A documentary about harrowing loss and fleeting joy, Agnieszka Zwiefka’s “Silent Trees” follows a grieving family of Kurdish refugees escaping legal limbo. With animated interludes that function as flashbacks, it captures the world through the bespectacled eyes of a soft-spoken 16-year-old, Runa, a girl forced to grow up far too quickly in a Polish refugee camp.
The film plays like a follow-up and companion piece to another recent Polish production detailing the same inhumane premise: Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border,” a haunting dramatization of the “red zone” between the borders of Poland and Belarus, where numerous Middle Eastern migrants have been cruelly bounced back and forth between the two countries. Guerrilla cell-phone footage introduces us to the grim violence therein, laying the foundation for Runa’s coming-of-age story through dark, pixelated images of what she, her parents and her four younger brothers have been through.
Having escaped this legal no man’s land,...
The film plays like a follow-up and companion piece to another recent Polish production detailing the same inhumane premise: Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border,” a haunting dramatization of the “red zone” between the borders of Poland and Belarus, where numerous Middle Eastern migrants have been cruelly bounced back and forth between the two countries. Guerrilla cell-phone footage introduces us to the grim violence therein, laying the foundation for Runa’s coming-of-age story through dark, pixelated images of what she, her parents and her four younger brothers have been through.
Having escaped this legal no man’s land,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Variety Film + TV
Jeff Skoll, the billionaire philanthropist who launched Participant 20 years ago to champion socially conscious films, is closing down the impact producer-financier behind Spotlight, Roma, and Green Book.
In a memo to staff on Tuesday morning eBay co-founder Skoll said, ”I founded Participant with the mission of creating world-class content that inspires positive social change, prioritizing impact alongside commercial sustainability. Since then, the entertainment industry has seen revolutionary changes in how content is created, distributed and consumed.”
The statement hinted at what may have driven the Canadian’s “very difficult decision”. Studios and streamers are scrutinising their spend more than ever,...
In a memo to staff on Tuesday morning eBay co-founder Skoll said, ”I founded Participant with the mission of creating world-class content that inspires positive social change, prioritizing impact alongside commercial sustainability. Since then, the entertainment industry has seen revolutionary changes in how content is created, distributed and consumed.”
The statement hinted at what may have driven the Canadian’s “very difficult decision”. Studios and streamers are scrutinising their spend more than ever,...
- 4/16/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Riz Ahmed and his Left Handed Films have come aboard the 2023 SXSW Audience Award winner Mustache, marking the feature directorial and screenwriting debut of Imran J. Khan, as executive producers.
In addition to Ahmed and Left-Handed’s Allie Moore, exec producers on the project include The Bear creator Christopher Storer, as well as Tyson Bidner and Josh Senior. Christina Won and Jessica Sittig produced, with Parker Mays co-producing alongside Cooper Wehde of American Light & Fixture. UTA Independent Film Group is handling worldwide sales.
Khan comes to the partnership with Ahmed and Left Handed a year after being named one of the inaugural participants of the Pillars Artist Fellowship, their filmmaker program created with Pillars, as a means of mentoring and championing rising Muslim talents.
An homage to coming-of-age films, ’90s nostalgia, and awkward teenage transitions, Mustache takes place in mid-’90s Northern California, where 13-year-old Pakistani American Ilyas...
In addition to Ahmed and Left-Handed’s Allie Moore, exec producers on the project include The Bear creator Christopher Storer, as well as Tyson Bidner and Josh Senior. Christina Won and Jessica Sittig produced, with Parker Mays co-producing alongside Cooper Wehde of American Light & Fixture. UTA Independent Film Group is handling worldwide sales.
Khan comes to the partnership with Ahmed and Left Handed a year after being named one of the inaugural participants of the Pillars Artist Fellowship, their filmmaker program created with Pillars, as a means of mentoring and championing rising Muslim talents.
An homage to coming-of-age films, ’90s nostalgia, and awkward teenage transitions, Mustache takes place in mid-’90s Northern California, where 13-year-old Pakistani American Ilyas...
- 11/14/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Five films have been nominated and will be shown in universities across Europe
Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border is one of five films nominated for the European University Film Award (Eufa) as announced by the European Film Academy at Filmfest Hamburg today (October 5).
Holland’s refugee drama has been the subject of political attacks from Poland’s right-wing government and recently topped the country’s box office for the second week in a row.
The film, along with the five other nominees, will be shown in 25 universities across 25 European countries including the University of Lodz in Poland.
The other nominees...
Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border is one of five films nominated for the European University Film Award (Eufa) as announced by the European Film Academy at Filmfest Hamburg today (October 5).
Holland’s refugee drama has been the subject of political attacks from Poland’s right-wing government and recently topped the country’s box office for the second week in a row.
The film, along with the five other nominees, will be shown in 25 universities across 25 European countries including the University of Lodz in Poland.
The other nominees...
- 10/5/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Six upcoming projects selected for development platform.
Upcoming projects from Golden Bear-winning producer Celine Loiseau and Charlotte de la Gournerie of Oscar-nominated Flee are among six titles selected for the Full Circle Lab Nouvelle-Aquitaine workshop programme.
The third edition of the lab, organised by France’s Tatino Films, will host four projects at script stage and two in the editing stage, offering support through the development phase, as well as during the post-production and promotion of their features.
Scroll down for full list
Projects include documentary La Détention by Guillaume Massart, produced by Loiseau of France’s Ts Production, who...
Upcoming projects from Golden Bear-winning producer Celine Loiseau and Charlotte de la Gournerie of Oscar-nominated Flee are among six titles selected for the Full Circle Lab Nouvelle-Aquitaine workshop programme.
The third edition of the lab, organised by France’s Tatino Films, will host four projects at script stage and two in the editing stage, offering support through the development phase, as well as during the post-production and promotion of their features.
Scroll down for full list
Projects include documentary La Détention by Guillaume Massart, produced by Loiseau of France’s Ts Production, who...
- 5/21/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Anonymous Content is elevating longtime literary managers and producers Ryan Cunningham, David Kanter and Nicole Romano to partner.
Cunningham joined Anonymous Content in 2019 from Madhouse Entertainment where he had been a manager and producer for a decade. On the management side, his clients include filmmakers Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (65), Derek Tsang (The Three Body Problem), Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei (How to Blow Up a Pipeline); showrunners and writers Steven DeKnight (Spartacus), Jewel Coronel (The Chi), Seamus Fahey (Walker: Independence) and Sonya Winton & Jonathan Kidd (Lovecraft Country), Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Neil Uliano and Bryan Schulz (The Peanuts Movie), and Ben Queen (The Addams Family 2). Cunningham most recently produced the Sky/Relativity feature The Independent, and executive-produced Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, which will be released in June by 20th Century Studios and Disney.
Kanter is a producer and manager at Anonymous...
Cunningham joined Anonymous Content in 2019 from Madhouse Entertainment where he had been a manager and producer for a decade. On the management side, his clients include filmmakers Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (65), Derek Tsang (The Three Body Problem), Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei (How to Blow Up a Pipeline); showrunners and writers Steven DeKnight (Spartacus), Jewel Coronel (The Chi), Seamus Fahey (Walker: Independence) and Sonya Winton & Jonathan Kidd (Lovecraft Country), Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Neil Uliano and Bryan Schulz (The Peanuts Movie), and Ben Queen (The Addams Family 2). Cunningham most recently produced the Sky/Relativity feature The Independent, and executive-produced Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, which will be released in June by 20th Century Studios and Disney.
Kanter is a producer and manager at Anonymous...
- 4/12/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Cph:dox, the international nonfiction film festival in Copenhagen, isn’t shy about stating its ambitions.
“The long-term goal is to be the most important documentary festival in the world,” says artistic director Niklas Engström.
The 20th edition of the festival, which wrapped on Sunday, saw considerable progress toward that objective, Engström tells Deadline.
“It really feels like this is the year where the festival is taking off as an industry event,” the artistic director observes. “It’s been going in that direction for years. It’s been building and building, but it’s like some kind of next level that we reached this year.”
Evidence of that came with the number of documentary world premieres at the festival – more than 100 of them.
“We have a competition 100 percent consisting of world premieres. And I think that’s the next level, coming from where we were the European launching pad for Sundance titles — and still are,...
“The long-term goal is to be the most important documentary festival in the world,” says artistic director Niklas Engström.
The 20th edition of the festival, which wrapped on Sunday, saw considerable progress toward that objective, Engström tells Deadline.
“It really feels like this is the year where the festival is taking off as an industry event,” the artistic director observes. “It’s been going in that direction for years. It’s been building and building, but it’s like some kind of next level that we reached this year.”
Evidence of that came with the number of documentary world premieres at the festival – more than 100 of them.
“We have a competition 100 percent consisting of world premieres. And I think that’s the next level, coming from where we were the European launching pad for Sundance titles — and still are,...
- 3/27/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
For a festival traditionally not keen on animation, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee” has surprisingly garnered remarkable accolades. The Danish-French-Swedish-Norwegian production marked the first acquisition of Sundance (sold to Neon for seven figures!), and eventually closed out as the winner of this year’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary. At the same time, however, maybe this is to be expected. Out of ten entries, three this year in the World Cinema: Documentary section concerned the plight of refugees. “Flee” truly stands out here, as it tells a story beyond refugee status.
“Flee” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
“Flee” recounts the years-long journey of an anonymous gay Afghan refugee (hereon referred to as Amin Nawabi). Nawabi seems to have it all. He is an accomplished academic with a postdoc waiting for him at Princeton University; his significant other is madly in love with him; and now,...
“Flee” is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
“Flee” recounts the years-long journey of an anonymous gay Afghan refugee (hereon referred to as Amin Nawabi). Nawabi seems to have it all. He is an accomplished academic with a postdoc waiting for him at Princeton University; his significant other is madly in love with him; and now,...
- 3/4/2023
- by Grace Han
- AsianMoviePulse
The first few minutes of White Plastic Sky, the animated feature from Hungarian directors Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó that debuted at the Berlin Film Festival 2023, sketch a future world with echoes of past cinematic dystopias.
The world has been stripped of life, the soil poisoned, and all animals driven to extinction. Humanity survives under a huge geodesic dome (the plastic sky of the title) and has learned to feed on itself. At the age of 50, every citizen gets a special implant that turns them into a food source for the next generation. In a scene resembling the pod farms of the Matrix films, we see how implanted humans are transmogrified into a hybrid plant species, becoming trees that provide oxygen and food for those under the dome.
“There are similarities in our story to Soylent Green or Logan’s Run, similar motifs to other high-concept, or hardcore science fiction,” admits Bánóczki,...
The world has been stripped of life, the soil poisoned, and all animals driven to extinction. Humanity survives under a huge geodesic dome (the plastic sky of the title) and has learned to feed on itself. At the age of 50, every citizen gets a special implant that turns them into a food source for the next generation. In a scene resembling the pod farms of the Matrix films, we see how implanted humans are transmogrified into a hybrid plant species, becoming trees that provide oxygen and food for those under the dome.
“There are similarities in our story to Soylent Green or Logan’s Run, similar motifs to other high-concept, or hardcore science fiction,” admits Bánóczki,...
- 2/17/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Establishing herself as one of the world’s few Arctic Circle feature film producers, having set up shop in Norway’s Tromsø, former Mer Films production exec Elisa Fernanda Pirir is launching her own production company, Staer, which is backing productions by Morocco’s Nabil Ayouch and Colombia’s Juan Carlos Arango, among others, as she also develops her first titles by Sami talent.
Born in Guatemala, Pirir is joined at Staer by KriStine Ann Skaret, behind the award-winning film “Villagers and Vagabonds” (2020), the co-production “Aswang” (2019) and the premiere-ready “Not That Kind of Guy” (2022).
Born in Guatemala but moving to northern Norway in 2007, Pirir joined Mer Film, the company behind Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “Disco” Eskil Vogt’s “The Innocents” and Ole Giæver’s “Ellos eatnu – Let the River Flow,” which plays in Nordic Competition at this year’s Goteborg Film Festival. Mer also co-produced Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Oscar-nominated documentary “Flee.
Born in Guatemala, Pirir is joined at Staer by KriStine Ann Skaret, behind the award-winning film “Villagers and Vagabonds” (2020), the co-production “Aswang” (2019) and the premiere-ready “Not That Kind of Guy” (2022).
Born in Guatemala but moving to northern Norway in 2007, Pirir joined Mer Film, the company behind Jorunn Myklebust Syversen’s “Disco” Eskil Vogt’s “The Innocents” and Ole Giæver’s “Ellos eatnu – Let the River Flow,” which plays in Nordic Competition at this year’s Goteborg Film Festival. Mer also co-produced Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Oscar-nominated documentary “Flee.
