Gudrun Gut on her new plans with Bettina Köster and Malaria! to Anne-Katrin Titze, 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman, and B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 co-director Heiko Lange: “We have a plan for a movie.”
In the second instalment with Gudrun Gut (creative director and star of the miniseries Gut; founding member of Mania D; Malaria!; Matador), B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 co-director Heiko Lange (with Jörg A. Hoppe and Klaus Maeck), plus music producer and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman, we discuss the work of editor Alexander von Sturmfeder; B- Movie’s ringmaster Mark Reeder (who is also the composer here with Micha Adam and for Hermann Vaske’s Can Creativity Save The World?), Blixa Bargeld and Nick Cave on the end of an era; a Buzzcocks concert in New York City; Public Image Ltd and Esg; Danny Boyle’s Pistol (his fictional miniseries on the Sex...
In the second instalment with Gudrun Gut (creative director and star of the miniseries Gut; founding member of Mania D; Malaria!; Matador), B-Movie: Lust & Sound in West-Berlin 1979-1989 co-director Heiko Lange (with Jörg A. Hoppe and Klaus Maeck), plus music producer and 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman, we discuss the work of editor Alexander von Sturmfeder; B- Movie’s ringmaster Mark Reeder (who is also the composer here with Micha Adam and for Hermann Vaske’s Can Creativity Save The World?), Blixa Bargeld and Nick Cave on the end of an era; a Buzzcocks concert in New York City; Public Image Ltd and Esg; Danny Boyle’s Pistol (his fictional miniseries on the Sex...
- 5/3/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Christian Petzold’s anticipated Miroirs No.3 and Kaouther Ben Hania’s epic love story Mimesi are among the 19 projects awarded a total funding of almost €3.5m by Germany’s Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (Mbb) at the second funding session of 2024.
Miroirs No.3 will star Paula Beer in her fourth collaboration with Petzold after Transit, Undine and Afire. She will play a young music student who has to restructure her life when her boyfriend dies in a car crash in the countryside.
The film, which is being produced by Petzold’s production company Schramm Film Koerner Weber Kaiser, received €500,000 in production funding from Mbb.
Miroirs No.3 will star Paula Beer in her fourth collaboration with Petzold after Transit, Undine and Afire. She will play a young music student who has to restructure her life when her boyfriend dies in a car crash in the countryside.
The film, which is being produced by Petzold’s production company Schramm Film Koerner Weber Kaiser, received €500,000 in production funding from Mbb.
- 4/30/2024
- ScreenDaily
Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia and Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters lead the nominations for the 8th Critics Awards for Arab Films, which will be held during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
Both features picked up seven nominations apiece for the awards, focused on Arab films that were produced and premiered outside of the Arab world in 2023. Overseen and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), it was voted on by 209 critics from 72 countries and the winners will be announced during Cannes on May 18.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
This year’s nominees range from Sudan,...
Both features picked up seven nominations apiece for the awards, focused on Arab films that were produced and premiered outside of the Arab world in 2023. Overseen and run by the Cairo-based Arab Cinema Centre (Acc), it was voted on by 209 critics from 72 countries and the winners will be announced during Cannes on May 18.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
This year’s nominees range from Sudan,...
- 4/25/2024
- ScreenDaily
Sudanese first-timer Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” a timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan, and Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” lead the way in nominations for the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab films, winners of which will be announced during the Cannes Film Festival.
The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes’ official selection, “Goodbye Julia” (pictured) is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the currently war-ravaged country.
The drama, which marked Kordofani’s debut, has scored nominations in seven categories of the Arab film awards, including best feature, director, screenplay, actress, actor and editing.
Ben Hania’s hybrid doc/drama “Four Daughters,” about an Arab...
The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes’ official selection, “Goodbye Julia” (pictured) is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the currently war-ravaged country.
The drama, which marked Kordofani’s debut, has scored nominations in seven categories of the Arab film awards, including best feature, director, screenplay, actress, actor and editing.
Ben Hania’s hybrid doc/drama “Four Daughters,” about an Arab...
- 4/25/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
‘Four Daughters’ & ‘Goodbye Julia’ Lead Nominations For 8th Edition Of Critics Awards For Arab Films
Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated documentary Four Daughters and Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s Lupita Nyong’o-EPed drama Goodbye Julia lead the nominations in the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films.
Hybrid work Four Daughters, exploring the story of a real-life Tunisian mother who lost two of her daughters to Isis after they were radicalized by a local preacher, world premiered in Competition in Cannes last year.
The film won Cannes’ Golden Eye for Best Documentary and also went on to be nominated for Best Documentary at the 2024 Academy Awards.
Kordofani’s Khartoum-set drama Goodbye Julia was also at Cannes in 2023, making history as the first Sudanese film to play in the festival across its 76 editions, with a debut in Un Certain Regard. It represented Sudan at in the 2023-24 Oscar race but was not nominated.
Set against the backdrop of the 2011 South Sudan Independence referendum,...
Hybrid work Four Daughters, exploring the story of a real-life Tunisian mother who lost two of her daughters to Isis after they were radicalized by a local preacher, world premiered in Competition in Cannes last year.
The film won Cannes’ Golden Eye for Best Documentary and also went on to be nominated for Best Documentary at the 2024 Academy Awards.
Kordofani’s Khartoum-set drama Goodbye Julia was also at Cannes in 2023, making history as the first Sudanese film to play in the festival across its 76 editions, with a debut in Un Certain Regard. It represented Sudan at in the 2023-24 Oscar race but was not nominated.
Set against the backdrop of the 2011 South Sudan Independence referendum,...
- 4/25/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated On April 22, 2024: With the addition of two new films to this year’s competition section, both directed by men, this year’s competition slate now includes 21 films, only four of which are directed by women. That tallies to just 19 percent of this year’s competition titles being helmed by women.
Our original story from April 11, 2024 follows.
Hot off last year’s record-breaking competition lineup — including seven films directed by women, plus an eventual Palme d’Or win for Justine Triet (only the third woman to win the festival’s top prize) — this year’s Cannes Film Festival has returned to old habits. The 77th edition will include (as of today’s announcement) just four films directed by women in the competition section, bringing representation down to 2021 levels (and returning the festival’s female-directed entries to a number that was only hit in 2011).
Among the competition titles announced today:...
Our original story from April 11, 2024 follows.
Hot off last year’s record-breaking competition lineup — including seven films directed by women, plus an eventual Palme d’Or win for Justine Triet (only the third woman to win the festival’s top prize) — this year’s Cannes Film Festival has returned to old habits. The 77th edition will include (as of today’s announcement) just four films directed by women in the competition section, bringing representation down to 2021 levels (and returning the festival’s female-directed entries to a number that was only hit in 2011).
Among the competition titles announced today:...
- 4/22/2024
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Christopher Abbott is returning to his indie roots and reuniting with his 2015 filmmaking collaborator Josh Mond for upcoming feature “It Doesn’t Matter.”
Abbott, who recently appeared in “Poor Things” and is set to lead Universal’s “Wolfman,” stars opposite Jay Will in the dramedy revolving around the redemptive relationship between a lost man from Staten Island and a young filmmaker.
“It Doesn’t Matter” premieres at the Acid programming section, run by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) and takes place parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. “It Doesn’t Matter” is writer/director Mond’s first movie since his breakout Sundance 2015 directorial debut “James White,” which also starred Abbott.
In addition to directing, Mond previously produced Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene” and Antonio Campos’ “Simon Killer.” “It Doesn’t Matter” is his sophomore film.
Mond teased “It Doesn’t Matter” to IndieWire in 2015, saying that while the...
Abbott, who recently appeared in “Poor Things” and is set to lead Universal’s “Wolfman,” stars opposite Jay Will in the dramedy revolving around the redemptive relationship between a lost man from Staten Island and a young filmmaker.
“It Doesn’t Matter” premieres at the Acid programming section, run by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) and takes place parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. “It Doesn’t Matter” is writer/director Mond’s first movie since his breakout Sundance 2015 directorial debut “James White,” which also starred Abbott.
