Tunisian Murder Mystery ‘Ashkal’ Triumphs At Fespaco
Tunisian director Youssef Chebbi’s investigative thriller Ashkal has won the top prize at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco). The festival, which ran from February 25 to March 4, unfolds every two years in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou and is regarded as Africa’s equivalent of Cannes. Chebbi’s murder mystery revolves around a series of killings at a construction site on the outskirts of the Tunisian capital of Tunis. The film world premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and then played a raft of other festivals including Toronto and London. The Fespaco jury head, producer Dora Bouchoucha, praised the film’s pairing of a strong aesthetic with a politically tuned-in storyline. Burkinabe filmmaker Apolline Traore won the Silver Stallion for Sira, about a woman kidnapped by Jihadists, and Kenyan director Angela Wamai took home the Bronze Stallion for Shimoni,...
Tunisian director Youssef Chebbi’s investigative thriller Ashkal has won the top prize at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco). The festival, which ran from February 25 to March 4, unfolds every two years in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou and is regarded as Africa’s equivalent of Cannes. Chebbi’s murder mystery revolves around a series of killings at a construction site on the outskirts of the Tunisian capital of Tunis. The film world premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and then played a raft of other festivals including Toronto and London. The Fespaco jury head, producer Dora Bouchoucha, praised the film’s pairing of a strong aesthetic with a politically tuned-in storyline. Burkinabe filmmaker Apolline Traore won the Silver Stallion for Sira, about a woman kidnapped by Jihadists, and Kenyan director Angela Wamai took home the Bronze Stallion for Shimoni,...
- 3/7/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow and Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Il Boemo, a biopic on 18th-century composer Josef Myslivecek, from director Petr Václav (The Way Out) took the top prize, for best Czech Film, at the 2023 Czech Lions awards.
The period drama, about the forgotten composer, was a frontrunner going into the Lions, as the Czech Republic’s official Oscar contender (it wasn’t nominated). In the end, Il Boemo won six Czech Lions, including best director for Vaclav and honors for best set design, costumes and makeup. Accepting the best film trophy, Il Boemo producer Jan Macola, thanked writer-director Václav for spending 12 years working on the project.
Il Boemo premiered in competition at the 70th San Sebastian film festival last year.
Michal Kern took best actor honors for his performance in Arved, another period biopic about a forgotten figure from Czech history, from director Vojtech Masek. In the drama, Kern plays Jiri Arved Smichovsky, a Czech occultist and Nazi collaborator.
The period drama, about the forgotten composer, was a frontrunner going into the Lions, as the Czech Republic’s official Oscar contender (it wasn’t nominated). In the end, Il Boemo won six Czech Lions, including best director for Vaclav and honors for best set design, costumes and makeup. Accepting the best film trophy, Il Boemo producer Jan Macola, thanked writer-director Václav for spending 12 years working on the project.
Il Boemo premiered in competition at the 70th San Sebastian film festival last year.
Michal Kern took best actor honors for his performance in Arved, another period biopic about a forgotten figure from Czech history, from director Vojtech Masek. In the drama, Kern plays Jiri Arved Smichovsky, a Czech occultist and Nazi collaborator.
- 3/6/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Legal docudrama Saint Omer was voted Best Picture at the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which announced this year’s juried award winners today.
Saint Omer wins for its ability “to expertly interrogate issues of society, culture, race, and gender,” the festival release stated. “Alice Diop, as screenwriter and director, delivers a film that explores different dynamics of Black women in contemporary France, drawing empathetic lead performances from Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanga. By harnessing the skills of her technical team, Diop turns Saint Omer into a shrewd, cogent, ambitious, and overwhelming film which teases a metafictional awareness while remaining clear-eyed and unsentimental.”
The Palm Springs festival took place from January 5-16 and screened 134 films from 64 countries, including 27 premieres. The lineup includes 35 of the International Feature Film Oscar submissions.
The jury award categories included the Fipresci Prize for films...
Saint Omer wins for its ability “to expertly interrogate issues of society, culture, race, and gender,” the festival release stated. “Alice Diop, as screenwriter and director, delivers a film that explores different dynamics of Black women in contemporary France, drawing empathetic lead performances from Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanga. By harnessing the skills of her technical team, Diop turns Saint Omer into a shrewd, cogent, ambitious, and overwhelming film which teases a metafictional awareness while remaining clear-eyed and unsentimental.”
