“In the Streets” is the first edition of the Notebook Insert, a seasonal supplement on moving-image culture. Each issue, published over the course of a week, will include a number of features on a particular theme, accompanied by original illustrations. For this inaugural offering, we consider the ever-increasing presence of video in public spaces, from live streams to protest projections, from commercial advertising to state propaganda, and from architectural marvels to in-flight entertainment.In this issue:Illustration by Lale Westvind."Las Vegas Plays Itself" by Nicholas RussellIn cinema, if not in live streams, the sense of the city is confirmed by pre-chewed images.Illustration by Lale Westvind."The Illuminator Strikes Again" by Maxwell Paparella The mobile projection collective shines a light on the structures of power.Illustration by Lale Westvind."Multiplex | In the Streets," with contributions by Martine Syms, Radu Jude, Amalia Ulman, Pan Lu, and Allee Errico Short-form responses to...
- 5/2/2024
- MUBI
Magazine Dreams.The Sundance Film Festival returned this year for its first in-person edition since the oblivious winter of 2020, when Zola was the talk of Park City and the coronavirus still seemed like something that Purell could contain. During two consecutive years of virtual iterations, Sundance managed to launch visionary, critically-praised narrative features onto dissimilar post-festival trajectories. Rebecca Hall’s Passing, a provocative adaptation of Nella Larsen’s novella, rode out awards season on the considerable strengths of its lead performances, only to fizzle out come Oscar time. Conversely, the Academy Awards triumph of Siân Heder’s Coda, now the first festival selection to win Best Picture, is surely fueling the daydreams of many past, present, and future Sundance-stamped filmmakers. Acquired by Apple for $25 million and showered with a $10 million awards campaign that equaled its production budget, Coda seems to offer definitive proof that no matter how visually flat and...
- 2/8/2023
- MUBI
Amalia Ulman's El Planeta is now showing exclusively on Mubi in many countries—including Canada, India, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, and France—in the series Debuts.Courtesy of Rob Kulisek.Despite the small budget we had to shoot El Planeta, I decided to allocate some of it to invite a few of my talented friends to Gijón so we could make a publication about the film. Some of the guests were photographers, like Rob Kulisek, Bruno Zhu, and Alice Neale. And the other two were writers, Natasha Stagg and Dean Kissick. It didn't seem like much at the time, but after the pandemic happened it was clear to me that it had been one of the smartest decisions I had ever made, since the possibility to easily travel to Asturias in 2020 seemed like a strange utopian dream from a time long gone. Here, I made a selection of my favorite...
- 12/13/2022
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSEnys Men (Mark Jenkin).The New York Film Festival announced its Main Slate. Highlights include new films from Park Chan-wook, Claire Denis, and Kelly Reichardt; a fiction feature from Frederick Wiseman; Mark Jenkin's Bait follow-up Enys Men; and much more.Hong Kong action director John Woo will reimagine his 1989 crime classic The Killer in a new remake due out in 2023. French actor Omar Sy (The Intouchables) will play the lead.Lars Von Trier has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, his production company Zoetrope has confirmed. The director is doing well, and is currently being treated for symptoms whilst continuing to work on The Kingdom Exodus.Artist and El Planeta filmmaker Amalia Ulman's visa is expiring, meaning she may have to leave the United States, where she is currently working on her next feature film.
- 8/9/2022
- MUBI
Exclusive: Kyle Jaeger has joined 2Am as a manager and will focus on representing emerging creators across film, television and theater.
Jaeger spent the past six years at ICM Partners as an agent in the firm’s TV literary group. He was involved in the sale of numerous high-end development to FX, HBO Max and Netflix, among others. He also helped staff clients on series such as HBO’s The Idol and The Sympathizer, on HBO Max’s The Other Two, as well as Showtime’s hit series Yellowjackets.
During his time at ICM, he built a reputation for identifying and developing emerging voices from varying backgrounds; several of his clients are expected to join him at 2Am including Eboni Booth, who was involved in HBO Max’s Julia.
2Am is coming off a busy first year having signed new filmmakers with films coming out or about to premiere. That...
Jaeger spent the past six years at ICM Partners as an agent in the firm’s TV literary group. He was involved in the sale of numerous high-end development to FX, HBO Max and Netflix, among others. He also helped staff clients on series such as HBO’s The Idol and The Sympathizer, on HBO Max’s The Other Two, as well as Showtime’s hit series Yellowjackets.
During his time at ICM, he built a reputation for identifying and developing emerging voices from varying backgrounds; several of his clients are expected to join him at 2Am including Eboni Booth, who was involved in HBO Max’s Julia.
2Am is coming off a busy first year having signed new filmmakers with films coming out or about to premiere. That...
- 8/9/2022
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Robert Schwartzman and Cole Harper’s growing U.S. distribution and sales firm Utopia has promoted Kyle Greenberg to Head of Marketing & Distribution.
During Greenberg’s tenure, Utopia has released movies including Vortex by Gaspar Noe, El Planeta by Amalia Ulman, American Dharma by Errol Morris, Indie Spirit winner Shiva Baby by Emma Seligman, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair by Jane Schoenbrun, Rad! by Hal Needham, Facing Nolan by Bradley Jackson and the upcoming Sharp Stick by Lena Dunham. As we recently revealed, the company made its biggest splash to date on Cannes movie Holy Spider.
Before joining Utopia, Greenberg worked at Gunpowder & Sky.
“Utopia has grown significantly over the past couple years, and with our explosive success in theatrical and digital distribution to complement our sales efforts, it’s time to take our team and infrastructure to the next level,” said Robert Schwartzman.
During Greenberg’s tenure, Utopia has released movies including Vortex by Gaspar Noe, El Planeta by Amalia Ulman, American Dharma by Errol Morris, Indie Spirit winner Shiva Baby by Emma Seligman, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair by Jane Schoenbrun, Rad! by Hal Needham, Facing Nolan by Bradley Jackson and the upcoming Sharp Stick by Lena Dunham. As we recently revealed, the company made its biggest splash to date on Cannes movie Holy Spider.
Before joining Utopia, Greenberg worked at Gunpowder & Sky.
“Utopia has grown significantly over the past couple years, and with our explosive success in theatrical and digital distribution to complement our sales efforts, it’s time to take our team and infrastructure to the next level,” said Robert Schwartzman.
- 7/25/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Danish-Iranian director Ali Abbasi’s boundary-pushing serial killer thriller “Holy Spider has been acquired by U.S. sales and distribution company Utopia for North America.
Based on a real Iranian crime case, “Holy Spider” – which made a major splash when it premiered in the Cannes competition on Sunday – is about a family man named Saeed (Mehdi Bajestani) who becomes a serial killer as he embarks on his own religious quest to “cleanse” the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of street prostitutes.
Pic chronicles a killing spree in the streets of Mashhad, where 16 prostitutes were found dead from 2000 to 2001. A local journalist, Rahimi (Zar Amir-Ebrahimi), is trying to crack the case as she grows frustrated by the police’s apathy toward finding the murderer. But in one of many twists in this drama, the identity of the serial killer is revealed early on — he’s a war veteran, a seemingly normal...
Based on a real Iranian crime case, “Holy Spider” – which made a major splash when it premiered in the Cannes competition on Sunday – is about a family man named Saeed (Mehdi Bajestani) who becomes a serial killer as he embarks on his own religious quest to “cleanse” the holy Iranian city of Mashhad of street prostitutes.
Pic chronicles a killing spree in the streets of Mashhad, where 16 prostitutes were found dead from 2000 to 2001. A local journalist, Rahimi (Zar Amir-Ebrahimi), is trying to crack the case as she grows frustrated by the police’s apathy toward finding the murderer. But in one of many twists in this drama, the identity of the serial killer is revealed early on — he’s a war veteran, a seemingly normal...
- 5/25/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety 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.