In addition to directing, Mond previously produced Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene” and Antonio Campos’ “Simon Killer.” “It Doesn’t Matter” is his sophomore film.
Mond teased “It Doesn’t Matter” to IndieWire in 2015, saying that while the...
- 4/16/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) has unveiled the nine features it will showcase in its parallel Cannes section, running May 15-24. Acid focuses on films without French distributors and first features.
Comprising three documentaries and six fiction features, all the titles are world premieres.
The line-up includes Josh Mond’s It Doesn’t Matter starring Christopher Abbott and Jay Will. The US-French co-production follows the fortuitous relationship between an American man and a young filmmaker over the course of seven years. Mond’s debut feature James White premiered at Sundance in 2015 while his producing credits include Martha Marcy May Marlene.
Comprising three documentaries and six fiction features, all the titles are world premieres.
The line-up includes Josh Mond’s It Doesn’t Matter starring Christopher Abbott and Jay Will. The US-French co-production follows the fortuitous relationship between an American man and a young filmmaker over the course of seven years. Mond’s debut feature James White premiered at Sundance in 2015 while his producing credits include Martha Marcy May Marlene.
- 4/16/2024
- ScreenDaily
Cannes parallel section Acid, run by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid), has unveiled its 2024 line-up. (scroll down for full list)
This year’s selection world premieres nine features, three of which are documentaries.
They include It Doesn’t Matter, the second feature by U.S. producer and director Josh Mond, who made waves with his first movie James White at Sundance in 2015, and has since focused mainly on producing.
Christopher Abbott and Jay Will star in the drama revolving around the redemptive relationship between a lost man from Staten Island and a young filmmaker.
Launched in 1992, Acid previously showcased the early features of the likes of Oscar winner Justine Triet and Oscar-nominated director Kaouther Ben Hania as well as award winning filmmakers Radu Jude, Guy Maddin and Robert Guediguian.
Cannes 2023 Palme d’Or winner Triet’s first feature Age of Panic (La Bataille de Solférino...
This year’s selection world premieres nine features, three of which are documentaries.
They include It Doesn’t Matter, the second feature by U.S. producer and director Josh Mond, who made waves with his first movie James White at Sundance in 2015, and has since focused mainly on producing.
Christopher Abbott and Jay Will star in the drama revolving around the redemptive relationship between a lost man from Staten Island and a young filmmaker.
Launched in 1992, Acid previously showcased the early features of the likes of Oscar winner Justine Triet and Oscar-nominated director Kaouther Ben Hania as well as award winning filmmakers Radu Jude, Guy Maddin and Robert Guediguian.
Cannes 2023 Palme d’Or winner Triet’s first feature Age of Panic (La Bataille de Solférino...
- 4/16/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
We live in strange times. This young century has been defined by harrowing disasters both natural and man-made, political tribalism, and existential threats to the future of the planet. What better time for documentary filmmaking?
Non-fiction cinema has been evolving since the birth of the medium while capturing a world in motion. From the actualités of the Lumière brothers in the late 19th century to the heavily manipulated ethnographic films of the 1920, from the vérité films of the Maysles brothers to the man-on-the-street agitprop popularized by Michael Moore, documentaries have naturally always been more responsive to their times than any other mode of filmmaking.
Not only do they reveal our world to us, but they shape how we view it, and the early years of the 21st century have proven that to be more true than ever before. On one hand, digital technology has infinitely expanded our range of vision,...
Non-fiction cinema has been evolving since the birth of the medium while capturing a world in motion. From the actualités of the Lumière brothers in the late 19th century to the heavily manipulated ethnographic films of the 1920, from the vérité films of the Maysles brothers to the man-on-the-street agitprop popularized by Michael Moore, documentaries have naturally always been more responsive to their times than any other mode of filmmaking.
Not only do they reveal our world to us, but they shape how we view it, and the early years of the 21st century have proven that to be more true than ever before. On one hand, digital technology has infinitely expanded our range of vision,...
- 3/27/2024
- by Wilson Chapman
- Indiewire
Series projects by filmmakers Kevin Macdonald, Barbera Albert and Erik Matti have won key prizes at the second edition of Seriesmakers, Series Mania’s development lab for film directors moving into series.
Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting won one of two Beta Development Awards worth €50,000 for their series project George Blake which tells the story of the prolific British double agent.
Macdonald has won the Oscar best documentary feature prize for One Day In September, while The Last King of Scotland won an Oscar for lead actor for Forest Whitaker. He was unable to collect the prize which was picked up by Wolting.
Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting won one of two Beta Development Awards worth €50,000 for their series project George Blake which tells the story of the prolific British double agent.
Macdonald has won the Oscar best documentary feature prize for One Day In September, while The Last King of Scotland won an Oscar for lead actor for Forest Whitaker. He was unable to collect the prize which was picked up by Wolting.
- 3/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald has won the €50,000 Series Mania Seriesmakers award.
The One Day in September director’s project is one of two winners to take home the prize, which has been forged by the Lille Confab and German major Beta Film.
Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting’s project is titled George Blake and tells the story of one of the most prolific double agents of not just the Cold War, but British history. The other winner is director Erik Matti and producer Ronald Monteverde for The Squatter from The Philippines, about a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective who have to unravel the mysteries of a crime just as the crime itself unravels who they truly are.
The development lab is for feature film directors sidestepping into series production. Ten projects faced off including those helmed by Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters.
The One Day in September director’s project is one of two winners to take home the prize, which has been forged by the Lille Confab and German major Beta Film.
Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting’s project is titled George Blake and tells the story of one of the most prolific double agents of not just the Cold War, but British history. The other winner is director Erik Matti and producer Ronald Monteverde for The Squatter from The Philippines, about a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective who have to unravel the mysteries of a crime just as the crime itself unravels who they truly are.
The development lab is for feature film directors sidestepping into series production. Ten projects faced off including those helmed by Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters.
- 3/20/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Ceasefire pins among Oscar guests and nominees were numerous on this afternoon’s red carpet with Poor Things actor Ramy Youssef, Oscar nominated supporting actor Mark Ruffalo from that pic, as well as Barbie “What Was I Made For?” songwriting team Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell donning them.
Youssef told Deadline, “This is for Artists for Ceasefire” about the pin.
“We have a growing list of so many artists who want a permanent immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” the actor added.
“To get really universal about it, it’s about stop killing kids,” he continued.
“We’re using our voices to speak to people’s hearts,” he added, “we want people to have safety and justice.”
“It’s obvious something a lot of people have a lot of opinions about, and I think there can be a place and time to process feelings,” Youssef said, speaking about the divided political situation in Israel and Gaza.
Youssef told Deadline, “This is for Artists for Ceasefire” about the pin.
“We have a growing list of so many artists who want a permanent immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” the actor added.
“To get really universal about it, it’s about stop killing kids,” he continued.
“We’re using our voices to speak to people’s hearts,” he added, “we want people to have safety and justice.”
“It’s obvious something a lot of people have a lot of opinions about, and I think there can be a place and time to process feelings,” Youssef said, speaking about the divided political situation in Israel and Gaza.
- 3/10/2024
- by Antonia Blyth and Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Hundreds of protesters have shut down a major section of Hollywood during the Oscars red carpet, turning Hollywood’s biggest night into a traffic nightmare. With just a few minutes ahead of the telecast’s scheduled start time, much of the ballroom is uncharacteristically empty and people are running to their seats.
There was a growing sense of anxiety from production staffers and publicists on the red carpet that tonight’s Oscars will not start on time due to the gridlock. The broadcast itself kicked off five minutes late.
Protesters shut down Sunset Boulevard between Vine Street and La Brea Avenue. They marched down the street with signs that read “No awards for genocide” and drove school buses covered with Palestinian flags. Police ordered the protest to disperse and waited on Sunset Boulevard with battering rams.
Executives, such as Bob Iger, waited an hour to walk the red carpet due to the traffic jam.
There was a growing sense of anxiety from production staffers and publicists on the red carpet that tonight’s Oscars will not start on time due to the gridlock. The broadcast itself kicked off five minutes late.
