The 2024 Busan International Film Festival is kicking off on Oct. 2 with the international premiere of Uprising, director Kim Sang-man’s historical war epic with a script written by an auteur Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) and distributed by Netflix. The 29th edition of the 10-day event closes with Singaporean director Eric Khoo’s Spirit World, starring French screen legend Catherine Deneuve.
“Uprising is a charming historical drama put together by an outstanding team of directors, writers and actors while Khoo’s Spirit World is a co-production that explores the fundamental questions of human existence and the meaning of life through beautiful cinematic expression,” said Park Do-shin, the festival’s acting director, who was previously Busan’s senior programmer. Uprising is also the first streaming title to be invited to screen as the festival’s opening film.
Park Kwang-su, a former director who was appointed as the festival’s chairperson in February,...
“Uprising is a charming historical drama put together by an outstanding team of directors, writers and actors while Khoo’s Spirit World is a co-production that explores the fundamental questions of human existence and the meaning of life through beautiful cinematic expression,” said Park Do-shin, the festival’s acting director, who was previously Busan’s senior programmer. Uprising is also the first streaming title to be invited to screen as the festival’s opening film.
Park Kwang-su, a former director who was appointed as the festival’s chairperson in February,...
- 9/3/2024
- by Soomee Park
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Busan International Film Festival will expand its screening program by some 8% in what it calls “an effort to maintain a scale befitting Asia’s top film festival.” This is despite a 50% cut in government financial support.
The festival will open on Oct. 2 with “Uprising,” a star-studded period drama from Netflix that was scripted and produced by Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy”) and directed by Kim Sang-man.
It will close on Oct. 11 with the Eric Khoo-directed “Spirit World,” which the Singaporean director shot in Japan with French icon Catherine Deneuve in the lead role.
“Uprising” involves a servant (played by Gang Dong-won) and his master, the som of a noble family with military connections. While they agree that the servant should be free, complications arise. The film also stars Cha Seung-won, Kim Shin-rock, Jin Sun-kyu and Jung Sung-il. “With Park Chan-wook’s signature humor oozing through the well-woven narrative, full of intense conflict and tension,...
The festival will open on Oct. 2 with “Uprising,” a star-studded period drama from Netflix that was scripted and produced by Park Chan-wook (“Oldboy”) and directed by Kim Sang-man.
It will close on Oct. 11 with the Eric Khoo-directed “Spirit World,” which the Singaporean director shot in Japan with French icon Catherine Deneuve in the lead role.
“Uprising” involves a servant (played by Gang Dong-won) and his master, the som of a noble family with military connections. While they agree that the servant should be free, complications arise. The film also stars Cha Seung-won, Kim Shin-rock, Jin Sun-kyu and Jung Sung-il. “With Park Chan-wook’s signature humor oozing through the well-woven narrative, full of intense conflict and tension,...
- 9/3/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Film at Lincoln Center
A Catherine Breillat retrospective begins, featuring many restorations; Before Sunset screens outdoors on Friday.
Museum of Modern Art
A career-spanning Powell and Pressburger retrospective begins.
Roxy Cinema
Fellox Roxy programmer Charli Xcx presents Daisies on 35mm this Saturday, which also brings Jackass: The Movie; a print of Mad Max: Fury Road screens throughout the weekend.
Anthology Film Archives
The restored films of Rhody Streeter and Tony Ganz screen in a new collection (watch our trailer debut).
Film Forum
Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine continues playing in a new restoration; Laurel and Hardy’s Way Out West shows on Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
The two best comic-book movies, Darkman and Dick Tracy, play on 35mm as part of “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex,” as does The Straight Story; a series inspired by visionary psychiatrist Francesc Tosquelles begins.
Film at Lincoln Center
A Catherine Breillat retrospective begins, featuring many restorations; Before Sunset screens outdoors on Friday.
Museum of Modern Art
A career-spanning Powell and Pressburger retrospective begins.
Roxy Cinema
Fellox Roxy programmer Charli Xcx presents Daisies on 35mm this Saturday, which also brings Jackass: The Movie; a print of Mad Max: Fury Road screens throughout the weekend.
Anthology Film Archives
The restored films of Rhody Streeter and Tony Ganz screen in a new collection (watch our trailer debut).
Film Forum
Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine continues playing in a new restoration; Laurel and Hardy’s Way Out West shows on Sunday.
Museum of the Moving Image
The two best comic-book movies, Darkman and Dick Tracy, play on 35mm as part of “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex,” as does The Straight Story; a series inspired by visionary psychiatrist Francesc Tosquelles begins.
- 6/21/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) on Monday added a David Lynch short and an episode of his iconic series Twin Peaks to its Franz Kafka retrospective and unveiled the program of its Out of the Past section, featuring classic, cult, rare and “unfairly overlooked” films, screened in their original or restored versions.
Among the highlights are restored versions of Wim Wenders’ 1984 neo-Western drama Paris, Texas and Two English Girls, François Truffaut’s 1971 period drama about a love triangle.
The Wenders film is part of a three-film program presented by Alexandre O. Philippe, the creator of documentary essays about the history of cinema, offering perspectives on the American landscape in cinema. He will also present his 2021 documentary The Taking (2021), which explores American mythology through the socio-philosophical dimensions of the American landscape.
Also part of the Out of the Past program is Let’s Get Lost, Bruce Weber’s documentary about...
Among the highlights are restored versions of Wim Wenders’ 1984 neo-Western drama Paris, Texas and Two English Girls, François Truffaut’s 1971 period drama about a love triangle.
The Wenders film is part of a three-film program presented by Alexandre O. Philippe, the creator of documentary essays about the history of cinema, offering perspectives on the American landscape in cinema. He will also present his 2021 documentary The Taking (2021), which explores American mythology through the socio-philosophical dimensions of the American landscape.
Also part of the Out of the Past program is Let’s Get Lost, Bruce Weber’s documentary about...
- 6/10/2024
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Am kommenden Freitag startet Richard Linklaters Actionkomödie „Hit Man“ bei Netflix. Unterdessen arbeitet der US-Regisseur und -Drehbuchautor an zahlreichen Projekten.
Richard Linklater, hier im Vorfeld der Premiere seiner Actionkomödie „Hit Man“ im vergangenen Jahr in Venedig, hat derzeit einiges in der Pipeline (Credit: Imago / Independent Photo Agency Int.)
Während am kommenden Freitag Richard Linklaters Actionkomödie „Hit Man“, die im vergangenen Jahr in Venedig ihre Premiere gefeiert hatte, bei Netflix startet, arbeitet der US-Regisseur und -Drehbuchautor an zahlreichen Projekten.
So arbeitet Linklater aktuell an einem weiteren Langzeitprojekt, nach „Boyhood“, den er in den Jahren 2002 bis 2013 realisierte, der Adaption von Stephen Sondheims Musical „Merrily We Roll Along“, dessen Handlung auf einen Zeitraum von 20 Jahren angelegt ist – und für dessen Umsetzung er sich auch exakt 20 Jahre Zeit lassen will.
In einem Interview mit der „New York Times“ darauf angesprochen, dass Linklater, der Ende des Monats seinen 64. Geburtstag feiern wird, ja dann über 80 Jahre...
Richard Linklater, hier im Vorfeld der Premiere seiner Actionkomödie „Hit Man“ im vergangenen Jahr in Venedig, hat derzeit einiges in der Pipeline (Credit: Imago / Independent Photo Agency Int.)
Während am kommenden Freitag Richard Linklaters Actionkomödie „Hit Man“, die im vergangenen Jahr in Venedig ihre Premiere gefeiert hatte, bei Netflix startet, arbeitet der US-Regisseur und -Drehbuchautor an zahlreichen Projekten.