All My Friends Hate Me (Andrew Gaynord)
Pete (Tom Stourton) hasn’t seen his university mates in years. Ten years to be exact. It happens. Life happens. We reach adulthood, mature, and set goals for ourselves that the people who were closest to us during that formidable period simply cannot follow—their own ambitions lie upon different forks in the road. So resentment shouldn’t factor in. Nor should jealousy. Yet Pete can’t help wondering about both. A little voice in the back of his head wonders if a decade was too long to pretend things could pick up where they left off. Would their very posh upbringing think he abandoned them to work with refugees? Do they think he thinks...
All My Friends Hate Me (Andrew Gaynord)
Pete (Tom Stourton) hasn’t seen his university mates in years. Ten years to be exact. It happens. Life happens. We reach adulthood, mature, and set goals for ourselves that the people who were closest to us during that formidable period simply cannot follow—their own ambitions lie upon different forks in the road. So resentment shouldn’t factor in. Nor should jealousy. Yet Pete can’t help wondering about both. A little voice in the back of his head wonders if a decade was too long to pretend things could pick up where they left off. Would their very posh upbringing think he abandoned them to work with refugees? Do they think he thinks...
- 3/25/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee” has been named the best nonfiction film of 2021 at the 15th annual Cinema Eye Honors, which were presented on Tuesday night in New York City. “The Rescue,” about the efforts to retrieve a Thai youth soccer team from a flooded cave, won the Audience Choice Prize.
The Neon release “Flee,” which uses animation to give anonymity to a young gay man who escaped Afghanistan as a teenager and made his way to Denmark, also won the award for graphic design and animation. It is nominated for Oscars in the documentary, animated-feature and international-feature categories.
Robert Greene won the directing award for “Procession,” while Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville took the producing prize for “The First Wave.”
Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won the most Cinema Eye awards, three, taking the prizes for debut feature, cinematography and score.
Other winners included “Summer of Soul...
The Neon release “Flee,” which uses animation to give anonymity to a young gay man who escaped Afghanistan as a teenager and made his way to Denmark, also won the award for graphic design and animation. It is nominated for Oscars in the documentary, animated-feature and international-feature categories.
Robert Greene won the directing award for “Procession,” while Matthew Heineman, Jenna Millman and Leslie Norville took the producing prize for “The First Wave.”
Jessica Kingdon’s “Ascension” won the most Cinema Eye awards, three, taking the prizes for debut feature, cinematography and score.
Other winners included “Summer of Soul...
- 3/2/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Independent film supporter Rooftop Films announced the 2022 Filmmaker Fund winners February 28, exclusively on IndieWire.
The prestigious Water Tower Feature Film Cash Grant was awarded to “The 40-Year-Old Version” writer-director-producer-star Radha Blank, for her upcoming untitled dark dramedy.
Environmental director Eleanor Mortimer also won a Water Tower grant for an untitled deep sea taxonomy documentary, which “follows biologists through the intricate process of discovering deep-sea species as they piece together the unknown ecosystems of the largest biome on the planet.”
The $15,000 grants are made possible by generous support from the Laurence W. Levine Foundation.
The Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grants are available to Rooftop Films alumni directors who have previously had their work screened during the annual Summer Series in New York City. Blank screened her debut feature, “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” with Rooftop Films in 2020 at the Queens Drive-In. Mortimer screened her award-winning short film “Territory” at Rooftop Films in 2016.
This year,...
The prestigious Water Tower Feature Film Cash Grant was awarded to “The 40-Year-Old Version” writer-director-producer-star Radha Blank, for her upcoming untitled dark dramedy.
Environmental director Eleanor Mortimer also won a Water Tower grant for an untitled deep sea taxonomy documentary, which “follows biologists through the intricate process of discovering deep-sea species as they piece together the unknown ecosystems of the largest biome on the planet.”
The $15,000 grants are made possible by generous support from the Laurence W. Levine Foundation.
The Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grants are available to Rooftop Films alumni directors who have previously had their work screened during the annual Summer Series in New York City. Blank screened her debut feature, “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” with Rooftop Films in 2020 at the Queens Drive-In. Mortimer screened her award-winning short film “Territory” at Rooftop Films in 2016.
This year,...
- 2/28/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
My Old School Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute St Andrews has a new film festival - Sands: International Film Festival of St Andrews will have its inaugural edition from March 25 to 27.
The festival, which will take place at the town's Byre Theatre, will feature nine fiction and non-fiction films, including a mystery film which has yet to be announced.
The theme of this year's festival is Beginnings, with fiction features including debut films, including Blerta Basholi's Hive, starring Ylka Gashi, and Amalia Ulman's El Planeta.
Homegrown talent will include Leith-based filmmaking duo, Will Hewitt and Austen McCowan, who will present Long Live My Happy Head, a documentary long-distance love story about comic books and cancer and Jono McLeod's schoolboy imposter tale My Old School, which recently screened at Sundance and will also play at Glasgow Film Festival.
Other notable inclusions are Jessica Kingdon's Oscar-nominated documentary Ascension, which...
The festival, which will take place at the town's Byre Theatre, will feature nine fiction and non-fiction films, including a mystery film which has yet to be announced.
The theme of this year's festival is Beginnings, with fiction features including debut films, including Blerta Basholi's Hive, starring Ylka Gashi, and Amalia Ulman's El Planeta.
Homegrown talent will include Leith-based filmmaking duo, Will Hewitt and Austen McCowan, who will present Long Live My Happy Head, a documentary long-distance love story about comic books and cancer and Jono McLeod's schoolboy imposter tale My Old School, which recently screened at Sundance and will also play at Glasgow Film Festival.
Other notable inclusions are Jessica Kingdon's Oscar-nominated documentary Ascension, which...
- 2/21/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The first ever Sands: International Film Festival, set to be held in Scotland’s St Andrews, has revealed its line-up.
Running March 25-27, the program will consist of nine fiction and non-fiction features, including a mystery film not yet announced.
On the list is documentary Long Live My Happy Head, from Leith-based filmmaking duo Will Hewitt and Austen McCowan, which is a love story about comic books and caner that follows a long-distance couple as they navigate a Covid lockdown. The film will premiere at this year’s BFI Flare festival next month.
Screening in St Andrews having premiered recently in Sundance is Jono McLeod’s My Old School, a documentary-animation hybrid that unravels a Scottish scandal.
Arriving from Sundance’s 2021 edition will be Blerta Basholli’s feature debut Hive, Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta, and Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was a Simple Man.
A pair of titles will...
Running March 25-27, the program will consist of nine fiction and non-fiction features, including a mystery film not yet announced.
On the list is documentary Long Live My Happy Head, from Leith-based filmmaking duo Will Hewitt and Austen McCowan, which is a love story about comic books and caner that follows a long-distance couple as they navigate a Covid lockdown. The film will premiere at this year’s BFI Flare festival next month.
Screening in St Andrews having premiered recently in Sundance is Jono McLeod’s My Old School, a documentary-animation hybrid that unravels a Scottish scandal.
Arriving from Sundance’s 2021 edition will be Blerta Basholli’s feature debut Hive, Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta, and Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was a Simple Man.
A pair of titles will...
- 2/21/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Utopia has taken U.S. rights to writer-director-producer Lena Dunham’s latest directorial Sharp Stick which made its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. A theatrical release is planned for later this year.
The pic marks the Girls creator’s return to feature filmmaking a decade after the start of that award-winning HBO series, and 12 years since her breakout picture Tiny Furniture won SXSW Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize.
Sharp Stick tells follows Sarah Jo (Kristine Froseth), a sensitive and naive 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood with her disillusioned mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and influencer sister (Taylour Paige). Working as a caregiver and just longing to be seen, she begins an exploratory affair with her older, married employer (Jon Bernthal), and is thrust into a startling education on sexuality, loss and power. Dunham, Luka Sabbat, Tommy Dorfman and Scott Speedman also star.
“I’ve...
The pic marks the Girls creator’s return to feature filmmaking a decade after the start of that award-winning HBO series, and 12 years since her breakout picture Tiny Furniture won SXSW Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize.
