Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2024 Oscars Predictions:
Best International Feature Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days’
Weekly Commentary: The United Kingdom is poised to win its first Academy Award with Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” and what a deserved win it will be.
But while I have the floor: it’s time for the...
Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:
Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys
2024 Oscars Predictions:
Best International Feature Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days’
Weekly Commentary: The United Kingdom is poised to win its first Academy Award with Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” and what a deserved win it will be.
But while I have the floor: it’s time for the...
- 3/7/2024
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
The 39th Independent Spirit Awards will stream live on Film Independent and IMDb’s YouTube channels on Sunday, February 25. Scroll down to see our official odds in all 12 film categories (with our predicted winners highlighted in gold) and be sure to make or update your own predictions while there’s still time.
Heading into the ceremony, which will be hosted by comic actress Aidy Bryant, “American Fiction,” “May December,” and “Past Lives” stand as the year’s nominations leaders with five apiece. They will all face off in the top category of Best Picture, along with “Passages” (four total bids), “All of Us Strangers” (three), and “We Grown Now” (three).
Last year’s Spirit Awards previewed the Oscars success of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which left both ceremonies with seven wins including Best Picture. Over the years, only eight recipients of the academy’s highest honor have first clinched the corresponding Spirit Award,...
Heading into the ceremony, which will be hosted by comic actress Aidy Bryant, “American Fiction,” “May December,” and “Past Lives” stand as the year’s nominations leaders with five apiece. They will all face off in the top category of Best Picture, along with “Passages” (four total bids), “All of Us Strangers” (three), and “We Grown Now” (three).
Last year’s Spirit Awards previewed the Oscars success of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which left both ceremonies with seven wins including Best Picture. Over the years, only eight recipients of the academy’s highest honor have first clinched the corresponding Spirit Award,...
- 2/23/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Gordon Main’s apartheid-era documentary “London Recruits” has been tapped as the opening film at the sixth Joburg Film Festival, which takes place Feb. 27 – March 3 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The film sheds light on a pivotal moment in South Africa‘s history, when the struggle against the apartheid government in South Africa developed a new secret weapon. Oliver Tambo hatched a plan to infiltrate young British activists into the country, posing as tourists. Their mission, in the face of brutal lockdown by the racist regime, was to help inspire ordinary South Africans to join a liberation movement that would never give up till freedom was won.
The film is produced by Jacintha de Nobrega (“Deep End”), Robyn Slovo, Geoff Arbourne, Colin Charles (“The Surveyor”), James Barrett (“A Change in the Weather”) and Felix Gill (“78/52″). As Variety previously reported, XYZ Films is repping the doc’s North American sales.
Earlier this week,...
The film sheds light on a pivotal moment in South Africa‘s history, when the struggle against the apartheid government in South Africa developed a new secret weapon. Oliver Tambo hatched a plan to infiltrate young British activists into the country, posing as tourists. Their mission, in the face of brutal lockdown by the racist regime, was to help inspire ordinary South Africans to join a liberation movement that would never give up till freedom was won.
The film is produced by Jacintha de Nobrega (“Deep End”), Robyn Slovo, Geoff Arbourne, Colin Charles (“The Surveyor”), James Barrett (“A Change in the Weather”) and Felix Gill (“78/52″). As Variety previously reported, XYZ Films is repping the doc’s North American sales.
Earlier this week,...
- 2/14/2024
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Shot in dense, high-contrast black and white, writer-director C.J. “Fiery” Obasi’s “Mami Wata,” unspools like a mysterious dream. It’s both inscrutable and hypnotic, delivering indelible images while remaining narratively opaque. Billed as a “West African folklore,” its story could be taken as a straightforward fable about tradition vs. modernity and how power corrupts. But as its plot unravels, confounding layers surface beneath that easy explanation. “Mami Wata,” a Sundance discovery selected to be Nigeria’ official Oscar submission, keeps the audience entranced if never truly engaged.