So arbeitet Linklater aktuell an einem weiteren Langzeitprojekt, nach „Boyhood“, den er in den Jahren 2002 bis 2013 realisierte, der Adaption von Stephen Sondheims Musical „Merrily We Roll Along“, dessen Handlung auf einen Zeitraum von 20 Jahren angelegt ist – und für dessen Umsetzung er sich auch exakt 20 Jahre Zeit lassen will.
In einem Interview mit der „New York Times“ darauf angesprochen, dass Linklater, der Ende des Monats seinen 64. Geburtstag feiern wird, ja dann über 80 Jahre...
- 6/4/2024
- by Jochen Müller
- Spot - Media & Film
Marking a welcome re-embrace of the streamlined murdery perversities of his terrific “Stranger by the Lake,” Alain Guiraudie gives the Cannes Premiere section one of its darkly sparkling standouts with the unsettlingly offbeat “Misericordia.” In the director’s best work, Guiraudie’s trademark is to infuse genre dalliances with mordant wit and a deliciously peculiar, defiant queerness. And while it may initially appear to be straightforward — and while it thankfully avoids the wild tonal swings of muddy tragicomedy “Staying Vertical” (2016) and rather baffling terrorism sex-farce “Nobody’s Hero” (2022) — nobody could ever accuse this increasingly twisted psychodrama of playing it straight.
From the start, there’s something off. The prologue is a driving sequence, shot from the point of view of the unseen driver, through the narrowing country roads of hilly southwestern France. There is nothing overtly odd going on, even the landscape is banal, shot in hazy earth tones by Claire Mathon’s clever,...
From the start, there’s something off. The prologue is a driving sequence, shot from the point of view of the unseen driver, through the narrowing country roads of hilly southwestern France. There is nothing overtly odd going on, even the landscape is banal, shot in hazy earth tones by Claire Mathon’s clever,...
- 5/27/2024
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
When it comes to the indie movie business, you don’t get more old-school than Kino Lorber. The New York outfit, founded as Kino International in 1977, has been the first source of independent cinema for U.S. audiences. It was the first to distribute films from Yorgos Lanthimos, Aki Kaurismäki, Wong Kar-wai, Andrei Tarkovsky and Michelangelo Antonioni in U.S. theaters and the first to restore and rerelease silent classics like Metropolis, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, and the films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
In 2009, when Richard Lorber’s home entertainment company Lorber Ht Digital acquired and merged with Kino International, physical media got added to the mix, and the newly minted Kino Lorber became known for its home entertainment releases, ranging from classic (Nosferatu, The Sacrifice) to cult (Mad Max, Emmanuelle). The Kino Lorber library now counts more than 4,000 titles and the company is continually adding to the list,...
In 2009, when Richard Lorber’s home entertainment company Lorber Ht Digital acquired and merged with Kino International, physical media got added to the mix, and the newly minted Kino Lorber became known for its home entertainment releases, ranging from classic (Nosferatu, The Sacrifice) to cult (Mad Max, Emmanuelle). The Kino Lorber library now counts more than 4,000 titles and the company is continually adding to the list,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As Cannes Film Festival kicks off, the Paris-based international sales company MK2 Films has revealed it has acquired three films and made substantial investments in new restorations, set against the backdrop of a strong presence at Cannes Classics.
MK2 Films has entered into a collaboration with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation on the global rights (excluding the U.S.) for two films directed by artist Niki de Saint Phalle: “Un Rêve plus long que la nuit” (1976) and “Daddy” (1973). “Un Rêve plus long que la nuit” has been restored in 4K by L’Immagine Ritrovata (Bologna-Paris) under the supervision of Arielle de Saint Phalle and with funding from Dior. It was presented at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, New York Film Festival and the new Los Angeles Festival of Movies. “Daddy” will soon be available in a restored version. MK2 Films described it as a “unique feminist work by one of...
MK2 Films has entered into a collaboration with the Niki Charitable Art Foundation on the global rights (excluding the U.S.) for two films directed by artist Niki de Saint Phalle: “Un Rêve plus long que la nuit” (1976) and “Daddy” (1973). “Un Rêve plus long que la nuit” has been restored in 4K by L’Immagine Ritrovata (Bologna-Paris) under the supervision of Arielle de Saint Phalle and with funding from Dior. It was presented at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, New York Film Festival and the new Los Angeles Festival of Movies. “Daddy” will soon be available in a restored version. MK2 Films described it as a “unique feminist work by one of...
- 5/14/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Memento International has boarded “Gazer,” the debut feature of American filmmaker Ryan J. Sloan which will world premiere at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
Set in New Jersey, the paranoia thriller stars Ariella Mastroianni as Frankie, a young mother with a rare degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria. Struggling to perceive time, she uses cassette tapes for guidance and is unable to find steady work with her condition. When a mysterious woman offers her a risky job, she takes it, unaware of the dark consequences that await.
Sloan, who is from New Jersey and previously worked as electrician, pays tribute to New Hollywood’s great masters by revisiting the mystery thriller genre in “Gazer.” Lensed in 16mm stock, the film follows a magnetic character played by Ariella Mastroianni, who stars opposite Marcia Debonis, Renee Gagner, Jack Alberts and Grant Schumacher.
“‘Gazer’ is a redemption story derailed by a revenge story, following flawed characters...
Set in New Jersey, the paranoia thriller stars Ariella Mastroianni as Frankie, a young mother with a rare degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria. Struggling to perceive time, she uses cassette tapes for guidance and is unable to find steady work with her condition. When a mysterious woman offers her a risky job, she takes it, unaware of the dark consequences that await.
Sloan, who is from New Jersey and previously worked as electrician, pays tribute to New Hollywood’s great masters by revisiting the mystery thriller genre in “Gazer.” Lensed in 16mm stock, the film follows a magnetic character played by Ariella Mastroianni, who stars opposite Marcia Debonis, Renee Gagner, Jack Alberts and Grant Schumacher.
“‘Gazer’ is a redemption story derailed by a revenge story, following flawed characters...
- 5/2/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
French film director who won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes film festival with his improvisatory education drama The Class
The social-realist boom in 1990s French cinema produced compelling new voices such as Jacques Audiard, Bruno Dumont and Érick Zonca. The most humane and rigorous of that group was Laurent Cantet, who has died aged 63 after suffering from cancer.
Cantet, who often worked in an improvisatory mode with non-professional actors, won the Cannes film festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, for his education drama The Class. Sean Penn, president of that year’s Cannes jury, called the film “a miracle, a perfect movie, just so exciting to see. We walked into the jury room afterward and it was like we had swept up the floor and our work was done.”...
The social-realist boom in 1990s French cinema produced compelling new voices such as Jacques Audiard, Bruno Dumont and Érick Zonca. The most humane and rigorous of that group was Laurent Cantet, who has died aged 63 after suffering from cancer.
Cantet, who often worked in an improvisatory mode with non-professional actors, won the Cannes film festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, for his education drama The Class. Sean Penn, president of that year’s Cannes jury, called the film “a miracle, a perfect movie, just so exciting to see. We walked into the jury room afterward and it was like we had swept up the floor and our work was done.”...
- 4/26/2024
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Memento International has boarded Spanish director Jonás Trueba’s eighth feature The Other Way Around set to world premiere at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight sidebar.
The relationship comedy is about a couple who decide to throw a party to celebrate their recent break up after 15 years together.
