Kodak, which had a momentous 2023 with more than 60 movies shot on film has gotten off to a promising start in 2024 with Luca Guadignino’s “Challengers” and Jane Shoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow, which A24 released wide May 17. Upcoming releases include Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” and Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu.”
Meanwhile, Kodak premiered 29 movies shot on film at Cannes. These include five features competing for the Palme d’Or: Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” Sean Baker’s “Anora,” Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” Karim Aïnouz’s “Motel Destino,” and Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour.”
Additionally, four movies are featured in Un Certain Regard, and 16 titles across Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week were captured on film. Meanwhile, 16mm film continues to prove its popularity and relevance, with 23 of the on-film titles at the festival choosing it as their capture medium.
This article was first published January 27, 2024. It has been updated.
Cannes 2024 Premieres ‘Kinds...
Meanwhile, Kodak premiered 29 movies shot on film at Cannes. These include five features competing for the Palme d’Or: Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” Sean Baker’s “Anora,” Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” Karim Aïnouz’s “Motel Destino,” and Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour.”
Additionally, four movies are featured in Un Certain Regard, and 16 titles across Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week were captured on film. Meanwhile, 16mm film continues to prove its popularity and relevance, with 23 of the on-film titles at the festival choosing it as their capture medium.
This article was first published January 27, 2024. It has been updated.
Cannes 2024 Premieres ‘Kinds...
- 5/27/2024
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Dubai-based management and production company 75East has signed Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel, whose narrative feature debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight this year.
75East, was launched last December by former Mister Smith sales executive Antone Saliba under the banner Untamed Talent with a focus on the Swana region (South West Asia and North Africa), and has recently rebranded.
The only Palestinian feature in Cannes this year, To A Land Unknown tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany.
Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
75East, was launched last December by former Mister Smith sales executive Antone Saliba under the banner Untamed Talent with a focus on the Swana region (South West Asia and North Africa), and has recently rebranded.
The only Palestinian feature in Cannes this year, To A Land Unknown tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany.
Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
- 5/21/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Directors’ Fortnight is always a chance to catch films at the Cannes Film Festival off the main drag of the Croisette, out of the main competition, and with an eye toward boundary-breaking works. Mahdi Fleifel’s Directors’ Fortnight world premiere “To a Land Unknown” is the only Palestinian feature to screen at the festival, and IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer below.
The film follows Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), cousins and refugees stranded in Athens and trying to reach Germany. To escape Greece, they hatch a plan to pose as smugglers taking hostages, with dire consequences for their friendship. “It’s especially moving to me, in these incredible times, to present a Palestinian film at Cannes. As Palestinians, we challenge media stereotypes, but more importantly, we defy invisibility, a struggle we’ve faced since the beginning. Our stories are needed now more than ever,” Fleifel, born in Dubai...
The film follows Chatila (Mahmood Bakri) and Reda (Aram Sabbah), cousins and refugees stranded in Athens and trying to reach Germany. To escape Greece, they hatch a plan to pose as smugglers taking hostages, with dire consequences for their friendship. “It’s especially moving to me, in these incredible times, to present a Palestinian film at Cannes. As Palestinians, we challenge media stereotypes, but more importantly, we defy invisibility, a struggle we’ve faced since the beginning. Our stories are needed now more than ever,” Fleifel, born in Dubai...
- 5/18/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has selected 44 projects for its 2024 spring grants cycle, including Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown, which has its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes next Wednesday, May 22.
Fleifel’s fiction feature debut is a crime thriller about a Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of Athens society, who seeks revenge on the smuggler who ripped him off.
Scroll down for the full list of grants
Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Fleifel studied at the UK’s National Film and Television School, and previously made 2012 feature-length documentary A World Not Ours, which played at the Berlinale and Cph:dox.
Fleifel’s fiction feature debut is a crime thriller about a Palestinian refugee living on the fringes of Athens society, who seeks revenge on the smuggler who ripped him off.
Scroll down for the full list of grants
Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Fleifel studied at the UK’s National Film and Television School, and previously made 2012 feature-length documentary A World Not Ours, which played at the Berlinale and Cph:dox.
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
A delegation of Palestinian filmmakers is in Cannes, seeking both international support for projects and the opportunity to alter the discourse on how Palestinians are perceived internationally.
“A lot of the time, in western media, Palestinians are just a bunch of angry Arabs,” suggested Palestine-Denmark filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel, whose debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight. He hopes his film “can contribute a level of humanity to the discourse” on Palestinians.
“People don’t see us as people with dreams, and hopes and fears. I hope that’s what will resonate with audiences.”
To A Land Unknown...
“A lot of the time, in western media, Palestinians are just a bunch of angry Arabs,” suggested Palestine-Denmark filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel, whose debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight. He hopes his film “can contribute a level of humanity to the discourse” on Palestinians.
“People don’t see us as people with dreams, and hopes and fears. I hope that’s what will resonate with audiences.”
To A Land Unknown...
- 5/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Paris- and Berlin-based sales house Salaud Morisset has picked up international sales duties on Palestinian-Danish director Mahdi Fleifel’s “To a Land Unknown,” which is set to world premiere next month in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. The exclusive first-look image was released Tuesday.
Eurozoom just signed on to release the film in French theaters.
“To a Land Unknown” tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany. Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
Fleifel said, “It’s especially moving to me, in these incredible times,...
Eurozoom just signed on to release the film in French theaters.
“To a Land Unknown” tells the story of the desperate attempts of two Palestinian cousins stranded in Athens to find a way to reach Germany. Chatila and Reda are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. When Reda loses their hard-earned cash to his drug addiction, Chatila hatches an extreme plan, which involves them posing as smugglers and taking hostages in an effort to get him and his best friend out of their hopeless environment before it is too late.
Fleifel said, “It’s especially moving to me, in these incredible times,...
- 4/23/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Following the main lineups for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, a handful of sidebar slates have been unveiled, featuring Directors Fortnight, Critics Week, and Acid. Notable highlights include the Sundance favorite Good One (read our review here), Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point starring Michael Cera, the first film in over a decade from James White director Josh Mond, the Christopher Abbott-led It Doesn’t Matter, Eat the Night from Jessica Forever duo Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel, Carson Lund’s Eephus, Patricia Mazuy’s Visting Hours, The Hyperboreans, a new film from The Wolf House directors Cristobal Leo & Joaquin Cocina, Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century follow-up Universal Language, and more.
Check out the lineups below.
Cannes Directors Fortnight
Feature films:
“Ma Vie Ma Gueule,” Sophie Fillieres (France) – opening film
“A Son Image,” Thierry de Peretti (France)
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” Tyler Taormina (USA)
“Desert of Namibia,...
Check out the lineups below.
Cannes Directors Fortnight
Feature films:
“Ma Vie Ma Gueule,” Sophie Fillieres (France) – opening film
“A Son Image,” Thierry de Peretti (France)
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” Tyler Taormina (USA)
“Desert of Namibia,...
- 4/16/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section has unveiled its lineup for the 2024 festival, which will open with This Life of Mine, the final feature from the late French director Sophie Fillières. The drama features Agnès Jaoui as a woman whose identity starts to unravel when she turns 55. Fillières died shortly after wrapping principal photography on the film and her children finished post-production.
There are four U.S. titles in the feature section of the non-competitive sidebar: Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point, Carson Lund’s Eephus, India Donaldson’s Good One and Gazer from Ryan J. Sloan.
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, starring Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, Francesca Scorsese. Ben Shenkman, Gregg Turkington, Sawyer Spielberg, Maria Dizzia and newcomer Matilda Fleming, follows four generations as they gather for what might be their last Christmas in the family home. Lund, who lensed Christmas Eve, makes his feature debut with Eephus,...
There are four U.S. titles in the feature section of the non-competitive sidebar: Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point, Carson Lund’s Eephus, India Donaldson’s Good One and Gazer from Ryan J. Sloan.
Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, starring Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, Francesca Scorsese. Ben Shenkman, Gregg Turkington, Sawyer Spielberg, Maria Dizzia and newcomer Matilda Fleming, follows four generations as they gather for what might be their last Christmas in the family home. Lund, who lensed Christmas Eve, makes his feature debut with Eephus,...
- 4/16/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 77th edition of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight will kick off with “This Life of Mine,” a dramedy directed by Sophie Fillières, a renowned French filmmaker who died last year. Presented posthumously, the film is headlined by French stars including Agnès Jaoui, Philippe Katerine and Valérie Donzelli. The independent selection, which has recently gone through a rebranding and is now spearheaded by artistic director Julien Rejl, will close with another French film, Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s “Plastic Guns,” an offbeat crime comedy headlined by popular actor Jonathan Cohen.
The lineup includes as many as four U.S. features, three of which are feature debuts, including India Donaldson’s coming-of-age film”Good One” which premiered at Sundance and garnered solid reviews. Set in upstate New York, “Good One” follows 17-year-old Sam as she joins her father and his oldest friend, Matt, on their annual backpacking trip in the Catskill Mountains. “Good One” has...
The lineup includes as many as four U.S. features, three of which are feature debuts, including India Donaldson’s coming-of-age film”Good One” which premiered at Sundance and garnered solid reviews. Set in upstate New York, “Good One” follows 17-year-old Sam as she joins her father and his oldest friend, Matt, on their annual backpacking trip in the Catskill Mountains. “Good One” has...
- 4/16/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Directors’ Fortnight has unveiled the selection for its 56th edition heavy on films from first-time US filmmakers, South American titles, and talent including Isabelle Huppert, Michael Cera and Agnès Jaoui.
Artistic director Julien Rejl revealed the line-up at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday (April 16) for the Cannes parallel section run by French directors guild the Srf.
Scroll down for the full selection
After undergoing a complete rebranding for last year’s edition complete with new artistic director Rejl and a new more inclusive female-forward name in French to La Quinzaine des Cinéastes, this year’s selection includes eight...
