Sarajevo Film Festival has selected 18 titles for its Kinoscope strand and seven for its In Focus section, including a range of 2024 festival hits from Berlin and Cannes.
The Kinoscope selection consists of 12 Kinoscope films, and six titles in genre strand Kinoscope Surreal.
Scroll down for the full list of titles
Titles include Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, which won the Grand Prix in Cannes Competition this year; and Santosh, the debut feature of 2023 Screen Star of Tomorrow Sandhya Suri, which debuted in Un Certain Regard.
Guan Hu’s Black Dog, winner of the Un Certain Regard prize,...
The Kinoscope selection consists of 12 Kinoscope films, and six titles in genre strand Kinoscope Surreal.
Scroll down for the full list of titles
Titles include Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, which won the Grand Prix in Cannes Competition this year; and Santosh, the debut feature of 2023 Screen Star of Tomorrow Sandhya Suri, which debuted in Un Certain Regard.
Guan Hu’s Black Dog, winner of the Un Certain Regard prize,...
- 8/5/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Video Essay is a joint project of Mubi and Filmadrid International Film Festival. Film analysis and criticism forged a new path with the arrival of the video essay. The limits of this discipline are constantly expanding; new essayists are finding innovative ways to study the history of cinema through moving images. This non-competitive section of the festival is designed to offer this format the platform and visibility it deserves.This selection of seven video essays was programmed by the editors of Notebook and the programmers of Filmadrid. In the coming weeks, a video essay from the program will premiere each Friday on Notebook.“The Phantoms of Malmkrog: Where Lies the Expression in Cinema?” by Kasra Karbasi and Amin KomijaniIn what way does cinema convey emotions to us? How does the connection of the elements of a scene with its aesthetic choices arouse our feelings? If—in a Bressonian way...
- 7/11/2024
- MUBI
Following up Wendell & Wild, animation wizard Henry Selick is planning to return to the world of Neil Gaiman with an adaptation of The Ocean at the End of the Lane. “Instead of a child going to this other world with a monstrous mother, it’s a monstrous mother who comes into our world to wreak havoc on a kid’s life,” Selick told Variety, contrasting the film with his previous Gaiman adaptation Coraline. Gaiman’s 2013 novel follows “an unnamed man who returns to his hometown for a funeral and remembers events that began forty years earlier.” Selick is currently shopping the project around, so hopefully we’ll have distribution news soon.
While Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem was recently adapted by Alexander Woo, David Benioff, and D.B. Weiss for the Netflix series, a feature adaptation is now in the works from Zhang Yimou. As reported at the Shanghai International Film Festival,...
While Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem was recently adapted by Alexander Woo, David Benioff, and D.B. Weiss for the Netflix series, a feature adaptation is now in the works from Zhang Yimou. As reported at the Shanghai International Film Festival,...
- 6/17/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Pre-pandemic, Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu had been working on “Hora staccato,” set in May 1950 Bucharest, where police rounded up dignitaries and imprisoned them. We now learn that this project may have been pushed aside or evolved into a psychological thriller titled La Saint-André des loups, set against the backdrop of 1940s Communist and Nazi-occupied Romania. The Romania-France co-production is set to begin next Spring. The Bord Cadre Films folks (who backed Malmkrog) are once again in the Puiu business. At this point the film is finding some coin and will likely find more producing partners. Puiu’s last feature Mmxx was selected for the San Sebastián International Film Festival last year – here is our review:
Puiu’s set-up feels similar to some of his previous offerings, particularly 2013’s Three Exercises of Interpretation, but with the sinister elements and criticisms which underlined titles like The Death of Mr.…
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Puiu’s set-up feels similar to some of his previous offerings, particularly 2013’s Three Exercises of Interpretation, but with the sinister elements and criticisms which underlined titles like The Death of Mr.…
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- 6/14/2024
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Record Intake
The European Film Academy has added a record 709 new members in its 2024 annual intake. New members include Cate Blanchett (Australia/U.K.), Jovan Marjanović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Maria Bakalova (Bulgaria), Juraj Lerotić (Croatia), Anna Hints (Estonia), Ariane Toscan du Plantier (France), Stéphan Castang (France), David Thion (France), Marie-Ange Luciani (France), Latifa Saïd (France), Rebecca Houzel (France), Thomas Hakim (France), Sami Mustafa (France/Kosovo), Mohamed Siam (France), Hanna Bergholm (Finland), Hamze Bytyçi (Germany) and Christian M. Goldbeck (Germany).
The intake also includes Behrooz Karamizade (Germany), Jerry Hoffmann (Germany), Aylin Tezel (Germany), Jasmin Tabatabai (Germany), Sofia Exarchou (Greece), Phedon Papamichael (Greece), Kate McCullough (Ireland), Matteo Garrone (Italy), Enzo d’Alò (Italy), Francesco Montagner (Italy), Uljana Kim (Lithuania), Cindy Jansen (Netherlands), Fatih Rağbet (Netherlands), Cristi Puiu (Romania), Anca Puiu (Romania), Elene Naveriani (Switzerland), Selahattin Paşalı (Turkey), Molly Manning Walker (U.K.), Melanie Hoyes (U.K.), Lizzie Francke (U.K.), Charles Newland (UK), Jad Salfiti (U.
The European Film Academy has added a record 709 new members in its 2024 annual intake. New members include Cate Blanchett (Australia/U.K.), Jovan Marjanović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Maria Bakalova (Bulgaria), Juraj Lerotić (Croatia), Anna Hints (Estonia), Ariane Toscan du Plantier (France), Stéphan Castang (France), David Thion (France), Marie-Ange Luciani (France), Latifa Saïd (France), Rebecca Houzel (France), Thomas Hakim (France), Sami Mustafa (France/Kosovo), Mohamed Siam (France), Hanna Bergholm (Finland), Hamze Bytyçi (Germany) and Christian M. Goldbeck (Germany).
The intake also includes Behrooz Karamizade (Germany), Jerry Hoffmann (Germany), Aylin Tezel (Germany), Jasmin Tabatabai (Germany), Sofia Exarchou (Greece), Phedon Papamichael (Greece), Kate McCullough (Ireland), Matteo Garrone (Italy), Enzo d’Alò (Italy), Francesco Montagner (Italy), Uljana Kim (Lithuania), Cindy Jansen (Netherlands), Fatih Rağbet (Netherlands), Cristi Puiu (Romania), Anca Puiu (Romania), Elene Naveriani (Switzerland), Selahattin Paşalı (Turkey), Molly Manning Walker (U.K.), Melanie Hoyes (U.K.), Lizzie Francke (U.K.), Charles Newland (UK), Jad Salfiti (U.
- 5/9/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 10/23/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Following up his stellar, 3.5-hour drama Malmkrog, Romanian director Cristi Puiu has premiered his latest film Mmxx at San Sebastian Film Festival. Portraying four short stories and four moments in time capturing the wanderings of a few souls, stuck at the crossroads of history, we’re now pleased to exclusively premiere the film’s first trailer.
Here’s the synopsis: “Oana Pfifer, a young therapist, gradually slips into the net of the questionnaire she submits to her patient. Mihai, Oana’s brother, worrying about his birthday, is stuck in a story far bigger than he can handle. Septimiu, Oana’s husband, concerned about his health, vaguely listens to a strange story his colleague was caught up in a while ago. Narcis Patranescu, an organized crime detective, deals with an unsettling dark story while interrogating a young woman at a funeral.”
“I don’t understand the world,” the director recently told Cineuropa.
Here’s the synopsis: “Oana Pfifer, a young therapist, gradually slips into the net of the questionnaire she submits to her patient. Mihai, Oana’s brother, worrying about his birthday, is stuck in a story far bigger than he can handle. Septimiu, Oana’s husband, concerned about his health, vaguely listens to a strange story his colleague was caught up in a while ago. Narcis Patranescu, an organized crime detective, deals with an unsettling dark story while interrogating a young woman at a funeral.”