The Palm Springs festival took place from January 5-16 and screened 134 films from 64 countries, including 27 premieres. The lineup includes 35 of the International Feature Film Oscar submissions.
The jury award categories included the Fipresci Prize for films...
- 1/15/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Sally Field star in ’80 For Brady’ from Paramount Pictures.
The world premiere of 80 for Brady starring Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno, and Lily Tomlin will open the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Festival on Friday, January 6, 2023, and The Lost King from director Stephen Frears will close the festival on Sunday, January 15th. In between, Psiff will screen 132 films including the world premiere of the documentary Shot in the Arm.
“We are beyond excited to welcome back our beloved audience and filmmakers in Palm Springs. We’re especially thrilled to be joined by all four leads of 80 For Brady. The film is brimming with joy and heart, and it’s a perfect film to kick off our 34th edition,” said Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez. “Our programmers have dedicated almost a year to scouting the world for the films that make up this edition.
The world premiere of 80 for Brady starring Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno, and Lily Tomlin will open the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Festival on Friday, January 6, 2023, and The Lost King from director Stephen Frears will close the festival on Sunday, January 15th. In between, Psiff will screen 132 films including the world premiere of the documentary Shot in the Arm.
“We are beyond excited to welcome back our beloved audience and filmmakers in Palm Springs. We’re especially thrilled to be joined by all four leads of 80 For Brady. The film is brimming with joy and heart, and it’s a perfect film to kick off our 34th edition,” said Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez. “Our programmers have dedicated almost a year to scouting the world for the films that make up this edition.
- 12/6/2022
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
The Palm Springs Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 34th annual edition, announcing that Paramount Pictures’ 80 for Brady will world premiere as its opening night film on January 6, with IFC Films’ The Lost King closing it out on January 15.
Directed by Kyle Marvin, 80 for Brady is inspired by the true story of four best friends living life to the fullest when they take a wild trip to the 2017 Super Bowl Li to see their hero Tom Brady play. Cast members including Academy Award nominee Lily Tomlin, Academy Award winner Jane Fonda, Academy Award winner Rita Moreno and Academy Award winner Sally Field are expected to be among those in attendance at the fest to rep the film slated for release in theaters on February 3, 2023.
Related Story Palm Springs Film Festival Awards: Austin Butler Latest Honoree For January Gala Related Story '80 For Brady' Trailer: Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda,...
Directed by Kyle Marvin, 80 for Brady is inspired by the true story of four best friends living life to the fullest when they take a wild trip to the 2017 Super Bowl Li to see their hero Tom Brady play. Cast members including Academy Award nominee Lily Tomlin, Academy Award winner Jane Fonda, Academy Award winner Rita Moreno and Academy Award winner Sally Field are expected to be among those in attendance at the fest to rep the film slated for release in theaters on February 3, 2023.
Related Story Palm Springs Film Festival Awards: Austin Butler Latest Honoree For January Gala Related Story '80 For Brady' Trailer: Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda,...
- 12/6/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The deadline to submit films in the international feature Oscar category was Oct. 3, but the Academy has not yet announced the full list of accepted titles, so it is a provisional report. AMPAS will release a shortlist of 15 movies on Dec. 21 and the nominations will be announced Jan. 24. The Oscar ceremony will take place March 12 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Albania
A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On
Director: Gentian Koçi
Logline: Deaf-mute twins in Tirana discover they have a genetical disease that will take away their sight slowly. They have a decision to make.
International Sales: M-Appeal
Algeria
Our Brothers
Director. Rachid Bouchareb
Logline: Mixing documentary and fiction, pic explores police violence and the deaths of student Malik Oussekine and bar patron Abdel Benyahia.
Intl. Sales: Wild Bunch
Argentina
Argentina , 1985
Director: Santiago Mitre
Logline: Lawyers battle Argentina’s military junta in the 1980s.
U.S. Distributor: Amazon...
Albania
A Cup of Coffee and New Shoes On
Director: Gentian Koçi
Logline: Deaf-mute twins in Tirana discover they have a genetical disease that will take away their sight slowly. They have a decision to make.
