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Pope Francis welcomed over 100 comedians to the Vatican on Friday before flying to southern Italy to warn the Group of Seven world leaders that artificial intelligence should never be allowed to outpace human dignity.

The comedians from 15 countries, including U.S. stars like Whoopi Goldberg, Jimmy Fallon and Chris Rock, received an enthusiastic reception from the pontiff, who said their ability to provoke smiles and laughter is a powerful force for peace and unity.

“In the midst of so much gloomy news…you have the power to spread peace and smiles,” Francis told them. “Laughter is contagious.”

In the biblical story of creation, he noted, “Divine wisdom practiced your art for the benefit of none other than God himself.” The pope instructed the comedians to “make God smile” whenever they provoke intelligent smiles from others.

Among his most surprising messages was telling the comedians, “It’s ok to laugh at God!

For Christians around the world, Easter Sunday is the highest of holy days, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. On Sunday, March 31, Pope Francis will preside over Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. The Holy Father will lead assembled worshippers through the service and viewers can watch on Fox News at 4 a.m. Et. You can watch Fox News with a 5-Day Free Trial of Directv Stream. You can also watch with Sling TV, Hulu Live TV, Fubo, or YouTube TV.

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About Pope Francis' 2024 Easter Mass Celebration from The Vatican

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Zoë Kravitz (The Batman) and Thomasin McKenzie (Last Night in Soho) have been set to star in Self-Portrait, THR reports, with Mona Fastvold (The World To Come) directing.

Fastvold co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Brady Corbet (Vox Lux).

“The movie will see grieving photographer Lu Rile (McKenzie) move to a run-down artists’ warehouse in 1990s Brooklyn where she befriends Katherine (Kravitz), an accomplished painter who lives downstairs. When Katherine suffers her own tragic loss, Lu unknowingly captures the incident in one of her self-portraits, generating a sublime but horrifying image.

“Consumed with by mutual grief and an intensifying relationship, the women find themselves haunted by a demonic force hellbent on shaking their realities.”

Self-Portrait is based on Rachel Lyon’s novel Self-Portrait With Boy.

Producers are John Lyons and Picture Films’ Margot Hand.

Executive producers are Ryan Heller, Jennifer Westin and Michael Bloom for Topic Studios, alongside Corbet and Fastvold and Brian Young.

Pairing‌‌‌ ‌‌‌wine‌‌‌ ‌‌‌with‌‌‌ ‌‌‌movies!‌‌‌ ‌‌‌See‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌hear‌‌‌ ‌‌‌the‌‌‌ ‌‌‌fascinating‌‌‌ ‌‌‌commentary‌‌‌ ‌‌‌for‌‌‌ ‌‌‌these‌‌‌ ‌‌‌‌‌movies‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌and‌‌‌ ‌‌‌many‌‌‌ ‌‌‌more‌,‌‌ ‌‌‌at‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Trailers‌‌‌ ‌‌‌From‌‌‌ ‌‌‌Hell.‌‌‌ This week, our wine pairings don’t stand a ghost of a chance against this supernatural trio of films from the great beyond.

Peter Ibbetson is a 1935 film starring Gary Cooper and Ann Harding. The film was based upon a 19th century novel, which was recreated in a 1917 play, a silent film, an opera from just a few years before the movie’s release, a radio play and a television version in the 1950s. This story really got around.

Cooper and Harding were childhood friends, separated by fate and drawn back together in their dreams. In this way, Cooper’s character overcomes a lifetime prison sentence and a debilitating injury. Not to spoil it for you, but the pair end up together in the afterlife, as well. If...

Projects to receive up to 80,000 in funding and will premiere at the next Jeonju International Film Festival.

Chilean filmmaker José Luis Torres Leiva’s When Clouds Hide The Shadow and Korean director Jero Yun’s Breath took the top prizes last night (May 3) at the 14th Jeonju Project industry programme.

The Jeonju Cinema Project: Next Edition prizes – awarded to a Korean and international feature – provide up to KW100m in funding for projects to be produced with the caveat that they make their world premieres at the Jeonju International Film Festival. The titles were among eight pitched the previous day.

As exhibitors gather in Las Vegas for their annual CinemaCon convention this week, this weekend’s box office will provide their rallies with optimism. It fell short of 100 million, but there’s a few talking points to battle the concern that theaters are too franchise dependent.

It also provided a case study in balance: Four films grossed over 10 million, a one-unremarkable statistic. However, this weekend was the first instance in more than two years.