Sharp Stick tells follows Sarah Jo (Kristine Froseth), a sensitive and naive 26-year-old living on the fringes of Hollywood with her disillusioned mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and influencer sister (Taylour Paige). Working as a caregiver and just longing to be seen, she begins an exploratory affair with her older, married employer (Jon Bernthal), and is thrust into a startling education on sexuality, loss and power. Dunham, Luka Sabbat, Tommy Dorfman and Scott Speedman also star.
“I’ve...
- 2/7/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
New Release Wall
“House of Gucci” (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) The legendary and legendarily vicious Gucci fashion empire gets the old-fashioned big movie treatment with Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Lady Gaga. Is it kind of ridiculous? Yes, but it’s also the reboot of “Dynasty” you never knew you wanted, one that’s best watched with a living room full of your rowdiest and most opinionated friends. Everyone in the movie is doing a variation on Italian-accented English, the settings are opulent, and Gaga is giving look after look after hat after hat and you will respect the wild, criminal duh-raaamaaa of it all.
Also Available:
“American Underdog” (Lionsgate) Zachary Levi stars as NFL champ Kurt Warner, who overcame multiple challenges and setbacks on the road to football glory.
“Apex” (Rlje Films) Bruce Willis must kill or be killed in order to escape prison.
“Clifford the Big Red Dog...
“House of Gucci” (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) The legendary and legendarily vicious Gucci fashion empire gets the old-fashioned big movie treatment with Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Lady Gaga. Is it kind of ridiculous? Yes, but it’s also the reboot of “Dynasty” you never knew you wanted, one that’s best watched with a living room full of your rowdiest and most opinionated friends. Everyone in the movie is doing a variation on Italian-accented English, the settings are opulent, and Gaga is giving look after look after hat after hat and you will respect the wild, criminal duh-raaamaaa of it all.
Also Available:
“American Underdog” (Lionsgate) Zachary Levi stars as NFL champ Kurt Warner, who overcame multiple challenges and setbacks on the road to football glory.
“Apex” (Rlje Films) Bruce Willis must kill or be killed in order to escape prison.
“Clifford the Big Red Dog...
- 2/7/2022
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHong Sang-soo's The Novelist's Film (2022)The competition slate has been announced for this year's Berlinale, featuring the latest by Hong Sang-soo, Claire Denis, Rithy Panh, Phyllis Nagy, Ulrich Seidl, and more. Find the rest of the lineup here. In an interview with Variety, executive Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian discuss their plans for the festival to be an in-person event. Actor Michel Subor has died at the age of 86. Subor captivated audiences with his performances in films like Jean-Luc Godard's Le petit soldat (1960)—he also was the narrator for François Truffaut's Jules and Jim (1962)—and a number of films by Claire Denis, from Beau travail (1999) and L'intrus (2004) to White Material (2009) and Bastards (2013). We recommend reading Yasmina Price's excellent essay on L'intrus and Subor's distinct historiography as an actor. Recommended VIEWINGThe...
- 1/19/2022
- MUBI
Amalia Ulman and Ale Ulman in El Planeta. Photo by Rob KulisekIn the opening scene of Amalia Ulman’s feature debut, El Planeta, Leo (Ulman) parleys with a potential client—her first and only—over the price of a blow job. She wonders aloud if this particular service, which would garner her a measly 20 euros, is truly equal to a book she’s been eyeing that costs the same. Meanwhile, hanging in the backdrop like a rear projection screen is a stretch of kitschy wallpaper depicting a colonial-era merchant ship over placid ocean waters, mockingly hearkening to the glory days of the Spanish Empire. El Planeta takes place in the northern Spanish town of Gijón, a former industrial hub whose economy today, per Ulman, relies heavily on tourism. As Leo walks home from her rendezvous, wipe transitions of different shapes, like those popularized in silent films, convey the passage of...
- 12/6/2021
- MUBI
Turkish director Selman Nacar’s “Between Two Dawns,” a taut moral thriller exploring ethical and familial responsibilities over the course of one 24-hour period, took home the top honor at the 39th edition of the Torino Film Festival, which ran from Nov. 26 – Dec. 4.
Chaired by director Ildikó Enyedi, and made up of actor Alessandro Gassmann, composer Evgueni Galperine and sales exec Isabel Ivars, this year’s jury commended Nacar’s filmmaking, calling the winning title “a mature film, directed with intelligent sobriety, which reveals a new, big talent.” The prize came with a purse of €18,000.
No doubt glad to return to in-person, restriction free screenings after last year’s online only edition, the jury spread the love around, offering special jury prizes to both Omar El Zohairy’s “Feathers” and Amalia Ulman’s “El Planeta.” Ulman’s film also won the Fipresci prize. Acting honors went to South Korea’s Gong Seung-yeon,...
Chaired by director Ildikó Enyedi, and made up of actor Alessandro Gassmann, composer Evgueni Galperine and sales exec Isabel Ivars, this year’s jury commended Nacar’s filmmaking, calling the winning title “a mature film, directed with intelligent sobriety, which reveals a new, big talent.” The prize came with a purse of €18,000.
No doubt glad to return to in-person, restriction free screenings after last year’s online only edition, the jury spread the love around, offering special jury prizes to both Omar El Zohairy’s “Feathers” and Amalia Ulman’s “El Planeta.” Ulman’s film also won the Fipresci prize. Acting honors went to South Korea’s Gong Seung-yeon,...
- 12/5/2021
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Reservation Dogs milestone success for indigenous storytelling.
Netflix’s The Lost Daughter claimed four prizes including best feature at the 2021 Gotham Awards on Monday night (November 29) at an in-person ceremony in New York that marked the first major US awards show of the season.
The Elena Ferrante adaptation about a professor on holiday who confronts her past also won breakthrough director and best screenplay for debutante feature writer-director Gyllenhaal, while Olivia Colman tied for best lead actor in the first year of the Gothams’ gender neutral acting categories.
Back in its traditional slot on the first Monday after Thanksgiving the...
Netflix’s The Lost Daughter claimed four prizes including best feature at the 2021 Gotham Awards on Monday night (November 29) at an in-person ceremony in New York that marked the first major US awards show of the season.
The Elena Ferrante adaptation about a professor on holiday who confronts her past also won breakthrough director and best screenplay for debutante feature writer-director Gyllenhaal, while Olivia Colman tied for best lead actor in the first year of the Gothams’ gender neutral acting categories.
Back in its traditional slot on the first Monday after Thanksgiving the...
- 11/30/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The 31st annual Gotham Awards is a key stop in the awards season marathon, especially for lower-budget indies looking for some traction for the Oscars race. However, not every likely Oscar contender found itself up for Gothams, including “The Power of the Dog,” “Tick, Tick… Boom!” and “The Harder They Fall,” as they exceeded the $35 million budget limit for nominees.
For the first time, international documentaries were eligible in the best documentary feature category. Additionally, the new award breakthrough nonfiction series is among category updates for the year, as well as outstanding lead performance, outstanding supporting performance and outstanding performance in a new series, from the television side. Outstanding lead performance, breakthrough performance and outstanding supporting performance were all gender neutral categories, with eight men and 14 women nominated.
Netflix’s “The Lost Daughter” ran away with the evening, scoring the most amount of wins with prizes in best feature, breakthrough director for Maggie Gyllenhaal,...
For the first time, international documentaries were eligible in the best documentary feature category. Additionally, the new award breakthrough nonfiction series is among category updates for the year, as well as outstanding lead performance, outstanding supporting performance and outstanding performance in a new series, from the television side. Outstanding lead performance, breakthrough performance and outstanding supporting performance were all gender neutral categories, with eight men and 14 women nominated.
Netflix’s “The Lost Daughter” ran away with the evening, scoring the most amount of wins with prizes in best feature, breakthrough director for Maggie Gyllenhaal,...
- 11/30/2021
- by Katie Song
- Variety Film + TV
The Gotham Awards were handed out on November 29 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. So who won at these annual indie film kudos from The Gotham Film and Media Institute, which streamed on YouTube and Facebook? Scroll down for the complete list of winners in all categories.
