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Killer Films producer Christine Vachon, Mubi’s chief content officer Jason Ropell, and Fatih Abay, diversity and inclusion officer at the European Film Academy are among the international speakers heading to the industry programme of this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff), taking place until July 8 in the Czech Republic.

The recently restored Imperial Spa will house the entire industry programme. It’s wood-panelled interiors will host the Industry Days’ Eastern Promises for four days of project pitches, talks, events, and workshops as well as the Film Industry Office and Lounge. There is an afternoon forum dedicated to...

Variety has partnered with brand and culture consultancy Bsbp to curate a series of exclusive Q&a screenings in London of some of the industry’s most anticipated films. The screenings, which are targeted at BAFTA and AMPAS voters as well as key players in the showbiz community in the U.K., will take place at London’s The Cinema at Selfridges.

Variety and Bsbp have teamed with film distributor, global streaming service and production company Mubi for the first screening in the series, which will be for “Passages,” written and directed by Ira Sachs. The screening will be accompanied by a Q&a conducted by Variety critic Guy Lodge with Sachs and leading actor Franz Rogowski.

The sexually frank relationship drama, about a polysexual Parisian love triangle, also stars Ben Whishaw and Adele Exarchopoulos, and premiered to great acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, also playing at the Berlinale.

Normally at the top of these Don’t-Miss Indies round-ups, we like to make a little joke that’s somewhat topical. But if you’ve been paying attention to what’s been going on in Hollywood for the past couple of months, you’ll know that the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are no laughing matter (unless we’re talking about the writers’ signs.) In fact, right at press time not one but two of this months featured titles have been pushed, due to strike-related issues.

And while our blog deadlines being imperiled by the inhuman machinery of Late Capitalism is certainly a headache, our real concern is the wellbeing of our filmmaking community during this lean, labor-conscious strike period. Please consider donating to artist support funds like this or this.

Shortcomings

When You Can Watch: August 4

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Director: Randall Park

Cast: Justin H. Min,...

Mubi has debuted the trailer for Ira Sachs’ intimate drama ‘Passages.’

Set in Paris, this seductive drama tells the story of Tomas (Rogowski) and Martin (Whishaw), a gay couple whose marriage is thrown into crisis when Tomas begins a passionate affair with Agathe (Exarchopoulos), a younger woman he meets after completing his latest film.

Directed by Ira Sachs (Love is Strange, Little Men) and produced by Saïd Ben Saïd (Elle, Bacarau) and Michel Merkt (Toni Erdmann), the film stars BAFTA-winner Ben Whishaw (Skyfall, Paddington, Women Talking), Franz Rogowski (Great Freedom, Transit, Victoria), and Palme d’Or-winner Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue is the Warmest Colour, The Five Devils).

Also in trailers – That wasn’t me…” John Boyega stars in full trailer for ‘They Cloned Tyrone’

The film will open theatrically in the UK and Ireland on 1 September 2023.

The post Trailer lands for Ira Sachs’ ‘Passages’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Our review from Sundance put it perfectly in its opening line. Filmmaker “Ira Sachs prefers relationships of the doomed variety.” Throughout the indie writer/director’s career, Sachs has— in films like “Love Is Strange,” “Little Men,” “Keep the Lights On” and especially in his debut, “The Delta”—explored the difficulties and traumas of love and how the best intentions can go sour.

Continue reading ‘Passages’ Trailer: Ira Sachs New Love Triangle Stars Adèle Exarchopoulos, Franz Rogowski & Ben Whishaw at The Playlist.

It is often said that the secret to becoming a successful entrepreneur is finding a need and filling it. When Santa Monica-based BondIt Media Capital launched in 2013, it zeroed in on the deposits productions must leave with SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE and other guilds to ensure that their members get paid in a timely fashion.

The company co-founders — CEO Matthew Helderman and COO Luke Taylor — knew from their experience working in the production trenches that these deposits, which sometimes take up to six months to be returned, can create a significant cash flow problem for low-budget projects during principal photography.

So they decided to offer a deal: producers would pay the unions, then BondIt would reimburse their cash outlay, minus a fee (typically 12%-15%), and collect the deposits when they were returned.

It wasn’t exciting, it wasn’t big-time, but it was a foot in the door.

“No other financiers...

Picturehouse and the non-profit Sundance Institute have announced the lineup of feature fiction and documentary films, a specially curated programme of UK-produced short

films and a Gregg Araki retrospective for the 10th edition of Sundance Film Festival: London 2023, taking place from 6 to 9 July at Picturehouse Central.

The Festival will present 11 feature films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Resort in January, specially curated for London by the Sundance Institute programming team in collaboration with Picturehouse. The festival will close on 9 July with the UK premiere of You Hurt My Feelings, from acclaimed filmmaker Nicole Holofcener. The Brooklyn-set comedy-drama stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies (The Crown) as a couple whose marriage is suddenly upended when she overhears his honest

reaction to her latest book.

