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La Termita Films, the production label of double San Sebastian Golden Shell winners Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo, has struck a production alliance with Accidental Films, the newly formed label founded by Sara Gonzalo, managing director over 2011-24 of production powerhouse Bambu Producciones.

The alliance catches Lacuesta and Campo at new career highs, Lacuesta having directed Berlin competition player “One Year, One Night” and “Saturn Return,” a Spanish Film and Direction winner at March’s Malaga Festival; Campo co-wrote Iciar Bollain’s anticipated “I’m Nevenka,” which world premieres in San Sebastian main competition this weekend.

Gonzalo served as general manager at Bambú when it moved into ever larger industrial propositions from 2011-13’s “Grand Hotel” to “Velvet” (2013-15), “Cable Girls” (2017-20) and “Fariña” (2018), driving an acceptance in international of original Spanish series without the need to be dubbed into neutral Spanish in Latin America.

She is joined at Accidental,...

The New Directors/New Films lineup boasts a slew of 2024 festival breakout features.

The annual festival, presented by Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art, will take place from April 3 to April 14 at Film at Lincoln Center. Sundance premiere “A Different Man,” Berlinale best first feature winner “Cu Li Never Cries,” and Locarno Film Festival winner “A Good Place” are among this year’s standout titles.

The 53rd annual festival celebrates rising filmmakers who redefine the state of cinema. The 2024 lineup includes 25 features and 10 short films, including one world premiere. “A Different Man,” directed by Aaron Schimberg and co-starring Berlinale best actor winner Sebastian Stan, will open the festival April 3. Theda Hammel’s “Stress Positions,” which also premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, will close New Directors/New Films April 14. Both features were directed by New York City-based filmmakers.

“It just feels right for us to bookend...

Víctor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers” and Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” dominated this year’s 21st Ics Awards, winning the top prizes.

“Close Your Eyes,” which picked up best picture and best director, revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a Spanish actor during the filming of a movie. Although his body is never found, the police concludes that he has suffered an accident on the edge of a cliff. Many years later, the cold case resurfaces.

Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won three awards, including best actress for Sandra Hüller, original screenplay for Triet and Arthur Harari, and editing for Laurent Sénéchal. The movie is nominated for five Oscars, seven BAFTA’s and 11 Cesar Awards.

The romantic fantasy “All of Us Strangers,” meanwhile, won four prizes, including best actor for Andrew Scott, supporting actor for Jamie Bell, adapted screenplay for Haigh,...

Festival has programmed 75 films from 36 countries.

The Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 20th edition, which runs from November 24-December 2.

The festival is opening with Richard Linklater’s action comedy Hit Man, starring Glen Powell, and is screening 75 films in total from 36 countries.

Marrakech’s official competition, which comprises first and second feature films, includes Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Cannes Competition title Banel & Adama, Lina Soualem’s Venice Giornate degli Autori documentary Bye Bye Tiberias and Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s feature debut Hounds, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

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Johnny Barrington,...

Two movies which come in on immigration from vastly different angles – Laura Ferrés’ “The Permanent Picture” and Ken Loach’s “The Old Oak” – won big Saturday night at Spain’s Valladolid Festival, walking off with its main competition Golden Spike and the Spanish event’s best actor (Dave Turner) and Audience Award plaudits respectively.

The prize ceremony also saw Charlotte Rampling, star of closing film “Juniper” from Matthew J. Saville, accept an enthusiastically applauded Honorific Spike for her career achievement.

Though decided upon by independent juries, Valladolid’s prizes say much about the new-fit festival after a first-year reboot by new director José Luis Cienfuegos, previously a Gijón and Seville fest head.

Under directors Fernando Lara (1984-2004), Juan Carlos Frugone (2005-08) and Javier Angulo (2009-2022), Valladolid has consolidated as one of Spain’s biggest festivals, after San Sebastián. and a bastion of auteurist, arthouse independent cinema. Few figures in Europe...

One of Spain’s biggest and oldest movie events, the Valladolid Intl. Film Festival, known as the Seminci in Spain, is broadening its range of Spanish films and aims to strengthen its position as an international platform for art films.

Running Oct. 21-28 in Valladolid, the capital city of Spanish region Castilla-Leon, the Seminci’s 68th edition marks the first under new director José Luis Cienfuegos, named last April.

With an illustrious near 30-year career as a festival director, at the helm of the Seville European Film Festival (2012-2023) and prior to that at the Gijon Intl. Film Festival (1995-2011), Cienfuegos has arrived to Valladolid at a time when a new generation of Spanish film auteurs, often women, is booming, making waves at the international festivals circuit.

“Valladolid is a city absolutely dedicated to the festival that demands and needs to open the doors to a new generation of filmmakers,...

Prior selections Close, Drive My Car, The Worst Person In The World all garnered international feature film Oscar submissions.

Aki Kaurismäki’s Cannes jury prize winner Fallen Leaves and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses starring Cannes best actress winner Merve Dizdar – both Oscar submissions this year – are among the international line-up at the upcoming 59th Chicago International Film Festival (October 11–22).

Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Pictures Of Ghosts are two other Cannes selections to feature in the roster, while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist and Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias both launched in Venice.

Venice parallel section Giornate degli Autori (GdA), running alongside the main festival from August 30 to September 9, celebrates its 20th edition this year.

Partly modeled on Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, GdA (which is still often referred to by its initial name of Venice Days in English) was launched in 2004 as an alternative space for independent filmmakers to the star-studded, red-carpet focus of the main festival.

The compact 12-title inaugural edition featured Hubert Sauper’s feature-doc Darwin’s Nightmare, which was later nominated for an Oscar; This Is England director-writer Shaun Meadows’ fifth feature Dead Man’s Shoes and John Lvoff’s drama Now And Then, featuring Julie Depardieu in her first starring role.

Over the past 19 years, the event has expanded to include also special screenings, tributes and talks.

This year’s 10-title Competition line-up includes quirky Canadian teen vampire tale Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person; Moroccan road movie Backstage, Spanish adoption drama Foremost By Night,...