It is produced by Trueba and Javier Lafuente of Spain’s Los Ilusos Films and Sylvie Pialat and Alejandro Arenas of France’s Les Films du Worso. Elastica is handling Spanish distribution and Arizona Distribution will distribute the film in France.
Trueba’s credits include Goya-nominated first feature Every Song Is About Me,...
The relationship comedy is about a couple who decide to throw a party to celebrate their recent break up after 15 years together.
It is produced by Trueba and Javier Lafuente of Spain’s Los Ilusos Films and Sylvie Pialat and Alejandro Arenas of France’s Les Films du Worso. Elastica is handling Spanish distribution and Arizona Distribution will distribute the film in France.
Trueba’s credits include Goya-nominated first feature Every Song Is About Me,...
- 4/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Léa Seydoux was originally meant to star opposite Gaspard Ulliel in Bertrand Bonello’s audacious sci-fi love story “The Beast.” But the beloved César-winning French actor died at age 37 in January 2022 after a skiing accident while the film was still in pre-production, and he was posthumously replaced by George MacKay.
Seydoux previously starred alongside Ulliel, revered for roles in movies including Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “A Very Long Engagement” and Bonello’s own “Saint Laurent,” in Xavier Dolan’s 2016 Cannes winner “It’s Only the End of the World.” Seydoux, who recently spoke with IndieWire about her multiple roles in “The Beast” as a woman confronted across centuries by a devastating impossible romance, did not get the chance to talk to Ulliel about “The Beast” before filming. He did, however, leave her a WhatsApp voice message praising her turn in Bruno Dumont’s media satire “France,” a box office hit in France...
Seydoux previously starred alongside Ulliel, revered for roles in movies including Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “A Very Long Engagement” and Bonello’s own “Saint Laurent,” in Xavier Dolan’s 2016 Cannes winner “It’s Only the End of the World.” Seydoux, who recently spoke with IndieWire about her multiple roles in “The Beast” as a woman confronted across centuries by a devastating impossible romance, did not get the chance to talk to Ulliel about “The Beast” before filming. He did, however, leave her a WhatsApp voice message praising her turn in Bruno Dumont’s media satire “France,” a box office hit in France...
- 3/31/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Oscar contenders and Berlin prize-winners will be among the European films represented by visiting companies to FilMart that are making use of the European Film Promotion umbrella stand within the annual Hong Kong market.
In total, 29 European film sales companies are making the trip, including more than a dozen from France under the Unifrance banner. Prominent rights brokers include Charades, Goodfellas, Fandango and Filmax.
“Efp has built up the European brand at Hong Kong for many years through setting up a prominent umbrella. The aim was always to prominently flag our mission as being the one-stop shop for the European industry and European films,” said Efp executive Susanne Davis. “And we’re happily surprised that so many of them are taking advantage.”
The 29 companies are collectively representing over 140 new European titles, including Oscar contender “Anatomy of a Fall,” represented by MK2 Films, while “Four Daughters” is handled by the Party Film Sales.
In total, 29 European film sales companies are making the trip, including more than a dozen from France under the Unifrance banner. Prominent rights brokers include Charades, Goodfellas, Fandango and Filmax.
“Efp has built up the European brand at Hong Kong for many years through setting up a prominent umbrella. The aim was always to prominently flag our mission as being the one-stop shop for the European industry and European films,” said Efp executive Susanne Davis. “And we’re happily surprised that so many of them are taking advantage.”
The 29 companies are collectively representing over 140 new European titles, including Oscar contender “Anatomy of a Fall,” represented by MK2 Films, while “Four Daughters” is handled by the Party Film Sales.
- 3/10/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Kino Lorber have picked up all rights in North America to Bruno Dumont’s sci-fi farce The Empire after its triumphant debut at the Berlin Film Festival last month, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize.
Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri, and Fabrice Luchini star in the French-language feature, which re-imagines the world of George Lucas’ Star Wars with its epic sci-fi battle of good vs. evil, relocating the action to a sleepy northern France town and filtering the story through the frankly bonkers mind of the director of Slack Bay, Li’l Quinquin and Coincoin and the Extra-Humans. There are plenty of VFX spaceships and lightsaber battles and only a few gratuitous sex scenes (this is a French film after all).
Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release for L’Empire later this year 2024, followed by a home video, educational, and digital release across all major platforms.
Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri, and Fabrice Luchini star in the French-language feature, which re-imagines the world of George Lucas’ Star Wars with its epic sci-fi battle of good vs. evil, relocating the action to a sleepy northern France town and filtering the story through the frankly bonkers mind of the director of Slack Bay, Li’l Quinquin and Coincoin and the Extra-Humans. There are plenty of VFX spaceships and lightsaber battles and only a few gratuitous sex scenes (this is a French film after all).
Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release for L’Empire later this year 2024, followed by a home video, educational, and digital release across all major platforms.
- 3/7/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to Bruno Dumont’s recent Berlinale selection The Empire.
‘The Empire’: Berlin Review
Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri, and Fabrice Luchini star in the sci-fi farce about extraterrestrial forces who descend on Earth after the birth of a baby in a French village triggers a secret intergalactic war.
The film won the Silver Bear Jury Prize in Berlin and is a Tessalit Productions production in co-production with Red Balloon Film, Ascent Film, Novak Prod, Rosa Filmes, and Furyo Films.
Jean Bréhat and Bertrand Faivre produced, and the co-producers are Dorothe Beinemeier,...
‘The Empire’: Berlin Review
Anamaria Vartolomei, Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri, and Fabrice Luchini star in the sci-fi farce about extraterrestrial forces who descend on Earth after the birth of a baby in a French village triggers a secret intergalactic war.
The film won the Silver Bear Jury Prize in Berlin and is a Tessalit Productions production in co-production with Red Balloon Film, Ascent Film, Novak Prod, Rosa Filmes, and Furyo Films.
Jean Bréhat and Bertrand Faivre produced, and the co-producers are Dorothe Beinemeier,...
- 3/7/2024
- ScreenDaily
Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Bruno Dumont’s “The Empire,” a sci-fi satire starring Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”), Camille Cottin (“Call My Agent!”), Lyna Khoudri (“The Three Musketeers”) and Fabrice Luchini.
“The Empire” just world premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize. The movie marks Dumont’s follow up to “France,” a dark comedy starring Léa Seydoux which competed at the Cannes Film Festival.
Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release later this year, followed by a home video, educational and digital release on all major platforms. The acquisition of “The Empire” marks the sixth time that Kino Lorber has collaborated with Dumont, with previous releases including “Li’l Quinquin,” “Coincoin and the Extra-Humans,” “Slack Bay,” “Camille Claudel 1915” and, most recently, “France.”
The film is set in a quiet and picturesque fishing village in Northern France, where a special...
“The Empire” just world premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize. The movie marks Dumont’s follow up to “France,” a dark comedy starring Léa Seydoux which competed at the Cannes Film Festival.
Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release later this year, followed by a home video, educational and digital release on all major platforms. The acquisition of “The Empire” marks the sixth time that Kino Lorber has collaborated with Dumont, with previous releases including “Li’l Quinquin,” “Coincoin and the Extra-Humans,” “Slack Bay,” “Camille Claudel 1915” and, most recently, “France.”
The film is set in a quiet and picturesque fishing village in Northern France, where a special...
- 3/7/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
If you've ever wondered what a Star Wars pastiche by Monty Python might look like if barely any of the jokes landed then the latest film from Bruno Dumont is for you. He offers a space opera-twist on notions of empire - Church and State - slapping them into the incongruous setting of the French countryside. This is, essentially, the punchline and he keeps on remorselessly punching it with little variation for two hours.