Artistic director Julien Rejl revealed the line-up at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday (April 16) for the Cannes parallel section run by French directors guild the Srf.
Scroll down for the full selection
After undergoing a complete rebranding for last year’s edition complete with new artistic director Rejl and a new more inclusive female-forward name in French to La Quinzaine des Cinéastes, this year’s selection includes eight...
- 4/16/2024
- ScreenDaily
Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) kicks off the 10th edition of its Qumra project and talent incubator event meeting this Friday.
Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.
Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...
Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.
Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...
- 2/28/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea Iff) is delighted to announce the winners of the Red Sea Souk Awards – vital funding and in-kind grants to develop and boost new talent from Saudi, Arab and African directors. Three juries deliberated to finally select nine winning feature ideas and two TV series, whose creative visions will now benefit from generous prizes awarded by the Red Sea Fund and its award partners.
A total of 24 new film projects screened as part of the Red Sea Souk, with 12 titles by filmmakers of African and Arab origin, alongside 12 Red Sea Lodge projects by Saudi, Arab and African directors which have been developed over the last year through intensive workshops and in partnership with the Torino Film Lab. The Red Sea Souk Project Market jury awards are supported by the Red Sea Fund, and in the selection were five Saudi projects, eight African projects...
A total of 24 new film projects screened as part of the Red Sea Souk, with 12 titles by filmmakers of African and Arab origin, alongside 12 Red Sea Lodge projects by Saudi, Arab and African directors which have been developed over the last year through intensive workshops and in partnership with the Torino Film Lab. The Red Sea Souk Project Market jury awards are supported by the Red Sea Fund, and in the selection were five Saudi projects, eight African projects...
- 12/7/2023
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
For the producers of an international co-production about Palestinian refugees in Athens the Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7 and subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces looked as if it might derail the project.
But although the conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis and over 15,500 Palestinian has impacted the shooting of the Palestine/U.K./Greece and European co-production “Men in the Sun” the project — which is due to close financing at the Red Sea Film Festival this week — is on course to finish post-production in London by May next year in time for a premiere at what producer Geoff Arbourne will only say will be “a major international film festival.”
“There was consternation when the conflict started, but in the end production, which started five weeks ago, was only delayed by a day,” U.K.-based Arbourne of Inside Out Films, told Variety at the festival.
But although the conflict that has claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis and over 15,500 Palestinian has impacted the shooting of the Palestine/U.K./Greece and European co-production “Men in the Sun” the project — which is due to close financing at the Red Sea Film Festival this week — is on course to finish post-production in London by May next year in time for a premiere at what producer Geoff Arbourne will only say will be “a major international film festival.”
“There was consternation when the conflict started, but in the end production, which started five weeks ago, was only delayed by a day,” U.K.-based Arbourne of Inside Out Films, told Variety at the festival.
- 12/5/2023
- by Nick Holdsworth
- Variety Film + TV
Industry speakers at festival include ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ director Jasmila Zbanic, former Marvel exec Karim Zreik.
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) has selected 26 feature film projects for its Red Sea Souk Project Market; plus a Work-in-Progress showcase, and speakers for its 360° industry events programme.
The 26 Souk projects hail from Africa and the Arab region. Titles include Djeliya, Memory Of Manding, a documentary from Burkinabe filmmaker Boubacar Sangare, whose third film A Golden Life played at the Berlinale earlier this year.
Scroll down for the full list of projects
Also included is Scandar Copti’s animated documentary A Childhood,...
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) has selected 26 feature film projects for its Red Sea Souk Project Market; plus a Work-in-Progress showcase, and speakers for its 360° industry events programme.
The 26 Souk projects hail from Africa and the Arab region. Titles include Djeliya, Memory Of Manding, a documentary from Burkinabe filmmaker Boubacar Sangare, whose third film A Golden Life played at the Berlinale earlier this year.
Scroll down for the full list of projects
Also included is Scandar Copti’s animated documentary A Childhood,...
- 11/7/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has revealed details of the Red Sea Souk, the fest’s industry market that will offer meeting and networking opportunities revolving around new Arab and African product.
The Souk will take place Dec. 2-5 alongside the Nov. 30-Dec. 9 fest in Jeddah, on the Red Sea’s eastern shore. The fest’s industry side will also comprise the Red Sea Talent Days on Dec. 6-7, which will give regional talents and young filmmakers a chance to connect with industry experts.
The Red Sea Souk Project Market will showcase 26 feature-length projects from across the Arab and African region. Of these, 12 are Red Sea Lodge projects that were developed in-house during the year through workshops and labs in partnership with Italy’s Torino Film Lab.
Four of these projects will be awarded the annual Red Sea Lodge production prizes of $50,000 each.
All 26 selected projects in the...
The Souk will take place Dec. 2-5 alongside the Nov. 30-Dec. 9 fest in Jeddah, on the Red Sea’s eastern shore. The fest’s industry side will also comprise the Red Sea Talent Days on Dec. 6-7, which will give regional talents and young filmmakers a chance to connect with industry experts.
The Red Sea Souk Project Market will showcase 26 feature-length projects from across the Arab and African region. Of these, 12 are Red Sea Lodge projects that were developed in-house during the year through workshops and labs in partnership with Italy’s Torino Film Lab.
Four of these projects will be awarded the annual Red Sea Lodge production prizes of $50,000 each.
All 26 selected projects in the...
- 11/7/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has revealed the 26 projects selected as part of this year’s Red Sea Souk Market, which will run Dec. 2-5.
“The Red Sea Souk Project Market will present 26 feature-length projects from across the Arab and African region, offering a first opportunity for the industry audience to connect and build future opportunities with these projects,” organizers said on Tuesday.
Part of the selection are 12 “Red Sea Lodge” projects which were developed during the year through workshops and in partnership with the Torino Film Lab. Four of them will be awarded the annual Red Sea Lodge production prizes of $50,000 each.
All 26 projects in the market will compete for cash prizes offered by the Red Sea Fund, to be awarded by an international jury of producers. They are worth $35,000 for development, $25,000 for the jury special mention award and $100,000 for production.
Meanwhile, the...
“The Red Sea Souk Project Market will present 26 feature-length projects from across the Arab and African region, offering a first opportunity for the industry audience to connect and build future opportunities with these projects,” organizers said on Tuesday.
Part of the selection are 12 “Red Sea Lodge” projects which were developed during the year through workshops and in partnership with the Torino Film Lab. Four of them will be awarded the annual Red Sea Lodge production prizes of $50,000 each.
All 26 projects in the market will compete for cash prizes offered by the Red Sea Fund, to be awarded by an international jury of producers. They are worth $35,000 for development, $25,000 for the jury special mention award and $100,000 for production.
Meanwhile, the...
- 11/7/2023
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Red Sea International Film Festival, has unveiled the 26 projects selected as part of its industry-focused Red Sea Souk Market, running from December 2 to 5.
Projects in development include Palestinian director Scandar Copti’s A Childhood, Lebanese-French filmmaker Danielle Arbid’s Love Conquers All and Madness And Honey Days by Iraq’s Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji.
Within the Market selection are twelve Red Sea Lodge projects which were developed during the year through intensive workshops and in partnership with the Torino Film Lab. Four of these projects will be awarded the annual Red Sea Lodge production prizes of $50,000 each.
All 26 selected projects will compete for cash prizes offered by the Red Sea Fund, to be awarded by an international jury of producers: $35,000 for development, $25,000 for the Jury Special Mention Award and $100,000 for production
Another six projects will be showcased in Works-In-Progress section including Men In The Sun by Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel,...
Projects in development include Palestinian director Scandar Copti’s A Childhood, Lebanese-French filmmaker Danielle Arbid’s Love Conquers All and Madness And Honey Days by Iraq’s Ahmed Yassin Al-Daradji.
Within the Market selection are twelve Red Sea Lodge projects which were developed during the year through intensive workshops and in partnership with the Torino Film Lab. Four of these projects will be awarded the annual Red Sea Lodge production prizes of $50,000 each.
All 26 selected projects will compete for cash prizes offered by the Red Sea Fund, to be awarded by an international jury of producers: $35,000 for development, $25,000 for the Jury Special Mention Award and $100,000 for production
Another six projects will be showcased in Works-In-Progress section including Men In The Sun by Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel,...
- 11/7/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The excellent selection available at this year’s Glasgow Shorts Film Festival, running in-person between the 22-26 March, is everything you would want from a short film festival, and then some. Spanning the personal, political, purely abstract, absurd and metafictional, this year offers a variety of open-hearted expressions, probing both the inner workings of the human experience and how it relates to the wider world.
While the larger selection is far more comprehensive than the small slice of films I had the chance to watch, both the Scottish Shorts and the International Films reflect a strong desire from the Glasgow Shorts programming committee to champion work that challenges, confounds and contradicts commonly-held notions while also never losing sight of highlighting strange and unique cinematic visions. Sifting through nearly 50 films, we have picked ten particularly strong shorts that we believe are definitely worth putting on your radar.
// Scottish Shorts // Outlets – Duncan Cowles...
While the larger selection is far more comprehensive than the small slice of films I had the chance to watch, both the Scottish Shorts and the International Films reflect a strong desire from the Glasgow Shorts programming committee to champion work that challenges, confounds and contradicts commonly-held notions while also never losing sight of highlighting strange and unique cinematic visions. Sifting through nearly 50 films, we have picked ten particularly strong shorts that we believe are definitely worth putting on your radar.
// Scottish Shorts // Outlets – Duncan Cowles...
- 3/21/2023
- by Redmond Bacon
- Directors Notes
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fund has unveiled its latest round of feature film grantees from the Arab world and Africa.
The announcement comes just days after the fund revealed it had boarded French director Maïwenn’s upcoming costume drama Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp, in its first European investment as executive producer.