Netflix’s “The Lost Daughter” and “Passing” went in as the two most nominated films with five apiece, but that didn’t automatically mean they were the front-runners. Categories at these awards are judged by panels of just a handful of industry insiders, often leading to unexpected, under-the-radar winners. You can’t count anyone out at an event where unique juries review all the nominated material.
Seersvp now for November 30: Film producers panel with ‘Being the Ricardos,’ ‘Belfast,’ ‘The Power of the Dog,’ ‘tick, tick… Boom!’
That means these awards can be quite idiosyncratic — they’re independent thinkers, and not...
Netflix’s “The Lost Daughter” and “Passing” went in as the two most nominated films with five apiece, but that didn’t automatically mean they were the front-runners. Categories at these awards are judged by panels of just a handful of industry insiders, often leading to unexpected, under-the-radar winners. You can’t count anyone out at an event where unique juries review all the nominated material.
Seersvp now for November 30: Film producers panel with ‘Being the Ricardos,’ ‘Belfast,’ ‘The Power of the Dog,’ ‘tick, tick… Boom!’
That means these awards can be quite idiosyncratic — they’re independent thinkers, and not...
- 11/30/2021
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
The Gotham Awards took place on November 29 in Lower Manhattan, back in their usual prime slot at the start of the awards season. The event marks the first significant awards ceremony of the season, ahead of most critics groups and guilds.
Films with budgets exceeding $35 million are automatically disqualified from Gotham Awards consideration. For this reason, major Oscar contenders from Netflix, such as Jane Campion’s Venice winner “Power of the Dog,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s feature directorial debut “Tick Tick Boom,” Jeymes Samuels’ “The Harder They Fall,” and Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” did not make the cut.
Kristen Stewart received this year’s Performer Tribute thanks to her performance in “Spencer.” Other...
Films with budgets exceeding $35 million are automatically disqualified from Gotham Awards consideration. For this reason, major Oscar contenders from Netflix, such as Jane Campion’s Venice winner “Power of the Dog,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s feature directorial debut “Tick Tick Boom,” Jeymes Samuels’ “The Harder They Fall,” and Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” did not make the cut.
Kristen Stewart received this year’s Performer Tribute thanks to her performance in “Spencer.” Other...
- 11/30/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Italy’s Torino Film Festival, the pre-eminent event for young directors and indie cinema — now being revamped after going virtual due to the pandemic — will somewhat symbolically kick off its upcoming 39th edition with the international premiere of “Sing 2” with director Garth Jennings in tow.
“It’s a hymn to going back into movie theaters,” says Torino artistic director Stefano Francia di Celle on choosing the animated musical comedy, featuring more than 40 rock, rap and pop tunes, as opener for the Nov. 26-Dec. 4 event. It will be Italy’s first festival held in venues with 100% seating capacity since Covid-19 struck.
“Sing 2,” he points out, is also only the second feature helmed by Jennings, who cut his teeth in the indie world making videos for many of the best pop acts of the 1990s such as Blur, Radiohead and Beck, before he was able to get Universal on board for his impressive “Sing” debut.
“It’s a hymn to going back into movie theaters,” says Torino artistic director Stefano Francia di Celle on choosing the animated musical comedy, featuring more than 40 rock, rap and pop tunes, as opener for the Nov. 26-Dec. 4 event. It will be Italy’s first festival held in venues with 100% seating capacity since Covid-19 struck.
“Sing 2,” he points out, is also only the second feature helmed by Jennings, who cut his teeth in the indie world making videos for many of the best pop acts of the 1990s such as Blur, Radiohead and Beck, before he was able to get Universal on board for his impressive “Sing” debut.
- 11/25/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Julia Oh has been hired by 2Am, the full-service production and management company founded by Christine D’Souza Gelb, David Hinojosa and Kevin Rowe, as a producer.
Oh will be based in NY with the company’s production team, working alongside Hinojosa and Zach Nutman.
2Am’s film and TV production division, overseen by Hinojosa, is currently in post-production on Halina Reijn’s English-language debut, Bodies Bodies Bodies, starring Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, and Pete Davidson, and on Emmy winner Billy Porter’s directorial debut, What If?, at Orion Pictures. It’s also finishing principal photography on Past Lives, a feature drama written and directed by Celine Song.
The company’s management division represents such acclaimed writers and directors as Amalia Ulman (El Planeta), Radha Blank (The Forty-Year-Old Version), Ari Aster (Hereditary), Janicza Bravo (Zola), Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play), Kota Eberhardt (X-Men: Dark Phoenix), Leilah Weinraub (The Shakedown...
Oh will be based in NY with the company’s production team, working alongside Hinojosa and Zach Nutman.
2Am’s film and TV production division, overseen by Hinojosa, is currently in post-production on Halina Reijn’s English-language debut, Bodies Bodies Bodies, starring Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, and Pete Davidson, and on Emmy winner Billy Porter’s directorial debut, What If?, at Orion Pictures. It’s also finishing principal photography on Past Lives, a feature drama written and directed by Celine Song.
The company’s management division represents such acclaimed writers and directors as Amalia Ulman (El Planeta), Radha Blank (The Forty-Year-Old Version), Ari Aster (Hereditary), Janicza Bravo (Zola), Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play), Kota Eberhardt (X-Men: Dark Phoenix), Leilah Weinraub (The Shakedown...
- 11/11/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The international premiere of animated musical comedy “Sing 2” will open the upcoming Torino Film Festival, Italy’s preeminent event for young directors and indie fare, which will be honoring Monica Bellucci with a lifetime achievement award.
Director Garth Jennings will be on hand in Torino for the overseas festival bow of his sequel to 2016’s “Sing,” which follows a koala named Buster Moon, voiced by Matthew McConaughey, as he and his cast of performing animals prepare for their biggest concert yet in Redshore City, and must convince a reclusive rockstar (Bono) to join them.
Bellucci, besides coming to be celebrated and to hold a masterclass, will also be attending the fest to launch her latest film “The Girl in the Fountain,” directed by Italy’s Antongiulio Panizzi, in which she plays the iconic Anita Ekberg, a role for which she died her hair blonde.
Charlotte Gainsbourg will also be...
Director Garth Jennings will be on hand in Torino for the overseas festival bow of his sequel to 2016’s “Sing,” which follows a koala named Buster Moon, voiced by Matthew McConaughey, as he and his cast of performing animals prepare for their biggest concert yet in Redshore City, and must convince a reclusive rockstar (Bono) to join them.
Bellucci, besides coming to be celebrated and to hold a masterclass, will also be attending the fest to launch her latest film “The Girl in the Fountain,” directed by Italy’s Antongiulio Panizzi, in which she plays the iconic Anita Ekberg, a role for which she died her hair blonde.
Charlotte Gainsbourg will also be...
- 11/9/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Museum of Modern Art announced the lineup for the 14th annual edition of The Contenders on Friday. The film series will run from Nov. 4 through Jan. 22, 2022, primarily in person with a select number of virtual screenings.
The Contenders will open with Pablo Larraîn’s “Spencer,” the Princess Diana biopic starring Kristen Stewart. Larraîn and Stewart will appear for a conversation after the screening. The closing night film will be Sebastian Meise’s “Grosse Freiheit” which, translating to “Great Freedom,” is set in postwar Germany and follows the relationship between Hans, a man imprisoned for being homosexual, and his cellmate Viktor, a convicted murderer.
“This year’s Contenders lineup includes highly anticipated genre pics, new works by the most followed auteurs such as Jane Campion (‘The Power of the Dog’) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (‘Memoria’) and independent films that introduce emerging cinematic voices like Amalia Ulman (‘El Planeta’) and Ahmir ‘Questlove...
The Contenders will open with Pablo Larraîn’s “Spencer,” the Princess Diana biopic starring Kristen Stewart. Larraîn and Stewart will appear for a conversation after the screening. The closing night film will be Sebastian Meise’s “Grosse Freiheit” which, translating to “Great Freedom,” is set in postwar Germany and follows the relationship between Hans, a man imprisoned for being homosexual, and his cellmate Viktor, a convicted murderer.
