News

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (known as PÖFF) has unveiled the full lineup of its flagship Official Selection, whose 18 features from 23 countries will compete for the coveted €20,000 Grand Prix.

They include 11 world premieres. The jury is helmed by acclaimed German director Christoph Hochhäusler.

Tiina Lokk, the founder and director of the festival, said “the Official Selection Competition has it all! There’s a psycho-thriller that approaches horror, a psychological family drama, and sci-fi genre is represented. The selection is broad, and so is the range of countries. We’re not trying to highlight a certain theme or a particular region, we are free in our choices,” she noted.

Emphasizing the various topics covered, Lokk cites old age, the end of life and euthanasia “perhaps due to the influence of Covid,” domestic violence and war, “not tackled in the traditional form” but rather via psychological dramas.

“Last year there were...

You probably remember one thing about the Swiss folk hero William Tell: He used a bow and arrow to shoot an apple off the head of his son. But did you know that he did so on the orders of a cruel Austrian leader who wanted to quell any resistance to that country’s onerous occupation of Switzerland? Or that he became a leader of the Swiss resistance?

If you don’t remember the backstory to the bow, the boy and the apple, Irish director Nick Hamm’s “William Tell” is here to remind you, and to add a few of its own embellishments to the centuries-old folk tale. The film is big, brutal and beautiful — over the top at times and stirring at others. It finds modern resonance in a 14th century European legend, and for better and worse it also turns that legend into a slam-bang bit of muscular Hollywood-style entertainment.

Ahead of its Tuesday world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to Nick Hamm’s resistance epic, “William Tell,” the company announced.

The medieval action-drama stars Claes Bang. The film was written and directed by Hamm.

Inspired by the legendary tale, Bang takes on the role of William Tell, a noble huntsman whose peaceful life is shattered when the ruthless Austrian Empire invades his homeland of Switzerland. Unwilling to bend the knee before his country’s oppressors, Tell is thrust into a perilous trial, one that draws him and his family into the epicenter of a revolution that will shape the destiny of his nation.

“Nick did an amazing job with this historical epic, we’re incredibly excited to bring this legendary story to the big screen” Samuel Goldwyn Films president Peter Goldwyn said in a Tuesday statement.

Producers Piers Tempest and...

Monica Sorelle’s Mountains is a film about work that nonetheless champions leisure. As Esperance (Sheila Anozier) suggests to her husband Xavier (Atibon Nazaire), “If work was a good thing, the rich would have taken it for themselves.” Mountains interprets leisure not so much as the opposite of work or struggle, but a stance that can and should suffuse each moment of life, not discounting those we sell to make a living.

Xavier and Esperance are Haitian immigrants living with their adult son, Junior (Chris Renoir), in Miami’s rapidly gentrifying Little Haiti neighborhood. Whether recompensed or not, each has their work: Xavier is a demolition worker, Esperance a crossing guard and dressmaker, and Junior, to the consternation of his parents, aspires to be stand-up comedian. An incident of on-the-job racism, complicated in that it involves a Cuban immigrant (Yaniel Castillo) tussling with Xavier’s Black American coworker (Roscoè B. Thické III...

William Jackson Harper has joined the cast of “The Morning Show” Season 4 at Apple TV+, Variety has learned.

Harper will appear alongside series leads Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston and fellow new cast members Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, and. Aaron Pierre. Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Greta Lee, Jon Hamm, and Nicole Beharie also star.

Harper will play the role of Ben, described as “the network’s self-assured and innovative Head of Sports.”

Harper is perhaps best known for his role in the critically-acclaimed NBC comedy series “The Good Place,” for which he received an Emmy nomination for best supporting actor in a comedy in 2020. Harper recently appeared in the Netflix limited series “A Man in Full” and has also starred in shows like “Love Life” and “The Resort.” In film, he has starred in features like “Midsommar,” “Dark Waters,” and “Paterson.” In theater, Harper was recently...

Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days suggests a kind of spring cleaning for the German filmmaker. The elaborate concepts and charged iconographies of The American Friend, Paris, Texas, and Wings of Desire are nowhere to be seen here. Wenders aims for simplicity with Perfect Days, following a middle-aged man, Hirayama (Yakusho Kôji), as he goes about his day cleaning Tokyo’s toilets, taking pictures of trees, listening to classic rock and pop, reading classic literature, and savoring the humble sources of day-to-day affirmation that we tend to take for granted.