DreamWorks Animation’s “The Bad Guys” (Universal) topped this weekend, placing #1 at a better-than-expected 24 million. Family films often do well, but this performance came in the face of Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” sequel and Warner Bros.’ “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.”

Two more original titles debuted with “The Northman” (Focus) and “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” (Lionsgate). Robert Eggers’ Viking epic came in at 12 million, while the very meta Nicolas Cage-as-Nicolas Cage action comedy made over 7 million.

It’s a bit pointless complaining about ignored or passed-over Oscar-worthy films, but if one were going to do such a thing, a pretty damn valid complaint would be French filmmaker Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of A Lady On Fire” being looked over by the Academy in the 2019/2020 season. ironically, that’s the same year that Neon, the company behind ‘Portrait,’ defeated the odds, surpassed the giants with more money around then, and won Best Picture for “Parasite.” Perhaps it was a combination of Neon having to put all their eggs in one basket, sacrificing another, and the Academy just seemingly over the moon about Bong Joon-Ho’s masterful film.

Continue reading ‘Petite Maman’ Trailer: Céline Sciamma’s Intimate Childhood Film Arrives In The U.S. On April 22 at The Playlist.

Following Portrait of a Lady on Fire, one might have expected Céline Sciamma to up her scale but instead, during the pandemic, she focused on a story with a smaller scope but is no less ambitious. Petite Maman, a tender, enchanting story about friendship, childhood, and mother-daughter connection, is perhaps her best film. Now set for a U.S. release from Neon beginning April 22, with a wide expansion a few weeks later on Mothers Day weekend, the new trailer and poster have arrived.

Orla Smith said in our Berlinale review, “After the ambitious and wildly popular Portrait of a Lady on Fire shot Céline Sciamma into the arthouse stratosphere, she has returned with her fifth feature, Petite Maman, a warm and contained film whose scale is more akin to Tomboy. The mighty hype from Sciamma fans anticipating the film’s Berlinale premiere may be too much to bear for this delicate,...

With “Paris, 13th District,” Jacques Audiard found himself back at Cannes in 2021 for the first time since he won 2015’s Palme d’Or with “Dheepan.” The director skipped the festival for his slightly more mainstream-skewing “The Sisters Brothers,” which went to Venice in 2018, and with this black-and-white ode to love and sex in the City of Lights, found himself back in his rightful place on the Croisette. Now, IFC Films is set to release the movie April 15 in stateside theaters. Exclusive to IndieWire, watch the trailer for the film below.

For this love quadrangle involving three women and one man, Audiard co-writes the film with “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” filmmaker Céline Sciamma as well as screenwriter Léa Mysius. The cast includes “Portrait” star Noémie Merlant as Nora, Lucie Zhang as Emilie, Makita Samba as Camille, and Jehnny Beth as Amber, all moving pieces in a chessboard of erotic entanglements.

Threatened by champagne reflux at every turn, I take my award ceremony cues from the House of Gucci star, without her satin train and licence to wander about

The first thing I realise as I pour my curves into my hired tux ahead of my night at the Baftas is that I don’t have any shoes. No one had mentioned appropriate dress shoes to me at Moss Bros, so I ended up donning a pair of Dr Martens which had been gathering dust under my wardrobe. I feel like a variation of that meme: “When you’ve got the Baftas at 5pm but a Machine Gun Kelly club night in Camden at 10pm.” Also, suits don’t quite work on my lanky frame: I look like a scarecrow dressed as a slightly rebellious waiter. Later, as I check my invite for the millionth time another realisation hits me: nearly...

Judith (Virginie Efira) with little Ninon (Loïse Benguerel) in Antoine Barraud’s mysterious Madeleine Collins

Antoine Barraud’s Madeleine Collins, written in collaboration with Héléna Klotz, starring Virginie Efira, Quim Gutiérrez, Bruno Salomone with Jacqueline Bisset, François Rostain, Loïse Benguerel, Thomas Gioria, Théo Deroo, Nadav Lapid, Nathalie Boutefeu, Mona Walravens, Frank Onana, and Valérie Donzelli is a highlight of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema and the Glasgow Film Festival.

Antoine Barraud with Anne-Katrin Titze on Maurice Pialat filming his son for Le garçu: “He said when you direct a child, it’s actually the child directing you.”

Before Antoine arrived in New York, we discussed casting Bertrand Bonello and Barbet Schroeder, the long tradition of having women’s names as film titles, novels and plays to name just a few. In Antoine Barraud’s Portrait Of The Artist, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo loomed large and we explore the unconscious mind of...