- 1/18/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th has won best film at the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards in Paris on Monday evening.
The investigative drama, which was nominated in six categories, also won Best Screenplay.
The film, which debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non-competitive Cannes Première section, stars Bastien Bouillon as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.
Best director went to Albert Serra for French Polynesia-set drama Pacification. The feature also clinched two other prizes: Best Actor for Benoît Magimal and Best Cinematography for Artur Tort.
Virginie Efira won Best Actress for her performance in Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children about the challenge of navigating the stepmother role.
Nadia Tereszkiewicz won Best Female Revelation for her performance in Forever Young and Dimitri Doré, Best Male Revelation for Bruno Reidal.
Alice Diop clinched best documentary category for We,...
The investigative drama, which was nominated in six categories, also won Best Screenplay.
The film, which debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non-competitive Cannes Première section, stars Bastien Bouillon as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.
Best director went to Albert Serra for French Polynesia-set drama Pacification. The feature also clinched two other prizes: Best Actor for Benoît Magimal and Best Cinematography for Artur Tort.
Virginie Efira won Best Actress for her performance in Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children about the challenge of navigating the stepmother role.
Nadia Tereszkiewicz won Best Female Revelation for her performance in Forever Young and Dimitri Doré, Best Male Revelation for Bruno Reidal.
Alice Diop clinched best documentary category for We,...
- 1/16/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Left Handed Films, the production company of Academy Award-winning producer and actor Riz Ahmed, has joined the Pakistani film “Joyland” as an executive producer.
Written and directed by Saim Sadiq, “Joyland” made its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Un Certain Regard jury prize and the Queer Palm. The film has been nominated for best international film at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards and was recently shortlisted for best international feature film at the 95th Academy Awards, as Pakistan’s official entry.
The film tells the story of Haider (Ali Junejo), who lives with his wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), his father and his elder brother’s family in Lahore, Pakistan. After a long spell of unemployment, Haider lands a job working as a background dancer at a Bollywood-style burlesque — though he tells his family he’s the theater’s manager — and falls in love with...
Written and directed by Saim Sadiq, “Joyland” made its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Un Certain Regard jury prize and the Queer Palm. The film has been nominated for best international film at the 2023 Independent Spirit Awards and was recently shortlisted for best international feature film at the 95th Academy Awards, as Pakistan’s official entry.
The film tells the story of Haider (Ali Junejo), who lives with his wife Mumtaz (Rasti Farooq), his father and his elder brother’s family in Lahore, Pakistan. After a long spell of unemployment, Haider lands a job working as a background dancer at a Bollywood-style burlesque — though he tells his family he’s the theater’s manager — and falls in love with...
- 1/12/2023
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
In theory, international films can earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in any given year. But in reality, only a handful have ever attained that distinction, and a single one — Parasite — has claimed the prize.
For a truly global competition — international and American films contending in the same category — turn to the Best Documentary Feature race. This year alone, shortlisted documentaries vying for a nomination originate from China, Vietnam, India, Ukraine, Canada and the U.S.
Vietnamese director Ha Le Diem shot her shortlisted film Children of the Mist in a Hmong community in Northern Vietnam, where teenage girls are routinely kidnapped by male suitors and coerced into marriages. Di, the 14-year-old heroine of the documentary, flirts with a boy who soon abducts her and with help from his family tries to force her to accept him as her husband.
“New Year is the season of bride kidnapping, and it is allowed,...
For a truly global competition — international and American films contending in the same category — turn to the Best Documentary Feature race. This year alone, shortlisted documentaries vying for a nomination originate from China, Vietnam, India, Ukraine, Canada and the U.S.
Vietnamese director Ha Le Diem shot her shortlisted film Children of the Mist in a Hmong community in Northern Vietnam, where teenage girls are routinely kidnapped by male suitors and coerced into marriages. Di, the 14-year-old heroine of the documentary, flirts with a boy who soon abducts her and with help from his family tries to force her to accept him as her husband.
“New Year is the season of bride kidnapping, and it is allowed,...
- 1/12/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
An immensely powerful, humanising documentary about one Afghan’s escape from 1980s Kabul, made all the more thrilling and suspenseful through its animation
50 best films of 2022 in the UKMore on the best culture of 2022
It’s a genuine thrill to encounter a film as exciting and immediate as Flee. The true story at its centre is a harrowing and suspenseful refugee narrative of loss and resilience, and director Jonas Poher Rasmussen could have brought it to the screen in many ways, almost all of them conventionally easier than the one he finally chose. Rasmussen’s friend, known in the film as Amin, is an Afghan refugee who agrees to share how he made his way from war-torn Kabul in the 80s to now, living a settled, open life in Denmark as a gay man, one he’d never thought was possible.
In animating the interviews with Amin and the various events being recalled,...
50 best films of 2022 in the UKMore on the best culture of 2022
It’s a genuine thrill to encounter a film as exciting and immediate as Flee. The true story at its centre is a harrowing and suspenseful refugee narrative of loss and resilience, and director Jonas Poher Rasmussen could have brought it to the screen in many ways, almost all of them conventionally easier than the one he finally chose. Rasmussen’s friend, known in the film as Amin, is an Afghan refugee who agrees to share how he made his way from war-torn Kabul in the 80s to now, living a settled, open life in Denmark as a gay man, one he’d never thought was possible.
In animating the interviews with Amin and the various events being recalled,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Benjamin Lee
- The Guardian - Film News
Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th, which world premiered in Cannes in May, has topped the nominations for the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards.
The awards are voted on by members of the international press corp hailing from 36 countries based in France.
The Night Of The 12th was nominated in six categories including best film, director and screenplay. The film debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non competitive Cannes Première section.
The investigative drama is Moll’s seventh feature. It stars Bastien Bouillon, with support from Bouli Lanners, as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.
Other multi-nominated titles include Albert Serra’s French Polynesia-set drama Pacification five nominations.
Four films received four nominations each: Alice Diop’s Saint-Omer; Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children; Louis Garrel’s The Innocent and Gaspar Noé’s Vortex.
Diop,...
The awards are voted on by members of the international press corp hailing from 36 countries based in France.
The Night Of The 12th was nominated in six categories including best film, director and screenplay. The film debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non competitive Cannes Première section.
The investigative drama is Moll’s seventh feature. It stars Bastien Bouillon, with support from Bouli Lanners, as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.
Other multi-nominated titles include Albert Serra’s French Polynesia-set drama Pacification five nominations.
Four films received four nominations each: Alice Diop’s Saint-Omer; Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children; Louis Garrel’s The Innocent and Gaspar Noé’s Vortex.
Diop,...
- 12/15/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The first major awards ceremony of the year took place tonight, with The Gotham Film & Media Institute hosting the 32nd Annual Gotham Awards at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. Leading the pack of winners was Everything Everywhere All at Once, which picked up Best Feature, while its star Ke Huy Quan picked up a trophy, alongside Danielle Deadwyler (Till), Gracija Filipovic (Murina), Charlotte Wells (Aftersun), Todd Field (Tár), All That Breathes, and Happening.
Check out the film winners below, along with a stream of the ceremony.
For Best Feature, presented by Jennifer Lawrence
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Produced by Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca, Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, and Jonathan Wang
Released by A24
The Best Feature jury included Colman Domingo, Mary Harron, Bill Holderman, Emily Mortimer, and Michael H. Weber.
For Best Documentary Feature, presented by Soledad O’Brien...
Check out the film winners below, along with a stream of the ceremony.
For Best Feature, presented by Jennifer Lawrence
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Produced by Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca, Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, and Jonathan Wang
Released by A24
The Best Feature jury included Colman Domingo, Mary Harron, Bill Holderman, Emily Mortimer, and Michael H. Weber.
For Best Documentary Feature, presented by Soledad O’Brien...
- 11/29/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Gotham Awards, honoring the best in American independent films, held their 32nd annual event on Monday night, November 28, launching the fall and winter awards season. So who were the big winners? Scroll down for the complete list of film and television champs in all categories, updating live throughout the night.
SEE2023 Oscars: Best Picture Predictions [Updated: November 28]
Nominees were decided by panels of film and television critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. The winners were then selected by juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors, and others directly involved in filmmaking. Those small juries change from year to year and from category to category, so these awards can produce surprising results.
Telling the story of a composer and conductor who comes under fire, “Tar” led the nominations with five bids including Best Feature, as well as for writer-director Todd Field‘s screenplay and for the performances by lead actress Cate Blanchett...
SEE2023 Oscars: Best Picture Predictions [Updated: November 28]
Nominees were decided by panels of film and television critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. The winners were then selected by juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors, and others directly involved in filmmaking. Those small juries change from year to year and from category to category, so these awards can produce surprising results.
Telling the story of a composer and conductor who comes under fire, “Tar” led the nominations with five bids including Best Feature, as well as for writer-director Todd Field‘s screenplay and for the performances by lead actress Cate Blanchett...
- 11/29/2022
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Michelle Williams will be honored with a Performer Tribute during the 32nd annual Gotham Awards, taking place live and in-person on November 28, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.
The bestowing of the tribute will follow the November 11 theatrical release of Williams’ latest film The Fabelmans — a semi-autobiographical drama from director Steven Spielberg, which delves into his upbringing. In the feature written by Spielberg and Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner, Williams plays Mitzi Fabelman — a character modeled off of Spielberg’s mother. She stars alongside Paul Dano, Gabriel Labelle, Seth Rogen, Judd Hirsch and more in the TIFF People’s Choice Award winner, from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, which expands nationwide on November 23.
The Gotham Film & Media Institute also announced today that nominations for this year’s Gotham Awards will be unveiled at this link by presenter Angelica Ross (Pose) at 9 a.m. Pt on October 25.
“We...
The bestowing of the tribute will follow the November 11 theatrical release of Williams’ latest film The Fabelmans — a semi-autobiographical drama from director Steven Spielberg, which delves into his upbringing. In the feature written by Spielberg and Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner, Williams plays Mitzi Fabelman — a character modeled off of Spielberg’s mother. She stars alongside Paul Dano, Gabriel Labelle, Seth Rogen, Judd Hirsch and more in the TIFF People’s Choice Award winner, from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, which expands nationwide on November 23.
The Gotham Film & Media Institute also announced today that nominations for this year’s Gotham Awards will be unveiled at this link by presenter Angelica Ross (Pose) at 9 a.m. Pt on October 25.
“We...
- 10/20/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini died while in police custody.
Nordic filmmakers and actors including Joachim Trier, Lone Scherfig, Thomas Vinterberg, Trine Dyrholm and Jonas Poher Rasmussen have signed an open letter expressing their support for the Iranian protestors following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini while in police custody.
“With this letter we want to amplify their voices and send a message to the Iranian people that we hear them, we see them and they are not alone,” the letter said.
“We invite everyone who believes in freedom and equality to stand in solidarity with the brave women in Iran...
Nordic filmmakers and actors including Joachim Trier, Lone Scherfig, Thomas Vinterberg, Trine Dyrholm and Jonas Poher Rasmussen have signed an open letter expressing their support for the Iranian protestors following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini while in police custody.
“With this letter we want to amplify their voices and send a message to the Iranian people that we hear them, we see them and they are not alone,” the letter said.
“We invite everyone who believes in freedom and equality to stand in solidarity with the brave women in Iran...
- 9/28/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
The film beat out Frelle Petersen’s ’Forever’ and Tea Lindeburg’s ’As In Heaven’
Denmark has chosen Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider as its entry for best international feature at the Oscars 2023.
‘Holy Spider’: Cannes Review
The film was shortlisted alongside Frelle Petersen’s Forever and Tea Lindeburg’s As In Heaven.
Based on the real-life story of an Iranian serial killer whose victims were sex workers, the film follows a female journalist investigating the murders taking place in the holy city of Mashhad.
It premiered at Cannes in official competition where Zar Amir-Ebrahimi picked up the award for best actress.
Denmark has chosen Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider as its entry for best international feature at the Oscars 2023.
‘Holy Spider’: Cannes Review
The film was shortlisted alongside Frelle Petersen’s Forever and Tea Lindeburg’s As In Heaven.
Based on the real-life story of an Iranian serial killer whose victims were sex workers, the film follows a female journalist investigating the murders taking place in the holy city of Mashhad.
It premiered at Cannes in official competition where Zar Amir-Ebrahimi picked up the award for best actress.
- 9/27/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Neon in association with National Geographic Documentary Films said director Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love will cross 1 million at the box office this weekend, becoming the biggest documentary release of the year for combined domestic and international gross. The film opened this summer and is entering its ninth week in theaters nationally. It will stream on Disney+ later this year.
