Lou Ye’s embattled 2019 film “Saturday Fiction” will have a theatrical outing in the Chinese auteur’s home country nearly two years after its planned high-profile premiere there was abruptly cancelled.
After its long time in the dark, the black-and-white drama will return triumphantly to the official limelight as the closing film of the Beijing Intl. Film Festival on Sept. 10, then go on to light up Chinese theaters Oct. 15. Its star, the iconic Gong Li, is this year’s chairman of the international jury for the festival’s top Tiantan Awards.
“Saturday Film” originally debuted in competition at Venice in 2019 and was set to premiere in China soon after as the opening film of the country’s highly politicized government-run Golden Rooster Film Festival. It was yanked without warning from the line-up the night before due to unspecified “internal production problems” and replaced by a low-budget documentary about traditional bamboo flutes.
After its long time in the dark, the black-and-white drama will return triumphantly to the official limelight as the closing film of the Beijing Intl. Film Festival on Sept. 10, then go on to light up Chinese theaters Oct. 15. Its star, the iconic Gong Li, is this year’s chairman of the international jury for the festival’s top Tiantan Awards.
“Saturday Film” originally debuted in competition at Venice in 2019 and was set to premiere in China soon after as the opening film of the country’s highly politicized government-run Golden Rooster Film Festival. It was yanked without warning from the line-up the night before due to unspecified “internal production problems” and replaced by a low-budget documentary about traditional bamboo flutes.
- 9/10/2021
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Gong Li heads the jury of the international competition, which also includes Nadine Labaki, Renny Harlin and Leste Chen.
Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff), which is scheduled to take place in a physical format next month (August 14-21), has unveiled the line-up for its international competition section, the Tiantan Awards.
The 15-title selection includes Russian co-production Conference, which won best director and actress at last year’s Cairo film festival; Rotterdam Youth Jury Award winner Night Of The Kings; Indian director Pan Nalin’s Last Film Show; and Cannes 2020 Label entry Slalom, directed by Charlene Favier (see full list below...
Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff), which is scheduled to take place in a physical format next month (August 14-21), has unveiled the line-up for its international competition section, the Tiantan Awards.
The 15-title selection includes Russian co-production Conference, which won best director and actress at last year’s Cairo film festival; Rotterdam Youth Jury Award winner Night Of The Kings; Indian director Pan Nalin’s Last Film Show; and Cannes 2020 Label entry Slalom, directed by Charlene Favier (see full list below...
- 7/21/2021
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Twelve films to receive their world premiere in competition at the festival.
Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (November 13-29) has unveiled the full lineup of its main competition strand as it prepares to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.
The festival’s official selection comprises 12 world premieres, 12 international and two European premieres. Eight of these films were previously announced, including István Szabó’s Final Report.
Scroll down for full list of titles
Titles set to receive their world premiere include rural drama Armugan from Spanish director Jo Sol, who won a best new director...
Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (November 13-29) has unveiled the full lineup of its main competition strand as it prepares to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.
The festival’s official selection comprises 12 world premieres, 12 international and two European premieres. Eight of these films were previously announced, including István Szabó’s Final Report.
Scroll down for full list of titles
Titles set to receive their world premiere include rural drama Armugan from Spanish director Jo Sol, who won a best new director...
- 10/29/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
‘Ammonite’, ‘Nomadland’ to play in main competition.
Poland’s EnergaCamerimage Film Festival has revealed the main competition lineup for its 28th edition, which is set to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.
Scroll down for full list of titles
A total of 12 films will compete for the festival’s Golden Frog, which will take place in Torun, Poland from November 13 to 21.
They include Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, Francis Lee’s Ammonite and Woody Allen’s Rifkin’s Festival.
The festival, which focuses on the art of cinematography, also announced that Andrew Levitas’ war photographer drama Minamata...
Poland’s EnergaCamerimage Film Festival has revealed the main competition lineup for its 28th edition, which is set to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.
Scroll down for full list of titles
A total of 12 films will compete for the festival’s Golden Frog, which will take place in Torun, Poland from November 13 to 21.
They include Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, Francis Lee’s Ammonite and Woody Allen’s Rifkin’s Festival.
The festival, which focuses on the art of cinematography, also announced that Andrew Levitas’ war photographer drama Minamata...
- 10/27/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Johnny Depp will be awarded the Camerimage Award for “an actor with unique visual sensitivity” at the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival. “Minamata,” starring Depp, will be the closing film of the 28th edition of the event, which focuses on cinematography.
Due to the pandemic, Depp will be unable to accept the award in person, but will connect to the ceremony remotely from the U.S. Depp has appeared in person at other fall festivals, including Zurich and San Sebastian, but Covid-19 levels have now risen across Europe.
The screening of “Minamata,” which was directed by Andrew Levitas and shot by cinematographer Benoît Delhomme, will take place on Nov. 21 in Toruń’s Jordanki Festival Center, following the closing gala and awards ceremony. The festival announced its competition lineup at the weekend, which includes critics’ favorites “Ammonite” and “Nomadland.”