Protesters shut down Sunset Boulevard between Vine Street and La Brea Avenue. They marched down the street with signs that read “No awards for genocide” and drove school buses covered with Palestinian flags. Police ordered the protest to disperse and waited on Sunset Boulevard with battering rams.
Executives, such as Bob Iger, waited an hour to walk the red carpet due to the traffic jam.
- 3/10/2024
- by Jaden Thompson, Matt Donnelly and Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
Refresh for updates: The votes are in, the tuxes are pressed, and the envelopes are sealed: It’s time for the 96th Academy Awards. Deadline is updating the winners list live as they are announced, so check it out below.
Christopher Nolan’s near-billion-dollar juggernaut Oppenheimer has been collecting trophies at nearly every stop this awards season and comes into the ceremony as the odds-on favorite for Best Picture, among other nods. It’s vying for the Big Prize on Hollywood’s Big Night against the No. 1 movie of 2023, Barbie, along with American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Past Lives, Poor Things and The Zone of Interest.
Here are the winners announced so far at the Oscars, followed by the remaining nominees:
Winners
Tba
Nominees
Best Picture
American Fiction
Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers
Anatomy of a Fall...
Christopher Nolan’s near-billion-dollar juggernaut Oppenheimer has been collecting trophies at nearly every stop this awards season and comes into the ceremony as the odds-on favorite for Best Picture, among other nods. It’s vying for the Big Prize on Hollywood’s Big Night against the No. 1 movie of 2023, Barbie, along with American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Past Lives, Poor Things and The Zone of Interest.
Here are the winners announced so far at the Oscars, followed by the remaining nominees:
Winners
Tba
Nominees
Best Picture
American Fiction
Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers
Anatomy of a Fall...
- 3/10/2024
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Kaouther Ben Hania will make history for her native Tunisia on Sunday with its first Academy Award if her hotly tipped nominated work Four Daughters triumphs in the Best Documentary category on Sunday.
The director belongs to a generation of Tunisian filmmakers who emerged in the wake of their country’s so-called Jasmine Revolution, which ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in early 2011.
Habib Attia, who is one of the original producers on Four Daughters, has been an integral part of this movement too.
The Tunis-based producer has cinema in his blood as the son of late producer Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia, whose credits included Moufida Tlatli’s 1994 breakout The Silences of the Palace, starring Tunisian-Egyptian star Hend Sabry in her first major big screen role.
On finishing his high school studies, Attia headed to his mother’s native Italy to study engineering in Milan, rather than immediately following in his father’s footsteps.
The director belongs to a generation of Tunisian filmmakers who emerged in the wake of their country’s so-called Jasmine Revolution, which ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in early 2011.
Habib Attia, who is one of the original producers on Four Daughters, has been an integral part of this movement too.
The Tunis-based producer has cinema in his blood as the son of late producer Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia, whose credits included Moufida Tlatli’s 1994 breakout The Silences of the Palace, starring Tunisian-Egyptian star Hend Sabry in her first major big screen role.
On finishing his high school studies, Attia headed to his mother’s native Italy to study engineering in Milan, rather than immediately following in his father’s footsteps.
- 3/10/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Sandra Hüller (a Best Actress nominee) and Christian Friedel, stars of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest — nominated for Best Picture, Best International Picture, Director, Sound, and Adapted Screenplay — are familiar with Shakespeare’s famous verse from Hamlet: ”All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players …” That’s because both thespians have been playing the Danish prince on stages around Germany for years.
Due to Germany’s repertory system in city and state theaters, an actor can revisit an assortment of plays time after time over a number of years.
Friedel tells me that he first played the Dane in 2012. It’s a sort of rock star Hamlet performed with his band, Woods of Birnam. “It can take years until the piece is really finished,” he explains.
He adds that “It changes as you’re getting older,” an experience he feels with movies as well.
Due to Germany’s repertory system in city and state theaters, an actor can revisit an assortment of plays time after time over a number of years.
Friedel tells me that he first played the Dane in 2012. It’s a sort of rock star Hamlet performed with his band, Woods of Birnam. “It can take years until the piece is really finished,” he explains.
He adds that “It changes as you’re getting older,” an experience he feels with movies as well.
- 3/9/2024
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Actors (Betsey Brown)
With its central storyline revolving around a male actor (Peter Vack) adopting a phony trans identity in order to secure roles, Betsey Brown’s Actors is engineered to court controversy. But the film is more than empty provocation. Actors is about the inherent vulnerability it takes to be a working actor, and we catch glimpses of the ceaseless cycle of auditions and self-tapes listed as private on Vimeo. This includes one very funny early sequence in which Brown’s mother and father (played by her actual parents) walk her through a self-tape for a lewd part. It’s a role Brown knows she has little chance at landing, so why go through with the humiliation? Because born performers have no choice.
Actors (Betsey Brown)
With its central storyline revolving around a male actor (Peter Vack) adopting a phony trans identity in order to secure roles, Betsey Brown’s Actors is engineered to court controversy. But the film is more than empty provocation. Actors is about the inherent vulnerability it takes to be a working actor, and we catch glimpses of the ceaseless cycle of auditions and self-tapes listed as private on Vimeo. This includes one very funny early sequence in which Brown’s mother and father (played by her actual parents) walk her through a self-tape for a lewd part. It’s a role Brown knows she has little chance at landing, so why go through with the humiliation? Because born performers have no choice.
- 3/8/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to Bruno Dumont’s recent Berlinale selection The Empire.
‘The Empire’: Berlin Review
Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri, and Fabrice Luchini star in the sci-fi farce about extraterrestrial forces who descend on Earth after the birth of a baby in a French village triggers a secret intergalactic war.
The film won the Silver Bear Jury Prize in Berlin and is a Tessalit Productions production in co-production with Red Balloon Film, Ascent Film, Novak Prod, Rosa Filmes, and Furyo Films.
Jean Bréhat and Bertrand Faivre produced, and the co-producers are Dorothe Beinemeier,...
‘The Empire’: Berlin Review
Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri, and Fabrice Luchini star in the sci-fi farce about extraterrestrial forces who descend on Earth after the birth of a baby in a French village triggers a secret intergalactic war.
The film won the Silver Bear Jury Prize in Berlin and is a Tessalit Productions production in co-production with Red Balloon Film, Ascent Film, Novak Prod, Rosa Filmes, and Furyo Films.
Jean Bréhat and Bertrand Faivre produced, and the co-producers are Dorothe Beinemeier,...
- 3/7/2024
- ScreenDaily
Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Bruno Dumont’s “The Empire,” a sci-fi satire starring Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”), Camille Cottin (“Call My Agent!”), Lyna Khoudri (“The Three Musketeers”) and Fabrice Luchini.
“The Empire” just world premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize. The movie marks Dumont’s follow up to “France,” a dark comedy starring Léa Seydoux which competed at the Cannes Film Festival.
Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release later this year, followed by a home video, educational and digital release on all major platforms. The acquisition of “The Empire” marks the sixth time that Kino Lorber has collaborated with Dumont, with previous releases including “Li’l Quinquin,” “Coincoin and the Extra-Humans,” “Slack Bay,” “Camille Claudel 1915” and, most recently, “France.”
The film is set in a quiet and picturesque fishing village in Northern France, where a special...
“The Empire” just world premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize. The movie marks Dumont’s follow up to “France,” a dark comedy starring Léa Seydoux which competed at the Cannes Film Festival.
Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release later this year, followed by a home video, educational and digital release on all major platforms. The acquisition of “The Empire” marks the sixth time that Kino Lorber has collaborated with Dumont, with previous releases including “Li’l Quinquin,” “Coincoin and the Extra-Humans,” “Slack Bay,” “Camille Claudel 1915” and, most recently, “France.”
The film is set in a quiet and picturesque fishing village in Northern France, where a special...
- 3/7/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2024 Oscars Predictions:
Best Documentary Feature
Weekly Commentary: With the Directors Guild of America and BAFTA Awards in hand, in addition to the tragic news of the death of Alexei Navalny, the subject of the Oscar-winning “Navalny” last year, “20 Days in Mariupol” is too important to ignore.
Will Win:...
