The Vampire Diaries was a hugely popular TV series that many people watched. It became the most-watched show on The CW network for a while.
The actors on the show earned different amounts of money. The show was loved because it had everything – excitement, love stories, funny moments, action, and great actors.
It was so good that people couldn’t stop watching it, making it the most popular show on The CW network. If you want to know more about how much the stars of Vampire Diaries made, you can read more in this article.
It also talks about which actors on the show are the richest. So, if you’re curious, keep reading until the end.
Also Read: The Richest “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” Stars Ranked From Lowest To Highest Net Worth!!!
The Richest “Vampire Diaries” Stars Ranked From Lowest To Highest Net Worth!!! 1. Matthew Davis Page Six...
The actors on the show earned different amounts of money. The show was loved because it had everything – excitement, love stories, funny moments, action, and great actors.
It was so good that people couldn’t stop watching it, making it the most popular show on The CW network. If you want to know more about how much the stars of Vampire Diaries made, you can read more in this article.
It also talks about which actors on the show are the richest. So, if you’re curious, keep reading until the end.
Also Read: The Richest “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story” Stars Ranked From Lowest To Highest Net Worth!!!
The Richest “Vampire Diaries” Stars Ranked From Lowest To Highest Net Worth!!! 1. Matthew Davis Page Six...
- 3/28/2024
- by Om Prakash Kaushal
- https://dailyresearchplot.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/new-sam
The Kennedy Center Honors selections for 2023 are Billy Crystal, Renee Fleming, Barry Gibb, Queen Latifah and Dionne Warwick. These veteran artists were honored Sunday, December 3, in Washington, D.C. at a ceremony hosted by previous honoree Gloria Estefan (who kicked off the show with her hit song “Get On Your Feet”). CBS and Paramount+ will air the 46th annual ceremony tonight, Wednesday, December 27.
Crystal is an Emmy and Tony Award-winning comedian, actor, producer, writer and director. Fleming is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s great opera houses and concert halls. Gibb, of the musical group The Bee Gees, is a nine-time Grammy Award winner and an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall Of Fame. Latifah is a Grammy and Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated musician, actress, producer, label president, author and entrepreneur. Warwick’s...
Crystal is an Emmy and Tony Award-winning comedian, actor, producer, writer and director. Fleming is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s great opera houses and concert halls. Gibb, of the musical group The Bee Gees, is a nine-time Grammy Award winner and an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall Of Fame. Latifah is a Grammy and Emmy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated musician, actress, producer, label president, author and entrepreneur. Warwick’s...
- 12/27/2023
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
The 2023 Kennedy Center Honors special is airing this week and it marks the 46th celebration of the arts from the nation’s capital!
Billy Crystal, Queen Latifah, Renee Fleming, Dionne Warwick, and Barry Gibb are being honored at this year’s event, which was pre-taped earlier this month at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
CBS will be airing the special on Wednesday (December 27) at 9pm Et/Pt and we have the star-studded list of performers and presenters who will appear.
The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes and celebrates individuals whose unique contributions have shaped the way we see ourselves, each other and our world. Recipients have each had an impact on the rich tapestry of American life and culture through the performing arts. Whether in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures or television, each Kennedy Center Honoree has a unique place in the national consciousness and their influence has...
Billy Crystal, Queen Latifah, Renee Fleming, Dionne Warwick, and Barry Gibb are being honored at this year’s event, which was pre-taped earlier this month at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
CBS will be airing the special on Wednesday (December 27) at 9pm Et/Pt and we have the star-studded list of performers and presenters who will appear.
The Kennedy Center Honors recognizes and celebrates individuals whose unique contributions have shaped the way we see ourselves, each other and our world. Recipients have each had an impact on the rich tapestry of American life and culture through the performing arts. Whether in music, dance, theater, opera, motion pictures or television, each Kennedy Center Honoree has a unique place in the national consciousness and their influence has...
- 12/27/2023
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
Washington — The Kennedy Center Honors was a decidedly tuneful affair, with musical talents representing four of its five recipients – vocalists and/or songwriters Dionne Warwick, Renée Fleming, Queen Latifah and Barry Gibb — along with actor/comedian/filmmaker Billy Crystal.
The program, in its 46th year, followed the traditional format that showcases tributes to each honoree by artists and celebs whose identities are undisclosed in advance. It kicked off with a lively parade of dancers down the aisles, led by emcee and former honoree Gloria Estefan and accompanied by Sheila E on drums — a first for the event. Produced again by Done and Dusted Inc., it will air Dec. 27 on CBS.
Omitted this year was one familiar staple at the event – the inclusion of brief video biographies of each honoree that emphasized their childhoods and routes to success. Instead, minimal use of videos embellished career highlights.
The tribute to Warwick led...
The program, in its 46th year, followed the traditional format that showcases tributes to each honoree by artists and celebs whose identities are undisclosed in advance. It kicked off with a lively parade of dancers down the aisles, led by emcee and former honoree Gloria Estefan and accompanied by Sheila E on drums — a first for the event. Produced again by Done and Dusted Inc., it will air Dec. 27 on CBS.
Omitted this year was one familiar staple at the event – the inclusion of brief video biographies of each honoree that emphasized their childhoods and routes to success. Instead, minimal use of videos embellished career highlights.
The tribute to Warwick led...
- 12/4/2023
- by Paul Harris
- Variety Film + TV
Robert De Niro took the stage at the Kennedy Center on Sunday and, looking out at the balcony box where honoree Billy Crystal was sitting, told him of his career, “I had no idea you had done so much. And you’ve done it all in such a relatively short amount of time. You’re only 75. That means you’re just about six years away from being the perfect age to be elected president.”
The joke got some of the biggest audience cheers of the night — and a laugh from President Joe Biden, 81, embarking on a re-election campaign where his chronological advantage is, based on polls, top of mind to voters and the source of some doubts.
It was also one of a few references to age throughout Sunday evening’s Kennedy Center Honors which, in addition to Crystal, honored opera singer Renée Fleming, hip hop star and actress Queen Latifah,...
The joke got some of the biggest audience cheers of the night — and a laugh from President Joe Biden, 81, embarking on a re-election campaign where his chronological advantage is, based on polls, top of mind to voters and the source of some doubts.
It was also one of a few references to age throughout Sunday evening’s Kennedy Center Honors which, in addition to Crystal, honored opera singer Renée Fleming, hip hop star and actress Queen Latifah,...
- 12/4/2023
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
Dale Dickey (A Love Song), Margot Bingham (The Walking Dead), Mo Brings Plenty (Yellowstone) and Tosin Morohunfola (Run The World) have been tapped for recurring roles in Taylor Sheridan’s anthology series Lawmen: Bass Reeves (fka Bass Reeves), exec produced by and starring David Oyelowo. Lawmen: Bass Reeves is created for television by Chad Feehan who also serves as showrunner.
The Paramount+ series, which is currently filming in Texas, will bring the legendary lawmen and outlaws of the wild west to life. Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.
Dickey will play Widow Dolliver, an old woman who has seen it all, and who does not waste time suffering fools.
Bingham will play Sara Jumper, a black Seminole Native American whom Bass...
The Paramount+ series, which is currently filming in Texas, will bring the legendary lawmen and outlaws of the wild west to life. Reeves, known as the greatest frontier hero in American history, worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded.
Dickey will play Widow Dolliver, an old woman who has seen it all, and who does not waste time suffering fools.
Bingham will play Sara Jumper, a black Seminole Native American whom Bass...
- 6/6/2023
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
The Spinners were nominated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times before finally getting the nod on Wednesday morning. The legendary R&b group will become the 21st Detroit artist inducted into the rock hall since it was established in 1983. The Spinners will join Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliott, George Michael, Willie Nelson, and Rage Against the Machine as the class of 2023 in the Performer category.
“This has been a lifelong dream, I never imagined back in Ferndale, when we all started in 1954, that we’d...
“This has been a lifelong dream, I never imagined back in Ferndale, when we all started in 1954, that we’d...
- 5/4/2023
- by Charisma Madarang
- Rollingstone.com
Elvis cinematographer Mandy Walker cracked a glass ceiling on Sunday, becoming the first woman to win the American Society of Cinematographers Award in the feature competition during the 37th ASC Awards.
The crowd at the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom erupted with applause and gave Walker a lengthy standing ovation as her name was called.
“This is for all the women that win this award after me,” she said to enthusiastic applause, and she looked for to more women breaking more glass ceilings. “Thijs is an inclusive, representative community,” she said, adding, “I didn’t cry, I thought I was going to cry.”
She thanked Elvis director Baz Luhrmann for allowing her to “create magic with him;” Catherine Martin for her “support and inspiration; and her crew for “dancing with the camera and flying with the camera” during Austin Butler’s performance as Elvis.
Walker’s bold lensing of Elvis...
The crowd at the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom erupted with applause and gave Walker a lengthy standing ovation as her name was called.
“This is for all the women that win this award after me,” she said to enthusiastic applause, and she looked for to more women breaking more glass ceilings. “Thijs is an inclusive, representative community,” she said, adding, “I didn’t cry, I thought I was going to cry.”
She thanked Elvis director Baz Luhrmann for allowing her to “create magic with him;” Catherine Martin for her “support and inspiration; and her crew for “dancing with the camera and flying with the camera” during Austin Butler’s performance as Elvis.
Walker’s bold lensing of Elvis...
- 3/6/2023
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The American Society of Cinematographers is handing out its 37th annual ASC Awards tonight at the Beverly Hilton, and Deadline is posting the winners as they’re announced. See the list below.
The night’s first prize went to Carl Herse for HBO’s Barry, which won for Episode of a Half-Hour Series.
The society’s nominees for its marquee Theatrical Feature Film prize are Roger Deakins for Empire of Light, Greig Fraser for The Batman, Darius Khondji for Bardo, Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick and Mandy Walker for Elvis. Fraser won the ASC’s top prize last year for Dune, en route to winning the Cinematography Oscar.
The ASC film winner has won the Academy Award nearly half of the time — 17 times in its 36 years. Bardo, Elvis and Empire of Light will vie for the Best Cinematography Oscar on March 12 against All Quiet on the Western Front (James Friend...
The night’s first prize went to Carl Herse for HBO’s Barry, which won for Episode of a Half-Hour Series.
The society’s nominees for its marquee Theatrical Feature Film prize are Roger Deakins for Empire of Light, Greig Fraser for The Batman, Darius Khondji for Bardo, Claudio Miranda for Top Gun: Maverick and Mandy Walker for Elvis. Fraser won the ASC’s top prize last year for Dune, en route to winning the Cinematography Oscar.
The ASC film winner has won the Academy Award nearly half of the time — 17 times in its 36 years. Bardo, Elvis and Empire of Light will vie for the Best Cinematography Oscar on March 12 against All Quiet on the Western Front (James Friend...
- 3/6/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
On November 20, 1971, Nikkatsu launched its new Roman Porno line with the double bill of Hayashi Ishao’s “Castle Orgies” and Nishimura Shogoro’s “Apartment Wife: Afternoon Affair”. The following 17-year period saw a grand total of at least 850 titles (another catalogue mentions 1133) released under this new brand name. before the series came to a halt in 1988. The bulk of these, a total of around 710 films, were made in-house by Nikkatsu, with the rest produced under contract by a number of independent pink companies including Shishi Pro and Enk, which meant that one of the three films playing on the triple bills in the Nikkatsu-operated adult theaters would have been made outside of Nikkatsu
Check the review of the book Book Review: Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Cinema (2008) by Jasper Sharp
The films were (in)famously shot under three simple rules, ave a scene of...
Check the review of the book Book Review: Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Cinema (2008) by Jasper Sharp
The films were (in)famously shot under three simple rules, ave a scene of...
- 2/4/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Click here to read the full article.
Nat Wolff is set to star opposite Lucy Hale in upcoming romantic comedy Which Brings Me to You.
The feature will reunite the Palo Alto, Paper Towns and The Kill Team actor with filmmaker Peter Hutchings (Can You Keep a Secret?, Then Came You), who directed their recent hit The Hating Game. Production is due to start in New York City and New Jersey on September 19th.
From a screenplay by Keith Bunin (Onward, Horns) adapted from the novel by Julianna Baggot and Steve Almond, Which Brings Me to You follows Jane (Hale), a freelance journalist, and Will (Wolf)), a photographer, who are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After the pair sneak off to hook up in the coat room, all signs point to an empty one-night stand. Instead, over the next 24 hours, they share stories of their most embarrassing sexual encounters,...
Nat Wolff is set to star opposite Lucy Hale in upcoming romantic comedy Which Brings Me to You.