“I don’t understand the world,” the director recently told Cineuropa.
- 10/5/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Clearly the Covid-19 scenario’s been on Cristi Puiu’s mind. After all, the Romanian director loudly voiced his opposition to mask mandates when on the publicity trail of his previous outing, the more impressive turn-of-the-century period drama Malmkrog. While his latest work is hardly a call-to-arms, Puiu is all-too-keen to bring up his disdain for bureaucracy, its concoction of corrupt officials and untrustworthy political leadership that brings forth the societal (or personal) fragility at the heart of his films. Mmxx‘s four pandemic vignettes mark alluring, somewhat wayward film that’s in turns provocative and frustratingly opaque.
The medley of pandemic anecdotes are a psychotherapy session helmed by Oana (Bianca Cuculici), whose questioning of a new patient appears to reveal more her own discomforts than the person she’s treating; a nighttime scene in which Oana’s brother (Laurențiu Bondarenco) prepares a party, interrupted by a medical emergency involving...
The medley of pandemic anecdotes are a psychotherapy session helmed by Oana (Bianca Cuculici), whose questioning of a new patient appears to reveal more her own discomforts than the person she’s treating; a nighttime scene in which Oana’s brother (Laurențiu Bondarenco) prepares a party, interrupted by a medical emergency involving...
- 9/28/2023
- by Ed Frankl
- The Film Stage
Hindsight, 20/20: Puiu Contemplates the Comedy of Crisis
Mercury is most definitely in retrograde for the four principal characters in Mmxx, the latest foray into vaguely sinister intricacies of interconnectedness from Romanian auteur Cristi Puiu. A quartet of stories unfold throughout the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, each revolving around interruption and discombobulation for those navigating rituals and routines, ranging from an austerely comical sense of distress to something a bit more disturbing by the film’s fourth chapter (although the director himself seems to have anointed the project as a ‘new human comedy’). Puiu’s microscopic approach proves to be more unnerving than usual, dropping us into the sprawling anxiety of an uncertain chaos we’ve hardly effectively processed in the three years since the pandemic’s onset, and one wonders if the film might feel more approachable as a cranky time capsule decades from now.…
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Mercury is most definitely in retrograde for the four principal characters in Mmxx, the latest foray into vaguely sinister intricacies of interconnectedness from Romanian auteur Cristi Puiu. A quartet of stories unfold throughout the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, each revolving around interruption and discombobulation for those navigating rituals and routines, ranging from an austerely comical sense of distress to something a bit more disturbing by the film’s fourth chapter (although the director himself seems to have anointed the project as a ‘new human comedy’). Puiu’s microscopic approach proves to be more unnerving than usual, dropping us into the sprawling anxiety of an uncertain chaos we’ve hardly effectively processed in the three years since the pandemic’s onset, and one wonders if the film might feel more approachable as a cranky time capsule decades from now.…
Continue reading.
- 9/26/2023
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The San Sebastian International Film Festival has long been considered the most intimate of the A-list festivals, neatly wrapping up a hectic fall festival season as delegates descend on the enchanting seaside city in Northern Spain. But in the last few years, the event has cemented itself into a festival reputed for championing new talent and emerging voices across all sections of its programming.
Indeed, in the last four years, San Sebastian has awarded its top prize, the Golden Shell, to either directorial debut titles or second features, a sure sign that it takes its role as a promoter of rising talent seriously.
This year’s edition, which takes place September 22-30, is no different, with the official competition having 11 films from first or second-time directors including: Raven Jackson’s debut All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, which premiered in Sundance; Isabel Herguera’s animation Sultana’s Dream; Noah Pritzker’s second feature Ex-Husbands,...
Indeed, in the last four years, San Sebastian has awarded its top prize, the Golden Shell, to either directorial debut titles or second features, a sure sign that it takes its role as a promoter of rising talent seriously.
This year’s edition, which takes place September 22-30, is no different, with the official competition having 11 films from first or second-time directors including: Raven Jackson’s debut All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, which premiered in Sundance; Isabel Herguera’s animation Sultana’s Dream; Noah Pritzker’s second feature Ex-Husbands,...
- 9/19/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Javier Bardem, winner of a San Sebastian 2023 Donostia Award for career achievement, is putting back his on-stage acceptance of the distinction until the 2024 San Sebastian Film Festival.
The postponement is due to the “limits imposed under the strike called by the U.S. Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA),” the San Sebastian Festival announced Friday.
It deprives this year’s Festival of its biggest on-stage major star moment this year.
The fest will, however, enjoy its customary bullish presence of world-class auteurs, led this year by Claire Denis, main competition jury chair, and Victor Erice, will accept his Donostia Award on Sept. 29. San Sebastian announced Friday that Hayao Miyazaki will also accept a Donostia Award online.
Gabriel Byrne, François Cluzet, Emmanuelle Devos, Griffin Dunne, Aidan Gillen, Mads Mikkelsen, James Norton and Dominic West have confirmed their attendance, Byrne and Gillen for one of the festival’s biggest tickets, James Marsh’s official selection closing film “Dance First.
The postponement is due to the “limits imposed under the strike called by the U.S. Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA),” the San Sebastian Festival announced Friday.
It deprives this year’s Festival of its biggest on-stage major star moment this year.
The fest will, however, enjoy its customary bullish presence of world-class auteurs, led this year by Claire Denis, main competition jury chair, and Victor Erice, will accept his Donostia Award on Sept. 29. San Sebastian announced Friday that Hayao Miyazaki will also accept a Donostia Award online.
Gabriel Byrne, François Cluzet, Emmanuelle Devos, Griffin Dunne, Aidan Gillen, Mads Mikkelsen, James Norton and Dominic West have confirmed their attendance, Byrne and Gillen for one of the festival’s biggest tickets, James Marsh’s official selection closing film “Dance First.
- 9/8/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Hayao Miyazaki will receive a Donostia Award Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival French filmmaker Claire Denis will chair San Sebastian Film Festival's official during this year.
The 35 Shots Of Rum director will be joined by Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (The Lady In The Portrait), Colombian filmmaker and producer Cristina Gallego (Birds Of Passage), French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, Hungarian producer Robert Lantos (Eastern Promises), Spanish star Vicky Luengo (Cork) and German director Christian Petzold, whose Afire is screening in the festival's Pearls section.
The festival has also announced that Hayao Miyazaki, whose The Boy And The Heron is this year's opening film, will receive a Donostia Award for lifetie achievement in a virtual ceremony.
Among the other filmmakers in attendance will be Maite Alberdi, Ja Bayona, Robin Campillo, Isabel Coixet, Víctor Erice, Michel Franco, Matteo Garrone, Craig Gillespie, Jonathan Glazer, Kitty Green, Todd Haynes, Tran Anh Hung, Ladj Ly,...
The 35 Shots Of Rum director will be joined by Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (The Lady In The Portrait), Colombian filmmaker and producer Cristina Gallego (Birds Of Passage), French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, Hungarian producer Robert Lantos (Eastern Promises), Spanish star Vicky Luengo (Cork) and German director Christian Petzold, whose Afire is screening in the festival's Pearls section.
The festival has also announced that Hayao Miyazaki, whose The Boy And The Heron is this year's opening film, will receive a Donostia Award for lifetie achievement in a virtual ceremony.
Among the other filmmakers in attendance will be Maite Alberdi, Ja Bayona, Robin Campillo, Isabel Coixet, Víctor Erice, Michel Franco, Matteo Garrone, Craig Gillespie, Jonathan Glazer, Kitty Green, Todd Haynes, Tran Anh Hung, Ladj Ly,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
French filmmaker Claire Denis has been announced as the jury president for the Official Section of the 71st San Sebastian Film Festival, running from September 22-30.
Denis will be joined by the German director Christian Petzold; Chinese actress Fan Bingbing; Colombian producer, director, and writer Cristina Gallego; French photographer Brigitte Lacombe; Hungarian producer Robert Lantos; and Spanish actress Vicky Luengo.