Let’s be honest: 2021 was one of the worst years Korean cinema had in recent times. One would’ve hoped that they would have built upon the brilliant couple years that 2019 ad 2020 were but sadly that wasn’t to be. The pandemic situation did not help, with many production houses deciding to pull scheduled releases, halting production or waiting on things to calm down before releasing some projects that have big money riding on them. Even on the indie cinema front, which actually thrived in 2021 due to the lack of mainstream releases, did not manage to impress with what little out there was.

Things however do seem to be on the up with this year, as a few postponed releases are finally getting rescheduled and seeing theatrical releases. New releases are also being talked about and promotional material for some long gestating projects is also being circulated. Without further ado,...

The HBO Max original series “Raised by Wolves,” created by “Prisoners” writer Aaron Guzikowski, is returning to the streaming platform this coming February 3, 2022. The android science-fiction drama is executive-produced by Ridley Scott, who’s currently on the press and awards circuits promoting his films “House of Gucci” and “The Last Duel.” Ahead of the Season 2 premiere next year, check out the first trailer from HBO Max below.

Here’s the official synopsis, courtesy of HBO Max: “In season two of ‘Raised by Wolves,’ Android partners Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim), along with their brood of six human children, join a newly formed atheistic colony in Kepler 22 b’s mysterious tropical zone. But navigating this strange new society is only the start of their troubles as Mother’s ‘natural child’ threatens to drive what little remains of the human race to extinction.”

The series stars Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim,...

Romanian director Radu Jude, fresh off his Golden Bear win at Berlin with “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” wouldn’t mind trying his hand at “Starship Troopers” next, he revealed during a Karlovy Vary Film Festival talk shared with Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa. Basing it “more on the book than the film,” he said, mentioning Paul Verhoeven’s take, as well as opening up about mixed reactions to his Berlinale triumph in his home country.

“I don’t mind people rejecting the film, but it’s more insidious when they offer ‘explanations.’ ‘Look at his name: Jude. Doesn’t it mean ‘Jew’ in German? Of course, it’s a prize given by Jews,’ ” he shared, referring to hateful comments about his story of a teacher facing a scandal after her sex tape goes viral.

“I’ve made films dealing with Romania’s participation in the Holocaust and the enslavement of the Roma people.

There are many reasons to revel in Summer of Soul, the acclaimed music doc premiering on Hulu this weekend. Across six days in 1969, tens of thousands of people streamed into a park in Harlem to see performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Sly and the Family Stone, and many more. Respectfully compiled by first-time director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the forgotten footage from the Harlem Cultural Festival has been condensed into a two-hour movie that’s more than just another concert film. From Sly’s anthemic “Everyday People” to then-and-now interviews with audience members,...

Sergei Loznitsa's State Funeral is exclusively showing in many countries starting May 21, 2021 in Mubi's Luminaries series.When the Euromaidan Revolution of 2014 broke out in Kiev, Ukraine, Sergei Loznitsa was its most appropriate chronicler. For in the fifteen years leading up to the demonstrations that overthrew the Putin-friendly government of Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian director had already managed to examine many moments of conflict and hardship in the history of Soviet and post-Soviet states. Be it through fiction, observational documentary, or archival collage, his work is mostly concerned with the way individuals are usurped by the masses, and the way these collective bodies are being framed and reframed throughout history. So when history was being written in real time on the central square of Kiev, Loznitsa was there to record it and to reinforce his cinematic thesis that captured events will always resist a linear narrative.Loznitsa avoids an overtly explicit approach to filmmaking.

Following up her universally acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma was able to get a film off the ground and completed during the pandemic. Petite Maman, starring Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Stéphane Varupenne, Nina Meurisse, and Margo Abascal, follows a young girl who has just lost her grandmother, then discovers a girl her own age in the woods. Following a Berlinale premiere, the film will arrive in France next month and the first international trailer has landed. Neon will also reteam with the director for a U.S. release, but a date hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Orla Smith said in our Berlinale review, “After the ambitious and wildly popular Portrait of a Lady on Fire shot Céline Sciamma into the arthouse stratosphere, she has returned with her fifth feature, Petite Maman, a warm and contained film whose scale is more akin to Tomboy. The mighty hype...

Netflix have released a trailer for their upcoming documentary all about the life and work of the late Chadwick Boseman, which will only be available for a limited time. Titled Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist, the project will act as a tribute to the actor, who passed away last year after a private battle with colon cancer, and will feature interviews with a host of A-listers, each of whom were influenced in some way by the Black Panther star.