National Geographic Documentary Films acquired the worldwide rights to Fire of Love following its Sundance debut (awarded the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award). Produced by Shane Boris, Ina Fichman and Dosa, the Miranda July-narrated film explores the passionate lives and work of French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft through their striking, rare archival footage.
Executive Producers are Greg Boustead and Jessica Harrop of Sandbox Films, Carolyn Bernstein of National Geographic Documentary Films and Josh Braun and Dan Braun of Submarine.
The intrepid scientists captured some of the most spectacular imagery...
National Geographic Documentary Films acquired the worldwide rights to Fire of Love following its Sundance debut (awarded the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award). Produced by Shane Boris, Ina Fichman and Dosa, the Miranda July-narrated film explores the passionate lives and work of French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft through their striking, rare archival footage.
Executive Producers are Greg Boustead and Jessica Harrop of Sandbox Films, Carolyn Bernstein of National Geographic Documentary Films and Josh Braun and Dan Braun of Submarine.
The intrepid scientists captured some of the most spectacular imagery...
- 9/2/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
In 1973 Chol Soo Lee, a 21-year-old Korean immigrant, was wrongfully incarcerated for the murder of a Chinatown gang leader. He became a symbol for systemic injustice against Asian Americans and spurred solidarity within his community. His prison memoirs have been adapted into a book and his case inspired the 1989 drama film “True Believer.” But his life — what happened before and after he became famous for his imprisonment — was far from a Hollywood fairy tale.
In the documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee,” first-time doc directors Julie Ha and Eugene Yi use archival materials in an attempt to present their tragic hero in all three dimensions. Despite their efforts, Soo Lee feels just out of reach, but the story of his life remains as important as it is horrifying.
The film opens by explaining the crime and how Soo Lee became a prime suspect. Journalistic giant K.W. Lee compared Soo Lee’s...
In the documentary “Free Chol Soo Lee,” first-time doc directors Julie Ha and Eugene Yi use archival materials in an attempt to present their tragic hero in all three dimensions. Despite their efforts, Soo Lee feels just out of reach, but the story of his life remains as important as it is horrifying.
The film opens by explaining the crime and how Soo Lee became a prime suspect. Journalistic giant K.W. Lee compared Soo Lee’s...
- 8/26/2022
- by Lena Wilson
- The Wrap
The 2022 Nordic Council Film Prize Nominees Announced
The five nominees for the prestigious Nordic Council Film Prize have been announced. The list of nominees includes Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated The Worst Person in the World, Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, Teemu Nikki’s The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, Lamb by Valdimar Jóhannson, and Clara Sola, directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén. The Nordic Council Film Prize, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, is awarded to “an artistically significant, Nordic-produced full-length feature film with cinema distribution”. The award comes with a €41,000 cash prize shared equally between the winning film’s director, screenwriter and producer. The winner will be announced on November 1 at a ceremony in Helsinki, Finland. Last year’s winner was Flee directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen.
All3Media-backed ‘Embarrassing Bodies’ Producer Maverick Joins With Omg Scotland To Form 141
All3Media-backed Embarrassing Bodies and 10 Years Younger in 10 Days...
The five nominees for the prestigious Nordic Council Film Prize have been announced. The list of nominees includes Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated The Worst Person in the World, Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, Teemu Nikki’s The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, Lamb by Valdimar Jóhannson, and Clara Sola, directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén. The Nordic Council Film Prize, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, is awarded to “an artistically significant, Nordic-produced full-length feature film with cinema distribution”. The award comes with a €41,000 cash prize shared equally between the winning film’s director, screenwriter and producer. The winner will be announced on November 1 at a ceremony in Helsinki, Finland. Last year’s winner was Flee directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen.
All3Media-backed ‘Embarrassing Bodies’ Producer Maverick Joins With Omg Scotland To Form 141
All3Media-backed Embarrassing Bodies and 10 Years Younger in 10 Days...
- 8/23/2022
- by Zac Ntim and Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Five Nordic features are nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize. The prestigious recognition, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, was first awarded to Aki Kaurismäki’s “The Man Without a Past.”
Hlynur Pálmason’s “Godland,” Teemu Nikki’s “The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic,” “Lamb” by Valdimar Jóhannson, Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World” and “Clara Sola,” directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, will all vie for the award.
It is billed as a prize that celebrates “a unique filmmaking vision, deeply rooted in Nordic culture” and comes with a sum of Dkk 300,000, shared equally between the director, screenwriter and producer.
Trier, fresh off his win at Saturday’sAmanda Awards, already won the prize in 2016 for “Louder Than Bombs.” It’s also not the first nomination for Finland’s Nikki, previously noticed for darkly comedic “Euthanizer.” His new film, featuring Petri Poikolainen who suffers from Ms,...
Hlynur Pálmason’s “Godland,” Teemu Nikki’s “The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic,” “Lamb” by Valdimar Jóhannson, Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World” and “Clara Sola,” directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, will all vie for the award.
It is billed as a prize that celebrates “a unique filmmaking vision, deeply rooted in Nordic culture” and comes with a sum of Dkk 300,000, shared equally between the director, screenwriter and producer.
Trier, fresh off his win at Saturday’sAmanda Awards, already won the prize in 2016 for “Louder Than Bombs.” It’s also not the first nomination for Finland’s Nikki, previously noticed for darkly comedic “Euthanizer.” His new film, featuring Petri Poikolainen who suffers from Ms,...
- 8/23/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Three of the nominees premiered at Cannes 2021.
The five nominees for the lucrative Nordic Council Film Prize have been unveiled at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund today (August 23).
Three of the nominees premiered at Cannes 2021: Iceland’s Lamb, directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson; Norway’s The Worst Person In The World from Joachim Trier; and Sweden’s Clara Sola directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén.
Denmark’s entry is Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, which debuted at Cannes this year.
Finnish entry The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic, directed by Teemu Nikki, premiered in the Orizzonti...
The five nominees for the lucrative Nordic Council Film Prize have been unveiled at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund today (August 23).
Three of the nominees premiered at Cannes 2021: Iceland’s Lamb, directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson; Norway’s The Worst Person In The World from Joachim Trier; and Sweden’s Clara Sola directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén.
Denmark’s entry is Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, which debuted at Cannes this year.
Finnish entry The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic, directed by Teemu Nikki, premiered in the Orizzonti...
- 8/23/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
More than 40 of the group are women and 50 come from outside the US.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 397 artists and executives, half of them from outside the US, to join its ranks.
Among the 30 actors invited are recent Oscar winners Troy Kotsur, from Coda, and Ariana DeBose, from West Side Story, along with Caitríona Balfe, Jessie Buckley, Jamie Dornan, Amir Jadidi, Kajol, Vincent Lindon, Hidetoshi Nishijima and Renate Reinsve.
Twenty-one directors were invited, including Pawo Choyning Dorji (Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom), Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), Sian Harries...
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 397 artists and executives, half of them from outside the US, to join its ranks.
Among the 30 actors invited are recent Oscar winners Troy Kotsur, from Coda, and Ariana DeBose, from West Side Story, along with Caitríona Balfe, Jessie Buckley, Jamie Dornan, Amir Jadidi, Kajol, Vincent Lindon, Hidetoshi Nishijima and Renate Reinsve.
Twenty-one directors were invited, including Pawo Choyning Dorji (Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom), Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car), Sian Harries...
- 6/28/2022
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that it is inviting 397 artists and executives to join the Oscar organizer’s membership ranks. The prospective 2022 class includes 71 Oscar nominees and 15 winners, with 44 of the invitees women, and 37 of the group belongs to underrepresented communities.
See the full list below.
Among this year’s Oscar winners on the list are Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur, and Kotsur’s Coda writer-director Siân Heder, who has been invited into both the Directors and Writers branches. Among those invited into multiple branches, the new member must pick one. There are a total of 17 AMPAS branches, along with 25 who today received members-at-large invitations.
Others on the list include this year’s Oscar Original Song winners Billie Eilish and brother Finneas O’Connell; actors Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Jesse Buckley, Michael Greyeyes, Olga Merediz, Jesse Plemons, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Anya Taylor-Joy; writers Zach Baylin,...
See the full list below.
Among this year’s Oscar winners on the list are Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur, and Kotsur’s Coda writer-director Siân Heder, who has been invited into both the Directors and Writers branches. Among those invited into multiple branches, the new member must pick one. There are a total of 17 AMPAS branches, along with 25 who today received members-at-large invitations.
Others on the list include this year’s Oscar Original Song winners Billie Eilish and brother Finneas O’Connell; actors Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Jesse Buckley, Michael Greyeyes, Olga Merediz, Jesse Plemons, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Anya Taylor-Joy; writers Zach Baylin,...
- 6/28/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
Every summer, when the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invites new members, publicists scramble to update their lists. In the past seven years since #OscarsSoWhite, the Academy membership ranks have burgeoned dramatically, adding more young, diverse, and international members. As the Academy has sought to meet its diversity goals, the organization has swelled its ranks since 2015 from 6,446 to 10,665 total members (including Emeritus), if all the 2022 invitees accept membership, and the number of voting members to 9,665.
In the past two years, though, the pace has slowed, since the Academy met its goal of doubling the number of women and people of color in its membership. Instead of 819 new invites going out in 2020, the 2022 invites are just 397, a sign that the Academy is continuing to pull back on its 10 percent growth rate surge, and that the number of qualified experienced industry professionals has limits.
Next...
In the past two years, though, the pace has slowed, since the Academy met its goal of doubling the number of women and people of color in its membership. Instead of 819 new invites going out in 2020, the 2022 invites are just 397, a sign that the Academy is continuing to pull back on its 10 percent growth rate surge, and that the number of qualified experienced industry professionals has limits.
Next...
- 6/28/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Academy Invites 397 New Members, Including Billie Eilish, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jamie Dornan, Dana Walden
Anya Taylor-Joy, Billie Eilish, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan and Disney exec Dana Walden are among the 397 artists and executives invited to join the membership of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. If all of this year’s invitees accept membership, it will bring the total number of Academy members to 10,665, with 9,665 eligible to vote for the 95th Oscars set to take place on March 12, 2023.
The 2022 class is 44 women, 37 belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50 are from 53 countries and territories outside the United States. There are 71 Oscar nominees, including 15 winners, among the invitees. Some of the big names invited are recent winners Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) and Troy Kotsur (“Coda”), and nominees Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”), Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”). Also invited are a slew of global artists and artisans such as actors Robin de Jesús, Olga Merediz...
The 2022 class is 44 women, 37 belong to underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50 are from 53 countries and territories outside the United States. There are 71 Oscar nominees, including 15 winners, among the invitees. Some of the big names invited are recent winners Ariana DeBose (“West Side Story”) and Troy Kotsur (“Coda”), and nominees Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”), Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee (“The Power of the Dog”). Also invited are a slew of global artists and artisans such as actors Robin de Jesús, Olga Merediz...
- 6/28/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar winners Ariana DeBose, Troy Kotsur and Billie Eilish and nominees Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons are among the 397 film professionals invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy announced on Monday.
Invitations were also extended to actors Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Renate Rensve and Anya Taylor-Joy, directors Reinaldo Marcus Green, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sian Heder and Jonas Poher Rasmussen, writers Zach Baylin, Takamasa Oe and Alex Ross Perry and film critic Leonard Maltin, who was invited to join as a member at large.
Four people were invited by two different branches, and must choose which branch they wish to join. Hamaguchi, Heder and Pawo Choyning Dorji were invited by both the Directors and Writers Branches, while Rasmussen was invited by the Directors Branch and the Documentary Branch.
Also Read:
Marlee Matlin, Jason Reitman and Jason Blum Elected to Oscars Academy...
Invitations were also extended to actors Caitriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Renate Rensve and Anya Taylor-Joy, directors Reinaldo Marcus Green, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sian Heder and Jonas Poher Rasmussen, writers Zach Baylin, Takamasa Oe and Alex Ross Perry and film critic Leonard Maltin, who was invited to join as a member at large.
Four people were invited by two different branches, and must choose which branch they wish to join. Hamaguchi, Heder and Pawo Choyning Dorji were invited by both the Directors and Writers Branches, while Rasmussen was invited by the Directors Branch and the Documentary Branch.
Also Read:
Marlee Matlin, Jason Reitman and Jason Blum Elected to Oscars Academy...
- 6/28/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Click here to read the full article.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 397 members of the global film community to join the organization, it was announced Tuesday.