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2024 Oscars Predictions:
Best Documentary Feature
Weekly Commentary: With the Directors Guild of America and BAFTA Awards in hand, in addition to the tragic news of the death of Alexei Navalny, the subject of the Oscar-winning “Navalny” last year, “20 Days in Mariupol” is too important to ignore.
Will Win:...
- 3/7/2024
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Following multiple nominations for “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest,” industry insiders are excited for more “international” Academy Awards.
“The Oscars have been opening up to international filmmakers in recent years. I am happy to be one of them,” says Kaouther Ben Hania, nominated for doc “Four Daughters.”
“The Academy has made efforts to diversify its membership and nominations, leading to increased recognition for films from around the world. The expansion of categories like international feature film — formerly foreign-language film — and the inclusion of more international voices in other categories demonstrate a growing appreciation for global cinema,” Ben Hania adds.
“Let’s hope this becomes a trend, as audiovisual productions are increasingly global not only in their themes but also in their production models, which involve various countries for financing, artistic talents and technical expertise,” says Gabriela Sandoval, producer and president of Chile’s Assn. of Film and Television Producers.
“The Oscars have been opening up to international filmmakers in recent years. I am happy to be one of them,” says Kaouther Ben Hania, nominated for doc “Four Daughters.”
“The Academy has made efforts to diversify its membership and nominations, leading to increased recognition for films from around the world. The expansion of categories like international feature film — formerly foreign-language film — and the inclusion of more international voices in other categories demonstrate a growing appreciation for global cinema,” Ben Hania adds.
“Let’s hope this becomes a trend, as audiovisual productions are increasingly global not only in their themes but also in their production models, which involve various countries for financing, artistic talents and technical expertise,” says Gabriela Sandoval, producer and president of Chile’s Assn. of Film and Television Producers.
- 3/6/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Beta Film has picked up distribution rights to French thriller Homejacking, which is co-created by Lupin writer Tigran Rosine, and will launch sales at Series Mania.
The German major has revealed its slate for the Lille confab that kicks off in two weeks, with Homejacking set to air in the French Competition Section.
Commissioned for French pay-tv network Ocs, Homejacking is set in an affluent suburban residence where one morning, a middle-class couple is the victim of an intrusion by a hooded assailant. No one know yet what he is looking for, but deep in their basement lies a secret that was hidden for decades.
The series is co-created by Rosine, who penned eight episodes of Netflix smash Lupin. Florent Meyer (Blackspot) is the other co-creator and show was made in collaboration with Emmanuelle Faguer.
Beta also has Latvia’s Soviet Jeans, Germany’s 30 Days of Lust and Herrhausen...
The German major has revealed its slate for the Lille confab that kicks off in two weeks, with Homejacking set to air in the French Competition Section.
Commissioned for French pay-tv network Ocs, Homejacking is set in an affluent suburban residence where one morning, a middle-class couple is the victim of an intrusion by a hooded assailant. No one know yet what he is looking for, but deep in their basement lies a secret that was hidden for decades.
The series is co-created by Rosine, who penned eight episodes of Netflix smash Lupin. Florent Meyer (Blackspot) is the other co-creator and show was made in collaboration with Emmanuelle Faguer.
Beta also has Latvia’s Soviet Jeans, Germany’s 30 Days of Lust and Herrhausen...
- 3/5/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Ten projects have been selected for the second edition of Seriesmakers, Series Mania’s development lab for feature film directors sidestepping into series production.
The lab is run in collaboration with Beta, and this year features projects helmed by directors including Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters, and Kevin Macdonald, best known for The Mauritanian.
Ben Hania’s project is titled Freedom Academy and is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha. The synopsis reads: In the competitive world of television, a cunning producer and his optimistic wife battle for control of a daring reality TV show set in a high-security prison, hoping to capture the intense competition among incarcerated radicals all while the jury grapples with their divergent opinions on prisoners’ rehabilitation.
Macdonald’s series is titled George Blake and is produced by Femke Wolting. Synopsis reads: What makes a person turn against everything they ever stood for?...
The lab is run in collaboration with Beta, and this year features projects helmed by directors including Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters, and Kevin Macdonald, best known for The Mauritanian.
Ben Hania’s project is titled Freedom Academy and is produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha. The synopsis reads: In the competitive world of television, a cunning producer and his optimistic wife battle for control of a daring reality TV show set in a high-security prison, hoping to capture the intense competition among incarcerated radicals all while the jury grapples with their divergent opinions on prisoners’ rehabilitation.
Macdonald’s series is titled George Blake and is produced by Femke Wolting. Synopsis reads: What makes a person turn against everything they ever stood for?...
- 3/4/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Seriesmakers, a joint initiative of Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival, and European film-tv powerhouse Beta Group, has revealed the 10 top-notch project lineup of the second edition of its novel and high-powered mentoring program for filmmakers making their TV creator debut.
This year’s Seriesmakers features in development drama series from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (“George Blake”), behind “The Last King Of Scotland,” and from Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who burst onto the scene co-writing with Juho Kuosmanen the latter’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki,” a 2016 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner.
Also in the mix is the highly courted Kaouther Ben Hania, a double Oscar nominee for the “compelling, ambitious hybrid” “Four Daughters,” said Variety, in the doc category and the “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), Tunisia’s entry in international feature.
In all, however, nine of the ten directors winning berths this...
This year’s Seriesmakers features in development drama series from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (“George Blake”), behind “The Last King Of Scotland,” and from Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who burst onto the scene co-writing with Juho Kuosmanen the latter’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki,” a 2016 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner.
Also in the mix is the highly courted Kaouther Ben Hania, a double Oscar nominee for the “compelling, ambitious hybrid” “Four Daughters,” said Variety, in the doc category and the “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), Tunisia’s entry in international feature.
In all, however, nine of the ten directors winning berths this...
- 3/4/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Sci-fi blockbuster Dune: Part Two opens in 721 venues this weekend, carrying the hopes of many UK-Ireland cinemas after a slow start to 2024.
Denis Villeneuve’s sequel is Warner Bros’ fourth-widest opening of all time in the territory, after last year’s Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (749) and Barbie (724), and 2022’s Elvis (746).
It is opening on 62 sites more than Dune, which started in 659 venues in October 2021. That film began with a £4.8m weekend at a £7,210 average, dethroning James Bond title No Time To Die. It went on to a £22.1m total – a decent result in a market still feeling the effects of the pandemic.
Denis Villeneuve’s sequel is Warner Bros’ fourth-widest opening of all time in the territory, after last year’s Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (749) and Barbie (724), and 2022’s Elvis (746).
It is opening on 62 sites more than Dune, which started in 659 venues in October 2021. That film began with a £4.8m weekend at a £7,210 average, dethroning James Bond title No Time To Die. It went on to a £22.1m total – a decent result in a market still feeling the effects of the pandemic.
- 3/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
Note: Watch the full rebroadcast of the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Award livestream on our YouTube channel. Highlights below.
Thanks to the weather gods for pushing the expected rain back by a day, the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards returned to Santa Monica this Sunday under hot and somewhat muggy conditions, giving way to a gorgeous sunset which began to touch down just as the ceremony was ending. Which is to say, for the first time in years it was not freezing cold in the press tent (yay!).
As in past years, Official Partner Bulleit Frontier Whiskey was back at the pre-ceremony outdoor reception with multiple stations serving custom cocktails, alongside the official beer of these Spirit Awards, Stella Artois. For guests tackling two or three awards shows within 24 hours this weekend (the SAG Awards and the PGA Awards both fell on the same weekend) and dying for a caffeine boost,...
Thanks to the weather gods for pushing the expected rain back by a day, the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards returned to Santa Monica this Sunday under hot and somewhat muggy conditions, giving way to a gorgeous sunset which began to touch down just as the ceremony was ending. Which is to say, for the first time in years it was not freezing cold in the press tent (yay!).
As in past years, Official Partner Bulleit Frontier Whiskey was back at the pre-ceremony outdoor reception with multiple stations serving custom cocktails, alongside the official beer of these Spirit Awards, Stella Artois. For guests tackling two or three awards shows within 24 hours this weekend (the SAG Awards and the PGA Awards both fell on the same weekend) and dying for a caffeine boost,...