The action unfolds against the backdrop of a sleepy coastal village in northern France, which also hosted Dumont’s Li'l QuinQuin and Coincoin And The Extra Humans. Now, it is the home of a toddler named Freddy, who despite his outwardly cute appearance is - many mothers of young children may enjoy a wry smile here - evil personified, and known to his worshippers as ‘the Wain’. He is to become leader of the 0s, an alien.
The action unfolds against the backdrop of a sleepy coastal village in northern France, which also hosted Dumont’s Li'l QuinQuin and Coincoin And The Extra Humans. Now, it is the home of a toddler named Freddy, who despite his outwardly cute appearance is - many mothers of young children may enjoy a wry smile here - evil personified, and known to his worshippers as ‘the Wain’. He is to become leader of the 0s, an alien.
- 3/1/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Dahomey won the Golden Bear Photo: Les Films Du Bal - Fanta Sy French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop took home the top prize at this year's Berlin Film Festival for her documentary Dahomey. The film considers the return of plundered artefacts to Berlin. It is the second year in a row a documentary has taken the Golden Bear after On The Adamant won last year.
The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to prolific South Korean director Hang Sang-soo for his tale of a French teacher (Isabelle Huppert) navigating a new life, A Traveler's Needs.
Bruno Dumont's spoof that transports a Star Wars-style plot to the French countryside, The Empire, won a Silver Bear, while Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias' experimental hippo drama Pepe won the Best Director prize. Matthias Glasner's Dying, which dives into the heart of a family with an ailing matriarch and patriarch, won Best Screenplay.
The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to prolific South Korean director Hang Sang-soo for his tale of a French teacher (Isabelle Huppert) navigating a new life, A Traveler's Needs.
Bruno Dumont's spoof that transports a Star Wars-style plot to the French countryside, The Empire, won a Silver Bear, while Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias' experimental hippo drama Pepe won the Best Director prize. Matthias Glasner's Dying, which dives into the heart of a family with an ailing matriarch and patriarch, won Best Screenplay.
- 2/24/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Mati Diop’s documentary Dahomey, about artefacts being returned from Paris to present-day Benin, was awarded the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (February 24).
The film, handled internationally by Les Film du Losange, is the second from the African continent to take the Berlinale’s top prize after Mark Dornford-May’s musical U-Carmen eKhayelitsha in 2005. It is also the second year in a row that a documentary has clinched the Golden Bear, following Nicolas Philibert’s On The Adamant last year.
In her speech, Diop said: “To restitute is to do justice. We can...
The film, handled internationally by Les Film du Losange, is the second from the African continent to take the Berlinale’s top prize after Mark Dornford-May’s musical U-Carmen eKhayelitsha in 2005. It is also the second year in a row that a documentary has clinched the Golden Bear, following Nicolas Philibert’s On The Adamant last year.
In her speech, Diop said: “To restitute is to do justice. We can...
- 2/24/2024
- ScreenDaily
After two weeks of new cinema, the Berlin Film Festival comes to a close this Sunday, February 25, with its annual awards ceremony. This year’s event marks one of change, as festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian, at his post since 2018, steps down to make way for Tricia Tuttle, who will take over for next year’s outing.
This year’s Berlinale has already stirred plenty of buzz for films like Alonso Ruizpalacios’s “La Cocina,” a drama set in a New York City kitchen and starring Rooney Mara, and Tim Mielants’ opener “Small Things Like These,” starring likely Oscar winner Cillian Murphy. Both films are eligible for awards, along with “Timbuktu” director Abderrahmane Sissako’s “Black Tea,” “Goodnight Mommy” filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s “The Devil’s Bath,” “The Guilty” director Gustav Möller’s “Sons,” Olivier Assayas’ “Suspended Time,” plus Aaron Schimberg’s Sundance hit “A Different Man,” and many more.
This year’s Berlinale has already stirred plenty of buzz for films like Alonso Ruizpalacios’s “La Cocina,” a drama set in a New York City kitchen and starring Rooney Mara, and Tim Mielants’ opener “Small Things Like These,” starring likely Oscar winner Cillian Murphy. Both films are eligible for awards, along with “Timbuktu” director Abderrahmane Sissako’s “Black Tea,” “Goodnight Mommy” filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s “The Devil’s Bath,” “The Guilty” director Gustav Möller’s “Sons,” Olivier Assayas’ “Suspended Time,” plus Aaron Schimberg’s Sundance hit “A Different Man,” and many more.
- 2/24/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop made history at tonight’s Berlin Film Festival awards ceremony, becoming the first Black director ever to win the Golden Bear, the fest’s top prize, for her inventive, resonant documentary “Dahomey.” She accepted the award from Lupita Nyong’o, in turn the first Black person ever to preside over the festival’s Competition jury — a stark image of progress to cap off a ceremony marked by impassioned statements against war and social discrimination.
Following French docmaker Nicolas Philibert’s Golden Bear triumph last year with his film “On the Adamant,” “Dahomey” is the second consecutive nonfiction feature to take the award. But it’s a radically unorthodox winner nonetheless, beginning with its 67-minute running time. Yet Diop, the actor-turned-director who took the Grand Prix at Cannes 2019 with her fictional debut feature “Atlantics,” packs a world of historical and political perspective into her film’s tight framework,...
Following French docmaker Nicolas Philibert’s Golden Bear triumph last year with his film “On the Adamant,” “Dahomey” is the second consecutive nonfiction feature to take the award. But it’s a radically unorthodox winner nonetheless, beginning with its 67-minute running time. Yet Diop, the actor-turned-director who took the Grand Prix at Cannes 2019 with her fictional debut feature “Atlantics,” packs a world of historical and political perspective into her film’s tight framework,...
- 2/24/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Dahomey, a documentary from French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, has won the Golden Bear for best film at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.
The multifaceted docu-fictional essay explores the return, in November 2021, of plundered royal treasures of the African Kingdom of Dahomey from Paris to the present-day Republic of Benin, examining the complicated response of those in Benin, whose culture has developed for more than a century without these artifacts.
While taking the stage to accept her award, Diop made a direct political statement, calling out, “I stand with Palestine!”
Jury president, the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actor Lupita Nyong’o, announced the Golden Bear winner from the stage of the Berlinale Palast Saturday night. Nyong’o is the first Black and first African to chair the Berlinale jury.
Dahomey is only the second African film to win the top prize at Berlin, following Mark Dornford-May’s...
The multifaceted docu-fictional essay explores the return, in November 2021, of plundered royal treasures of the African Kingdom of Dahomey from Paris to the present-day Republic of Benin, examining the complicated response of those in Benin, whose culture has developed for more than a century without these artifacts.
While taking the stage to accept her award, Diop made a direct political statement, calling out, “I stand with Palestine!”
Jury president, the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actor Lupita Nyong’o, announced the Golden Bear winner from the stage of the Berlinale Palast Saturday night. Nyong’o is the first Black and first African to chair the Berlinale jury.
Dahomey is only the second African film to win the top prize at Berlin, following Mark Dornford-May’s...
- 2/24/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Berlin Film Festival kicked off its 74th edition February 15 with the opening-night world premiere screening of Small Things Like These, the Irish drama starring Oscar-nominated Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy. It started 10 days of debuts including for movies starring Rooney Mara, Isabelle Huppert, Gael García Bernal, Kristen Stewart and more.
This year’s Competition lineup features films from a swath of international filmmakers including Olivier Assayas, Mati Diop, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont and Abderrahmane Sissako.
The Berlinale runs through February 25.
Keep checking back below as Deadline reviews the best and buzziest movies of the festival. Click on the titles to read the full reviews.