Among those who will henceforth be able to vote for the Oscar nominations and winners if they accept, as the vast majority of people who have received invites historically have: newly-minted Oscar winners Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (music branch) and Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur (actors); Paramount chief Brian Robbins and Disney general entertainment chief Dana Walden (executives); and film critic Leonard Maltin (members-at-large).
According to an Academy-provided breakdown of the new invitees, 44 percent are women, 37 percent are non-white and 50 percent are non-Americans (54 different countries are represented). If they all accept, the Academy’s overall membership will be 34 percent female, 19 percent non-white and 23 percent non-American.
Seven branches invited more women than men (actors, casting directors, costume designers, documentary,...
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited 397 members of the global film community to join the organization, it was announced Tuesday.
Among those who will henceforth be able to vote for the Oscar nominations and winners if they accept, as the vast majority of people who have received invites historically have: newly-minted Oscar winners Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (music branch) and Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur (actors); Paramount chief Brian Robbins and Disney general entertainment chief Dana Walden (executives); and film critic Leonard Maltin (members-at-large).
According to an Academy-provided breakdown of the new invitees, 44 percent are women, 37 percent are non-white and 50 percent are non-Americans (54 different countries are represented). If they all accept, the Academy’s overall membership will be 34 percent female, 19 percent non-white and 23 percent non-American.
Seven branches invited more women than men (actors, casting directors, costume designers, documentary,...
- 6/28/2022
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Styx (2018).When another imminent lockdown is announced, I rush to the cinema to catch Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary Flee (2021). Sitting in the dark theater, unsure when I’ll have this luxury again, I’m hit with a pang of anxiety, as if I’m about to lose home once again. The film, which recounts Amin Nawabi’s escape from Afghanistan and eventual arrival in Denmark as an unaccompanied minor, strikes a chord, reminding me of my own refugee displacement. Specifically, I’m drawn to Amin’s charismatic persona, imbued with melancholic introspection. His remembrances, which constitute the narrative content, are at turns harrowing, bittersweet, and heartwarming. It is undeniable that Flee is well-crafted and genuinely moving.Yet, I also felt unease with the film’s confessional framing, or how Amin’s story is told. While the film has been acclaimed for pushing the bounds of documentary, it is...
- 6/23/2022
- MUBI
Neon has taken the North American distribution rights to Mark Jenkin’s horror feature Enys Men, starring Mary Woodvine and Edward Rowe. The deal was hatched before Cannes, ahead of the pic’s world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section.
Jenkin wore several hats on the production beyond director and writer, including cinematographer, sound designer, and composer.
Set in 1973 on an uninhabited island off the British coast, a wildlife volunteer descends into a terrifying metaphysical and ecosophical journey that challenges her grip on reality and pushes her into a living nightmare.
Enys Men was shot on 16mm color negative using a 1970’s clockwork Bolex camera and post sync sound. This was to achieve the feeling of discovering a reel of never-before-seen celluloid unspooling in a desolate, haunted movie palace.
The movie is produced by Denzil Monk for Bosena. Johnny Fewings serves as EP. Film4 co-financed the film, with Ben Coren...
Jenkin wore several hats on the production beyond director and writer, including cinematographer, sound designer, and composer.
Set in 1973 on an uninhabited island off the British coast, a wildlife volunteer descends into a terrifying metaphysical and ecosophical journey that challenges her grip on reality and pushes her into a living nightmare.
Enys Men was shot on 16mm color negative using a 1970’s clockwork Bolex camera and post sync sound. This was to achieve the feeling of discovering a reel of never-before-seen celluloid unspooling in a desolate, haunted movie palace.
The movie is produced by Denzil Monk for Bosena. Johnny Fewings serves as EP. Film4 co-financed the film, with Ben Coren...
- 5/19/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Neon has promoted Jeff Deutchman to president of acquisitions and production.
Deutchman previously served as Neon’s executive VP of acquisitions and production. Under his leadership, the studio has grown its recent production slate with director Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo,” starring Hunter Schafer; Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End,” a golden-age musical with Tilda Swinton; Brandon Cronenberg’s “Infinity Pool” featuring Alexander Skarsgård.
On the acquisitions front, Deutchman has negotiated deals for director Joachim Trier’s unconventional romantic comedy “The Worst Person in The World,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee,” and Pablo Larraín’s Princess Diana drama “Spencer.” Other recent purchases include Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner “Titane,” Céline Sciamma’s “Petite Maman,” and the Nicolas Cage-led “Pig.”
“Jeff has been here from the beginning and is a big part of Neon’s success; his taste and his instincts are simply impeccable. I’m looking forward...
Deutchman previously served as Neon’s executive VP of acquisitions and production. Under his leadership, the studio has grown its recent production slate with director Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo,” starring Hunter Schafer; Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End,” a golden-age musical with Tilda Swinton; Brandon Cronenberg’s “Infinity Pool” featuring Alexander Skarsgård.
On the acquisitions front, Deutchman has negotiated deals for director Joachim Trier’s unconventional romantic comedy “The Worst Person in The World,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee,” and Pablo Larraín’s Princess Diana drama “Spencer.” Other recent purchases include Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner “Titane,” Céline Sciamma’s “Petite Maman,” and the Nicolas Cage-led “Pig.”
“Jeff has been here from the beginning and is a big part of Neon’s success; his taste and his instincts are simply impeccable. I’m looking forward...
- 5/18/2022
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
In the wake of the Cannes Palme d’Or and Oscar winning success of Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite, Neon is re-teaming with Cj Enm to pick up the North American distribution rights to Broker, from writer-director Kore-eda Hirokazu ahead of the pic’s global premiere at Cannes.
Broker is debuting in competition at this year’s festival, and is produced by Zip Cinema.
Broker centers around Sang-hyun (Song Kang Ho) and Dong-soo (Gang Dong Won) as “brokers of goodwill,” who connect unwanted babies with new parents on the black market. When a new baby is dropped off, Sang-hyun and Dong-soo embark on a road trip to meet prospective parents, but are surprised when the birth mother (Lee Ji Eun) unexpectedly shows up to join them on their journey.
Neon’s Jeff Deutchman, EVP of Acquisitions & Production, negotiated the North America deal with Namyoung Kim on behalf of Cj Enm.
Kore...
Broker is debuting in competition at this year’s festival, and is produced by Zip Cinema.
Broker centers around Sang-hyun (Song Kang Ho) and Dong-soo (Gang Dong Won) as “brokers of goodwill,” who connect unwanted babies with new parents on the black market. When a new baby is dropped off, Sang-hyun and Dong-soo embark on a road trip to meet prospective parents, but are surprised when the birth mother (Lee Ji Eun) unexpectedly shows up to join them on their journey.
Neon’s Jeff Deutchman, EVP of Acquisitions & Production, negotiated the North America deal with Namyoung Kim on behalf of Cj Enm.
Kore...
- 5/13/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Neon has teamed with Cj Enm to acquire North American distribution rights to “Broker,” the new film from writer and director Kore-eda Hirokazu. The deal was inked prior to the film’s premiere in Cannes, where “Broker” is slated to premiere in competition. Kore-eda is no stranger to the festival, having previously won the Palme d’Or in 2018 for “Shoplifters” and winning the Jury Prize in 2013 for “Like Father, Like Son.”
“Broker” was produced by Zip Cinema. Neon and Cj Enm previously teamed on “Parasite,” the South Korean thriller that won best picture at the 2020 Oscars.
“Broker” follows Sang-hyun (Song Kang Ho) and Dong-soo (Gang Dong Won) as “brokers of goodwill,” who connect unwanted babies with new parents on the black market. When a new baby is dropped off, Sang-hyun and Dong-soo embark on a road trip to meet prospective parents, but are surprised when the birth mother (Lee Ji...
“Broker” was produced by Zip Cinema. Neon and Cj Enm previously teamed on “Parasite,” the South Korean thriller that won best picture at the 2020 Oscars.
“Broker” follows Sang-hyun (Song Kang Ho) and Dong-soo (Gang Dong Won) as “brokers of goodwill,” who connect unwanted babies with new parents on the black market. When a new baby is dropped off, Sang-hyun and Dong-soo embark on a road trip to meet prospective parents, but are surprised when the birth mother (Lee Ji...
- 5/13/2022
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Neon, the Best Picture Oscar-winning studio behind Parasite, has acquired U.S. rights to the psychological thriller Mothers’ Instinct starring Academy Award winners Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway.
Set in the early ‘60s, it follows best friends and neighbors Alice (Chastain) and Celine (Hathaway), who live an idyllic traditional lifestyle with manicured lawns, successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life’s perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond, and a psychological battle of wills begins as the maternal instinct reveals its darker side.
Mothers’ Instinct is based on the novel Derrière la Haine by Barbara Abel. Writer Sarah Conradt (50 States of Fright) adapted the English-language script.
The Neon-distributed feature is a remake of the 2018 critically acclaimed Belgium movie Duelles from director Olivier Masset-Depasse. The filmmaker also will direct this English-language production, which begins shooting on...
Set in the early ‘60s, it follows best friends and neighbors Alice (Chastain) and Celine (Hathaway), who live an idyllic traditional lifestyle with manicured lawns, successful husbands and sons of the same age. Life’s perfect harmony is suddenly shattered after a tragic accident. Guilt, suspicion and paranoia combine to unravel their sisterly bond, and a psychological battle of wills begins as the maternal instinct reveals its darker side.
Mothers’ Instinct is based on the novel Derrière la Haine by Barbara Abel. Writer Sarah Conradt (50 States of Fright) adapted the English-language script.
The Neon-distributed feature is a remake of the 2018 critically acclaimed Belgium movie Duelles from director Olivier Masset-Depasse. The filmmaker also will direct this English-language production, which begins shooting on...
- 5/11/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
If the Academy is having a hard time getting itself out of its unpopular hole, it might help if they brought the public in, not by awarding The Most Favorite Film — which goes against the grain of the Academy itself, being made up of the august members of the motion picture industry. The Academy is the exact opposite of the masses who are not attending theatrical events as much as watching streaming in the comfort of their living rooms, and obviously not watching movies enough to want to watch the Academy Awards.
How about spreading the love for movies by making the international films broadly available before, not after, the Oscars have been awarded? Convincing distributors to rethink how they release their non-English films or docs or shorts to the public might stir up more interest in these categories. When they are hot, on the tail of being picked up at the famous festivals when news of them first breaks, rather than giving them one-week releases close to the end of the year in order to qualify them for the Oscars and then removing them from theaters and streaming platforms until they win the Oscar — if they do — might help.
Put them on streaming platforms if not in theaters and advertise their availability even if you can’t book a theater. The same thinking goes for the shorts which are now being decamped to an off-camera pre-Oscar event. If we (the public) wanted to see what the contenders are, then why can we not easily find and watch the shortlisted and then the five nominated films?
Films up for Academy Awards to be televised March 27 and upon which the Academy member will vote March 17–22 should be more widely available to the public. The films being feted, and particularly the international, the docs and the shorts, should be made widely available to the public so that the public will have more of a stake in the Awards ceremony and therefore be more likely to tune into it.
A quick look at them, two from Asia and three from Europe and an overview of them and the other shortlisted films shows the importance of world class festival premieres. Another look shows some are ubiquitous on multiple streaming platforms while others are nowhere to be found.
Upcoming filmmakers should be aware that these top festivals demand world premieres, so they should aim high when planning the festival and distribution strategy for their films initially and apply or get invited, two ways the festivals choose their programs. But this insular film circuit, only open to cineastes and cinephiles, could be the launch pads to seeing contenders and spreading some word of mouth pre-Oscar season, if only the public were allowed to see them. Looking at TelescopeFilm.com, the U.S. distribution via streaming platforms of these films ranges from the unseeable to the ubiquitous.
Drive My Car — Japan by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. Premiered in Cannes. (US: Janus, Isa: The Match Factory). Not available anywhere on streaming...not even on Criterion, the streaming platform of Janus, its distributor.
Flee — Denmark by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. Premiered in Sundance 2022. (US: Neon, Isa: Cinephil). Available everywhere: Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Google Play, Vudu, Microsoft, YouTube, Direct TV and AMC.
The Hand of God — Italy by Paulo Sorrentino. Premiered in Venice. (Netflix worldwide) Literally a fabulous film, a real winner whether or not it takes the Oscar. Available only on Netflix.
The Worst Person in the World — Norway by Joachim Trier. Premiered in Cannes. (US: Neon, Isa: MK2). Not available anywhere…what gives with Neon and how it handles this and its other nominated film Flee?
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom — Bhutan by Pawo Choyning Dorji. Premiered simultaneously in BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals. (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique). Surprisingly for Goldwyn, the film is available on many platforms, Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Vudo, YouTube, Direct TV and Spectrum.