The feature will reunite the Palo Alto, Paper Towns and The Kill Team actor with filmmaker Peter Hutchings (Can You Keep a Secret?, Then Came You), who directed their recent hit The Hating Game. Production is due to start in New York City and New Jersey on September 19th.
From a screenplay by Keith Bunin (Onward, Horns) adapted from the novel by Julianna Baggot and Steve Almond, Which Brings Me to You follows Jane (Hale), a freelance journalist, and Will (Wolf)), a photographer, who are immediately drawn to each other at a mutual friend’s wedding. After the pair sneak off to hook up in the coat room, all signs point to an empty one-night stand. Instead, over the next 24 hours, they share stories of their most embarrassing sexual encounters,...
- 9/10/2022
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 9/5/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Gold Derby can exclusively reveal the episodes selected by the seven nominees for Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress as their 2022 Emmys episode submissions.
There are two nominees representing the Hulu limited series “Dopesick.” First-time Emmy nominee Kaitlyn Dever plays Betsy Mallum, a coal miner injured on the job who becomes addicted to opioid pain medication. She submitted to Emmy judges the fifth episode of the eight-episode series, “The Whistleblower,” in which Betsy sells her mother’s jewelry to pay for drugs and has an emotional breakdown when her father pours her pills down the drain, leading her to be sent to rehab.
Mare Winningham plays Betsy’s mother Diane Mallum in “Dopesick.” She’s an eight-time Emmy nominee who won this category for “Amber Waves” in 1980 and “George Wallace” in 1998. Her submission is the seventh episode of the series, “Black Box Warning,” in which Diane takes her daughter out of a house full of addicts.
There are two nominees representing the Hulu limited series “Dopesick.” First-time Emmy nominee Kaitlyn Dever plays Betsy Mallum, a coal miner injured on the job who becomes addicted to opioid pain medication. She submitted to Emmy judges the fifth episode of the eight-episode series, “The Whistleblower,” in which Betsy sells her mother’s jewelry to pay for drugs and has an emotional breakdown when her father pours her pills down the drain, leading her to be sent to rehab.
Mare Winningham plays Betsy’s mother Diane Mallum in “Dopesick.” She’s an eight-time Emmy nominee who won this category for “Amber Waves” in 1980 and “George Wallace” in 1998. Her submission is the seventh episode of the series, “Black Box Warning,” in which Diane takes her daughter out of a house full of addicts.
- 7/29/2022
- by Daniel Montgomery and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Gersh has signed actor, writer and producer David Koechner (Anchorman) for representation.
Koechner is perhaps best known for his turn as Michael Scott’s pal Todd Packer on NBC’s The Office, and as the Anchorman films’ Champ Kind. He currently co-hosts A&e’s America’s Top Dog and plays Bill Lewis on ABC’s The Goldbergs, having recently appeared on ABC’s Bless This Mess, CBS’s Superior Donuts, Showtime’s Twin Peaks, Comedy Central’s Another Period and IFC’s Stan Against Evil. Koechner voices recurring characters on Fox’s American Dad, as well as on Netflix’s series F is for Family and The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants. Recent projects on the film side include the dramedy Then Came You with Asa Butterfield, Maisie Williams and Nina Dobrev; Sean McEwen’s dramatic comedy Braking for Whales with Tom Felton and Wendi McLendon-Covey; Roman White...
Koechner is perhaps best known for his turn as Michael Scott’s pal Todd Packer on NBC’s The Office, and as the Anchorman films’ Champ Kind. He currently co-hosts A&e’s America’s Top Dog and plays Bill Lewis on ABC’s The Goldbergs, having recently appeared on ABC’s Bless This Mess, CBS’s Superior Donuts, Showtime’s Twin Peaks, Comedy Central’s Another Period and IFC’s Stan Against Evil. Koechner voices recurring characters on Fox’s American Dad, as well as on Netflix’s series F is for Family and The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants. Recent projects on the film side include the dramedy Then Came You with Asa Butterfield, Maisie Williams and Nina Dobrev; Sean McEwen’s dramatic comedy Braking for Whales with Tom Felton and Wendi McLendon-Covey; Roman White...
- 5/23/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
If the Academy is having a hard time getting itself out of its unpopular hole, it might help if they brought the public in, not by awarding The Most Favorite Film — which goes against the grain of the Academy itself, being made up of the august members of the motion picture industry. The Academy is the exact opposite of the masses who are not attending theatrical events as much as watching streaming in the comfort of their living rooms, and obviously not watching movies enough to want to watch the Academy Awards.
How about spreading the love for movies by making the international films broadly available before, not after, the Oscars have been awarded? Convincing distributors to rethink how they release their non-English films or docs or shorts to the public might stir up more interest in these categories. When they are hot, on the tail of being picked up at the famous festivals when news of them first breaks, rather than giving them one-week releases close to the end of the year in order to qualify them for the Oscars and then removing them from theaters and streaming platforms until they win the Oscar — if they do — might help.
Put them on streaming platforms if not in theaters and advertise their availability even if you can’t book a theater. The same thinking goes for the shorts which are now being decamped to an off-camera pre-Oscar event. If we (the public) wanted to see what the contenders are, then why can we not easily find and watch the shortlisted and then the five nominated films?
Films up for Academy Awards to be televised March 27 and upon which the Academy member will vote March 17–22 should be more widely available to the public. The films being feted, and particularly the international, the docs and the shorts, should be made widely available to the public so that the public will have more of a stake in the Awards ceremony and therefore be more likely to tune into it.
A quick look at them, two from Asia and three from Europe and an overview of them and the other shortlisted films shows the importance of world class festival premieres. Another look shows some are ubiquitous on multiple streaming platforms while others are nowhere to be found.
Upcoming filmmakers should be aware that these top festivals demand world premieres, so they should aim high when planning the festival and distribution strategy for their films initially and apply or get invited, two ways the festivals choose their programs. But this insular film circuit, only open to cineastes and cinephiles, could be the launch pads to seeing contenders and spreading some word of mouth pre-Oscar season, if only the public were allowed to see them. Looking at TelescopeFilm.com, the U.S. distribution via streaming platforms of these films ranges from the unseeable to the ubiquitous.
Drive My Car — Japan by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. Premiered in Cannes. (US: Janus, Isa: The Match Factory). Not available anywhere on streaming...not even on Criterion, the streaming platform of Janus, its distributor.
Flee — Denmark by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. Premiered in Sundance 2022. (US: Neon, Isa: Cinephil). Available everywhere: Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Google Play, Vudu, Microsoft, YouTube, Direct TV and AMC.
The Hand of God — Italy by Paulo Sorrentino. Premiered in Venice. (Netflix worldwide) Literally a fabulous film, a real winner whether or not it takes the Oscar. Available only on Netflix.
The Worst Person in the World — Norway by Joachim Trier. Premiered in Cannes. (US: Neon, Isa: MK2). Not available anywhere…what gives with Neon and how it handles this and its other nominated film Flee?
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom — Bhutan by Pawo Choyning Dorji. Premiered simultaneously in BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals. (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique). Surprisingly for Goldwyn, the film is available on many platforms, Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Vudo, YouTube, Direct TV and Spectrum.
Again to stress the importance of the world class film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and Sundance), two of the nominated films this year premiered in Cannes 2021, one showed in Venice and one in Sundance and one stood alone in premiering simultaneously at three world class film festivals other than the top 5. Film festivals have been the primary source of Oscar Best International Features for a long time with Cannes and Venice Film Festivals leading the way for qualifying films. Only in 2008 was a non-Cannes, Venice, Berlin or Toronto playing film, the Japanese film Departures, the winner.
Previous Cannes Oscar winners were Parasite, Son of Saul, The Great Beauty (Sorrentino’s current nominated film is The Hand of God a Netflix film which premiered in Venice) and Amour. Last year’s winner Another Round was selected for Cannes last year, although it ended up premiering in Toronto.
Cannes
18 Oscar submissions (out of 93) in the Best International Film category premiered in Cannes this year and five were shortlisted and two were nominated: Norway’s entry, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World (US: Neon, Isa: MK2), two-time Oscar winner for A Separation and The Salesman Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, Finland’s Compartment №6 (US: Sony Pictures Classics, Isa: Totem), Japan’s entry, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Murakami adaptation Drive My Car, and Colombia’s multinational selection Memoria by Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, starring arthouse top-star Tilda Swinton. (Neon’s novel, much-discussed U.S. release strategy for the film states that it will only ever be in theaters, never on streaming. Why? Who will ever see it? Isa:The Match Factory).
Austria’s queer prison drama A Great Freedom (US: Mubi, Isa: The Match Factory), Iceland’s Lamb (US: A24, Isa: Films New Europe) was a prize winner in Un Certain Regard. Mexico’s Prayers for the Stolen. Playground also played in Cannes and is winning many awards at other top fests. Playground could also have taken the Oscar in my opinion. You can read my blog on Playground here.
Venice
Venice Film Festival had four Oscar submissions but only one, The Hand of God, made the shortlist. Poland’s Leave No Traces, Bolivia’s The Great Movement and Slovakia’s 107 Mothers were their countries’ submissions. Venice hit, Pedro Almodóvar’s Penelope Cruz-starring Parallel Mothers was not submitted by Spain, perhaps because of the still politically sensitive subject of the disappeared of the Civil War. Instead San Sebatian’s premiering The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem was submitted.
Berlin
From Berlin, which was totally digital in 2021, of Romania’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn by Radu Jude and Germany’s I’m Your Man, — read my blog here — only the latter made the shortlist making it director Maria Schrader’s second Oscar submission, after Stephan Zweig: Goodbye to Europe which was last year’s submission from Austria.
Sundance
Again taking place digitally this year as last was the Sundance premiering film from Denmark Flee (US: Neon, Isa: Cinephil), also nominated in the documentary category (I favor Summer of Soul) and animated categories. I would prefer that it win in the animated category thus leaving room for a fiction feature and a domestic documentary to win the Oscars as well. Kosovo’s entry Hive, was the first in Sundance history to win the Grand Jury Prize, Director and Audience awards in its section and it was shortlisted for Oscar nomination.
BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals had nearly simultaneous premieres of Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.
Short List and Nominations By Territory
Scandinavian films had four of the 15 slots for this year’s international feature film Oscar Shortlist of which two are nominations: Norway’s The Worst Person In The World and Denmark’s Flee. The other two were Iceland’s Lamb, Finland’s Compartment №6. Of these my prediction is that ‘Flee’ will win either this or the Oscar for Best Doc or Best Animated Feature.
Latin America had two short listed: Mexico’s Prayers For The Stolen (Mubi worldwide) and Panama’s Plaza Catedral aka Biencuidao(Goldwyn has US Distribution, Isa *: Gulfstream & Luminosity). Congratulations are long due to the writer- director, Abner Benaim, known for Ruben Blades Is Not My Name (2018), Chance (2009) and now Plaza Catedral (2021). Associate produced by Ruben Blades, among others, the story is about 42-year-old Alicia, a grief-stricken woman, whose grief has caused her to be estranged from society. Her world is turned upside down when a 14-year-old boy who looks after people’s cars, stumbles into her house, bleeding…The film premiered at Guadalajara International Film Festival in October last year and won the Mexcal awards for best actress and best actor. It won the audience award at the International Film Festival of Panama in December.
Starring Ilse Salas, a coproduction of Colombia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Panama, United States
Plaza Catedral is Panama’s first time to reach the shortlist as are first time films from Kosovo, Hive (US: Zeitgeist, Isa: Level K), and Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique).
Two entries from Asia included Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique) and the Japanese entry — and critics’ favorite — and mine— Drive My Car (US: Janus, Isa: The Match Factory).
The only Middle Eastern film is Iran’s A Hero (US: Amazon, Isa: Memento) by two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi. Africa has no film on the shortlist, despite admired entries including Chad’s Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (US: Mubi, Isa: Films Boutique) and Morocco’s Casablanca Beats (US: Kino Lorber, Isa: Wild Bunch) and for the very few who saw it and loved it in Burkino Faso, Toronto, Marrakesh or El Gouna Film Festivals, Senegal’s The Gravedigger’s Wife (no US Distributor, Isa: Orange Studios) who had no money to hire a publicist.
My predictions in order of my preferences — and I was so extremely impressed with all those I was lucky enough to see *:
Drive My Car (Japan)
Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
This Cannes Competition Best Screenplay Winner is a three-hour drama adapted from a couple of Haruki Murakami short stories, about a recently widowed stage director rehearsing Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya during a theatre residency in Hiroshima, and the bond he forms with his young female driver.
Drive My Car has been named this year’s best film by the New York and Los Angeles critics. Janus Films released Drive My Car in the US in November. My question remains: Why is this great film not available on any streaming platform? Word of mouth should be building as people watch it and reflect on their own lives, the hidden and the profane, our daily bread and the wish for redemption.