Netflix's official synopsis for Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist reads, "'Chadwick Boseman: Portrait of an Artist' is an intimate look at the Oscar-nominated actor's incomparable artistry, and the acting process which informed his transformative performances. Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, George C. Wolfe, Branford Marsalis, Phylicia Rashad and more take us behind the scenes to explore Boseman's extraordinary commitment to his craft."

Those being interviewed for Netflix's Portrait...

A little over a year ago, Céline Sciamma was coming off a hectic year. Her fourth feature, the acclaimed romance “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” became a breakout hit after its 2019 Cannes debut. Though the movie wasn’t selected by France as its Oscar submission, “Portrait” scored nine nominations from the César Awards. Sciamma joined her star (and ex-partner) Adele Haenel in a highly-publicized decision to walk out of the ceremony after the filmmaker lost Best Director to Roman Polanski.

It was late February 2020 and Sciamma, who has long pushed back on the sexist, patriarchal state of the French film industry, wanted to make a big statement. These days, as she gets on the phone from Paris to discuss her new movie, it’s the last thing she wants to talk about.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I’ve been far away from that for...

Anyone expecting another sweeping and passionate period piece from the director of “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” should begin recalibrating their expectations for Céline Sciamma’s follow-up, “Petite Maman.”

Intimately focused on a handful of characters, with a single fantastical event setting up its direct narrative through-line, this feature plays like a novella, or a short film, or both — it’s the kind of piece that was once the bread-and-butter of PBS’ “American Playhouse” anthology series. And while “Petite Maman” is a vastly different from than “Portrait,” it furthers writer-director Sciamma’s reputation as a storyteller with a keen understanding of character and human emotion.

The film opens with young Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) bidding farewell to the residents of a nursing home where her namesake grandmother has just died. This passing is devastating for Nelly’s mother, Marion (Nina Meurisse), a woman given to moments of melancholy even under normal circumstances.

‘Toto’ Animated Musical Prepping At Animal Logic Studio

Warner Bros’ feature musical animation Toto: The Dog-Gone Amazing Story Of The Wizard Of Oz, based on the Michael Morpurgo book, is heading into production at the Animal Logic studio in Vancouver. Alex Timbers is directing the film from a screenplay by John August – the story is a re-telling of the classic tale from the perspective of Dorothy’s beloved companion. It will be produced by Derek Frey, who previously headed-up Tim Burton Productions. Pre-production has now begun, with the recruitment of artists underway. Animal Logic and Warner have been teaming for 20 years, and are now in production on an animated film based on the DC Super Pets franchise, directed by Jared Stern and set for release in 2022.

Federation Adds Doc Series & Films

French outfit Federation Entertainment has bolstered its documentary sales slate with four new series and film acquisitions. The company...

Federation Entertainment, Pascal Breton and Lionel Uzan’s independent production and distribution group, is ramping up its premium documentary output with a slate of new acquisitions, including “The Vatican” and “The Sect.”

“The Vatican” is a six-part investigative documentary series exploring the pinnacle of Catholicism, and how incessant scandals and an ever changing society have weakened its foundations. “The Vatican” is directed by Kat Steppe, co-written by Rik Torfs and Jo Badisco, and produced by Kato Maes and Kristoffel Mertens at Belgian outfit Paneka for the broadcaster Vrt. Now filming, the series has already been pre-sold to French SVOD service Salto.

“The Sect,” meanwhile, delivers an in-depth look into the Order of the Solar Temple. The five-part docuseries sheds light on what led 74 members of the cult to commit mass suicide across France, Switzerland and Canada, between 1994 and 1997. “The Sect” is produced by Matthieu Belghiti and Jean-Xavier De Lestrade, the...

As 2020 came to an end, so too did Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, with the final eight episodes of the series premiering on Netflix on New Year's Eve. It's been a real treat to watch this great ensemble throughout these past seasons, including Tyler Cotton's character, Melvin, who really stepped up and became a key member of the coven at the Academy of Unseen Arts as Sabrina and friends went through Hell (literally). It was a great pleasure, then, to catch up with Cotton in our latest Q&a feature to reflect on his time playing Melvin on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and what he'll miss the most about the treasured experience.

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions for us, Tyler, and congratulations on your role as Melvin in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina! It’s been great to watch you bring this character to life over the past few seasons.