Again to stress the importance of the world class film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and Sundance), two of the nominated films this year premiered in Cannes 2021, one showed in Venice and one in Sundance and one stood alone in premiering simultaneously at three world class film festivals other than the top 5. Film festivals have been the primary source of Oscar Best International Features for a long time with Cannes and Venice Film Festivals leading the way for qualifying films. Only in 2008 was a non-Cannes, Venice, Berlin or Toronto playing film, the Japanese film Departures, the winner.
Previous Cannes Oscar winners were Parasite, Son of Saul, The Great Beauty (Sorrentino’s current nominated film is The Hand of God a Netflix film which premiered in Venice) and Amour. Last year’s winner Another Round was selected for Cannes last year, although it ended up premiering in Toronto.
Cannes
18 Oscar submissions (out of 93) in the Best International Film category premiered in Cannes this year and five were shortlisted and two were nominated: Norway’s entry, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World (US: Neon, Isa: MK2), two-time Oscar winner for A Separation and The Salesman Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, Finland’s Compartment №6 (US: Sony Pictures Classics, Isa: Totem), Japan’s entry, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Murakami adaptation Drive My Car, and Colombia’s multinational selection Memoria by Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, starring arthouse top-star Tilda Swinton. (Neon’s novel, much-discussed U.S. release strategy for the film states that it will only ever be in theaters, never on streaming. Why? Who will ever see it? Isa:The Match Factory).
Austria’s queer prison drama A Great Freedom (US: Mubi, Isa: The Match Factory), Iceland’s Lamb (US: A24, Isa: Films New Europe) was a prize winner in Un Certain Regard. Mexico’s Prayers for the Stolen. Playground also played in Cannes and is winning many awards at other top fests. Playground could also have taken the Oscar in my opinion. You can read my blog on Playground here.
Venice
Venice Film Festival had four Oscar submissions but only one, The Hand of God, made the shortlist. Poland’s Leave No Traces, Bolivia’s The Great Movement and Slovakia’s 107 Mothers were their countries’ submissions. Venice hit, Pedro Almodóvar’s Penelope Cruz-starring Parallel Mothers was not submitted by Spain, perhaps because of the still politically sensitive subject of the disappeared of the Civil War. Instead San Sebatian’s premiering The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem was submitted.
Berlin
From Berlin, which was totally digital in 2021, of Romania’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn by Radu Jude and Germany’s I’m Your Man, — read my blog here — only the latter made the shortlist making it director Maria Schrader’s second Oscar submission, after Stephan Zweig: Goodbye to Europe which was last year’s submission from Austria.
Sundance
Again taking place digitally this year as last was the Sundance premiering film from Denmark Flee (US: Neon, Isa: Cinephil), also nominated in the documentary category (I favor Summer of Soul) and animated categories. I would prefer that it win in the animated category thus leaving room for a fiction feature and a domestic documentary to win the Oscars as well. Kosovo’s entry Hive, was the first in Sundance history to win the Grand Jury Prize, Director and Audience awards in its section and it was shortlisted for Oscar nomination.
BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals had nearly simultaneous premieres of Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.
Short List and Nominations By Territory
Scandinavian films had four of the 15 slots for this year’s international feature film Oscar Shortlist of which two are nominations: Norway’s The Worst Person In The World and Denmark’s Flee. The other two were Iceland’s Lamb, Finland’s Compartment №6. Of these my prediction is that ‘Flee’ will win either this or the Oscar for Best Doc or Best Animated Feature.
Latin America had two short listed: Mexico’s Prayers For The Stolen (Mubi worldwide) and Panama’s Plaza Catedral aka Biencuidao(Goldwyn has US Distribution, Isa *: Gulfstream & Luminosity). Congratulations are long due to the writer- director, Abner Benaim, known for Ruben Blades Is Not My Name (2018), Chance (2009) and now Plaza Catedral (2021). Associate produced by Ruben Blades, among others, the story is about 42-year-old Alicia, a grief-stricken woman, whose grief has caused her to be estranged from society. Her world is turned upside down when a 14-year-old boy who looks after people’s cars, stumbles into her house, bleeding…The film premiered at Guadalajara International Film Festival in October last year and won the Mexcal awards for best actress and best actor. It won the audience award at the International Film Festival of Panama in December.
Starring Ilse Salas, a coproduction of Colombia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Panama, United States
Plaza Catedral is Panama’s first time to reach the shortlist as are first time films from Kosovo, Hive (US: Zeitgeist, Isa: Level K), and Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique).
Two entries from Asia included Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique) and the Japanese entry — and critics’ favorite — and mine— Drive My Car (US: Janus, Isa: The Match Factory).
The only Middle Eastern film is Iran’s A Hero (US: Amazon, Isa: Memento) by two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi. Africa has no film on the shortlist, despite admired entries including Chad’s Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (US: Mubi, Isa: Films Boutique) and Morocco’s Casablanca Beats (US: Kino Lorber, Isa: Wild Bunch) and for the very few who saw it and loved it in Burkino Faso, Toronto, Marrakesh or El Gouna Film Festivals, Senegal’s The Gravedigger’s Wife (no US Distributor, Isa: Orange Studios) who had no money to hire a publicist.
My predictions in order of my preferences — and I was so extremely impressed with all those I was lucky enough to see *:
Drive My Car (Japan)
Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
This Cannes Competition Best Screenplay Winner is a three-hour drama adapted from a couple of Haruki Murakami short stories, about a recently widowed stage director rehearsing Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya during a theatre residency in Hiroshima, and the bond he forms with his young female driver.
Drive My Car has been named this year’s best film by the New York and Los Angeles critics. Janus Films released Drive My Car in the US in November. My question remains: Why is this great film not available on any streaming platform? Word of mouth should be building as people watch it and reflect on their own lives, the hidden and the profane, our daily bread and the wish for redemption.
The many layered drama was able to take a short story and layer it with overlapping stories in a way that quietly stirs the depth of your heart. It is slow and acts slowly upon your emotions but once you are in the rhythm of it, you are infused by its fragrance and its cathartic action which unfolds within you.
The Russian play itself that our hero will direct (Uncle Vanya) is enough to set off its own chain of reactions for those aware of its content. After Anton Chekhov published it in 1898 the director of the Moscow Art Theatre, the great Konstantin Stanislavski brought it to the stage. The play, about an elderly professor and his much younger glamorous second wife who are considering selling the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle in order to have more money to live their lives, is also about those who care for the estate — his daughter by his first wife and his first wife’s brother, those who will be left bereft by the actions of the others. So he and his driver reflect on their own states of being left bereft.
Isa (International Sales Agent) The Match Factory has licensed to A-One Films (Baltics, Estonia), Andrews (Taiwan), Arthaus (Norway), Bitters End (Japan), Diaphana Films (France), Elastica (Spain), Future Film (Finland), Gutek Film (Poland), Janus Films (USA), Lighthouse Pictures (Singapore), Mars (Turkey), Modern Films (UK), NjutaFilms (Sweden), Polyfilm (Austria), Rapid Eye Movies (Germany), September Film (Netherlands), Tucker Film Udine (Italy)
The Hand Of God (Italy)
Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Sorrentino — who won this Oscar category in 2014 with The Great Beauty (see blog) — is nominated for this autobiographical tale of himself as a teenager (Filippo Scotti) growing up in Naples in the 1980s with a characteristically southern Italian family (including dad Toni Servillo). As he finds his path to filmmaking he realizes the hand of God has saved him and redeems him. The Hand Of God premiered in competition in Venice where it won the Grand Jury Silver Lion and the Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor (for Scotti), and has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Critics Choice and Golden Globes. Comparable to, but surpassing Almodóvar’s autobiographical film Pain and Glory and referencing plenty of Fellini, this film fills the emotional need we have to believe our fates are somehow connected to a higher register than that of mere mortals.
Worldwide: Netflix except Greece and Spain
Flee (Denmark)
Dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Last year Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round won the Oscar for Denmark, and now, Flee is not only nominated for Best International Feature but also for Best Documentary and Best Animated Feature. Flee tells the story of an Afghan refugee, on the verge of marriage, who is compelled to reveal his hidden past for the first time. Flee debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won the grand jury prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, and has gone on to win Best Documentary and Best Animated feature at the European Film Awards.
It is analogous in storytelling and emotional impact to Waltz With Bashir, with the emotional staying power. It has created very strong word of mouth and much praise. It is a shocking story by an adult who as a young teen escaped Afghanistan and in order to be allowed residency must live a lie.
Isa** Cinephil has licensed it to Neon for US and Elevation Pictures for Canada, I Wonder Pictures for Italy, Madman Entertainment for Australia/ Nz, Periscoop Film for Benelux, Reel Pictures for Denmark, Film Europe for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Must Kasi/ Kino Soprus for Estonia, Mer for Norway, Triart for Sweden, Hooray for Taiwan, Curzon for UK
The Worst Person In The World (Norway)
Dir. Joachim Trier
The final film in Trier’s Oslo trilogy, (Reprise and Thelma were both submitted but neither made the shortlist), The Worst Person In The World saw its star Renate Reinsve receive the Best Actress Award in Cannes, and then to being nominated for European Film Award. A young woman navigating the unknown future with a turbulent love life and floundering career choices struggles to find a steady path in life. Last year Norway did make the shortlist with Maria Sødahl’s Hope, and it received a nomination in 2012 with Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s Kon-Tiki.
This was emotionally complex and satisfying, perhaps more for women of uncertain age than for men. I think its limitation is in its audience potential.
Watch the trailer here.
Isa MK2 has licensed the movie to Neon for USA, Madman for Australia/ Nz, Cineart for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Memento for France, Mozinet for Hungary, Gaga for Japan, Front Row for Middle East and Africa, Sf Studios for Norway, M2 for Poland, Alambique for Portugal, Independenta for Romania, Anticipate for Singapore, Elastica for Spain, Triart for Sweden, Frenetic for Switzerland, Hooray for Taiwan, Arthouse Traffic for Ukraine, Mubi for France, Germany, Latin America, Turkey, India
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom — Bhutan by Pawo Choyning Dorji. Premiered in BFI London FIlm Festival. (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique). The debut of writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji, this Dzongkha-language film is about a young Bhutanese teacher who aspires to be a singer in Australia but finds himself assigned to an isolated school in the Himalayan glacial village of Lunana, inhabited by a small nomadic community. Dorji started as an assistant on Bhutanese lama and director Khyentse Norbu’s Vara: A Blessing (2013) and went on to produce Hema Hema: Sing Me A Song While I Wait, which premiered in Toronto’s Platform section in 2016 and received a special mention.
Lunana premiered simultaneously at BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals in October 2019. In 2020 it was submitted for Bhutan but was disqualified because the selection committe was not Academy-approved. It was resubmitted and accepeted in 2021. Bhutan has only been at the Academy Awards three times — the first being The Cup in 1999, and twice with this film. This is the first time it has made the shortlist.
Recapping the shortlisted films which were so engaging, entertaining and engrossing this year:
Compartment №6 (Finland)
Dir. Juho Kuosmanen
Kuosmanen’s second feature — which shared the Grand Jury prize in Cannes Competition with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero — is about a well-educated idealistic young woman who must share a compartment on a train travelling up to the Arctic circle with a complete derelict. Kuosmanen’s previous feature, The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Maki, was Finland’s Oscar submission for the 2017 awards, although it did not make the shortlist. Finland has yet to win and its only nomination ever was for Aki Kaurismäki’s The Man Without A Past in 2003. Compartment №6 earned three European Film Award nominations including Best Film, but did not win its categories.
A Hero (Iran)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Iran’s best-known filmmaker directed foreign-language Oscar winners A Separation and The Salesman. Farhad’s newest morality tale is about a prisoner — jailed for defaulting on a debt — who spends his two-day exit pass trying to persuade his creditor to agree to terms, thus expediting his release. A Hero shared the Cannes Grand Jury Award with Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment №6. Amazon releases in North America and UK/Ireland, while Memento achieved multiple sales in other territories, and releases itself in France.
I’m Your Man (Germany)
Dir. Maria Schrader
The fourth feature from Schrader (including 1998’s The Giraffe, which she co-directed) stars Maren Eggert as a scientist who agrees to live with a humanoid robot (a German-speaking Dan Stevens) in order to fund her research. Eggert won the acting Silver Bear in Berlin, where I’m Your Man premiered, and the film went on to win four major prizes at the German Film Awards: feature film, direction, screenplay and actress. Austria submitted her film on Stefan Zweig for the Oscar last year, making this her second Oscar contender. Germany’s last Oscar was in 2007 with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives Of Others, and has been nominated four times since, most recently in 2019 with von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away.