- 2/28/2024
- by Su Fang Tham
- Film Independent News & More
Paramount’s “Bob Marley: One Love” topped the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second consecutive weekend with £2.3 million ($3 million), according to numbers from Comscore.
The biopic now has a total of £11.3 million after its second weekend on release. Studiocanal’s “Wicked Little Letters” debuted in second place with £1.6 million. Universal’s “Migration” slid down a place to third with £1.4 million in its fourth weekend for a total of £16.4 million.
Sony’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Training” bowed in fourth position with £641,878. Rounding off the top five was another Sony title, “Madame Web,” which earned £602,018 in its second weekend for a total of £3.4 million.
The National Theatre Live release of filmed play “Vanya” with Andrew Scott premiered in 737 venues across U.K. and Ireland on Feb. 22, its widest release since the initiative began in 2009. National Theatre Live screenings play in a variety of venues which include cinemas,...
The biopic now has a total of £11.3 million after its second weekend on release. Studiocanal’s “Wicked Little Letters” debuted in second place with £1.6 million. Universal’s “Migration” slid down a place to third with £1.4 million in its fourth weekend for a total of £16.4 million.
Sony’s “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Training” bowed in fourth position with £641,878. Rounding off the top five was another Sony title, “Madame Web,” which earned £602,018 in its second weekend for a total of £3.4 million.
The National Theatre Live release of filmed play “Vanya” with Andrew Scott premiered in 737 venues across U.K. and Ireland on Feb. 22, its widest release since the initiative began in 2009. National Theatre Live screenings play in a variety of venues which include cinemas,...
- 2/27/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards stayed ahead of the Oscar curve once more, announcing their winners on Sunday, February 25 in the usual chilly white tent on the Santa Monica beach (and on YouTube). With Oscar voting not over until the evening of February 27, the winners at the 39th Spirits could gain valuable Oscar momentum.
Host Aidy Bryant played to a warm crowd who chuckled at her jokes. The Spirits are “also known as the bisexual Oscars,” she said. Being an awards show host is tricky, she added, “I could be panned, considered out of touch, and sexist, and potentially be slapped. Worst case: nobody mentions me.”
When she tried roasting the celebrities, she called “May December” star Natalie Portman a “stupid bitch,” Sterling K. Brown “a Stupid K. Bitch,” and said of Charles Melton, “everyone wants to have sex with you, you stupid bitch” and Greta Lee, “you...
Host Aidy Bryant played to a warm crowd who chuckled at her jokes. The Spirits are “also known as the bisexual Oscars,” she said. Being an awards show host is tricky, she added, “I could be panned, considered out of touch, and sexist, and potentially be slapped. Worst case: nobody mentions me.”
When she tried roasting the celebrities, she called “May December” star Natalie Portman a “stupid bitch,” Sterling K. Brown “a Stupid K. Bitch,” and said of Charles Melton, “everyone wants to have sex with you, you stupid bitch” and Greta Lee, “you...
- 2/26/2024
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Disney+ Hotstar announced today that the 96th Oscars® will be live-streamed in India on Monday, March 11 at 4 Am Ist. Emmy Award-winning late-night talk show host and producer Jimmy Kimmel will return to host the live show for the fourth time.
Actor In A Leading Role (Nominees)
Bradley Cooper
Maestro
Colman Domingo
Rustin
Paul Giamatti
The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy
Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright
American Fiction
Actor In A Supporting Role (Nominees)
Sterling K. Brown
American Fiction
Robert De Niro
Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr.
Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling
Barbie
Mark Ruffalo
Poor Things
Actress In A Leading Role (Nominees)
Annette Bening
Nyad
Lily Gladstone
Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra HÜLLER
Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan
Maestro
Emma Stone
Poor Things
Actress In A Supporting Role (Nominees)
Emily Blunt
Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks
The Color Purple
America Ferrera
Barbie
Jodie Foster
Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers
Animated Feature Film...
Actor In A Leading Role (Nominees)
Bradley Cooper
Maestro
Colman Domingo
Rustin
Paul Giamatti
The Holdovers
Cillian Murphy
Oppenheimer
Jeffrey Wright
American Fiction
Actor In A Supporting Role (Nominees)
Sterling K. Brown
American Fiction
Robert De Niro
Killers of the Flower Moon
Robert Downey Jr.
Oppenheimer
Ryan Gosling
Barbie
Mark Ruffalo
Poor Things
Actress In A Leading Role (Nominees)
Annette Bening
Nyad
Lily Gladstone
Killers of the Flower Moon
Sandra HÜLLER
Anatomy of a Fall
Carey Mulligan
Maestro
Emma Stone
Poor Things
Actress In A Supporting Role (Nominees)
Emily Blunt
Oppenheimer
Danielle Brooks
The Color Purple
America Ferrera
Barbie
Jodie Foster
Nyad
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers
Animated Feature Film...
- 2/26/2024
- by Editorial Desk
- GlamSham
People protesting the Israel-Hamas war outside the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards could be heard inside throughout the ceremony on Sunday afternoon.
A handful of protesters were outside the tent located on the beach in Santa Monica playing previously recorded chants on a megaphone such as “free Palestine,” “long live Palestine” and “ceasefire now.” The chants continued as awards were presented inside and were also heard during the red carpet arrivals earlier in the day.
Protesters chant “Free, Free Palestine” and “Ceasefire Now” outside the 2024 #SpiritAwards pic.twitter.com/HajqDt1D76
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 25, 2024
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the chants were “very audible” inside the tent where the ceremony was taking place. They could also be heard on the livestream of the event on Film Independent and IMDb’s YouTube channels. At one point, while actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan was presenting, he appeared to be...
A handful of protesters were outside the tent located on the beach in Santa Monica playing previously recorded chants on a megaphone such as “free Palestine,” “long live Palestine” and “ceasefire now.” The chants continued as awards were presented inside and were also heard during the red carpet arrivals earlier in the day.
Protesters chant “Free, Free Palestine” and “Ceasefire Now” outside the 2024 #SpiritAwards pic.twitter.com/HajqDt1D76
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 25, 2024
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the chants were “very audible” inside the tent where the ceremony was taking place. They could also be heard on the livestream of the event on Film Independent and IMDb’s YouTube channels. At one point, while actor and comedian Jim Gaffigan was presenting, he appeared to be...
- 2/25/2024
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With no new bust-out limited releases, repertory continues to do its part for the specialty box office, the latest a 4k restoration of Nostalghia. Kino Lorber said the Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1983 film, which opened Wednesday, will gross an estimated $22.87k at Film Forum in NYC for the five days.
It’s currently the top performer at the theater and will take in more than all other films screening there combined over that period. Two additional shows at the Roxie in San Francisco and the Austin Film Society bring combined grosses to about $29.4k. Expands next week to Philadelphia and Montreal with additional markets coming later. The film about a Russian poet and his interpreter, who travel to Italy researching the life of an 18th-century composer, stars Oleg Yankovskiy, Andrei Gorchakov, Erland Josephson, Domiziana Giordano and Patrizia Terreno.
Kino Lorber had success with the restored 4k re-release of Bernardo Bertolucci’s...
It’s currently the top performer at the theater and will take in more than all other films screening there combined over that period. Two additional shows at the Roxie in San Francisco and the Austin Film Society bring combined grosses to about $29.4k. Expands next week to Philadelphia and Montreal with additional markets coming later. The film about a Russian poet and his interpreter, who travel to Italy researching the life of an 18th-century composer, stars Oleg Yankovskiy, Andrei Gorchakov, Erland Josephson, Domiziana Giordano and Patrizia Terreno.
Kino Lorber had success with the restored 4k re-release of Bernardo Bertolucci’s...
- 2/25/2024
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa) won Best Documentary at the César Awards, France’s equivalent of the Academy Awards.
The ceremony, which crowned Anatomy of a Fall as Best Film, took place Friday night at the Olympia Theater in Paris. The win for Four Daughters comes in the midst of final Oscar voting, which runs until 5 p.m. Pt on Tuesday.
