty incredible years building this organization from the ground up, it’s the right time for me to step down,...
Rick Rector, a board member of the Points North Institute, has been appointed Pni’s interim executive director in Fowlie’s stead. Fowlie, in addition to founding the film festival in 2005, established the Points North Institute in 2016, co-founding the nonprofit with Sean Flynn and Caroline von Kuhn.
Von Kuhn will remain as Pni board chair and Flynn will continue to lead Pni’s artist programs and fellowships and expand his role to oversee the upcoming 20th Camden International Film Festival, set for September 12-15, 2024.
Ciff executive and artistic director Ben Fowlie with ‘The Rescue’ director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
“After twenty incredible years building this organization from the ground up, it’s the right time for me to step down,...
- 1/16/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
As we wrap up our year-end coverage, IndieWire looks back at the people, projects, and ideas that defined 2023 — and what’s coming next.
As golden ages go, this one was more of a blip.
Five years ago, the box office celebrated nonfiction films: $22 million for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” $14 million for “Rbg,” $17.5 million for “Free Solo.” Critical favorites and Oscar nominees included films from exciting American first-time directors, including RaMell Ross’s lyrical breakthrough about life in rural Alabama, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” and Bing Liu’s moving personal exposé of domestic abuse in northern Illinois, “Minding the Gap.”
2023 lacked documentary touchstones. A few faith-based documentaries succeeded by preaching to the choir, but the most successful (non-concert) documentary released in theaters this year was the Yogi Berra baseball portrait “It Ain’t Over”. You also could include Magnolia Pictures’ “Joan Baez: I Am A Noise” or — if you...
As golden ages go, this one was more of a blip.
Five years ago, the box office celebrated nonfiction films: $22 million for “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” $14 million for “Rbg,” $17.5 million for “Free Solo.” Critical favorites and Oscar nominees included films from exciting American first-time directors, including RaMell Ross’s lyrical breakthrough about life in rural Alabama, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” and Bing Liu’s moving personal exposé of domestic abuse in northern Illinois, “Minding the Gap.”
2023 lacked documentary touchstones. A few faith-based documentaries succeeded by preaching to the choir, but the most successful (non-concert) documentary released in theaters this year was the Yogi Berra baseball portrait “It Ain’t Over”. You also could include Magnolia Pictures’ “Joan Baez: I Am A Noise” or — if you...
- 12/19/2023
- by Anthony Kaufman
- Indiewire
Laura Poitras’s powerful documentary follows artist Nan Goldin on a successful crusade to publicise the US opioids crisis
More of the best films of 2023More of the best culture of 2023
The Sackler family wanted their name to be synonymous with art, high-brow prestige and patrician good taste. But despite or because of their vainglorious donations to art galleries and museums all over the world, it became synonymous with something else: pain. And perhaps also with the ugly business of converting agony into money, while leaving behind more poverty and more agony among their abject American customer-base than there was before. Part of the Sackler family were behind the Purdue Pharma corporation marketing the ruinously addictive OxyContin opioid pill, which physicians across the US were persuaded to prescribe for essentially non-serious issues such as sports injuries. And yet only those who have never known what chronic pain is like will...
More of the best films of 2023More of the best culture of 2023
The Sackler family wanted their name to be synonymous with art, high-brow prestige and patrician good taste. But despite or because of their vainglorious donations to art galleries and museums all over the world, it became synonymous with something else: pain. And perhaps also with the ugly business of converting agony into money, while leaving behind more poverty and more agony among their abject American customer-base than there was before. Part of the Sackler family were behind the Purdue Pharma corporation marketing the ruinously addictive OxyContin opioid pill, which physicians across the US were persuaded to prescribe for essentially non-serious issues such as sports injuries. And yet only those who have never known what chronic pain is like will...
- 12/12/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: New York-based Women Make Movies has acquired U.S. rights for Palestinian Oscar entry Bye Bye Tiberias by Lina Soualem.
The intimate work sees Soualem accompany her Palestinian-French actress mother Hiam Abbass back to the Arab village within Israeli borders, which she left in the 1980s to pursue her acting career in Europe.
There, they reflect on her past as well as the lives of Abbass’ mother and grandmother in a powerful work exploring themes of displacement, identity and survival across four generations of women.
Wmm executive director Debra Zimmerman said the film was a “perfect fit” for the label, which aims to put spotlight on the work of female filmmakers.
“It is a beautiful film about four generations of Palestinian women,” she said. “I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to have this film seen widely right now by the diverse audiences that need and deserve to see it.
The intimate work sees Soualem accompany her Palestinian-French actress mother Hiam Abbass back to the Arab village within Israeli borders, which she left in the 1980s to pursue her acting career in Europe.
There, they reflect on her past as well as the lives of Abbass’ mother and grandmother in a powerful work exploring themes of displacement, identity and survival across four generations of women.
Wmm executive director Debra Zimmerman said the film was a “perfect fit” for the label, which aims to put spotlight on the work of female filmmakers.
“It is a beautiful film about four generations of Palestinian women,” she said. “I am thrilled that we have the opportunity to have this film seen widely right now by the diverse audiences that need and deserve to see it.
- 12/8/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Just in time to ruin Christmas, gruesome horror comedy The Mean One, is out now on DVD and Digital Platforms from Altitude Film Distribution.
David Howard Thornton, the award-winning actor who plays Art the Clown in the hugely popular Terrifier movies, stars as The Mean One, a gruesome grouch in a Santa suit who is intent on causing Christmas carnage. Directed by Steven Lamorte (Bury Me Twice), The Mean One also stars Krystle Martin as Cindy, who takes on the Christmas killer with a baseball bat wrapped in tree lights.