In its latest funding round for Arab and African filmmakers, it is getting behind 36 productions by Saudi, Arab and African filmmakers, 25 in or on the verge of production, 11 in post-production.
The 25 production grant winners include upcoming films by established directors such as Abderrahmane Sissako’s The Perfumed Hill, Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Miss Camel, Annemarie Jacir, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Mime, Cherien Dabis, and Karim Moussaoui’s The Vanishing.
The fund has also gotten behind buzzy, emerging talents such as Saudi Arabian filmmaker Sara Mesfer, who is gearing up for her first solo feature Habibi And I In Eden.
The announcement comes just days after the fund revealed it had boarded French director Maïwenn’s upcoming costume drama Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp, in its first European investment as executive producer.
In its latest funding round for Arab and African filmmakers, it is getting behind 36 productions by Saudi, Arab and African filmmakers, 25 in or on the verge of production, 11 in post-production.
The 25 production grant winners include upcoming films by established directors such as Abderrahmane Sissako’s The Perfumed Hill, Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Miss Camel, Annemarie Jacir, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Mime, Cherien Dabis, and Karim Moussaoui’s The Vanishing.
The fund has also gotten behind buzzy, emerging talents such as Saudi Arabian filmmaker Sara Mesfer, who is gearing up for her first solo feature Habibi And I In Eden.
- 1/18/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Further projects come from Mehdi M. Barsaoui, Ameer Fakher Eldin, Haifaa Al-Mansour and Annemarie Jacir.
The Red Sea Film Festival Foundation has unveiled the 36 recipients of the Red Sea Fund’s 2022 production and post-production funding cycles.
All titles are from Arab and African filmmakers, who will receive grants to help them complete films that shine a light on narratives and new talents emerging from the region.
Two films selected have previously received support at the development stage by the Red Sea Fund. Captain Mbaye from Rwandan filmmaker Joel Karekezi follows a Un observer sent to Rwanda as genocide breaks out.
The Red Sea Film Festival Foundation has unveiled the 36 recipients of the Red Sea Fund’s 2022 production and post-production funding cycles.
All titles are from Arab and African filmmakers, who will receive grants to help them complete films that shine a light on narratives and new talents emerging from the region.
Two films selected have previously received support at the development stage by the Red Sea Fund. Captain Mbaye from Rwandan filmmaker Joel Karekezi follows a Un observer sent to Rwanda as genocide breaks out.
- 1/18/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
A total of 830,000 in cash prizes and 126,000 in-kind prizes were awarded to Saudi, Arab and African projects in the development and work-in-progress stages, during the award ceremony of the second edition of the Red Sea Souk, held during the Red Sea Film Festival.
Top winners included the Saudi comedy drama “Scapegoat,” in development, directed by Feras Almusharrie, produced by Razan Alsoghayer and written by Taqwa Ali, which won the 100,000 Red Sea Souk Production Award for a Saudi Lodge Project and also the Cinewaves Films award in the form of a 50,000 minimum guarantee for acquisition of Arab World distribution rights.
Egyptian drama “Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore,” in development, the debut feature by Orad Mostafa and produced by Sawsan Yusuf, won the 100,000 Red Sea Souk Production Award for an Arab Lodge Project.
Ghanaian-French coming-of-age drama “Vagabonds,” in rough-cut, by Ghanaian-American writer/director Amartei Armar and produced by Sébastien Hussenot and Yemoh Ike,...
Top winners included the Saudi comedy drama “Scapegoat,” in development, directed by Feras Almusharrie, produced by Razan Alsoghayer and written by Taqwa Ali, which won the 100,000 Red Sea Souk Production Award for a Saudi Lodge Project and also the Cinewaves Films award in the form of a 50,000 minimum guarantee for acquisition of Arab World distribution rights.
Egyptian drama “Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore,” in development, the debut feature by Orad Mostafa and produced by Sawsan Yusuf, won the 100,000 Red Sea Souk Production Award for an Arab Lodge Project.
Ghanaian-French coming-of-age drama “Vagabonds,” in rough-cut, by Ghanaian-American writer/director Amartei Armar and produced by Sébastien Hussenot and Yemoh Ike,...
- 12/6/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Prizes for ‘A Trip To Jerusalem’, ‘Aisha Can’t Fly Away Any More’.
Saudi dark comedy Scapegoat won two prizes including the Lodge 100,000 Saudi project award, at the Red Sea Souk prize ceremony this evening (December 6) at Red Sea International Film Festival.
Currently in development, the Saudi-Netherlands co-production is written by Bahraini filmmaker Taqwa Ali. Razan Alsoghayer produces for her Fusfus Productions, and the film will be directed by Feras Almusharrie, both from Saudi Arabia.
Scroll down for the full list of Souk winners
It follows a woman who returns to her superstitious village 15 years after being expelled as a child for supposedly being cursed.
Saudi dark comedy Scapegoat won two prizes including the Lodge 100,000 Saudi project award, at the Red Sea Souk prize ceremony this evening (December 6) at Red Sea International Film Festival.
Currently in development, the Saudi-Netherlands co-production is written by Bahraini filmmaker Taqwa Ali. Razan Alsoghayer produces for her Fusfus Productions, and the film will be directed by Feras Almusharrie, both from Saudi Arabia.
Scroll down for the full list of Souk winners
It follows a woman who returns to her superstitious village 15 years after being expelled as a child for supposedly being cursed.
- 12/6/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The second edition of the industry platform also includes a Work-In-Progress showcase.
Projects from US filmmaker Lotfy Nathan and Italian-Iraqi director Haider Rashid are among the 23 titles selected for the project market of the Red Sea Souk, the industry platform of the Red Sea International Film Festival.
The project market is split into two sections: 12 projects in the market alone, with a further 11 market projects that have been developed in the Red Sea Lodge throughout the year, in workshops in partnership with the TorinoFilmLab.
Scroll down for the full list of projects
All market projects will compete for three cash prizes,...
Projects from US filmmaker Lotfy Nathan and Italian-Iraqi director Haider Rashid are among the 23 titles selected for the project market of the Red Sea Souk, the industry platform of the Red Sea International Film Festival.
The project market is split into two sections: 12 projects in the market alone, with a further 11 market projects that have been developed in the Red Sea Lodge throughout the year, in workshops in partnership with the TorinoFilmLab.
Scroll down for the full list of projects
All market projects will compete for three cash prizes,...
- 10/27/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The second edition of the industry platform also includes a Work-In-Progress showcase.
Projects from US filmmaker Lofty Nathan and Italian-Iraqi director Haider Rashid are among the 23 titles selected for the project market of the Red Sea Souk, the industry platform of the Red Sea International Film Festival.
The project market is split into two sections: 12 projects in the market alone, with a further 11 market projects that have been developed in the Red Sea Lodge throughout the year, in workshops in partnership with the TorinoFilmLab.
Scroll down for the full list of projects
All market projects will compete for three cash prizes,...
Projects from US filmmaker Lofty Nathan and Italian-Iraqi director Haider Rashid are among the 23 titles selected for the project market of the Red Sea Souk, the industry platform of the Red Sea International Film Festival.
The project market is split into two sections: 12 projects in the market alone, with a further 11 market projects that have been developed in the Red Sea Lodge throughout the year, in workshops in partnership with the TorinoFilmLab.
Scroll down for the full list of projects
All market projects will compete for three cash prizes,...
- 10/27/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Greece’s Homemade Films has boarded Mahdi Fleifel’s upcoming feature “Men in the Sun,” currently in the final stages of development. The story, set in Athens, will deal with masculinity, exile and loss, showing young refugees in their 20s hustling to survive in the urban pressure cooker.
The company is also ready to start shooting Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal,” co-producing with Nabis Filmgroup, Ars Ltd., Digital Cube and Felony Productions.
Furthermore, its founder Maria Drandaki recently presented new projects at Venice Gap-Financing Market. “Arcadia,” directed by Yorgos Zois, will see Homemade Films joining forces with Foss Production and Red Carpet. “Titanic Ocean” by Konstantina Kotzamani will be shot in Japan and Singapore in 2023.
“I’m very excited to be working with this group of directors on a variety of different genres that span from drama to fantasy and mystery,” says Drandaki. She added that she is very interested in...
The company is also ready to start shooting Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal,” co-producing with Nabis Filmgroup, Ars Ltd., Digital Cube and Felony Productions.
Furthermore, its founder Maria Drandaki recently presented new projects at Venice Gap-Financing Market. “Arcadia,” directed by Yorgos Zois, will see Homemade Films joining forces with Foss Production and Red Carpet. “Titanic Ocean” by Konstantina Kotzamani will be shot in Japan and Singapore in 2023.
“I’m very excited to be working with this group of directors on a variety of different genres that span from drama to fantasy and mystery,” says Drandaki. She added that she is very interested in...
- 9/10/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
10 projects will receive €10,000 Hbf Script and Project Development support.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) development resource the Hubert Bals Fund has chosen 10 projects for its autumn selection – the final one under the stewardship of outgoing IFFR Pro head Marit van den Elshout.
The projects, selected from 520 submissions, will each receive a €10,000 grant to be spent on project development.
Scroll down for the selected titles
Titles include Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry from Georgian filmmaker Elene Naveriani, based on a novel by Georgian author and feminist activist Tamta Melashili. The film tells the story of a single woman in her late 40s who...
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) development resource the Hubert Bals Fund has chosen 10 projects for its autumn selection – the final one under the stewardship of outgoing IFFR Pro head Marit van den Elshout.
The projects, selected from 520 submissions, will each receive a €10,000 grant to be spent on project development.
Scroll down for the selected titles
Titles include Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry from Georgian filmmaker Elene Naveriani, based on a novel by Georgian author and feminist activist Tamta Melashili. The film tells the story of a single woman in her late 40s who...