The jury awards the Golden Shell for Best Film and the Silver Shell awards for Best Director, Best Leading Performance, and Best Supporting Performance, as well as jury prizes for Cinematography and Screenplay. The Official Awards will be announced and presented at the festival’s Closing Gala on September 30.
The festival also announced today that it will hand Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki an honorary Donostia Award for career achievement. Miyazaki will receive the award virtually during the opening ceremony on September 22.
Filmmakers also set to attend San Seb include Maite Alberdi,...
Denis will be joined by the German director Christian Petzold; Chinese actress Fan Bingbing; Colombian producer, director, and writer Cristina Gallego; French photographer Brigitte Lacombe; Hungarian producer Robert Lantos; and Spanish actress Vicky Luengo.
The jury awards the Golden Shell for Best Film and the Silver Shell awards for Best Director, Best Leading Performance, and Best Supporting Performance, as well as jury prizes for Cinematography and Screenplay. The Official Awards will be announced and presented at the festival’s Closing Gala on September 30.
The festival also announced today that it will hand Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki an honorary Donostia Award for career achievement. Miyazaki will receive the award virtually during the opening ceremony on September 22.
Filmmakers also set to attend San Seb include Maite Alberdi,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Aussie filmmaker Kitty Green’s latest pic, The Royal Hotel, starring Julia Garner, and Fingernails, the latest film from Christos Nikou, with Riz Ahmed and Jessie Buckley, have been added to San Sebastian’s competition lineup.
Overall, six films have been announced as late additions to proceedings in San Seb. The other titles are Kalak (Isabella Eklöf), The Successor (Xavier Legrand), Great Absence (Kei Chika-Ura), and the debut from Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang, A Journey in Spring. Additionally, the French pic A Real Job, directed by Thomas Lilti, will play the fest’s special screenings section.
The Royal Hotel is Kitty Green’s first feature since her 2019 breakout, The Assistant. The film tells the tale of two backpackers (Garner and Jessica Henwick) who take a job in a pub in the remote Australian Outback. Neon has acquired North American rights to the film. Following his debut Apples, which played Telluride,...
Overall, six films have been announced as late additions to proceedings in San Seb. The other titles are Kalak (Isabella Eklöf), The Successor (Xavier Legrand), Great Absence (Kei Chika-Ura), and the debut from Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang, A Journey in Spring. Additionally, the French pic A Real Job, directed by Thomas Lilti, will play the fest’s special screenings section.
The Royal Hotel is Kitty Green’s first feature since her 2019 breakout, The Assistant. The film tells the tale of two backpackers (Garner and Jessica Henwick) who take a job in a pub in the remote Australian Outback. Neon has acquired North American rights to the film. Following his debut Apples, which played Telluride,...
- 8/25/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Headlined respectively by “Sound of Metal” lead Riz Ahmed and “Matrix” stars Jessica Henwick and Hugo Weaving, Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails” and Kitty Green’s “The Royal Hotel” figure among seven newly unveiled films which will play in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.
Also in the running are buzz titles “A Journey in Spring,” from Taiwan’s Peng Tzu-Hui, Wang Ping-Wen, and “Kalak,” directed by Denmark’s Isabella Eklöf.
Announced Friday, the new additions are comprised by one debut (“Spring”) and five second features from emerging talent ranging from Japan’s Kei Chica-ura to France’s Xavier Legrand, nominated for an Academy Award for best live action short film for 2013’s “Just Before Losing Everything.”
The new titles confirm a 2023 main competition which, including previously announced titles, frames three feature debuts – Raven Jackson’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” Isabel Herguera’s “Sultana’s Dream...
Also in the running are buzz titles “A Journey in Spring,” from Taiwan’s Peng Tzu-Hui, Wang Ping-Wen, and “Kalak,” directed by Denmark’s Isabella Eklöf.
Announced Friday, the new additions are comprised by one debut (“Spring”) and five second features from emerging talent ranging from Japan’s Kei Chica-ura to France’s Xavier Legrand, nominated for an Academy Award for best live action short film for 2013’s “Just Before Losing Everything.”
The new titles confirm a 2023 main competition which, including previously announced titles, frames three feature debuts – Raven Jackson’s “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” Isabel Herguera’s “Sultana’s Dream...
- 8/25/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Thomas Lilti’s A Real Job will premiere as a special screening.
Films from Xavier Legrand and Kitty Green are among the new titles in the competition line-up of the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
French director Legrand, whose 2017 feature Custody won best film at the Cesars and best director in Venice, brings The Successor, about a designer who discovers a shocking secret after his father dies.
Australian director Green follows up her fiction feature debut hit The Assistant (2019) with The Royal Hotel, about two backpackers who start working at a pub in the remote Australian outback. Julia Garner once again stars in the film,...
Films from Xavier Legrand and Kitty Green are among the new titles in the competition line-up of the San Sebastian International Film Festival.
French director Legrand, whose 2017 feature Custody won best film at the Cesars and best director in Venice, brings The Successor, about a designer who discovers a shocking secret after his father dies.
Australian director Green follows up her fiction feature debut hit The Assistant (2019) with The Royal Hotel, about two backpackers who start working at a pub in the remote Australian outback. Julia Garner once again stars in the film,...
- 8/25/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
It’s rare that European cinema impacts on Hollywood but it’s exciting when there’s a trickle-down effect, like the connection to be made between Denmark’s stripped-down Dogme movies, which launched in Cannes in the late ’90s, and Steven Spielberg’s decision to go back to basics with Catch Me If You Can a few years later. It’s a moot point how many will ever see Romanian director Radu Jude’s follow-up to his 2021 Berlinale winner Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, but, like Bob Dylan going electric or the Sex Pistols making their ramshackle debut at a London art school, this wilfully uncommercial but bloody-minded film could be genuinely seminal in its anarchic and totally individualistic approach, slipping discordant, Godardian subversion into a darkly comic, Ruben Östlund-style human drama.
The intro suggests a boring academic exercise, positing the first half (“A”) as...
The intro suggests a boring academic exercise, positing the first half (“A”) as...
- 8/5/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
The line-up includes Niclas Larsson’s Mother, Couch! starring Ewan McGregor, Taylor Russell and Ellen Burstyn
San Sebastian International Film Festival has unveiled the 11 first and second features competing for the New Directors award.
Among the selection is Niclas Larsson’s Mother, Couch! starring Ewan McGregor, Taylor Russell and Ellen Burstyn. The film is a co-production between the US, Sweden and Denmark and sees three estranged siblings brought back together by their mother’s bizarre behaviour.
The strand will open with Miang Ling’s second film Carefree Days which follows a 25-year-old woman with a terminal illness who embarks on...
San Sebastian International Film Festival has unveiled the 11 first and second features competing for the New Directors award.
Among the selection is Niclas Larsson’s Mother, Couch! starring Ewan McGregor, Taylor Russell and Ellen Burstyn. The film is a co-production between the US, Sweden and Denmark and sees three estranged siblings brought back together by their mother’s bizarre behaviour.
The strand will open with Miang Ling’s second film Carefree Days which follows a 25-year-old woman with a terminal illness who embarks on...
- 7/27/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
The San Sebastián Film Festival has revealed the lineup of Spanish titles that will screen as part of the Official Selection of its latest edition, which is due to unfold from September 22 — 30. Scroll down for the full list.
Selected titles include Un Amor from Isabel Coixet, who competes for the festival’s Golden Shell for the first time with the pic based on the book of the same name by Sara Mesa and starring Laia Costa at the head of a cast also featuring Hovik Keuchkerian, Hugo Silva, Luis Bermejo, Ingrid García-Jonsson and Francesco Carril.
Filmmaker Fernando Trueba, of the Oscar-nominated feature Chico & Rita (2012), will present his latest project, They Shot the Piano Player, directed alongside Javier Mariscal in the fest’s Special Screening sidebar. The film, narrated by the voice of Jeff Goldblum, follows the figure of Brazilian musician Tenorio Jr. during the early days of the musical movement known as bossa nova.