International Sales: M-Appeal
Algeria
Our Brothers
Director. Rachid Bouchareb
Logline: Mixing documentary and fiction, pic explores police violence and the deaths of student Malik Oussekine and bar patron Abdel Benyahia.
Intl. Sales: Wild Bunch
Argentina
Argentina , 1985
Director: Santiago Mitre
Logline: Lawyers battle Argentina’s military junta in the 1980s.
U.S. Distributor: Amazon...
- 11/2/2022
- by Shalini Dore
- Variety Film + TV
The awards aim to promote European films to Arab audiences.
Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo and Mikko Myllylahti’s The Woodcutter Story are among the nominees for the 4th Arab Critics’ Awards for European Film.
The 23-strong list, which will be shortlisted to three and an eventual winner, includes 11 entries for best international feature at the Oscars.
Alongside Eo, which follows a donkey travelling from the Polish circus to an Italian slaughterhouse, other Oscar hopefuls on the list include Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s Beautiful Beings from Iceland and Juraj Lerotic’s Locarno winner Safe Place from Croatia.
A joint venture between...
Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo and Mikko Myllylahti’s The Woodcutter Story are among the nominees for the 4th Arab Critics’ Awards for European Film.
The 23-strong list, which will be shortlisted to three and an eventual winner, includes 11 entries for best international feature at the Oscars.
Alongside Eo, which follows a donkey travelling from the Polish circus to an Italian slaughterhouse, other Oscar hopefuls on the list include Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s Beautiful Beings from Iceland and Juraj Lerotic’s Locarno winner Safe Place from Croatia.
A joint venture between...
- 11/2/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
The Czech nomination for next year’s Foreign Language Oscar captures the glorious decadence of the 18th Century Italy inhabited by composer Josef Mysliveček (Vojtech Dyk), nicknamed Il Boemo. But decay acts as a counterpoint to Petr Václav’s film. The extreme outcome of it is manifest on Mysliveček’s syphilis-ravaged and mask-shrouded face when we meet him shortly before his death, just shy of his 44th birthday, at the start of the film before time unravels to reveal him in his youthful glory. It would be nigh on impossible to watch Václav’s film without recalling Milos Forman’s Amadeus but although they share some DNA, especially in terms of the old school filmmaking on display, Mysliveček is a very different prospect in terms of personality than Mozart.
Václav shows how the earlier Czech composer, who moved to Italy in search of fame, was much less volatile than the younger composer,...
Václav shows how the earlier Czech composer, who moved to Italy in search of fame, was much less volatile than the younger composer,...
- 9/29/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Czech composer who inspired Mozart is the subject of Il Boemo, a handsome period biopic that premiered in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Written and directed by Petr Vaclav (Marian), it’s an entertaining insight into Josef Mysliveček’s music and his hedonistic lifestyle, with an operatic running time of 140 minutes. While the film is mostly in Italian, it’s the Czech entry for the International Feature race at the Academy Awards and should attract an audience of mature music lovers.
Czech actor and musician Vojtěch Dyk puts in a dashing performance as the musician who became a celebrated composer in 18th century Italy, and was all but forgotten by a history that celebrated the younger Mozart. But there’s no doubting the talent of the man nicknamed “Il Boemo,” as the film’s many musical scenes attest.
Photo Gallery: Past International Feature Film Oscar Winners
We...
Czech actor and musician Vojtěch Dyk puts in a dashing performance as the musician who became a celebrated composer in 18th century Italy, and was all but forgotten by a history that celebrated the younger Mozart. But there’s no doubting the talent of the man nicknamed “Il Boemo,” as the film’s many musical scenes attest.
Photo Gallery: Past International Feature Film Oscar Winners
We...
- 9/29/2022
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
The 70th San Sebastian rounded its final bend with new deals announced for Spain by A Contracorriente, Bteam and Avalon, joy among industry players at a first full on site festival, blessed by early autumn sunshine, a sense of an even slower international sales business.