The Festival previously announced that it will open on 6 July with the UK premiere of Scrapper,...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including an epic six-film series dedicated to the brand new restorations of the films of Nina Menkes. The slate also includes a Brian De Palma double bill with Obsession and Body Double as well as Paul Schrader’s Hardcore.

Additional highlights include the Andrea Riseborough-led Please Baby Please, three films by Eugene Kotlyarenko, a Ghost in the Shell double bill, and, ahead of their release of Passages later this year, Ira Sach’s Little Men.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

March 1 – Glass Life, directed by Sara Cwynar | Brief Encounters

March 2 – The Great Sadness of Zohara, directed by Nina Menkes | Phantom Cinema: The Films of Nina Menkes

March 3 – Please Baby Please, directed by Amanda Kramer | Mubi Spotlight

March 4 – Hardcore, directed by Paul Schrader

March 5 – Kedi, directed by Ceyda Torun

March 6 – Magdalena Viraga, directed by...

Fusion Entertainment has signed filmmaker Ira Sachs, actor Mya Taylor and writer-director-actor Jude Dry. The management company, which was founded this year by Chris Evans and Adam Kersh, hails the signings as an important step in bolstering their roster of LGBTQ+ talent.

Kersh and Sachs have had a long association, having worked together for a decade. Kersh helped spearhead the publicity campaigns for the Sachs’ queer-positive NYC triptych “Keep the Lights On” (2012), “Love Is Strange” (2014), and “Little Men” (2016). Sachs recently finished filming his latest feature “Passages,” which follows a gay couple living in Paris whose relationship is disrupted when one of them begins seeing a much younger woman. “Passages” stars Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw and Adèle Exarchopoulos.

Kersh also has a long history with Taylor, having been the chief architect of the publicity campaign for Sean Baker’s “Tangerine,” which served as Taylor’s film debut. Kersh also spearheaded the Oscar campaign for Taylor,...

Exclusive: New Line’s feature take of John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down has added three: J. Smith-Cameron, Poorna Jagannathan and Maliq Johnson. They’re joining previously announced Isabela Merced, Cree Cicchino, Felix Mallard and Judy Reyes in the HBO Max movie.

Smith-Cameron plays Professor Abbott, Jagannathan appears as Dr. Singh and Johnson portrays Mychal.

The pic tackles anxiety through its 17-year-old protagonist, Aza Holmes. It’s not easy being Aza, but she’s trying… trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis, her childhood crush, Aza is confronted with fundamental questions about her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope in the face of her mental illness. The book debuted as an instant No. 1 bestseller with rights sold in over 30 countries, and more than 2 million copies in print.

After going international with the Isabelle Huppert-led Frankie, it looks like American director Ira Sachs is continuing the trend with his next feature. The Love Is Strange and Little Men director has already begun shooting the project, titled Passages, and the cast has been announced today.

The trio of Franz Rogowski, Ben Whishaw, and Adèle Exarchopoulos will lead the project, as revealed by producer Saïd Ben Saïd, who is reteaming with Sachs after Frankie. Erwan Kepoa Falé is also part of the cast, his agency reported earlier this fall. Official plot details haven’t been disclosed, but Sachs did recently discuss the project.

“I’m working on a film called Passages about two men who’ve been together for fifteen years, and one of them has an affair with a woman,” Sachs told Outtake Mag. “It’s an intimacy triangle I’ll hopefully be shooting this year.” Rogowski recently starred in another gay drama,...

From an immersive look at female immigrants in 17th century Amsterdam to a forensic analysis of a pre-World War II home movie, approaching history from different angles is a key theme among the Dutch films selected for Venice’s 78th edition.

Running in Venice Days, “Three Minutes — A Lengthening” is a poetic documentary that centers around three minutes of home footage shot by David Kurtz in 1938, featuring the Jewish inhabitants of a Polish town before it was invaded by the Nazis.

From this footage a feature-length film emerges through former journalist and historical researcher Bianca Stigter’s analysis of the home movies’ subjects in a film that’s also bound for Toronto.

Stigter, the Dutch producer and partner of Steve McQueen, makes her directorial debut with this English-language film, narrated by British actress Helena Bonham Carter and produced by Family Affair Films, with McQueen’s Lammas Park coproducing.

Elsewhere “Angels...

Venice Film Festival’s industry programme runs September 2-10.

The Venice Production Bridge (Vpb) kicks off today (September 2) with double the number of physical attendees than 2020 in a sign the industry is getting to grips with business travel amid the pandemic.

The Venice Film Festival’s industry strand will welcome some 1,300 professionals, against 800 in 2020 and 2,700 in 2019, its last pre-pandemic edition.

“It’s mainly Europeans - the US, Latin America and Asia remain largely absent,” said Pascal Diotl who oversees the programme with Savina Neirotti.

With long-haul travel to Europe remaining complicated, the Vpb is running as a hybrid physical and...