Taking its cues from the legend of the female water spirit revered in that part of the world, Obasi’s story centers on Mama Efe (Rita Edochie), a medium and healer who claims to hold the keys to the all-powerful Mami Wata. The inhabitants of the isolated oceanside village shower Mama Efe with crops and gifts in an effort to win over the water deity.
Taking its cues from the legend of the female water spirit revered in that part of the world, Obasi’s story centers on Mama Efe (Rita Edochie), a medium and healer who claims to hold the keys to the all-powerful Mami Wata. The inhabitants of the isolated oceanside village shower Mama Efe with crops and gifts in an effort to win over the water deity.
- 12/8/2023
- by Murtada Elfadl
- Variety Film + TV
Shortlist of 15 films to be announced December 21, nominations out on January 23, 2024.
The Academy has announced eligible features in the categories of international feature film, animation, and documentary for the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024.
The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 21, and the nominations announcement is January 23, 2024.
International
Eighty-eight countries or regions have submitted films eligible for consideration in the international feature film category. An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes long) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track. Namibia is a first-time entrant.
Academy members...
The Academy has announced eligible features in the categories of international feature film, animation, and documentary for the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024.
The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 21, and the nominations announcement is January 23, 2024.
International
Eighty-eight countries or regions have submitted films eligible for consideration in the international feature film category. An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes long) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track. Namibia is a first-time entrant.
Academy members...
- 12/7/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Post-pandemic audiences are much more open to different cultures, thanks to streaming and exposure to new types of content, but some of the world’s biggest film industries are still figuring out how to adapt in a rapidly changing landscape, said speakers on the ‘Cinematic Crossovers’ panel in Red Sea Souk.
Leading producers from three industries with an international footprint – Woo-sik Seo from Korea’s Barunson C&c, a subsidiary of Barunson E&a (Parasite), Dheer Momaya from India’s Jugaad Motion Pictures (Last Film Show) and Jadesola Osiberu, founder of Nigeria’s Greoh Studios (Gangs Of Lagos) – compared their business and funding models with the old world system set up by France’s Cnc and the nascent film industry in Saudi Arabia.
But they concluded by saying that, despite their success in achieving global impact, the current systems face some challenges – particularly in terms of censorship and IP ownership.
Korean reality check
Seo,...
Leading producers from three industries with an international footprint – Woo-sik Seo from Korea’s Barunson C&c, a subsidiary of Barunson E&a (Parasite), Dheer Momaya from India’s Jugaad Motion Pictures (Last Film Show) and Jadesola Osiberu, founder of Nigeria’s Greoh Studios (Gangs Of Lagos) – compared their business and funding models with the old world system set up by France’s Cnc and the nascent film industry in Saudi Arabia.
But they concluded by saying that, despite their success in achieving global impact, the current systems face some challenges – particularly in terms of censorship and IP ownership.
Korean reality check
Seo,...
- 12/6/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2024 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations — see the full list below — were unveiled on Tuesday, December 5, crowning the past year’s achievements in indie film. The actual awards ceremony, taking place on February 24, 2024 in the usual tent on the beach in Santa Monica, is a little less than three months away, but the films nominated today will carry new momentum into the rest of awards season, including the Oscar race. Joel Kim Booster (“Fire Island”) and Natalie Morales (“No Hard Feelings”) were the presenters of the nominees.
“American Fiction,” “May December,” and “Past Lives” led the Indie Spirits noms with five each, including each of them getting a nod for Best Feature. Todd Haynes for “May December” and Celine Song for “Past Lives” also received Best Director nods. Natalie Portman for “May December,” Greta Lee for “Past Lives,” and Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction” also received Best Lead Performance nods.
“American Fiction,” “May December,” and “Past Lives” led the Indie Spirits noms with five each, including each of them getting a nod for Best Feature. Todd Haynes for “May December” and Celine Song for “Past Lives” also received Best Director nods. Natalie Portman for “May December,” Greta Lee for “Past Lives,” and Jeffrey Wright for “American Fiction” also received Best Lead Performance nods.