Another End ‘Another End’
Section: Competition
Director: Piero Messina
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Renate Reinsve, Bérénice Bejo, Olivia Williams, Pal Aron
Deadline’s takeaway: The script, while ambitious, is laden with philosophical musings that often feel detached from the emotional core of the story. Another End...
This year’s Competition lineup features films from a swath of international filmmakers including Olivier Assayas, Mati Diop, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont and Abderrahmane Sissako.
The Berlinale runs through February 25.
Keep checking back below as Deadline reviews the best and buzziest movies of the festival. Click on the titles to read the full reviews.
Another End ‘Another End’
Section: Competition
Director: Piero Messina
Cast: Gael García Bernal, Renate Reinsve, Bérénice Bejo, Olivia Williams, Pal Aron
Deadline’s takeaway: The script, while ambitious, is laden with philosophical musings that often feel detached from the emotional core of the story. Another End...
- 2/24/2024
- by Stephanie Bunbury, Damon Wise, Pete Hammond and Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
The awards ceremony for the 74th Berlin International Film Festival kicks off Saturday night, where this year’s jury, headed by 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actress Lupita Nyong’o, will hand out the coveted Gold and Silver Bears.
Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s Iranian drama My Favourite Cake is being given good odds for an award this year. The drama, about a 70-year-old widow and her tentative attempts at romance with an age-appropriate taxi driver, was a critical fave. A win for the film would also send a political message after the Iranian government banned the directors from attending Berlin. If the jury picks out Cake for the Golden Bear it would be the third time in 10 years —following Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (2015) and There Is No Evil (2020) from Mohammad Rasoulof —that Berlin has given its top honor to Iranian directors in absentia. World sales for My...
Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s Iranian drama My Favourite Cake is being given good odds for an award this year. The drama, about a 70-year-old widow and her tentative attempts at romance with an age-appropriate taxi driver, was a critical fave. A win for the film would also send a political message after the Iranian government banned the directors from attending Berlin. If the jury picks out Cake for the Golden Bear it would be the third time in 10 years —following Jafar Panahi’s Taxi (2015) and There Is No Evil (2020) from Mohammad Rasoulof —that Berlin has given its top honor to Iranian directors in absentia. World sales for My...
- 2/23/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
by Elisa Giudici
L'empire © Tessalit Productions
If I think about the typical film competing at Berlin, I imagine something quite dramatic, decidedly political, and sometimes rather heavy. This edition of the Berlinale has added the adjective "bizarre" to this profile of mine. Here are four films seen in these hours that deserve this adjective.
L’Empire by Bruno Dumont
Let me preface this one: Dumont and I just don't see eye to eye. He might be the only French director whose work I can't seem to appreciate, despite my overall fondness for French cinema. Given this history and a rather late screening on a very heavy day, the recipe for disaster was served. However, one positive thing about L’Empire I can say: in hindsight, it made me reassess his previous film, France, which I saw at Cannes and detested...
L'empire © Tessalit Productions
If I think about the typical film competing at Berlin, I imagine something quite dramatic, decidedly political, and sometimes rather heavy. This edition of the Berlinale has added the adjective "bizarre" to this profile of mine. Here are four films seen in these hours that deserve this adjective.
L’Empire by Bruno Dumont
Let me preface this one: Dumont and I just don't see eye to eye. He might be the only French director whose work I can't seem to appreciate, despite my overall fondness for French cinema. Given this history and a rather late screening on a very heavy day, the recipe for disaster was served. However, one positive thing about L’Empire I can say: in hindsight, it made me reassess his previous film, France, which I saw at Cannes and detested...
- 2/23/2024
- by Elisa Giudici
- FilmExperience
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival announced the winners of the fest at the awards ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast on February 24.
20 films competed for the awards in this year’s competition with Lupita Nyong’o heading the International Jury alongside Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko. The Encounters Jury, Lisandro Alonso, Denis Côté and Tizza Covi choose the winners for Best Film, Best Director and the Special Jury Award.
The Golden Bear for Best Film was awarded to Dahomey by Mati Diop. Emily Watson won The Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance for her role in Small Things Like These, while Sebastian Stan received The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in A Different Man. Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias was honored with The Silver Bear for Best Director for his film Pepe, and the Silver Bear Jury Prize went to Bruno Dumont for Empire.
20 films competed for the awards in this year’s competition with Lupita Nyong’o heading the International Jury alongside Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko. The Encounters Jury, Lisandro Alonso, Denis Côté and Tizza Covi choose the winners for Best Film, Best Director and the Special Jury Award.
The Golden Bear for Best Film was awarded to Dahomey by Mati Diop. Emily Watson won The Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance for her role in Small Things Like These, while Sebastian Stan received The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in A Different Man. Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias was honored with The Silver Bear for Best Director for his film Pepe, and the Silver Bear Jury Prize went to Bruno Dumont for Empire.
- 2/22/2024
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
Hong Sangsoo’s A Traveler’s Needs and Mati Diop’s Dahomey earned strong average scores on Screen’s Berlin jury grid, while Bruno Dumont’s The Empire divided critics.
A Traveler’s Needs stars Isabelle Huppert as a French woman teaching in Korea and is currently on an average of 2.9, with one score still to come (from Paolo Bertolin from cinematografo.it). Screen’s own critic awarded it four stars (excellent), while three critics gave it three stars (good) and three gave it two (average).
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
The score is currently slighter...
A Traveler’s Needs stars Isabelle Huppert as a French woman teaching in Korea and is currently on an average of 2.9, with one score still to come (from Paolo Bertolin from cinematografo.it). Screen’s own critic awarded it four stars (excellent), while three critics gave it three stars (good) and three gave it two (average).
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
The score is currently slighter...
- 2/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
Playing his signature brand of rural French absurdity in stark counterpoint to the grandiose strains of a space opera, Bruno Dumont returns with The Empire: his Barbarella bourguignon, his dijionnaise Dune. The Empire is the story of two warring factions: one whose mothership resembles the palace of Versailles; the other’s as if someone glued together two Notre Dames, crypt to crypt. It follows their envoys on earth, now in human form and attempting to capture a toddler who they believe to be the Chosen One––whose mere presence makes them bow down like bodies in rigor mortis. There are blasé beheadings with lightsabers, a group of men on Boulonnais horses who call themselves the Knights of Wain, and, for no apparent reason, the commandant (Bernard Pruvost) and lieutenant (Philippe Jore) from P’tit Quinquin.
If that all sounds like a mixed bag it’s probably because The Empire is...
If that all sounds like a mixed bag it’s probably because The Empire is...
- 2/19/2024
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Kirsten Niehuus, head of German film fund Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, is confident that the changes to film funding proposed by the German government recently will have a “very positive effect on the production scene in Berlin-Brandenburg.”
The proposed changes to the funding system were presented last week to German lawmakers in the Bundestag by commissioner for culture and media Claudia Roth (see here).
Kirsten Niehuus, Martin Moszkowicz
Speaking to Variety Saturday at a party Medienboard hosted at Berlin’s Holzmarkt, Niehuus said the changes “will mean that we would have a tax system in place that could compete, for instance, with Budapest or Prague, so that not so many German productions would go and shoot somewhere else, and more foreign productions would come and shoot in Germany.”
Looking at the media landscape across Germany she notes that one major challenge is the decision by high-end outlets such as Paramount+, HBO and Sky to cancel local productions,...
The proposed changes to the funding system were presented last week to German lawmakers in the Bundestag by commissioner for culture and media Claudia Roth (see here).