Twelve Hours Shoots In New York

Exclusive: Filming is underway in New York on the sophomore feature from writer-director Bandar Albuliwi, whose 2013 debut Peace After Marriage starred Succession and Ramy actress Hiam Abbas. Starring are Adam Budron (Sundance 2020 entry Wild Indian), newcomer Emma Eudes, Mauricio Bustamante (Little Men) and Louis Anthony Arias (Uncut Gems). Albuliwi produces with Budron and Faruk Ozerten. Albuliwi, who is also working on U.S. projects Juliet and A Brotherhood, told us: “Twelve Hours is a tale of an accidental encounter between two former lovers that rekindles feelings that have been laying dormant all these years. Shooting the movie on location during the Covid-19 pandemic in NYC while taking extreme precautions has proven to be both exhilarating and challenging at the same time. Many people have come up to us on the street and have told us how happy they were to see a film production shooting once again,...

New films from Vincent Bal, Koen Mortier and Caroline Strubbe among 47 films at virtual showcase.

A new drama from Cannes award-winner Lukas Dhont (Girl) and a film produced in lockdown by Milo Rau are among 47 projects to be showcased at Re>Connext, the annual film and TV showcase run by Flanders Image.

The event, which serves as an export platform for film and TV drama made in Flanders, will run online from October 5-31 after the physical showcase was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Usually taking place over three days under the banner Connext, the virtual edition has been...

This Small Town: Ahn Aims for the Heart in Soulful Suburban Drama

Death acts as impetus in cinema, and in some cases characters must deal with what the dearly departed has left behind. Driveways is one of these stories, and finds its melancholic rhythms in the everyday humdrum of the Hudson Valley’s neighborhood streets. Along the lines of Kogonada’s Columbus and Ira Sach’s Little Men, as a quiet meditation on death, and from it, the blossoming of new friendship, Andrew Ahn’s follow up to Spa Night is in fact written by the team of Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, and the triumvirate of voices is beautifully expressed on screen through a diverse and talented cast.…...

HBO has released the first teaser trailer for its newest high-profile limited series, “I Know This Much Is True.” Ruffalo is serving double duty as he plays twin brothers, much like James Franco did in HBO’s “The Deuce.” Lest that seem like too much Ruffalo (if there is such a thing), the six-episode series boasts a stellar cast of fabulous actresses that includes Kathryn Hahn, Melissa Leo, Juliette Lewis, Archie Punjabi, Imogen Poots, and Rosie O’Donnell.

The series is based on the bestselling novel by Wally Lamb, and was adapted for the screen by Derek Cianfrance and Gina Prince-Bythewood. Cianfrance directs all six episodes as well. HBO will premiere “I Know This Much Is True” on April 27.

According to HBO, the series stars Ruffalo “as identical twin brothers Dominick and Thomas Birdsey in a family saga that follows their parallel lives in an epic story of betrayal, sacrifice and forgiveness.

New Indie

While I didn’t find Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” (Lionsgate/Mrc) as wonderful a whodunit as most audiences (and critics), I do cheer his evident love for the genre and his energy and enthusiasm in revitalizing the all-star murder mystery. (Give me a crisp new story like this over a thousand sludgy remakes like the recent “Murder on the Orient Express.”) And it’s a win for everyone when an original movie — not a sequel, not a remake, not a reboot, not an adaptation — becomes a much-talked-about hit. So let’s hear it for more fresh takes on beloved movie tropes.

Also available: Keep your indies straight — “The Wave” (Echo Wolf/Epic) features Justin Long on a psychedelic trip, while the critically acclaimed “Waves” (Lionsgate) is a powerful tale of race and family featuring powerhouse acting from Sterling K. Brown, Taylor Russell and Kelvin Harrison, Jr.; the...

If a mountain-climbing adventure like Everest or Vertical Limit removed its bombastic thrill-seeking setpieces and was instead directed with the patient, reverent eye of Apichatpong Weerasethakul one may conjure up something like The Mountains Are a Dream That Call to Me. Cedric Cheung-Lau, who established his career on the lighting teams of A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, The Mend, Little Men, and more notable indies, makes his feature directorial debut with this peaceful, meditative journey through the Annapurna Mountain range in Nepal. Compact in narrative scale, but as epic as one can imagine in terms of capturing the awe of the gorgeous environment our small set of characters traverse, the film is a meditative testament to appreciating one’s surroundings in all their glory.

Hannah (Alice Cummins) is a visitor from Australia in her twilight years on a journey of self-discovery. She encounters Tukten (Sanjaya Lama), a young...

Hulu is kicking off the new year with a mix of new and old movies and TV shows that will be added to the streaming service in January.

Reality series including “The Bachelor,” “Project Runway” will release this month, along with “Cooks vs. Cons” and “Cutthroat: Kitchen.”

On the film front, “13 Going on 30,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” “Forrest Gump” and “Little Miss Sunshine” are arriving early in January.

Several children’s classics will be added on the platform as well. “Dennis the Menace,” which stars a young Mason Gamble as a neighborhood hooligan, and the animated saga “An American Tail,” starring an adventurous mouse named Fievel, will be available to stream.