“This year’s Contenders lineup includes highly anticipated genre pics, new works by the most followed auteurs such as Jane Campion (‘The Power of the Dog’) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (‘Memoria’) and independent films that introduce emerging cinematic voices like Amalia Ulman (‘El Planeta’) and Ahmir ‘Questlove...
- 10/22/2021
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter and Rebecca Hall’s Passing, both from Netflix, swept the top nominations for the Gotham Awards this year as the independent film honors and awards-season portal unveiled its noms list Thursday morning ahead of an in-person ceremony next month.
The Lost Daughter was nominated in the Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Screenplay for Gyllenhall, lead performance for Olivia Colman and Supporting Performance for Jessie Buckley. Passing scored four noms including Best Feature.
Others in the Best Feature category include The Green Knight (A24), Pig (Neon) and Test Pattern (Kino Lorber).
Films released from March 1-December 31, 2021 and TV series from Oct. 1, 2020-September 30, 2021 were eligible. See full list of nominations below.
A24 and Netflix each had 10 nominations overall. Others were spread across distributors. A24 titles included Red Rocket; lead performance nods to Taylour Paige...
The Lost Daughter was nominated in the Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Screenplay for Gyllenhall, lead performance for Olivia Colman and Supporting Performance for Jessie Buckley. Passing scored four noms including Best Feature.
Others in the Best Feature category include The Green Knight (A24), Pig (Neon) and Test Pattern (Kino Lorber).
Films released from March 1-December 31, 2021 and TV series from Oct. 1, 2020-September 30, 2021 were eligible. See full list of nominations below.
A24 and Netflix each had 10 nominations overall. Others were spread across distributors. A24 titles included Red Rocket; lead performance nods to Taylour Paige...
- 10/21/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Ahead of a ceremony on November 29, this year’s Gotham Awards nominations have been unveiled, featuring some of the year’s finest cinema. Among the nominations are some personal favorites here at The Film Stage, including Drive My Car, Faya Dayi, The Worst Person in the World (a film that still doesn’t have an actual 2021 U.S. release date), Test Pattern, and El Planeta.
This year, the Gothams made a switch to have all performance categories be gender neutral, with those categories have been restructured into Outstanding Leading and Supporting Performance categories for feature films, joining the already existing Breakthrough Performer category.
Check out the film nominations for the Gotham Awards below.
Best Feature
The Green Knight
David Lowery, director; Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, David Lowery, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, producers (A24)
The Lost Daughter
Maggie Gyllenhaal, director; Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Charles Dorfman,...
This year, the Gothams made a switch to have all performance categories be gender neutral, with those categories have been restructured into Outstanding Leading and Supporting Performance categories for feature films, joining the already existing Breakthrough Performer category.
Check out the film nominations for the Gotham Awards below.
Best Feature
The Green Knight
David Lowery, director; Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston, David Lowery, Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, producers (A24)
The Lost Daughter
Maggie Gyllenhaal, director; Osnat Handelsman Keren, Talia Kleinhendler, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Charles Dorfman,...
- 10/21/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The annual Gotham Awards is, once again, the first prominent awards ceremony out of the gate during Oscar season, thanks to this morning’s nominations announcement. Films with budgets exceeding $35 million are automatically disqualified from Gotham Awards consideration. For this reason, major Oscar contenders from Netflix, such as Jane Campion’s Venice winner “Power of the Dog,” Lin-Manuel Miranda’s feature directorial debut “Tick Tick Boom,” Jeymes Samuels’ “The Harder They Fall,” and Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up” did not make the cut.
Prior to the nominations announcement, the Gotham Awards confirmed that Kristen Stewart would be the recipient of this year’s Performer Tribute thanks to her performance in “Spencer.” Other honorees include Eamonn Bowles (who is receiving the Industry Tribute), the cast of “The Harder They Fall” (receiving the Ensemble Tribute), and Campion (who is receiving the Director’s Tribute).
The Gotham Awards don’t always line up with the Oscars,...
Prior to the nominations announcement, the Gotham Awards confirmed that Kristen Stewart would be the recipient of this year’s Performer Tribute thanks to her performance in “Spencer.” Other honorees include Eamonn Bowles (who is receiving the Industry Tribute), the cast of “The Harder They Fall” (receiving the Ensemble Tribute), and Campion (who is receiving the Director’s Tribute).
The Gotham Awards don’t always line up with the Oscars,...
- 10/21/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
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.
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)
After Antonio (Justin Chon) is wrongfully arrested in front of his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), he’s surprised to learn he’s been flagged for deportation. Due to his adoptive parent’s oversight, Antonio, who was born in Korea but has lived in Louisiana since he was a toddler, doesn’t have citizenship. Justin Chon’s Blue Bayou is an amalgam of real stories like Antonio’s, among which there are thousands. – Gabrielle M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Detention (John Hsu)
As a subversive poem (according to the Chinese Nationalist Party that ruled Taiwan under martial law during the period known as the White Terror from 1947 until 1987) read by Miss Yin...
Blue Bayou (Justin Chon)
After Antonio (Justin Chon) is wrongfully arrested in front of his wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and step-daughter Jessie (Sydney Kowalske), he’s surprised to learn he’s been flagged for deportation. Due to his adoptive parent’s oversight, Antonio, who was born in Korea but has lived in Louisiana since he was a toddler, doesn’t have citizenship. Justin Chon’s Blue Bayou is an amalgam of real stories like Antonio’s, among which there are thousands. – Gabrielle M. (full review)
Where to Stream: VOD
Detention (John Hsu)
As a subversive poem (according to the Chinese Nationalist Party that ruled Taiwan under martial law during the period known as the White Terror from 1947 until 1987) read by Miss Yin...
- 10/8/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Neon presents Julia Ducournau’s Titane, the lauded Palme d’Or winner set to test a stressed specialty market even as Messrs. Venom and Bond crash into wide release this weekend and next. The edgy, high octane French tale about a woman with a metal plate in her head and an automotive fetish hits 562 screens in top 10 top North American markets.
Ducournau (Raw) is only the second female director to take the Palme d’Or and the first for directing solo. She also wrote the 93% Certified Fresh film that took the Midnight Madness Audience Award at TIFF and last week played to sold out audiences with standing ovations at the New York Film Festival. Deadline review here called it a fascinating, shock-driven genre picture. The website of Titane – titanium in English — opens with only a definition: “A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys, often...
Ducournau (Raw) is only the second female director to take the Palme d’Or and the first for directing solo. She also wrote the 93% Certified Fresh film that took the Midnight Madness Audience Award at TIFF and last week played to sold out audiences with standing ovations at the New York Film Festival. Deadline review here called it a fascinating, shock-driven genre picture. The website of Titane – titanium in English — opens with only a definition: “A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys, often...
- 10/1/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
In 2014, maverick artist Amalia Ulman crafted an Instagram performance piece entitled “Excellences & Perfections” in which she performed the part of a made-up wannabe ‘it girl’ and curated pieces showcasing how social media profiles can easily captivate and dupe individuals as a form of social capital. The piece becomes even more prescient as Covid-19 has forced many people to take to social media to engage with the outside world. Hailing from Argentina, Ulman had always wanted to be a filmmaker and her directorial debut El Planeta, which had its world premiere at Sundance and is now in theaters, heralds a major talent in the international cinema scene.
El Planeta is an offbeat comedy centered around the story of young woman Leonor Jimenez (Ulman) and her mother Maria Rendueles (played by the director’s mother Ale Ulman in her acting debut) struggling to adapt to an upcoming eviction in post-crisis Spain. With...
El Planeta is an offbeat comedy centered around the story of young woman Leonor Jimenez (Ulman) and her mother Maria Rendueles (played by the director’s mother Ale Ulman in her acting debut) struggling to adapt to an upcoming eviction in post-crisis Spain. With...
- 9/27/2021
- by Margaret Rasberry
- The Film Stage
Bleecker Street’s sci-fi romantic comedy I’m Your Man blasted off – relatively speaking in today’s specialty market – with a per screen average of $2,139 in 16 theaters in North America.