Kirsten Niehuus, Martin Moszkowicz
Speaking to Variety Saturday at a party Medienboard hosted at Berlin’s Holzmarkt, Niehuus said the changes “will mean that we would have a tax system in place that could compete, for instance, with Budapest or Prague, so that not so many German productions would go and shoot somewhere else, and more foreign productions would come and shoot in Germany.”
Looking at the media landscape across Germany she notes that one major challenge is the decision by high-end outlets such as Paramount+, HBO and Sky to cancel local productions,...
- 2/19/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The Satire Strikes Back: Dumont Claims His Own Multi-Verse
It’s sometimes difficult to predict what mode French auteur Bruno Dumont will be choosing for his latest film project. Initially revered for his rural, austere tendency for Neo-realism, which earned him comparisons to Bresson and Pialat, Dumont has also shown a penchant for outrageous provocations and thorny social satires. His latest, L’empire, was rumored to be a Star Wars parody, but even this kind of statement is rather superficial considering Dumont seems to hold such reference points in cultural contempt. The film quite infamously triggered the self-exile and retirement of Adèle Haenel from the French film industry, which may lead many to expect Dumont would be pushing boundaries with this odd bird premise.…...
It’s sometimes difficult to predict what mode French auteur Bruno Dumont will be choosing for his latest film project. Initially revered for his rural, austere tendency for Neo-realism, which earned him comparisons to Bresson and Pialat, Dumont has also shown a penchant for outrageous provocations and thorny social satires. His latest, L’empire, was rumored to be a Star Wars parody, but even this kind of statement is rather superficial considering Dumont seems to hold such reference points in cultural contempt. The film quite infamously triggered the self-exile and retirement of Adèle Haenel from the French film industry, which may lead many to expect Dumont would be pushing boundaries with this odd bird premise.…...
- 2/19/2024
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Out of the many movies you could imagine emerging from the mind of French auteur Bruno Dumont, a Star Wars parody was probably somewhere at the bottom of the list.
And yet it’s been some time since the Cannes Grand Jury Prize laureate, who broke out in the late 90s with viscerally stylized, hard-hitting works of Gallic realism like The Life of Jesus and Humanity, has strayed far from his gritty roots towards a brand of accentuated arthouse satire.
His latest effort, the sci-fi farce The Empire (L’Empire), definitely fits the latter mold, although it’s loaded with enough VFX, light saber battles, spacecrafts and prophecies to give George Lucas a run for his money. That is, if Lucas decided to set the next Star Wars in a sleepy northern French city, used a local mechanic to play one of the leads and tossed in a few flagrant sex scenes,...
And yet it’s been some time since the Cannes Grand Jury Prize laureate, who broke out in the late 90s with viscerally stylized, hard-hitting works of Gallic realism like The Life of Jesus and Humanity, has strayed far from his gritty roots towards a brand of accentuated arthouse satire.
His latest effort, the sci-fi farce The Empire (L’Empire), definitely fits the latter mold, although it’s loaded with enough VFX, light saber battles, spacecrafts and prophecies to give George Lucas a run for his money. That is, if Lucas decided to set the next Star Wars in a sleepy northern French city, used a local mechanic to play one of the leads and tossed in a few flagrant sex scenes,...
- 2/18/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It is increasingly weird to recall that for a while, French director Bruno Dumont was the kind of filmmaker who reminded you, often forcibly and somewhat against your will, that the word “auteur” contains most of the letters of “austere.” “The Empire,” another of the director’s proudly off-kilter comedies that pitches the bumbling denizens of a small French village into a vast, sinister conspiracy extending far beyond their foreshortened horizons, hovers several light years — and two janky light sabers — away from austerity. Unfortunately, though, the air out there is also a little thin on hilarity, with the film’s one-gag setup becoming stretched to the point that it doesn’t even matter that it’s a pretty good gag.
The humor, as ever with the Dumont of “Li’l Quinquin” and “Slack Bay,” derives largely from the collision of the grandiose with the drolly mundane. This time out, harking back to,...
The humor, as ever with the Dumont of “Li’l Quinquin” and “Slack Bay,” derives largely from the collision of the grandiose with the drolly mundane. This time out, harking back to,...
- 2/18/2024
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Iranian tragicomedy My Favourite Cake has taken the early lead on Screen international’ s 2024 Berlin competition jury grid, with scores for seven titles now in.
The latest from Iranian duo Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha follows a 70-year-old woman who breaks out of her solitary routine by trying to invigorate her love life. It scored a strong 3.1 average, including three fours (excellent) from Ahmed Shawkey (Egypt’s filfan.com), Rita Di Santo (UK’s Morning Star) and Screen’s own critic.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Currently in joint second on the grid with...
The latest from Iranian duo Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha follows a 70-year-old woman who breaks out of her solitary routine by trying to invigorate her love life. It scored a strong 3.1 average, including three fours (excellent) from Ahmed Shawkey (Egypt’s filfan.com), Rita Di Santo (UK’s Morning Star) and Screen’s own critic.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Currently in joint second on the grid with...
- 2/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
While Andrea Arnold is putting the finishing touches on her next feature Bird, starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, the British director has already unveiled her next project, one based on a true story. Scarlett Johansson will lead Arnold’s crime thriller Featherwood, according to Deadline.
Johansson will take the role of Carol Blevins, “a heroin addict and ‘Aryan Princess featherwood’ (property of a gang member) who became one of the FBI’s most important informants during an epic, six-year investigation into the murderous, neo-Nazi crime and drug syndicate known as the Aryan Brotherhood Of Texas. Blevins, who lived with the gang, memorized details, pre-empted murders and interrupted robberies, helped convict 13 members of the group. However, her harrowing journey left her with significant physical and mental scars and she lives under constant threat of reprisal by the Abt.” Though no production timetable has been unveiled, Johansson’s schedule is fairly clear,...
Johansson will take the role of Carol Blevins, “a heroin addict and ‘Aryan Princess featherwood’ (property of a gang member) who became one of the FBI’s most important informants during an epic, six-year investigation into the murderous, neo-Nazi crime and drug syndicate known as the Aryan Brotherhood Of Texas. Blevins, who lived with the gang, memorized details, pre-empted murders and interrupted robberies, helped convict 13 members of the group. However, her harrowing journey left her with significant physical and mental scars and she lives under constant threat of reprisal by the Abt.” Though no production timetable has been unveiled, Johansson’s schedule is fairly clear,...
- 2/12/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Berlinale competition director Bruno Dumont is lining up his next film Red Rocks, a Romeo and Juliet-style love story set one summer on the French Riviera, to shoot later this year, with Luxbox handling sales
The film is being produced by Tessalit Productions with Italy’s Nightswim, Belgium’s Novak Prod and Portugal’s Rosa Filmes.
Red Rocks is about the rivalry between two gangs of kids, a blend of locals and summer visitors, who compete in the perilous game of cliff jumping.
“The setting – the shattered, reddish and picturesque of the rocky coast of the South of France,...
The film is being produced by Tessalit Productions with Italy’s Nightswim, Belgium’s Novak Prod and Portugal’s Rosa Filmes.
Red Rocks is about the rivalry between two gangs of kids, a blend of locals and summer visitors, who compete in the perilous game of cliff jumping.
“The setting – the shattered, reddish and picturesque of the rocky coast of the South of France,...
- 2/12/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Cannes Marché du Film has unveiled the four film industry professionals who will select the projects for the second edition of its Investors Circle initiative.
The one-day event – taking place within the framework of this year’s market, running from May 14 to 22 – is aimed at connecting elevated, international feature film projects with film financiers and high-net worth individuals with a desire to invest in cinema.