Like recent horror hit Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, The Mean One is another buzzy slasher mixing mirth, murder and all-out action in equal measure, as the townsfolk decide to take on the green meanie with all the weapons they can lay their hands on. Already a viral sensation (over 5 million people have watched the trailer online) The Mean One...
David Howard Thornton, the award-winning actor who plays Art the Clown in the hugely popular Terrifier movies, stars as The Mean One, a gruesome grouch in a Santa suit who is intent on causing Christmas carnage. Directed by Steven Lamorte (Bury Me Twice), The Mean One also stars Krystle Martin as Cindy, who takes on the Christmas killer with a baseball bat wrapped in tree lights.
Like recent horror hit Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, The Mean One is another buzzy slasher mixing mirth, murder and all-out action in equal measure, as the townsfolk decide to take on the green meanie with all the weapons they can lay their hands on. Already a viral sensation (over 5 million people have watched the trailer online) The Mean One...
- 12/7/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
The 2024 Cinema Eye Honors has officially announced its full list of nominees, with D. Smith’s debut feature “Kokomo City” topping the awards contenders.
The Sundance breakout film about Black trans sex workers has six nominations for the 17th annual awards ceremony which spotlights achievements in nonfiction and documentary films and series. The 2024 Cinema Eye Honors will take place January 12 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem, New York.
Following “Kokomo City” are Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” Sam Green’s “32 Sounds,” and Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory,” each with five nominations. All four films are nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature with the respective directors all nominated for Outstanding Direction.
This year’s Cinema Eye Honors also marks a history-making first with directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson being the first filmmakers to be nominated for Nonfiction Feature and Nonfiction Short in the same year,...
The Sundance breakout film about Black trans sex workers has six nominations for the 17th annual awards ceremony which spotlights achievements in nonfiction and documentary films and series. The 2024 Cinema Eye Honors will take place January 12 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem, New York.
Following “Kokomo City” are Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” Sam Green’s “32 Sounds,” and Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory,” each with five nominations. All four films are nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature with the respective directors all nominated for Outstanding Direction.
This year’s Cinema Eye Honors also marks a history-making first with directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson being the first filmmakers to be nominated for Nonfiction Feature and Nonfiction Short in the same year,...
- 11/16/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
“Kokomo City,” D. Smith’s documentary about four trans Black women in New York and Georgia, led all films in nominations for the 17th annual Cinema Eye Honors, the New York-based awards designed to spotlight all facets of nonfiction filmmaking.
The film received six nominations, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature and Outstanding Direction. Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory” and Sam Green’s “32 Sounds” followed with five nominations each.
In the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category, “Kokomo City,” “The Eternal Memory,” “20 Days in Mariupol” and “32 Sounds” were joined by “Four Daughters,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”
Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony” received nominations for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Score, making Heineman the third-most-nominated filmmaker in Cinema Eye history. With 12 nominations overall, he now trails Steve James and Laura Poitras by one.
While many...
The film received six nominations, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature and Outstanding Direction. Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory” and Sam Green’s “32 Sounds” followed with five nominations each.
In the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category, “Kokomo City,” “The Eternal Memory,” “20 Days in Mariupol” and “32 Sounds” were joined by “Four Daughters,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”
Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony” received nominations for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Score, making Heineman the third-most-nominated filmmaker in Cinema Eye history. With 12 nominations overall, he now trails Steve James and Laura Poitras by one.
While many...
- 11/16/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
“We have seen titles doing the best they’ve ever done before in this ‘unhealthy’ marketplace.”
In a keynote address at Sunday’s (November 12) IDFA distribution panel Neon’s president of distribution Elissa Federoff gave a surprisingly upbeat assessment of prospects for the US and global independent documentary sector.
While acknowledging the market is “down” and that there are fewer titles being released that in the pre-Covid period, Federoff claimed that “in many ways, the box office is healthier than ever”.
Box office has decreased by around 20% since 2019 which the executive suggested was largely because there are 20% fewer titles being released.
In a keynote address at Sunday’s (November 12) IDFA distribution panel Neon’s president of distribution Elissa Federoff gave a surprisingly upbeat assessment of prospects for the US and global independent documentary sector.
While acknowledging the market is “down” and that there are fewer titles being released that in the pre-Covid period, Federoff claimed that “in many ways, the box office is healthier than ever”.
Box office has decreased by around 20% since 2019 which the executive suggested was largely because there are 20% fewer titles being released.
- 11/14/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Alex Pettyfer stars in the terrifying action thriller Black Noise, which is out out now on Digital Platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon Prime Video in the UK & Ireland.
“We go in, we get the client, and get out”. If only it was that simple for Alex Pettyfer (Alex Rider in Stormbreaker) and Jackson Rathbone (Twilight), on a rescue mission from hell in Black Noise, a chilling action horror set in a lush paradise, also starring Eve Mauro (Wicked Lake) and Ashton Leigh (Big Shark).
Sent to the remote island of Esperanza to rescue a tech heiress, a security team finds their communications cut off, and starts having nightmarish hallucinations… but the worst is yet to come. Coming on like 80s classic Predator Black Noise is an action adventure that turns into all-out horror.
Synopsis:
Members of an elite security team deployed to rescue a VIP on an exclusive island.
“We go in, we get the client, and get out”. If only it was that simple for Alex Pettyfer (Alex Rider in Stormbreaker) and Jackson Rathbone (Twilight), on a rescue mission from hell in Black Noise, a chilling action horror set in a lush paradise, also starring Eve Mauro (Wicked Lake) and Ashton Leigh (Big Shark).
Sent to the remote island of Esperanza to rescue a tech heiress, a security team finds their communications cut off, and starts having nightmarish hallucinations… but the worst is yet to come. Coming on like 80s classic Predator Black Noise is an action adventure that turns into all-out horror.
Synopsis:
Members of an elite security team deployed to rescue a VIP on an exclusive island.