Hirayama’s humility is the gauntlet that Wenders has thrown down for himself. Perfect Days wants to be an invitingly human movie that homes in intensely on the little moments of a man’s life so as to unearth universal truths. There’s a bit of Vittorio de Sica’s micro-texture-minded sensibility swimming around in it, and the impression that Wenders...

Jim Jarmusch is back behind the camera after five years.

The auteur has formally announced his latest film “Father Mother Sister Brother,” his first since 2019’s “The Dead Don’t Die.” Jarmusch is reuniting with “The Dead Don’t Die” and “Paterson” actor Adam Driver, who is also leading Francis Ford Coppola’s buzzy Cannes debut “Megalopolis,” as well as his “Coffee & Cigarettes” star Cate Blanchett and frequent collaborator Tom Waits.

“Father Mother Sister Brother” is described as an anthology film following three separate stories centered on strained relationships between adult children and their parents. Each of the trio of plotlines take place in different countries: “Father” is set in the Northeast U.S., “Mother” takes place in Dublin, Ireland, and “Sister Brother” is based in Paris, France.

The film is a “series of character studies, quiet, observational and non-judgmental. A comedy, but interwoven with threads of melancholy,” the synopsis continues.

Vicky Krieps,...

Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Tom Waits, Charlotte Rampling, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat have joined the cast of Jim Jarmusch’s anticipated next film, “Father Mother Sister Brother.”

They’re joining Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps, who were previously rumored to be starring after being photographed on set. “Father Mother Sister Brother” recently wrapped production in Paris following shoots in Dublin, Ireland and in the Northeastern U.S. Post-production has begun New York, and the film is expected to be finished later this year.

“Father Mother Sister Brother” is a triptych, following three separate stories set in different countries and revolving around relationships between adult children, their somewhat distant parents and each other. The first part, “Father,” is set in the east coast in Northeastern U.S., “Mother” in Dublin, Ireland, and “Sister Brother” in Paris, France.

Possibly one of Jarmusch’s most personal films, “Father Mother Sister Brother” is...

Neon, the Oscar-winning distributor of “Parasite,” is getting back in business with “Titane” director Julia Ducournau.

In one of the first big rights deals of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the studio announced it has acquired North American territories for Ducournau’s “Alpha.” Plot details were not immediately disclosed, except that the film will be “genre-defying.” Neon previously released Ducournau’s acclaimed “Titane,” which won Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, in 2021. She is only the second woman director to do so, following Jane Campion for “The Piano.”

“Alpha” will star Golshifteh Farahani and Tahar Rahim.

Producers are Jean des Forêts and Amelie Jacquis of Petit Film, and Eric and Nicolas Altmayer of Mandarin & Compagnie. Frakas Productions is co-producing. Charades and FilmNation Entertainment are handling global sales. The Neon deal was negotiated by its president of acquisitions and production Jeff Deutchman, with Charades’ Carole Baraton and FilmNation...

FilmNation and Charades are teaming up to present “Alpha,” the new film from Julia Ducournau, to buyers at Cannes.

It’s the same place where Ducournau caused a sensation with 2021’s “Titane,” her subversive and divisive body horror film, which won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top award. Ducournau became the second female director to win the award, following Jane Campion (“The Piano”). “Anatomy of a Fall” director Justine Triet would become the third female winner in 2023. Ducournau’s other films include 2016’s “Raw,” a coming-of-age film about a young vegetarian who develops a taste for cannibalism.

“Alpha’s” cast includes Golshifteh Farahani, who appeared in “The Patience Stone” and “Paterson,” as well as César award-winning Tahar Rahim, best known for his work in “The Mauritanian,” “A Prophet” and “The Serpent.”

“‘Alpha’ is Julia’s most personal, profound work yet, and we are looking forward to a global...

Leading French production-distribution outfit Le Pacte has boarded the upcoming 2D animated feature project “Conference of the Birds,” which will be spotlighted at the Marché du Film’s Animation Day during this year’s Cannes Festival.

In addition to co-producing, Le Pacte will handle French distribution and serve as international sales agent on the film, part of the five-title Annecy Showcase at the Animation Day. Confirmed voice cast members include Golshifteh Farahani and Louis Garrel.