This year’s selection committee comprises Arte France Cinéma CEO Remi Burah; French film and TV biz entrepreneur Serge Hayat; Georgian cinema professional Tamara Tatishvili, who is currently head of the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund, and Korean co-production expert Wonsun Shin.
The projects are gathered through a combination of networking and scouting as well as direct submissions to the Cannes Marché du Film up until February 29. The Selection Committee will meet throughout March to decide the final line-up.
Aleksandra Zakharchenko,...
The one-day event – taking place within the framework of this year’s market, running from May 14 to 22 – is aimed at connecting elevated, international feature film projects with film financiers and high-net worth individuals with a desire to invest in cinema.
This year’s selection committee comprises Arte France Cinéma CEO Remi Burah; French film and TV biz entrepreneur Serge Hayat; Georgian cinema professional Tamara Tatishvili, who is currently head of the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund, and Korean co-production expert Wonsun Shin.
The projects are gathered through a combination of networking and scouting as well as direct submissions to the Cannes Marché du Film up until February 29. The Selection Committee will meet throughout March to decide the final line-up.
Aleksandra Zakharchenko,...
- 2/6/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
You don’t need to have lived in the proverbial middle of nowhere to understand the kind of terror Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s The Soul Eater mines from the fictional Roquenoix. As shot by Simon Roca, this remote hamlet in northeastern France isn’t a ghost town so much as a burial ground where humans and buildings alike are waiting to rot. A grandiose sanatorium once towered over the tree-shrouded hills, bringing in enough cash and tourists to fill the village’s coffers. But when a motorway was built across the valley, the tourists disappeared, the sanatorium was abandoned; and the few who stayed behind were left to wrestle with an ancestral legend and a series of murders that may or may not be connected with it.
The single most terrifying thing in The Soul Eater isn’t the titular devourer, but that spectral, lifeless town where its victims are stranded.
The single most terrifying thing in The Soul Eater isn’t the titular devourer, but that spectral, lifeless town where its victims are stranded.
- 2/2/2024
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
"The opposing forces are formidable." Time to battle the Empire! Memento Films has revealed a brand new official trailer for The Empire, the strange French sci-fi film from filmmaker Bruno Dumont. We already posted a trailer for this last year when it was first unveiled. It will premiere at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival next month, perhaps because every other fest rejected it. Bruno Dumont's sci-fi The Empire (aka L'Empire) is set in a quiet fishing village on the Opal Coast in Northern France, and tells the story of a child who is so unique and peculiar it unleashes a secret war between extraterrestrial forces of good and evil. Starring a big French cast including Virginie Efira, Lily-Rose Depp, Camille Cottin, Lyna Khoudri, Anamaria Vartolomei, with Fabrice Luchini. It's a bit weird how this trailer hides so much of the sci-fi until the last few shots at the end, instead focusing...
- 1/25/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Netflix has shelved Halle Berry sci-fi The Mothership, Screen understands.
Production on the film wrapped in 2021 however the streamer elected not to continue after multiple delays in post-production.
The film centres on a mother who uncovers an alien object under her farmhouse which may solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearance a year prior. MRC was producing the film and Matthew Charman was the director.
The Mothership joins a line of Hollywood films which have been axed despite wrapping production. Warner Bros did this with its DC feature Batgirl, as well as animation Scoob! Holiday Haunt, and Coyote vs. Acme.
Production on the film wrapped in 2021 however the streamer elected not to continue after multiple delays in post-production.
The film centres on a mother who uncovers an alien object under her farmhouse which may solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearance a year prior. MRC was producing the film and Matthew Charman was the director.
The Mothership joins a line of Hollywood films which have been axed despite wrapping production. Warner Bros did this with its DC feature Batgirl, as well as animation Scoob! Holiday Haunt, and Coyote vs. Acme.
- 1/25/2024
- ScreenDaily
Memento International has secured pre-sales to Bruno Dumont’s The Empire to several key territories ahead of its world premiere in Berlin’s main competition and has unveiled the first English-language trailer for the auteur-sci-fi French film.
The Empire has sold to Njuta in Sweden, Vertigo in Hungary, McF Megacom in Ex-Yugoslavia, Scanorama in Baltics, Beta in Bulgaria, and Pt Falcon in Indonesia with more territories in discussions. The film will be released by Arp Selection in France, Cineart in Benelux and Academy Two in Italy.
Set in a quiet fishing village on the Opal Coast in Northern France, The...
The Empire has sold to Njuta in Sweden, Vertigo in Hungary, McF Megacom in Ex-Yugoslavia, Scanorama in Baltics, Beta in Bulgaria, and Pt Falcon in Indonesia with more territories in discussions. The film will be released by Arp Selection in France, Cineart in Benelux and Academy Two in Italy.
Set in a quiet fishing village on the Opal Coast in Northern France, The...
- 1/24/2024
- ScreenDaily
A Different Man.The Berlinale have begun to announce the first few titles selected for the 74th edition of their festival, set to take place from February 15 through 21, 2024. This page will be updated as further sections are announced.COMPETITIONAnother End (Piero Messina)Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)La Cocina (Alonso Ruiz Palacios) Dahomey (Mati Diop)A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)The Empire (Bruno Dumont)Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)My Favourite CakeLangue Etrangère (Claire Berger)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Joobeur)Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)Sterben (Matthias Glasner)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)Sleep With Your Eyes Open. ENCOUNTERSArcadia (Yorgos Zois)Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)Demba (Mamadou Dia)Direct ActionSleep With Your Eyes Open (Nele Wohlatz)The Fable (Raam Reddy...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
The upcoming 74th Berlin Film Festival looks set to be its starriest edition in years with Kristen Stewart, Adam Sandler, Cillian Murphy, Lena Dunham, Sebastian Stan, Amanda Seyfried and Rooney Mara among the talent due to attend this year.
Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian confirmed the actors’ presence in an interview with Deadline following the festival’s official press conference on Monday.
“Yes. All the stars we have invited are expected to be here and have confirmed their presence,” he said, when quizzed on the above names. “I think the glamor aspect on the red carpet is a good one this year.”
Most are attending in movies due to be showcased in the Berlinale Special Gala line-up.
Stewart, who was at the festival last year as jury president, returns for the Berlinale Special Gala screening of Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding alongside Katy O’Brian, Ed Harris, Dave Franco and Jena Malone.
Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian confirmed the actors’ presence in an interview with Deadline following the festival’s official press conference on Monday.
“Yes. All the stars we have invited are expected to be here and have confirmed their presence,” he said, when quizzed on the above names. “I think the glamor aspect on the red carpet is a good one this year.”
Most are attending in movies due to be showcased in the Berlinale Special Gala line-up.
Stewart, who was at the festival last year as jury president, returns for the Berlinale Special Gala screening of Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding alongside Katy O’Brian, Ed Harris, Dave Franco and Jena Malone.
- 1/23/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Berlinale Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian announced his final Competition and Encounters line-ups on Monday ahead of bowing out of the festival alongside Managing Director Mariette Rissenbeek at the end of the upcoming 74th edition in February.
News of Chatrian’s ousting by the German Culture Minister Claudia Roth back in September prompted anger in some quarters of Europe’s indie film biz. The seasoned festival programer made it clear at the time that he wanted to stay on but now appears to have made peace with the decision.
“It’s true that in the beginning I said I was willing to go on with the shared role. But then the people who are responsible for the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone,” he told Monday’s press conference in...
News of Chatrian’s ousting by the German Culture Minister Claudia Roth back in September prompted anger in some quarters of Europe’s indie film biz. The seasoned festival programer made it clear at the time that he wanted to stay on but now appears to have made peace with the decision.
“It’s true that in the beginning I said I was willing to go on with the shared role. But then the people who are responsible for the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone,” he told Monday’s press conference in...