Equally, Spain’s market and production sector remain on ebullient, buoyed by art-house breakouts and a vibrant drama series production. Five takeaways from this year’s San Sebastian Festival, which wraps tomorrow, Sept. 24:
San Sebastian Grows (Again)
“There are markets that have improved during Covid-19, and others that haven’t and San Sebastian is a festival that’s improved thanks to its industry activities,” says Film Factory’s Vicente Canales. That build comes from afar, with a Films in Progress strand in 2002, an Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum from 2012, the Ikusmira Berriak development residency from 2017 and now a Creative Investors Conference.
There’s a form of cross collaterization here.
Equally, Spain’s market and production sector remain on ebullient, buoyed by art-house breakouts and a vibrant drama series production. Five takeaways from this year’s San Sebastian Festival, which wraps tomorrow, Sept. 24:
San Sebastian Grows (Again)
“There are markets that have improved during Covid-19, and others that haven’t and San Sebastian is a festival that’s improved thanks to its industry activities,” says Film Factory’s Vicente Canales. That build comes from afar, with a Films in Progress strand in 2002, an Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum from 2012, the Ikusmira Berriak development residency from 2017 and now a Creative Investors Conference.
There’s a form of cross collaterization here.
- 9/23/2022
- by John Hopewell and Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
At the height of his career, Czech-born composer Josef Mysliveček was the most prolific and sought-after figure in Italian opera, bound for immortal celebrity. Nearly three centuries later, his name isn’t forgotten to classical music scholars, but neither does it have anything approaching household status; the facts and records of his personal life, meanwhile, have largely been lost to history. Via a blend of free narrative speculation and exacting musical presentation, Petr Vaclav’s stately, sumptuous biopic “Il Boemo” seeks to restore a degree of iconic status to a talent latterly overshadowed by relative 18th-century contemporaries, albeit not with much swagger or modernity of its own: This is costume drama of a traditional, ornately brocaded stripe, a classical music lesson for classicists.
That’s not likely to do “Il Boemo” any harm as it further travels the festival circuit following its world premiere in San Sebastian’s main competition,...
That’s not likely to do “Il Boemo” any harm as it further travels the festival circuit following its world premiere in San Sebastian’s main competition,...
- 9/21/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Making its world premiere in the main competition at the San Sebastián Festival on Sept. 19, “Il Boemo,” the story of a forgotten Czech composer who rose to fame in the second half of the 18th century, has taken the award-winning filmmaker Petr Václav more than a decade to complete.
Known as Il Boemo, Josef Mysliveček’s fame was short-lived. He died before reaching the age of 44, after a whirlwind career composing music for Italian courts and theaters.
But Václav, together with his DPs, Diego Romero and Suarez Llanos, costume designer Andrea Cavalletto, and a slew of top operatic singers, has created an action-packed period piece, celebrating his tumultuous life, operatic drama, and the aesthetic beauty of the era.
Variety spoke with Václav ahead of the film’s outing.
Why isn’t Josef Mysliveček as well known today as some of his contemporaries?
He is certainly not the only composer who has been forgotten.
Known as Il Boemo, Josef Mysliveček’s fame was short-lived. He died before reaching the age of 44, after a whirlwind career composing music for Italian courts and theaters.
But Václav, together with his DPs, Diego Romero and Suarez Llanos, costume designer Andrea Cavalletto, and a slew of top operatic singers, has created an action-packed period piece, celebrating his tumultuous life, operatic drama, and the aesthetic beauty of the era.
Variety spoke with Václav ahead of the film’s outing.
Why isn’t Josef Mysliveček as well known today as some of his contemporaries?
He is certainly not the only composer who has been forgotten.
- 9/18/2022
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
He died alone and abandoned, and today few people know his name, but in the second half of the 18th century Josef Mysliveček (1737-1781), the son of a Czech miller, broke family ties, and left Prague for Venice to become one of the go-to composers of opera of his time.
The award-winning Czech director Petr Václav (“The Way Out”) has created a sumptuous period piece, rich in costume and the sounds of live music recorded for the film by the Czech ensemble Collegium 1704. Not to mention performances by real-life opera stars.
Soloists from the music world include French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, Hungarian soprano Emöke Baráth, Italian soprano Raffaella Milanesi, Slovak soprano Simona Šaturová, and opera singers Juan Sancho, Krystian Adam, and Sophie Harmsen.