- 11/13/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Things got political on Wednesday at Doc NYC’s 10th annual Visionaries Tribute Honorees, when honoree Michael Moore asked the crowd to take a pledge “to let our Jewish brothers and sisters know that we will never, ever allow what happened in the 20th century” to happen again.
The Gotham Hall gala marks the opening day of the 14th annual Doc NYC and attracts the who’s who of the doc community from both coasts. Hundreds of documentary filmmakers, cinematographers, producers, editors, publicists, and distributors hobnob with Academy doc branch members in hopes of winning their votes.
Moore, American Documentary executive director Erika Dilday, and docu filmmakers Deborah Shaffer and Maite Alberdi, were honored during the four-hour lunch.
“Few of us are in a very festive mood right now,” Moore said during his 40-plus minute acceptance speech. “And so I’d like to start by just asking you to join...
The Gotham Hall gala marks the opening day of the 14th annual Doc NYC and attracts the who’s who of the doc community from both coasts. Hundreds of documentary filmmakers, cinematographers, producers, editors, publicists, and distributors hobnob with Academy doc branch members in hopes of winning their votes.
Moore, American Documentary executive director Erika Dilday, and docu filmmakers Deborah Shaffer and Maite Alberdi, were honored during the four-hour lunch.
“Few of us are in a very festive mood right now,” Moore said during his 40-plus minute acceptance speech. “And so I’d like to start by just asking you to join...
- 11/9/2023
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Amber Heard (Aquaman) stars as a doctor battling against 19th-century superstitions and paranoia in In The Fire, also starring Luca Calvani (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), Eduardo Noriega (The Devil’s Backbone), and Sophie Amber (soon to be seen in The Last Girl with Antonio Banderas).
Directed by Cocor Allyn (No Man’s Land), In The Fire is an intense and thrilling experience featuring a searing career-best lead performance from Heard as a woman attempting to convince a community that medicine can overcome what they perceive as ‘evil’.
Synopsis:
A doctor travels to a remote plantation to care for a disturbed boy who has inexplicable abilities. She ignites a war of science versus religion with the local priest who believes the boy is possessed by the Devil.
In The Fire is available now on Digital Platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon.
About Altitude
Altitude Media Group is...
Directed by Cocor Allyn (No Man’s Land), In The Fire is an intense and thrilling experience featuring a searing career-best lead performance from Heard as a woman attempting to convince a community that medicine can overcome what they perceive as ‘evil’.
Synopsis:
A doctor travels to a remote plantation to care for a disturbed boy who has inexplicable abilities. She ignites a war of science versus religion with the local priest who believes the boy is possessed by the Devil.
In The Fire is available now on Digital Platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon.
About Altitude
Altitude Media Group is...
- 11/8/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Documentary festival opens with Olga Chernykh’s personal portrait of the Ukraine-Russia conflict ’A Picture To Remember’
Opening with Olga Chernykh’s personal portrait of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, A Picture To Remember, IDFA will showcase many features from the world’s political hotspots.
IDFA also begins its 36th edition (8-19 November) from a brand new year-round home in the Vondelpark Pavilion. The venue will open its doors officially next March but is already a festival location and has begun pilot programming including a collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum and a screening of Laura Poitras’s Golden Lion winner All The Beauty And The Bloodshed.
Opening with Olga Chernykh’s personal portrait of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, A Picture To Remember, IDFA will showcase many features from the world’s political hotspots.
IDFA also begins its 36th edition (8-19 November) from a brand new year-round home in the Vondelpark Pavilion. The venue will open its doors officially next March but is already a festival location and has begun pilot programming including a collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum and a screening of Laura Poitras’s Golden Lion winner All The Beauty And The Bloodshed.
- 11/7/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
There's a wonderful little indie distributor based in NYC called Zeitgeist Films, founded in 1988. If you're a die-hard cinephile, you probably already recognize the name. They've supported amazing filmmakers and little films that deserve to be seen in US art house cinemas. From their website, they explain Zeitgeist as: "Distributed over 200 of the finest independent films from the U.S. and around the world including the early works of Todd Haynes, Christopher Nolan, François Ozon, Laura Poitras, Atom Egoyan and the Quay Brothers. Their catalog has also included films from the world's most outstanding filmmakers: Agnes Varda, Guy Maddin, Olivier Assayas, Jia Zhang-ke, Abbas Kiarostami, Derek Jarman, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Peter Greenaway, Philippe Garrel, Yvonne Rainer, Jan Svankmajer, Margarethe Von Trotta, Andrei Zyvagintsev and Raoul Peck." To celebrate their 35th anniversary, Metrograph is hosting screenings of some of their finest gems. "We're particularly looking forward to reuniting with some of...
- 11/6/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Distributing films by Todd Haynes, Guy Maddin, Abbas Kiarostami, Laura Poitras, Olivier Assayas, and even Jacques Demy, Zeitgeist Film has been one of the most vital caretakers of independent and international cinema in the last few decades. Founded in New York City in 1988 by Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo, they will now get a well-deserved celebration at NYC’s Metrograph beginning this Friday, November 3, with the series Zeitgeist Films at 35, and we’re pleased to exclusively debut the trailer.
Along with Olivier Assayas’ Irma Vep, Todd Haynes’ Poison, Derek Jarman’s The Garden, Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry, Atom Egoyan’s Speaking Parts, and Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg (released in a new restoration by Zeitgeist in 1996), the series features premieres of new 4K remasters of Guy Maddin’s Archangel and Marc Rothemund’s Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, plus an exclusive series closing night Member Preview of...