“Conference of the Birds” is an updated adaptation of Farid al-Din Attar’s 900-year-old Persian poem of the same name. The film centers on a flock of birds who are the sole survivors of a man-made natural disaster. Leading the avian gang is Hod-Hod, a young adventurous hoopoe who sets off on a quest to meet the legendary bird Simorgh, rumored to hold the key to solving all the birds’ problems.

According to the filmmakers,...

I sat in silence for a while after finishing Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days and then ended up on Spotify, searching for the film’s soundtrack. The latter is ironically funny, given our lead, Mr. Hirayama, doesn’t have a clue what “Spotify” is. The man lives in 2023, but he belongs to an old world. On the surface, Wender’s Japanese drama appears to be a celebration of the mundane, much like Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, but underneath the surface, there lie layers of melancholy, heartbreak, and hope. It’s also a portrayal of working-class people, something that we saw very recently in Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves, but the treatment is much different here. Wender’s signature style, which involves a lot of silence, cynicism, and the use of striking imagery as tools of storytelling, fits this story and its central character perfectly.

Spoilers Ahead

Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Movie?...

As we’ve said over the past few years, the films being produced by the students at the London Film School are always an apt barometer for the standard of budding filmmakers based across the UK and Europe. The school offers its cohort industry-leading tuition alongside professional equipment to make great work but both those elements are nothing if you don’t have a strong idea and a talented filmmaker to utilise them. Fortunately, as demonstrated in this year’s graduate showcase, the crop of promising talent and fresh ideas are in abundance. It’s been incredibly tricky to narrow down the shorts this year into a tight list of ten as the standard across the board was so high so if you’re able to get across to the BFI Southbank this week (22nd – 26th January 2024) to catch the programme in its entirety, you won’t regret it. However,...

Exclusive: A surprise project has emerged to whet the appetites of hungry international buyers at next week’s American Film Market: Kevin Costner’s big-budget Warner Bros Western Horizon: An American Saga.

The two-part project is being sold to international buyers by recently rebooted German-based sales firm K5 International.

Chapters 1 and 2 of Horizon have been set by New Line to open domestically in cinemas on June 28, 2024, and August 16, 2024, respectively. That strong theatrical commitment is something that will appeal to international buyers, and some we’ve spoken with are already enthused about getting a sighter at a big-budget movie from an Oscar winner like Costner, even if prices are inevitably high.

We hear that Costner himself will likely take a view on offers in major territories, which isn’t unusual for an A-list director-producer working on a passion project, especially given that he has reportedly put a chunk of his own money into it.

First-look images have been unveiled for Beta Cinema, Free Turn Films and Tempo Productions take on ‘William Tell,’ focusing on the the epic story of the legendary crossbow-wielding warrior.

Amidst this backdrop, William Tell, a formerly peaceful hunter, finds himself forced to take action as his family and homeland come under dire threat from the oppressive Austrian King and his ruthless warlords. Leading his fellow countrymen, Tell embarks on a courageous rebellion to defend their liberty and stand against the oppressive forces that seek to subjugate them.

Also in news – Martin Scorsese on working with the Osage Community, Robert Di Niro & Leonardo DiCaprio on ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Written by Nick Hamm, adapted from Friedrich Schiller’s world-renowned classical play. The narrative unfolds in the 14th Century amidst the waning days of the Holy Roman Empire where Europe’s nations fiercely vie for supremacy and the ambitious Austrians, desiring more land,...

The first look images of “William Tell,” the epic story of the crossbow-wielding warrior, have been released. The feature film is in its last week of principal photography in Italy. Beta Cinema is representing international sales rights with WME Independent handling North American rights.

Nick Hamm directs, based on his screenplay, adapted from Friedrich Schiller’s play. Hamm’s credits include “Driven,” which was selected as the closing film at the Venice Film Festival 2018 and released by Universal; “Gigi & Nate” (2022); the Netflix series “White Lines” (2020); and “The Journey,” which premiered at Venice and Toronto in 2016.

The film stars Claes Bang, Connor Swindells, Ellie Bamber, Golshifteh Farahani, Jonah Hauer-King, Rafe Spall, Emily Beecham, Academy-Award nominee Jonathan Pryce and Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley.

The story unfolds in the 14th century amid the waning days of the Holy Roman Empire, when Europe’s nations fiercely vie for supremacy and the ambitious Austrians,...