Václav began working in the film in 2010 when he spent a year-and-a-half going through the archives to uncover his late countryman’s rise and fall.
In the trailer,...
The award-winning Czech director Petr Václav (“The Way Out”) has created a sumptuous period piece, rich in costume and the sounds of live music recorded for the film by the Czech ensemble Collegium 1704. Not to mention performances by real-life opera stars.
Soloists from the music world include French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, Hungarian soprano Emöke Baráth, Italian soprano Raffaella Milanesi, Slovak soprano Simona Šaturová, and opera singers Juan Sancho, Krystian Adam, and Sophie Harmsen.
Václav began working in the film in 2010 when he spent a year-and-a-half going through the archives to uncover his late countryman’s rise and fall.
In the trailer,...
- 9/16/2022
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
The film will head to Busan International Film Festival next month.
Slovakia has selected Michal Blasko’s drama Victim as its entry for the international feature award at the 2023 Oscars.
The film debuted in Horizons at Venice Film Festival earlier this month, going on to play in Contemporary World Cinema at Toronto.
It will have its Asian bow in competition at Busan International Film Festival next month. German-based Pluto Film is handling world sales on the title.
Victim follows a Ukrainian immigrant living with her son in a small Czech border town. She is devastated when he is assaulted by...
Slovakia has selected Michal Blasko’s drama Victim as its entry for the international feature award at the 2023 Oscars.
The film debuted in Horizons at Venice Film Festival earlier this month, going on to play in Contemporary World Cinema at Toronto.
It will have its Asian bow in competition at Busan International Film Festival next month. German-based Pluto Film is handling world sales on the title.
Victim follows a Ukrainian immigrant living with her son in a small Czech border town. She is devastated when he is assaulted by...
- 9/14/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 9/12/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Loco Films has acquired international sales rights to Petr Václav’s buzzed-about film “Il Boemo” which is world premiering in the official selection at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
The epic period movie sheds light on the extraordinary life of Josef Myslivecek, one of the most prolific opera composers in 18th century Italy who inspired Mozart and became his friend.
Speaking of the film, Václav’ said he “did everything I could in order to understand the daily life of Josef Mislivecek, his work, his social interactions, his feelings and opinions he could have had.”
The Czech director said that since the “archives on Myslivecek were not abundant, (he) studied the lives of other composers, especially that of Mozart (…) read all possible correspondences, memoirs and books of travels in Italy, written in the 18th century.” Vaclav also worked with leading experts on the life and works of Mysliveček, notably the American...
The epic period movie sheds light on the extraordinary life of Josef Myslivecek, one of the most prolific opera composers in 18th century Italy who inspired Mozart and became his friend.
Speaking of the film, Václav’ said he “did everything I could in order to understand the daily life of Josef Mislivecek, his work, his social interactions, his feelings and opinions he could have had.”
The Czech director said that since the “archives on Myslivecek were not abundant, (he) studied the lives of other composers, especially that of Mozart (…) read all possible correspondences, memoirs and books of travels in Italy, written in the 18th century.” Vaclav also worked with leading experts on the life and works of Mysliveček, notably the American...
- 9/1/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
The 70th San Sebastián Film Festival unveiled its competition line-up Tuesday, with new works from award-winning directors Sebastián Lelio, Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl in the running for the 2022 Golden Shell.
Chilean filmmaker Lelio, who won an Oscar for best international feature with A Fantastic Woman (2017), will premiere his latest, The Wonder, in San Sebastián. The period drama, based on the Emma Donoghue novel, is set in mid-19th century Ireland and stars Florence Pugh, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Burke and Toby Jones.
The prolific Hong Sang-Soo, who just won the Jury Prize in Berlin in February for The Novelist’s Film, brings his latest minimalist drama, Walk Up, to the Spanish festival. The plot involves a middle-aged film director and his estranged daughter who are being shown around a building owned by an interior designer.
Seidl, the Austrian director who has made a career...
The 70th San Sebastián Film Festival unveiled its competition line-up Tuesday, with new works from award-winning directors Sebastián Lelio, Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl in the running for the 2022 Golden Shell.