- 11/17/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Next month’s lineup at The Criterion Channel has been unveiled, featuring no shortage of excellent offerings. Leading the pack is a massive, 20-film retrospective dedicated to John Huston, featuring a mix of greatest and lesser-appreciated works, including Fat City, The Dead, Wise Blood, The Man Who Would Be King, and Key Largo. (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre will join the series on October 1.)
Also in the lineup is series on the works of Budd Boetticher (specifically his Randolph Scott-starring Ranown westerns), Ephraim Asili, Josephine Baker, Nikos Papatakis, Jean Harlow, Lee Isaac Chung (pre-Minari), Mani Kaul, and Michelle Parkerson.
The sparkling new restoration of La Piscine will also debut, along with Amores perros, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth, Cate Shortland’s Lore, both Oxhide films, Moonstruck, and much more.
See the full list of August titles below and more on The Criterion Channel.
Abigail Harm,...
Also in the lineup is series on the works of Budd Boetticher (specifically his Randolph Scott-starring Ranown westerns), Ephraim Asili, Josephine Baker, Nikos Papatakis, Jean Harlow, Lee Isaac Chung (pre-Minari), Mani Kaul, and Michelle Parkerson.
The sparkling new restoration of La Piscine will also debut, along with Amores perros, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s To the Ends of the Earth, Cate Shortland’s Lore, both Oxhide films, Moonstruck, and much more.
See the full list of August titles below and more on The Criterion Channel.
Abigail Harm,...
- 7/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
3 Logical Exits is not a difficult film but what it does is difficult. Simply constructed in the way that hand-cut dovetail joints are simple, Mahdi Fleifel's film brings together difficult circumstances under tension and from them produces something both neat and strong.
Less grainy than fuzzy, this is the Palestinian diaspora in Lebanon, beyond dust and smoke and digital artifacts the patina of politics. The titular avenues are geographic in the way that borders and nationalities and salients are geographic, human constructions. Fleifel has, I do not know if it is right to say muse for documentarians, but in Reda Al-Saleh (A Man Returned) a subject whose story, stories, are told.
Winning the Bill Douglas award for International Film at the 2020 Glasgow Short Film Festival, Fleifel talked about the good, transformative good, that the prize money would achieve. This is not in and of itself a happy ending but the.
Less grainy than fuzzy, this is the Palestinian diaspora in Lebanon, beyond dust and smoke and digital artifacts the patina of politics. The titular avenues are geographic in the way that borders and nationalities and salients are geographic, human constructions. Fleifel has, I do not know if it is right to say muse for documentarians, but in Reda Al-Saleh (A Man Returned) a subject whose story, stories, are told.
Winning the Bill Douglas award for International Film at the 2020 Glasgow Short Film Festival, Fleifel talked about the good, transformative good, that the prize money would achieve. This is not in and of itself a happy ending but the.
- 3/18/2021
- by Andrew Robertson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Qatari institution continues support for filmmakers in the Arab world.
Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s upcoming TV drama Mornings In Jenin is among 39 projects to have secured Doha Film Institute (Dfi) funding as part of its autumn 2020 grants round.
The drama, which is in development, marks Jacir’s first foray into TV drama after numerous shorts and three features, Wajib, When I Saw You and Salt Of The Sea.
Based on the eponymous, best-selling novel by Palestinian-American writer and journalist Susan Abulhawa, it is an intergenerational tale, spanning five countries and the intertwining lives of three siblings.
In keeping with the Dfi’s mission,...
Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s upcoming TV drama Mornings In Jenin is among 39 projects to have secured Doha Film Institute (Dfi) funding as part of its autumn 2020 grants round.
The drama, which is in development, marks Jacir’s first foray into TV drama after numerous shorts and three features, Wajib, When I Saw You and Salt Of The Sea.
Based on the eponymous, best-selling novel by Palestinian-American writer and journalist Susan Abulhawa, it is an intergenerational tale, spanning five countries and the intertwining lives of three siblings.
In keeping with the Dfi’s mission,...
- 12/21/2020
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Qatari institution continues support for filmmakers in the Arab world.
Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s upcoming TV drama Mornings In Jenin is among 39 projects to have secured Doha Film Institute (Dfi) funding as part of its autumn 2020 grants round.
The drama, which is in development, marks Jacir’s first foray into TV drama after numerous shorts and three features, Wajib, When I Saw You and Salt Of The Sea.
Based on the eponymous, best-selling novel by Palestinian-American writer and journalist Susan Abulhawa, it is an intergenerational tale, spanning five countries and the intertwining lives of three siblings.
In keeping with the Dfi’s mission,...
Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s upcoming TV drama Mornings In Jenin is among 39 projects to have secured Doha Film Institute (Dfi) funding as part of its autumn 2020 grants round.
The drama, which is in development, marks Jacir’s first foray into TV drama after numerous shorts and three features, Wajib, When I Saw You and Salt Of The Sea.
Based on the eponymous, best-selling novel by Palestinian-American writer and journalist Susan Abulhawa, it is an intergenerational tale, spanning five countries and the intertwining lives of three siblings.
In keeping with the Dfi’s mission,...
- 12/21/2020
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The British Independent Film Awards work tirelessly to champion the very best in British film. This year we’re proud to work with them again to look closer at the films that make up the 2020 BIFA Best Short Film Award longlist. Along with details of the films we have included trailers, weblinks and glowing comments from BIFA voters.
The BIFA Best British Short Film Award is proud to be supported by BFI Network, who exist to discover, support, develop and champion new filmmakers.
There will be a virtual event on the 25th of November for the longlisted filmmakers featuring clips, interviews and a Q&a. HeyUGuys will be part of that event, but check out the BIFA website for more information.
It’s always a pleasure to present this list. Each year we find the British film industry in rude health, with more voices and visions being brought to the fore.
The BIFA Best British Short Film Award is proud to be supported by BFI Network, who exist to discover, support, develop and champion new filmmakers.
There will be a virtual event on the 25th of November for the longlisted filmmakers featuring clips, interviews and a Q&a. HeyUGuys will be part of that event, but check out the BIFA website for more information.
It’s always a pleasure to present this list. Each year we find the British film industry in rude health, with more voices and visions being brought to the fore.
- 11/16/2020
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
UK festival also announces best feature and emerging filmmaker winners.
Chilean director Gabriela Pena has scooped £10,000 in development funding for upcoming feature Here, The Silence Is Heard at the UK’s Open City Documentary Festival.
It marks the second time the grant has been awarded through the festival’s Assembly documentary development lab and was one of six projects that took part in the programme, which ran online from September 3-8.
The autobiographical documentary follows Pena’s return to her family home in Chile, which her parents had to abandon during the Pinochet dictatorship. Helping her grandparents write their memoirs...
Chilean director Gabriela Pena has scooped £10,000 in development funding for upcoming feature Here, The Silence Is Heard at the UK’s Open City Documentary Festival.
It marks the second time the grant has been awarded through the festival’s Assembly documentary development lab and was one of six projects that took part in the programme, which ran online from September 3-8.
The autobiographical documentary follows Pena’s return to her family home in Chile, which her parents had to abandon during the Pinochet dictatorship. Helping her grandparents write their memoirs...
- 9/15/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Field Trip by Dane Malthe Kalbakk Elgaard has won Best Nordic Film at the festival for filmmakers aged between 15 and 26. The Nordic Youth Film Festival (Nuff – 21-30 June) is split into two parts. The weeklong first part sees young filmmakers between the ages of 15 and 26 converge for seven days at the Tvibit festival centre, Tromsø. There they connect with likeminded young filmmakers, and get split into groups that will devise, film and edit a four-minute short film together, guided by mentors. This year, the mentors were Norwegian director Tvibit, cinematographer-director Egil Håskjold Larsen, producer Racha H Larsen, Greenlandic director Inuk Jørgensen and Danish filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel. There was also a group focusing on new media development (Vr/Ar), which made an interactive entertainment film under the auspices of Garage Stories founder Marta Ordeig. They created an interactive short film, and for budding musicians, one group was...
The Museum of Modern Art has unveiled the full festival lineup for the 18th edition of Doc Fortnight, an annual showcase of the best in nonfiction film. The movies cover a range of topics, touching on everything from the cinematic legacy of Wyatt Earp to a deep look at Ferguson, Missouri, the Midwestern city that exploded into national consciousness when Michael Brown was shot by a police officer.
This year’s festival, which runs from Feb. 21 to 28 and boasts more than 17 documentary features, the bulk of which were directed by female filmmakers. That choice is an important one, because it comes at a time when attention is being focused on the film industry for failing to provide more directing opportunities to women.
The series opens with the premiere of “Serendipity,” a new offering from Prune Nourry that explores the artist’s use of various forms of media, including photography, film,...
This year’s festival, which runs from Feb. 21 to 28 and boasts more than 17 documentary features, the bulk of which were directed by female filmmakers. That choice is an important one, because it comes at a time when attention is being focused on the film industry for failing to provide more directing opportunities to women.
The series opens with the premiere of “Serendipity,” a new offering from Prune Nourry that explores the artist’s use of various forms of media, including photography, film,...
- 1/9/2019
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
Amsterdam — Delivering on new artistic director Orwa Nyrabia’s commitment to giving space to documentaries from the global south, this year’s Idfa festival handed its main prize to Anand Patwardhan’s “Reason”, described by the festival as “a broad-ranging examination of Indian society, in which secular rationalists are hunted down as they attempt to stem the rising tide of religious and nationalist fundamentalism.”
At a ceremony held at the International Theater Amsterdam, jury members Daniela Elstner, Jean-Michel Frodon, Tala Hadid, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, and Alina Marazzi voted “unanimously” for Patwardhan’s 261-minute film, praising its “epic storytelling of the rise of the far right in one of the most populated countries of this planet … in a way that acknowledges the complexity of the situation but puts it in a very understandable shape.”
In second place, the Special Jury Award went to the crowd-pleasing dogs-in-a-skatepark doc “Los Reyes” by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnivikoff.