See a complete list of movies and TV shows coming to Hulu in January 2020:

Jan. 1

Bring It!: Season 4

Brockmire: Season 3

Damages

Deputy: Series Premiere

Divided States

Fox’s New Year’s Eve Special with Steve Harvey

Glam...

Hulu is out with its list of everything new coming in January, as well as everything that’s leaving at the end of the month.

Highlights include the Season 24 premiere of “The Bachelor,” available the day after it airs first on ABC — so Jan. 7 for Hulu subscribers. Get ready to see Peter Weber in all his glory.

“Homeland” Seasons 6 and 7 will be available Jan. 10, following CIA officer Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) and her mentor, Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin).

Also Read: 'The Bachelor' Goes Retro in Cheesy 70s-Themed Promo (Video)

U.K.’s “Love Island” Season 6 will premiere on Jan. 20, sans Caroline Flack. The second seasons of “Lodge 49” and “Shrill” premiere Jan. 13 and the 24th respectively.

Leaving on Jan. 31 are “The Fantastic Four,” “Crazy For Christmas,” and a handful of others.

Here’s the full list of everything coming and going to and from Hulu in January.

Also...

Ira Sachs overflows with knowledge about all the great filmmakers known and forgotten — Maurice Pialat, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Eric Rohmer. Sachs’ own kind of slow, patient-to-dissolve cinema belongs exactly in his forebears’ camp, where actors and performance come before style.

But that filmmaking comes with its own challenges, and his latest hasn’t been the easiest ride. Nevertheless, in an interview in Los Angeles last week, Sachs said that with his new film “Frankie,” the film’s tepid reception at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival actually benefited the movie as he came to grips with his specific profile as a filmmaker.

Screen icon Isabelle Huppert shines in the lead role, a woman with terminal cancer who has chosen to spend her final hours assembling friends and family, estranged or not, at a Portuguese villa in the doomed hopes of resolving their individual life crises.

Directed in a static-camera, theatrical style heavy...

The family vacation gone awry is such a routinely fraught, fruitful dramatic setup that it practically qualifies as its own genre. Yet while various horror films might bring external threats into proceedings, Chilean helmer Jorge Riquelme Serrano’s exceptionally poised, frozen-hearted “Some Beasts” finds all the danger it needs in the family itself: a well-to-do clan of urbanites who, once detached from the mainland on a remote island getaway, abandon all semblance of civility to escalatingly violent, abusive effect. — Riquelme Serrano’s sophomore film will divide audiences, not all of whom will gladly stomach its most extreme scenes of sexual assault and emotional cruelty.

While international distributors weigh up the risks and rewards of the project, “Some Beasts” should continue to be a festival-circuit talking point, with its profile boosted by the presence of leading Chilean thesps Paulina Garcia and Alfredo Castro atop the ensemble. They alone make the film...

"People seldom say 'no' to Frankie." Sony Classics has debuted the new full-length trailer for Frankie, the latest film from acclaimed American indie filmmaker Ira Sachs. This premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and they originally put out a teaser trailer just before that festival to build up some buzz. Frankie is set in the lovely town of Sintra, Portugal outside of Lisbon, where a number of palaces and castles are nestled on a hillside. The story follows three generations grappling with a life-changing experience during one day of a vacation. Starring Isabelle Huppert, along with Brendan Gleeson, Marisa Tomei, Greg Kinnear, Jérémie Renier, Vinette Robinson, with Carloto Cotta, Ariyon Bakare, and Sennia Nanua. I very much like the way this film looks and feels, so light and fresh yet it's so deeply moving and tough in its heart. This one is worth a watch. Here's the...

He started out as a TV host in the ’90s, but Greg Kinnear quickly made the transition to leading man thanks to legendary directors like Sydney Pollack and James L. Brooks investing in his acting talent. An Oscar nomination for As Good As It Gets followed, and he’s been making movies ever since, Little Miss Sunshine, Auto Focus, Little Men, to name just a few. This Summer he has three movies out — Brian Banks, The Red Sea Diving Resort (Netflix), and Phil, which he also directed. In this episode, we discuss the importance of tone, his penchant for playing […]...

He started out as a TV host in the ’90s, but Greg Kinnear quickly made the transition to leading man thanks to legendary directors like Sydney Pollack and James L. Brooks investing in his acting talent. An Oscar nomination for As Good As It Gets followed, and he’s been making movies ever since, Little Miss Sunshine, Auto Focus, Little Men, to name just a few. This Summer he has three movies out — Brian Banks, The Red Sea Diving Resort (Netflix), and Phil, which he also directed. In this episode, we discuss the importance of tone, his penchant for playing […]...

Film sales heated up on the Croisette as the Cannes Film Festival entered its second week.

On Monday, Fox Searchlight snapped up the U.S. rights, along with some international rights, to Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life,” selling for $14 million, according to THR.