In today’s TV news roundup, Netflix released a trailer for “Song Exploder Volume 2,” and Starz debuted a first look at its upcoming original series, “Run the World.”

Dates

HBO Sports and Major League Baseball are teaming up to produce “Under the Grapefruit Tree: The Cc Sabathia Story,” set to debut Dec. 22 on HBO. The documentary film follows the personal story of New York Yankees pitcher Carsten Charles Sabathia, featuring behind-the-scenes footage of his final season with the team in 2019 and narration from Sabathia. The movie chronicles the athlete’s humble beginnings in Vallejo, Calif., where he honed his skills by throwing grapefruits in his grandmother’s yard, to the ups and downs of his career, including his longtime battle with addiction. It will also be available to stream on HBO Max.

As part of its 50th anniversary crowdsourced storytelling project PBS American Portrait, PBS announced a four-part documentary series...

DJ Cassidy’s popular “Pass the Mic” webcast series is going to TV on Thanksgiving weekend… and going totally ’80s. BET’s Nov. 29 broadcast of “The Soul Train Awards” will be immediately followed by a second prime-time special that will bring Cassidy’s all-star medleys, usually seen via Twitch and YouTube, to a network for the first time. And while the star DJ isn’t revealing any names yet, he is telling Variety that this edition of his mic-pass will bring together the leading lights of R&b from a decade that happens to be his favorite

Or maybe something more like just a half-decade, to get specific about it. “When I think about ‘Soul Train’ and the long legacy that spans decades,” he says, “I am immediately drawn into thinking about the 1980s. particularly the first half of the decade. The sounds of the R&b records that came...

I'll admit I went into Self-Portrait 2020 with a fair amount of trepidation. Here is a nearly three-hour documentary that follows a man who has given up on life, turned to the bottle and now roams the streets of Central Seoul, drunkenly rambling about whatever strikes his fancy. Little did I know what a fascinating journey I was about to embark upon. This sophomore feature effort from young non-fiction filmmaker Lee Dong-woo is overlong to be sure, but it's also a rich portrait of a confounding individual and the surprising and alarming path his life has taken. One day, a homeless man approaches Director Lee, asking for money (it's definitely for booze). Lee is intrigued by this lively character and his highfalutin talk of life...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Bleecker Street has acquired North American rights to Harry Macqueen’s second feature, Supernova, starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci.

The pic follows Sam (Colin Firth) and Tusker (Stanley Tucci), partners of 20 years, who are travelling across England in their old campervan visiting friends, family and places from their past. Following a life-changing diagnosis, their time together has become more important than ever until secret plans test their love like never before. The movie recently made its world premiere at the San Sebastian film festival.

“When we saw this film, we were so taken by the beauty of the writing and how timeless of a love story Harry created,” said Andrew Karpen, CEO of Bleecker Street. “The performances of Colin and Stanley are so touching and authentic, we knew we wanted to be part of bringing it to audiences.”

“I am delighted and honoured to be partnering with Bleecker Street...

Collection of shorts was filmed with Covid-19 safety measures in place by directors including Michael R Roskam (‘Bullhead’).

A collection of films shot during lockdown with a cast that includes Matthias Schoenaerts is to be presented at Re>Connext (Oct 5-31), the annual film and TV showcase run by Flanders Image.

A first look at The Lockdown Shorts, which spans drama, comedy, thriller and horror, will be presented as a works in progress project at the virtual event by producer-directors Gilles Coulier and Maarten Moerkerke.

All 12 films were shot under coronavirus-safe conditions on the same studio set: a prison visiting...

Re>Connext is the annual film and TV showcase run by Flanders Image.

The first footage from Netflix drama Soil, directed by Bad Boys For Life duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, is to be presented at Re>Connext, the annual film and TV showcase run by Flanders Image.

It is one of 26 upcoming television projects selected for the event, which serves as an export platform for film and TV drama made in Flanders and will run online from October 5-31. The physical showcase has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scroll down for full list of projects

Soil,...

Ridley Scott has burrowed deep into his science-fiction rabbit hole yet again. The visionary director behind “Blade Runner” and “Alien” took a few decades away from a genre forever indebted to his alternatively piercing and thoughtful work, before diving back in with “Prometheus,” “The Martian,” “Alien: Covenant,” and now “Raised by Wolves,” an original series for HBO Max. Scott took a similarly lengthy break from television; his last serialized project to hit screens was the BBC drama “Mogul” in 1969.