"The windshield wiper blade starts to squeak. The rain has stopped." Don't forget your seatbelt. Enjoy this mesmerizing supercut video featuring "Adam Driver Driving". Edited by the talented Luís Azevedo, this supercut was released by Little White Lies and is meant to be a tie-in with the upcoming release of Ferrari. Believe it or not, 39-year-old actor Adam Driver has been in tons of films where he's driving. This features footage from: "Girls", White Noise, The Dead Don't Die, House of Gucci, This Is Where I Leave You, Logan Lucky, Paterson, While We're Young, and BlacKkKlansman. I love that he includes one of his poems from Paterson (one of my all-time faves) and the way he integrates the back-and-forth Gucci convo. Hilarious. Another great supercut from Azevedo, always editing some of the best cinema videos on YouTube nowadays. // Continue Reading ›...

Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days suggests a kind of cinematic spring cleaning for the filmmaker. Gone are the elaborate concepts and freighted iconography of The American Friend and Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire, not to mention of the vastly less impactful fictional films that he’s released in the intervening years. Wenders aims for simplicity here, following a middle-aged man, Hirayama (Yakusho Kôji), as he goes about his day cleaning Tokyo’s toilets, taking pictures of trees, listening to American rock, reading classic literature, and savoring the humble sources of day-to-day affirmation that we tend to take for granted.

Hirayama’s humility is the gauntlet that Wenders has thrown down for himself. Perfect Days wants to be an invitingly human movie that homes in intensely on the little moments of a man’s life so as to unearth universal truths. There’s a bit of Vittorio de Sica’s...

Are you starting to feel the heat around the corner? Adam Driver certainly is. Consider it officially official that acclaimed director Michael Mann, who earlier this year was reported to be eyeing Driver as the lead of the feature film adaptation of his own novel "Heat 2," is gunning for the "House of Gucci" and "The Last Duel" star to step into the incredibly intimidating shoes of none other than Robert De Niro himself.

Famously cast as career criminal Neil McCauley in the original 1995 "Heat" opposite Al Pacino as cop Vincent Hanna, De Niro earned all sorts of recognition (although tragically not a Best Actor nom) for his performance in what's commonly considered one of the greatest action movies of all time. The fact that Mann even wants to return to the scene of the crime and attempt to bring his long-awaited sequel/prequel novel (co-written by both Mann and...

Everyone knows that famous Lou Reed song that goes, "Oh it's such a perfect day! I'm glad I spend it with you..." This timeless classic tune is where this film's title Perfect Days is from, but it's also an important part of the film - it's one of songs that Hirayama listens to a few times while at home or driving around in his little van. Perfect Days is one of the latest narrative feature films created by iconic German filmmaker Wim Wenders, a passion project that he has been working on for years. It just premiered in the Main Competition at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, and the wonderful Japanese actor Kōji Yakusho won the Best Actor prize at the end of the festival. It's without a doubt one of my favorite films from Cannes, and Yakusho absolutely deserves this award. The film reminds me in many ways of Jim Jarmusch's Paterson,...

A man who lives alone in spartan accommodation, sticking to the same daily routine, devoting himself to his job and barely speaking to anyone? Cinema has taught us that he is bound to be an assassin, a spy, a fugitive or a potential mass murderer. But in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” which premiered in the Main Competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, he is a modest toilet cleaner – and this gentle, philosophical character study is all the more mesmeric for it.

The 77-year-old director’s fictional work has been overshadowed by his documentaries lately, but his new film, a fictional work which sometimes resembles a documentary, is a significant return to form for the director who won the Palme d’Or in 1984 for “Paris, Texas.” It begins by introducing us to the middle-aged Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) as he wakes up alone in his small flat. Once he’s cleaned his teeth,...

The first time Jim Jarmusch came to Cannes was with his sophomore film Stranger Than Paradise, which played the Quinzaine in 1984. “We all shared one apartment that had no hot water, that was up the hill,” he recalls. “One day I had to be on TV and there was no water, so I had to shave with leftover tea.” Those days are long gone; Jarmusch is a fixture on the Croisette these days, and even had the dubious pleasure of opening it in 2019 with his Bill Murray-starring zombie comedy The Dead Don’t Die.

This year he arrived at the festival with a piece for Cannes Classics called The Return to Reason, a work-in-progress restoration of four films by American artist Man Ray shot in Paris during the early 1920s. Featuring a live soundtrack by SQÜRL, the band Jarmusch formed with Carter Logan in 2009, it is essentially a concert movie...