Along with Olivier Assayas’ Irma Vep, Todd Haynes’ Poison, Derek Jarman’s The Garden, Abbas Kiarostami’s Taste of Cherry, Atom Egoyan’s Speaking Parts, and Jacques Demy’s Umbrellas of Cherbourg (released in a new restoration by Zeitgeist in 1996), the series features premieres of new 4K remasters of Guy Maddin’s Archangel and Marc Rothemund’s Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, plus an exclusive series closing night Member Preview of...
- 10/31/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The first sculpture seen in Wim Wenders’s documentary Anselm is a wedding dress, its long train strewn over a massive bed of fallen leaves, perched in a lush forest on a cliff’s edge. All the while, the film cuts between intimate close-ups and long shots that take in the totality of the piece. More sculptures emerge across an expansive outdoor atelier in Croissy, on the outskirts of Paris, each subsequent wedding dress overflowing with harsh textures due to the various hard materials used within them. As if mimicking the experience of an in-person encounter with Anselm Kiefer’s confrontational work, the 3D camera glides past them all.
First glimpsed in the film cycling in his vast warehouse in Barjac, France, the seventysomething Kiefer appears as if he’s sprung from one of his enormous paintings. As Wenders’s mesmerizing portrait of the Austrian-German multimedia artist progresses, the experience...
First glimpsed in the film cycling in his vast warehouse in Barjac, France, the seventysomething Kiefer appears as if he’s sprung from one of his enormous paintings. As Wenders’s mesmerizing portrait of the Austrian-German multimedia artist progresses, the experience...
- 10/25/2023
- by Greg Nussen
- Slant Magazine
Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, senator, secretary of state and Democratic party presidential candidate, can now add another feather to her cap: Emmy winner.
Clinton, along with her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, were executive producers of the Netflix documentary In Her Hands, a film about the youngest female mayor in the history of Afghanistan, which on Thursday night was awarded the Emmy for politics and government documentary during the second evening of the 44th News & Documentary Emmy Awards.
At the ceremony, which the Clintons did not attend, it was not publicly revealed which individuals would be receiving statuettes for winning projects. But David Winn, head of the News & Documentary Awards for The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, confirms to The Hollywood Reporter: “As executive producers on the film, [Hillary and Chelsea Clinton] are considered statue eligible.”
In Her Hands, the first project to emerge from the Clintons’ production company HiddenLight Productions,...
Clinton, along with her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, were executive producers of the Netflix documentary In Her Hands, a film about the youngest female mayor in the history of Afghanistan, which on Thursday night was awarded the Emmy for politics and government documentary during the second evening of the 44th News & Documentary Emmy Awards.
At the ceremony, which the Clintons did not attend, it was not publicly revealed which individuals would be receiving statuettes for winning projects. But David Winn, head of the News & Documentary Awards for The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, confirms to The Hollywood Reporter: “As executive producers on the film, [Hillary and Chelsea Clinton] are considered statue eligible.”
In Her Hands, the first project to emerge from the Clintons’ production company HiddenLight Productions,...
- 9/29/2023
- by Adam Benzine
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Each year, I am honored to have a chance to return to the beautiful city of Venice in Northern Italy to attend the Venice Film Festival and catch the latest films premiering there. This year's festival is now finished, so it's time to present my picks of my favorite films from Venice 2023. I've chosen 8 of the best of the fest films that deserve to be highlighted. This was my seventh year returning to Venice, I even stopped by back in 2020 during the pandemic as I didn't want to miss it. In total, I watched around 32 films at Venice this year, and while it wasn't the most spectacular line-up, I am always glad to have the chance to dive into this entrancing selection of new cinema every year anyway. The best of the festival this year, Poor Things, is also the same film that went on to win the Golden Lion top prize,...
- 9/19/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
From the strikes to awards contenders and the inclusion of films by controversial directors.
The 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival wrapped on September 9 with Yorgos Lanthimos’ acclaimed Poor Things taking the Golden Lion for best film.
Screen considers the big talking points from an 11-day festival marathon, which opened with Edoardo De Angelis’ Commandante and closed with J.A. Bayona’s Society Of The Snow.
The strikes were the main talking point
The challenges keep on coming for festival directors. First, they had to navigate Covid restrictions, now it is the ongoing Hollywood strikes. Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera...
The 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival wrapped on September 9 with Yorgos Lanthimos’ acclaimed Poor Things taking the Golden Lion for best film.
Screen considers the big talking points from an 11-day festival marathon, which opened with Edoardo De Angelis’ Commandante and closed with J.A. Bayona’s Society Of The Snow.
The strikes were the main talking point
The challenges keep on coming for festival directors. First, they had to navigate Covid restrictions, now it is the ongoing Hollywood strikes. Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera...
- 9/12/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
For more on Venice's standout films, read our dispatch coverage: "Biopics Reloaded" and "Hitmen, A.I., and Dangerous Women."Poor Things.Main Competition(Jury: Damien Chazelle (chair), Saleh Bakri, Jane Campion, Mia Hansen-Løve, Gabriele Mainetti, Martin McDonagh, Santiago Mitre, Laura Poitras, and Shu Qi)Golden Lion: Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize: Evil Does Not Exist (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)Silver Lion Best Director: Matteo Garrone (Io Capitano)Special Jury Prize: Green Border (Agnieszka Holland)Best Screenplay: Pablo Larraín and Guillermo Calderón (El Conde)Best Actress: Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla)Best Actor: Peter Sarsgaard (Memory)Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress: Seydou Sarr (Io Capitano)Explanation For Everything.HORIZONSJury: Jonas Carpignano (chair), Kaouther Ben Hania, Kahlil Joseph, Jean-Paul Salomé, and Tricia Truttle)Best Film: Explanation For Everything (Gábor Reisz)Best Director: Mika Gustafson (Paradise Is Burning)Special Jury Prize: Una Sterminata Domenica (Alain Parroni)Best Actress:...