The deal is one of the largest of the festival so far, and it was a result of a heated bidding war that also included Netflix and Paramount, according to an individual with knowledge.

In Monday’s report, we mentioned that the film was heralded as a beautiful, poetic return to form for Malick, who is back at Cannes after winning the Palme d’Or for “The Tree of Life” back in 2011. August Diehl stars in the film about a World War II conscientious objector in Austria who refused to fight for the Nazis. The film is told in English and German, and Matthias Schoenaerts, Valerie Pachner,...

Isabelle Huppert sleepwalks through a film that proves even great directors are capable of crimes against cinema

Even the very best film-makers can lay an egg sometimes. And Ira Sachs has laid one so big that the walls of the Palais des Festivals may have be knocked down so it can be safely removed. This really is baffling, considering how superb his other movies have been, such as his complex drama Little Men (2016) and the wonderful lifelong-romance story Love Is Strange (2014).

Related: Young Ahmed review – subtle and timely tale of radicalisation...

As a filmmaker, Ira Sachs, the director of “Love Is Strange,” “Little Men,” and (his masterpiece) “Keep the Lights On,” is like a flower that keeps sprouting new tendrils, growing ever more beautiful and complicated and delicate. His new movie, “Frankie,” may the closest that anyone has come to making an American version of an Eric Rohmer film. I say that having long compared Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise” and its sequels to Rohmer (and make no mistake: all three of the “Before” films are marvelous). But “Frankie,” even more exactingly, re-creates the deceptively casual and meandering but pinpoint Rohmeresque sensation of a small handful of characters wandering around, not doing much of anything but revealing, through conversation and (occasionally) through action, who they are and how, almost imperceptibly, over the course of one movie, they might change.

“Frankie” is a film made with immaculate craftsmanship (and one non-Rohmer element:...

Ira Sachs has chronicled the lives, loves, tragedies, and triumphs of New Yorkers in “Love is Strange” and “Little Men.” But in “Frankie,” his upcoming drama about three generations of a family, he leaves the Big Apple behind to shoot in the mountainside town of Sintra, Portugal. The film stars a truly global cast, including Marisa Tomei, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, and Isabelle Huppert. Sony Classics has already picked up the drama. It also marks his first time premiering a movie at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Frankie” takes place in Portugal. That seems like a departure from your recent films, which are such New York City stories.

It’s certainly set in a different location, but the focus and interests around relationships and intimacy are very similar. European cinema has always been the most significant to me as a guiding post, so it was wonderful to be working in that community.

"My mother thinks she knows everything..." Sbs Distribution has debuted the first official trailer, more of a teaser trailer / sizzle reel, for the film Frankie, the latest from acclaimed American filmmaker Ira Sachs. This is premiering at the Cannes Film Festival playing In Competition later this month, and it looks incredibly promising. Easily one of my most anticipated films of the festival. Frankie is set in the lovely town of Sintra, Portugal outside of Lisbon, where a number of palaces and castles are nestled on a hillside. The story follows three generations grappling with a life-changing experience during one day of a vacation. Starring Isabelle Huppert, along with Brendan Gleeson, Marisa Tomei, Greg Kinnear, Jérémie Renier, Vinette Robinson, with Carloto Cotta, Ariyon Bakare, and Sennia Nanua. This is such gorgeous footage, I have a very good feeling about this. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Ira ...

As Cannes approaches, one of our most-anticipated of the festival is Ira Sachs’ new drama Frankie, and today brings a new look with a batch of images. Written by Mauricio Zaccharias and Sachs, the film stars Isabelle Huppert, Marisa Tomei, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Jérémie Renier, Ariyon Bakare, and André Wilms. Ahead of the premiere, Sony Pictures Classics have also acquired the film for a release in North America, Eastern Europe (including Cis), Scandinavia, the Middle East, South Africa, Spain, and India. Check out a synopsis below.

Three generations of a European family come together in the fabled town of Sintra, Portugal, for one last vacation before the family matriarch faces the next, and last, chapter of her life. Over the course of one crisp October day, the fairy tale setting brings about everyone’s most romantic impulses, revealing both cracks between them, as well as unexpected depth of feeling.

Maintaining Chile’s protracted awards honeymoon with international festivals, Jorge Riqeulme’s “Some Beasts,” starring Alfredo Castro and Paulina Garcia, swept Toulouse’s 35th Films in Progress, a pix-in-post competition which also serves as a traditional launch-pad for selection at the Cannes Festival.

“Some Beasts” won three of the four prizes on offer: Toulouse Films in Progress Prize; the Cine Plus Films in Progress Prize and the Distributors and Exhibitors Prize.

Mactari awarded its Sound Prize to “Ceniza negra,” from Argentine-Costa Rican Sofía Quirós.

“Some Beasts” stars maybe the two most best-known of Chilean actors: Castro, a Pablo Larraín regular seen last year in Alfonso Ruizpalacios’ Berlin winner “Museo”; and García, a Berlin best actress winner for “Gloria,” from Academy Award winning director Sebastián Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”), which inspired his 2018 remake, “Gloria Bell,” with Julianne Moore. García also appeared in Ira Sachs’ “Little Men,” and, like Castro, “Narcos.”