At a ceremony held at the International Theater Amsterdam, jury members Daniela Elstner, Jean-Michel Frodon, Tala Hadid, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, and Alina Marazzi voted “unanimously” for Patwardhan’s 261-minute film, praising its “epic storytelling of the rise of the far right in one of the most populated countries of this planet … in a way that acknowledges the complexity of the situation but puts it in a very understandable shape.”
In second place, the Special Jury Award went to the crowd-pleasing dogs-in-a-skatepark doc “Los Reyes” by Bettina Perut and Iván Osnivikoff.
- 11/21/2018
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
Industry strand crowns co-pro market, work-in-progress winners.
CineLink, the industry side of the Sarajevo Film Festival, has crowned its winners for the 2018 edition.
In the co-production market, the Eurimages Coproduction Development Award of €20,000 went to Juraj Lerotić’s Safe Place. The Croatia-Slovenia drama from Propeler Film and Staragara takes place in 24 hours and focuses on a family trying to save one of its members from themselves.
The Film Centre Montenegro Cinelink Award of €10,000 went to Gentian Koçi’s A Cup Of Coffee And New Shoes On, which is from Albania-Greece and focuses on two identical twins in their 40s who discover that,...
CineLink, the industry side of the Sarajevo Film Festival, has crowned its winners for the 2018 edition.
In the co-production market, the Eurimages Coproduction Development Award of €20,000 went to Juraj Lerotić’s Safe Place. The Croatia-Slovenia drama from Propeler Film and Staragara takes place in 24 hours and focuses on a family trying to save one of its members from themselves.
The Film Centre Montenegro Cinelink Award of €10,000 went to Gentian Koçi’s A Cup Of Coffee And New Shoes On, which is from Albania-Greece and focuses on two identical twins in their 40s who discover that,...
- 8/17/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won five awards, including best picture.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the big winner at the 2018 Baftas, taking home five awards including best film.
The ceremony took place on Feb 18 at the Royal Albert Hall and was hosted by Joanna Lumley.
The full list of winners
Best Film
Call Me By Your Name Emilie Georges, Luca Guadagnino, Marco Morabito, Peter Spears Darkest Hour Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Douglas Urbanski Dunkirk Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas The Shape Of Water Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh
Director
Blade Runner 2049 Denis Villeneuve Call Me By Your Name Luca Guadagnino Dunkirk Christopher Nolan The Shape Of Water Guillermo del Toro Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Martin McDonagh
Leading Actress
Annette Bening Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool Frances McDormand Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Margot Robbie...
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was the big winner at the 2018 Baftas, taking home five awards including best film.
The ceremony took place on Feb 18 at the Royal Albert Hall and was hosted by Joanna Lumley.
The full list of winners
Best Film
Call Me By Your Name Emilie Georges, Luca Guadagnino, Marco Morabito, Peter Spears Darkest Hour Tim Bevan, Lisa Bruce, Eric Fellner, Anthony McCarten, Douglas Urbanski Dunkirk Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas The Shape Of Water Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh
Director
Blade Runner 2049 Denis Villeneuve Call Me By Your Name Luca Guadagnino Dunkirk Christopher Nolan The Shape Of Water Guillermo del Toro Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Martin McDonagh
Leading Actress
Annette Bening Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool Frances McDormand Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Margot Robbie...
- 2/18/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance The Shape Of Water leads the way with 12 nominations.
The 2018 Bafta Awards are taking place tonight at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Screen International will be posting all the winners live on this page and on Twitter as they are announced.
The ceremony starts at 18:45 UK time and finishes at approximately 21:30, with Joanna Lumley hosting following the departure of 12-time presenter Stephen Fry.
Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance The Shape Of Water leads the way with 12 nominations, followed by Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour and Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (both 9).
The full list of winners
Winners as they happen in bold.
Leading Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis Phantom Thread Daniel Kaluuya Get Out Gary Oldman Darkest Hour Jamie Bell Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool TIMOTHÉE Chalamet Call Me by Your Name
Cinematography
Blade Runner 2049 Roger Deakins Darkest Hour Bruno Delbonnel Dunkirk Hoyte van Hoytema...
The 2018 Bafta Awards are taking place tonight at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Screen International will be posting all the winners live on this page and on Twitter as they are announced.
The ceremony starts at 18:45 UK time and finishes at approximately 21:30, with Joanna Lumley hosting following the departure of 12-time presenter Stephen Fry.
Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance The Shape Of Water leads the way with 12 nominations, followed by Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour and Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (both 9).
The full list of winners
Winners as they happen in bold.
Leading Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis Phantom Thread Daniel Kaluuya Get Out Gary Oldman Darkest Hour Jamie Bell Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool TIMOTHÉE Chalamet Call Me by Your Name
Cinematography
Blade Runner 2049 Roger Deakins Darkest Hour Bruno Delbonnel Dunkirk Hoyte van Hoytema...
- 2/18/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Author: Zehra Phelan
For the second year running, BAFTA has teamed up with Curzon in order to screen the 2018 Ee BAFTA Short Film nominees at Curzon cinemas and online.
The eight nominated films, which were chosen by a BAFTA jury of leading industry figures, represent the best of British short filmmaking and showcase innovative and exciting British talent. The winners, as voted for by the wider BAFTA membership, will be announced at the Ee British Academy Film Awards on 18 February at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Previous BAFTA shorts nominees and winners have gone on to receive wider industry recognition for feature-length projects and they include some names you should all be familiar with. They include Paddy Considine (Tyrannosaur), Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths), Chris Morris (Four Lions), Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy), Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice), David Yates (Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2) and...
For the second year running, BAFTA has teamed up with Curzon in order to screen the 2018 Ee BAFTA Short Film nominees at Curzon cinemas and online.
The eight nominated films, which were chosen by a BAFTA jury of leading industry figures, represent the best of British short filmmaking and showcase innovative and exciting British talent. The winners, as voted for by the wider BAFTA membership, will be announced at the Ee British Academy Film Awards on 18 February at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Previous BAFTA shorts nominees and winners have gone on to receive wider industry recognition for feature-length projects and they include some names you should all be familiar with. They include Paddy Considine (Tyrannosaur), Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths), Chris Morris (Four Lions), Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy), Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice), David Yates (Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2) and...
- 2/13/2018
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Screen speaks to up-and-coming producers from Serbia, Greece, Georgia, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink industry programme is in full flow. Below, Screen highlights five emerging producers from the region who are making waves.
Nataša Damnjanović (Serbia)
Serbian producer Nataša Damnjanović (pictured, top) started out as an editor, and since she founded the production company Dart Film together with Vladimir Vidić in 2006, she is still doing the editing on most of their films as well.
Damnjanović trained at Sarajevo and Berlinale Talents, Torino FilmLab and Eave, and first produced Nikola Ljuca’s short Sergeant in 2010 (which competed at Tampere), as well three shorts by Dane Komljen - A Surplus of Wind (2014), Our Body (2015), and All Still Orbit (2016), which screened at Locarno, Rotterdam, and Sarajevo.
Ljuca’s first feature Humidity world-premiered in Berlinale’s Forum in 2016 and won four national Serbian awards, including best film and best director. The same year, Komljen’s debut...
Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink industry programme is in full flow. Below, Screen highlights five emerging producers from the region who are making waves.
Nataša Damnjanović (Serbia)
Serbian producer Nataša Damnjanović (pictured, top) started out as an editor, and since she founded the production company Dart Film together with Vladimir Vidić in 2006, she is still doing the editing on most of their films as well.
Damnjanović trained at Sarajevo and Berlinale Talents, Torino FilmLab and Eave, and first produced Nikola Ljuca’s short Sergeant in 2010 (which competed at Tampere), as well three shorts by Dane Komljen - A Surplus of Wind (2014), Our Body (2015), and All Still Orbit (2016), which screened at Locarno, Rotterdam, and Sarajevo.
Ljuca’s first feature Humidity world-premiered in Berlinale’s Forum in 2016 and won four national Serbian awards, including best film and best director. The same year, Komljen’s debut...
- 8/17/2017
- by vladan.petkovic@gmail.com (Vladan Petkovic)
- ScreenDaily
Screen speaks to up-and-coming producers from Serbia, Greece, Georgia, Turkey and Bulgaria.
Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink industry programme is in full flow. Below, Screen highlights five emerging producers from the region who are making waves.
Nataša Damnjanović (Serbia)
Serbian producer Nataša Damnjanović (pictured, top) started out as an editor, and since she founded the production company Dart Film together with Vladimir Vidić in 2006, she is still doing the editing on most of their films as well.
Damnjanović trained at Sarajevo and Berlinale Talents, Torino FilmLab and Eave, and first produced Nikola Ljuca’s short Sergeant in 2010 (which competed at Tampere), as well three shorts by Dane Komljen - A Surplus of Wind (2014), Our Body (2015), and All Still Orbit (2016), which screened at Locarno, Rotterdam, and Sarajevo.
Ljuca’s first feature Humidity world-premiered in Berlinale’s Forum in 2016 and won four national Serbian awards, including best film and best director. The same year, Komljen’s debut...
Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink industry programme is in full flow. Below, Screen highlights five emerging producers from the region who are making waves.
Nataša Damnjanović (Serbia)
Serbian producer Nataša Damnjanović (pictured, top) started out as an editor, and since she founded the production company Dart Film together with Vladimir Vidić in 2006, she is still doing the editing on most of their films as well.
Damnjanović trained at Sarajevo and Berlinale Talents, Torino FilmLab and Eave, and first produced Nikola Ljuca’s short Sergeant in 2010 (which competed at Tampere), as well three shorts by Dane Komljen - A Surplus of Wind (2014), Our Body (2015), and All Still Orbit (2016), which screened at Locarno, Rotterdam, and Sarajevo.
Ljuca’s first feature Humidity world-premiered in Berlinale’s Forum in 2016 and won four national Serbian awards, including best film and best director. The same year, Komljen’s debut...