Playground (Belgium)
Dir. Laura Wandel
Wandel’s debut feature Playground follows a seven-year-old girl named Nora as she enters first grade at a French primary school and must learn to manoeuvre in a strange new world. The Belgian production has been a hit with critics since its premiere in Cannes Un Certain Regard where it won the Fipresci Prize, going on to win the Best Debut Award at the BFI London Film Festival. Indie Sales is handling international sales. Belgium has never won this category, but has been nominated seven times, most recently in 2014 with Felix van Groeningen’s The Broken Circle Breakdown.
Great Freedom (Austria)
Dir. Sebastian Meise
Premiering at Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Great Freedom won the Jury Award and went on to play many European festivals. The second fiction feature from Meise stars Frank Rogowski (Transit, Undine) as a gay man in post-war Germany who discovers intimacy in prison over the course of several incarcerations for his infractions against the country’s notorious Paragraph 175. Mubi has rights in North America, UK, Ireland, Turkey, India and most of Latin America. Austria has twice won this category before: in 2013 for Michael Haneke’s Amour and 2008 for Stefan Ruzowitsky’s The Counterfeiters.
Prayers For The Stolen (Mexico)
Dir. Tatiana Huezo
After eight previous nominations, Mexico finally won its first International Feature Award in 2019 for Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, one of three Oscars that year. Huezo’s Prayers For The Stolen is based on Jennifer Clement’s novel, and shows life in a town at war seen through the eyes of three young girls on the path to adolescence. The film debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and went on to festivals including Melbourne, Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian and New York. It is the director’s third feature, after 2011’s El Lugar Mas Pequeño and 2016’s Tempestad.
The Good Boss (Spain)
Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
Spain won the Best Foreign Language film Oscar — as it was then called — for The Sea Inside starring Javier Bardem in 2005. This black comedy starring Bardem as a not-so-good factory boss was chosen over Almadovar’s Parallel Mothers, perhaps for political reasons. Director León de Aranoa teamed up with Bardem in Mondays In The Sun — Spain’s pick for the Oscar in 2003, which was not nominated. Cohen Media Group releases The Good Boss in North America. Its international sales agent MK2 has sold it to Future Film for Finland, Paradiso Entertainment for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Front Row for the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) and Iran, Pris Audiovisuais for Portugal, TriPictures for Spain, Paname for France, Limelight for Australia, New Zealand and associated islands, and Pathe for Switzerland.
‘The Hand of God’ source: © Netflix
Lamb (Iceland)
Dir. Valdimar Jóhannsson
Jóhannsson’s debut feature, which won the Cannes Un Certain Regard Prize of Originality this year, stars Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason in the story of a childless farming couple in rural Iceland who make an alarming discovery one day in their sheep barn and face the consequences when they defy the will of nature. Lamb delivered the highest opening weekend for an Icelandic release in North America and has now grossed 2.7m in the territory via A24. Iceland has only been nominated once so far in this category — in 1992, with Fridrik Thor Fridriksson’s Children Of Nature — and also made the shortlist in 2013 with Baltasar Kormakur’s The Deep.
Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (Bhutan). Source: Lff
Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (Bhutan)
Dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji
Not submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards
Plaza Catedral (Panama)
Dir. Abner Benaim
Panama’s Oscar entry has already been beset by tragedy: the film’s lead actor Fernando Xavier de Casta was killed earlier this year, aged just 15, in reported gang violence. In a haunting echo, Plaza Catedral centres on a woman who, while mourning the loss of her 13-year-old son in an accident, has her life turned upside down when a teenager (de Casta) asks her for help after being shot in a street conflict. De Casta and Ilse Salas won the best actor and actress awards at Guadalajara Film Festival, where the film debuted in October 2021. Benaim represents Panama for the third time on the Oscar stage, after Ruben Blades Is Not My Name for the 2019 awards and Invasion, the country’s first entry, for 2015. This is the first time the country has made the Oscars shortlist.
Not submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards
Hive (Kosovo)
Dir. Blerta Basholli
Kosovo’s nascent film industry continues to grow, with its eighth Oscar entry — all consecutively, since the 2015 awards — and has now achieved its first shortlist inclusion. Basholli’s debut feature premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance in 2021, winning the section’s grand jury prize as well as the directing and audience awards. Hive centres on a woman whose husband has been missing since the Kosovan war, leaving her to set up her own business to provide for her children. LevelK represents sales, while Kino Lorber releases in the US.
Submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards (Altitude)
**Descriptions credit to ScreenDaily.com
*Isa=International Sales Agent...
How about spreading the love for movies by making the international films broadly available before, not after, the Oscars have been awarded? Convincing distributors to rethink how they release their non-English films or docs or shorts to the public might stir up more interest in these categories. When they are hot, on the tail of being picked up at the famous festivals when news of them first breaks, rather than giving them one-week releases close to the end of the year in order to qualify them for the Oscars and then removing them from theaters and streaming platforms until they win the Oscar — if they do — might help.
Put them on streaming platforms if not in theaters and advertise their availability even if you can’t book a theater. The same thinking goes for the shorts which are now being decamped to an off-camera pre-Oscar event. If we (the public) wanted to see what the contenders are, then why can we not easily find and watch the shortlisted and then the five nominated films?
Films up for Academy Awards to be televised March 27 and upon which the Academy member will vote March 17–22 should be more widely available to the public. The films being feted, and particularly the international, the docs and the shorts, should be made widely available to the public so that the public will have more of a stake in the Awards ceremony and therefore be more likely to tune into it.
A quick look at them, two from Asia and three from Europe and an overview of them and the other shortlisted films shows the importance of world class festival premieres. Another look shows some are ubiquitous on multiple streaming platforms while others are nowhere to be found.
Upcoming filmmakers should be aware that these top festivals demand world premieres, so they should aim high when planning the festival and distribution strategy for their films initially and apply or get invited, two ways the festivals choose their programs. But this insular film circuit, only open to cineastes and cinephiles, could be the launch pads to seeing contenders and spreading some word of mouth pre-Oscar season, if only the public were allowed to see them. Looking at TelescopeFilm.com, the U.S. distribution via streaming platforms of these films ranges from the unseeable to the ubiquitous.
Drive My Car — Japan by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. Premiered in Cannes. (US: Janus, Isa: The Match Factory). Not available anywhere on streaming...not even on Criterion, the streaming platform of Janus, its distributor.
Flee — Denmark by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. Premiered in Sundance 2022. (US: Neon, Isa: Cinephil). Available everywhere: Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Google Play, Vudu, Microsoft, YouTube, Direct TV and AMC.
The Hand of God — Italy by Paulo Sorrentino. Premiered in Venice. (Netflix worldwide) Literally a fabulous film, a real winner whether or not it takes the Oscar. Available only on Netflix.
The Worst Person in the World — Norway by Joachim Trier. Premiered in Cannes. (US: Neon, Isa: MK2). Not available anywhere…what gives with Neon and how it handles this and its other nominated film Flee?
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom — Bhutan by Pawo Choyning Dorji. Premiered simultaneously in BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals. (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique). Surprisingly for Goldwyn, the film is available on many platforms, Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Vudo, YouTube, Direct TV and Spectrum.
Again to stress the importance of the world class film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and Sundance), two of the nominated films this year premiered in Cannes 2021, one showed in Venice and one in Sundance and one stood alone in premiering simultaneously at three world class film festivals other than the top 5. Film festivals have been the primary source of Oscar Best International Features for a long time with Cannes and Venice Film Festivals leading the way for qualifying films. Only in 2008 was a non-Cannes, Venice, Berlin or Toronto playing film, the Japanese film Departures, the winner.
Previous Cannes Oscar winners were Parasite, Son of Saul, The Great Beauty (Sorrentino’s current nominated film is The Hand of God a Netflix film which premiered in Venice) and Amour. Last year’s winner Another Round was selected for Cannes last year, although it ended up premiering in Toronto.
Cannes
18 Oscar submissions (out of 93) in the Best International Film category premiered in Cannes this year and five were shortlisted and two were nominated: Norway’s entry, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World (US: Neon, Isa: MK2), two-time Oscar winner for A Separation and The Salesman Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, Finland’s Compartment №6 (US: Sony Pictures Classics, Isa: Totem), Japan’s entry, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Murakami adaptation Drive My Car, and Colombia’s multinational selection Memoria by Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, starring arthouse top-star Tilda Swinton. (Neon’s novel, much-discussed U.S. release strategy for the film states that it will only ever be in theaters, never on streaming. Why? Who will ever see it? Isa:The Match Factory).
Austria’s queer prison drama A Great Freedom (US: Mubi, Isa: The Match Factory), Iceland’s Lamb (US: A24, Isa: Films New Europe) was a prize winner in Un Certain Regard. Mexico’s Prayers for the Stolen. Playground also played in Cannes and is winning many awards at other top fests. Playground could also have taken the Oscar in my opinion. You can read my blog on Playground here.
Venice
Venice Film Festival had four Oscar submissions but only one, The Hand of God, made the shortlist. Poland’s Leave No Traces, Bolivia’s The Great Movement and Slovakia’s 107 Mothers were their countries’ submissions. Venice hit, Pedro Almodóvar’s Penelope Cruz-starring Parallel Mothers was not submitted by Spain, perhaps because of the still politically sensitive subject of the disappeared of the Civil War. Instead San Sebatian’s premiering The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem was submitted.
Berlin
From Berlin, which was totally digital in 2021, of Romania’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn by Radu Jude and Germany’s I’m Your Man, — read my blog here — only the latter made the shortlist making it director Maria Schrader’s second Oscar submission, after Stephan Zweig: Goodbye to Europe which was last year’s submission from Austria.
Sundance
Again taking place digitally this year as last was the Sundance premiering film from Denmark Flee (US: Neon, Isa: Cinephil), also nominated in the documentary category (I favor Summer of Soul) and animated categories. I would prefer that it win in the animated category thus leaving room for a fiction feature and a domestic documentary to win the Oscars as well. Kosovo’s entry Hive, was the first in Sundance history to win the Grand Jury Prize, Director and Audience awards in its section and it was shortlisted for Oscar nomination.
BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals had nearly simultaneous premieres of Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.
Short List and Nominations By Territory
Scandinavian films had four of the 15 slots for this year’s international feature film Oscar Shortlist of which two are nominations: Norway’s The Worst Person In The World and Denmark’s Flee. The other two were Iceland’s Lamb, Finland’s Compartment №6. Of these my prediction is that ‘Flee’ will win either this or the Oscar for Best Doc or Best Animated Feature.
Latin America had two short listed: Mexico’s Prayers For The Stolen (Mubi worldwide) and Panama’s Plaza Catedral aka Biencuidao(Goldwyn has US Distribution, Isa *: Gulfstream & Luminosity). Congratulations are long due to the writer- director, Abner Benaim, known for Ruben Blades Is Not My Name (2018), Chance (2009) and now Plaza Catedral (2021). Associate produced by Ruben Blades, among others, the story is about 42-year-old Alicia, a grief-stricken woman, whose grief has caused her to be estranged from society. Her world is turned upside down when a 14-year-old boy who looks after people’s cars, stumbles into her house, bleeding…The film premiered at Guadalajara International Film Festival in October last year and won the Mexcal awards for best actress and best actor. It won the audience award at the International Film Festival of Panama in December.
Starring Ilse Salas, a coproduction of Colombia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Panama, United States
Plaza Catedral is Panama’s first time to reach the shortlist as are first time films from Kosovo, Hive (US: Zeitgeist, Isa: Level K), and Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique).
Two entries from Asia included Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique) and the Japanese entry — and critics’ favorite — and mine— Drive My Car (US: Janus, Isa: The Match Factory).
The only Middle Eastern film is Iran’s A Hero (US: Amazon, Isa: Memento) by two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi. Africa has no film on the shortlist, despite admired entries including Chad’s Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (US: Mubi, Isa: Films Boutique) and Morocco’s Casablanca Beats (US: Kino Lorber, Isa: Wild Bunch) and for the very few who saw it and loved it in Burkino Faso, Toronto, Marrakesh or El Gouna Film Festivals, Senegal’s The Gravedigger’s Wife (no US Distributor, Isa: Orange Studios) who had no money to hire a publicist.
My predictions in order of my preferences — and I was so extremely impressed with all those I was lucky enough to see *:
Drive My Car (Japan)
Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
This Cannes Competition Best Screenplay Winner is a three-hour drama adapted from a couple of Haruki Murakami short stories, about a recently widowed stage director rehearsing Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya during a theatre residency in Hiroshima, and the bond he forms with his young female driver.