- 12/5/2023
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
West Hollywood-based indie distribution outfit Indican Pictures (“Gossamer Folds”) has secured North American rights for Santiago Fillol’s political thriller “Matadero” (“Slaughterhouse”).
The debut fiction feature from the Argentine director saw its world premiere in competition at Locarno in 2022, with further festival bows at Mar Del Plata and Seville before December theatrical runs in Argentina and Spain via Cinetren and Begin Again Films, respectively.
Negotiations were handled by Randolph Kret of Indican Pictures alongside Brett Walker and partner Miguel Angel Govea at Alief (“Driving Mum”), who handle world sales on behalf of the filmmakers outside of Argentina, France, Spain and Switzerland.
“Indican Pictures is pleased to acquire the Argentinian film “Matadero”– it’s a compelling story that will have viewers on the edge of their seat,” Indican co-founder Randolph Kret told Variety.
Set up in the Argentine pampas, 1970, the narrative nods to the shocking, hyper-realistic cinema of the era and follows U.
The debut fiction feature from the Argentine director saw its world premiere in competition at Locarno in 2022, with further festival bows at Mar Del Plata and Seville before December theatrical runs in Argentina and Spain via Cinetren and Begin Again Films, respectively.
Negotiations were handled by Randolph Kret of Indican Pictures alongside Brett Walker and partner Miguel Angel Govea at Alief (“Driving Mum”), who handle world sales on behalf of the filmmakers outside of Argentina, France, Spain and Switzerland.
“Indican Pictures is pleased to acquire the Argentinian film “Matadero”– it’s a compelling story that will have viewers on the edge of their seat,” Indican co-founder Randolph Kret told Variety.
Set up in the Argentine pampas, 1970, the narrative nods to the shocking, hyper-realistic cinema of the era and follows U.
- 11/5/2023
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
Pakistan: “In Flames”
Zarrar Kahn’s horror film “In Flames” is Pakistan’s entry for the international feature Oscar. The film debuted at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight earlier this year.
In the Karachi-set film, after the death of the family patriarch, a mother and daughter’s precarious existence is ripped apart by figures from their past – both real and phantasmal. They must find strength in each other if they are to survive the malevolent forces that threaten to engulf them.
The film, produced by Anam Abbas and executive produced by Shant Joshi, Todd Brown and Maxime Cottray, is part of XYZ’s New Visions slate. As revealed by Variety, XYZ had boarded the title last year.
“‘In Flames’ has resonated profoundly with our committee members, as it beautifully encapsulates the essence of our culture, art, and cinematic craftsmanship. We believe that the narrative, performances, direction, and every element that went into...
Zarrar Kahn’s horror film “In Flames” is Pakistan’s entry for the international feature Oscar. The film debuted at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight earlier this year.
In the Karachi-set film, after the death of the family patriarch, a mother and daughter’s precarious existence is ripped apart by figures from their past – both real and phantasmal. They must find strength in each other if they are to survive the malevolent forces that threaten to engulf them.
The film, produced by Anam Abbas and executive produced by Shant Joshi, Todd Brown and Maxime Cottray, is part of XYZ’s New Visions slate. As revealed by Variety, XYZ had boarded the title last year.
“‘In Flames’ has resonated profoundly with our committee members, as it beautifully encapsulates the essence of our culture, art, and cinematic craftsmanship. We believe that the narrative, performances, direction, and every element that went into...
- 10/28/2023
- by Patrick Frater, Leo Barraclough, Ellise Shafer, Elsa Keslassy, John Hopewell, Naman Ramachandran, Nick Vivarelli, K.J. Yossman and Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Esperance Robert Colom in Mountains
This year's Indie Memphis Film Festival will open with Raven Jackson's All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, as it commits to new support for Bipoc filmmakers and puts Black women at the centre of its programming. Jackson will introduce her film and participate in a Q&a with the audience, and the festival will include work by women including Jessica Chaney, Lagueria Davis and Ramata-Toulaye Sy. It will also feature its sixth Black Filmmakers Forum, a three day mini-event which will include speeches by inspirational Black filmmakers and workshops for aspiring black filmmakers led by critics, scholars and industry professionals who have already enjoyed success.