A...

Portuguese actor Pêpê Rapazote is toplining Argentine helmer-scribe Leonardo Brzezicki’s second feature, “Almost in Love.”

The father-daughter drama is the third collaboration between Argentine shingle Ruda Cine and Rodrigo Teixeira’s Rt Features of Brazil, a co-producer of such stellar titles as “Call Me by Your Name,” “Little Men,” “Patti Cake$” and “Frances Ha.”

Derk-Jan Warrink and Koji Nelissen from Holland’s Keplerfilm have also boarded the film as co-producers.

The co-production comes at a time when Argentina, Brazil and other beleaguered countries in the region are refocusing or cutting back on their support for cinema, if not the arts. Banding together has been the best way for Latino producers to overcome – the hopefully temporary – setback in state funding.

“Almost in Love” follows an angst-ridden father, Santiago, whose emotional crisis is exacerbated by a complex and intense relationship with his teenage daughter who seeks to break free from him.

French producer Saïd Ben Saïd unveiled a new title, poster and release date via Twitter for Ira Sachs’ next movie starring Isabelle Huppert. Previously titled A Family Vacation, Sach’s upcoming pic now goes by the name of Frankie. The pic is set to open in France September 25.

The family drama, written by Sachs and his longtime co-writer Mauricio Zacharias, is about three generations grappling with a life-changing experience during one day of a vacation in Sintra, Portugal, a historic town known for its dense gardens and fairy-tale villas and palaces.

Saïd released the Paul Verhoeven-directed Elle which also starred Huppert, earning her a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination. He is also producing Verhoeven’s upcoming Benedetta.

Frankie also stars Marisa Tomei, Greg Kinnear, Jérémie Renier, André Wilms, Brendan Gleeson, and Ariyon Bakare. The film marks Sachs’ first time working outside the U.

It’s a wonderful thing to be proven wrong after declaring a little-known character actor to have had a once-in-a-career moment — when that unforeseen breakthrough merely paves the way for an unexpectedly fruitful career. So it is with Chile’s Paulina Garcia, whose vibrant late-career performance in 2013’s “Gloria” turned out to be a fixed bolt from the blue, its reverberations running the gamut from TV’s “Narcos” to Ira Sachs’ “Little Men.” Now, in Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato’s wistfully gorgeous miniature “The Desert Bride,” it has a true and worthy companion piece.

Another story of middle-aged female loneliness and displacement, Atán and Pivato’s anecdote-scaled film is presented through a quieter, more fragile narrative prism than “Gloria’s,” as a repressed domestic worker’s unplanned pit stop en route to a new job opens the narrowest of windows onto a new life altogether. It’s a loving...

After teaming up with Robert Eggers for his renowned 2015 film, The Witch, Rt Features and A24 will reunite with the visionary filmmaker for his next movie, a horror fantasy film called The Lighthouse, starring Robert Pattinson:

Press Release: (Los Angeles, CA) February 15, 2018 - Rt Features and A24 announced today they will reteam with Robert Eggers on The Lighthouse, the renowned filmmaker’s eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Witch. The new project is a fantasy horror story set in the world of old sea-faring myths, and will go into production this spring. Robert Pattinson, coming off his highly touted performance for Good Time, has joined the project.

The script was written by Robert Eggers and Max Eggers. Rt Features’ Rodrigo Teixeira and Lourenço Sant’ Anna developed the project with Eggers and will produce, alongside Parts & Labor’s Jay Van Hoy, and Youree Henley. A24 acquired worldwide rights and will distribute the film in the U.

Better than ever, now in its seventh year, the spectacular program with its filmmaking guests and a committed community of dedicated and intellectually alive filmgoers invigorates the mind and activist tendencies already in play.

Take for instance, University of Arizona Professor Noam Chomsky, one of the most influential public intellectuals in the world, speaking with Regents’ Professor Toni Massaro about social justice and the environment. Here he is, in person, being honored as every word he speaks is treated as a jewel. Considered the founder of modern linguistics, Chomsky has written more than 100 books, his most recent being Requiem for the American Dream: The 10 Principles of Concentration of Wealth & Power. An ardent free speech advocate, Chomsky has published and lectured widely on U.S. foreign policy, Mideast politics, terrorism, democratic society and war. Chomsky, who joined the UA faculty this fall, is a laureate professor in the Department of...

The manhunt for one of the most infamous criminals in history rages on when Narcos: Season 2 arrives on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD) and DVD September 5 from Lionsgate. Unforeseen alliances form between Colombian authorities, rival cartels, and DEA agents to put an end to Pablo Escobar’s ruthless activities. Renewed for two more seasons, the Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh series continues to raise stakes and heart-pounding thrills. Loaded with never-before-seen deleted scenes, an audio commentary, and featurette, the Narcos: Season 2 Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $29.97 and $29.98, respectively.

After drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from prison, the Colombian police, rival cartels, and DEA agents try to take him down in the explosive second season of the hit series.

Blu-ray/Digital HD/DVD Special Features

Audio Commentary with Director Andrés Baiz, Producer Eric Newman, and Actor Wagner Moura “Unredacted: Declassifying Narcos: Season Two...

Exclusive: Producer talks Lapid’s latest; further projects with Mendonça Filho, Verhoeven, Jaoui and Sachs.

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid [pictured] is gearing up for the shoot of his long-gestating Paris-set feature Synonyms in Paris this autumn with emerging compatriot actor Tom Mercier in the lead role.

“It will film this November and December,” said lead producer Saïd Ben Saïd of Paris-based Sbs Productions.

Ben Saïd is at Jerusalem Film Festival as a member of the Israeli Feature Competition jury and with Philippe Garrel’s Lover For A Day, which is playing in the International Competition.

He took over as lead producer of the project from Anne-Dominique Toussaint of Les Films des Tournelles in late 2016.

“We’re friends, it was an amicable deal. Anne-Dominique was tied up in other projects so I took over the production,” explained Ben Saïd, who will also handle international sales and French distribution.

The project, which originally had the working title Micro Robert after the...

The cast of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” includes no shortage of famous faces, including two Oscar nominees and two full-on Oscar winners. But anyone paying close attention while watching this weekend’s box office winner might have noticed a number of other familiar faces. In fact, director Jon Watts has packed nearly every small supporting role he could with a niche comedian or former child star on the verge of adulthood.

Read More: How ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Star Jacob Batalon Went From College Dropout to Blockbuster Star

So below is our guide to the various notable characters that Peter Parker (Tom Holland) encounters over the course of the film, and where else you have seen them before.

Donald Glover

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” Role: Aaron Davis, a local criminal who, it’s been said, is canonically the uncle of Miles Morales, who in the comics eventually becomes Spider-Man. (This is a nice nod to a...

Despite the fundamental truth that art is, at the most elemental level, unnecessary to survival, its unequivocal power to reward the soul and imagination proves undeniable across every culture and time period. This conviction was recently put to the ultimate test when it comes to the third launch of a Spider-Man in this infantile century, and particularly under the circumstances: crammed into a roster-heavy franchise threequel in a cinematic universe that, at the time, already spanned 13 films. While the neighborhood’s friendliest superhero was merely a blip in Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland is now getting a proper introduction with his own feature, and, against all odds, it just about works. Despite succumbing to the seemingly inescapable monotony that pervades most final setpieces in this genre, the film exudes a charismatic quality of nimble fun with its playful direction and lighthearted lead performance.

Despite what the Robert Downey Jr.

Exclusive: Second edition of event hosted with Greece’s Faliro House will support filmmakers from the region.

The participants for the second edition of the Faliro House Sundance Institute Mediterranean Screenwriters Workshop have been revealed.

The workshop, a collaboration between the Sundance Institute and Christos V Konstantakopoulos’ Greek production company Faliro House, supports emerging filmmakers from Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Cyprus (last year’s event is pictured above).

The five-day workshop, held in Costa Navarino, Greece from July 3-9, gives eight filmmakers the chance to work on their feature film scripts with advisors.

The advisors include filmmaker Gyula Gazdag, artistic director for the Sundance Institute in the Us, Lisa Cholodenko (Olive Kitteridge, The Kids Are Alright), Julie Delpy (Before Midnight, 2 Days In Paris), Jeff Nichols (Loving, Take Shelter), recent Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund (The Square, Force Majeure), Ira Sachs (Little Men, Love Is Strange), Zach Sklar (JFK), Eva Stefani (Bathers, Acropolis) and Athina Rachel Tsangari...

Emmanuelle Bercot will preside over the Revelation jury.

Michel Hazanavicius, director of The Artist, will preside over the jury at the 43rd Deauville American Film Festival.

The jury will hand out the grand prize and jury prize at the event, which is based in the Normandy seaside resort.

“I’m extremely moved and honoured to preside over this year’s Jury of the Deauville American Film Festival,” said Hazanavicius.

“Like half the planet, I was in part raised on American cinema and I am looking forward to spending these 10 days of binge-watching the latest output. In cinema we trust!”

Hazanavicius’ latest film Redoubtable was in official competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Actress, writer and director Emmanuelle Bercot, whose 2015 film Standing Tall opened the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, will preside over the Revelation jury which honours an up-and-coming director.

She said: “As a great lover of all things American, I am delighted...

04.27.17: This list is now final. While I may in the future see additional films that were released in the awards year of 2016, no more films will be added to this list. (I may add links to reviews of films listed here.)