Drive My Car has been named this year’s best film by the New York and Los Angeles critics. Janus Films released Drive My Car in the US in November. My question remains: Why is this great film not available on any streaming platform? Word of mouth should be building as people watch it and reflect on their own lives, the hidden and the profane, our daily bread and the wish for redemption.
The many layered drama was able to take a short story and layer it with overlapping stories in a way that quietly stirs the depth of your heart. It is slow and acts slowly upon your emotions but once you are in the rhythm of it, you are infused by its fragrance and its cathartic action which unfolds within you.
The Russian play itself that our hero will direct (Uncle Vanya) is enough to set off its own chain of reactions for those aware of its content. After Anton Chekhov published it in 1898 the director of the Moscow Art Theatre, the great Konstantin Stanislavski brought it to the stage. The play, about an elderly professor and his much younger glamorous second wife who are considering selling the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle in order to have more money to live their lives, is also about those who care for the estate — his daughter by his first wife and his first wife’s brother, those who will be left bereft by the actions of the others. So he and his driver reflect on their own states of being left bereft.
Isa (International Sales Agent) The Match Factory has licensed to A-One Films (Baltics, Estonia), Andrews (Taiwan), Arthaus (Norway), Bitters End (Japan), Diaphana Films (France), Elastica (Spain), Future Film (Finland), Gutek Film (Poland), Janus Films (USA), Lighthouse Pictures (Singapore), Mars (Turkey), Modern Films (UK), NjutaFilms (Sweden), Polyfilm (Austria), Rapid Eye Movies (Germany), September Film (Netherlands), Tucker Film Udine (Italy)
The Hand Of God (Italy)
Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Sorrentino — who won this Oscar category in 2014 with The Great Beauty (see blog) — is nominated for this autobiographical tale of himself as a teenager (Filippo Scotti) growing up in Naples in the 1980s with a characteristically southern Italian family (including dad Toni Servillo). As he finds his path to filmmaking he realizes the hand of God has saved him and redeems him. The Hand Of God premiered in competition in Venice where it won the Grand Jury Silver Lion and the Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor (for Scotti), and has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Critics Choice and Golden Globes. Comparable to, but surpassing Almodóvar’s autobiographical film Pain and Glory and referencing plenty of Fellini, this film fills the emotional need we have to believe our fates are somehow connected to a higher register than that of mere mortals.
Worldwide: Netflix except Greece and Spain
Flee (Denmark)
Dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Last year Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round won the Oscar for Denmark, and now, Flee is not only nominated for Best International Feature but also for Best Documentary and Best Animated Feature. Flee tells the story of an Afghan refugee, on the verge of marriage, who is compelled to reveal his hidden past for the first time. Flee debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won the grand jury prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, and has gone on to win Best Documentary and Best Animated feature at the European Film Awards.
It is analogous in storytelling and emotional impact to Waltz With Bashir, with the emotional staying power. It has created very strong word of mouth and much praise. It is a shocking story by an adult who as a young teen escaped Afghanistan and in order to be allowed residency must live a lie.
Isa** Cinephil has licensed it to Neon for US and Elevation Pictures for Canada, I Wonder Pictures for Italy, Madman Entertainment for Australia/ Nz, Periscoop Film for Benelux, Reel Pictures for Denmark, Film Europe for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Must Kasi/ Kino Soprus for Estonia, Mer for Norway, Triart for Sweden, Hooray for Taiwan, Curzon for UK
The Worst Person In The World (Norway)
Dir. Joachim Trier
The final film in Trier’s Oslo trilogy, (Reprise and Thelma were both submitted but neither made the shortlist), The Worst Person In The World saw its star Renate Reinsve receive the Best Actress Award in Cannes, and then to being nominated for European Film Award. A young woman navigating the unknown future with a turbulent love life and floundering career choices struggles to find a steady path in life. Last year Norway did make the shortlist with Maria Sødahl’s Hope, and it received a nomination in 2012 with Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s Kon-Tiki.
This was emotionally complex and satisfying, perhaps more for women of uncertain age than for men. I think its limitation is in its audience potential.
Watch the trailer here.
Isa MK2 has licensed the movie to Neon for USA, Madman for Australia/ Nz, Cineart for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Memento for France, Mozinet for Hungary, Gaga for Japan, Front Row for Middle East and Africa, Sf Studios for Norway, M2 for Poland, Alambique for Portugal, Independenta for Romania, Anticipate for Singapore, Elastica for Spain, Triart for Sweden, Frenetic for Switzerland, Hooray for Taiwan, Arthouse Traffic for Ukraine, Mubi for France, Germany, Latin America, Turkey, India
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom — Bhutan by Pawo Choyning Dorji. Premiered in BFI London FIlm Festival. (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique). The debut of writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji, this Dzongkha-language film is about a young Bhutanese teacher who aspires to be a singer in Australia but finds himself assigned to an isolated school in the Himalayan glacial village of Lunana, inhabited by a small nomadic community. Dorji started as an assistant on Bhutanese lama and director Khyentse Norbu’s Vara: A Blessing (2013) and went on to produce Hema Hema: Sing Me A Song While I Wait, which premiered in Toronto’s Platform section in 2016 and received a special mention.
Lunana premiered simultaneously at BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals in October 2019. In 2020 it was submitted for Bhutan but was disqualified because the selection committe was not Academy-approved. It was resubmitted and accepeted in 2021. Bhutan has only been at the Academy Awards three times — the first being The Cup in 1999, and twice with this film. This is the first time it has made the shortlist.
Recapping the shortlisted films which were so engaging, entertaining and engrossing this year:
Compartment №6 (Finland)
Dir. Juho Kuosmanen
Kuosmanen’s second feature — which shared the Grand Jury prize in Cannes Competition with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero — is about a well-educated idealistic young woman who must share a compartment on a train travelling up to the Arctic circle with a complete derelict. Kuosmanen’s previous feature, The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Maki, was Finland’s Oscar submission for the 2017 awards, although it did not make the shortlist. Finland has yet to win and its only nomination ever was for Aki Kaurismäki’s The Man Without A Past in 2003. Compartment №6 earned three European Film Award nominations including Best Film, but did not win its categories.
A Hero (Iran)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Iran’s best-known filmmaker directed foreign-language Oscar winners A Separation and The Salesman. Farhad’s newest morality tale is about a prisoner — jailed for defaulting on a debt — who spends his two-day exit pass trying to persuade his creditor to agree to terms, thus expediting his release. A Hero shared the Cannes Grand Jury Award with Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment №6. Amazon releases in North America and UK/Ireland, while Memento achieved multiple sales in other territories, and releases itself in France.
I’m Your Man (Germany)
Dir. Maria Schrader
The fourth feature from Schrader (including 1998’s The Giraffe, which she co-directed) stars Maren Eggert as a scientist who agrees to live with a humanoid robot (a German-speaking Dan Stevens) in order to fund her research. Eggert won the acting Silver Bear in Berlin, where I’m Your Man premiered, and the film went on to win four major prizes at the German Film Awards: feature film, direction, screenplay and actress. Austria submitted her film on Stefan Zweig for the Oscar last year, making this her second Oscar contender. Germany’s last Oscar was in 2007 with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives Of Others, and has been nominated four times since, most recently in 2019 with von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away.
Playground (Belgium)
Dir. Laura Wandel
Wandel’s debut feature Playground follows a seven-year-old girl named Nora as she enters first grade at a French primary school and must learn to manoeuvre in a strange new world. The Belgian production has been a hit with critics since its premiere in Cannes Un Certain Regard where it won the Fipresci Prize, going on to win the Best Debut Award at the BFI London Film Festival. Indie Sales is handling international sales. Belgium has never won this category, but has been nominated seven times, most recently in 2014 with Felix van Groeningen’s The Broken Circle Breakdown.
Great Freedom (Austria)
Dir. Sebastian Meise
Premiering at Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Great Freedom won the Jury Award and went on to play many European festivals. The second fiction feature from Meise stars Frank Rogowski (Transit, Undine) as a gay man in post-war Germany who discovers intimacy in prison over the course of several incarcerations for his infractions against the country’s notorious Paragraph 175. Mubi has rights in North America, UK, Ireland, Turkey, India and most of Latin America. Austria has twice won this category before: in 2013 for Michael Haneke’s Amour and 2008 for Stefan Ruzowitsky’s The Counterfeiters.
Prayers For The Stolen (Mexico)
Dir. Tatiana Huezo
After eight previous nominations, Mexico finally won its first International Feature Award in 2019 for Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, one of three Oscars that year. Huezo’s Prayers For The Stolen is based on Jennifer Clement’s novel, and shows life in a town at war seen through the eyes of three young girls on the path to adolescence. The film debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and went on to festivals including Melbourne, Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian and New York. It is the director’s third feature, after 2011’s El Lugar Mas Pequeño and 2016’s Tempestad.
The Good Boss (Spain)
Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
Spain won the Best Foreign Language film Oscar — as it was then called — for The Sea Inside starring Javier Bardem in 2005. This black comedy starring Bardem as a not-so-good factory boss was chosen over Almadovar’s Parallel Mothers, perhaps for political reasons. Director León de Aranoa teamed up with Bardem in Mondays In The Sun — Spain’s pick for the Oscar in 2003, which was not nominated. Cohen Media Group releases The Good Boss in North America. Its international sales agent MK2 has sold it to Future Film for Finland, Paradiso Entertainment for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Front Row for the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) and Iran, Pris Audiovisuais for Portugal, TriPictures for Spain, Paname for France, Limelight for Australia, New Zealand and associated islands, and Pathe for Switzerland.
‘The Hand of God’ source: © Netflix
Lamb (Iceland)
Dir. Valdimar Jóhannsson
Jóhannsson’s debut feature, which won the Cannes Un Certain Regard Prize of Originality this year, stars Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason in the story of a childless farming couple in rural Iceland who make an alarming discovery one day in their sheep barn and face the consequences when they defy the will of nature. Lamb delivered the highest opening weekend for an Icelandic release in North America and has now grossed 2.7m in the territory via A24. Iceland has only been nominated once so far in this category — in 1992, with Fridrik Thor Fridriksson’s Children Of Nature — and also made the shortlist in 2013 with Baltasar Kormakur’s The Deep.
Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (Bhutan). Source: Lff
Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (Bhutan)
Dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji
Not submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards
Plaza Catedral (Panama)
Dir. Abner Benaim
Panama’s Oscar entry has already been beset by tragedy: the film’s lead actor Fernando Xavier de Casta was killed earlier this year, aged just 15, in reported gang violence. In a haunting echo, Plaza Catedral centres on a woman who, while mourning the loss of her 13-year-old son in an accident, has her life turned upside down when a teenager (de Casta) asks her for help after being shot in a street conflict. De Casta and Ilse Salas won the best actor and actress awards at Guadalajara Film Festival, where the film debuted in October 2021. Benaim represents Panama for the third time on the Oscar stage, after Ruben Blades Is Not My Name for the 2019 awards and Invasion, the country’s first entry, for 2015. This is the first time the country has made the Oscars shortlist.
Not submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards
Hive (Kosovo)
Dir. Blerta Basholli
Kosovo’s nascent film industry continues to grow, with its eighth Oscar entry — all consecutively, since the 2015 awards — and has now achieved its first shortlist inclusion. Basholli’s debut feature premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance in 2021, winning the section’s grand jury prize as well as the directing and audience awards. Hive centres on a woman whose husband has been missing since the Kosovan war, leaving her to set up her own business to provide for her children. LevelK represents sales, while Kino Lorber releases in the US.
Submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards (Altitude)
**Descriptions credit to ScreenDaily.com
*Isa=International Sales Agent...
- 5/8/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Neon will partner with National Geographic to release Sara Dosa’s “Fire of Love” documentary, following a successful Sundance debut earlier this year. Neon is planning a theatrical release for this summer, with a streaming release on Disney+ set for later this year.
Dosa’s documentary follows the lives and work of French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft through rare archival footage. The love story is tinged with passion and tragedy, as the two died while exploring and photographing a volcanic explosion, doing the very thing that brought them together. The film kicked off Sundance’s U.S. documentary competition, and won the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award. National Geographic Documentary Films acquired the worldwide rights following the film’s Sundance premiere.
Narrated by Miranda July, the film is produced by Shane Boris, Ina Fichman and Dosa. Executive producers are Greg Boustead and Jessica Harrop of Sandbox Films, Carolyn Bernstein of...
Dosa’s documentary follows the lives and work of French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft through rare archival footage. The love story is tinged with passion and tragedy, as the two died while exploring and photographing a volcanic explosion, doing the very thing that brought them together. The film kicked off Sundance’s U.S. documentary competition, and won the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award. National Geographic Documentary Films acquired the worldwide rights following the film’s Sundance premiere.