The full festival line-up includes Todd Haynes' Memphis-set May December and locally born Princeton James Echols' horror film Queens Rising. Running from 24 to 29 October, it will also provide an opportunity to catch festival hits Mami Wata, Passages and [film id=42650]The Taste Of.
This year's Indie Memphis Film Festival will open with Raven Jackson's All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, as it commits to new support for Bipoc filmmakers and puts Black women at the centre of its programming. Jackson will introduce her film and participate in a Q&a with the audience, and the festival will include work by women including Jessica Chaney, Lagueria Davis and Ramata-Toulaye Sy. It will also feature its sixth Black Filmmakers Forum, a three day mini-event which will include speeches by inspirational Black filmmakers and workshops for aspiring black filmmakers led by critics, scholars and industry professionals who have already enjoyed success.
The full festival line-up includes Todd Haynes' Memphis-set May December and locally born Princeton James Echols' horror film Queens Rising. Running from 24 to 29 October, it will also provide an opportunity to catch festival hits Mami Wata, Passages and [film id=42650]The Taste Of.
- 10/18/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Nigeria has submitted Cj Obasi’s Sundance title Mami Wata as its candidate for the Best International Feature Film in the 96th Academy Awards.
Inspired by West African mermaid folklore and mythology, the black-and-white features stars Rita Edochie as a goddess facing waning influence in a remote struggling village.
Uzoamaka Aniunoh stars as her devoted daughter and Evelyne Ily Juhen as a skeptical protégé.
The deadline for submissions for Best International Feature Film was on October 2, but a number of countries are only announcing their selection now.
Home to Nollywood, Nigeria boasts Africa’s biggest film industry, but the country has yet to enjoy Oscar glory.
The fact that many of its films are in the country’s official language of English has made it difficult for the country to submit films for Best International Film Festival.
Its first-ever entry Lionheart in 2019 was disqualified because of the high percentage of English in the film.
Inspired by West African mermaid folklore and mythology, the black-and-white features stars Rita Edochie as a goddess facing waning influence in a remote struggling village.
Uzoamaka Aniunoh stars as her devoted daughter and Evelyne Ily Juhen as a skeptical protégé.
The deadline for submissions for Best International Feature Film was on October 2, but a number of countries are only announcing their selection now.
Home to Nollywood, Nigeria boasts Africa’s biggest film industry, but the country has yet to enjoy Oscar glory.
The fact that many of its films are in the country’s official language of English has made it difficult for the country to submit films for Best International Film Festival.
Its first-ever entry Lionheart in 2019 was disqualified because of the high percentage of English in the film.
- 10/17/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
by Cláudio Alves
As if dipped in ink, the screen is a void, shadows so thick they seem to swallow the light. Gravity-pulling like a black hole, this emptiness must be broken. So, it is with water leading the way, that eternal life-giver, life-taker. And even before we see its tide, we feel an ocean calling. It emerges in white lines, foam on cresting waves, their back-and-forth movement an Atlantic embrace. No character has invoked her yet, but we already sense the immensity of Mami Wata, the mother-like water deity that appears across African myth and the diaspora. In a feat of miraculous cinema, Nigerian director C.J. 'Fiery' Obasi has used his third feature to summon the spirit, inviting us to commune with her.
That's not to say Mami Wata – now in theaters – is a film aiming solely at religious ecstasy. If possible, it has even greater ambitions. Its tale...
As if dipped in ink, the screen is a void, shadows so thick they seem to swallow the light. Gravity-pulling like a black hole, this emptiness must be broken. So, it is with water leading the way, that eternal life-giver, life-taker. And even before we see its tide, we feel an ocean calling. It emerges in white lines, foam on cresting waves, their back-and-forth movement an Atlantic embrace. No character has invoked her yet, but we already sense the immensity of Mami Wata, the mother-like water deity that appears across African myth and the diaspora. In a feat of miraculous cinema, Nigerian director C.J. 'Fiery' Obasi has used his third feature to summon the spirit, inviting us to commune with her.