- 8/17/2017
- by vladan.petkovic@gmail.com (Vladan Petkovic)
- ScreenDaily
ThelmaA selection of films from the 2017 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has been unveiled, with new films by Sebastián Lelio, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Darren Aronofsky, Greta Gerwig, Guillermo Del Toro, Joachim Trier, Wim Wenders, and many more.Special PRESENTATIONSOpening Night: Ladybird (Greta Gerwig)Closing Night: Sheikh Jackson (Amr Salama)Battle of the Sexes (Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton)Bpm (Beats Per Minute) (Robin Campillo)The Brawler (Anurag Kashyap)The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey)Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)Catch the Wind (Gaël Morel)The Children Act (Richard Eyre)The Current War (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon)Disobedience (Sebastián Lelio)Downsizing (Alexander Payne)A Fantastic Woman (Sebastián Lelio)First They Killed My Father (Angelina Jolie)The Guardians (Xavier Beauvois)Hostiles (Scott Cooper)The Hungry (Bornila Chatterjee)I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie)Mother! (Darren Aronofsky)Novitiate (Maggie Betts)Omerta (Hansal Mehta)Plonger (Mélanie Laurent)The Price of Success (Teddy Lussi-Modeste)Professor Marston & the Wonder Women...
- 8/3/2017
- MUBI
Morgan Spurlock re-engages with the food industry, James Franco digs into the ‘worst film ever made’.
Top brass at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) unveiled on Tuesday selections in the Tiff Docs, Midnight Madness, and Short Cuts programmes.
The Canadian titles that are part of this year’s programme will be announced on August 9. The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from September 7-17 and will open with Borg/McEnroe.
Tiff Docs
The world premiere of Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! joins a marquee Tiff Docs roster from renowned filmmakers that opens with Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami.
Selections include Brett Morgen’s profile of primatologist Jane Goodall in Jane; the story of three Hasidic Jews who attempt to join the secular world in One Of Us by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; Violeta Ayala’s Bolivian drug trade film Cocaine Prison; and Emmanuel Gras’ closing film Makala...
Top brass at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) unveiled on Tuesday selections in the Tiff Docs, Midnight Madness, and Short Cuts programmes.
The Canadian titles that are part of this year’s programme will be announced on August 9. The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival is scheduled to run from September 7-17 and will open with Borg/McEnroe.
Tiff Docs
The world premiere of Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! joins a marquee Tiff Docs roster from renowned filmmakers that opens with Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami.
Selections include Brett Morgen’s profile of primatologist Jane Goodall in Jane; the story of three Hasidic Jews who attempt to join the secular world in One Of Us by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady; Violeta Ayala’s Bolivian drug trade film Cocaine Prison; and Emmanuel Gras’ closing film Makala...
- 8/1/2017
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
One day ahead of its scheduled announcement of the feature film lineup, the Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the official selection of short films headed to the 70th edition of the festival.
Read More: Cannes Wish List: 50 Films That Have a Serious Shot at the 2017 Festival Lineup
Nine films have been selected from 4,843 submissions to compete for the Short Film Palme d’Or. The lineup includes eight works of fiction and one animated short. The films come from countries including Finland, France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece, Iran China, Colombia and Sweden.
In addition, 16 films have been selected for the Cinéfondation Selection out of 2,600 submissions from film schools around the world. A jury presided over by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu will decide the winners of both selections.
The official selection:
“Ceiling” (Finland)
Director: Teppo Airaksinen
“Grandpa Walrus” (France)
Director: Lucrèce Andreae
“A Drowning Man” (U.K, Denmark, Greece)
Director: Mahdi Fleifel...
Read More: Cannes Wish List: 50 Films That Have a Serious Shot at the 2017 Festival Lineup
Nine films have been selected from 4,843 submissions to compete for the Short Film Palme d’Or. The lineup includes eight works of fiction and one animated short. The films come from countries including Finland, France, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece, Iran China, Colombia and Sweden.
In addition, 16 films have been selected for the Cinéfondation Selection out of 2,600 submissions from film schools around the world. A jury presided over by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu will decide the winners of both selections.
The official selection:
“Ceiling” (Finland)
Director: Teppo Airaksinen
“Grandpa Walrus” (France)
Director: Lucrèce Andreae
“A Drowning Man” (U.K, Denmark, Greece)
Director: Mahdi Fleifel...
- 4/12/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Palestinian hybrid work Ghost Hunting and Brazil’s The Trace [pictured] among works to be presented.
The Marché du Film’s Producers Network at the Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22) will put the spotlight on film projects from Brazil and Palestine this year in two separate sessions scheduled for one of its networking breakfasts.
The initiative adds a new dimension to the traditional breakfast “Spotlights” which have previously focused on producers from different territories.
“The idea is to do brief presentations of the projects at the beginning of the breakfasts so that those who are interested can then set up individual meetings,” said Marché chief Jerome Paillard.
“We’re not trying to branch into co-production in any big way, the Cannes Atélier already does that, we just want to set up a framework to support these projects.”
The five other “Spotlights” will present producers from South Africa (Kwazulu Natal Region), the Netherlands, Mexico, Canada...
The Marché du Film’s Producers Network at the Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22) will put the spotlight on film projects from Brazil and Palestine this year in two separate sessions scheduled for one of its networking breakfasts.
The initiative adds a new dimension to the traditional breakfast “Spotlights” which have previously focused on producers from different territories.
“The idea is to do brief presentations of the projects at the beginning of the breakfasts so that those who are interested can then set up individual meetings,” said Marché chief Jerome Paillard.
“We’re not trying to branch into co-production in any big way, the Cannes Atélier already does that, we just want to set up a framework to support these projects.”
The five other “Spotlights” will present producers from South Africa (Kwazulu Natal Region), the Netherlands, Mexico, Canada...
- 3/23/2016
- ScreenDaily
This year we are seeing many films from Mena, that is an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa. More commonly called “Arab” cinema, (though the term is inaccurate because several countries in the region are not actually “Arab”) the films of this region are winning many awards and garnering much interest worldwide.
More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin.
The Forum focus on Arab cinema, represented with films from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia highlights mostly young directors whose works explore both the past and present of their homelands.
The films included: “A Magical Substance Flows into Me” by artist Jumana Manna (Palestine), “Akher ayam el madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” (Egypt) by Tamer El Said (international sales by Still Moving), documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each” (Lebanon) by Maher Abi Samra (Isa: Docs & Film), “Barakah yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah” (Saudi Arabia) by Mahmoud Sabbagh and Manazil (Isa: Mpm), “Bela abwab”/ “Houses without Doors” by Syrian-Armenian director Avo Kaprealian. Of course the 46th Berlinale Forum also screens films from European, Latin American and Asian directors.
The Tunisian film in Competition “Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia, won the Best First Feature Award and its leading man, Majd Mastoura, received the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role as Hedi. Attia’s debut feature film is a thoughtful love story about identity and independence in Tunisian society. It is being sold internationally by Luxbox.
Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film for “ A Man Returned”, a 30-minute portrayal of a young refugee struggling to make a life for himself in Lebanon’s Ain El-Helweh camp, being sold internationally by 3.14 Collectif. He previously made an award-winning documentary about his own experience as a refugee. The short film was also selected as the Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards.
The Ecumenical Jury awarded the Forum Prize to Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh for his well-received romantic comedy “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah”, a social commentary on the lives of young people in Saudi Arabia. It shared the prize with Danish production “Les Sauteurs”/ “Those Who Jump” – a film that also highlights the plight of Europe-bound refugees.
Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said’s feature film “Akher Ayam El-Madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” won the Caligari Film Prize. The film looks at a young filmmaker’s struggle to complete a film about Cairo. It was the only Egyptian film to participate in the 2016 Berlinale Forum.
Lebanese filmmaker Maher Abi Samra’s documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each”, a look at the legal system that controls the lives of Lebanon’s foreign domestic workers, won the Peace Film Prize.
“Zinzana”/ “Rattle the Cage” director, Majid al Ansari, from the Arab Emirates, was honored with Variety’s Mid-East Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Berlinale. The film is the first genre movie of its kind produced in the UAE. It was financed and produced by Abu Dhabi’s ImageNation. It is repped for Us by Cinetic and international sales are by Im Global.
Projects “Mawlana”, based on Ibrahim Issa’s best-selling novel and shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize and director’s Mohamed Yassein’s “Wedding Song” based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novel, the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature were being promoted at the Arab Cinema Center at the Market. Reflecting a decadent Egypt from the 1970s, “Wedding Song” is one of the largest TV productions in the Arab World in 2016.
“Theeb”, a Jordanian Epic about Bedouins, is the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It played in Venice. International sales agent Fortissimo has licensed it to Film Movement for U.S., ABC for Benelux, New Wave for U.K., As Fidalgo for Norway, Jiff for Australia, trigon-film for Switzerland. Mad Solutions is handling the Middle East. “Ave Maria” a 14-minute Palestine satirical short is the Academy Award nomination for Best Short Fiction and is being sold internationally by Ouat Media. “ The Idol” (Palestine) played Tiff 2015 and other top fests and has sold widely throughout the world through Canada-based international sales agent Seville. Not since Elia Suleiman won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for “Divine Intervention” has a Palestinian film director made as much of an impact as “The Idol” director Hany Abu-Assad whose “Paradise Now” and “Omar” both went to the Academy Awards.
Kudos for much of the success of Arab cinema go to Mad Solutions, the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and New York based marketing and distribution company for its marketing and social media strategies as well as its release of “Theeb”, “Zinzana” and “Ave Maria”. It also helped create the Arab Cinema Center which was launched last year at the Berlinale and Efm.
In all, 20 Mena films played in the Festival and Market this year.