Happinet Phantom Studios to launch the project at the Cannes market.

Japan’s Happinet Phantom Studios is to launch sales at the Cannes market on an adaptation of The Box Man, directed by influential filmmaker Gakuryu Ishii and starring Masatoshi Nagase.

The 1973 novel was written by Kobo Abe and follows a nameless man who gives up his identity to live with a large cardboard box over his head, encountering a range of characters as he wanders the streets of Tokyo

Filming will begin this summer in Japan with a cast that includes Nagase, whose credits include Jim Jarmusch’s Cannes 2016 Competition title Paterson,...

Sqürl is the musical outfit featuring legendary indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch alongside Carter Logan, a co-producer on Jarmusch’s recent movies. After releasing a series of soundtracks and EPs, the duo have just unveiled their first proper full-length studio album, Silver Haze.

Music has been an integral part of Jarmusch’s movies throughout his career, starting with his groundbreaking ’80s films Stranger Than Paradise and Down By Law, and continuing in the ’90s with Dead Man and Ghost Dog. For his recent films, he and Logan have teamed up to compose the scores.

Now, the pair have unveiled Silver Haze, a guest-filled album that was just released via Sacred Bones Records. Among the notable contributors are Marc Ribot, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Anika.

Consequence caught up with Jarmusch and Logan to discuss the new album, along with its various guest musicians. During the conversation, the pair also talked about their process of scoring movies,...

Sqürl is the musical outfit featuring legendary indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch alongside Carter Logan, a co-producer on Jarmusch’s recent movies. After releasing a series of soundtracks and EPs, the duo have just unveiled their first proper full-length studio album, Silver Haze.

Music has been an integral part of Jarmusch’s movies throughout his career, starting with his groundbreaking ’80s films Stranger Than Paradise and Down By Law, and continuing in the ’90s with Dead Man and Ghost Dog. For his recent films, he and Logan have teamed up to compose the scores.

Now, the pair have unveiled Silver Haze, a guest-filled album that was just released via Sacred Bones Records. Among the notable contributors are Marc Ribot, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Anika.

Consequence caught up with Jarmusch and Logan to discuss the new album, along with its various guest musicians. During the conversation, the pair also talked about their process of scoring movies,...

Golshifteh Farahani (Pirates of the Caribbean, About Elly, Paterson) and Zar Amir-Ebrahami (Palme d’Or-winner in 2022 for Holy Spider) — two of most recognized and in-demand Iranian stars working outside of Iran today — have teamed for the feature adaptation of Azar Nafisi’s bestselling Iranian novel Reading Lolita in Tehran.

The two lead an ensemble cast in the the drama — from award-winning director Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree, The Syrian Bride, Dancing Arabs) and written by Marjorie David — alongside Mina Kavani (Red Rose, No Bears). WestEnd Films are launching sales of the film in Cannes.

Translated into 32 languages across the world and set after the revolution in Iran as extremism took hold, Reading Lolita in Tehran tells the autobiographical story of a bold and inspired teacher, who secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden western classics while their world as they knew it closed in around them.

At 70, the outsider movie hero is releasing his first album. He muses on music, the demise of film and finding joy in mistakes

There are few film-makers quite as particular about music as Jim Jarmusch. Over the years, he’s enlisted Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA to score his hitman-meets-samurai flick Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, had Tom Waits and Iggy Pop jacked up on caffeine and locking horns in a thick swirl of smoke in 2003’s Coffee and Cigarettes, and got Neil Young to let rip some improvised guitar for the soundtrack to Dead Man. Not to mention that his films feature acting turns by everyone from Joe Strummer to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and he directed a documentary on the Stooges along the way.

“Music’s always been there,” he says, in his unmistakable deep baritone register, speaking from New York. “Since being a teenager, music has been...

Jim Jarmusch said that his upcoming feature will likely go into production this fall — but that it also could have no music.

“The film we’re preparing now for late this year to shoot, probably, I think, may have no music,” Jarmusch said during the 2023 Overlook Film Festival as part of an “Only Lovers Left Alive” anniversary panel (via The Playlist).

Jarmusch continued, “It’s a very subtle film; it’s very quiet. And I think music could move it too much one way — it’s a funny and sad film, right? It sort of has both woven in. I don’t know if I want to have music to add some other thing over it. It doesn’t really want it so far.”