Though he only directed the first two episodes, “Raised by Wolves” has all the markings of a career-culminating effort. Scott’s favorite toys are all here: androids, an alien planet, and monsters lurking in the dark. There’s even a female lead with incredible powers. Beyond these trademarks, the first six episodes explore his favorite questions, including the nature of humanity, the trappings of faith, and what shape our dystopian future might take.

It’s an all-too-familiar refrain by now: this year’s festival season is going to look a little different than years past. While autumn at the movies still signals the arrival of a glut of hotly anticipated features, movies seemingly destined for awards glory, and first looks at films that have been chattered about for entire years, 2020 will always come with an asterisk.

And so does IndieWire’s annual look at some of the most exciting new films of the season, this year rolling out in one singular package, all the better to highlight a curated crop of the best films arriving at Venice, Toronto, and New York. With a reduced lineup this year — due to some films having to pause in the middle of production, and other finished features opting to wait until 2021 to get the usual festival bells and whistles — many festivals are showing significantly fewer titles, and...

‘Rebel’ to be directed by Belgian duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.

A new feature from the Belgian directing duo behind Bad Boys For Life is among 10 projects to secure €1.47m ($1.67m) from Screen Flanders.

Rebel is to be directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, whose Bad Boys sequel grossed $419m worldwide when it was released in January.

The new feature has received €170,000 from the Belgian audiovisual fund and will be produced by Belgium’s Caviar Antwerp. It will also reunite the directing duo with Dop Robrecht Heyvaert, who shot Bad Boys For Life and their 2018 crime thriller Gangsta.

While the country is beginning the first steps of emerging from quarantine––for now, at least––the summer season should still mean lots of reading time. Some selections in our latest roundup of books related to film and pop culture can be called escapist fare, while a few tread into darker realms. Let’s start with a trip to Arrakis––David Lynch’s Arrakis, not Denis Villeneuve’s.

Dune: The David Lynch Files Volume 2 by Kenneth George Godwin (BearManor Media)

Any opportunity to read a behind-the-scenes account of the making of a film by David Lynch is welcome. That is especially true when it comes to Dune, his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic, which the filmmaker has repeatedly expressed his frustrations with. Lynch, of course, did not have final cut and has famously disowned the film, but it remains a strange, fascinating curio. For all of these reasons,...

At the end of the 1950s, celebrated French documentarian François Reichenbach, whose lens captured the likes of Brigitte Bardot and Johnny Hallyday, spent eighteen months traveling the United States, documenting its diverse regions, their inhabitants and their pastimes. The result, America As Seen by a Frenchman, is a wide-eyed perhaps even naïve journey through a multitude of different Americas, filtered through a French sensibility and serving as a fascinating exploration of a culture that is both immediately familiar and thoroughly alien.

Prison rodeos; Miss America pageants; visits to Disneyland and a school for striptease; a town inhabited solely by twins; rows of newborns in incubators, like products on an assembly line all these weird and wondrous sights, and more, are captured, sans jugement, by Reichenbach s camera, aided by whimsical narration and a jaunty musical score by the late, great Michel Legrand (Une femme est une femme).

Titled L Amérique...

“It’s still a shame, particularly for Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.”

French cinema promotional body Unifrance has released a detailed report into the immediate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the release of French films around the world, drawing on data from its weekly box office reports.

“Normally, in any given week there will be around 250 separate release campaigns going on for French films in some shape or form in some 50 territories around the world,” said Unifrance deputy managing director Gilles Renouard, who also oversees the body’s box office research.

“Last week, only four of the territories...

The world may be crumbling, but at least a handful of stellar films are coming to The Criterion Collection this summer. They’ve announced their June slate which includes their first Neon release, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, with Parasite to come at a later date. Also among the slate is Elem Klimov’s anti-war masterpiece Come and See, which we recently explored in-depth here. Also including work from Buster Keaton, Kon Ichikawa, and Paul Mazursky, check out the full slate and special feature details below.

The Cameraman

Buster Keaton is at the peak of his slapstick powers in The Cameraman— the first film that the silent-screen legend made after signing with MGM, and his last great masterpiece. The final work over which he maintained creative control, this clever farce is the culmination of an extraordinary, decade-long run that produced some of the most innovative and enduring comedies of all time.

What did you see this weekend? Pixar's Onward was the big winner with a $40 million haul. The hot ticket in platform release was Kelly Reichardt's First Cow which had the weekend's highest per screen average at just 4 theaters.  

Weekend Box Office

March 6th-8th (Estimates)...