And what of that other small country in the region called Israel (and/ or Palestine) which is not included in the term Mena? While Israeli films that showed in Berlin received international praise, they will never show in any of the Arab countries and are sometimes boycotted by international film festivals who succumb to censorship tactics.
Most of the larger Israeli features go to Cannes, Venice and Toronto; “Afterthought” went to Cannes, “Mountain” to Venice, “Barash” to San Sebastian”, “Wedding Doll” to London and “A.K.A. Nadia” to Talinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Berlin many are screened as German Premieres.
What Israeli films have won acclaim lately? Is it possible that our hero, Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund, whose stand for true art has earned him Israeli government censure at home (A prophet is never honored in his own land) and fame abroad with new countries striving to create national cinema, is being eclipsed by the growth of “Arab” cinema?
“Sandstorm” directed by Elite Zexer (international sales by Beta) made its way to Panorama from its world premiere in Sundance where it won the Best Actress Award for Palestinian actress Lamis Ammar’s portrayal of a young Bedouin woman forced to choose between modern freedom or traditional societal strictures within an arranged marriage.
Panorama also screened “Junction 48” (international sales by The Match Factory) which received international praise and audience acclaim. The Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop movie by Israeli-American filmmaker, Udi Aloni, was supported by the Israel-based Rabinovich Foundation. The story is about Kareem who lives in a mixed Jewish-Arab crime-ridden ghetto outside Tel Aviv. He deals drugs and lives dangerously until he discovers hip-hop and decides to express his life as a Palestinian youth along with young singer Manar. Palestinian and Israeli musicians drive this music movie and for Aloni, just seeing the film made, and then shown at the Berlin Film Festival proves its success.
“Suddenly a group of people just choose to make a film and the film is extremely professional. It’s very important that this bi-national energy can create high quality stuff, the high quality is almost the symbol of the resistance. We should not even have to tell the story about the issue. The fact that we could create it is amazing,” Aloni told Euronews.
Thirty-seven-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar plays the lead role, and has known the 56-year-old Aloni for some time. “We have been on the same demonstrations, in the parties since 2000, so we live in each other’s world. He has been to my concerts many times, he directed a video clip, I was in his movies as a producer a few times. It’s not about an old generation and new generation, it’s just about creating the right generation,” he said. “He has that gift of being a good story teller and director but he gives us the stage, no, he doesn’t give us a stage, we are building a stage together… he has his own perspective but we are all on the same level,” said actress Samar Qupty. The struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel is at its crux.
Panorama Documents screened “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” directed by Tomer Haymann and Barak Heymann co-directed by Alexander Bodin Saphir and being sold by Austria’s Autlook. Forum showed “ Inertia” by Idan Haguel being sold by Oration Films’ Timothy O’Brian of the U.S., and “Between Fences” by Avi Mograbi, being sold by Docs & Film’s Daniela Elstner of France. Culinary Cinema showed “Café Nagler” by Mor Kaplansky and Yariv Barel is being sold internationally by Go2Films.
Teddy 30 (the retrospective of Teddy Award winners over the past 30 years) honored Dan Wolman’s 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim”. Berlinale Shorts screened Rotem Murat’s “Winds Junction” from Sapir College which also holds international rights; Generation 14 Plus screened “Mushkie” by Aleeza Chanowitz from the Jerusalem San Spiegel Film School, being sold by Cinephil. Seven other films were sold in the market by various sales agents.
One of the very special events I attended at the Berlinale this year was the Shabbat Dinner, held the first Friday in the Festival and hosted by Nicola Galliner, Founder and Force of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival. There was a table full of Jews: the new Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Noa Regev, PhD; Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director of San Francisco’sJewish Film Institute and its former Director, Peter Stein, now the Senior Programmer of Frameline, San Francisco’s Lgbtq Film Festival; Judy Ironside, the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film and of the sixth edition of the Geneva and Zurich Jewish Film Festivals, the new young director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Ariana Cohen-Halberstam who recently moved from the New York Jcc to Boston, the prolific Israeli director, filmmaker Dan Wolman whose new film will soon be out and whose 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim” was part of the Teddy 30th Anniversary Retrospective held by the Berlinale Panorama.
Talk was about films, about politics including gender politics, about our concerns, (we Jews are better worriers than warriors) and just plain gossip.
Now if my readers will excuse my interjecting myself into this article:
It is my opinion that the region of the world called the Middle East, and the three major monotheistic religions of the world whose origin is there had better learn to do more than merely co-exist peacefully if we are to see peaceful and fruitful consequences which will set the world back upon its proper axis.
Art breaks down borders; it is subversive rather than observant of the exigencies of ever changing governments. It creates new perspectives and breaks down old ways of seeing. What I call “Cinema” is Art. Other movies may simply entertain and not aspire to more or they may propagate dogmas, but Art serves no master; it is not tethered; it is freedom of expression which should be honored with freedom to travel.
More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin.
The Forum focus on Arab cinema, represented with films from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia highlights mostly young directors whose works explore both the past and present of their homelands.
The films included: “A Magical Substance Flows into Me” by artist Jumana Manna (Palestine), “Akher ayam el madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” (Egypt) by Tamer El Said (international sales by Still Moving), documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each” (Lebanon) by Maher Abi Samra (Isa: Docs & Film), “Barakah yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah” (Saudi Arabia) by Mahmoud Sabbagh and Manazil (Isa: Mpm), “Bela abwab”/ “Houses without Doors” by Syrian-Armenian director Avo Kaprealian. Of course the 46th Berlinale Forum also screens films from European, Latin American and Asian directors.
The Tunisian film in Competition “Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia, won the Best First Feature Award and its leading man, Majd Mastoura, received the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role as Hedi. Attia’s debut feature film is a thoughtful love story about identity and independence in Tunisian society. It is being sold internationally by Luxbox.
Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film for “ A Man Returned”, a 30-minute portrayal of a young refugee struggling to make a life for himself in Lebanon’s Ain El-Helweh camp, being sold internationally by 3.14 Collectif. He previously made an award-winning documentary about his own experience as a refugee. The short film was also selected as the Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards.
The Ecumenical Jury awarded the Forum Prize to Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh for his well-received romantic comedy “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah”, a social commentary on the lives of young people in Saudi Arabia. It shared the prize with Danish production “Les Sauteurs”/ “Those Who Jump” – a film that also highlights the plight of Europe-bound refugees.
Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said’s feature film “Akher Ayam El-Madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” won the Caligari Film Prize. The film looks at a young filmmaker’s struggle to complete a film about Cairo. It was the only Egyptian film to participate in the 2016 Berlinale Forum.
Lebanese filmmaker Maher Abi Samra’s documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each”, a look at the legal system that controls the lives of Lebanon’s foreign domestic workers, won the Peace Film Prize.
“Zinzana”/ “Rattle the Cage” director, Majid al Ansari, from the Arab Emirates, was honored with Variety’s Mid-East Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Berlinale. The film is the first genre movie of its kind produced in the UAE. It was financed and produced by Abu Dhabi’s ImageNation. It is repped for Us by Cinetic and international sales are by Im Global.
Projects “Mawlana”, based on Ibrahim Issa’s best-selling novel and shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize and director’s Mohamed Yassein’s “Wedding Song” based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novel, the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature were being promoted at the Arab Cinema Center at the Market. Reflecting a decadent Egypt from the 1970s, “Wedding Song” is one of the largest TV productions in the Arab World in 2016.
“Theeb”, a Jordanian Epic about Bedouins, is the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It played in Venice. International sales agent Fortissimo has licensed it to Film Movement for U.S., ABC for Benelux, New Wave for U.K., As Fidalgo for Norway, Jiff for Australia, trigon-film for Switzerland. Mad Solutions is handling the Middle East. “Ave Maria” a 14-minute Palestine satirical short is the Academy Award nomination for Best Short Fiction and is being sold internationally by Ouat Media. “ The Idol” (Palestine) played Tiff 2015 and other top fests and has sold widely throughout the world through Canada-based international sales agent Seville. Not since Elia Suleiman won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for “Divine Intervention” has a Palestinian film director made as much of an impact as “The Idol” director Hany Abu-Assad whose “Paradise Now” and “Omar” both went to the Academy Awards.
Kudos for much of the success of Arab cinema go to Mad Solutions, the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and New York based marketing and distribution company for its marketing and social media strategies as well as its release of “Theeb”, “Zinzana” and “Ave Maria”. It also helped create the Arab Cinema Center which was launched last year at the Berlinale and Efm.
In all, 20 Mena films played in the Festival and Market this year.
And what of that other small country in the region called Israel (and/ or Palestine) which is not included in the term Mena? While Israeli films that showed in Berlin received international praise, they will never show in any of the Arab countries and are sometimes boycotted by international film festivals who succumb to censorship tactics.
Most of the larger Israeli features go to Cannes, Venice and Toronto; “Afterthought” went to Cannes, “Mountain” to Venice, “Barash” to San Sebastian”, “Wedding Doll” to London and “A.K.A. Nadia” to Talinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Berlin many are screened as German Premieres.
What Israeli films have won acclaim lately? Is it possible that our hero, Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund, whose stand for true art has earned him Israeli government censure at home (A prophet is never honored in his own land) and fame abroad with new countries striving to create national cinema, is being eclipsed by the growth of “Arab” cinema?
“Sandstorm” directed by Elite Zexer (international sales by Beta) made its way to Panorama from its world premiere in Sundance where it won the Best Actress Award for Palestinian actress Lamis Ammar’s portrayal of a young Bedouin woman forced to choose between modern freedom or traditional societal strictures within an arranged marriage.
Panorama also screened “Junction 48” (international sales by The Match Factory) which received international praise and audience acclaim. The Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop movie by Israeli-American filmmaker, Udi Aloni, was supported by the Israel-based Rabinovich Foundation. The story is about Kareem who lives in a mixed Jewish-Arab crime-ridden ghetto outside Tel Aviv. He deals drugs and lives dangerously until he discovers hip-hop and decides to express his life as a Palestinian youth along with young singer Manar. Palestinian and Israeli musicians drive this music movie and for Aloni, just seeing the film made, and then shown at the Berlin Film Festival proves its success.