Selected titles include Un Amor from Isabel Coixet, who competes for the festival’s Golden Shell for the first time with the pic based on the book of the same name by Sara Mesa and starring Laia Costa at the head of a cast also featuring Hovik Keuchkerian, Hugo Silva, Luis Bermejo, Ingrid García-Jonsson and Francesco Carril.
Filmmaker Fernando Trueba, of the Oscar-nominated feature Chico & Rita (2012), will present his latest project, They Shot the Piano Player, directed alongside Javier Mariscal in the fest’s Special Screening sidebar. The film, narrated by the voice of Jeff Goldblum, follows the figure of Brazilian musician Tenorio Jr. during the early days of the musical movement known as bossa nova.
- 7/14/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Les Films du Losange has unveiled the trailer for “Un Silence,” Joachim Lafosse’s thought-provoking film starring Daniel Auteuil and Emmanuelle Devos that will world premiere in competition at San Sebastian Film Festival.
Tackling themes of abuse, the timely film revolves around Astrid (Devos), the wife of an acclaimed lawyer (Auteuil). Silenced for 25 years, her family balance suddenly collapses when her children initiate their own search for justice.
One of Belgium’s leading filmmakers, Lafosse is best known internationally for 2012’s “Our Children,” a heart-wrenching drama based on a true story starring Emilie Dequenne and Tahar Rahim. “Our Children” represented Belgium in the Oscars race. “Un Silence” will mark Joachim’s follow up to “The Restless,” which competed at Cannes in 2021 and also explored imploding family dynamics.
Auteuil, who previously won Cesar and BAFTA awards, notably starred in “La belle époque” by Nicolas Bedos, and “Hidden” by Michael Haneke; while Devos,...
Tackling themes of abuse, the timely film revolves around Astrid (Devos), the wife of an acclaimed lawyer (Auteuil). Silenced for 25 years, her family balance suddenly collapses when her children initiate their own search for justice.
One of Belgium’s leading filmmakers, Lafosse is best known internationally for 2012’s “Our Children,” a heart-wrenching drama based on a true story starring Emilie Dequenne and Tahar Rahim. “Our Children” represented Belgium in the Oscars race. “Un Silence” will mark Joachim’s follow up to “The Restless,” which competed at Cannes in 2021 and also explored imploding family dynamics.
Auteuil, who previously won Cesar and BAFTA awards, notably starred in “La belle époque” by Nicolas Bedos, and “Hidden” by Michael Haneke; while Devos,...
- 7/13/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Rushes: Fall Festival Preview, Lucile Hadžihalilović's "La Tour de Glace," Atom Egoyan's Soundscapes
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSMay December.The first flurries of fall festival news have arrived. The New York Film Festival opens on September 29 with the North American premiere of Todd Haynes's May December—read Lawrence Garcia's take on the "immediately invigorating" film here, toward the conclusion of his Cannes dispatch. The San Sebastián Film Festival (September 22 through 30) has announced its first group of competition titles: among them, Cristi Puiu’s Mmxx, Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, Martín Rejtman’s La prática, and Robin Campillo’s Red Island. Finally, the Venice Film Festival will open on August 30 with the world premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers.Lucile Hadžihalilović has announced her follow-up to Earwig (2021), the 1970s-set La Tour de Glace. Based on a brief plot synopsis,...
- 7/12/2023
- MUBI
Spain’s San Sebastian film festival unveiled its first group of competition titles Friday, naming a typically eclectic mix of established art house favorites — Cristi Puiu, Joachim Lafosse, Robin Campillo — and rising talents, including Maria Alche, Benjamín Naishtat and American debutant Raven Jackson whose first feature, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, will be competing for San Sebastian’s Golden Shell this year.
Produced by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is described as a lyrical exploration of the life of a Black woman in Mississippi and stars The Woman King‘s Sheila Atim.
A second American title, the comedy Ex-Husbands from director Noah Pritzker (Quitters), also made the San Sebastian cut. Rosanna Arquette, Griffin Dunne, Miles Heizer, James Norton and Eisa Davis are part of the ensemble cast in a story focused on a father (Dunne) overwhelmed by the twin crises of an impending divorce...
Produced by Moonlight director Barry Jenkins, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt is described as a lyrical exploration of the life of a Black woman in Mississippi and stars The Woman King‘s Sheila Atim.
A second American title, the comedy Ex-Husbands from director Noah Pritzker (Quitters), also made the San Sebastian cut. Rosanna Arquette, Griffin Dunne, Miles Heizer, James Norton and Eisa Davis are part of the ensemble cast in a story focused on a father (Dunne) overwhelmed by the twin crises of an impending divorce...
- 7/7/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 71st San Sebastian Film Festival runs September 22-30.
Robin Campillo’s Red Island and Cristi Puiu’s Mmxx are among the first titles to be selected in competition for this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival (September 22-30).
Campillo makes his first appearance competing at the festival with French-Belgium co-production Red Island about the French colonisation of Madagascar. The French director’s previous film Bpm (Beats Per Minute) screened in the festival’s Pearl strand in 2017 after winning the jury prize at Cannes earlier that year.
Also competing in competition for the first time is Argentinian director Martín Rejtman...
Robin Campillo’s Red Island and Cristi Puiu’s Mmxx are among the first titles to be selected in competition for this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival (September 22-30).
Campillo makes his first appearance competing at the festival with French-Belgium co-production Red Island about the French colonisation of Madagascar. The French director’s previous film Bpm (Beats Per Minute) screened in the festival’s Pearl strand in 2017 after winning the jury prize at Cannes earlier that year.
Also competing in competition for the first time is Argentinian director Martín Rejtman...
- 7/7/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
A bevy of established auteurs – Joachim Lafosse, Cristi Puiu, Robin Campillo and Martín Rejtman – rub shoulders with the fast-rising figures of Maria Alche and Benjamín Naishtat and new U.S. discovery Raven Jackson among a first batch of directors contending in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.
Also in the mix, announced Friday, is U.S. writer-director Noah Pritzker (“Quitters”) whose “Ex-Husbands” headlines “After Hours” co-stars Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette.
Always open to a broader gamut of movies than many other “A” festivals, the first features confirmed for San Sebastian on Friday include four comedies with a change of register to lighter comedy for both Naishtat and Alche, who triumphed at 2018’s San Sebastián with “Rojo” and “A Family Submerged,” best director and Horizontes winners respectively.
The biggest movie event in the Spanish-speaking world – which means ever more as Spanish-language titles hit big viewerships on streaming...
Also in the mix, announced Friday, is U.S. writer-director Noah Pritzker (“Quitters”) whose “Ex-Husbands” headlines “After Hours” co-stars Griffin Dunne and Rosanna Arquette.
Always open to a broader gamut of movies than many other “A” festivals, the first features confirmed for San Sebastian on Friday include four comedies with a change of register to lighter comedy for both Naishtat and Alche, who triumphed at 2018’s San Sebastián with “Rojo” and “A Family Submerged,” best director and Horizontes winners respectively.
The biggest movie event in the Spanish-speaking world – which means ever more as Spanish-language titles hit big viewerships on streaming...
- 7/7/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The San Sebastián Film Festival has revealed the Official Selection for its latest edition, which is due to unfold from September 22 — 30.
The festival, which is celebrating its 71st edition, will screen Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu’s latest film Mmxx in competition. The festival describes the pic as a story that captures the “wanderings of a bunch of errant souls stuck at the crossroads of history.”
Belgian filmmaker Joachim Lafosse returns to San Sebastian this year with his tenth full-length film, A Silence, a drama starring Emmanuelle Devos and Daniel Auteuil. In 2015, he won the fest’s Silver Shell for Best Director for The White Knights, and two of his films have screened in the Perlak sidebar: After Love (2016) and The Restless (2021).
American filmmaker Raven Jackson will enter Competition with her debut film, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. The festival described the pic as “a lyrical exploration of the life of a woman in Mississippi.