The many layered drama was able to take a short story and layer it with overlapping stories in a way that quietly stirs the depth of your heart. It is slow and acts slowly upon your emotions but once you are in the rhythm of it, you are infused by its fragrance and its cathartic action which unfolds within you.
The Russian play itself that our hero will direct (Uncle Vanya) is enough to set off its own chain of reactions for those aware of its content. After Anton Chekhov published it in 1898 the director of the Moscow Art Theatre, the great Konstantin Stanislavski brought it to the stage. The play, about an elderly professor and his much younger glamorous second wife who are considering selling the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle in order to have more money to live their lives, is also about those who care for the estate — his daughter by his first wife and his first wife’s brother, those who will be left bereft by the actions of the others. So he and his driver reflect on their own states of being left bereft.
Isa (International Sales Agent) The Match Factory has licensed to A-One Films (Baltics, Estonia), Andrews (Taiwan), Arthaus (Norway), Bitters End (Japan), Diaphana Films (France), Elastica (Spain), Future Film (Finland), Gutek Film (Poland), Janus Films (USA), Lighthouse Pictures (Singapore), Mars (Turkey), Modern Films (UK), NjutaFilms (Sweden), Polyfilm (Austria), Rapid Eye Movies (Germany), September Film (Netherlands), Tucker Film Udine (Italy)
The Hand Of God (Italy)
Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Sorrentino — who won this Oscar category in 2014 with The Great Beauty (see blog) — is nominated for this autobiographical tale of himself as a teenager (Filippo Scotti) growing up in Naples in the 1980s with a characteristically southern Italian family (including dad Toni Servillo). As he finds his path to filmmaking he realizes the hand of God has saved him and redeems him. The Hand Of God premiered in competition in Venice where it won the Grand Jury Silver Lion and the Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor (for Scotti), and has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Critics Choice and Golden Globes. Comparable to, but surpassing Almodóvar’s autobiographical film Pain and Glory and referencing plenty of Fellini, this film fills the emotional need we have to believe our fates are somehow connected to a higher register than that of mere mortals.
Worldwide: Netflix except Greece and Spain
Flee (Denmark)
Dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Last year Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round won the Oscar for Denmark, and now, Flee is not only nominated for Best International Feature but also for Best Documentary and Best Animated Feature. Flee tells the story of an Afghan refugee, on the verge of marriage, who is compelled to reveal his hidden past for the first time. Flee debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won the grand jury prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, and has gone on to win Best Documentary and Best Animated feature at the European Film Awards.
It is analogous in storytelling and emotional impact to Waltz With Bashir, with the emotional staying power. It has created very strong word of mouth and much praise. It is a shocking story by an adult who as a young teen escaped Afghanistan and in order to be allowed residency must live a lie.
Isa** Cinephil has licensed it to Neon for US and Elevation Pictures for Canada, I Wonder Pictures for Italy, Madman Entertainment for Australia/ Nz, Periscoop Film for Benelux, Reel Pictures for Denmark, Film Europe for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Must Kasi/ Kino Soprus for Estonia, Mer for Norway, Triart for Sweden, Hooray for Taiwan, Curzon for UK
The Worst Person In The World (Norway)
Dir. Joachim Trier
The final film in Trier’s Oslo trilogy, (Reprise and Thelma were both submitted but neither made the shortlist), The Worst Person In The World saw its star Renate Reinsve receive the Best Actress Award in Cannes, and then to being nominated for European Film Award. A young woman navigating the unknown future with a turbulent love life and floundering career choices struggles to find a steady path in life. Last year Norway did make the shortlist with Maria Sødahl’s Hope, and it received a nomination in 2012 with Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s Kon-Tiki.
This was emotionally complex and satisfying, perhaps more for women of uncertain age than for men. I think its limitation is in its audience potential.
Watch the trailer here.
Isa MK2 has licensed the movie to Neon for USA, Madman for Australia/ Nz, Cineart for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Memento for France, Mozinet for Hungary, Gaga for Japan, Front Row for Middle East and Africa, Sf Studios for Norway, M2 for Poland, Alambique for Portugal, Independenta for Romania, Anticipate for Singapore, Elastica for Spain, Triart for Sweden, Frenetic for Switzerland, Hooray for Taiwan, Arthouse Traffic for Ukraine, Mubi for France, Germany, Latin America, Turkey, India
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom — Bhutan by Pawo Choyning Dorji. Premiered in BFI London FIlm Festival. (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique). The debut of writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji, this Dzongkha-language film is about a young Bhutanese teacher who aspires to be a singer in Australia but finds himself assigned to an isolated school in the Himalayan glacial village of Lunana, inhabited by a small nomadic community. Dorji started as an assistant on Bhutanese lama and director Khyentse Norbu’s Vara: A Blessing (2013) and went on to produce Hema Hema: Sing Me A Song While I Wait, which premiered in Toronto’s Platform section in 2016 and received a special mention.
Lunana premiered simultaneously at BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals in October 2019. In 2020 it was submitted for Bhutan but was disqualified because the selection committe was not Academy-approved. It was resubmitted and accepeted in 2021. Bhutan has only been at the Academy Awards three times — the first being The Cup in 1999, and twice with this film. This is the first time it has made the shortlist.
Recapping the shortlisted films which were so engaging, entertaining and engrossing this year:
Compartment №6 (Finland)
Dir. Juho Kuosmanen
Kuosmanen’s second feature — which shared the Grand Jury prize in Cannes Competition with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero — is about a well-educated idealistic young woman who must share a compartment on a train travelling up to the Arctic circle with a complete derelict. Kuosmanen’s previous feature, The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Maki, was Finland’s Oscar submission for the 2017 awards, although it did not make the shortlist. Finland has yet to win and its only nomination ever was for Aki Kaurismäki’s The Man Without A Past in 2003. Compartment №6 earned three European Film Award nominations including Best Film, but did not win its categories.
A Hero (Iran)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Iran’s best-known filmmaker directed foreign-language Oscar winners A Separation and The Salesman. Farhad’s newest morality tale is about a prisoner — jailed for defaulting on a debt — who spends his two-day exit pass trying to persuade his creditor to agree to terms, thus expediting his release. A Hero shared the Cannes Grand Jury Award with Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment №6. Amazon releases in North America and UK/Ireland, while Memento achieved multiple sales in other territories, and releases itself in France.
I’m Your Man (Germany)
Dir. Maria Schrader
The fourth feature from Schrader (including 1998’s The Giraffe, which she co-directed) stars Maren Eggert as a scientist who agrees to live with a humanoid robot (a German-speaking Dan Stevens) in order to fund her research. Eggert won the acting Silver Bear in Berlin, where I’m Your Man premiered, and the film went on to win four major prizes at the German Film Awards: feature film, direction, screenplay and actress. Austria submitted her film on Stefan Zweig for the Oscar last year, making this her second Oscar contender. Germany’s last Oscar was in 2007 with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives Of Others, and has been nominated four times since, most recently in 2019 with von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away.
Playground (Belgium)
Dir. Laura Wandel
Wandel’s debut feature Playground follows a seven-year-old girl named Nora as she enters first grade at a French primary school and must learn to manoeuvre in a strange new world. The Belgian production has been a hit with critics since its premiere in Cannes Un Certain Regard where it won the Fipresci Prize, going on to win the Best Debut Award at the BFI London Film Festival. Indie Sales is handling international sales. Belgium has never won this category, but has been nominated seven times, most recently in 2014 with Felix van Groeningen’s The Broken Circle Breakdown.
Great Freedom (Austria)
Dir. Sebastian Meise
Premiering at Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Great Freedom won the Jury Award and went on to play many European festivals. The second fiction feature from Meise stars Frank Rogowski (Transit, Undine) as a gay man in post-war Germany who discovers intimacy in prison over the course of several incarcerations for his infractions against the country’s notorious Paragraph 175. Mubi has rights in North America, UK, Ireland, Turkey, India and most of Latin America. Austria has twice won this category before: in 2013 for Michael Haneke’s Amour and 2008 for Stefan Ruzowitsky’s The Counterfeiters.
Prayers For The Stolen (Mexico)
Dir. Tatiana Huezo
After eight previous nominations, Mexico finally won its first International Feature Award in 2019 for Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, one of three Oscars that year. Huezo’s Prayers For The Stolen is based on Jennifer Clement’s novel, and shows life in a town at war seen through the eyes of three young girls on the path to adolescence. The film debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and went on to festivals including Melbourne, Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian and New York. It is the director’s third feature, after 2011’s El Lugar Mas Pequeño and 2016’s Tempestad.
The Good Boss (Spain)
Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
Spain won the Best Foreign Language film Oscar — as it was then called — for The Sea Inside starring Javier Bardem in 2005. This black comedy starring Bardem as a not-so-good factory boss was chosen over Almadovar’s Parallel Mothers, perhaps for political reasons. Director León de Aranoa teamed up with Bardem in Mondays In The Sun — Spain’s pick for the Oscar in 2003, which was not nominated. Cohen Media Group releases The Good Boss in North America. Its international sales agent MK2 has sold it to Future Film for Finland, Paradiso Entertainment for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Front Row for the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) and Iran, Pris Audiovisuais for Portugal, TriPictures for Spain, Paname for France, Limelight for Australia, New Zealand and associated islands, and Pathe for Switzerland.
‘The Hand of God’ source: © Netflix
Lamb (Iceland)
Dir. Valdimar Jóhannsson
Jóhannsson’s debut feature, which won the Cannes Un Certain Regard Prize of Originality this year, stars Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason in the story of a childless farming couple in rural Iceland who make an alarming discovery one day in their sheep barn and face the consequences when they defy the will of nature. Lamb delivered the highest opening weekend for an Icelandic release in North America and has now grossed 2.7m in the territory via A24. Iceland has only been nominated once so far in this category — in 1992, with Fridrik Thor Fridriksson’s Children Of Nature — and also made the shortlist in 2013 with Baltasar Kormakur’s The Deep.
Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (Bhutan). Source: Lff
Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (Bhutan)
Dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji
Not submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards
Plaza Catedral (Panama)
Dir. Abner Benaim
Panama’s Oscar entry has already been beset by tragedy: the film’s lead actor Fernando Xavier de Casta was killed earlier this year, aged just 15, in reported gang violence. In a haunting echo, Plaza Catedral centres on a woman who, while mourning the loss of her 13-year-old son in an accident, has her life turned upside down when a teenager (de Casta) asks her for help after being shot in a street conflict. De Casta and Ilse Salas won the best actor and actress awards at Guadalajara Film Festival, where the film debuted in October 2021. Benaim represents Panama for the third time on the Oscar stage, after Ruben Blades Is Not My Name for the 2019 awards and Invasion, the country’s first entry, for 2015. This is the first time the country has made the Oscars shortlist.
Not submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards
Hive (Kosovo)
Dir. Blerta Basholli
Kosovo’s nascent film industry continues to grow, with its eighth Oscar entry — all consecutively, since the 2015 awards — and has now achieved its first shortlist inclusion. Basholli’s debut feature premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance in 2021, winning the section’s grand jury prize as well as the directing and audience awards. Hive centres on a woman whose husband has been missing since the Kosovan war, leaving her to set up her own business to provide for her children. LevelK represents sales, while Kino Lorber releases in the US.
Submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards (Altitude)
**Descriptions credit to ScreenDaily.com
*Isa=International Sales Agent...
How about spreading the love for movies by making the international films broadly available before, not after, the Oscars have been awarded? Convincing distributors to rethink how they release their non-English films or docs or shorts to the public might stir up more interest in these categories. When they are hot, on the tail of being picked up at the famous festivals when news of them first breaks, rather than giving them one-week releases close to the end of the year in order to qualify them for the Oscars and then removing them from theaters and streaming platforms until they win the Oscar — if they do — might help.
Put them on streaming platforms if not in theaters and advertise their availability even if you can’t book a theater. The same thinking goes for the shorts which are now being decamped to an off-camera pre-Oscar event. If we (the public) wanted to see what the contenders are, then why can we not easily find and watch the shortlisted and then the five nominated films?
Films up for Academy Awards to be televised March 27 and upon which the Academy member will vote March 17–22 should be more widely available to the public. The films being feted, and particularly the international, the docs and the shorts, should be made widely available to the public so that the public will have more of a stake in the Awards ceremony and therefore be more likely to tune into it.
A quick look at them, two from Asia and three from Europe and an overview of them and the other shortlisted films shows the importance of world class festival premieres. Another look shows some are ubiquitous on multiple streaming platforms while others are nowhere to be found.