Directed by Maria Schrader film with Maren Eggert and Dan Stevens, it was the rare specialty film of late to pass $2K per screen in limited release. New York and Los Angeles were standouts. It also played San Francisco, Boston, Washington, D.C., Phoenix and Dallas. Bleecker will expand in those markets next week and add 15 new ones.
Stevens supported the film at a Q&a at the Landmark Saturday. It has a 17-day exclusive theatrical window.
See Deadline review here for the 95% Certified Fresh film that’s Germany’s entry for the 2022 International Feature...
Directed by Maria Schrader film with Maren Eggert and Dan Stevens, it was the rare specialty film of late to pass $2K per screen in limited release. New York and Los Angeles were standouts. It also played San Francisco, Boston, Washington, D.C., Phoenix and Dallas. Bleecker will expand in those markets next week and add 15 new ones.
Stevens supported the film at a Q&a at the Landmark Saturday. It has a 17-day exclusive theatrical window.
See Deadline review here for the 95% Certified Fresh film that’s Germany’s entry for the 2022 International Feature...
- 9/26/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
“El Planeta” is a graceful willow of a movie. The distributor is tiny; it was made on a whisper of a budget, with a crew of five, in black-and-white. It’s also the kind of movie that makes you want to talk fast, so people can learn how great it is before their attention spans are flattened by the tsunami of awards-season marketing.
The debut feature of Argentine-born Spanish artist-turned-filmmaker Amalia Ulman, Sundance 2021 premiere “El Planeta” is all her: She’s the director, writer, producer, and star, one of only three named characters in the film. Within the sleepy coastal city of Gijón, inside the autonomous region of Spain known as Asturias, they portray mother-daughter grifters María and Leonor, who execute disastrous romantic and financial schemes in the guise of rich people. “Where do you want me to work, McDonald’s?” Amalia moans as the hopelessly unambitious Leo. In the film’s opening scene,...
The debut feature of Argentine-born Spanish artist-turned-filmmaker Amalia Ulman, Sundance 2021 premiere “El Planeta” is all her: She’s the director, writer, producer, and star, one of only three named characters in the film. Within the sleepy coastal city of Gijón, inside the autonomous region of Spain known as Asturias, they portray mother-daughter grifters María and Leonor, who execute disastrous romantic and financial schemes in the guise of rich people. “Where do you want me to work, McDonald’s?” Amalia moans as the hopelessly unambitious Leo. In the film’s opening scene,...
- 9/26/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
HappeningIn Competition(Jury: Bong Joon-ho, Saverio Costanzo, Virginie Efira, Cynthia Erivo, Sarah Gadon, Alexander Nanau, Chloé Zhao)Golden Lion – Happening (Audrey Diwan) | Read our reviewSilver Lion (Grand Jury Prize) – The Hand of God (Paolo Sorrentino) | Read our reviewSilver Lion (Best Director) – Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog) | Read our reviewCoppa Volpi for Best Actress – Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers) | Read our reviewCoppa Volpi for Best Actor – John Arcilla (On The Job: The Missing 8)Best Screenplay – Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)Special Jury Prize – The Hole (Michelangelo Frammartino) | Read our reviewMarcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress – Filippo Scotti (The Hand of God)Orizzonti(Jury: Jasmila Žbanić, Mona Fastvold, Shahram Mokri, Josh Siegel, Nadia Terranova)Orizzonti Award for Best Film – Pilgrims (Laurynas Bareisa)Orizzonti Award for Best Director – Éric Gravel (A Plein Temps)Special Orizzonti Jury Prize – El Gran Movimiento (Kiro Russo) | Read our reviewOrizzonti Award for Best Actress...
- 9/13/2021
- MUBI
The Rockaway Film Festival in Queens, N.Y. has announced its 2021 lineup for the Sept. 12-19 edition.
Coinciding with the opening of a new outdoor theater, the first in Rockaway in over 20 years, the festival will play 12 feature films and 38 short films with a focus on highlighting filmmakers from the Rockaway Peninsula and elsewhere in New York City. 2021 Sundance standouts like Jane Schoenbrun’s “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,” Amalia Ulman’s “El Planeta” and Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah” will be featured, as well as a short film from King called “Mulignans.” On top of the newer films presented, the lineup also includes several older films, such as Cheryl Dunye’s 1996 film “The Watermelon Woman” and Ted Kotcheff’s 1989 film “Weekend at Bernie’s,” plus the 24-hour loop of the film cut by Jon Dieringer.
The feature lineup is below.
Features
“Sam and Mattie Make a Zombie Movie,...
Coinciding with the opening of a new outdoor theater, the first in Rockaway in over 20 years, the festival will play 12 feature films and 38 short films with a focus on highlighting filmmakers from the Rockaway Peninsula and elsewhere in New York City. 2021 Sundance standouts like Jane Schoenbrun’s “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair,” Amalia Ulman’s “El Planeta” and Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah” will be featured, as well as a short film from King called “Mulignans.” On top of the newer films presented, the lineup also includes several older films, such as Cheryl Dunye’s 1996 film “The Watermelon Woman” and Ted Kotcheff’s 1989 film “Weekend at Bernie’s,” plus the 24-hour loop of the film cut by Jon Dieringer.
The feature lineup is below.
Features
“Sam and Mattie Make a Zombie Movie,...
- 9/3/2021
- by Selome Hailu
- Variety Film + TV
Acquisition
Abacus Media Rights (Amr) has picked up global distribution rights to BBC Two’s Joan Collins documentary, produced by Salon Pictures and commissioned by Mark Bell at BBC Arts. Promising to tell the life story of the Hollywood actor from her point of view, the 90-minute documentary will be narrated by Collins herself. Clare Beavan (“Bricks!”) will direct as well as co-produce with Karen Steyn, Nick Taussig and Annabel Wigoder. Karen Steyn (“Tea With the Dames”) is executive producer.
“National treasures don’t come more glamorous than Dame Joan Collins and after seven decades of stardom her shine remains undimmed,” said Bell. “Her story too is priceless; this film will be an account of the ups and downs of an entertainment career like no other – candid, revelatory and occasionally hilarious.”
Amr managing director Jonathan Ford added: “This will be the definitive story of Dame Joan Collins told in her...
Abacus Media Rights (Amr) has picked up global distribution rights to BBC Two’s Joan Collins documentary, produced by Salon Pictures and commissioned by Mark Bell at BBC Arts. Promising to tell the life story of the Hollywood actor from her point of view, the 90-minute documentary will be narrated by Collins herself. Clare Beavan (“Bricks!”) will direct as well as co-produce with Karen Steyn, Nick Taussig and Annabel Wigoder. Karen Steyn (“Tea With the Dames”) is executive producer.
“National treasures don’t come more glamorous than Dame Joan Collins and after seven decades of stardom her shine remains undimmed,” said Bell. “Her story too is priceless; this film will be an account of the ups and downs of an entertainment career like no other – candid, revelatory and occasionally hilarious.”
Amr managing director Jonathan Ford added: “This will be the definitive story of Dame Joan Collins told in her...
- 9/3/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The Jerusalem Film Festival has named the winners from its various competition strands this year, with Juho Kuosmanen’s Finnish drama Compartment No. 6 winning Best Film in the international competition.
“Compartment No. 6 is a cross-cultural road movie – entertaining, clever, and remarkably endearing. This is free cinema, released from confinements, where an entire world exists within a cramped train car and where impossible connections are forged between people from different borders and cultures,” said the jury, which was comprised of Ari Folman, Nili Feller and Shai Goldman. A special mention was also given to Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee.
Compartment No. 6 previously shared the Grand Prix in Cannes Competition with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero.
Elsewhere, in Jerusalem’s First Feature Competition, Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta won the Gwff Award for Best First Feature.
In the the Spirit of Freedom Competition, the Cummings Award for best Feature Film went to...
“Compartment No. 6 is a cross-cultural road movie – entertaining, clever, and remarkably endearing. This is free cinema, released from confinements, where an entire world exists within a cramped train car and where impossible connections are forged between people from different borders and cultures,” said the jury, which was comprised of Ari Folman, Nili Feller and Shai Goldman. A special mention was also given to Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee.