That's not to say Mami Wata – now in theaters – is a film aiming solely at religious ecstasy. If possible, it has even greater ambitions. Its tale...
- 9/30/2023
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
Aya Films has acquired U.K. rights to “Mami Wata,” which world premiered in the World Cinema – Dramatic section of the Sundance Film Festival, and won the Cinematography Award. Variety is debuting the teaser exclusively ahead of the film’s appearance in the Horizons section of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Aya Films will release the film in the U.K. in the fall. Dekanalog will release the film theatrically in North America in the fall as well. International sales are handled by Alief. The producer is Oge Obasi for Fiery Film Company Ltd.
The film, written and directed by C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, with cinematography by Lílis Soares, is based on West African mermaid folklore and mythology.
It is set in the remote West African village of Iyi, where the villagers worship the Mermaid-deity Mami Wata, and look to guidance from their healer Mama Efe, the intermediary between them and Mami Wata,...
Aya Films will release the film in the U.K. in the fall. Dekanalog will release the film theatrically in North America in the fall as well. International sales are handled by Alief. The producer is Oge Obasi for Fiery Film Company Ltd.
The film, written and directed by C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, with cinematography by Lílis Soares, is based on West African mermaid folklore and mythology.
It is set in the remote West African village of Iyi, where the villagers worship the Mermaid-deity Mami Wata, and look to guidance from their healer Mama Efe, the intermediary between them and Mami Wata,...
- 6/30/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Dekanalog has picked up North American rights to the Sundance competition title Mami Wata, the third feature film from Nigerian filmmaker C.J. “Fiery” Obasi.
Based on West African mermaid folklore and mythology, Mami Wata is set in the remote West African village of Iyi, where Mama Efe (Rita Edochie) acts as an intermediary between the people and the all-powerful water deity Mami Wata, the synopsis reads. However, doubt is sown amongst the people when a young boy is lost to a virus, with Efe’s devoted daughter Zinwe (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) and skeptical protégé Prisca (Evelyne Ily Juhen) at a crossroads. The film picked up the Special Jury Award for Best Cinematography at Sundance.
The pic was shot entirely in the Mono Department in Benin, West Africa. The principle cast features Evelyne Ily, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, Kelechi Udegbe, Rita Edochie, and Tough Bone. Further credits include cinematography by Brazillian Dp Lílis Soares,...
Based on West African mermaid folklore and mythology, Mami Wata is set in the remote West African village of Iyi, where Mama Efe (Rita Edochie) acts as an intermediary between the people and the all-powerful water deity Mami Wata, the synopsis reads. However, doubt is sown amongst the people when a young boy is lost to a virus, with Efe’s devoted daughter Zinwe (Uzoamaka Aniunoh) and skeptical protégé Prisca (Evelyne Ily Juhen) at a crossroads. The film picked up the Special Jury Award for Best Cinematography at Sundance.
The pic was shot entirely in the Mono Department in Benin, West Africa. The principle cast features Evelyne Ily, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, Kelechi Udegbe, Rita Edochie, and Tough Bone. Further credits include cinematography by Brazillian Dp Lílis Soares,...
- 5/18/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The last few cycles of Oscar season provided a jolt to the kind of filmmaking made on the margins of Hollywood, or outside of its boundaries altogether. If a Korean-language social thriller (“Parasite”), a poetic road-trip movie mostly populated by non-actors (“Nomadland”), and a zany comedy about an estranged Asian American (you know the one) can all win Best Picture, prior assumptions about movies with limited appeal have no foundation in reality.
Yet one stigma continues to linger. Black-and-white movies remain the aesthetic decision the market continues to reject.
I gravitated toward this issue while eying the lineup for the Museum of Moving Image’s First Look festival in Queens, which surveys a daring selection of recent sleeper hits from the festival circuit. While many of the bigger Sundance movies failed to sell because they cost too much, First Look illustrates the other end of the equation: These lower-profile selections,...