Chilean filmmaker Lelio, who won an Oscar for best international feature with A Fantastic Woman (2017), will premiere his latest, The Wonder, in San Sebastián. The period drama, based on the Emma Donoghue novel, is set in mid-19th century Ireland and stars Florence Pugh, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Burke and Toby Jones.
The prolific Hong Sang-Soo, who just won the Jury Prize in Berlin in February for The Novelist’s Film, brings his latest minimalist drama, Walk Up, to the Spanish festival. The plot involves a middle-aged film director and his estranged daughter who are being shown around a building owned by an interior designer.
Seidl, the Austrian director who has made a career...
- 8/2/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lelio makes his San Sebastian competition debut with The Wonder starring Florence Pugh.
Films from Sebastián Lelio and Hong Sang-soo are among the new titles to be selected in competition at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival (September 16-24).
Lelio, whose A Fantastic Woman won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film in 2017, makes his San Sebastian competition debut with The Wonder. Adapted from Emma Donoghue’s novel set in a 19th-century Irish town, it stars Florence Pugh, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Burke, Toby Jones and Niamh Algar.
Cannes and Berlin prize winner Hong San-soo will make his second appearance...
Films from Sebastián Lelio and Hong Sang-soo are among the new titles to be selected in competition at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival (September 16-24).
Lelio, whose A Fantastic Woman won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film in 2017, makes his San Sebastian competition debut with The Wonder. Adapted from Emma Donoghue’s novel set in a 19th-century Irish town, it stars Florence Pugh, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Burke, Toby Jones and Niamh Algar.
Cannes and Berlin prize winner Hong San-soo will make his second appearance...
- 8/2/2022
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Sebastian Lelio’s “Wonder,” starring “Black Widow’s” Florence Pugh, “Winter Boy” with Juliette Binoche and directors Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl will compete in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival, the biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world.
In “Wonder,” the latest from Academy Award winning director Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”),Pugh plays an English nurse brought in to the Irish Midlands in 1862 to observe the alleged miracle of girls going months without food.
Binoche co-stars in “Winter Boy,” from resilient French auteur Christophe Honoré who won at Cannes Un Certain Regard with 2019’s “On a Magical Night.” Hong Sang-soo, the prolific South Korean director, will present “Walk Up,” a film which is billed as taking a gently delightful new perspective on themes dear to his poetics.
Seidl’s “Sparta” forms part of a diptych with 2022 Berlin competition contender “Rimini,” both movies turning on men who cannot escape their past.
In “Wonder,” the latest from Academy Award winning director Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”),Pugh plays an English nurse brought in to the Irish Midlands in 1862 to observe the alleged miracle of girls going months without food.
Binoche co-stars in “Winter Boy,” from resilient French auteur Christophe Honoré who won at Cannes Un Certain Regard with 2019’s “On a Magical Night.” Hong Sang-soo, the prolific South Korean director, will present “Walk Up,” a film which is billed as taking a gently delightful new perspective on themes dear to his poetics.
Seidl’s “Sparta” forms part of a diptych with 2022 Berlin competition contender “Rimini,” both movies turning on men who cannot escape their past.
- 8/2/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
All three winning screenplays in the main category already have producers attached. The Czech Republic’s Film Foundation is an initiative that aims to support preparation for screenwriting in the field of domestic fiction filmmaking. The institution spotlights domestic projects through its annual scriptwriting competition, which is now celebrating 15 years of existence. During this period, the Film Foundation has supported 100 projects by 105 scriptwriters with the total sum of €412,214, while 13 projects have successfully been produced and released. An array of previous winners have recently been finished, including Marek Epstein’s script for the Agnieszka Holland-directed biopic Charlatan, which was unveiled at this year’s Berlinale; Petr Václav’s epic period biopic Il Boemo (see the news); Pavel Göbl’s tragicomedy Silent Companion (see the news), which will be released on 1 October; the period drama Kryštof by Zdeněk Jirásky (see the news); and Petr Zelenka’s dramedy Droneman (see the news), which.