Compartment No. 6 previously shared the Grand Prix in Cannes Competition with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero.
Elsewhere, in Jerusalem’s First Feature Competition, Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta won the Gwff Award for Best First Feature.
In the the Spirit of Freedom Competition, the Cummings Award for best Feature Film went to...
- 9/2/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Francis Ford Coppola for Wall Street Journal. (Photographed by Austin Hargrave) In a new interview with Deadline, Francis Ford Coppola has announced that he's starting to assemble a cast and prepare financing for his long-gestating passion project, the epic film Megalopolis. "I’m still willing to do the dream picture, even if I have to put up my own money, and I am capable of putting up $100 million if I have to here." Hou Hsiao-hsien and Lee Kang-sheng are currently attached to Twisted Strings, a TV anthology series written and directed by Huang Xi. Hou will be the executive producer of the series, while Lee will star in a role that is "like nothing he had ever portrayed before." Kaycee Moore, the star of Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep, has died. Throughout her career,...
- 9/1/2021
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Sonny Chiba in Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003). Sonny Chiba, the prolific and singular actor, martial artist and choreographer, has died at the age of 82.New York Film Festival has unveiled its Currents section, featuring a strong slate that includes Artavazd Peleshian, Ted Fendt, Shengze Zhu, Christopher Harris, Shireen Seno, Matías Piñeiro and more. NYFF will also be screening seven programs dedicated to the centenary of the late film programmer and festival co-founder Amos Vogel. The retrospective includes works by Glauber Rocher, Oskar Fischinger, and Dušan Makavejev. The Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival has announced its lineup. This year's Focus program will showcase the works of Cambodian production company Anti-Archive, Nguyễn Trinh Thí, Rajee Samarasinghe, and Sps Community Media. Organized by Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art, Archival Assembly #1 will take place from...
- 8/25/2021
- MUBI
"A playful riff of art-imitating-life." Utopia has revealed the first official US trailer for an acclaimed indie film titled El Planeta, set in Spain, made by an Argentinian filmmaker who lives in Brooklyn. This initially premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival this year to some rave reviews. And it also stopped by New Directors/New Films, Oak Cliff Film Festival, Rooftop Films, and more fests. El Planeta is a dark comedy exploring contemporary poverty, female desire, and the always complicated filial relationships of mothers and daughters. Amidst the devastation of post-crisis Spain, a mother and daughter bluff and grift to fund their extravagant daily life—with impending eviction never too far from sight. Starring Amalia Ulman, Ale Ulman, Nacho Vigalondo (!!), and Zhou Chen. Another good indie comedy about a grifter family like Kajillionaire, but with an entirely definitely look & feel. I really want to see this! Looks kooky - check it out.
- 8/20/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Comparisons abound—Frances Ha and Eric Rohmer seemingly closest at hand, Martín Rejtman if you want to dig a bit deeper—but it’s the pleasure of discovering a new voice that runs through El Planeta, the directorial debut of artist Amalia Ulman. Sketched in a kind of brevity per its wit but photographed with patience and depth—speaking literally on the latter, per those excellent black-and-white images—it proved a potent antidote to much of its Sundance brethren, and right now is maybe just what’s needed as a particularly dire summer movie season winds down.
With Utopia set to release El Planeta on September 24, there naturally comes a techno-bumping trailer. As we said out of Sundance, “In tone, El Planeta is just sarcastic enough to hide its earnestness. Thematically, it’s about economic aspirations as much as it is the “entitlement” intrinsically linked to it. What characters want...
With Utopia set to release El Planeta on September 24, there naturally comes a techno-bumping trailer. As we said out of Sundance, “In tone, El Planeta is just sarcastic enough to hide its earnestness. Thematically, it’s about economic aspirations as much as it is the “entitlement” intrinsically linked to it. What characters want...
- 8/19/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Other compeition jurors are Sarah Gadon, Saverio Costanzo and Virginie Efira.
Chloé Zhao, the Golden Lion and Oscar-winning director of Nomadland, will serve on the international competition jury of the 78th Venice International Film Festival (Sept 1-11), which is comprised of four women and three men.
The other jurors are UK actress Cynthia Erivo, an Oscar-nominee for Harriet; Benedetta star Virginie Efira; Canadian actress and producer Sarah Gadon, a regular collaborator with David Cronenberg; Italian filmmaker Saverio Costanzo, best known for Hungry Hearts and My Brilliant Friend, and Romania’s Alexander Nanau, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Collective.
The jury...
Chloé Zhao, the Golden Lion and Oscar-winning director of Nomadland, will serve on the international competition jury of the 78th Venice International Film Festival (Sept 1-11), which is comprised of four women and three men.
The other jurors are UK actress Cynthia Erivo, an Oscar-nominee for Harriet; Benedetta star Virginie Efira; Canadian actress and producer Sarah Gadon, a regular collaborator with David Cronenberg; Italian filmmaker Saverio Costanzo, best known for Hungry Hearts and My Brilliant Friend, and Romania’s Alexander Nanau, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Collective.
The jury...
- 7/21/2021
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
The 78th Venice International Film Festival has set its full roster of juries.
As previously announced, Parasite filmmaker Bong Joon Ho will preside over this year’s Competition jury. Joining the Korean filmmaker are Italian filmmaker Saverio Costanzo, Belgian-French actress Virginie Efire, British actress Cynthia Erivo, Canadian actress and producer Sarah Gadon, Romanian director Alexander Nanau, and Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao.
Zhao arrives off the back of her success with Nomadland, which premiered at Venice last year, winning the Golden Lion, and went on to triumph at the Oscars, taking home Best Picture and Best Director. She also co-wrote and directed Marvel’s Eternals, which is out later this year.
Costanzo has presented pics in Venice including La solitudine dei numeri primi and Hungry Hearts; the latter won two Coppa Volpi awards for its stars Alba Rohrwacher and Adam Driver. Nanau presented his documentary Collective at Venice in 2019, it went on to be Oscar nominated.
As previously announced, Parasite filmmaker Bong Joon Ho will preside over this year’s Competition jury. Joining the Korean filmmaker are Italian filmmaker Saverio Costanzo, Belgian-French actress Virginie Efire, British actress Cynthia Erivo, Canadian actress and producer Sarah Gadon, Romanian director Alexander Nanau, and Chinese filmmaker Chloe Zhao.
Zhao arrives off the back of her success with Nomadland, which premiered at Venice last year, winning the Golden Lion, and went on to triumph at the Oscars, taking home Best Picture and Best Director. She also co-wrote and directed Marvel’s Eternals, which is out later this year.
Costanzo has presented pics in Venice including La solitudine dei numeri primi and Hungry Hearts; the latter won two Coppa Volpi awards for its stars Alba Rohrwacher and Adam Driver. Nanau presented his documentary Collective at Venice in 2019, it went on to be Oscar nominated.
- 7/21/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Multiple Oscar-winning Chinese-American director Chloé Zhao, whose “Nomadland” launched from the Venice Film Festival last year, is set to return to the Lido as a member of the upcoming fest’s main jury, which will comprise four women and three men.
As previously announced, “Parasite” director Bong Joon Ho, another recent multiple Oscar winner, will preside over the jury of the event’s upcoming edition.
They will be serving jury duty on the Lido alongside French actor Virginie Efira, who most recently starred in Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta”; the U.K.’s Cynthia Erivo, who plays Aretha Franklin in the third season of National Geographic’s “Genius” series; and Canadian actor and producer Sarah Gadon who made a splash in Venice in 2011 with her role in David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method” and more recently appeared in Xavier Dolan’s “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.”
Italian director...
As previously announced, “Parasite” director Bong Joon Ho, another recent multiple Oscar winner, will preside over the jury of the event’s upcoming edition.
They will be serving jury duty on the Lido alongside French actor Virginie Efira, who most recently starred in Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta”; the U.K.’s Cynthia Erivo, who plays Aretha Franklin in the third season of National Geographic’s “Genius” series; and Canadian actor and producer Sarah Gadon who made a splash in Venice in 2011 with her role in David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method” and more recently appeared in Xavier Dolan’s “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan.”