- 9/12/2023
- MUBI
The 2023 Venice Film Festival persevered despite a dimmed Hollywood presence, with much of the onscreen talent sitting this year’s Lido event out due to the strikes. There in Italy, however, were directors like Michael Mann, David Fincher, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Wes Anderson, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Richard Linklater, Sofia Coppola, and even Woody Allen to present their latest films and do the talking on behalf of their sidelined actors.
Saturday at the Sala Grande, the jury headed up by president Damien Chazelle revealed the winners of the 2023 competition awards. Jurors including Martin McDonagh, Jane Campion, and Mia Hansen-Løve saw 23 movies over the last week and a half, including Lanthimos’ raved-about “Poor Things,” Coppola’s well-liked “Priscilla,” Bertrand Bonello’s daring “The Beast,” Fincher’s assassin thriller “The Killer,” Bradley Cooper’s Oscar hopeful “Maestro,” Mann’s gripping “Ferrari,” and more.
Word on the Lido was highest for eventual Golden Lion winner “Poor Things,...
Saturday at the Sala Grande, the jury headed up by president Damien Chazelle revealed the winners of the 2023 competition awards. Jurors including Martin McDonagh, Jane Campion, and Mia Hansen-Løve saw 23 movies over the last week and a half, including Lanthimos’ raved-about “Poor Things,” Coppola’s well-liked “Priscilla,” Bertrand Bonello’s daring “The Beast,” Fincher’s assassin thriller “The Killer,” Bradley Cooper’s Oscar hopeful “Maestro,” Mann’s gripping “Ferrari,” and more.
Word on the Lido was highest for eventual Golden Lion winner “Poor Things,...
- 9/9/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
If you witnessed the chaos unfold in Kabul airport two years ago, it probably won’t come as much of a surprised to learn the US Army left a helicopter or two in Afghanistan. More alarming might be the news, calmly delivered at the start of this profoundly unreassuring documentary, that the cache of weapons and equipment that remains is estimated to be worth somewhere in the region of $7,000,000,000. In Hollywoodgate, an out-of-competition premiere at the Venice Film Festival this week, the Egyptian journalist and filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at risks life and limb to achieve the improbable: nestling his way in with the Taliban fighters in charge of an abandoned U.S. base and observing their attempts to utilize what the Army left behind. “The Americans left us an enormous treasure,” one General observes; Nash’at’s film offers a worrying insight into what they might decide to do with it all.
- 9/1/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
We’re back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock here. After a week away, we’ve got you covered for all the big news as festival season gears up once again. We’ve been mob-handed in Venice while diligently covering all the major TV and film news around the world. Let’s begin…
Venice Vibes
“A difficult time”: After a summer of blistering heat across mainland Europe, the Venice Film Festival opened this week to heavy rainfall and strong winds. But that didn’t halt proceedings, which began early Wednesday with the official jury presser, where we saw our first mention of the Hollywood strikes. Jury head Damien Chazelle arrived at the press conference sporting a ‘Writers Guild on Strike’ t-shirt and badge. Jury members Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras, sitting in the front row, also donned the same t-shirt. “Today is the 121st day the writers have been on strike, and...
Venice Vibes
“A difficult time”: After a summer of blistering heat across mainland Europe, the Venice Film Festival opened this week to heavy rainfall and strong winds. But that didn’t halt proceedings, which began early Wednesday with the official jury presser, where we saw our first mention of the Hollywood strikes. Jury head Damien Chazelle arrived at the press conference sporting a ‘Writers Guild on Strike’ t-shirt and badge. Jury members Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras, sitting in the front row, also donned the same t-shirt. “Today is the 121st day the writers have been on strike, and...
- 9/1/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Brussels-based distributor’s first release is Quentin Dupieux comedy Yannick.
Brussels-based producers Joao Vinhas and Benjamin Honoré and lawyer Camille Doyen are launching distribution outfit Case Départ into the Benelux market with the release of Quentin Dupieux’s comedy Yannick in September.
Sold by Kinology, the film won the Europa Cinemas Label as best European film at this month’s Locarno Film Festival.
Case Départ has also acquired Dupieux’s comedy Daaaaaali! which is screening out of competitin at the Venice film festival, to be released in spring 2024.
Further releases include Edouard A. Tremblay’s fantasy comedy Farador on November...
Brussels-based producers Joao Vinhas and Benjamin Honoré and lawyer Camille Doyen are launching distribution outfit Case Départ into the Benelux market with the release of Quentin Dupieux’s comedy Yannick in September.
Sold by Kinology, the film won the Europa Cinemas Label as best European film at this month’s Locarno Film Festival.
Case Départ has also acquired Dupieux’s comedy Daaaaaali! which is screening out of competitin at the Venice film festival, to be released in spring 2024.
Further releases include Edouard A. Tremblay’s fantasy comedy Farador on November...
- 8/31/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Frederick Wiseman is busy. He’s always busy. Since he began directing films — his first, Titicut Follies, was in 1967 at the relatively late age of 38 — Wiseman’s been on the clock. He has made nearly a movie a year, 49 to date (the 50th, Menus Plaisirs — Les Troisgros, a portrait of a French Michelin three-star restaurant, will premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 3) and, at 93 years old, he shows no signs of slowing down. “I like to work. Work is my salvation, it’s my religion.”
For half a century, Wiseman’s work has been the creation of a series of cinéma vérité documentaries whose almost laughably generic titles — High School, The Store, Welfare, Law and Order, City Hall — belie the films’ complex and idiosyncratic portraits of American institutions. They can be shocking: Titicut Follies, an exposé of the inhumane treatment of patients at a Massachusetts asylum for the criminally insane,...
For half a century, Wiseman’s work has been the creation of a series of cinéma vérité documentaries whose almost laughably generic titles — High School, The Store, Welfare, Law and Order, City Hall — belie the films’ complex and idiosyncratic portraits of American institutions. They can be shocking: Titicut Follies, an exposé of the inhumane treatment of patients at a Massachusetts asylum for the criminally insane,...