Czech helmer Petr Václav pushes the envelope of his filmmaking in an uplifting road movie with universal message
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/16/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Fans of Quentin Dupieux should rejoice because I haven’t seen a film this absurdly hilarious since Wrong. Petr Václav‘s We Are Never Alone is definitely bleaker, darker, and strangely realist, but it has that same sense of subtle humor to give you pause about the meaning of what’s thus far been viewed. The story concerns two families with certifiably insane patriarchs, a local pimp searching for escape, and the whore he deludes himself into thinking loves him despite her pining over the father of her daughter in jail. They each have their own personal problems that should be uniquely particular to their individual psychological imperfections and yet when they converge they’re insanely revealed to be kindred spirits spinning around atop this cesspool we call Earth.
Václav includes political commentary about the current state of affairs in Czech Republic (don’t tell Miroslav Hanus‘ prison guard he’s a communist,...
Václav includes political commentary about the current state of affairs in Czech Republic (don’t tell Miroslav Hanus‘ prison guard he’s a communist,...
- 9/9/2016
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
★★☆☆☆ For those with prior knowledge of his work, Petr Václav's latest film We Are Never Alone may represent his career thus far in microcosm. It folds in the Roma subject matter of his lauded debut Marian; Karel Roden and Lenka Vlasáková star as a despairing couple, much like in Parallel Worlds; and Klaudia Dudová, the lead actress from recent hit The Way Out, appears. He brings all of this together with undeniable flare and an eye for mundane absurdity, but the result is an uneven curio as much as a cumulative masterwork.
- 7/8/2016
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Petr Václav, the Czech filmmaker living and working in France, returns to the theme of racial discrimination already addressed in his feature debut Marian (1996). Prejudice based on race persists as a hot topic in the Czech Republic, attracting ever more attention as the government rests idle. In We Are Never Alone Václav focuses on one decent Roma family struggling to make ends meet, plunging into the Roma community in docudrama fashion. Václav's earlier effort The Way Out (2014) was an unbiased and humanistic look at wide-spread problems within the Roma community, such as youth pregnancy, lack of education, even abuse by Roma moneylenders or pimps. Despite its anchoring in an ostracized ethnic minority and strong social and moral commentary, Petr Václav touched upon somewhat...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/22/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Petr Václav, the Czech filmmaker living and working in France, returns to the theme of racial discrimination already addressed in his feature debut Marian (1996). Prejudice based on race persists as a hot topic in the Czech Republic, attracting ever more attention as the government rests idle. In We Are Never Alone Václav focuses on one decent Roma family struggling to make ends meet, plunging into the Roma community in docudrama fashion. Václav's earlier effort The Way Out (2014) was an unbiased and humanistic look at wide-spread problems within the Roma community, such as youth pregnancy, lack of education, even abuse by Roma moneylenders or pimps. Despite its anchoring in an ostracized ethnic minority and strong social and moral commentary, Petr Václav touched upon somewhat...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/22/2016
- Screen Anarchy
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has unveiled its 2015 line-up which includes films representing 54 countries, 23 world premieres and 53 U.S. premieres. The U.S. premiere of Niki Caro’s McFarland USA will close out the 30th fest. Based on the 1987 true story and starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, the film follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Costner), a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school. The unlikely band of runners overcomes the odds to forge not only a championship cross-country team but an enduring legacy as well.
The festival runs from January 27-February 7.
Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.
World Premieres
A Better You, USA
Directed by Matt Walsh
Cast: Brian Huskey,...
The festival runs from January 27-February 7.
Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.
World Premieres
A Better You, USA
Directed by Matt Walsh
Cast: Brian Huskey,...
- 1/8/2015
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline
A self-acknowledged "showcase for Academy Award frontrunners," the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is often overlooked for the actual films that earn it festival status. An amalgamation of international discoveries and ’merica’s circuit highlights, the Sbiff curates a week of best-of-the-best to pair with their star-praising. The 2015 edition offers another expansive selection, bookended by two films that aren’t on any radars just yet. Sbiff will open with "Desert Dancer," producer Richard Raymond’s directorial debut. Starring Reece Ritchie and Frieda Pinto, the drama follows a group of friends who wave off the harsh political climate of Iran’s 2009 presidential election in favor of forming a dance team, picking up moves from Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev thanks to the magic of YouTube. The festival will close with "McFarland, USA," starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello. Telling the 1987 true story of a Latino high school’s underdog cross-country team,...
- 1/8/2015
- by Matt Patches
- Hitfix
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