Upcoming filmmakers should be aware that these top festivals demand world premieres, so they should aim high when planning the festival and distribution strategy for their films initially and apply or get invited, two ways the festivals choose their programs. But this insular film circuit, only open to cineastes and cinephiles, could be the launch pads to seeing contenders and spreading some word of mouth pre-Oscar season, if only the public were allowed to see them. Looking at TelescopeFilm.com, the U.S. distribution via streaming platforms of these films ranges from the unseeable to the ubiquitous.
Drive My Car — Japan by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi. Premiered in Cannes. (US: Janus, Isa: The Match Factory). Not available anywhere on streaming...not even on Criterion, the streaming platform of Janus, its distributor.
Flee — Denmark by Jonas Poher Rasmussen. Premiered in Sundance 2022. (US: Neon, Isa: Cinephil). Available everywhere: Amazon, Apple, Hulu, Google Play, Vudu, Microsoft, YouTube, Direct TV and AMC.
The Hand of God — Italy by Paulo Sorrentino. Premiered in Venice. (Netflix worldwide) Literally a fabulous film, a real winner whether or not it takes the Oscar. Available only on Netflix.
The Worst Person in the World — Norway by Joachim Trier. Premiered in Cannes. (US: Neon, Isa: MK2). Not available anywhere…what gives with Neon and how it handles this and its other nominated film Flee?
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom — Bhutan by Pawo Choyning Dorji. Premiered simultaneously in BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals. (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique). Surprisingly for Goldwyn, the film is available on many platforms, Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Vudo, YouTube, Direct TV and Spectrum.
Again to stress the importance of the world class film festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and Sundance), two of the nominated films this year premiered in Cannes 2021, one showed in Venice and one in Sundance and one stood alone in premiering simultaneously at three world class film festivals other than the top 5. Film festivals have been the primary source of Oscar Best International Features for a long time with Cannes and Venice Film Festivals leading the way for qualifying films. Only in 2008 was a non-Cannes, Venice, Berlin or Toronto playing film, the Japanese film Departures, the winner.
Previous Cannes Oscar winners were Parasite, Son of Saul, The Great Beauty (Sorrentino’s current nominated film is The Hand of God a Netflix film which premiered in Venice) and Amour. Last year’s winner Another Round was selected for Cannes last year, although it ended up premiering in Toronto.
Cannes
18 Oscar submissions (out of 93) in the Best International Film category premiered in Cannes this year and five were shortlisted and two were nominated: Norway’s entry, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World (US: Neon, Isa: MK2), two-time Oscar winner for A Separation and The Salesman Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, Finland’s Compartment №6 (US: Sony Pictures Classics, Isa: Totem), Japan’s entry, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Murakami adaptation Drive My Car, and Colombia’s multinational selection Memoria by Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul, starring arthouse top-star Tilda Swinton. (Neon’s novel, much-discussed U.S. release strategy for the film states that it will only ever be in theaters, never on streaming. Why? Who will ever see it? Isa:The Match Factory).
Austria’s queer prison drama A Great Freedom (US: Mubi, Isa: The Match Factory), Iceland’s Lamb (US: A24, Isa: Films New Europe) was a prize winner in Un Certain Regard. Mexico’s Prayers for the Stolen. Playground also played in Cannes and is winning many awards at other top fests. Playground could also have taken the Oscar in my opinion. You can read my blog on Playground here.
Venice
Venice Film Festival had four Oscar submissions but only one, The Hand of God, made the shortlist. Poland’s Leave No Traces, Bolivia’s The Great Movement and Slovakia’s 107 Mothers were their countries’ submissions. Venice hit, Pedro Almodóvar’s Penelope Cruz-starring Parallel Mothers was not submitted by Spain, perhaps because of the still politically sensitive subject of the disappeared of the Civil War. Instead San Sebatian’s premiering The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem was submitted.
Berlin
From Berlin, which was totally digital in 2021, of Romania’s Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn by Radu Jude and Germany’s I’m Your Man, — read my blog here — only the latter made the shortlist making it director Maria Schrader’s second Oscar submission, after Stephan Zweig: Goodbye to Europe which was last year’s submission from Austria.
Sundance
Again taking place digitally this year as last was the Sundance premiering film from Denmark Flee (US: Neon, Isa: Cinephil), also nominated in the documentary category (I favor Summer of Soul) and animated categories. I would prefer that it win in the animated category thus leaving room for a fiction feature and a domestic documentary to win the Oscars as well. Kosovo’s entry Hive, was the first in Sundance history to win the Grand Jury Prize, Director and Audience awards in its section and it was shortlisted for Oscar nomination.
BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals had nearly simultaneous premieres of Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.
Short List and Nominations By Territory
Scandinavian films had four of the 15 slots for this year’s international feature film Oscar Shortlist of which two are nominations: Norway’s The Worst Person In The World and Denmark’s Flee. The other two were Iceland’s Lamb, Finland’s Compartment №6. Of these my prediction is that ‘Flee’ will win either this or the Oscar for Best Doc or Best Animated Feature.
Latin America had two short listed: Mexico’s Prayers For The Stolen (Mubi worldwide) and Panama’s Plaza Catedral aka Biencuidao(Goldwyn has US Distribution, Isa *: Gulfstream & Luminosity). Congratulations are long due to the writer- director, Abner Benaim, known for Ruben Blades Is Not My Name (2018), Chance (2009) and now Plaza Catedral (2021). Associate produced by Ruben Blades, among others, the story is about 42-year-old Alicia, a grief-stricken woman, whose grief has caused her to be estranged from society. Her world is turned upside down when a 14-year-old boy who looks after people’s cars, stumbles into her house, bleeding…The film premiered at Guadalajara International Film Festival in October last year and won the Mexcal awards for best actress and best actor. It won the audience award at the International Film Festival of Panama in December.
Starring Ilse Salas, a coproduction of Colombia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Panama, United States
Plaza Catedral is Panama’s first time to reach the shortlist as are first time films from Kosovo, Hive (US: Zeitgeist, Isa: Level K), and Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique).
Two entries from Asia included Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique) and the Japanese entry — and critics’ favorite — and mine— Drive My Car (US: Janus, Isa: The Match Factory).
The only Middle Eastern film is Iran’s A Hero (US: Amazon, Isa: Memento) by two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi. Africa has no film on the shortlist, despite admired entries including Chad’s Lingui, The Sacred Bonds (US: Mubi, Isa: Films Boutique) and Morocco’s Casablanca Beats (US: Kino Lorber, Isa: Wild Bunch) and for the very few who saw it and loved it in Burkino Faso, Toronto, Marrakesh or El Gouna Film Festivals, Senegal’s The Gravedigger’s Wife (no US Distributor, Isa: Orange Studios) who had no money to hire a publicist.
My predictions in order of my preferences — and I was so extremely impressed with all those I was lucky enough to see *:
Drive My Car (Japan)
Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
This Cannes Competition Best Screenplay Winner is a three-hour drama adapted from a couple of Haruki Murakami short stories, about a recently widowed stage director rehearsing Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya during a theatre residency in Hiroshima, and the bond he forms with his young female driver.
Drive My Car has been named this year’s best film by the New York and Los Angeles critics. Janus Films released Drive My Car in the US in November. My question remains: Why is this great film not available on any streaming platform? Word of mouth should be building as people watch it and reflect on their own lives, the hidden and the profane, our daily bread and the wish for redemption.
The many layered drama was able to take a short story and layer it with overlapping stories in a way that quietly stirs the depth of your heart. It is slow and acts slowly upon your emotions but once you are in the rhythm of it, you are infused by its fragrance and its cathartic action which unfolds within you.
The Russian play itself that our hero will direct (Uncle Vanya) is enough to set off its own chain of reactions for those aware of its content. After Anton Chekhov published it in 1898 the director of the Moscow Art Theatre, the great Konstantin Stanislavski brought it to the stage. The play, about an elderly professor and his much younger glamorous second wife who are considering selling the rural estate that supports their urban lifestyle in order to have more money to live their lives, is also about those who care for the estate — his daughter by his first wife and his first wife’s brother, those who will be left bereft by the actions of the others. So he and his driver reflect on their own states of being left bereft.
Isa (International Sales Agent) The Match Factory has licensed to A-One Films (Baltics, Estonia), Andrews (Taiwan), Arthaus (Norway), Bitters End (Japan), Diaphana Films (France), Elastica (Spain), Future Film (Finland), Gutek Film (Poland), Janus Films (USA), Lighthouse Pictures (Singapore), Mars (Turkey), Modern Films (UK), NjutaFilms (Sweden), Polyfilm (Austria), Rapid Eye Movies (Germany), September Film (Netherlands), Tucker Film Udine (Italy)
The Hand Of God (Italy)
Dir. Paolo Sorrentino
Sorrentino — who won this Oscar category in 2014 with The Great Beauty (see blog) — is nominated for this autobiographical tale of himself as a teenager (Filippo Scotti) growing up in Naples in the 1980s with a characteristically southern Italian family (including dad Toni Servillo). As he finds his path to filmmaking he realizes the hand of God has saved him and redeems him. The Hand Of God premiered in competition in Venice where it won the Grand Jury Silver Lion and the Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor (for Scotti), and has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Critics Choice and Golden Globes. Comparable to, but surpassing Almodóvar’s autobiographical film Pain and Glory and referencing plenty of Fellini, this film fills the emotional need we have to believe our fates are somehow connected to a higher register than that of mere mortals.
Worldwide: Netflix except Greece and Spain
Flee (Denmark)
Dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Last year Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round won the Oscar for Denmark, and now, Flee is not only nominated for Best International Feature but also for Best Documentary and Best Animated Feature. Flee tells the story of an Afghan refugee, on the verge of marriage, who is compelled to reveal his hidden past for the first time. Flee debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January, where it won the grand jury prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition, and has gone on to win Best Documentary and Best Animated feature at the European Film Awards.
It is analogous in storytelling and emotional impact to Waltz With Bashir, with the emotional staying power. It has created very strong word of mouth and much praise. It is a shocking story by an adult who as a young teen escaped Afghanistan and in order to be allowed residency must live a lie.
Isa** Cinephil has licensed it to Neon for US and Elevation Pictures for Canada, I Wonder Pictures for Italy, Madman Entertainment for Australia/ Nz, Periscoop Film for Benelux, Reel Pictures for Denmark, Film Europe for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Must Kasi/ Kino Soprus for Estonia, Mer for Norway, Triart for Sweden, Hooray for Taiwan, Curzon for UK
The Worst Person In The World (Norway)
Dir. Joachim Trier
The final film in Trier’s Oslo trilogy, (Reprise and Thelma were both submitted but neither made the shortlist), The Worst Person In The World saw its star Renate Reinsve receive the Best Actress Award in Cannes, and then to being nominated for European Film Award. A young woman navigating the unknown future with a turbulent love life and floundering career choices struggles to find a steady path in life. Last year Norway did make the shortlist with Maria Sødahl’s Hope, and it received a nomination in 2012 with Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s Kon-Tiki.
This was emotionally complex and satisfying, perhaps more for women of uncertain age than for men. I think its limitation is in its audience potential.
Watch the trailer here.
Isa MK2 has licensed the movie to Neon for USA, Madman for Australia/ Nz, Cineart for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Memento for France, Mozinet for Hungary, Gaga for Japan, Front Row for Middle East and Africa, Sf Studios for Norway, M2 for Poland, Alambique for Portugal, Independenta for Romania, Anticipate for Singapore, Elastica for Spain, Triart for Sweden, Frenetic for Switzerland, Hooray for Taiwan, Arthouse Traffic for Ukraine, Mubi for France, Germany, Latin America, Turkey, India
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom — Bhutan by Pawo Choyning Dorji. Premiered in BFI London FIlm Festival. (No. America: Goldwyn, Isa: Films Boutique). The debut of writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji, this Dzongkha-language film is about a young Bhutanese teacher who aspires to be a singer in Australia but finds himself assigned to an isolated school in the Himalayan glacial village of Lunana, inhabited by a small nomadic community. Dorji started as an assistant on Bhutanese lama and director Khyentse Norbu’s Vara: A Blessing (2013) and went on to produce Hema Hema: Sing Me A Song While I Wait, which premiered in Toronto’s Platform section in 2016 and received a special mention.
Lunana premiered simultaneously at BFI London, Vancouver and Busan Film Festivals in October 2019. In 2020 it was submitted for Bhutan but was disqualified because the selection committe was not Academy-approved. It was resubmitted and accepeted in 2021. Bhutan has only been at the Academy Awards three times — the first being The Cup in 1999, and twice with this film. This is the first time it has made the shortlist.