- 8/31/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Just as the Venice Film Festival was establishing itself as one of the most thrilling red carpets on the festival and awards show circuit — in 2022, The New York Times called its fashion parade the “most glamorous” of the year thanks to wow appearances from Timothée Chalamet, Tessa Thompson and Florence Pugh — the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are stamping out a significant portion of the Hollywood star power and its attendant style at the 80th edition of the event.
“The real appeal is brought by the American stars without a doubt,” Piero Piazzi, the president of Women Management modeling agency, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There can’t be a definitive comparison; it all depends from years to year depending on the films and stars present. [But] Cannes will certainly be considered more prestigious this year as the strike by American actors was not underway in May.”
In the last few days though,...
“The real appeal is brought by the American stars without a doubt,” Piero Piazzi, the president of Women Management modeling agency, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There can’t be a definitive comparison; it all depends from years to year depending on the films and stars present. [But] Cannes will certainly be considered more prestigious this year as the strike by American actors was not underway in May.”
In the last few days though,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Laurie Brookins
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Women writers and directors are working as hard as men. It’s not right if we don’t give them chance to be seen.”
Legendary Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani called for greater recognition of female filmmakers at the opening ceremony for the 80th Venice Film Festival this evening (August 30).
Ninety-year-old Cavani received the honorary Golden Lion award recognising her career, which spans seven decades.
“I’m the first female person to receive this award,” said Cavani. “There are women writers and directors who are working as well as men. It’s not quite right if we don’t give them a chance to be seen.
Legendary Italian filmmaker Liliana Cavani called for greater recognition of female filmmakers at the opening ceremony for the 80th Venice Film Festival this evening (August 30).
Ninety-year-old Cavani received the honorary Golden Lion award recognising her career, which spans seven decades.
“I’m the first female person to receive this award,” said Cavani. “There are women writers and directors who are working as well as men. It’s not quite right if we don’t give them a chance to be seen.
- 8/30/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
As-yet-untitled feature is currently being shot in Italy
Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman has joined the cast of Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film which is currently shooting in Italy.
The as-yet-untitled film is written and directed by Sorrentino and centres on the life of a woman, Partenope, from her birth in 1950 through to today. It started shooting at the end of June, and is filming between Naples and Capri.
Also joining the cast are Nello Mascia and Biagio Izzo. The previously announced cast is, in alphabetical order, Celeste Dalla Porta, Silvia Degrandi, Isabella Ferrari, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Peppe Lanzetta, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri,...
Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman has joined the cast of Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film which is currently shooting in Italy.
The as-yet-untitled film is written and directed by Sorrentino and centres on the life of a woman, Partenope, from her birth in 1950 through to today. It started shooting at the end of June, and is filming between Naples and Capri.
Also joining the cast are Nello Mascia and Biagio Izzo. The previously announced cast is, in alphabetical order, Celeste Dalla Porta, Silvia Degrandi, Isabella Ferrari, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Peppe Lanzetta, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Venice Film Festival jury president Damien Chazelle showed up to the Palazzo del Casino Wednesday morning for the opening press conference wearing a Writers Guild on Strike T-shirt. So were his jurors Laura Poitras and Martin McDonagh. Fellow deliberators Jane Campion and Mia Hansen-Løve did not brandish their support through fashion, but the stance of solidarity with the ongoing double union strike from across the entire jury was felt.
Chazelle was joined on the dais by Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera, La Biennale president Roberto Cicutto, Orizzonti president Jonas Carpignano, and Luigi De Laurentiis president Alice Diop. The Oscar-winning filmmaker, whose “La La Land” and “First Man” have both opened the Biennale in years past, used the opening remarks to send a strong message about the strikes and how art should ultimately trump content — something, he argued, Hollywood seems to be forgetting.
“Today is the 121st day that...
Chazelle was joined on the dais by Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera, La Biennale president Roberto Cicutto, Orizzonti president Jonas Carpignano, and Luigi De Laurentiis president Alice Diop. The Oscar-winning filmmaker, whose “La La Land” and “First Man” have both opened the Biennale in years past, used the opening remarks to send a strong message about the strikes and how art should ultimately trump content — something, he argued, Hollywood seems to be forgetting.
“Today is the 121st day that...
- 8/30/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The writers and actors strikes in Hollywood were always going to play a major part in the 2023 Venice Film Festival — the biggest film event since they started and where numerous big name stars with films in the lineup won’t be attending in accordance with strike rules. But few would have anticipated them showing up in the very first question in the first press conference.
At the media meet for the jury heads ahead of the opening night on Wednesday, Damien Chazelle — who chairs the main jury — showed up wearing a t-shirt in support of the WGA strike, as did his fellow jury members Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras, both sitting in the audience.
Asked about the t-shirt, Chazelle pushed back against the idea that each piece of art is “just a piece of content, which is Hollywood’s favourite word, to be put into a pipeline.” He said that...
At the media meet for the jury heads ahead of the opening night on Wednesday, Damien Chazelle — who chairs the main jury — showed up wearing a t-shirt in support of the WGA strike, as did his fellow jury members Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras, both sitting in the audience.
Asked about the t-shirt, Chazelle pushed back against the idea that each piece of art is “just a piece of content, which is Hollywood’s favourite word, to be put into a pipeline.” He said that...
- 8/30/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Chazelle gave an impassioned response in support of the strikes.
Venice Competition jury head Damien Chazelle and his fellow competition jurors offered their support to the striking actors and writers in the US, at the opening press conference for the 80th Venice Film Festival.
Chazelle and competition jurors directors Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras wore T-shirts with the words ‘Writers Guild on strike’, while Chazelle gave an impassioned response to the opening question about the strike.