The festival, which is celebrating its 71st edition, will screen Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu’s latest film Mmxx in competition. The festival describes the pic as a story that captures the “wanderings of a bunch of errant souls stuck at the crossroads of history.”
Belgian filmmaker Joachim Lafosse returns to San Sebastian this year with his tenth full-length film, A Silence, a drama starring Emmanuelle Devos and Daniel Auteuil. In 2015, he won the fest’s Silver Shell for Best Director for The White Knights, and two of his films have screened in the Perlak sidebar: After Love (2016) and The Restless (2021).
American filmmaker Raven Jackson will enter Competition with her debut film, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. The festival described the pic as “a lyrical exploration of the life of a woman in Mississippi.
- 7/7/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
When “Avatar 2: Way of the Water” surged to the top of the Romanian box office earlier this year to become the highest-grossing film of all time, it marked an auspicious sign for a theatrical business still looking to recover from the doldrums of the coronavirus pandemic.
Yet local industry-watchers were even more encouraged to see a historic first in 2022, with two Romanian films cracking the top 10 at the year-end box office — a striking achievement for an industry that hasn’t historically been known for cranking out crowd-pleasing hits.
Topping the list was “Teambuilding,” a satirical workplace comedy from directors Matei Dima, Alex Coteț and Cosmin Nedelcu, which briefly reigned as the top-grossing film ever in Romania before being knocked from its perch by James Cameron’s blockbuster, which has raked in more than $8.3 million to date.
Meanwhile, first-time filmmaker Cristian Ilișuan’s “Mirciulică,” a comedy about a 30-year-old forced...
Yet local industry-watchers were even more encouraged to see a historic first in 2022, with two Romanian films cracking the top 10 at the year-end box office — a striking achievement for an industry that hasn’t historically been known for cranking out crowd-pleasing hits.
Topping the list was “Teambuilding,” a satirical workplace comedy from directors Matei Dima, Alex Coteț and Cosmin Nedelcu, which briefly reigned as the top-grossing film ever in Romania before being knocked from its perch by James Cameron’s blockbuster, which has raked in more than $8.3 million to date.
Meanwhile, first-time filmmaker Cristian Ilișuan’s “Mirciulică,” a comedy about a 30-year-old forced...
- 6/13/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu is a master of the slow-burn drama. His careful cinematic style — using wide master shots and long takes, allowing the action to play out within the frame without edits — is put to service in exploring complex, hot-button social issues — abortion in his 2007 Palme d’Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, state corruption in 2016’s Graduation — with a calm, almost scientific precision.
Mungiu’s latest, R.M.N., takes this scientific approach literally. The title is the Romanian acronym for an Mri, which one of the characters receives in the film, and the movie, which hits U.S. cinemas on April 28, is Mungiu’s cinematic brain scan of his country, revealing the layers of illness — racial, social, political, and above all emotional — buried in the national psyche.
The plot, inspired by real events, takes place over the Christmas holidays in a small village in Transylvania. Matthias (Marin Grigore), a slaughterhouse worker,...
Mungiu’s latest, R.M.N., takes this scientific approach literally. The title is the Romanian acronym for an Mri, which one of the characters receives in the film, and the movie, which hits U.S. cinemas on April 28, is Mungiu’s cinematic brain scan of his country, revealing the layers of illness — racial, social, political, and above all emotional — buried in the national psyche.
The plot, inspired by real events, takes place over the Christmas holidays in a small village in Transylvania. Matthias (Marin Grigore), a slaughterhouse worker,...
- 4/28/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Michel Dimopoulos, former director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, has died. He was 74.
Dimopoulos served as Thessaloniki’s artistic director from 1991 to 2005. In a statement published Thursday afternoon, the festival said Dimopoulos brought a “fresh breath of originality” to Thessaloniki during his tenure and “expanded the institution’s international horizons.”
“Michel had always been on the side of the Festival and its people. He was an ardent film lover and a passionate supporter of independent European cinema,” the statement read.
“He will live on in Olympion’s corridors, in the Port, inside the movie theaters, tireless and with a smile on his face, soulfully speaking for the films he loved, expanding our horizons and introducing us to the pioneering and restless cinema of the new era.”
Dimopoulos was born in 1949 in Paris. He studied cinema in France and began his career as a film critic in Avgi, a daily left-wing newspaper published in Athens,...
Dimopoulos served as Thessaloniki’s artistic director from 1991 to 2005. In a statement published Thursday afternoon, the festival said Dimopoulos brought a “fresh breath of originality” to Thessaloniki during his tenure and “expanded the institution’s international horizons.”
“Michel had always been on the side of the Festival and its people. He was an ardent film lover and a passionate supporter of independent European cinema,” the statement read.
“He will live on in Olympion’s corridors, in the Port, inside the movie theaters, tireless and with a smile on his face, soulfully speaking for the films he loved, expanding our horizons and introducing us to the pioneering and restless cinema of the new era.”
Dimopoulos was born in 1949 in Paris. He studied cinema in France and began his career as a film critic in Avgi, a daily left-wing newspaper published in Athens,...
- 4/21/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here penning the weekly mailer a day after Cannes revealed its long-awaited lineup. Read on for all the details and plenty more, and sign up to the International Insider here.
Cannes Lineup Roars
Few surprises: Zac Ntim here reporting on Cannes …Cannes General Delegate Thierry Frémaux announced 52 titles Thursday morning that will debut at the festival’s 76th edition, which runs May 16-27 on the Riviera. There were few surprises in the Official Competition lineup, with festival favorites such as Wes Anderson, Ken Loach, Nanni Moretti and Hirokazu Kore-eda vying for the Palme d’Or alongside long-rumored entries from Alice Rohrwacher, Jonathan Glazer and Aki Kaurismäki. The festival did, however, clock six films with women filmmakers playing in competition, a new record for Cannes. With 19 competition titles announced, however, six still remains far below that elusive 50% parity mark. Progress has been slow. This year’s...
Cannes Lineup Roars
Few surprises: Zac Ntim here reporting on Cannes …Cannes General Delegate Thierry Frémaux announced 52 titles Thursday morning that will debut at the festival’s 76th edition, which runs May 16-27 on the Riviera. There were few surprises in the Official Competition lineup, with festival favorites such as Wes Anderson, Ken Loach, Nanni Moretti and Hirokazu Kore-eda vying for the Palme d’Or alongside long-rumored entries from Alice Rohrwacher, Jonathan Glazer and Aki Kaurismäki. The festival did, however, clock six films with women filmmakers playing in competition, a new record for Cannes. With 19 competition titles announced, however, six still remains far below that elusive 50% parity mark. Progress has been slow. This year’s...
- 4/14/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
The morning of the Cannes lineup press conference is often described by movie journalists as ‘Christmas for arthouse film-lovers’. Yesterday was no different, with fest head Thierry Frémaux returning in his role as Santa to dole out gifts to a bevvy of expectant industry and writers.
Below are some of the key talking points from another intriguing lineup, which will be officially unwrapped from May 16th.
To Compete Or Not To Compete?
As it stands, Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon will play Out Of Competition. However, Thierry Frémaux spelled out that he has been trying to convince Apple and Scorsese that their film should play in Competition. So far, the Moon is not for turning. The conversation is ongoing, so things could change — there is still space in the Competition. So what’s the issue? It was a real coup for the festival to get the Apple movie,...
Below are some of the key talking points from another intriguing lineup, which will be officially unwrapped from May 16th.
To Compete Or Not To Compete?
As it stands, Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon will play Out Of Competition. However, Thierry Frémaux spelled out that he has been trying to convince Apple and Scorsese that their film should play in Competition. So far, the Moon is not for turning. The conversation is ongoing, so things could change — there is still space in the Competition. So what’s the issue? It was a real coup for the festival to get the Apple movie,...