Yet one stigma continues to linger. Black-and-white movies remain the aesthetic decision the market continues to reject.
I gravitated toward this issue while eying the lineup for the Museum of Moving Image’s First Look festival in Queens, which surveys a daring selection of recent sleeper hits from the festival circuit. While many of the bigger Sundance movies failed to sell because they cost too much, First Look illustrates the other end of the equation: These lower-profile selections,...
- 3/18/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Hot on the tail of a recent slew of pickups and sales, Paris-based sales-producer-distributor Alief has snapped up international rights to the West African folktale “Mami Wata.”
North America rights to the film are represented by Marissa Frobes at CAA Media Finance. Alief is presenting the film to buyers and festival programmers at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin.
The first film from a Nigerian-based director to play (and win an award) at Sundance, this visually striking feature took home the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography for Brazilian Dp Lílis Soares.
Nigerian director C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s film tells the story of two sisters who fight to save their people and restore to the land a water deity. According to West African folklore, ‘Mami Wata’ is a terrifying mermaid goddess.
This black-and-white film is set in a beach town where a community must question previously...
North America rights to the film are represented by Marissa Frobes at CAA Media Finance. Alief is presenting the film to buyers and festival programmers at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin.
The first film from a Nigerian-based director to play (and win an award) at Sundance, this visually striking feature took home the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography for Brazilian Dp Lílis Soares.
Nigerian director C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s film tells the story of two sisters who fight to save their people and restore to the land a water deity. According to West African folklore, ‘Mami Wata’ is a terrifying mermaid goddess.
This black-and-white film is set in a beach town where a community must question previously...
- 2/19/2023
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
One of the best showcases of international cinema every year, the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look festival is now in its 12th edition and we’re pleased to exclusively unveil the lineup. Taking place from March 15-19 at the hallowed Queens theater, the selection features 38 works, including 19 features representing more than 22 countries.
Highlights include some of our favorites on the festival circuit in the past year: at long last, the New York premiere of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Cannes prize-winner Tori and Lokita, along with other victors Rodeo and The Eight Mountains; recent Sundance premieres Babak Jalali’s Fremont, Mary Helena Clark & Mike Gibisser’s A Common Sequence, and C.J. “Fiery” Obasi’s Mami Wata; Lucrecia Martel’s new short Maid; Gastón Solnicki’s A Little Love Package; Koji Fukada’s Love Life; and much more.
MoMI Curator of Film Eric Hynes said, “The guiding...
Highlights include some of our favorites on the festival circuit in the past year: at long last, the New York premiere of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Cannes prize-winner Tori and Lokita, along with other victors Rodeo and The Eight Mountains; recent Sundance premieres Babak Jalali’s Fremont, Mary Helena Clark & Mike Gibisser’s A Common Sequence, and C.J. “Fiery” Obasi’s Mami Wata; Lucrecia Martel’s new short Maid; Gastón Solnicki’s A Little Love Package; Koji Fukada’s Love Life; and much more.
MoMI Curator of Film Eric Hynes said, “The guiding...
- 2/10/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The event takes place March 29 and 30 at Rich Mix, London
The New Black Film Collective (Tnbfc), a UK-based network of film exhibitors, educators and programmers of Black representation on screen, is to host a second edition of its annual convention showcasing Black film and high-end TV talent.
The two-day event, titled Tnb Xpo, will take place from March 29-30 at Rich Mix in London.
Hundreds of people working in the film industry are expected to attend and the focus will be on amplifying both UK and international Black cinema.
There will be screenings of films from Black creators of African descent as well as talks,...
The New Black Film Collective (Tnbfc), a UK-based network of film exhibitors, educators and programmers of Black representation on screen, is to host a second edition of its annual convention showcasing Black film and high-end TV talent.
The two-day event, titled Tnb Xpo, will take place from March 29-30 at Rich Mix in London.
Hundreds of people working in the film industry are expected to attend and the focus will be on amplifying both UK and international Black cinema.