As she accepted the award, Tunisian-born Ben Hania turned her attention to the situation in Gaza, which Israel invaded after the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed an estimated 1,200 men, women and children and in which Hamas seized more than 240 hostages (roughly a quarter of the hostages are believed dead). The Ministry of Health in Gaza says more than 10,000 Palestinian children have been killed since the start of Israel’s bombing and ground campaign in Gaza.
Director Kaouther Ben Hania and producer...
The ceremony, which crowned Anatomy of a Fall as Best Film, took place Friday night at the Olympia Theater in Paris. The win for Four Daughters comes in the midst of final Oscar voting, which runs until 5 p.m. Pt on Tuesday.
As she accepted the award, Tunisian-born Ben Hania turned her attention to the situation in Gaza, which Israel invaded after the October 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel that killed an estimated 1,200 men, women and children and in which Hamas seized more than 240 hostages (roughly a quarter of the hostages are believed dead). The Ministry of Health in Gaza says more than 10,000 Palestinian children have been killed since the start of Israel’s bombing and ground campaign in Gaza.
Director Kaouther Ben Hania and producer...
- 2/24/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The César Awards are always the biggest night of the year for French cinema, but the massive award season impact of “Anatomy of a Fall” ensured that this year’s event took on additional importance for Oscar watchers around the globe. When the 49th César Awards took place in Paris on Friday night, all eyes were on Justine Triet and her Palme d’Or-winning film.
Predictably, “Anatomy of a Fall” swept many of the night’s biggest categories. In addition to winning the top prize of Best Film, Triet was honored with Best Director and shared Best Screenplay with her partner Arthur Harari. Stars Sandra Hüller and Swann Arlaud also won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.
The night’s other big winner was Thomas Cailley’s “The Animal Kingdom,” which won awards for Cinematography, Visual Effects, Costume Design, and Sound.
Keep reading for a complete list of winners from the 2024 César Awards.
Predictably, “Anatomy of a Fall” swept many of the night’s biggest categories. In addition to winning the top prize of Best Film, Triet was honored with Best Director and shared Best Screenplay with her partner Arthur Harari. Stars Sandra Hüller and Swann Arlaud also won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.
The night’s other big winner was Thomas Cailley’s “The Animal Kingdom,” which won awards for Cinematography, Visual Effects, Costume Design, and Sound.
Keep reading for a complete list of winners from the 2024 César Awards.
- 2/23/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The 49th Cesar Awards, France’s top film honors, have been handed out in Paris, with Justine Triet‘s Oscar contender Anatomy of a Fall emerging as the big winner.
The French courtroom drama — which is competing at the Oscars in five categories — earned the best film prize, best actress for Sandra Hüller, best director for Triet, best original screenplay shared between Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari, and Swann Arlaud took home the best supporting actor trophy.
Hüller won in the best actress category over Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, nominated for Little Girl Blue; Lea Drucker, up for Last Summer; Hafsia Herzi, nominated for The Rapture; and Belgian actress Virginie Efira, nominated for her work in Just the Two of Us.
The other big winner on the night was The Animal Kingdom, French director Thomas Cailley’s follow-up to 2014’s Love at First Fight. Cailley picked up the best cinematography...
The French courtroom drama — which is competing at the Oscars in five categories — earned the best film prize, best actress for Sandra Hüller, best director for Triet, best original screenplay shared between Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari, and Swann Arlaud took home the best supporting actor trophy.
Hüller won in the best actress category over Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, nominated for Little Girl Blue; Lea Drucker, up for Last Summer; Hafsia Herzi, nominated for The Rapture; and Belgian actress Virginie Efira, nominated for her work in Just the Two of Us.
The other big winner on the night was The Animal Kingdom, French director Thomas Cailley’s follow-up to 2014’s Love at First Fight. Cailley picked up the best cinematography...
- 2/23/2024
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Film Independent Spirit Awards have been dutifully assigned to their worthy recipients, thus putting a button on yet another great year of indie film and innovative visual storytelling. And as awards prognosticators now ponder their Oscar futures with this new data set and the tent falls around our knees, we want to shout out one more time all of the producers, writers, directors, performers and more who made this such a special experience.
This year’s ceremony streamed live on IMDb’s YouTube and across other social platforms, including Film Independent’s own YouTube channel and Twitter (or “X” if you’re being pedantic). The full livestream (see below) will remain available to watch On Demand for the next eight weeks, which highlights, behind-the-scenes moments, arrival carpet interviews and more will are available at filmindependent.org and wherever fine entertainment journalism prevails.
Best Supporting Performance
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers...
This year’s ceremony streamed live on IMDb’s YouTube and across other social platforms, including Film Independent’s own YouTube channel and Twitter (or “X” if you’re being pedantic). The full livestream (see below) will remain available to watch On Demand for the next eight weeks, which highlights, behind-the-scenes moments, arrival carpet interviews and more will are available at filmindependent.org and wherever fine entertainment journalism prevails.
Best Supporting Performance
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers...
- 2/23/2024
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
At first, Kaouther Ben Hania couldn’t figure out what Four Daughters should entail. She’d started working on the film in 2016 after seeing news reports about Olfa Hamrouni, a mother in the director’s native Tunisia whose two teenage daughters ran away from home and joined Isis in a stunning act of radicalization. Ben Hania thought she’d make a conventional documentary, but after spending time with Hamrouni, she realized the story was too complex for that. So she pressed pause, made the 2020 drama The Man Who Sold His Skin (which earned an Oscar nom for international feature) and came back with a new idea: She would hire actors to portray the family, including Hamrouni’s missing children. Throughout the shoot, they restaged memories and discussed the family’s history alongside Hamrouni and her two younger daughters.
What results is a profound meditation that blurs genre lines. Four Daughters...
What results is a profound meditation that blurs genre lines. Four Daughters...
- 2/20/2024
- by Matthew Jacobs
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea Iff) has confirmed the fourth edition of the festival will take place from the 5th to the 14th December 2024 in Jeddah, taking place in the brand-new headquarters in Al Balad.
The recently wrapped third edition showcased 125 films from 75 countries, with internationally renowned writer, director and producer Baz Luhrmann presiding as Head of the Jury, with 17 features and 25 short films in competition. The festival and industry Souk welcomed over 5,000 delegates attending screenings and panels, with 938 companies in attendance networking and dealmaking.
The festival, in its previous editions, also hosted masterclasses and ‘In Conversations with', providing audiences with intimate interviews and sessions in addition to notable A list attendees to date which included this year Oscar nominee Kaouther Ben Hania, Chris Hemsworth, Guy Ritchie, Luca Guadanino, Oliver Stone, Jason Statham, Shah Rukh Khan, Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt, Nadine Labaki, Spike Lee, Giuseppe Tornatore,...
The recently wrapped third edition showcased 125 films from 75 countries, with internationally renowned writer, director and producer Baz Luhrmann presiding as Head of the Jury, with 17 features and 25 short films in competition. The festival and industry Souk welcomed over 5,000 delegates attending screenings and panels, with 938 companies in attendance networking and dealmaking.
The festival, in its previous editions, also hosted masterclasses and ‘In Conversations with', providing audiences with intimate interviews and sessions in addition to notable A list attendees to date which included this year Oscar nominee Kaouther Ben Hania, Chris Hemsworth, Guy Ritchie, Luca Guadanino, Oliver Stone, Jason Statham, Shah Rukh Khan, Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt, Nadine Labaki, Spike Lee, Giuseppe Tornatore,...
- 2/14/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
It’s been a busy week for Oscar-nominated documentary filmmakers Maite Alberdi and Kaouther Ben Hania. On Monday, Alberdi, director of The Eternal Memory, and Ben Hania, director of Four Daughters, joined fellow nominees at the glittering Oscar Nominees Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton. Today, they sit down with Deadline for the latest edition of our Doc Talk podcast.
In her film, Alberdi documents the relationship between two of Chile’s most prominent figures in the arts and journalism – Paulina Urrutia and Augusto Góngora – a love story that endured even as Augusto coped with advancing Alzheimer’s disease. The director explains why she sees The Eternal Memory as “an answer” to her previous film The Mole Agent, which earned Alberdi the first Oscar nomination of her career..