Narrated by Miranda July, the film is produced by Shane Boris, Ina Fichman and Dosa. Executive producers are Greg Boustead and Jessica Harrop of Sandbox Films, Carolyn Bernstein of...
- 4/20/2022
- by Sasha Urban
- Variety Film + TV
Neon said Wednesday that it has come aboard Fire of Love, Sara Dosa’s documentary that world premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. That’s where Deadline boke the news that National Geographic Documentary Films acquired worldwide rights to the pic, which explores the lives and work of French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft through rare archival footage.
Nat Geo and Neon previously partnered on the release last year of Matthew Heineman’s Covid documentary The First Wave. As part of the new deal, Neon will release Fire of Love in the summer ahead of a planned streaming bow on Disney+.
Shane Boris, Ina Fichman and Dosa produced Fire of Love, which is narrated by Miranda July. Executive Producers are Greg Boustead and Jessica Harrop of Sandbox Films, Carolyn Bernstein of National Geographic Documentary Films, and Josh Braun and Dan Braun of Submarine.
The feature doc is a Sandbox Films,...
Nat Geo and Neon previously partnered on the release last year of Matthew Heineman’s Covid documentary The First Wave. As part of the new deal, Neon will release Fire of Love in the summer ahead of a planned streaming bow on Disney+.
Shane Boris, Ina Fichman and Dosa produced Fire of Love, which is narrated by Miranda July. Executive Producers are Greg Boustead and Jessica Harrop of Sandbox Films, Carolyn Bernstein of National Geographic Documentary Films, and Josh Braun and Dan Braun of Submarine.
The feature doc is a Sandbox Films,...
- 4/20/2022
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2022 Oscar Winners and Nominees Winners & Nominees Actor In A Leading Role Winner Will Smith King Richard Nominees Javier Bardem Being the Ricardos Benedict Cumberbatch The Power of the Dog Andrew Garfield tick, tick…Boom! Denzel Washington The Tragedy of Macbeth Actor In A Supporting Role Winner Troy Kotsur Coda Nominees CIARÁN Hinds Belfast Jesse Plemons The Power of the Dog J.K. Simmons Being the Ricardos Kodi Smit-mcphee The Power of the Dog Actress In A Leading Role Winner Jessica Chastain The Eyes of Tammy Faye Nominees Olivia Colman The Lost Daughter PENÉLOPE Cruz Parallel Mothers Nicole Kidman Being the Ricardos Kristen Stewart Spencer Actress In A Supporting Role Winner Ariana Debose West Side Story Nominees Jessie Buckley The Lost Daughter Judi Dench Belfast Kirsten Dunst The Power of the Dog Aunjanue Ellis King Richard Animated Feature Film Winner Encanto Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer Nominees Flee Jonas Poher Rasmussen,...
- 3/31/2022
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
In a competitive situation, Neon has won the rights to develop Dorothy Baker’s 1962 novel “Cassandra at the Wedding,” in partnership with Seaview and John Early.
The novel follows Cassandra Edwards, a graduate student at Berkeley, who is gay, brilliant, nerve-wracked, and miserable. She drives to her family ranch in the foothills of the Sierras to attend the wedding of her identical twin, Judith, to a young doctor from Connecticut. Cassandra has plans to sabotage the wedding.
Sarah DeLappe, who wrote “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies” for A24 which recently premiered at SXSW, and also wrote the Pulitzer-nominated play, “The Wolves,” will adapt for the screen and executive produce. Neon will produce the film, with Brad Becker-Parton and Greg Nobile on behalf of Seaview, along with Early and Leslie Conliffe from Intellectual Property Group.
The deal was negotiated by Mason Speta at Neon and Conliffe, on behalf of McIntosh & Otis who are...
The novel follows Cassandra Edwards, a graduate student at Berkeley, who is gay, brilliant, nerve-wracked, and miserable. She drives to her family ranch in the foothills of the Sierras to attend the wedding of her identical twin, Judith, to a young doctor from Connecticut. Cassandra has plans to sabotage the wedding.
Sarah DeLappe, who wrote “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies” for A24 which recently premiered at SXSW, and also wrote the Pulitzer-nominated play, “The Wolves,” will adapt for the screen and executive produce. Neon will produce the film, with Brad Becker-Parton and Greg Nobile on behalf of Seaview, along with Early and Leslie Conliffe from Intellectual Property Group.
The deal was negotiated by Mason Speta at Neon and Conliffe, on behalf of McIntosh & Otis who are...
- 3/29/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The breakout success of “Drive My Car” is surprising to director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, whose film on Sunday became the second Japanese movie ever to win Best International Feature. The way he sees it, luck had a lot to do with it, as did the moment in which it was released.
“I really think it comes down to luck. I’ve of course watched the other nominated films, they were all wonderful. So it was a big surprise for me and I feel very much lucky to have won,” he said backstage through a translator after his win. “I think there is something about this film that matched with the change at the time that we’re living through, of course the coronavirus pandemic, and all the millions of deaths and loss that it has caused. This story about loss and then also about how to live on after this loss,...
“I really think it comes down to luck. I’ve of course watched the other nominated films, they were all wonderful. So it was a big surprise for me and I feel very much lucky to have won,” he said backstage through a translator after his win. “I think there is something about this film that matched with the change at the time that we’re living through, of course the coronavirus pandemic, and all the millions of deaths and loss that it has caused. This story about loss and then also about how to live on after this loss,...
- 3/28/2022
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” has won Best International Feature at the 94th Academy Awards. The Japanese film is only the second film from that country to win this prize competitively, following 2008’s “Departures.” Japan previously won three Honorary Oscars before the (previously named) Best Foreign Language Film category was instituted for films from 1956. Those honorees were Akira Kurosawa’s “Rashomon,” Teinosuke Kinugasa’s “Gate of Hell,” and Hiroshi Inagaki’s “Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto.”
“Drive My Car” was far and away the the favorite to win Best International Feature this year, and it stands as not just one of the most acclaimed international features of the year, but one of the most acclaimed films full stop. It was up against Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated Danish submission “Flee,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” (Italy), Bhutan’s entry “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” by Pawo Choyning Dorji,...
“Drive My Car” was far and away the the favorite to win Best International Feature this year, and it stands as not just one of the most acclaimed international features of the year, but one of the most acclaimed films full stop. It was up against Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated Danish submission “Flee,” Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” (Italy), Bhutan’s entry “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” by Pawo Choyning Dorji,...
- 3/28/2022
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
To the surprise of absolutely no one, “Encanto” – the Disney musical from directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard – has taken home the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The win comes in an otherwise-crowded year for animated films, which included Netflix‘s breakout hit “The Mitchells vs The Machines,” Pixar‘s “Luca,” and Jonas Poher Rasmussen‘s highly regarded refugee film “Flee.”
View Our Complete List of 2022 Oscar Winners
Since the Best Animated Feature category was created in 2001, Disney has been a successful distributor of Oscar-winning films.
Continue reading ‘Encanto’ Wins Best Animated Feature at The Playlist.
View Our Complete List of 2022 Oscar Winners
Since the Best Animated Feature category was created in 2001, Disney has been a successful distributor of Oscar-winning films.
Continue reading ‘Encanto’ Wins Best Animated Feature at The Playlist.
- 3/28/2022
- by Matthew Monagle
- The Playlist
Sunday’s 94th Academy Awards take place at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.
Heading into Sunday’s (March 27) 94th Academy Awards, Netflix’s psychological western The Power Of The Dog leads the nominations on 12, followed by Legendary/Warner Bros’ sci-fi Dune on 10.
The Power Of The Dog directed by Jane Campion and Apple TV+’s Coda directed by Sian Heder have been the joint favourites for the best picture prize with Coda possibly edging ahead after recent wins at the PGA and WGA awards. Focus Features’ Belfast from Kenneth Branagh is just behind the two frontrunners and it remains to be...
Heading into Sunday’s (March 27) 94th Academy Awards, Netflix’s psychological western The Power Of The Dog leads the nominations on 12, followed by Legendary/Warner Bros’ sci-fi Dune on 10.
The Power Of The Dog directed by Jane Campion and Apple TV+’s Coda directed by Sian Heder have been the joint favourites for the best picture prize with Coda possibly edging ahead after recent wins at the PGA and WGA awards. Focus Features’ Belfast from Kenneth Branagh is just behind the two frontrunners and it remains to be...
- 3/25/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Sunday’s 94th Academy Awards take place at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.
Heading into Sunday’s (March 27) 94th Academy Awards, Netflix’s psychological western The Power Of The Dog leads the nominations on 12, followed by Legendary/Warner Bros’ sci-fi Dune on 10.
The Power Of The Dog directed by Jane Campion and Apple TV+’s Coda directed by Sian Heder are neck-and-neck in the best picture contest with Coda possibly edging ahead last week following its PGA and WGA triumphs. Focus Features’ Belfast from Kenneth Branagh is just behind in third place. Should Coda or The Power Of The Dog win...
Heading into Sunday’s (March 27) 94th Academy Awards, Netflix’s psychological western The Power Of The Dog leads the nominations on 12, followed by Legendary/Warner Bros’ sci-fi Dune on 10.
The Power Of The Dog directed by Jane Campion and Apple TV+’s Coda directed by Sian Heder are neck-and-neck in the best picture contest with Coda possibly edging ahead last week following its PGA and WGA triumphs. Focus Features’ Belfast from Kenneth Branagh is just behind in third place. Should Coda or The Power Of The Dog win...
- 3/25/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Will Sunday’s 94th Academy Awards deliver first best picture winner from a streamer?
Heading into Sunday’s (March 27) 94th Academy Awards Netflix’s psychological western The Power Of The Dog leads the nominations on 12, followed by Legendary/Warner Bros’ sci-fi Dune on 10.
The Power Of The Dog directed by Jane Campion and Apple TV+’s Coda directed by Sian Heder are neck-and-neck in the best picture contest with Coda possibly edging ahead last week following its PGA and WGA triumphs. Focus Features’ Belfast from Kenneth Branagh is just behind in third place. Should Coda or The Power Of The Dog...
Heading into Sunday’s (March 27) 94th Academy Awards Netflix’s psychological western The Power Of The Dog leads the nominations on 12, followed by Legendary/Warner Bros’ sci-fi Dune on 10.
The Power Of The Dog directed by Jane Campion and Apple TV+’s Coda directed by Sian Heder are neck-and-neck in the best picture contest with Coda possibly edging ahead last week following its PGA and WGA triumphs. Focus Features’ Belfast from Kenneth Branagh is just behind in third place. Should Coda or The Power Of The Dog...
- 3/25/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
It’s all come down to this. Ninety-four years of Oscar history have been digested and cross-examined to help yield the critical answer: Which films and performances will win Academy Awards on March 27?
By the sheer scope of its nomination tally, Netflix is the closest it’s ever been to taking home the statuette for the Academy’s most prestigious prize. Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” has won the most critics’ awards for best picture, and the film has walked away with the top honor at the BAFTA and DGA ceremonies, which have Oscar-voter crossover. However, in what feels like an even divide, some Academy members told Variety they were ranking it at No. 1 on their preferential ballot, while others were putting it toward the bottom of that category.
Read more: Variety’s Awards Circuit Predictions Hub
Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” sat as the presumptive front-runner for...
By the sheer scope of its nomination tally, Netflix is the closest it’s ever been to taking home the statuette for the Academy’s most prestigious prize. Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” has won the most critics’ awards for best picture, and the film has walked away with the top honor at the BAFTA and DGA ceremonies, which have Oscar-voter crossover. However, in what feels like an even divide, some Academy members told Variety they were ranking it at No. 1 on their preferential ballot, while others were putting it toward the bottom of that category.
Read more: Variety’s Awards Circuit Predictions Hub
Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” sat as the presumptive front-runner for...
- 3/24/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. The eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and is subject to change.
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Oscars Collective
Visit each category, per the individual awards show from The Oscars Hub
Revisit the prediction archive of the 2021 season The Archive
Link to television awards is atTHE Emmys Hub
2022 Oscars Predictions:
Best Documentary Feature
Updated: March 24, 2022
Awards Prediction Commentary:
The race for documentary feature has been Questlove...
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Oscars Collective
Visit each category, per the individual awards show from The Oscars Hub
Revisit the prediction archive of the 2021 season The Archive
Link to television awards is atTHE Emmys Hub
2022 Oscars Predictions:
Best Documentary Feature
Updated: March 24, 2022
Awards Prediction Commentary:
The race for documentary feature has been Questlove...
- 3/24/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
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