- 1/23/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Berlinale co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek are going out with a bang in their final year, with a lineup unveiled today featuring the latest works by Olivier Assayas, Bruno Dumont, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Abderrahmane Sissako, Jane Schoenbrun, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Matias Pineiro, Travis Wilkerson, Kazik Radwanski, Annie Baker, and more.
When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.
When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.
- 1/22/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the 20 titles selected for its official Competition as well as its competitive Encounters strand.
Scroll down for full list
New films from Claire Burger, Olivier Assayas, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont, Abderrahmane Sissako and Mati Diop are among those selected for the Competition lineup, with stars including Rooney Mara, Gael Garcia Bernal, Sebastian Stan and Cillian Murphy, who leads the festival’s opening film Small Things Like These.
Festival heads Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek unveiled the selections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin today (January 22).
The 2024 Berlinale will run February...
Scroll down for full list
New films from Claire Burger, Olivier Assayas, Hong Sangsoo, Bruno Dumont, Abderrahmane Sissako and Mati Diop are among those selected for the Competition lineup, with stars including Rooney Mara, Gael Garcia Bernal, Sebastian Stan and Cillian Murphy, who leads the festival’s opening film Small Things Like These.
Festival heads Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek unveiled the selections at the House of World Cultures in Berlin today (January 22).
The 2024 Berlinale will run February...
- 1/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Berlin Film Festival on Monday unveiled the titles selected for its official competition and its sidebar Encounters competitive section.
A total of 20 films have been selected for the international competition, with highlights including La Cocina, directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios and starring Rooney Mara. The pic is described as a “kinetic and cinematic love story” set over a single day in a Times Square kitchen. French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop returns with Dahomey, a 60-minute doc about art repatriation and Hong Sangsoo plays in competition with A Traveler’s Needs, starring Isabelle Huppert. Scroll down for the full lineup.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 15-25.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon...
A total of 20 films have been selected for the international competition, with highlights including La Cocina, directed by Alonso Ruiz Palacios and starring Rooney Mara. The pic is described as a “kinetic and cinematic love story” set over a single day in a Times Square kitchen. French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop returns with Dahomey, a 60-minute doc about art repatriation and Hong Sangsoo plays in competition with A Traveler’s Needs, starring Isabelle Huppert. Scroll down for the full lineup.
The Berlin Film Festival takes place February 15-25.
Organizers have already announced more than 100 titles across sidebars spanning Panorama, Forum, and Berlinale Special. Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger, a feature documentary about influential British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger narrated by Killers of the Flower Moon...
- 1/22/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival unveiled its full lineup Monday at its official press conference in the House of World Cultures in Berlin. Berlinale managing director Mariëtte Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian presented the films that will compete for this year’s Golden and Silver Bears both in the competition and encounters sections.
Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, a Berlinale regular and two-time Silver Bear winner — for A Cop Movie in 2022 and Museo in 2018 — returns to Berlin competition with his English-language feature debut La Cocina. Rooney Mara and The Cop Movie alum Raúl Briones star in the drama set over the course of a single day in a bustling New York City restaurant. Briones plays an undocumented cook in a relationship with Julia (Mara), an American waitress who cannot commit to their relationship. Fifth Season and WME are selling North American rights to La Cocina with HanWay handling international sales.
Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, a Berlinale regular and two-time Silver Bear winner — for A Cop Movie in 2022 and Museo in 2018 — returns to Berlin competition with his English-language feature debut La Cocina. Rooney Mara and The Cop Movie alum Raúl Briones star in the drama set over the course of a single day in a bustling New York City restaurant. Briones plays an undocumented cook in a relationship with Julia (Mara), an American waitress who cannot commit to their relationship. Fifth Season and WME are selling North American rights to La Cocina with HanWay handling international sales.
- 1/22/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Memento International has boarded “Arenas,” Camille Perton’s feature debut set in the world of professional soccer, starring Édgar Ramírez (“Carlos”), Iliès Kadri (“Nobody’s Hero”), Sofian Khammes (“November”) and Lorenzo Zurzolo (“Eo”).
Now in post-production, the film shot across Lyon, Monaco, Nice and Baku in Azerbaijan. Memento International will kick off sales at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase in Paris next week.
The film follows Brahim, a rising soccer star who is about to sign his first contract at his prestigious hometown club. But when a mysterious and powerful agent disrupts the negotiations, Brahim discovers the shady side of the business. Torn between loyalty and money, he will engage in a race against time to claim his destiny.
“Arenas” is produced by Eve Robin and Judith Lou Lévy for Les Films du Bal, the ambitious independent company behind Mati Diop’s Cannes prizewinner “Atlantics,” “Ahed’s Knee” by Nadav Lapid and the...
Now in post-production, the film shot across Lyon, Monaco, Nice and Baku in Azerbaijan. Memento International will kick off sales at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase in Paris next week.
The film follows Brahim, a rising soccer star who is about to sign his first contract at his prestigious hometown club. But when a mysterious and powerful agent disrupts the negotiations, Brahim discovers the shady side of the business. Torn between loyalty and money, he will engage in a race against time to claim his destiny.
“Arenas” is produced by Eve Robin and Judith Lou Lévy for Les Films du Bal, the ambitious independent company behind Mati Diop’s Cannes prizewinner “Atlantics,” “Ahed’s Knee” by Nadav Lapid and the...
- 1/8/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Belgian-French comedy is directed by Stefan Liberski
Paris and London-based The Bureau has inked early pre-sales for Stefan Liberski’s Art Or F-art? starring Camille Cottin and Benoit Poelvoorde.
The Bureau co-produces alongside Belgium’s Artemis Productions and is handling international sales for the satirical look at the world of contemporary art.
Art or F-art? (L’Art de Rien) stars Poelvoorde as a conceptual painter who leaves Brussels after a career setback to settle down in French Normandy in search of creative inspiration. Cottin plays a gallery owner and manipulator who disrupts his concentration as he interacts with colourful locals...
Paris and London-based The Bureau has inked early pre-sales for Stefan Liberski’s Art Or F-art? starring Camille Cottin and Benoit Poelvoorde.
The Bureau co-produces alongside Belgium’s Artemis Productions and is handling international sales for the satirical look at the world of contemporary art.
Art or F-art? (L’Art de Rien) stars Poelvoorde as a conceptual painter who leaves Brussels after a career setback to settle down in French Normandy in search of creative inspiration. Cottin plays a gallery owner and manipulator who disrupts his concentration as he interacts with colourful locals...
- 1/8/2024
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
The pioneering French-Iranian producer and sales agent leaves behind a long-lasting legacy
Pioneering producer and celebrated Celluloid Dreams founder Hengameh Panahi died on November 5 following a long illness, sending shockwaves of sadness throughout the international film community and leaving a long-lasting legacy of both championing auteur cinema and shaking up the status quo in her wake.
The revered French-Iranian industry executive was known for finding and following emerging directors and accompanying their films to festival glory and international acclaim. Her career spanned four decades and more than 800 films.
She worked alongside iconic directors from across the globe including Jacques Audiard,...
Pioneering producer and celebrated Celluloid Dreams founder Hengameh Panahi died on November 5 following a long illness, sending shockwaves of sadness throughout the international film community and leaving a long-lasting legacy of both championing auteur cinema and shaking up the status quo in her wake.
The revered French-Iranian industry executive was known for finding and following emerging directors and accompanying their films to festival glory and international acclaim. Her career spanned four decades and more than 800 films.
She worked alongside iconic directors from across the globe including Jacques Audiard,...
- 11/10/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
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