“There’s a basic idea that each work of art has value unto itself. It’s not just a piece of content to be put into a pipeline,...
Venice Competition jury head Damien Chazelle and his fellow competition jurors offered their support to the striking actors and writers in the US, at the opening press conference for the 80th Venice Film Festival.
Chazelle and competition jurors directors Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras wore T-shirts with the words ‘Writers Guild on strike’, while Chazelle gave an impassioned response to the opening question about the strike.
“There’s a basic idea that each work of art has value unto itself. It’s not just a piece of content to be put into a pipeline,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Venice Film Festival jury head Damien Chazelle arrived at the opening press conference sporting a Writers Guild on strike t-shirt and badge today.
The La La Land and Whiplash director-writer said of the two Hollywood strikes: “Today is the 121st day the writers have been of strike and the 48th the actors have been on strike. I think there is a basic idea that each work of art has value unto itself, and is not only a piece of content to be put into a pipeline. That basic idea has been eroded in the past years. That’s the core issue for me. That issue of residuals and people being remunerated for each piece of art is key. A lot of people who would ordinarily be here aren’t able to be here. It’s a difficult time, particularly for crew and writers in Hollywood.”
Jury members Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras,...
The La La Land and Whiplash director-writer said of the two Hollywood strikes: “Today is the 121st day the writers have been of strike and the 48th the actors have been on strike. I think there is a basic idea that each work of art has value unto itself, and is not only a piece of content to be put into a pipeline. That basic idea has been eroded in the past years. That’s the core issue for me. That issue of residuals and people being remunerated for each piece of art is key. A lot of people who would ordinarily be here aren’t able to be here. It’s a difficult time, particularly for crew and writers in Hollywood.”
Jury members Martin McDonagh and Laura Poitras,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Nail biting thriller The Flood is out now on Digital Platforms and DVD.
Assault on Precinct 13 meets Alligator in the action thriller The Flood, which sees Nicky Whelan (Hall Pass) trying to control a jail filled with dangerous convicts, a torrential storm, and a horde of hungry alligators.
Written and directed by Brandon Slagle (Battle for Saipan), the film stars Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers), Louis Mandylor (Rambo: Last Blood), Devanny Pinn (Piranha 3D), and Randy Wayne (Hellraiser: Judgement), and features some seriously scary reptiles who are keen to snack on some caged convicts. A rip-roaring, action packed ride, The Flood is a must-watch for fans of nerve-shredding creature features Meg, 47 Feet Down, and Black Water Abyss.
Synopsis: A daring jailbreak during a ferocious storm gets complicated when a horde of giant, hungry alligators interrupt the escape attempt.
The Flood is available on Digital Platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon,...
Assault on Precinct 13 meets Alligator in the action thriller The Flood, which sees Nicky Whelan (Hall Pass) trying to control a jail filled with dangerous convicts, a torrential storm, and a horde of hungry alligators.
Written and directed by Brandon Slagle (Battle for Saipan), the film stars Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers), Louis Mandylor (Rambo: Last Blood), Devanny Pinn (Piranha 3D), and Randy Wayne (Hellraiser: Judgement), and features some seriously scary reptiles who are keen to snack on some caged convicts. A rip-roaring, action packed ride, The Flood is a must-watch for fans of nerve-shredding creature features Meg, 47 Feet Down, and Black Water Abyss.
Synopsis: A daring jailbreak during a ferocious storm gets complicated when a horde of giant, hungry alligators interrupt the escape attempt.
The Flood is available on Digital Platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon,...
- 8/15/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Execs discuss social outreach strategy at CineLink Industry Days panel in Sarajevo.
How do cash-strapped indie documentary producers pay for social outreach and impact campaigns? That was one of the questions asked at Sarajevo’s CineLink Industry Days panel, “Shaping Change: Unleashing the Transformative Power of Impact Producing and Outreach in Documentary Filmmaking” this week.
The talk was held shortly after Sarajevo launched a new impact award of its own – its CineLink Impact Award presented by Think-Film Impact Production. The award comes with €20,000 of in-kind support to develop a comprehensive impact campaign for a project in the post-production phase participating...
How do cash-strapped indie documentary producers pay for social outreach and impact campaigns? That was one of the questions asked at Sarajevo’s CineLink Industry Days panel, “Shaping Change: Unleashing the Transformative Power of Impact Producing and Outreach in Documentary Filmmaking” this week.
The talk was held shortly after Sarajevo launched a new impact award of its own – its CineLink Impact Award presented by Think-Film Impact Production. The award comes with €20,000 of in-kind support to develop a comprehensive impact campaign for a project in the post-production phase participating...
- 8/14/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
The mob just crossed the wrong man in thriller Shrapnel, available now on Digital Platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon in the UK & Ireland.
Shrapnel blasts onto screens this summer and viewers better take cover. Jason Patric (Sleepers) is a lethal army veteran flipped into combat mode when his daughter is kidnapped by a drug gang, enlisting the help of Cam Gigandet (The Magnificent Seven) to dish out the mayhem.
Directed by action expert William Kaufman (One in the Chamber), Shrapnel boasts blistering action scenes, heavy weaponry, white-knuckle suspense, and vengeance dished out by the bucket full across an unforgiving New Mexico landscape.
Synopsis:
A former Marine and his old war buddy face off against the Mexican cartel behind the disappearance of his daughter.
Shrapnel is available now on on Digital Platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon in the UK & Ireland.
About Altitude
Altitude Media Group...
Shrapnel blasts onto screens this summer and viewers better take cover. Jason Patric (Sleepers) is a lethal army veteran flipped into combat mode when his daughter is kidnapped by a drug gang, enlisting the help of Cam Gigandet (The Magnificent Seven) to dish out the mayhem.