In Four Daughters, Ben Hania explores a story from her native Tunisia — the case of a woman named Olfa who raised four girls, only to see the two eldest fall under the sway of radical Islamist ideology and join Isis. The director tells us why she made the decision to incorporate actors into her film to play Olfa and her two oldest daughters in re-creations. She also talks about why Hind Sabri, a star of Arab cinema who took on the role of Olfa, felt afraid of the woman she was portraying. And Ben Hania explains why a male actor she hired walked off the set during one particularly intense scene.
This marks a return trip to the Academy Awards for Ben Hania as well as Alberdi. They were both nominated in 2021 – Alberdi for Documentary Feature and Ben Hania in International Feature for her narrative feature The Man Who Sold His Skin.
In the new episode of Doc Talk, we also revisit our interview from last fall with Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp, directors of the Oscar-nominated documentary Bobi Wine: The People’s President. And the titular Bobi Wine – the Ugandan pop star turned politician — joins us too – explaining what he wishes the filmmakers had left out of the documentary.
That’s on Doc Talk, the podcast co-hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. Doc Talk is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios, presented with support from National Geographic Documentary Films.
In her film, Alberdi documents the relationship between two of Chile’s most prominent figures in the arts and journalism – Paulina Urrutia and Augusto Góngora – a love story that endured even as Augusto coped with advancing Alzheimer’s disease. The director explains why she sees The Eternal Memory as “an answer” to her previous film The Mole Agent, which earned Alberdi the first Oscar nomination of her career..
In Four Daughters, Ben Hania explores a story from her native Tunisia — the case of a woman named Olfa who raised four girls, only to see the two eldest fall under the sway of radical Islamist ideology and join Isis. The director tells us why she made the decision to incorporate actors into her film to play Olfa and her two oldest daughters in re-creations. She also talks about why Hind Sabri, a star of Arab cinema who took on the role of Olfa, felt afraid of the woman she was portraying. And Ben Hania explains why a male actor she hired walked off the set during one particularly intense scene.
This marks a return trip to the Academy Awards for Ben Hania as well as Alberdi. They were both nominated in 2021 – Alberdi for Documentary Feature and Ben Hania in International Feature for her narrative feature The Man Who Sold His Skin.
In the new episode of Doc Talk, we also revisit our interview from last fall with Moses Bwayo and Christopher Sharp, directors of the Oscar-nominated documentary Bobi Wine: The People’s President. And the titular Bobi Wine – the Ugandan pop star turned politician — joins us too – explaining what he wishes the filmmakers had left out of the documentary.
That’s on Doc Talk, the podcast co-hosted by Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s documentary editor. Doc Talk is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios, presented with support from National Geographic Documentary Films.
- 2/13/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Paris-based company The Party Film Sales has boarded international rights to “Aicha,” Mehdi M. Barsaoui’s follow-up to the Venice-premiering “A Son,” and “Transmazonia” by Pia Marais (“Layla Fourie”).
WME Independent is repping North America and multi-territory deals on “Transmazonia.” Both films are in post-production and will be teased by The Party Film Sales at the European Film Market where the company will unveil promo-reels.
Set in contemporary Tunisia, “Aicha” is inspired by true events and tells the story of Aya, a woman in her late 20s who lives with her parents, feeling trapped in a life without prospects. One day, she’s involved in a bus crash while commuting to work. As the sole survivor of the accident, she realizes it could be her chance to start a new life. She flees to Tunis under a new identity, but everything is soon compromised after she witnesses a police blunder.
WME Independent is repping North America and multi-territory deals on “Transmazonia.” Both films are in post-production and will be teased by The Party Film Sales at the European Film Market where the company will unveil promo-reels.
Set in contemporary Tunisia, “Aicha” is inspired by true events and tells the story of Aya, a woman in her late 20s who lives with her parents, feeling trapped in a life without prospects. One day, she’s involved in a bus crash while commuting to work. As the sole survivor of the accident, she realizes it could be her chance to start a new life. She flees to Tunis under a new identity, but everything is soon compromised after she witnesses a police blunder.
- 2/7/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago this month, instinct told Ukrainian photojournalist and war correspondent Mstyslav Chernov to head to Mariupol, a strategically important city located on the along the Sea of Azov. His intuition proved correct.
Within an hour of arriving there with a small team, Russia began bombarding Mariupol – the first salvo in a siege that would strangulate the city of half a million people, killing tens of thousands of civilians. The harrowing footage Chernov captured became the substance of 20 Days in Mariupol, the documentary that has earned the director the first Oscar nomination of his career.
Chernov joins the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to discuss what the Oscar nomination means for his film and Russia’s efforts to sow a false counter-narrative to the carnage he documented. We also welcome another first-time Oscar nominee, director Nisha Pahuja, recognized...
Within an hour of arriving there with a small team, Russia began bombarding Mariupol – the first salvo in a siege that would strangulate the city of half a million people, killing tens of thousands of civilians. The harrowing footage Chernov captured became the substance of 20 Days in Mariupol, the documentary that has earned the director the first Oscar nomination of his career.
Chernov joins the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to discuss what the Oscar nomination means for his film and Russia’s efforts to sow a false counter-narrative to the carnage he documented. We also welcome another first-time Oscar nominee, director Nisha Pahuja, recognized...
- 2/6/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
More than a week after this year’s Oscar nominees were unveiled, the documentary world is still reeling from this year’s selections and trying to figure out what they might mean for the struggling sector. Notably, all filmmakers were international and the majority lacked distribution by major streamers; presumed favorites backed by Netflix, Apple TV+ and Max all failed to score a slot on the final Oscar ballot.
Doc branch voters no longer seem impressed by the major streamers’ ability to spend millions during campaign season, documentary film leaders tell Variety, and in the view of several notables, could harbor resentment towards those who have benefited from big spending by streamers.
This year’s feature nominees are: Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol” (PBS), Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” (Kino Lorber), Nisha Pahuja’s “To Kill a Tiger”, Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory” (MTV Documentary Films...
Doc branch voters no longer seem impressed by the major streamers’ ability to spend millions during campaign season, documentary film leaders tell Variety, and in the view of several notables, could harbor resentment towards those who have benefited from big spending by streamers.
This year’s feature nominees are: Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol” (PBS), Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” (Kino Lorber), Nisha Pahuja’s “To Kill a Tiger”, Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory” (MTV Documentary Films...
- 2/3/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: MTV Documentary Films has announced a return theatrical engagement for its Oscar-nominated documentary The Eternal Memory, beginning today and extending throughout the month of February.
Maite Alberdi’s film, a love story that Deadline has compared to the narrative features Amour and Doctor Zhivago, will play exclusively at IFC Center in New York and in the Los Angeles area at two locations: Laemmle Monica Film Center in Santa Monica and Laemmle Glendale. In addition, MTV Documentary Films has set what it describes as “a very special Valentine’s Day Drive-In event on the evening of February 14 in the San Francisco Bay Area at the West Wind Drive-In theater, where couples can celebrate the love story of Paulina and Augusto that Alberdi so wonderfully captured in the film.”
‘The Eternal Memory’
A description of the film notes, “Augusto and Paulina have been together and in love for more than two decades.
Maite Alberdi’s film, a love story that Deadline has compared to the narrative features Amour and Doctor Zhivago, will play exclusively at IFC Center in New York and in the Los Angeles area at two locations: Laemmle Monica Film Center in Santa Monica and Laemmle Glendale. In addition, MTV Documentary Films has set what it describes as “a very special Valentine’s Day Drive-In event on the evening of February 14 in the San Francisco Bay Area at the West Wind Drive-In theater, where couples can celebrate the love story of Paulina and Augusto that Alberdi so wonderfully captured in the film.”
‘The Eternal Memory’
A description of the film notes, “Augusto and Paulina have been together and in love for more than two decades.
- 2/3/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Sometimes the most important stories are the hardest to tell, the secrets one most wants to share too painful to speak. Olfa had four daughters. This much we know from the title, but only two are with her now. What happened to the others? As the film opens, director Kaouther Ben Hania introduces actors who will help her to explain. Actors to play the two missing daughters, an actor to play the various men who have connected with the family, and an actor to play Olfa herself at times when it all becomes too much.