Recapping the shortlisted films which were so engaging, entertaining and engrossing this year:
Compartment №6 (Finland)
Dir. Juho Kuosmanen
Kuosmanen’s second feature — which shared the Grand Jury prize in Cannes Competition with Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero — is about a well-educated idealistic young woman who must share a compartment on a train travelling up to the Arctic circle with a complete derelict. Kuosmanen’s previous feature, The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Maki, was Finland’s Oscar submission for the 2017 awards, although it did not make the shortlist. Finland has yet to win and its only nomination ever was for Aki Kaurismäki’s The Man Without A Past in 2003. Compartment №6 earned three European Film Award nominations including Best Film, but did not win its categories.
A Hero (Iran)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Iran’s best-known filmmaker directed foreign-language Oscar winners A Separation and The Salesman. Farhad’s newest morality tale is about a prisoner — jailed for defaulting on a debt — who spends his two-day exit pass trying to persuade his creditor to agree to terms, thus expediting his release. A Hero shared the Cannes Grand Jury Award with Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment №6. Amazon releases in North America and UK/Ireland, while Memento achieved multiple sales in other territories, and releases itself in France.
I’m Your Man (Germany)
Dir. Maria Schrader
The fourth feature from Schrader (including 1998’s The Giraffe, which she co-directed) stars Maren Eggert as a scientist who agrees to live with a humanoid robot (a German-speaking Dan Stevens) in order to fund her research. Eggert won the acting Silver Bear in Berlin, where I’m Your Man premiered, and the film went on to win four major prizes at the German Film Awards: feature film, direction, screenplay and actress. Austria submitted her film on Stefan Zweig for the Oscar last year, making this her second Oscar contender. Germany’s last Oscar was in 2007 with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives Of Others, and has been nominated four times since, most recently in 2019 with von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away.
Playground (Belgium)
Dir. Laura Wandel
Wandel’s debut feature Playground follows a seven-year-old girl named Nora as she enters first grade at a French primary school and must learn to manoeuvre in a strange new world. The Belgian production has been a hit with critics since its premiere in Cannes Un Certain Regard where it won the Fipresci Prize, going on to win the Best Debut Award at the BFI London Film Festival. Indie Sales is handling international sales. Belgium has never won this category, but has been nominated seven times, most recently in 2014 with Felix van Groeningen’s The Broken Circle Breakdown.
Great Freedom (Austria)
Dir. Sebastian Meise
Premiering at Un Certain Regard at Cannes, Great Freedom won the Jury Award and went on to play many European festivals. The second fiction feature from Meise stars Frank Rogowski (Transit, Undine) as a gay man in post-war Germany who discovers intimacy in prison over the course of several incarcerations for his infractions against the country’s notorious Paragraph 175. Mubi has rights in North America, UK, Ireland, Turkey, India and most of Latin America. Austria has twice won this category before: in 2013 for Michael Haneke’s Amour and 2008 for Stefan Ruzowitsky’s The Counterfeiters.
Prayers For The Stolen (Mexico)
Dir. Tatiana Huezo
After eight previous nominations, Mexico finally won its first International Feature Award in 2019 for Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, one of three Oscars that year. Huezo’s Prayers For The Stolen is based on Jennifer Clement’s novel, and shows life in a town at war seen through the eyes of three young girls on the path to adolescence. The film debuted in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and went on to festivals including Melbourne, Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian and New York. It is the director’s third feature, after 2011’s El Lugar Mas Pequeño and 2016’s Tempestad.
The Good Boss (Spain)
Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
Spain won the Best Foreign Language film Oscar — as it was then called — for The Sea Inside starring Javier Bardem in 2005. This black comedy starring Bardem as a not-so-good factory boss was chosen over Almadovar’s Parallel Mothers, perhaps for political reasons. Director León de Aranoa teamed up with Bardem in Mondays In The Sun — Spain’s pick for the Oscar in 2003, which was not nominated. Cohen Media Group releases The Good Boss in North America. Its international sales agent MK2 has sold it to Future Film for Finland, Paradiso Entertainment for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Front Row for the Mena (Middle East and North Africa) and Iran, Pris Audiovisuais for Portugal, TriPictures for Spain, Paname for France, Limelight for Australia, New Zealand and associated islands, and Pathe for Switzerland.
‘The Hand of God’ source: © Netflix
Lamb (Iceland)
Dir. Valdimar Jóhannsson
Jóhannsson’s debut feature, which won the Cannes Un Certain Regard Prize of Originality this year, stars Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason in the story of a childless farming couple in rural Iceland who make an alarming discovery one day in their sheep barn and face the consequences when they defy the will of nature. Lamb delivered the highest opening weekend for an Icelandic release in North America and has now grossed 2.7m in the territory via A24. Iceland has only been nominated once so far in this category — in 1992, with Fridrik Thor Fridriksson’s Children Of Nature — and also made the shortlist in 2013 with Baltasar Kormakur’s The Deep.
Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (Bhutan). Source: Lff
Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (Bhutan)
Dir. Pawo Choyning Dorji
Not submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards
Plaza Catedral (Panama)
Dir. Abner Benaim
Panama’s Oscar entry has already been beset by tragedy: the film’s lead actor Fernando Xavier de Casta was killed earlier this year, aged just 15, in reported gang violence. In a haunting echo, Plaza Catedral centres on a woman who, while mourning the loss of her 13-year-old son in an accident, has her life turned upside down when a teenager (de Casta) asks her for help after being shot in a street conflict. De Casta and Ilse Salas won the best actor and actress awards at Guadalajara Film Festival, where the film debuted in October 2021. Benaim represents Panama for the third time on the Oscar stage, after Ruben Blades Is Not My Name for the 2019 awards and Invasion, the country’s first entry, for 2015. This is the first time the country has made the Oscars shortlist.
Not submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards
Hive (Kosovo)
Dir. Blerta Basholli
Kosovo’s nascent film industry continues to grow, with its eighth Oscar entry — all consecutively, since the 2015 awards — and has now achieved its first shortlist inclusion. Basholli’s debut feature premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance in 2021, winning the section’s grand jury prize as well as the directing and audience awards. Hive centres on a woman whose husband has been missing since the Kosovan war, leaving her to set up her own business to provide for her children. LevelK represents sales, while Kino Lorber releases in the US.
Submitted for this year’s Bafta Film Awards (Altitude)
**Descriptions credit to ScreenDaily.com
*Isa=International Sales Agent...
- 5/8/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
More than two years into its run at Fox Corp., Tubi is ramping up in original programming, planning 100 new film and TV titles over the next year as viewership continues to rise.
The programming push was one of the central messages of the streaming service’s NewFronts presentation this evening in New York.
Since being acquired in 2020 for 440 million, the free, ad-supported streaming service has been increasingly integrated into Fox’s operations and has more than doubled its viewership. It offers streaming access after linear premiere for many of the top shows on the Fox broadcast network, including ratings kingpin The Masked Singer. It also is tapping into two corporate cousins for originals: TMZ and animated specialist Bento Box Entertainment. The new originals will join a library of more than 40,000 film and TV titles, which Tubi says is No. 1 among all free AVODs.
Among the new arrivals are a comedy called Classmates,...
The programming push was one of the central messages of the streaming service’s NewFronts presentation this evening in New York.
Since being acquired in 2020 for 440 million, the free, ad-supported streaming service has been increasingly integrated into Fox’s operations and has more than doubled its viewership. It offers streaming access after linear premiere for many of the top shows on the Fox broadcast network, including ratings kingpin The Masked Singer. It also is tapping into two corporate cousins for originals: TMZ and animated specialist Bento Box Entertainment. The new originals will join a library of more than 40,000 film and TV titles, which Tubi says is No. 1 among all free AVODs.
Among the new arrivals are a comedy called Classmates,...
- 5/2/2022
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Drive My Car” is now making headlines in Japan after winning the best international feature Oscar. The film is only the second from the country to take the prize, the previous one being the 2008 “Departures.”
Released domestically in August, “Drive My Car” had earned only $250,000 by the end of 2021, despite winning three awards at Cannes, including best screenplay for Hamaguchi and co-writer Oe Takamasa. But as accolades continued to pile up, including eight prizes at the Japan Academy awards this March, anticipation here grew that Hamaguchi and his film would also do well at the Oscars. And once it snagged four Academy Award nominations, including a first-ever best picture nod for a Japanese film, local pride swelled, as did speculation about its broader impact.
In a pre-Oscars interview, Yamamoto Teruhisa, the film’s producer, said that the critical success of “Drive My Car” would “change the (Japanese...
Released domestically in August, “Drive My Car” had earned only $250,000 by the end of 2021, despite winning three awards at Cannes, including best screenplay for Hamaguchi and co-writer Oe Takamasa. But as accolades continued to pile up, including eight prizes at the Japan Academy awards this March, anticipation here grew that Hamaguchi and his film would also do well at the Oscars. And once it snagged four Academy Award nominations, including a first-ever best picture nod for a Japanese film, local pride swelled, as did speculation about its broader impact.
In a pre-Oscars interview, Yamamoto Teruhisa, the film’s producer, said that the critical success of “Drive My Car” would “change the (Japanese...
- 3/28/2022
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
As predicted, Janus Films’ “Drive My Car” has claimed victory at the 2022 Oscars for Best International Feature Film. The prize was handed out during ABC’s Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, March 27 — see the complete Oscars winners list.
This marks Japan’s fifth overall trophy in the Best International Feature Film category (which prior to 2020 was called Best Foreign Language Film). Back when the category was non-competitive, the country was awarded with three honorary Oscars for “Rashomon” (1951), “Gate of Hell” (1954) and “Samurai, The Legend of Musashi” (1955). “Departures” (2008) and “Drive My Car” are the two Japanese film to claim victory against nominees in the modern era.
See 2022 Oscar winners list in all 23 categories: Who won at 94th Academy Awards?
The three-hour movie from director Ryusuke Hamaguchi tells the story of a recent widower (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is hired to direct a play and the young woman (played by Toko...
This marks Japan’s fifth overall trophy in the Best International Feature Film category (which prior to 2020 was called Best Foreign Language Film). Back when the category was non-competitive, the country was awarded with three honorary Oscars for “Rashomon” (1951), “Gate of Hell” (1954) and “Samurai, The Legend of Musashi” (1955). “Departures” (2008) and “Drive My Car” are the two Japanese film to claim victory against nominees in the modern era.
See 2022 Oscar winners list in all 23 categories: Who won at 94th Academy Awards?
The three-hour movie from director Ryusuke Hamaguchi tells the story of a recent widower (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is hired to direct a play and the young woman (played by Toko...
- 3/28/2022
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. The eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and is subject to change.
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Oscars Collective
Visit each category, per the individual awards show from The Oscars Hub
Revisit the prediction archive of the 2021 season The Archive
Link to television awards is atTHE Emmys Hub
2022 Oscars Predictions:
Best International Feature
Updated: March 24, 2022
Awards Prediction Commentary:
Despite a palpable surge for Norway’s “The Worst Person in the World,...
To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Oscars Collective
Visit each category, per the individual awards show from The Oscars Hub
Revisit the prediction archive of the 2021 season The Archive
Link to television awards is atTHE Emmys Hub
2022 Oscars Predictions:
Best International Feature
Updated: March 24, 2022
Awards Prediction Commentary:
Despite a palpable surge for Norway’s “The Worst Person in the World,...
- 3/24/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Now completed, “The Silence of Smoke” has been added to the FilMart sales lineup of Hong Kong studio Media Asia. The family drama film is directed by Takita Yojiro, who won the best foreign-language film Oscar in 2008/9 with “Departures.”
The film was first teased by Media Asia at an event at the market in 2019 with the film’s lead actors Han Geng, Zhang Guoli and actress Xu Qing in attendance.
The story is a heart-wrenching tale of a young cake-maker’s growth and discovery following his father’s death.
Although the man is the heir to eight generations of bakers, his cakes lack standout quality. When his father refuses to divulge the family secret, he instead moves into mass catering for movie crews. The father dies before he is able to pass on the secret ingredient and the man only comes to understand his father, his methods and motivation when...
The film was first teased by Media Asia at an event at the market in 2019 with the film’s lead actors Han Geng, Zhang Guoli and actress Xu Qing in attendance.
The story is a heart-wrenching tale of a young cake-maker’s growth and discovery following his father’s death.
Although the man is the heir to eight generations of bakers, his cakes lack standout quality. When his father refuses to divulge the family secret, he instead moves into mass catering for movie crews. The father dies before he is able to pass on the secret ingredient and the man only comes to understand his father, his methods and motivation when...
- 3/14/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The country of Japan has won the Best International Feature Oscar four times through the years, but only one of those, “Departures” (2008), was a competitive award. The first three — “Rashomon” (1951), “Gate of Hell” (1954) and “Samurai, The Legend of Musashi” (1955) — were honorary awards with no other nominees. Now, Culture Entertainment’s “Drive My Car” is predicted to become Japan’s fifth overall winner, according to Gold Derby’s Oscar odds.
Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car” tells the story of a recent widower (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is hired to direct a play. A young woman (Toko Miura) is assigned to be his chauffeur, which initially frustrates him as he has a routine of driving himself. The three-hour movie began its awards run at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won statues for Best Screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe), the Fipresci Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. It’s...
Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car” tells the story of a recent widower (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who is hired to direct a play. A young woman (Toko Miura) is assigned to be his chauffeur, which initially frustrates him as he has a routine of driving himself. The three-hour movie began its awards run at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won statues for Best Screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe), the Fipresci Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. It’s...
- 1/27/2022
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Apple Original Films and Skydance Animation’s Luck will debut on AppleTV+ around the world on Friday, Aug. 5.
Eva Noblezada, Simon Pegg, Flula Borg, Lil Rel Howery, Colin O’Donoghue, John Ratzenberger and Adelynn Spoon join the cast, starring alongside Jane Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg
Luck centers around the story of Sam Greenfield, the unluckiest person in the world. When she discovers the never-before-seen Land of Luck, Sam must unite with the magical creatures there to turn her luck around. Noblezada will provide the voice for the character of Sam. When she ages out of foster care, Sam discovers the Land of Luck and embarks on a quest that could change her luck forever.
Pegg will provide the voice for Bob, a lucky black cat from the Land of Luck, where The Captain, voiced by Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner Goldberg,...
Eva Noblezada, Simon Pegg, Flula Borg, Lil Rel Howery, Colin O’Donoghue, John Ratzenberger and Adelynn Spoon join the cast, starring alongside Jane Fonda and Whoopi Goldberg
Luck centers around the story of Sam Greenfield, the unluckiest person in the world. When she discovers the never-before-seen Land of Luck, Sam must unite with the magical creatures there to turn her luck around. Noblezada will provide the voice for the character of Sam. When she ages out of foster care, Sam discovers the Land of Luck and embarks on a quest that could change her luck forever.
Pegg will provide the voice for Bob, a lucky black cat from the Land of Luck, where The Captain, voiced by Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner Goldberg,...
- 1/26/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” has been a critical darling, after garnering stellar reviews and winning the top prize from the New York, Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics. The last films to win those three prestigious groups were Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” (2009) and David Fincher’s “The Social Network” (2010), with the former winning the Oscar for best picture. Interestingly, those two films’ years were among the last time the Academy nominated 10 picture nominees, which will happen again this year.
Co-distributed by Janus Films, which had Oscar success with “Revanche” (2009) and “Sideshow,” Hamaguchi’s feature is representing Japan and on the Oscars shortlist for best international feature. With this added success on the circuit, the film aims to contend outside of its traditional space, notably in best picture, director, actor (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and adapted screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe). But can the three-hour, non-English language...
Co-distributed by Janus Films, which had Oscar success with “Revanche” (2009) and “Sideshow,” Hamaguchi’s feature is representing Japan and on the Oscars shortlist for best international feature. With this added success on the circuit, the film aims to contend outside of its traditional space, notably in best picture, director, actor (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and adapted screenplay (Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe). But can the three-hour, non-English language...
- 1/25/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
With 92 features to watch, the Academy’s International Feature Film Committee, drawn from various branch members willing to watch an assigned slate of 12 films, selected a shortlist of 15. Any voter who watches all 15 can pick the final five.
What will they be? We hazard an educated guess based on festival awards, critics’ groups, and other anecdotal gleanings of Academy favorites. These films are among the year’s best. Check them out in all their glory in theaters if you can; some won’t be available at home for a few more weeks. (Read: How to Watch the 2022 Oscar Contenders at Home.)
Festival heavyweights include major Cannes standouts like Austria’s “Great Freedom,” Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee,” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour meditation on Chekhov, “Drive My Car,” which is gaining so much acclaim that people are...
What will they be? We hazard an educated guess based on festival awards, critics’ groups, and other anecdotal gleanings of Academy favorites. These films are among the year’s best. Check them out in all their glory in theaters if you can; some won’t be available at home for a few more weeks. (Read: How to Watch the 2022 Oscar Contenders at Home.)
Festival heavyweights include major Cannes standouts like Austria’s “Great Freedom,” Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s animated documentary “Flee,” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour meditation on Chekhov, “Drive My Car,” which is gaining so much acclaim that people are...
- 1/25/2022
- by Anne Thompson, Eric Kohn and David Ehrlich
- Thompson on Hollywood
Exclusive: George & Tammy, the country music drama series centered around Tammy Wynette, is bulking up its cast.
The limited series, which is a co-production between Spectrum Originals and Paramount Network, has added Kelly McCormack and Katy Mixon as guest stars.
Jessica Chastain plays Wynette, the first lady of country music, while Michael Shannon is playing her husband George Jones. The pair’s complicated relationship inspired iconic songs such as Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” and Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Steve Zahn plays George Richey, a songwriter, producer and mainstay of the Nashville country music community who married Wynette after she and Jones split up in 1975. Richey managed Wynette until her death in 1998.
Ginny & Georgia star McCormack plays Sheila Richey, Richey’s former wife and one-time friend and confidante of Wynette, while American Housewife star Mixon plays Jan Smith, a makeup and hair artist who works with...
The limited series, which is a co-production between Spectrum Originals and Paramount Network, has added Kelly McCormack and Katy Mixon as guest stars.
Jessica Chastain plays Wynette, the first lady of country music, while Michael Shannon is playing her husband George Jones. The pair’s complicated relationship inspired iconic songs such as Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man” and Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Steve Zahn plays George Richey, a songwriter, producer and mainstay of the Nashville country music community who married Wynette after she and Jones split up in 1975. Richey managed Wynette until her death in 1998.
Ginny & Georgia star McCormack plays Sheila Richey, Richey’s former wife and one-time friend and confidante of Wynette, while American Housewife star Mixon plays Jan Smith, a makeup and hair artist who works with...
- 1/24/2022
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
“Sex Education” star Asa Butterfield and “Stranger Things” actor Natalia Dyer are set to take the lead roles in high concept horror thriller “All Fun and Games.” The movie follows a group of siblings who find themselves in a game with a demonic twist.
Anton, whose credits include “Greenland,” “The Night House” and “Curs>r,” is producing with Anthony and Joe Russo’s Agbo, best known for “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” and will present the film to buyers at the virtual European Film Market in Berlin next month.
It will be co-directed by Ari Costa, whose credits include “Extraction,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “The Internet Kills,” and Eren Celeboglu, who worked on “The Internet Kills” and “Scrubs,” in their directorial debuts. It will be written from a script they co-wrote based off J.J. Braider’s original spec that sold competitively to Agbo. Principal photography is set to begin at...
Anton, whose credits include “Greenland,” “The Night House” and “Curs>r,” is producing with Anthony and Joe Russo’s Agbo, best known for “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame,” and will present the film to buyers at the virtual European Film Market in Berlin next month.
It will be co-directed by Ari Costa, whose credits include “Extraction,” “Avengers: Endgame” and “The Internet Kills,” and Eren Celeboglu, who worked on “The Internet Kills” and “Scrubs,” in their directorial debuts. It will be written from a script they co-wrote based off J.J. Braider’s original spec that sold competitively to Agbo. Principal photography is set to begin at...
- 1/13/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Drive My Car,” Japan’s entry to the Academy Awards’ international category, looks to be the odds on favorite from Asia to win the category.
The drama with a theater world backdrop follows the trajectory of South Korean four-statuette winner “Parasite” in that it began its winning ways at Cannes and is festooned with awards en route to the Oscars. “Parasite” won the Palme d’Or, which “Drive My Car” did not, with that honor this year going to Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” which became France’s entry to the category. It also recently won at the New York Film Critics Circle.
Nevertheless, “Drive My Car” won three awards at Cannes and has the added advantage of U.S. distribution, where it is currently on theatrical release.
The 2008 win for Takita Yojiro’s “Departures” remains Japan’s only win since the category was made competitive in 1956.
While...
The drama with a theater world backdrop follows the trajectory of South Korean four-statuette winner “Parasite” in that it began its winning ways at Cannes and is festooned with awards en route to the Oscars. “Parasite” won the Palme d’Or, which “Drive My Car” did not, with that honor this year going to Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” which became France’s entry to the category. It also recently won at the New York Film Critics Circle.
Nevertheless, “Drive My Car” won three awards at Cannes and has the added advantage of U.S. distribution, where it is currently on theatrical release.
The 2008 win for Takita Yojiro’s “Departures” remains Japan’s only win since the category was made competitive in 1956.
While...
- 12/12/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Unfortunately for “No Time to Die’s” China debut, government authorities have decided that it’s currently no time for citizens to risk dying of Covid-19 at the movies and are taking extra precautions to suspend cinema operations across the country this weekend as new outbreaks occur.
Hollywood is catching a tough break in China this month. After weeks of an unofficial blackout period on foreign imports due to the patriotic National Day holiday, there are finally two major Western blockbusters in theaters in the world’s largest film market: “No Time to Die” and “Dune,” the first and third place finishers this week, respectively.
Nevertheless, their performance has been unimpressive, slammed in part by new Covid-19 outbreaks across the country that have left more than 1,400 cinemas in 14 provinces ordered shut. Closures even reached Beijing on Saturday, when certain districts called for temporary shutdowns. Together, the theaters represent over 13% of the national box office.
Hollywood is catching a tough break in China this month. After weeks of an unofficial blackout period on foreign imports due to the patriotic National Day holiday, there are finally two major Western blockbusters in theaters in the world’s largest film market: “No Time to Die” and “Dune,” the first and third place finishers this week, respectively.
Nevertheless, their performance has been unimpressive, slammed in part by new Covid-19 outbreaks across the country that have left more than 1,400 cinemas in 14 provinces ordered shut. Closures even reached Beijing on Saturday, when certain districts called for temporary shutdowns. Together, the theaters represent over 13% of the national box office.
- 10/31/2021
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Spoiler Alert: The following story contains details from the Season 1 finale of HBO’s The White Lotus.
“Now, we are starting down a very dark road,” Shane Patton (Jake Lacy) says in tonight’s episode of The White Lotus, “and you’d better be sure you really want to go there.”
While the wealthy man-child’s comments are directed toward his new wife Rachel (Alexandra Daddario), they’re certainly not the only ones headed down a “dark road” in Sunday’s finale “Departures,” written and directed by Mike White.
The episode opens on Nicole (Connie Britton) and Mark Mossbacher (Steve Zahn), two of the only people in the series who have managed to stumble upon some kind of happiness. While Mark has been unfaithful in the past, it appears he redeemed himself in the eyes of his wife in last week’s episode, after coming to her rescue, when she...
“Now, we are starting down a very dark road,” Shane Patton (Jake Lacy) says in tonight’s episode of The White Lotus, “and you’d better be sure you really want to go there.”
While the wealthy man-child’s comments are directed toward his new wife Rachel (Alexandra Daddario), they’re certainly not the only ones headed down a “dark road” in Sunday’s finale “Departures,” written and directed by Mike White.
The episode opens on Nicole (Connie Britton) and Mark Mossbacher (Steve Zahn), two of the only people in the series who have managed to stumble upon some kind of happiness. While Mark has been unfaithful in the past, it appears he redeemed himself in the eyes of his wife in last week’s episode, after coming to her rescue, when she...
- 8/16/2021
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Vertical Entertainment has signed a deal with Mister Smith Entertainment for North American distribution rights to romantic comedy “The Hating Game,” which stars “Pretty Little Liars” actor Lucy Hale and Austin Stowell, who also appeared with her in “Fantasy Island.” Vertical is planning to give it a theatrical release later this year.
“The Hating Game,” which is based on the hit novel by Sally Thorne, tells the story of kind-hearted Lucy Hutton (Hale) and her cold, efficient nemesis Joshua Templeton (Stowell). Resolving to achieve professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against Josh, a rivalry that is impossibly complicated by her growing attraction to him.
Peter Hutchings (“Then Came You”) directed Christina Mengert’s adaptation of the book.
“The Hating Game” novel was a 2018 USA Today Bestseller and was published in more than 20 countries. It is often identified as one of the key...
“The Hating Game,” which is based on the hit novel by Sally Thorne, tells the story of kind-hearted Lucy Hutton (Hale) and her cold, efficient nemesis Joshua Templeton (Stowell). Resolving to achieve professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against Josh, a rivalry that is impossibly complicated by her growing attraction to him.
Peter Hutchings (“Then Came You”) directed Christina Mengert’s adaptation of the book.
“The Hating Game” novel was a 2018 USA Today Bestseller and was published in more than 20 countries. It is often identified as one of the key...