“Minamata,” Levitas’ sophomore feature, tells the story of how war photographer W. Eugene Smith...
Due to the pandemic, Depp will be unable to accept the award in person, but will connect to the ceremony remotely from the U.S. Depp has appeared in person at other fall festivals, including Zurich and San Sebastian, but Covid-19 levels have now risen across Europe.
The screening of “Minamata,” which was directed by Andrew Levitas and shot by cinematographer Benoît Delhomme, will take place on Nov. 21 in Toruń’s Jordanki Festival Center, following the closing gala and awards ceremony. The festival announced its competition lineup at the weekend, which includes critics’ favorites “Ammonite” and “Nomadland.”
“Minamata,” Levitas’ sophomore feature, tells the story of how war photographer W. Eugene Smith...
- 10/27/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Letterbox Filmproduktion, producer of Zdf-Arte hit “Bad Banks” – and part of the Studio Hamburg Production Group that backed Netflix’s “Unorthodox” – has boarded “Davos,” a high-end drama series from Zurich-based film producer Contrast Film, producer of “Wonderland.”
“Davos,” a period espionage thriller, is being written by Switzerland’s Adrian Illien, a former producer at Swiss public broadcaster Srf of crime series “Tatort” and Germany’s Julia Penner, head writer on seasons 3, 4 and 5 of “Druck,” Germany’s adaptation of “Skam.”
Budgeted at $13 million, Contrast Film’s Ivan Madeo told Variety, “Davos” is a pioneering high-end drama series for Switzerland, for which Contrast has turned to one of the country’s biggest assets as an international content creators: Switzerland’s mystique as a setting for geo-political power play often tied to the extraordinary influence Switzerland is held to exert on the world’s financial systems.
The Swiss Alpine resort of Davos hosts...
“Davos,” a period espionage thriller, is being written by Switzerland’s Adrian Illien, a former producer at Swiss public broadcaster Srf of crime series “Tatort” and Germany’s Julia Penner, head writer on seasons 3, 4 and 5 of “Druck,” Germany’s adaptation of “Skam.”
Budgeted at $13 million, Contrast Film’s Ivan Madeo told Variety, “Davos” is a pioneering high-end drama series for Switzerland, for which Contrast has turned to one of the country’s biggest assets as an international content creators: Switzerland’s mystique as a setting for geo-political power play often tied to the extraordinary influence Switzerland is held to exert on the world’s financial systems.
The Swiss Alpine resort of Davos hosts...
- 8/11/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
$4.7m Swiss-German co-production is directed by Oliver Rihs.
Switzerland’s Contrast Film has started production on its most ambitious feature film to date, Storm directed by Oliver Rihs.
Screen can reveal an exclusive first look image from the film, above.
Storm started shooting on April 1 in Switzerland, Germany and Spain. The nine-week shoot will wrap on June 12. In Switzerland, the production shoots in Zurich and in eastern and central Switzerland; in Germany it shoots in the Black Forest and in the studio at Ludwigsburg; and in Spain, in Almeria in Andalusia.
The film has a budget of €4.2m ($4.7m) and...
Switzerland’s Contrast Film has started production on its most ambitious feature film to date, Storm directed by Oliver Rihs.
Screen can reveal an exclusive first look image from the film, above.
Storm started shooting on April 1 in Switzerland, Germany and Spain. The nine-week shoot will wrap on June 12. In Switzerland, the production shoots in Zurich and in eastern and central Switzerland; in Germany it shoots in the Black Forest and in the studio at Ludwigsburg; and in Spain, in Almeria in Andalusia.
The film has a budget of €4.2m ($4.7m) and...
- 5/2/2019
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Titles include documentary ‘Caveman’ and crime story ’Storm’.
Switzerland’s Contrast Film, which is currently enjoying a buzzy response to it San Sebastian and Zurich Film Festival competition title Midnight Runner, has a busy slate ahead of more button-pushing projects.
Stefan Eichenberger and Ivan Madeo, who both produce Midnight Runner, run Zurich- and Bern-based Contrast with filmmaker Urs Frey.
In production now is documentary Caveman, by Italy’s Tommaso Landucci (lead produced by DocLab Rome). The story is about a 50-year-old Italian sculptor working for 30 years on one work of art underground in a cave. “It’s the question of...
Switzerland’s Contrast Film, which is currently enjoying a buzzy response to it San Sebastian and Zurich Film Festival competition title Midnight Runner, has a busy slate ahead of more button-pushing projects.
Stefan Eichenberger and Ivan Madeo, who both produce Midnight Runner, run Zurich- and Bern-based Contrast with filmmaker Urs Frey.
In production now is documentary Caveman, by Italy’s Tommaso Landucci (lead produced by DocLab Rome). The story is about a 50-year-old Italian sculptor working for 30 years on one work of art underground in a cave. “It’s the question of...
- 10/4/2018
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Locarno, Switzerland — Switzerland’s Contrast Film, producers of “Wonderland,” are entering TV production, developing what looks likely to be Switzerland’s most ambitious shorter format TV series project to date.