There will be screenings of films from Black creators of African descent as well as talks,...
- 2/6/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
A folkloric African water deity is the titular focus of Mami Wata, the Sundance-premiering film from writer-director C.J. “Fiery” Obasi. The revered Mama Efe (Rita Edochie) serves as the conduit between the inhabitants of the seaside village of Iyi and the sacred water spirit, but a brewing period of civil unrest threatens to throw the entire village into extended tumult. When a young boy dies of a virus, neither human nor spirit can intervene to stop more bloodshed. Cinematographer Lílis Soares discusses the influences and approaches she utilized while shooting the sumptuous black and white film. See all responses to […]
The post “A Story That Plays With the Senses”: Dp Lílis Soares on Mami Wata first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “A Story That Plays With the Senses”: Dp Lílis Soares on Mami Wata first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/2/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
A folkloric African water deity is the titular focus of Mami Wata, the Sundance-premiering film from writer-director C.J. “Fiery” Obasi. The revered Mama Efe (Rita Edochie) serves as the conduit between the inhabitants of the seaside village of Iyi and the sacred water spirit, but a brewing period of civil unrest threatens to throw the entire village into extended tumult. When a young boy dies of a virus, neither human nor spirit can intervene to stop more bloodshed. Cinematographer Lílis Soares discusses the influences and approaches she utilized while shooting the sumptuous black and white film. See all responses to […]
The post “A Story That Plays With the Senses”: Dp Lílis Soares on Mami Wata first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “A Story That Plays With the Senses”: Dp Lílis Soares on Mami Wata first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/2/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Returning to Johannesburg cinemas for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Joburg Film Festival kicked off its 5th edition with a joyful relaunch on Tuesday night, as local luminaries walked a gold carpet in Nelson Mandela Square in honor of the festival’s slogan, “Our Stories. Our Gold,” and the crowd was serenaded with a soaring performance from South African soprano Zandile Mzazi and singer Thandiswa Mazwai.
The event, which runs Jan. 31 – Feb. 5, bowed with the African premiere of “Xalé” (pictured), from veteran Senegalese director Moussa Sène Absa, a story of female subjugation and self-liberation that opened last year’s BFI Film Festival and was the West African nation’s entry in the 2023 international feature film Oscar race.
The festival wraps with “The Umbrella Men,” by local helmer John Barker (“Wonder Boy for President”), a caper comedy about first-time bank robbers pulling a heist...
The event, which runs Jan. 31 – Feb. 5, bowed with the African premiere of “Xalé” (pictured), from veteran Senegalese director Moussa Sène Absa, a story of female subjugation and self-liberation that opened last year’s BFI Film Festival and was the West African nation’s entry in the 2023 international feature film Oscar race.
The festival wraps with “The Umbrella Men,” by local helmer John Barker (“Wonder Boy for President”), a caper comedy about first-time bank robbers pulling a heist...
- 2/1/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Back in Park City, Utah, for the first time since 2020, the Sundance Film Festival concluded with an in-person awards show. The U.S. dramatic grand jury prize went to the Focus Features release “A Thousand and One,” from debut writer-director A.V. Rockwell, one of eight women in this year’s female-led competition.
Jeremy O. Harris, a member of the three-person U.S. dramatic jury at Sundance, choked back tears as he presented the award to Rockwell, admitting that he left the director’s premiere screening and cried on the street, as the film unearthed “all the feelings I’ve learned to mask in public spaces.”
Rockwell’s film is set in an unforgiving New York City in the late ’90s, where a single mother moving from shelter to shelter kidnaps her 6-year-old son from foster care. As they improbably forge a life and bond, their darkest secret threatens to disrupt what they’ve built.
Jeremy O. Harris, a member of the three-person U.S. dramatic jury at Sundance, choked back tears as he presented the award to Rockwell, admitting that he left the director’s premiere screening and cried on the street, as the film unearthed “all the feelings I’ve learned to mask in public spaces.”