- 4/14/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
In total, Cannes Film Festival General Delegate Thierry Frémaux today announced 52 titles that will debut at the 76th edition, which runs May 16-27 on the Riviera, and which he dedicated to the late producer and Telluride co-founder Tom Luddy. It’s set up to be yet another starry affair — though to outdo last year’s Top Gun: Maverick screening replete with French fighter jets buzzing the Palais would be a real feat.
Perhaps Harrison Ford, just shy of his 81st birthday, could ride up the red carpet on a steed, snapping a bullwhip to John Williams’ iconic theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark when Disney/Lucasfilm’s James Mangold-directed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny world premieres out of competition on May 18. Certainly, if the mega-ensemble from Wes Anderson’s competition entry Asteroid City (Focus) — which includes Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bryan Cranston,...
Perhaps Harrison Ford, just shy of his 81st birthday, could ride up the red carpet on a steed, snapping a bullwhip to John Williams’ iconic theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark when Disney/Lucasfilm’s James Mangold-directed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny world premieres out of competition on May 18. Certainly, if the mega-ensemble from Wes Anderson’s competition entry Asteroid City (Focus) — which includes Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Bryan Cranston,...
- 4/13/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Because a list is never done and because we were inspired to dig that bit further, we have a few more updates on potential Cannes contenders this year.
Below is Part Two of our selection of movies we hear are in the conversation. You can read about our first wave of potentials here, including Scorsese, Indiana Jones 5 and Johnny Depp’s comeback movie.
Related Story From ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ & ‘Indiana Jones’ To ‘Jeanne Du Barry’ & ‘The Old Oak’: 32 Movies From Across The Globe That Could Light Up The Cannes Film Festival Related Story International Insider: Cannes Contenders; London's Time To Shine; Danish Diversity Debate; ITV Finances; Ken Loach Union Row Related Story Ruben Östlund Set As 2023 Cannes Film Festival Jury President
Among anticipated films it has become clear to us in recent days are unlikely to debut are Kirill Serebrennikov’s Limonov, Sean Durkin’s Iron Claw,...
Below is Part Two of our selection of movies we hear are in the conversation. You can read about our first wave of potentials here, including Scorsese, Indiana Jones 5 and Johnny Depp’s comeback movie.
Related Story From ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ & ‘Indiana Jones’ To ‘Jeanne Du Barry’ & ‘The Old Oak’: 32 Movies From Across The Globe That Could Light Up The Cannes Film Festival Related Story International Insider: Cannes Contenders; London's Time To Shine; Danish Diversity Debate; ITV Finances; Ken Loach Union Row Related Story Ruben Östlund Set As 2023 Cannes Film Festival Jury President
Among anticipated films it has become clear to us in recent days are unlikely to debut are Kirill Serebrennikov’s Limonov, Sean Durkin’s Iron Claw,...
- 3/6/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman, Melanie Goodfellow and Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Mmxx
With lengthy time between film projects it always feels like an event film when there is a new Cristi Puiu in the works. Best known for 2005’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, and more recently Malmkrog (2020), the pandemic was good to the Romanian filmmaker as he has had Mmxx in post since mid 2022. The dramedy clocks in around the three hour mark and is produced by Mandragora.
Gist: Oana Pfifer, a young therapist visibly distracted by some unknown reasons, is slipping little by little inside the net of the questionnaire she is supposed to submit to her patient.…...
With lengthy time between film projects it always feels like an event film when there is a new Cristi Puiu in the works. Best known for 2005’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, and more recently Malmkrog (2020), the pandemic was good to the Romanian filmmaker as he has had Mmxx in post since mid 2022. The dramedy clocks in around the three hour mark and is produced by Mandragora.
Gist: Oana Pfifer, a young therapist visibly distracted by some unknown reasons, is slipping little by little inside the net of the questionnaire she is supposed to submit to her patient.…...
- 1/18/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
In a major shift one of the nation’s premier arthouses, Karen Cooper will be exiting as director on June 30 after 50 years running the Film Forum in New York City. Deputy Director Sonya Chung will assume the role.
Cooper has led the nonprofit cinema since its first iteration in 1972 as a 50-seat loft space on the Upper West Side open only weekends, to a multi-million dollar operation with four screens and 500 seats in lower Manhattan. She’ll remain an advisor to Chung with a focus on programming premieres and fundraising
“To say this is a transitional moment would be a vast understatement – for virtually all of its history, Film Forum has been energetically and most ably guided by Karen, not least during the very challenging pandemic period from which we are emerging. My board colleagues and I are extremely grateful for her tenure, and excited that in Sonya we have...
Cooper has led the nonprofit cinema since its first iteration in 1972 as a 50-seat loft space on the Upper West Side open only weekends, to a multi-million dollar operation with four screens and 500 seats in lower Manhattan. She’ll remain an advisor to Chung with a focus on programming premieres and fundraising
“To say this is a transitional moment would be a vast understatement – for virtually all of its history, Film Forum has been energetically and most ably guided by Karen, not least during the very challenging pandemic period from which we are emerging. My board colleagues and I are extremely grateful for her tenure, and excited that in Sonya we have...
- 1/9/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
“I thought about exploiting the pandemic to tell this story of intimacy,” Romanian-born, Swedish-based director Ştefan Constantinescu told Variety, after the screening of “Man and Dog.” The movie was showcased in the main competition of this week’s Torino Film Festival.
Constantinescu’s debut follows Doru (Bodgan Dumitrache) who suddenly leaves his work in Göteborg, and returns to Romania with a growing load of jealousy on his back, after receiving a mysterious text message claiming that his wife (Ofelia Opii) is being unfaithful. His anxiety will escalate to gigantic proportions, trapping him into a meticulous investigation.
“I exploited the pandemic to build up tension and add further pressure on Doru,” he pointed out. However, he also disclosed that the first draft of the script was penned by his co-writer Andrei Epure back in 2015, well ahead of the healthcare crisis.
“We kept on speaking about it for a while. After two,...
Constantinescu’s debut follows Doru (Bodgan Dumitrache) who suddenly leaves his work in Göteborg, and returns to Romania with a growing load of jealousy on his back, after receiving a mysterious text message claiming that his wife (Ofelia Opii) is being unfaithful. His anxiety will escalate to gigantic proportions, trapping him into a meticulous investigation.
“I exploited the pandemic to build up tension and add further pressure on Doru,” he pointed out. However, he also disclosed that the first draft of the script was penned by his co-writer Andrei Epure back in 2015, well ahead of the healthcare crisis.
“We kept on speaking about it for a while. After two,...
- 12/2/2022
- by Davide Abbatescianni
- Variety Film + TV
Since its premiere in Venice, where it scooped the Special Jury Prize in the Horizons section, Damian Kocur’s feature debut “Bread and Salt” has been enjoying a stellar festival run. But the Polish helmer is already planning his next move, teasing a new project under the working title “A Night Without an End” at the Cairo Film Festival, where “Bread and Salt” plays in the International Competition section.
The story will deal with the infamous refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, reveals Kocur. He is determined to focus on the human side of the story, not politics.
“Ultimately, it’s about one person meeting another,” he says. Anna Gawlita of Kijora Films will produce.
“Damian will tackle the extremely important yet sensitive topic: the attitude of local residents toward migrants who show up in their neighborhood, depicting the complex system of relationships that exist in closed communities like small towns and villages,...
The story will deal with the infamous refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, reveals Kocur. He is determined to focus on the human side of the story, not politics.
“Ultimately, it’s about one person meeting another,” he says. Anna Gawlita of Kijora Films will produce.
“Damian will tackle the extremely important yet sensitive topic: the attitude of local residents toward migrants who show up in their neighborhood, depicting the complex system of relationships that exist in closed communities like small towns and villages,...
- 11/17/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
More than 50 countries have announced their submissions in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category, and so far the race is broad and varied but without the kind of clear favorite that “Parasite,” “Roma” and “Amour” were in past years.
Then again, the Japanese movie “Drive My Car” didn’t appear to be a runaway favorite last year at this point, but it swept the critics’ awards and turned into a prohibitive frontrunner by the time Oscar voters began to cast their ballots. So maybe there is a dominant film in the mix, but we just don’t know it yet.