Céline Sciamma is in the midst of enjoying the best reviews of her career thanks to “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which on top of rave reviews has grossed over $2 million and counting at the U.S. box office. The French writer-director often challenges the male gaze in her films, which is why it’s not too surprising to hear Sciamma is a big fan of Patty Jenkins’ superhero blockbuster “Wonder Woman.” In a new interview with The Independent to promote “Portrait,” Jenkins spends a considerable amount of time singing the praises of “Wonder Woman,” which the director says changed her life.

“It’s about feeling seen as a viewer,” Sciamma says. “’Wonder Woman’ is thinking about me. It’s thinking about my pleasure, about my sisters, about the history of cinema and women’s representation. It gives us joy but also rage. Like, ‘Why do I not get this more often?...

Love is confusing in Jumbo, a messy film that wants to have its funnel cake and eat it too. Set mostly at an amusement park, Jumbo follows the awkward and shy Jeanne (Portrait of a Lady on Fire‘s Noémie Merlant) who has no social skills to speak of, much to the chagrin of her constantly loud, constantly horny mother […]

The post ‘Jumbo’ Review: Girl Meets Tilt-a-Whirl In This Uneven Bundle of Quirks [Sundance 2020] appeared first on /Film.

Opening on Wednesday (Jan. 15), Korean-made comedy “Secret Zoo” landed on top of the South Korean box office. The Son Jae-gon (“My Scary Girl”) film earned $5.95 million from 813,000 admissions over its opening five days, including $4.3 million earned over the weekend. That was enough for a 38% share of the country’s total weekend box office. Distributed by Acemaker Movieworks, “Secret Zoo” sees the story of a couple who try to save a zoo from being shut down.

Another Wednesday opener, “Bad Boys for Life” debuted in second. The Sony release earned $3.15 million from 403,000 admissions between Wednesday and Sunday, including $2.33 million earned over the weekend, and accounted for 21% of total weekend box office.

“Dolittle,” which had opened on top the previous week, slipped to third place. The Upi release earned $1.99 million from 271,000 admissions between Friday and Sunday for a total of $10.5 million after two weekends.

Korean volcano disaster flick, “Ashfall” took fourth place,...

There was an unusually high number of films with Lgbtq characters and themes at last year’s Oscars, but that wasn’t the case in 2020. That meant the exclusion of, among others, “Booksmart” and “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” but they have lots of company when it comes to queer movies that either lost Oscars or weren’t nominated at all. Click above for our list of 38 great films that came away without any hardware from the motion picture academy.

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The critically acclaimed “Booksmart” follows two teenage overachievers (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) looking to cut loose for the first time right before they graduate. Dever’s character is openly, matter-of-factly gay and pines for a classmate, which makes this a rare teen movie about a queer young woman who explores her sexuality the way straight characters commonly get to do in coming-of-age films.

British composer Daniel Pemberton has a serious ear for jazz with his Latin-inspired score for Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s all femme caper Ocean’s 8 and the flute-’60s infused score of Guy Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E as colorful and vibrant as that spy pic itself.

Pemberton, who has been Ridley Scott’s go-to composer as of late with pics like All the Money in the World, The Counsellor and The Vatican TV movie, continues to build on its penchant for vibrant syncopation in Edward Norton’s film noir Motherless Brooklyn. The film stars Norton as Lionel Essrog, a Tourette syndrome challenged private detective, who in investigating his mentor’s murder (Bruce Willis) uncovers a huge real estate conspiracy in 1950s New York City.

“A lot of my scores are based around rhythm and groove, those are the underpinnings of jazz and that’s...

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Flanders Image’s CONNeXT event in Ghent showcased documentary films for the first time, some of which impressed industry professionals even more than the usual fiction projects.

Pieter Jan De Pue’s Four Brothers, about four Ukrainian siblings torn apart by war, won the work-in-progress award.

The international jury praised how “the story ambitions and scope of the project leaves an undeniable impression…how war can tear apart even the tightest of bonds.”

Bart Van Langendonck of leading Belgian production company Savage Film produces. The project previously won the Cph:Dox Eurimges Co-Production Award.

Another doc, Janet van den Brand...

Conference speakers to include Rikke Ennis, Philip Knatchbull and Walter Iuzzolino.

The Broken Circle Breakdown and Tabula Rasa actress Veerle Baetens will pitch her directorial debut, The Melting, at the fourth edition of Flanders Image’s annual film and TV showcase CONNeXT (October 6-9).