This ranking includes only new theatrical releases viewed for the awards year of 2016 (for eligibility for the Academy Awards and the Ofcs and Awfj awards); some films released in the UK without Us releases (and so ineligible for those awards this year) may also be included, for my own bookkeeping purposes. Links go to my review. Numbers after each entry are Date First Viewed/NYC Release Date/London Release Date; year is 2016 unless otherwise noted.

worth paying multiplex prices for

[5 stars]

Arrival (10.10/11.11/11.10)

La La Land (10.07/12.09/01.13.17)

A Monster Calls (10.06/12.23/01.01.17)

The Lobster (07.16.15/05.13/10.16.15)

Zootropolis (aka Zootopia) (02.22/03.04/03.25)

A Bigger Splash (10.08.15/05.04/02.12)

Miss Sloane (11.20/11.25/05.12.17)

London Road (06.03.15/09.09/06.12.15)

The Girl with All the Gifts (07.26/02.24.17/09.23)

I, Daniel Blake...

Greg Kinnear is ready to tickle the ivories.

The Little Men actor is set to star in Piano Lessons, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Todd Garner and John Shestack are producing the drama, which will be directed by Ken Kwapis. David Diamond and David Weissman penned the script, which also includes three strong female roles yet to be cast.

The film stars Kinnear as a lawyer who goes to great lengths to save his relationship. After 20 years of marriage, he aims to prove his love to his wife, a music lover, by taking piano lessons from a free-spirited female teacher to learn...

Joint initiative between San Sebastián and Cinélatino-Rencontres de Toulouse has selected six films from 198 applications.

Six films have been selected for the 31st edition of Films in Progress (March 23-24), the works in progress initiative between Cinélatino-Rencontres de Toulouse and the San Sebastián Film Festival.

Scroll down for selection

The selection includes Los Perros, by Chilean director Marcela Said whose fiction debut The Summer of the Flying Fish [pictured] premiered in Cannes Director’s Fortnight in 2013.

A Latin American and European co-production (Chile-France-Argentina-Portugal-Germany), Los Perros stars Pablo Larraín regulars Alfredo Castro and Antonia Zegers. The story revolves around a bourgeois married woman who feels attracted to her horse-riding instructor, a former military man with a dark past who was involved with Chile’s Pinochet regime.

Alongside Marcela Said, a number of other women directors are involved in this year selection.

Making their feature debut are Argentinian filmmakers Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, who will co-direct...

The 32nd Independent Spirit Awards took place on Feb. 25 in Los Angeles. Many Oscar contenders — such as “Moonlight” and “Manchester by the Sea” — were nominated alongside smaller titles such as “American Honey” and “Chronic,” making for a truly unpredictable show.

Read More: 2017 Independent Spirit Awards: Who Will Win and Who Should Win — Critics Survey

The full list of nominees is below, with winners in bold.

Best Feature

“Moonlight”

“American Honey”

“Chronic”

“Jackie”

“Manchester by the Sea”

Best Director

Barry Jenkins –”Moonlight”

Andrea Arnold –”American Honey”

Pablo Larraín –”Jackie”

Jeff Nichols –”Loving”

Kelly Reichardt –”Certain Women”

Best Male Lead

Casey Affleck –”Manchester by the Sea” as Lee Chandler

David Harewood –”Free in Deed” as Abe Wilkins

Viggo Mortensen –”Captain Fantastic” as Ben Cash

Jesse Plemons –”Other People” as David Mulcahey

Tim Roth –”Chronic” as David Wilson

Best Female Lead

Isabelle Huppert –”Elle” as Michèle Leblanc

Annette Bening –”20th Century Women” as...

A24’s drama – and the distributor itself – enjoyed a huge Saturday afternoon at Film Independent’s 32nd annual Spirit Awards ceremony on the beach in Santa Monica.

Best feature winner Moonlight won six awards and took the plaudits on an afternoon that also sends best director winner Barry Jenkins to Sunday’s Oscars in high spirits and recognised Friday night’s César winner Isabelle Huppert for Elle and Casey Affleck for Manchester By The Sea in the lead acting categories.

Besides best feature and director, Moonlight won screenplay for Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, cinematography for James Laxton, and editing for Joi McMillon and Nat Sanders.

The film started the ceremony as joint frontrunner with American Honey on six nominations and converted all six, including the previously announced Robert Altman Award. American Honey went away empty-handed.

It was a triumphant afternoon for A24, which made its first financing foray on Moonlight and also distributed Robert Eggers’s first...

We may be two months into 2017, but this weekend feels like the time to finally bring 2016’s year in film to a close. With that in mind, at one of the independent film world’s biggest annual gatherings, we took the opportunity to ask some of this year’s nominees what they’d like to see in the months to come. Some spoke about their personal projects, while others looked toward the industry as a whole.

Overall, the consensus of the day’s honorees centered on inclusion. Regardless of the people behind these films, they all recognized the opportunity for film to showcase a wider view of the world.

Read More: 2017 Independent Spirit Awards: Full Winners List — Updating Live

Below are selected comments from our conversations with this year’s nominees.

Lily Gladstone, “Certain Women”

“This is the year of ‘Moonlight,’ so everything is going to be different after this.