- 7/12/2021
- by Leo Barraclough and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
“The White Lotus” is HBO newest series and, if the reviews are to be believed, it is unlike anything on television, not just the popular streamer. The genre-bending program is said to take some unexpected turns so we’ll be breaking it down episode-by-episode, starting with Sunday’s premiere.
Written and directed by Mike White (“Enlightened”), the show is set over the course of one fateful week at a luxe Hawaiian resort as the lives of the newest wave of guests intertwine in insidious ways. It stars Jake Lacy, Alexandra Daddario, Sydney Sweeney, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Natasha Rothwell and Murray Bartlett.
Let’s dive into the (seemingly) crystal blue waters of Episode 1, “Arrivals.”
The series opens with Shane, played by Jake Lacy, sitting in an airport terminal and donning a thousand-yard stare. We learn from other prying travelers that there’s been a murder at The White Lotus,...
Written and directed by Mike White (“Enlightened”), the show is set over the course of one fateful week at a luxe Hawaiian resort as the lives of the newest wave of guests intertwine in insidious ways. It stars Jake Lacy, Alexandra Daddario, Sydney Sweeney, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Steve Zahn, Natasha Rothwell and Murray Bartlett.
Let’s dive into the (seemingly) crystal blue waters of Episode 1, “Arrivals.”
The series opens with Shane, played by Jake Lacy, sitting in an airport terminal and donning a thousand-yard stare. We learn from other prying travelers that there’s been a murder at The White Lotus,...
- 7/12/2021
- by Alex Noble
- The Wrap
Virgin River will have fans playing detective in Season 3, and Benjamin Hollingsworth knows that the odds aren’t looking good for ol’ Brady.
The Netflix drama’s second season ended with Jack getting shot in his own bar, and while there’s a handful of potential suspects (we still haven’t ruled out Charmaine!), the actor admits, “I’m pretty sure Brady is on everyone’s suspect list.”
More from TVLineElite Finale Recap: Nye Party Leads to Two Departures -- Plus, Grade It!Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!, Sitcom With Jamie Foxx, Cancelled at NetflixElite Premiere Recap: New School Year, Same Raging (Murderous?...
The Netflix drama’s second season ended with Jack getting shot in his own bar, and while there’s a handful of potential suspects (we still haven’t ruled out Charmaine!), the actor admits, “I’m pretty sure Brady is on everyone’s suspect list.”
More from TVLineElite Finale Recap: Nye Party Leads to Two Departures -- Plus, Grade It!Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!, Sitcom With Jamie Foxx, Cancelled at NetflixElite Premiere Recap: New School Year, Same Raging (Murderous?...
- 6/20/2021
- by Andy Swift
- TVLine.com
Producer and financier Anton, whose credits include “Greenland,” “His Dark Materials” and “The Night House,” has announced that its latest production, the feature film “Curs>R,” has wrapped principal photography in the U.K. A dark twist on the ‘80s gaming obsession, the horror thriller stars Asa Butterfield, Iola Evans and Eddie Marsan.
Anton will oversee world sales and introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming Cannes virtual market later this month, in association with Endeavor Content, which is co-representing the U.S.
The film also features horror maestro Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Rounding out the cast is Angela Griffin, Kate Fleetwood, Ryan Gage,” and Joe Bolland (“The Trial of Christine Keeler”).
In pursuit of an unclaimed $125,000 prize, a broke college dropout (Evans) decides to play an obscure, 1980s survival computer game. But the game curses her, and she’s faced...
Anton will oversee world sales and introduce the project to buyers at the upcoming Cannes virtual market later this month, in association with Endeavor Content, which is co-representing the U.S.
The film also features horror maestro Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” Rounding out the cast is Angela Griffin, Kate Fleetwood, Ryan Gage,” and Joe Bolland (“The Trial of Christine Keeler”).
In pursuit of an unclaimed $125,000 prize, a broke college dropout (Evans) decides to play an obscure, 1980s survival computer game. But the game curses her, and she’s faced...
- 6/7/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Kathie Lee Gifford is just getting started.
Sure, fans have been welcoming the former “Live With Regis and Kathie Lee” and “Today” co-host into their living rooms for decades. And yes, there are the Daytime Emmy nominations, her short-lived Broadway musical “Scandalous,” hit songs, books, her wine brand and various films and TV roles. Yet Gifford — a born entertainer and perennial dreamer — truly believes the best is yet to come as she continues her 67th turn around the sun and cements her place in Hollywood history with a star on the Walk of Fame.
“I am finally doing what I was born to do,” Gifford says. “There’s a happiness in me now, just when so many other people are retiring and doing whatever they’ve always longed to do. I never stopped doing what I was born to do, but now I have the freedom to totally and completely pursue it.
Sure, fans have been welcoming the former “Live With Regis and Kathie Lee” and “Today” co-host into their living rooms for decades. And yes, there are the Daytime Emmy nominations, her short-lived Broadway musical “Scandalous,” hit songs, books, her wine brand and various films and TV roles. Yet Gifford — a born entertainer and perennial dreamer — truly believes the best is yet to come as she continues her 67th turn around the sun and cements her place in Hollywood history with a star on the Walk of Fame.
“I am finally doing what I was born to do,” Gifford says. “There’s a happiness in me now, just when so many other people are retiring and doing whatever they’ve always longed to do. I never stopped doing what I was born to do, but now I have the freedom to totally and completely pursue it.
- 4/28/2021
- by Amber Dowling
- Variety Film + TV
A film studio since 1920, Japan’s Shochiku has a back catalogue filled with works by master directors including Ozu Yasujiro and Kinoshita Keisuke as well as 1960s New Wave leaders Oshima Nagisa and Shinoda Masahiro and studio stalwart Yamada Yoji, maker of the enduringly popular Tora-san series.
Shochiku has been digitally remastering its classics in 4K for some time now and is bringing to FilMart four of the most recently restored titles in this ongoing project.
At (almost) the same time, the Hong Kong International Film Festival is laying on a ten-film tribute to the studio as a main plank of its 45th edition. Titles include: “The Masseurs and a Woman” (1938); Mizoguchi Kenji’s 1939 “The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum”; Kinoshita’s “Twenty-Four Eyes” (1954); Ozu’ “Equinox Flower” (1958); Kobayashi Masaki’s 1962 “Harakiri”; “Love Affair at Akitsu Spa” (1962); Yamada classic “The Yellow Handkerchief” (1977); Berlinale-winning “Gonza The Spearman” (1986); Oshima’s final feature “Gohatto...
Shochiku has been digitally remastering its classics in 4K for some time now and is bringing to FilMart four of the most recently restored titles in this ongoing project.
At (almost) the same time, the Hong Kong International Film Festival is laying on a ten-film tribute to the studio as a main plank of its 45th edition. Titles include: “The Masseurs and a Woman” (1938); Mizoguchi Kenji’s 1939 “The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum”; Kinoshita’s “Twenty-Four Eyes” (1954); Ozu’ “Equinox Flower” (1958); Kobayashi Masaki’s 1962 “Harakiri”; “Love Affair at Akitsu Spa” (1962); Yamada classic “The Yellow Handkerchief” (1977); Berlinale-winning “Gonza The Spearman” (1986); Oshima’s final feature “Gohatto...
- 3/16/2021
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar winner Christopher Plummer died today at his home in Connecticut today at the age of 91.
Plummer’s illustrious career spanned over six decades. Along the way he won an Oscar, a pair of Emmys and two Tonys. Plummer, who was 82 when won his Academy Award for Beginners, became the oldest person ever to win an Oscar. The record was broken by James Ivory, who was 89 when he won for his adapted screenplay for Call Me By Your Name in 2018.
His TV appearances number close to 100. They include the Emmy-winning BBC Hamlet at Elsinore playing the title role; the Emmy-winning productions The Thorn Birds, Nuremberg, Little Moon of Alban and HBO’s Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight. He earned seven career Emmy nominations, taking home awards for lead actor in Arthur Hailey’s The Moneychangers in 1977 and his voice role in The New Adventures of Madeline in 1994. He most recently...
Plummer’s illustrious career spanned over six decades. Along the way he won an Oscar, a pair of Emmys and two Tonys. Plummer, who was 82 when won his Academy Award for Beginners, became the oldest person ever to win an Oscar. The record was broken by James Ivory, who was 89 when he won for his adapted screenplay for Call Me By Your Name in 2018.
His TV appearances number close to 100. They include the Emmy-winning BBC Hamlet at Elsinore playing the title role; the Emmy-winning productions The Thorn Birds, Nuremberg, Little Moon of Alban and HBO’s Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight. He earned seven career Emmy nominations, taking home awards for lead actor in Arthur Hailey’s The Moneychangers in 1977 and his voice role in The New Adventures of Madeline in 1994. He most recently...
- 2/5/2021
- by Brandon Choe
- Deadline Film + TV
In rock, supergroup status is relative. Nineties-era Kansas City trio the Farewell Bend didn’t exactly boast the starry pedigree of a Traveling Wilburys, or even a Minuteflag. But for fans of the members’ prior projects — Boys Life and Giants Chair, two like-minded Kc outfits that each found unique ways of combining post-hardcore crunch with heartfelt vulnerability — their first and only LP, 1998’s In Passing, represented a welcome opportunity to hear how a “What if …?” inter-band collaboration might play out.
Out of print for years, In Passing is back out...
Out of print for years, In Passing is back out...
- 2/4/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
After a record-breaking run by Morgan Wallen, there’s a new leader on Apple Music’s weekly Pre-Add Chart.
Zayn’s third studio album Nobody Is Listening tops the chart for the week of January 8th through January 14th, in the lead-up to the album’s January 15th release. Pre-adds allow listeners to play one song off an upcoming album and adds the album to their library when it’s released, offering a good indication of the albums that fans are most excited for. After Wallen’s sophomore album Dangerous:...
Zayn’s third studio album Nobody Is Listening tops the chart for the week of January 8th through January 14th, in the lead-up to the album’s January 15th release. Pre-adds allow listeners to play one song off an upcoming album and adds the album to their library when it’s released, offering a good indication of the albums that fans are most excited for. After Wallen’s sophomore album Dangerous:...
- 1/20/2021
- by RS Charts
- Rollingstone.com
The New Year weekend rankings give a bizarre indication of the havoc currently being wreaked on the Korean box office by the coronavirus, audience caution and stay at home orders. For a start, a Hollywood title scored a rare victory.
“Wonder Woman 1984,” the most recently released film of international significance, took the top spot for the second weekend. But it did so with a lamentable $605,000 gross, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s (Kofic’s) tracking services. It accounted for a 49% share of the Jan. 1-3 nationwide theatrical market, which shrank to just $1.2 million.
Behind it, Jackie Chan vehicle “Vanguard” managed just $97,000 from 12,000 ticket sales. That was good enough for third place by earnings, and second place by admissions.
Many of the titles that made up the remainder of the top ten were re-releases or other older titles. They included: Wong Kar-wai’s restored “In The Mood For Love...
“Wonder Woman 1984,” the most recently released film of international significance, took the top spot for the second weekend. But it did so with a lamentable $605,000 gross, according to data from the Korean Film Council’s (Kofic’s) tracking services. It accounted for a 49% share of the Jan. 1-3 nationwide theatrical market, which shrank to just $1.2 million.
Behind it, Jackie Chan vehicle “Vanguard” managed just $97,000 from 12,000 ticket sales. That was good enough for third place by earnings, and second place by admissions.
Many of the titles that made up the remainder of the top ten were re-releases or other older titles. They included: Wong Kar-wai’s restored “In The Mood For Love...
- 1/4/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
‘Life In A Year’ Trailer: Terminal Illness Forces Jaden Smith & Cara Delevingne To Rush Through Love
You can probably thank “The Fault In Our Stars” for kickstarting this trend in recent years, but Hollywood has seemingly been in love with the idea of a YA film focused on a new love affair between teens that is interrupted by one of their terminal illnesses. And that’s grabbing the baton this year from films like ‘Stars,’ “Then Came You,” and “Five Feet Apart” is the upcoming film “Life in a Year.”
Read More: ‘Our Friend’ Trailer: Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson & Casey Affleck Star In Forgotten Cancer Dramedy From TIFF
As seen in the trailer for the film, “Life in a Year” tells the story of two disparate teens that quickly fall in love.
Continue reading ‘Life In A Year’ Trailer: Terminal Illness Forces Jaden Smith & Cara Delevingne To Rush Through Love at The Playlist.
Read More: ‘Our Friend’ Trailer: Jason Segel, Dakota Johnson & Casey Affleck Star In Forgotten Cancer Dramedy From TIFF
As seen in the trailer for the film, “Life in a Year” tells the story of two disparate teens that quickly fall in love.