Still, with key countries like France, Italy, Denmark and Mexico yet to announce their entries the race, the category has a few favorites and a lot of uncertainty as the Oct. 3 deadline for submissions approaches.
Also Read:
India Snubs Hit Musical ‘Rrr,’ Chooses ‘Last Film Show’ for the Oscars...
Then again, the Japanese movie “Drive My Car” didn’t appear to be a runaway favorite last year at this point, but it swept the critics’ awards and turned into a prohibitive frontrunner by the time Oscar voters began to cast their ballots. So maybe there is a dominant film in the mix, but we just don’t know it yet.
Still, with key countries like France, Italy, Denmark and Mexico yet to announce their entries the race, the category has a few favorites and a lot of uncertainty as the Oct. 3 deadline for submissions approaches.
Also Read:
India Snubs Hit Musical ‘Rrr,’ Chooses ‘Last Film Show’ for the Oscars...
- 9/22/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Projects from across Europe and Asia receive post-production prizes.
Upcoming projects from Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu and Laotian director Kiyé Simon Luang have won prizes at FIDLab, the co-production incubator of French festival FIDMarseille.
The 14th edition of the showcase, known for its focus on experimental documentary and fiction features, spread its awards of post-production prizes or residency places across all 11 selected projects.
Scroll down for full list of prizes
The Micro Climat Studios prize, offering a range of post-production services, went to Mmxx, an ensemble drama from Romanian director Puiu. The film, which revolves around a therapist, her younger brother,...
Upcoming projects from Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu and Laotian director Kiyé Simon Luang have won prizes at FIDLab, the co-production incubator of French festival FIDMarseille.
The 14th edition of the showcase, known for its focus on experimental documentary and fiction features, spread its awards of post-production prizes or residency places across all 11 selected projects.
Scroll down for full list of prizes
The Micro Climat Studios prize, offering a range of post-production services, went to Mmxx, an ensemble drama from Romanian director Puiu. The film, which revolves around a therapist, her younger brother,...
- 7/11/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Bogdan George Apetri’s “Miracle” took home the top prize in the Romanian Days competition at the Transilvania Intl. Film Festival, which saw nine first-time directors among the 12 filmmakers competing in the annual showcase of domestic cinema.
It’s the first time such a formidable number of debuts have featured in the competition, offering a snapshot of what the fest’s artistic director Mihai Chirilov describes as a “balanced landscape” of new and established voices in Romania’s celebrated film industry.
It’s been nearly two decades since Cristi Puiu’s “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu” (2005) won the Un Certain Regard Award at the Cannes Film Festival, kickstarting what would come to be known as the Romanian New Wave. Two years later, Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d’Or for his abortion drama “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days,” cementing the movement’s status and effectively punching the tickets of Mungiu, Puiu...
It’s the first time such a formidable number of debuts have featured in the competition, offering a snapshot of what the fest’s artistic director Mihai Chirilov describes as a “balanced landscape” of new and established voices in Romania’s celebrated film industry.
It’s been nearly two decades since Cristi Puiu’s “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu” (2005) won the Un Certain Regard Award at the Cannes Film Festival, kickstarting what would come to be known as the Romanian New Wave. Two years later, Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d’Or for his abortion drama “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days,” cementing the movement’s status and effectively punching the tickets of Mungiu, Puiu...
- 6/26/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
If Cristian Mungiu isn’t the most prolific filmmaker to emerge from Romanian cinema’s gilded age, he does tend to cause a stir. Cristi Puiu was first in the door at Cannes, bringing Stuff and Dough to Director’s Fortnight in 2001, and the first to win a prize with The Death of Mr. Lazarescu in 2005, but it was Mungiu who got the big one.
Since 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days achieved that feat in 2007, Mungiu has released just three films. “I’m a filmmaker, this is what gives some sense to my life,” Mungiu explained last week in an office just inland from the Lumiere Theatre where his latest had premiered a few nights previous, “I’d like to make a film every two years, but I’m not smart enough to come up with something important to say. I think that there’s already too much material, too many films.
Since 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days achieved that feat in 2007, Mungiu has released just three films. “I’m a filmmaker, this is what gives some sense to my life,” Mungiu explained last week in an office just inland from the Lumiere Theatre where his latest had premiered a few nights previous, “I’d like to make a film every two years, but I’m not smart enough to come up with something important to say. I think that there’s already too much material, too many films.
- 6/7/2022
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Following up his stellar, 3.5-hour drama Malmkrog, Romanian director Cristi Puiu has quietly completed production on his next feature. Mmxx, a dramatic comedy which is now in post-production and has a runtime of 2 hours and 40 minutes, was revealed thanks to the backing of FIDLab.
The film follows four characters: Oana Pfifer, a young therapist visibly distracted; and her younger brother Mihai Dumitru, who is worried about his anniversary; her husband Septimiu Pfifer, concerned by a possible contamination with Covid-19; and Narcis Patranescu, an organized crime investigator. “The wanderings of a bunch of errant souls stuck at the crossroads of history,” the official synopsis reads.
With The Death of Mr. Lazarescu director seemingly quite far along in post-production, hopefully we’ll see it appear at fall festivals. In the meantime, see the first look below.
The post First Look at Cristi Puiu's Dramatic Comedy Mmxx first appeared on The Film Stage.
The film follows four characters: Oana Pfifer, a young therapist visibly distracted; and her younger brother Mihai Dumitru, who is worried about his anniversary; her husband Septimiu Pfifer, concerned by a possible contamination with Covid-19; and Narcis Patranescu, an organized crime investigator. “The wanderings of a bunch of errant souls stuck at the crossroads of history,” the official synopsis reads.
With The Death of Mr. Lazarescu director seemingly quite far along in post-production, hopefully we’ll see it appear at fall festivals. In the meantime, see the first look below.
The post First Look at Cristi Puiu's Dramatic Comedy Mmxx first appeared on The Film Stage.
- 6/7/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Telfaz11 was at the forefront of Saudi Arabia’s YouTube content revolution of the 2010s and is now pushing into cinema.
Growing Saudi entertainment group Telfaz11 is joining forces with French production company Easy Riders Films to develop and produce a slate of four feature films with international scope from Saudi emerging talents.
The first film expected to go into production under the deal is Ali Kalthami’s Night Courier, which was presented at the Red Sea Souk project market of the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) in Saudi port town of Jeddah last December
The Riyadh-set dark...
Growing Saudi entertainment group Telfaz11 is joining forces with French production company Easy Riders Films to develop and produce a slate of four feature films with international scope from Saudi emerging talents.
The first film expected to go into production under the deal is Ali Kalthami’s Night Courier, which was presented at the Red Sea Souk project market of the inaugural Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) in Saudi port town of Jeddah last December
The Riyadh-set dark...
- 5/27/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Romania’s Puiu competed for the Palme d’Or in 2016 with ‘Sieranevada’.
The next feature from feted Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu is among 12 titles selected for FIDLab, the co-production incubator of French festival FIDMarseille.
The 14th edition of the showcase, known for its focus on experimental documentary and fiction features, is set to be held from July 7-8 and will return as an in-person for the first time since 2019.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The selection includes Mmxx, an ensemble drama from Romanian director Puiu that revolves around a therapist, her younger brother, husband and an organised crime investigator.
The next feature from feted Romanian filmmaker Cristi Puiu is among 12 titles selected for FIDLab, the co-production incubator of French festival FIDMarseille.
The 14th edition of the showcase, known for its focus on experimental documentary and fiction features, is set to be held from July 7-8 and will return as an in-person for the first time since 2019.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The selection includes Mmxx, an ensemble drama from Romanian director Puiu that revolves around a therapist, her younger brother, husband and an organised crime investigator.