“Suddenly a group of people just choose to make a film and the film is extremely professional. It’s very important that this bi-national energy can create high quality stuff, the high quality is almost the symbol of the resistance. We should not even have to tell the story about the issue. The fact that we could create it is amazing,” Aloni told Euronews.
Thirty-seven-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar plays the lead role, and has known the 56-year-old Aloni for some time. “We have been on the same demonstrations, in the parties since 2000, so we live in each other’s world. He has been to my concerts many times, he directed a video clip, I was in his movies as a producer a few times. It’s not about an old generation and new generation, it’s just about creating the right generation,” he said. “He has that gift of being a good story teller and director but he gives us the stage, no, he doesn’t give us a stage, we are building a stage together… he has his own perspective but we are all on the same level,” said actress Samar Qupty. The struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel is at its crux.
Panorama Documents screened “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” directed by Tomer Haymann and Barak Heymann co-directed by Alexander Bodin Saphir and being sold by Austria’s Autlook. Forum showed “ Inertia” by Idan Haguel being sold by Oration Films’ Timothy O’Brian of the U.S., and “Between Fences” by Avi Mograbi, being sold by Docs & Film’s Daniela Elstner of France. Culinary Cinema showed “Café Nagler” by Mor Kaplansky and Yariv Barel is being sold internationally by Go2Films.
Teddy 30 (the retrospective of Teddy Award winners over the past 30 years) honored Dan Wolman’s 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim”. Berlinale Shorts screened Rotem Murat’s “Winds Junction” from Sapir College which also holds international rights; Generation 14 Plus screened “Mushkie” by Aleeza Chanowitz from the Jerusalem San Spiegel Film School, being sold by Cinephil. Seven other films were sold in the market by various sales agents.
One of the very special events I attended at the Berlinale this year was the Shabbat Dinner, held the first Friday in the Festival and hosted by Nicola Galliner, Founder and Force of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival. There was a table full of Jews: the new Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Noa Regev, PhD; Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director of San Francisco’sJewish Film Institute and its former Director, Peter Stein, now the Senior Programmer of Frameline, San Francisco’s Lgbtq Film Festival; Judy Ironside, the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film and of the sixth edition of the Geneva and Zurich Jewish Film Festivals, the new young director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Ariana Cohen-Halberstam who recently moved from the New York Jcc to Boston, the prolific Israeli director, filmmaker Dan Wolman whose new film will soon be out and whose 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim” was part of the Teddy 30th Anniversary Retrospective held by the Berlinale Panorama.
Talk was about films, about politics including gender politics, about our concerns, (we Jews are better worriers than warriors) and just plain gossip.
Now if my readers will excuse my interjecting myself into this article:
It is my opinion that the region of the world called the Middle East, and the three major monotheistic religions of the world whose origin is there had better learn to do more than merely co-exist peacefully if we are to see peaceful and fruitful consequences which will set the world back upon its proper axis.
Art breaks down borders; it is subversive rather than observant of the exigencies of ever changing governments. It creates new perspectives and breaks down old ways of seeing. What I call “Cinema” is Art. Other movies may simply entertain and not aspire to more or they may propagate dogmas, but Art serves no master; it is not tethered; it is freedom of expression which should be honored with freedom to travel.
- 3/6/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Golden Bear winner Gianfranco Rosi among those calling for “awareness” of migrant tragedies.
The awards ceremony of the 66th Berlin Film Festival was a typically glamorous occasion, with Hollywood star and international jury head Meryl Streep on stage to help present the coveted Golden and Silver Bears.
But it was the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, claiming countless lives in perilous sea crossings, that dominated the winner’s speeches – and the winning film.
The Golden Bear was won by Fire At Sea, a documentary about life on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa where thousands of asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East have landed on their arduous journey to Europe.
Accepting the award, Italian director Gianfranco Rosi said: “At this moment, my deeper thoughts go to all the people who never arrived at Lampedusa on these journeys of hope. I want to dedicate this award to the people of Lampedusa.”
Joined on stage...
The awards ceremony of the 66th Berlin Film Festival was a typically glamorous occasion, with Hollywood star and international jury head Meryl Streep on stage to help present the coveted Golden and Silver Bears.
But it was the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, claiming countless lives in perilous sea crossings, that dominated the winner’s speeches – and the winning film.
The Golden Bear was won by Fire At Sea, a documentary about life on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa where thousands of asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East have landed on their arduous journey to Europe.
Accepting the award, Italian director Gianfranco Rosi said: “At this moment, my deeper thoughts go to all the people who never arrived at Lampedusa on these journeys of hope. I want to dedicate this award to the people of Lampedusa.”
Joined on stage...
- 2/20/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Documentary Fire At Sea wins Golden Bear; Death In Sarajevo wins Jury PrizeWinners of 66th Berlin International Film FestivalGolden Bear for Best Film
Fire At Sea (It-Fr), dir. Gianfranco Rosi
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
Death In Sarajevo (Fr-Bos), dir. Danis Tanovic
Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize
A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (Phil-Sing), dir. Lav Diaz
Silver Bear for Best Director
Mia Hansen-Love for Things To Come
Silver Bear for Best Actress
Trine Dyrholm in The Commune
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Majd Mastoura in Hedi
Silver Bear for Best Script
Tomasz Wasilewski for United States Of Love (Pol-Swe), dir. Tomasz Wasilewski
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Mark Lee Ping-bing for cinematography of Crosscurrent (China), dir. Yang Chao
Best First Feature Award (€50,000)
Hedi (Tun-Bel-Fr), Mohamed Ben Attia
Golden Bear for Best Short Film
Batrachian’s Ballad (Balada de um Batráquio), Leonor Teles, Portugal
Berlin Short Film Nominee for the EFAs
A Man Returned, [link...
Fire At Sea (It-Fr), dir. Gianfranco Rosi
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
Death In Sarajevo (Fr-Bos), dir. Danis Tanovic
Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize
A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (Phil-Sing), dir. Lav Diaz
Silver Bear for Best Director
Mia Hansen-Love for Things To Come
Silver Bear for Best Actress
Trine Dyrholm in The Commune
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Majd Mastoura in Hedi
Silver Bear for Best Script
Tomasz Wasilewski for United States Of Love (Pol-Swe), dir. Tomasz Wasilewski
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Mark Lee Ping-bing for cinematography of Crosscurrent (China), dir. Yang Chao
Best First Feature Award (€50,000)
Hedi (Tun-Bel-Fr), Mohamed Ben Attia
Golden Bear for Best Short Film
Batrachian’s Ballad (Balada de um Batráquio), Leonor Teles, Portugal
Berlin Short Film Nominee for the EFAs
A Man Returned, [link...
- 2/20/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Golden and Silver Bears are set to be awarded shortly. Keep up with the latest here…
Refresh the page for the latest
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
Death In Sarajevo (Fr-Bos), dir. Danis Tanovic
Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize
A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (Phil-Sing), dir. Lav Diaz
Silver Bear for Best Director
Mia Hansen-Love for Things To Come
Silver Bear for Best Actress
Trine Dyrholm in The Commune
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Majd Mastoura in Hedi
Silver Bear for Best Script
Tomasz Wasilewski for United States Of Love (Pol-Swe), dir. Tomasz Wasilewski
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Mark Lee Ping-bing for cinematography of Crosscurrent (China), dir. Yang Chao
Best First Feature Award (€50,000)
Hedi (Tun-Bel-Fr), Mohamed Ben Attia
Golden Bear for Best Short Film
Batrachian’s Ballad (Balada de um Batráquio), Leonor Teles, Portugal
Berlin Short Film Nominee for the EFAs
A Man Returned, Mahdi Fleifel (UK-Neth-Den)
Audi Short Film Award (€20,000)
Anchorage...
Refresh the page for the latest
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
Death In Sarajevo (Fr-Bos), dir. Danis Tanovic
Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize
A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery (Phil-Sing), dir. Lav Diaz
Silver Bear for Best Director
Mia Hansen-Love for Things To Come
Silver Bear for Best Actress
Trine Dyrholm in The Commune
Silver Bear for Best Actor
Majd Mastoura in Hedi
Silver Bear for Best Script
Tomasz Wasilewski for United States Of Love (Pol-Swe), dir. Tomasz Wasilewski
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
Mark Lee Ping-bing for cinematography of Crosscurrent (China), dir. Yang Chao
Best First Feature Award (€50,000)
Hedi (Tun-Bel-Fr), Mohamed Ben Attia
Golden Bear for Best Short Film
Batrachian’s Ballad (Balada de um Batráquio), Leonor Teles, Portugal
Berlin Short Film Nominee for the EFAs
A Man Returned, Mahdi Fleifel (UK-Neth-Den)
Audi Short Film Award (€20,000)
Anchorage...
- 2/20/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The 2016 Berlinale Shorts program will include new films by Pham Ngoc Lan, Wu Linfeng, Leonor Teles, Esteban Arrangoiz, Diego Zon, Ronny Trocker, Gabriel Abrantes, Ben Russell, Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck, Christine Rebet, Chiang Wei Liang, Volker Schlecht and Alexander Lahl, Réka Bucsi, Mahdi Fleifel, Joanna Rytel, Rubén Gámez, Jonathan Vinel in collaboration with Caroline Poggi, Bentley Brown, Christoph Girardet and Matthias Müller, Pimpaka Towira, Akosua Adoma Owusu, Ricky D’Ambrose, Rotem Murat, Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann and Paul Spengemann, Siegfried A. Fruhauf, and Akihito Izuhara. » - David Hudson...
- 1/12/2016
- Keyframe
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