News, however scant, of the big TV series comes as Contrast Film’s Stefan Eichenberger, Ivan Madeo and senior partner Urs Frey advance on a 2018 movie slate which includes “Storm,” “The Good Reputation” and “Marlen’s Garden.” Following on the socially-pointed disaster movie “Wonderland,” these new films’ themes, attitudes and cast strategy confirm the Bern and Zurich-based production house as one of thew most ambitious and envelope-pushing of producers in Switzerland.
Contrast Film’s first TV series weighs in as “the biggest TV series ever produced by a Swiss production company,” Madeo said. Designed as a six-part international co-production, its budget will range from $10 million to $13 million.
Based on true events, the historical period drama is set between Wwi and WWII,...
News, however scant, of the big TV series comes as Contrast Film’s Stefan Eichenberger, Ivan Madeo and senior partner Urs Frey advance on a 2018 movie slate which includes “Storm,” “The Good Reputation” and “Marlen’s Garden.” Following on the socially-pointed disaster movie “Wonderland,” these new films’ themes, attitudes and cast strategy confirm the Bern and Zurich-based production house as one of thew most ambitious and envelope-pushing of producers in Switzerland.
Contrast Film’s first TV series weighs in as “the biggest TV series ever produced by a Swiss production company,” Madeo said. Designed as a six-part international co-production, its budget will range from $10 million to $13 million.
Based on true events, the historical period drama is set between Wwi and WWII,...
- 8/2/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The event will host 19 world premieres in its New German Cinema strand.
This year’s Filmfest München (June 23 - July 2) will open with Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, the Cannes Competition title that topped Screen’s Jury Grid last month.
The event will also stage a retrospective of films by German director Christian Petzold.
Titles by Dani Levy, Sven Taddicken, Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu and Oliver Rihs are among 19 world premieres being presented in the festival’s New German Cinema sidebar.
Swiss-born director Levy will be coming to Munich with Wunderlich’s World, starring Katharina Schüttler, Hannelore Elsner and Toni Erdmann’s Peter Simonischek, while Taddicken’s adaptation of A.L. Kennedy’s novel Original Bliss will be shown in the Bavarian capital before having its international premiere in Karlovy Vary’s official competition a week later.
This year’s line-up also includes a number of co-productions such as Moldovan filmmaker Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu’s Anishoara, a second...
This year’s Filmfest München (June 23 - July 2) will open with Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, the Cannes Competition title that topped Screen’s Jury Grid last month.
The event will also stage a retrospective of films by German director Christian Petzold.
Titles by Dani Levy, Sven Taddicken, Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu and Oliver Rihs are among 19 world premieres being presented in the festival’s New German Cinema sidebar.
Swiss-born director Levy will be coming to Munich with Wunderlich’s World, starring Katharina Schüttler, Hannelore Elsner and Toni Erdmann’s Peter Simonischek, while Taddicken’s adaptation of A.L. Kennedy’s novel Original Bliss will be shown in the Bavarian capital before having its international premiere in Karlovy Vary’s official competition a week later.
This year’s line-up also includes a number of co-productions such as Moldovan filmmaker Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu’s Anishoara, a second...
- 6/2/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
The event will host 19 world premieres in its New German Cinema strand.
This year’s Filmfest München (June 23 - July 2) will open with Maren Ade’s Cannes competition title Toni Erdmann.
The event will also stage a retrospective of films by German director Christian Petzold.
Titles by Dani Levy, Sven Taddicken, Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu and Oliver Rihs are among 19 world premieres being presented in the festival’s New German Cinema sidebar.
Swiss-born director Levy will be coming to Munich with Wunderlich’s World, starring Katharina Schüttler, Hannelore Elsner and Toni Erdmann’s Peter Simonischek, while Taddicken’s adaptation of A.L. Kennedy’s novel Original Bliss will be shown in the Bavarian capital before having its international premiere in Karlovy Vary’s official competition a week later.
This year’s line-up also includes a number of co-productions such as Moldovan filmmaker Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu’s Anishoara, a second collaboration with Germany’s Wiedemann Bros., Romanian-born [link=nm...
This year’s Filmfest München (June 23 - July 2) will open with Maren Ade’s Cannes competition title Toni Erdmann.
The event will also stage a retrospective of films by German director Christian Petzold.
Titles by Dani Levy, Sven Taddicken, Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu and Oliver Rihs are among 19 world premieres being presented in the festival’s New German Cinema sidebar.
Swiss-born director Levy will be coming to Munich with Wunderlich’s World, starring Katharina Schüttler, Hannelore Elsner and Toni Erdmann’s Peter Simonischek, while Taddicken’s adaptation of A.L. Kennedy’s novel Original Bliss will be shown in the Bavarian capital before having its international premiere in Karlovy Vary’s official competition a week later.
This year’s line-up also includes a number of co-productions such as Moldovan filmmaker Ana-Felicia Scutelnicu’s Anishoara, a second collaboration with Germany’s Wiedemann Bros., Romanian-born [link=nm...
- 6/2/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
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