Italian director...
- 7/21/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The hybrid festival will showcase 11 world premieres.
Seán Breathnach’s Irish-language drama Foscadh, Ross Killeen’s music documentary Love Yourself Today and Graham Cantwell’s coming-of-age drama Who We Love are among several new Irish films making their world premiere at the hybrid Galway Film Fleadh which is running from July 20th to 25th.
The Fleadh will showcase 45 features, 11 of which are world premieres. The main physical venue will be an outdoor cinema in the city’s historic centre this year and many of the titles will also screen online along with the programme of industry events and filmmaker discussions.
Seán Breathnach’s Irish-language drama Foscadh, Ross Killeen’s music documentary Love Yourself Today and Graham Cantwell’s coming-of-age drama Who We Love are among several new Irish films making their world premiere at the hybrid Galway Film Fleadh which is running from July 20th to 25th.
The Fleadh will showcase 45 features, 11 of which are world premieres. The main physical venue will be an outdoor cinema in the city’s historic centre this year and many of the titles will also screen online along with the programme of industry events and filmmaker discussions.
- 7/8/2021
- by Esther McCarthy
- ScreenDaily
With a slimmer lineup and much of the action taking place online rather than in Park City, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival will be anything but normal. But if early sales activity is any indication, the hybrid virtual/in-person festival will still serve as a key acquisitions market for distributors.
News of the first deals broke on December 16, the day after Sundance revealed its full slate of 72 features. That’s when Bleecker Street announced it has acquired North American rights to Nikole Beckwith’s “Together Together” and Magnolia Pictures revealed it has nabbed Rodney Ascher’s Midnight section pick “A Glitch in the Matrix.”
While those two movies come from established filmmakers, over half of the festival lineup comes from first-time feature directors. Over 90 percent of the slate are world premieres.
That suggests there is plenty of opportunity for the discovery of hidden gems. But with streaming — coupled with satellite screenings...
News of the first deals broke on December 16, the day after Sundance revealed its full slate of 72 features. That’s when Bleecker Street announced it has acquired North American rights to Nikole Beckwith’s “Together Together” and Magnolia Pictures revealed it has nabbed Rodney Ascher’s Midnight section pick “A Glitch in the Matrix.”
While those two movies come from established filmmakers, over half of the festival lineup comes from first-time feature directors. Over 90 percent of the slate are world premieres.
That suggests there is plenty of opportunity for the discovery of hidden gems. But with streaming — coupled with satellite screenings...
- 6/8/2021
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
Rooftop Films Returns for 25th Anniversary Summer Series in NYC
Rooftop Films, the non-profit organization and film community celebrated as New York’s home for independent films, announced the return of their annual Rooftop Films Summer Series.
Among the films set to screen are Janicza Bravo’s “Zola,” presented by A24 on the lawn in Fort Greene Park, and “Once Upon a Time in Queens,” ESPN’s new series detailing the uniquely wild championship run of the 1986 Mets.
Joshua Rofé’s “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed,” and Sally Aitken’s “Playing with Sharks,” are the documentaries will also screen when the series begins June 17 at Green-Wood Cemetery.
The screenings will follow all CDC and state guidelines which allow for more New Yorkers to gather safely for cultural events. The Rooftop Films Summer Series is presented by SundanceTV.
The Summer Series will run from June 17th through mid-September and...
Rooftop Films, the non-profit organization and film community celebrated as New York’s home for independent films, announced the return of their annual Rooftop Films Summer Series.
Among the films set to screen are Janicza Bravo’s “Zola,” presented by A24 on the lawn in Fort Greene Park, and “Once Upon a Time in Queens,” ESPN’s new series detailing the uniquely wild championship run of the 1986 Mets.
Joshua Rofé’s “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed,” and Sally Aitken’s “Playing with Sharks,” are the documentaries will also screen when the series begins June 17 at Green-Wood Cemetery.
The screenings will follow all CDC and state guidelines which allow for more New Yorkers to gather safely for cultural events. The Rooftop Films Summer Series is presented by SundanceTV.
The Summer Series will run from June 17th through mid-September and...
- 6/7/2021
- by Antonio Ferme
- Variety Film + TV
Juja Dobrachkous on the girls in Bebia, À Mon Seul Désir: “Most of the actors were non-professional actors and I wanted this absolutely natural effect.”
Juja Dobrachkous’ debut feature Bebia, À Mon Seul Désir, produced with Olga Dykhovichnaya, and shot by Veronica Solovyeva in black and white, joins Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta and Jonas Bak’s Wood And Water as the third highlight of the 50th anniversary edition of New Directors/New Films that confronts a child’s relationship to a looming-large mother. Iva Radivojevic’s not-to-be-missed Aleph is the other early highlight.
Juja Dobrachkous: “I kind of enforced my structure with the Greek classical structure, which just enriches and makes it fun to write and shoot it.”
Told in two time strands, we see little Ariadna (Anushka Andronikashvili) interact with her surroundings and observe the strained dynamics at home. When 17-year-old Ariadna (Anastasia Davidson), now a model in London,...
Juja Dobrachkous’ debut feature Bebia, À Mon Seul Désir, produced with Olga Dykhovichnaya, and shot by Veronica Solovyeva in black and white, joins Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta and Jonas Bak’s Wood And Water as the third highlight of the 50th anniversary edition of New Directors/New Films that confronts a child’s relationship to a looming-large mother. Iva Radivojevic’s not-to-be-missed Aleph is the other early highlight.
Juja Dobrachkous: “I kind of enforced my structure with the Greek classical structure, which just enriches and makes it fun to write and shoot it.”
Told in two time strands, we see little Ariadna (Anushka Andronikashvili) interact with her surroundings and observe the strained dynamics at home. When 17-year-old Ariadna (Anastasia Davidson), now a model in London,...
- 4/30/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
April 28 was opening night of New York’s first in-person film festival in more than a year. The 50th edition of New Directors/New Films opened with a screening of “El Planeta,” the black-and-white debut feature of Argentinian filmmaker Amalia Ulman, who also stars as a wayward fashion designer at the mercy of her mother. Introducing the film, Ulman joked that she was less nervous now that she had a little bit to drink.
“I’m very happy you’re all here,” she said . “Today was my first time going back to the theater after a year. I love going to the movies here in New York.”
That sentiment pervaded the sold-out audience at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade theater, but it also meant the 268-seat screening room could only accommodate 50. Current capacity limits are 33 percent; other regulations require one empty row between all occupied ones. An usher had to...
“I’m very happy you’re all here,” she said . “Today was my first time going back to the theater after a year. I love going to the movies here in New York.”
That sentiment pervaded the sold-out audience at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade theater, but it also meant the 268-seat screening room could only accommodate 50. Current capacity limits are 33 percent; other regulations require one empty row between all occupied ones. An usher had to...
- 4/30/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Amalia Ulman’s El Planeta, starring the director/screenwriter and her mother, Ale Ulman, is the perfect opening night selection for the 50th anniversary of New Directors/New Films, hosted by Film at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art. Shot by Carlos Rigo in beautiful black and white, co-edited smartly by Katie Mcquerrey and Anthony Valdez, El Planeta takes us back to the filmmaker’s former hometown, Gijon, Spain.
Cleverly used references to Martin Scorsese, Ernst Lubitsch, Milos Forman's Amadeus, David and Albert Maysles’ Grey Gardens, Katsuhito Ishii’s The Taste Of Tea, and Jean Renoir’s Rules Of The Game enter the picture.
Leo (Amalia Ulman) and her...
Cleverly used references to Martin Scorsese, Ernst Lubitsch, Milos Forman's Amadeus, David and Albert Maysles’ Grey Gardens, Katsuhito Ishii’s The Taste Of Tea, and Jean Renoir’s Rules Of The Game enter the picture.
Leo (Amalia Ulman) and her...
- 4/27/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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