Continue reading ‘Life In A Year’ Trailer: Terminal Illness Forces Jaden Smith & Cara Delevingne To Rush Through Love at The Playlist.
- 11/24/2020
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
“True Mothers” by Kawase Naomi has been selected as Japan’s nominee for a best international feature film Academy Award. The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan, which supervises the selection process, made the announcement on Thursday.
Based on a novel by Tsujimura Miyuki, film focuses on a couple (Nagasaku Hiromi and Iura Arata) who adopt a child and, years later, are asked by its birth mother to return it.
A Cannes label selection, the film premiered at Toronto. It opened on Oct. 23 for commercial release in Japan.
The last Japanese film to be a finalist in the international film Oscar competition was Koreeda Hirokazu’s “Shoplifters” in 2019. Takita Yojiro ‘s “Departures” is the only Japanese film to win the award, in 2009.
“The director’s contemplation of motherhood and adoption (…) is her most plot-driven but least visually lustrous film yet,” wrote Variety in its review of the film. “Resembling the relationship-based ‘Sweet Bean,...
Based on a novel by Tsujimura Miyuki, film focuses on a couple (Nagasaku Hiromi and Iura Arata) who adopt a child and, years later, are asked by its birth mother to return it.
A Cannes label selection, the film premiered at Toronto. It opened on Oct. 23 for commercial release in Japan.
The last Japanese film to be a finalist in the international film Oscar competition was Koreeda Hirokazu’s “Shoplifters” in 2019. Takita Yojiro ‘s “Departures” is the only Japanese film to win the award, in 2009.
“The director’s contemplation of motherhood and adoption (…) is her most plot-driven but least visually lustrous film yet,” wrote Variety in its review of the film. “Resembling the relationship-based ‘Sweet Bean,...
- 10/30/2020
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
"You keep a dead husband inside a box of chocolates?" Vertical Ent. has released the first official trailer for an indie comedy titled Then Came You, from filmmaker Adriana Trigiani with a screenplay written by Kathie Lee Gifford. The romcom film is about a lonely who widow plans a trip around the world with her husband's ashes, to visit the places they loved in the movies. The first stop on the journey changes her life forever as she meets a Scottish man and falls hard for him, but struggles to let go of her dead husband and move on. This stars Kathie Lee Gifford as Annabelle, with Craig Ferguson, Ford Kiernan, Phyllida Law, and Brett James. This looks extra campy and extra schmaltzy, with all the usual "can't move on" tropes and cringe-inducing dialogue. Not to mention one of the worst song choices for a trailer ever? Eeesh. Here's the...
- 9/15/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Vertical Entertainment has picked up the North American distribution rights to Then Came You, a romantic comedy written by and starring Kathie Lee Gifford.
Adriana Trigiani directed the indie, which also stars Craig Ferguson and Elizabeth Hurley and has an original score co-written by Gifford and Brett James. Then Came You sees Gifford play a lonely widow who travels the world with her husband’s ashes, and during her first stop in Scotland meets an innkeeper (Ferguson) who changes her life forever.
Veteran television host and singer Gifford in real life was married for 29 years to the legendary NFL player ...
Adriana Trigiani directed the indie, which also stars Craig Ferguson and Elizabeth Hurley and has an original score co-written by Gifford and Brett James. Then Came You sees Gifford play a lonely widow who travels the world with her husband’s ashes, and during her first stop in Scotland meets an innkeeper (Ferguson) who changes her life forever.
Veteran television host and singer Gifford in real life was married for 29 years to the legendary NFL player ...
Vertical Entertainment has picked up the North American distribution rights to Then Came You, a romantic comedy written by and starring Kathie Lee Gifford.
Adriana Trigiani directed the indie, which also stars Craig Ferguson and Elizabeth Hurley and has an original score co-written by Gifford and Brett James. Then Came You sees Gifford play a lonely widow who travels the world with her husband’s ashes, and during her first stop in Scotland meets an innkeeper (Ferguson) who changes her life forever.
Veteran television host and singer Gifford in real life was married for 29 years to the legendary NFL player ...
Adriana Trigiani directed the indie, which also stars Craig Ferguson and Elizabeth Hurley and has an original score co-written by Gifford and Brett James. Then Came You sees Gifford play a lonely widow who travels the world with her husband’s ashes, and during her first stop in Scotland meets an innkeeper (Ferguson) who changes her life forever.
Veteran television host and singer Gifford in real life was married for 29 years to the legendary NFL player ...
Nina Dobrev and Made Up Stories have acquired the rights to Greer Macallister’s novel Woman 99 to develop as a TV series starring the Vampire Diaries alum. Dobrev also will executive produce alongside Made Up Stories founder Bruna Papandrea.
Historical thriller Woman 99 follows a young woman whose quest to free her sister from an infamous insane asylum risks her sanity, her safety and her life. Sourcebooks Landmark published the novel in March 2019.
The project is being developed by Made Up Stories in partnership with Endeavor Content. Made Up Stories’ Steve Hutensky and Casey Haver also will serve as executive producers, and Janice Park will serve as a producer, with Macallister as a consulting producer.
“Greer’s gripping novel has so many elements that I love including a courageous heroine, the mighty bond of sisters and the power of perseverance, all set against a heartbreaking backdrop exploring the historical treatment of women cast off from society,...
Historical thriller Woman 99 follows a young woman whose quest to free her sister from an infamous insane asylum risks her sanity, her safety and her life. Sourcebooks Landmark published the novel in March 2019.
The project is being developed by Made Up Stories in partnership with Endeavor Content. Made Up Stories’ Steve Hutensky and Casey Haver also will serve as executive producers, and Janice Park will serve as a producer, with Macallister as a consulting producer.
“Greer’s gripping novel has so many elements that I love including a courageous heroine, the mighty bond of sisters and the power of perseverance, all set against a heartbreaking backdrop exploring the historical treatment of women cast off from society,...
- 7/23/2020
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Best-selling author Greer Macallister's Woman 99 is getting the adaptation treatment. Bruna Papandrea's production banner Made Up Stories have acquired the rights to develop the author's historical thriller for television.
Actress Nina Dobrev will star and executive produce the series alongside Papandrea. The actress last starred in the CBS half-hour comedy Fam and films including Run This Town, opposite Ben Platt, and Then Came You, alongside Maisie Williams and Asa Butterfield.
Alongside Dobrev and Papandrea, Made Up Stories' Steve Hutensky and Casey Haver will also serve as executive producers and Janice Park will serve as a producer. This project ...
Actress Nina Dobrev will star and executive produce the series alongside Papandrea. The actress last starred in the CBS half-hour comedy Fam and films including Run This Town, opposite Ben Platt, and Then Came You, alongside Maisie Williams and Asa Butterfield.
Alongside Dobrev and Papandrea, Made Up Stories' Steve Hutensky and Casey Haver will also serve as executive producers and Janice Park will serve as a producer. This project ...
- 7/23/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Sister has acquired the television rights to Jennifer Weiner’s novel “Mrs. Everything.”
The book tells a multigenerational tale of two sisters, spanning from the 1950s to the present day. Growing up in 1950s Detroit, Jo and Bethie Kaufman are sisters who, as their lives unfold against the backdrop of Vietnam, the civil rights movement, and women’s liberation, find themselves struggling to honor their truths versus pleasing the world.
Weiner will serve as an executive producer on the project along with Carla Hacken for Paper Pictures and Kate Fenske for Sister.
“Mrs. Everything” was Weiner’s thirteenth novel. In total, her books have sold more than 11 million copies and are in print in 36 countries. Some of her other titles are “Big Summer,” “Who Do You Love,” “All Fall Down,” and “Then Came You.”
This would not be the first time that one of Weiner’s works has been adapted for the screen.
The book tells a multigenerational tale of two sisters, spanning from the 1950s to the present day. Growing up in 1950s Detroit, Jo and Bethie Kaufman are sisters who, as their lives unfold against the backdrop of Vietnam, the civil rights movement, and women’s liberation, find themselves struggling to honor their truths versus pleasing the world.
Weiner will serve as an executive producer on the project along with Carla Hacken for Paper Pictures and Kate Fenske for Sister.
“Mrs. Everything” was Weiner’s thirteenth novel. In total, her books have sold more than 11 million copies and are in print in 36 countries. Some of her other titles are “Big Summer,” “Who Do You Love,” “All Fall Down,” and “Then Came You.”
This would not be the first time that one of Weiner’s works has been adapted for the screen.
- 7/14/2020
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Dark magic from outer space and the science of an ancient evil usher in Destiny 2’s next era.
During the big Destiny 2 reveal event in June, Bungie didn’t only detail Season of Arrivals, which will lead to this fall’s Year 4 expansion, Beyond Light, but the next two years of content. Pulling on story threads lore buffs have been following for almost the entirety of Destiny’s six-year history, the upcoming content looks great.
Season of Arrivals dropped on Tuesday and it’s fun, too. The new public event uses basically the same mechanics as Gambit: enemies drop motes and you deposit them in a central location. Occasionally, enemy swarms block the bank. I love this new event. It combines the “cleaning up” satisfaction of PvE with a little bit of the chaos of a public area. So far it’s easier to complete in a small team...
During the big Destiny 2 reveal event in June, Bungie didn’t only detail Season of Arrivals, which will lead to this fall’s Year 4 expansion, Beyond Light, but the next two years of content. Pulling on story threads lore buffs have been following for almost the entirety of Destiny’s six-year history, the upcoming content looks great.
Season of Arrivals dropped on Tuesday and it’s fun, too. The new public event uses basically the same mechanics as Gambit: enemies drop motes and you deposit them in a central location. Occasionally, enemy swarms block the bank. I love this new event. It combines the “cleaning up” satisfaction of PvE with a little bit of the chaos of a public area. So far it’s easier to complete in a small team...
- 6/11/2020
- by Megan Crouse
- Den of Geek
This Destiny article contains spoilers.
Destiny 2’s season 11, Season of Arrivals, continues to tease a new Hive villain: Savathûn, the Witch-Queen. A master of lies and reality-bending magic, she’s the sister of Destiny raid boss Oryx, the Taken King. Depending on who you talk to, the Hive species to which both belong are either over-used or the game’s best enemies. They lend themselves to puzzles, swordplay, and a Gormenghastian story of an ever-crumbling dynasty. Savathûn herself has appeared in Destiny lore since 2015’s The Taken King expansion and has been the subject of rumors ever since.
Soon, Guardians may even get to meet her in person. In Destiny 2‘s current storyline, Savathûn’s transmissions have been playing havoc on Eris Morn’s attempts to research the Darkness’ weaknesses. Season 11’s key item, the seasonal artifact Seed of Silver Wings, is connected to this story.
Savathûn is also slated...
Destiny 2’s season 11, Season of Arrivals, continues to tease a new Hive villain: Savathûn, the Witch-Queen. A master of lies and reality-bending magic, she’s the sister of Destiny raid boss Oryx, the Taken King. Depending on who you talk to, the Hive species to which both belong are either over-used or the game’s best enemies. They lend themselves to puzzles, swordplay, and a Gormenghastian story of an ever-crumbling dynasty. Savathûn herself has appeared in Destiny lore since 2015’s The Taken King expansion and has been the subject of rumors ever since.
Soon, Guardians may even get to meet her in person. In Destiny 2‘s current storyline, Savathûn’s transmissions have been playing havoc on Eris Morn’s attempts to research the Darkness’ weaknesses. Season 11’s key item, the seasonal artifact Seed of Silver Wings, is connected to this story.
Savathûn is also slated...
- 6/10/2020
- by Megan Crouse
- Den of Geek
Bungie has mapped out the future of Destiny 2 farther than anyone expected. During a Summer Game Fest reveal event, the developer announced not only Beyond Light as this year’s big expansion but also The Witch Queen and Lightfall, the Year 5 and 6 updates out in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
In a blog post, Bungie described how it had a vision for “a future where we maintain your characters, accounts, and continuity with our game systems and build on each of them for years.”
The studio said little regarding what The Witch Queen and Lightfall will be about but did tease that these two expansions and Beyond Light would tell a story focused on “the true nature of the Light and Darkness,” the good and evil forces that represent the heroes and villains of the game. The “Witch Queen” reference could also mean that Hive villain Savathûn, the sister of Oryx the Taken...
In a blog post, Bungie described how it had a vision for “a future where we maintain your characters, accounts, and continuity with our game systems and build on each of them for years.”
The studio said little regarding what The Witch Queen and Lightfall will be about but did tease that these two expansions and Beyond Light would tell a story focused on “the true nature of the Light and Darkness,” the good and evil forces that represent the heroes and villains of the game. The “Witch Queen” reference could also mean that Hive villain Savathûn, the sister of Oryx the Taken...
- 6/9/2020
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
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