The Melting is adapted from Lize Spit’s novel about a woman looking back on one pivotal summer with the two boys who were her best friends in the small Flemish town of Bovenmeer.

CONNeXT invites international experts to Ghent to preview or screen features and TV series made in Flanders and Brussels. In past years,...

In addition to his work on the feature film side, Ridley Scott has spent the better part of the last few years helping shepherd some of the most daring shows on TV. Most recently serving as the executive producer of the AMC series “The Terror,” Scott has also had a hand in “Taboo,” “The Man in the High Castle,” the unfairly short-lived CBS dark political comedy “BrainDead,” and the upcoming CBS All Access drama “Strange Angel.”

Having a hand in these various projects, Scott’s not ruling out a return to the place that gave his career a start. After cutting his teeth in live TV in the late 1960s, Scott didn’t go back to TV until filming a pilot for Showtime’s “The Vatican” back in 2013. That didn’t go to series, but it hasn’t discouraged him from coming back and trying again with the right project.

Working across a wide range of musical mediums, Ivor Novello Award-winning and BAFTA-nominated composer Daniel Pemberton has embraced everything from large scale orchestral and choral works to innovative electronic sound design, live salsa bands to post-rock guitar line-ups.

From The Counselor, The Awakening and the upcoming Steve Jobs film, to name a few, Pemberton has delivered another eclectic score – this time Guy Ritchie’s latest movie The Man From U.N.C.L.E., in theatres Friday, August 14.

Fans of the TV show are familiar with the theme music from composer Jerry Goldsmith, with additional music for the various seasons provided by Morton Stevens, Walter Scharf, Lalo Schifrin, Gerald Fried, Robert Drasnin and Nelson Riddle.

Now comes the film version and a 5-star, international score that exudes the 1960’s as if it was pulled from a time vault. You’re right into the film from the first musical note and drum beat.

Recently the...

Showtime capped off a busy week of pilot casting by landing a pair of Emmy winners to topline its drama pilot "Billions." Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis will star in the pilot, which will shoot in New York City in early 2015. Written by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin, "Billions" is described a fictional drama that "takes a forensic look at the world of high finance by tracking the approaching collision between two titanic figures." Those figures are U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhodes (Giamatti) and hedge fund king Bobby "Axe" Axelrod (Lewis). Showtime also announced that Neil Burger ("Limitless") has signed on to direct the pilot. An Oscar nominee for "Cinderella Man," Giamatti has been making an aggressive push into TV in recent years. The "John Adams" Emmy winner earned Emmy nods for HBO's "Too Big to Fail" and earlier this year for "Downton Abbey." While FX opted...

Ridley Scott is a lot like Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen in that he’s become an incredibly prolific filmmaker in his 70s, but he differs from those two directors in that the projects he’s tackling are massive. In the last four years, Scott has directed Robin Hood, Prometheus, The Counselor, and most recently the Biblical epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, and in between he found time to helm a pilot called The Vatican that Showtime ultimately passed on. Scott is next gearing up to shoot the sci-fi survival film The Martian with Matt Damon, and in a recent interview with EW he revealed that production on the pic—which revolves around an astronaut who becomes stranded on Mars and must find his way home—will begin in November. But during the interview, Scott also revealed that Blade Runner 2 and Prometheus 2 are both completely written, adding that he...

Briefly: Monday, Martin Scorsese’s latest was slotted on the release schedule. Tuesday, three other movies join the calendar. First up is Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant, which will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. It’s aiming at a prime December 25, 2015 release date from 20th Century Fox. Next up is the Ridley Scott produced Child […]

The post Release Dates: ‘The Revenant,’ ‘Child 44,’ ‘The Vatican Tapes’ appeared first on /Film.

As the unstoppable locomotive that is Netflix rolls on, popular actor Kyle Chandler is the latest to climb aboard with a brand new TV show from the creators of Damages.

During the past ten years, Chandler has very quietly and very steadily established himself as one of the most sought after actors in Hollywood. Since landing the lead role in Peter Berg’s TV show Friday Night Lights, he has methodically channelled positive reaction to that Emmy-winning performance into small roles in huge movies.

The Kingdom, The Day The Earth Stood Still and Super 8 all featured Chandler in supporting parts, while the Best Picture category of the Academy Awards has included one or more Kyle Chandler films each year for the past two years (Argo, Zero Dark Thirty and The Wolf Of Wall Street). Not bad for the guy from Early Edition.

While Chandler has been successfully focused on...