Rockwell’s film is set in an unforgiving New York City in the late ’90s, where a single mother moving from shelter to shelter kidnaps her 6-year-old son from foster care. As they improbably forge a life and bond, their darkest secret threatens to disrupt what they’ve built.
- 1/27/2023
- by Matt Donnelly and Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
As the first in-person Sundance Film Festival since 2020 draws to a close, it’s time to see which films are taking home the festival’s most coveted awards. While there are many ways to measure success at Sundance — and many filmmakers are certainly more interested in a big sale than a trophy — the awards are nevertheless an important way of measuring which films resonated with the Park City crowd.
Friday’s award ceremony is the culmination of what has already been a very eventful festival. Despite the multitude of changes that the independent film world and the streaming industry are currently undergoing, this year’s festival still featured its share of buzzy premieres and splashy acquisitions. One of the most talked about movies in Park City has been Chloe Domont’s erotic thriller “Fair Play,” which sold to Netflix for a reported price of 20 million. The festival also featured some...
Friday’s award ceremony is the culmination of what has already been a very eventful festival. Despite the multitude of changes that the independent film world and the streaming industry are currently undergoing, this year’s festival still featured its share of buzzy premieres and splashy acquisitions. One of the most talked about movies in Park City has been Chloe Domont’s erotic thriller “Fair Play,” which sold to Netflix for a reported price of 20 million. The festival also featured some...
- 1/27/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Dekanalog releases the film in select theaters on Friday, September 29.
Mami Wata is a multifaceted figure whose personae is as diverse as the diaspora that venerates her. A patroness of beauty, money, and all things that ebb and flow, she’s sometimes depicted as being half-woman, half-fish. At other times, she’s shown with a gigantic serpent wrapped around her shoulders. She’s a relatively new deity who arose between the 15th and 20th centuries, a period when Africa became heavily involved in global trade. Her name comes from pidgin English, the language of commerce, and translates as “Mother Water.” She’s a water spirit, ruling over the seas that separated captive Africans from their homes and brought foreign people and influences to African shores, and she can be as benevolent or as cruel as the ocean itself.
Mami Wata is a multifaceted figure whose personae is as diverse as the diaspora that venerates her. A patroness of beauty, money, and all things that ebb and flow, she’s sometimes depicted as being half-woman, half-fish. At other times, she’s shown with a gigantic serpent wrapped around her shoulders. She’s a relatively new deity who arose between the 15th and 20th centuries, a period when Africa became heavily involved in global trade. Her name comes from pidgin English, the language of commerce, and translates as “Mother Water.” She’s a water spirit, ruling over the seas that separated captive Africans from their homes and brought foreign people and influences to African shores, and she can be as benevolent or as cruel as the ocean itself.
- 1/25/2023
- by Katie Rife
- Indiewire
Seven years before its Jan. 23 world premiere in Park City — the first-time that a homegrown Nigerian feature has scored a coveted slot in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance — C.J. Obasi’s “Mami Wata” began with a vision.
The director was sitting on a West African beach, in between projects and contemplating his next move. Suddenly, an apparition came to him: A mermaid standing on the ocean’s shore, beckoning to a mysterious young woman behind him.
“It was really vivid,” Obasi says. “It was in black and white. In the vision, the goddess’ eyes are red, but also very soft. There was a kindness to her eyes. When I came to, I said, Ok, so my next movie is ‘Mami Wata.’”
What followed was a personal and professional journey to understand that moment on the beach, and to breathe life into a movie about the titular mermaid-deity of West African folklore.
The director was sitting on a West African beach, in between projects and contemplating his next move. Suddenly, an apparition came to him: A mermaid standing on the ocean’s shore, beckoning to a mysterious young woman behind him.
“It was really vivid,” Obasi says. “It was in black and white. In the vision, the goddess’ eyes are red, but also very soft. There was a kindness to her eyes. When I came to, I said, Ok, so my next movie is ‘Mami Wata.’”
What followed was a personal and professional journey to understand that moment on the beach, and to breathe life into a movie about the titular mermaid-deity of West African folklore.
- 1/24/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
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