- 5/27/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
With stellar recent work by Radu Jude, Cristi Puiu, Radu Muntean, and Radu Ciorniciuc, among others, the fertile Romanian New Wave shows no signs of slowing down. The latest to arrive in the United States comes from Eugen Jebleanu, who has made his debut feature with Poppy Field. A selection at Tallinn Black Nights, Taipei, Torino, Glasgow, Hamburg, Thessaloniki, Montclair, and more, it’s now getting a release on April 8 via Film Movement and we’re pleased to exclusively debut the trailer.
Planning to spend a romantic weekend with his long-distance boyfriend, Christi’s tender reunion is cut short when he is called in to handle a crisis at work. Christi is a member of the Bucharest police force, and his unit is sent to quell a protest at a local movie theater, where a far-right group has interrupted the screening of a queer film. As tensions between the homophobic protesters and the audience mount,...
Planning to spend a romantic weekend with his long-distance boyfriend, Christi’s tender reunion is cut short when he is called in to handle a crisis at work. Christi is a member of the Bucharest police force, and his unit is sent to quell a protest at a local movie theater, where a far-right group has interrupted the screening of a queer film. As tensions between the homophobic protesters and the audience mount,...
- 3/22/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Beijing-based distributor Hugoeast Media has acquired Chinese distribution rights to Cannes Directors’ Fortnight film “The Tale of King Crab,” the first feature venture into narrative fiction of Italian filmmakers Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis.
Hugoeast Media plans a limited theatrical release in Chinese theaters in the course of 2022.
The deal with Hugoeast Media was closed by the international sales arm of France’s Shellac. It adds to a North American pick-up by Oscilloscope Laboratories, negotiated by Shellac’s Thomas Ordonneau and Egle Cepaite and announced a week after “Crab King” world premiered at the Cannes Festival.
An out-there tale of tragedy and redemption, “The Tale of King Crab” is based on vague local legend picked up by the filmmakers of a man, Luciano, living in a benighted Italian village in the late 1800s or early twentieth century decried as a “madman, an aristocrat, a saint and a drunkard.
Hugoeast Media plans a limited theatrical release in Chinese theaters in the course of 2022.
The deal with Hugoeast Media was closed by the international sales arm of France’s Shellac. It adds to a North American pick-up by Oscilloscope Laboratories, negotiated by Shellac’s Thomas Ordonneau and Egle Cepaite and announced a week after “Crab King” world premiered at the Cannes Festival.
An out-there tale of tragedy and redemption, “The Tale of King Crab” is based on vague local legend picked up by the filmmakers of a man, Luciano, living in a benighted Italian village in the late 1800s or early twentieth century decried as a “madman, an aristocrat, a saint and a drunkard.
- 9/21/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
For a festival that prides itself on shining a spotlight on the domestic industry, the Transilvania Film Festival can point to a record number of Romanian films unspooling at this year’s 20th-anniversary edition, with 32 feature-length and 13 short films – including 13 world premieres – set to screen in the scenic medieval city of Cluj from July 23 – Aug. 1.
But despite the historic selection, which includes three films arriving fresh off of Cannes premieres, it’s an uneasy time for the local film industry. Funding from the Romanian Film Center (Cnc) ground to a halt last year as the coronavirus pandemic leveled the Romanian economy, and an industry that for two decades has produced a string of world cinema heavyweights has been left to wonder what the future has in store.
Speaking ahead of this year’s festival, producer and TIFF founder Tudor Giurgiu spoke candidly about the ostensibly prolific output, crediting “the fortunate...
But despite the historic selection, which includes three films arriving fresh off of Cannes premieres, it’s an uneasy time for the local film industry. Funding from the Romanian Film Center (Cnc) ground to a halt last year as the coronavirus pandemic leveled the Romanian economy, and an industry that for two decades has produced a string of world cinema heavyweights has been left to wonder what the future has in store.
Speaking ahead of this year’s festival, producer and TIFF founder Tudor Giurgiu spoke candidly about the ostensibly prolific output, crediting “the fortunate...
- 7/22/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Awaken (Tom Lowe)
Capturing the awe-inspiring wonders of our world has been an endeavor since the dawn of image-making, and with ever-evolving advancements in technology there’s an unparalleled pristineness in one’s ability to record such beauty. In his feature debut Awaken, director Tom Lowe takes this pursuit to heart, traversing the planet with the eye of a treasure hunter, collecting only the most stunning shots imaginable to convey the splendor of where we all collectively call home. The film’s main calling card––being executive produced by Terrence Malick and Godfrey Reggio––inevitably also sets a perhaps unfairly high bar as the film falls short of achieving...
Awaken (Tom Lowe)
Capturing the awe-inspiring wonders of our world has been an endeavor since the dawn of image-making, and with ever-evolving advancements in technology there’s an unparalleled pristineness in one’s ability to record such beauty. In his feature debut Awaken, director Tom Lowe takes this pursuit to heart, traversing the planet with the eye of a treasure hunter, collecting only the most stunning shots imaginable to convey the splendor of where we all collectively call home. The film’s main calling card––being executive produced by Terrence Malick and Godfrey Reggio––inevitably also sets a perhaps unfairly high bar as the film falls short of achieving...
- 4/9/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Martin Scorsese and Bertrand Tavernier on the set of Round Midnight (1986) by Etienne George. French filmmaker and American cinema aficionado Bertrand Tavernier has died at 79. Read Martin Scorsese's moving Instagram tribute to Tavernier, in which he recalls how "he was so passionate that he could exhaust you."The 20th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival, set to take place in June, will have in-person screenings, making it the first North American fest to do so since the start of Covid-19.Recommended VIEWINGA24 has released the official trailer for Janicza Bravo's long-awaited Zola, based on the viral #TheStory by A’Ziah “Zola” King. Mubi's official UK trailer for Limbo, Ben Sharrock's wry and poignant debut feature about a group of new arrivals awaiting the results of their asylum claims. Le Cinéma...
- 3/31/2021
- MUBI
Ollie Ollie Oligarchy: Puiu Weighs the World That Was in Long Form
For what stands as his sixth narrative feature, Malmkrog, Romanian New Wave auteur Cristi Puiu returns to a text he’s obviously fascinated by, the 1900 philosophical publication War, Progress, and the End of History: Three Conversations Including a Short Story of the Anti-Christ by Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, whose works influenced the generation after him more than his own (like Sergei Bulgakov or Lev Shestov). Puiu had mounted an experimental workshop in 2013 which became the film Three Exercises of Interpretation, but this time around, he mounts a loose period piece adaptation of the text, shifting the action to Transylvania and the language to French with a running time of nearly three-and-a-half-hours.…...
For what stands as his sixth narrative feature, Malmkrog, Romanian New Wave auteur Cristi Puiu returns to a text he’s obviously fascinated by, the 1900 philosophical publication War, Progress, and the End of History: Three Conversations Including a Short Story of the Anti-Christ by Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov, whose works influenced the generation after him more than his own (like Sergei Bulgakov or Lev Shestov). Puiu had mounted an experimental workshop in 2013 which became the film Three Exercises of Interpretation, but this time around, he mounts a loose period piece adaptation of the text, shifting the action to Transylvania and the language to French with a running time of nearly three-and-a-half-hours.…...
- 3/30/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Despite the proliferation of streaming services, it’s becoming increasingly clear that any cinephile only needs subscriptions to a few to survive. Among the top of our list are The Criterion Channel and Mubi and now they’ve each unveiled their stellar April line-ups.
Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.
At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...
Over at The Criterion Channel, highlights include spotlights on Ennio Morricone, the Marx Brothers, Isabel Sandoval, and Ramin Bahrani, plus Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard, Frank Borzage’s Moonrise, the brand-new restoration of Joyce Chopra’s Smooth Talk, and one of last year’s best films, David Osit’s Mayor.
At Mubi (where we’re offering a 30-day trial), they’ll have the exclusive streaming premiere of two of the finest festival films from last year’s circuit, Cristi Puiu’s Malmkrog and Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema, plus Philippe Garrel’s latest The Salt of Tears, along with films from Terry Gilliam, George A. Romero,...
- 3/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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