Directed by action expert William Kaufman (One in the Chamber), Shrapnel boasts blistering action scenes, heavy weaponry, white-knuckle suspense, and vengeance dished out by the bucket full across an unforgiving New Mexico landscape.
Synopsis:
A former Marine and his old war buddy face off against the Mexican cartel behind the disappearance of his daughter.
Shrapnel is available now on on Digital Platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon in the UK & Ireland.
About Altitude
Altitude Media Group...
- 7/31/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
Lido red carpets may be star-deprived this year, but that didn’t stop the Venice Film Festival from arranging a gorgeous constellation of new movies from supernova directors. (The full lineup is here.)
The SAG-AFTRA strike work stoppage means, of course, that competition directors like Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), David Fincher (“The Killer”), Sofia Coppola (“Priscilla”), Ava DuVernay, Saverio Costanzo (“Finalmente L’Alba”), and Michel Franco (“Memory”) will have to do the talking at press conferences and attend step-and-repeats without their actors, if they’re willing. It’s tricky for multihyphenates like Bradley Cooper, who directs and stars as Leonard Bernstein in Netflix’s “Maestro;” IndieWire hears he will sit this festival out.
Among the Venice film stars who will not be waving to the paparazzi from water taxis are Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, Carey Mulligan, Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Jacob Elordi, Aunjanue Ellis, Lily James, Joe Keery,...
The SAG-AFTRA strike work stoppage means, of course, that competition directors like Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), David Fincher (“The Killer”), Sofia Coppola (“Priscilla”), Ava DuVernay, Saverio Costanzo (“Finalmente L’Alba”), and Michel Franco (“Memory”) will have to do the talking at press conferences and attend step-and-repeats without their actors, if they’re willing. It’s tricky for multihyphenates like Bradley Cooper, who directs and stars as Leonard Bernstein in Netflix’s “Maestro;” IndieWire hears he will sit this festival out.
Among the Venice film stars who will not be waving to the paparazzi from water taxis are Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, Carey Mulligan, Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Jacob Elordi, Aunjanue Ellis, Lily James, Joe Keery,...
- 7/25/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Venice Film Festival sails on in Italy — even with much of Hollywood at a standstill.
The annual cinema celebration hosted by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera runs from August 30 through September 9. Despite already having lost Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” from its opening night slot due to its SAG-AFTRA talent including star Zendaya being unable to accompany the world premiere due to strike work stoppage orders, Venice has plenty of movie goodness in store for its 80th edition.
Competition highlights include Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” David Fincher’s “The Killer,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” Michel Franco’s “Memory,” Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde,” and many more. Out of competition, Venice will screen new films from Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, and William Friedkin.
The annual cinema celebration hosted by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera runs from August 30 through September 9. Despite already having lost Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” from its opening night slot due to its SAG-AFTRA talent including star Zendaya being unable to accompany the world premiere due to strike work stoppage orders, Venice has plenty of movie goodness in store for its 80th edition.
Competition highlights include Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” David Fincher’s “The Killer,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” Michel Franco’s “Memory,” Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde,” and many more. Out of competition, Venice will screen new films from Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, and William Friedkin.
- 7/25/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Includes films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Venice Film Festival announced the programme for its 80th edition, including a 23-strong Competition with new films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Scroll down for full line-up
The selection was announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera. The SAG-AFTRA strike in the US has had a “quite modest” impact on the selection according to Barbera, who was forced to pull Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers as the opening film over the weekend due to the strike.
Venice Film Festival announced the programme for its 80th edition, including a 23-strong Competition with new films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Scroll down for full line-up
The selection was announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera. The SAG-AFTRA strike in the US has had a “quite modest” impact on the selection according to Barbera, who was forced to pull Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers as the opening film over the weekend due to the strike.
- 7/25/2023
- by Ben Dalton¬Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
This year’s selection will be announced at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by Roberto Cicutto and Alberto Barbera.
The line-up for the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-September 9) will be revealed this morning at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera
The press conference will be live-streamed below, and this page will be updated with the films as they are announced.
Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was originally set to open the festival but was pulled by MGM amid the actors’ strike. It was replaced by Edoardo De Angelis’ Comandante.
The closing film...
The line-up for the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-September 9) will be revealed this morning at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera
The press conference will be live-streamed below, and this page will be updated with the films as they are announced.
Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was originally set to open the festival but was pulled by MGM amid the actors’ strike. It was replaced by Edoardo De Angelis’ Comandante.
The closing film...
- 7/25/2023
- by Ben Dalton¬Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
The Venice Film Festival will announce the lineup for its 80th edition Tuesday at 11 a.m. European time (2 a.m. Pt/5 a.m. Et). Venice Artistic Director Alberto Barbera will be joined by Biennale President Roberto Cicutto to reveal this year’s titles.
The stream can be found on the official Biennale website as well as the festival’s official Facebook page, Twitter feed, and YouTube channel.
You can also watch the stream live here.
Deadline will also be live reporting the list of Official Selection films as the names come in. Check that out here. With simultaneous WGA-sag-aftra strikes, Venice will likely look a little different this year, with stars observing their pickets staying away from the Lido.
The fest is usually a glamorous springboard for U.S. awards hopefuls and big streamer and studio fare, but its plans for American buzz titles have been thrown into disarray by the strike,...
The stream can be found on the official Biennale website as well as the festival’s official Facebook page, Twitter feed, and YouTube channel.
You can also watch the stream live here.
Deadline will also be live reporting the list of Official Selection films as the names come in. Check that out here. With simultaneous WGA-sag-aftra strikes, Venice will likely look a little different this year, with stars observing their pickets staying away from the Lido.
The fest is usually a glamorous springboard for U.S. awards hopefuls and big streamer and studio fare, but its plans for American buzz titles have been thrown into disarray by the strike,...
- 7/25/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
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