Working with these actors, with Olfa and with daughters Eya and Tayssir, Ben Hania unravels the complex story through a mixture of interviews and reenactments, some of which are discussed in front of the camera before they are performed. The exposure of the film’s underlying structures...
Working with these actors, with Olfa and with daughters Eya and Tayssir, Ben Hania unravels the complex story through a mixture of interviews and reenactments, some of which are discussed in front of the camera before they are performed. The exposure of the film’s underlying structures...
- 1/28/2024
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
2024 Sundance Film Festival
Through Sunday, one can experience the 2024 Sundance Film Festival from the comfort of their own home, if it’s in the United States. Having seen over 50 titles in the lineup, in terms of films with tickets still available I can highly recommend Good One, Between the Temples, Tendaberry, Black Box Diaries, Ibelin, Kneecap, Didi, Brief History of a Family, Porcelain War, Sugarcane, Sujo, Seeking Mavis Beacon, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Union, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Realm of Satan. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Official Site (through Sunday only)
Amanda (Carolina Cavalli)
Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature doesn’t hit theaters for another few months, but you’d be forgiven if you thought it was actually Amanda, writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly humorous,...
2024 Sundance Film Festival
Through Sunday, one can experience the 2024 Sundance Film Festival from the comfort of their own home, if it’s in the United States. Having seen over 50 titles in the lineup, in terms of films with tickets still available I can highly recommend Good One, Between the Temples, Tendaberry, Black Box Diaries, Ibelin, Kneecap, Didi, Brief History of a Family, Porcelain War, Sugarcane, Sujo, Seeking Mavis Beacon, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Union, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Realm of Satan. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Official Site (through Sunday only)
Amanda (Carolina Cavalli)
Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature doesn’t hit theaters for another few months, but you’d be forgiven if you thought it was actually Amanda, writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly humorous,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here bringing you all the news and analysis from another busy week, during which we have been to Spain through Argentina via Berlin. Oh, and there was the small matter of the Oscar noms. Read on, and sign up here.
Spain In The Spotlight
Secuoya’s scale and pace: Diana Lodderhose kicking things off here and I had the pleasure of going to Madrid before the holidays to take a look at the impressive Secuoya Content Group’s headquarters, which hosts Netflix’s European Production Hub, located just 17 miles north of Madrid. After a lengthy chat with its owners and founders Raul Berdonés and Pablo Jimeno as well as James Costos, president of its TV and film fiction arm Secuoya Studios, what became quickly apparent is the scale and pace at which this company is moving. “We’re not your traditional production company,” Berdonés said.
Spain In The Spotlight
Secuoya’s scale and pace: Diana Lodderhose kicking things off here and I had the pleasure of going to Madrid before the holidays to take a look at the impressive Secuoya Content Group’s headquarters, which hosts Netflix’s European Production Hub, located just 17 miles north of Madrid. After a lengthy chat with its owners and founders Raul Berdonés and Pablo Jimeno as well as James Costos, president of its TV and film fiction arm Secuoya Studios, what became quickly apparent is the scale and pace at which this company is moving. “We’re not your traditional production company,” Berdonés said.
- 1/26/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) opens this evening with New Zealand director Jonathan Olgilvie’s coming-of-age tale Head South set against the late 1970s, post-punk music culture of his home city of Christchurch.
IFFR previously selected Olgilvie’s sci-fi thriller Lone Wolf for its Big Screen Competition in 2021.
“It’s the first time we’re going to meet him in person because it was during Corona,” says IFFR Artistic Director Vanja Kaludjercic of the first selection.
“When you put the two films side by side, you ask how can one filmmaker make two such different films,” she adds. “We really admire his creativity and ingenuity.”
Over the course of the next 10 days, Rotterdam will screen some 440 works.
The Main Competition for this 53rd edition is characteristically diverse.
The 14 features in the running for the main Tiger Award include Brooklyn-based filmmaker Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich’s The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, exploring the life of the titular,...
IFFR previously selected Olgilvie’s sci-fi thriller Lone Wolf for its Big Screen Competition in 2021.
“It’s the first time we’re going to meet him in person because it was during Corona,” says IFFR Artistic Director Vanja Kaludjercic of the first selection.
“When you put the two films side by side, you ask how can one filmmaker make two such different films,” she adds. “We really admire his creativity and ingenuity.”
Over the course of the next 10 days, Rotterdam will screen some 440 works.
The Main Competition for this 53rd edition is characteristically diverse.
The 14 features in the running for the main Tiger Award include Brooklyn-based filmmaker Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich’s The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire, exploring the life of the titular,...
- 1/25/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The 53rd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, taking place between Jan. 25 – Feb. 4, will be the first for Clare Stewart as managing director. Functioning under a dual leadership structure where the managing director and festival director oversee the commercial and creative elements of the organization respectively, IFFR appointed Stewart back in June 2023 to focus on the festival’s business side.
Speaking to Variety ahead of the festival and joined by festival director Vanja Kaludjercic, the former director of the Sydney Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival emphasized it feels like a “full circle moment” to be back in Rotterdam after first attending IFFR over 20 years ago as her first international film event outside of her home country of Australia.
“It’s also interesting to be coming in as the managing director, having previously held roles that either combined the two or were more of a creative director role,...
Speaking to Variety ahead of the festival and joined by festival director Vanja Kaludjercic, the former director of the Sydney Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival emphasized it feels like a “full circle moment” to be back in Rotterdam after first attending IFFR over 20 years ago as her first international film event outside of her home country of Australia.
“It’s also interesting to be coming in as the managing director, having previously held roles that either combined the two or were more of a creative director role,...
- 1/25/2024
- by Rafa Sales Ross
- Variety Film + TV
Thomas Cailley’s fantasy drama The Animal Kingdom topped the nominations for France’s César Awards, which were announced in Paris on Wednesday.
The drama picked up 12 nominations with Justine Triet’s Oscar hopeful Anatomy Of A Fall coming in second with 11 nominations, followed by Jeanne Herry’s All Your Faces, which nine, and The Goldman Case, with eight.
Set in a world where human beings start transmuting into animals, The Animal Kingdom world premiered as the opening film of Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2023 and went on to make $8.5M at the box office last fall.
The Animal Kingdom and Anatomy of a Fall are competing in eight categories spanning Best Film, Director, Original Screenplay, Male Revelation, Editing, Sound, Cinematography and Production Design.
The high nomination count for Herry’s ensemble drama All Your Faces was thanks to the fact it dominated the Supporting Actress category with separate nominations for cast members Leila Bekhti,...
The drama picked up 12 nominations with Justine Triet’s Oscar hopeful Anatomy Of A Fall coming in second with 11 nominations, followed by Jeanne Herry’s All Your Faces, which nine, and The Goldman Case, with eight.
Set in a world where human beings start transmuting into animals, The Animal Kingdom world premiered as the opening film of Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2023 and went on to make $8.5M at the box office last fall.
The Animal Kingdom and Anatomy of a Fall are competing in eight categories spanning Best Film, Director, Original Screenplay, Male Revelation, Editing, Sound, Cinematography and Production Design.
The high nomination count for Herry’s ensemble drama All Your Faces was thanks to the fact it dominated the Supporting Actress category with separate nominations for cast members Leila Bekhti,...
- 1/24/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The failure of France’s The Taste of Things to secure an Oscar nomination for best international film this year has discomfited the French film industry as it marks the fourth year a French film has not made the final five.
Talk is now already turning to whether this could mean further change on the horizon for its selection committee.
Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall, the film the committee opted not to select, secured five major nominations, for best picture, best director, best actress, best original screenplay and best film editing.
Back in September, after a series of reportedly passionate but cordial debates,...
Talk is now already turning to whether this could mean further change on the horizon for its selection committee.
Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall, the film the committee opted not to select, secured five major nominations, for best picture, best director, best actress, best original screenplay and best film editing.
Back in September, after a series of reportedly passionate but cordial debates,...
- 1/24/2024
- ScreenDaily
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