The “Paterson” filmmaker is known for his soundtrack choices, including casting musicians like Tom Waits, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Joe Strummer, Jack White, and RZA. Jarmusch also...

Dementia seems to be the name of the game in cinema over the course of recent years. After Richard Glatzer’s and Wash Westmoreland’s effort “Still Alice” (2014) that took Julianne Moore to her first and so far only Oscar for playing the titular character, an academic who has to deal with the illness that will rapidly take her greatest asset, and even more impressive Florian Zeller’s stage play adaptation “The Father” (2020) that brought Anthony Hopkins his second Academy Award for the role, the Japanese novelist and producer Genki Kawamura took his own novel on the same topic as a source for his feature-length directorial debut. After the premiere at San Sebastian and the tour of festivals in East and Southeast Asia, “A Hundred Flowers” was screened at Belgrade International Film Festival.

On New Year’s Eve, and just before her birthday, retired piano teacher Yuriko Kasai (Mieko Harada...

Iranian-born actress Golshifteh Farahani — who returns to the Berlinale this year to serve on the jury headed by Kristen Stewart — found herself in the middle of several controversies when she first visited the festival in 2009 as one of the stars of Asghar Farhadi’s About Elly.

At the time, there was some speculation over whether the film, which followed a group of middle-class Iranians on a vacation to the Caspian Sea, would be banned in Iran. Appearing before the press, Farahani called the speculation “a storm in a teacup,” while director Farhadi blamed the media for stoking the controversy, saying: “I think they really blew things up out of all proportion. I am quite confident the film will not have difficulties in Iran. In fact, it is being shown in Tehran tonight, after the premiere in Berlin.”

Farhadi, who went on to win the festival’s Silver Bear for directing,...

Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Music Box Films releases the film in select theaters on Friday, August 25.

A former translator for American troops in Kabul — a role that eventually allowed her to leave her birth country but left her with unresolved feelings of guilt and shame — 20something Donya now lives by herself in a Fremont, California, apartment complex full of other Afghan immigrants. Whatever sense of community Donya gets from the other people in the building doesn’t seem to alleviate her quiet isolation, even if neighbors like Suleyman (Timur Nusratty) and Salim (Siddique Ahmed) are readily available for wistful conversation at all hours of the night.

When the sun comes up, Donya commutes to her job at a Chinese-owned fortune cookie factory, where she’s responsible for printing out the cryptic sayings that other people will eventually translate for themselves. That...

The best Michelle Williams performance of the year was not, in fact, in a Steven Spielberg-directed motion picture, but a reunion with her greatest collaborator, Kelly Reichardt. While Showing Up premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year to sadly a bit of a tepid response, the stellar drama following the humdrum life of an artist got a warmer reception at NYFF and will now arrive this spring from A24. Ahead of the release, the first trailer and poster have dropped.

Rory O’Connor said in his review, “It isn’t just a story about midlife melancholy, though there’s plenty of that on offer. Told in Reichardt’s clear aesthetic language, Showing Up is reminiscent of Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, another film drawing clean lines about the meditative joys of creating things; and just like Jarmusch’s bus-driving poet, the suggestion that Lizzie is especially talented at what...

Unless you were lucky enough to catch it on the 2019 festival circuit, the pandemic unfortunately led to most viewers seeing Pietro Marcello’s stunning drama Martin Eden at home. Thankfully, when it comes to his next feature, the gorgeous fable Scarlet (aka L’Envol), there will be ample opportunity for a theatrical viewing. The Cannes selection will arrive in France this January, and the first trailer has now arrived, followed by a U.S. release from Kino Lorber in 2023. An adaptation of Scarlet Sails by Alexander Grin, the tale of a woman’s family and romantic journey stars Juliette Jouan, Raphaël Thierry, Louis Garrel, Noémie Lvovsky, Ernst Umhauer, François Négret, and Yolande Moreau.

David Katz said in his review, “In his previous film Martin Eden, and now with Scarlet, Pietro Marcello has found a novel way to depict artistic striving, closely tying it with the concept of labor. It’s...

The cast of "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" has somehow just gotten even more lovable. Variety is now reporting that William Jackson Harper, star of "The Good Place" and "The Resort," will appear in the new Marvel movie. His role in the 2023 "Ant-Man" sequel is apparently being kept under wraps, and Marvel declined to comment on Variety's scoop.

It's pretty tough to improve upon a new cast that already includes Jonathan Majors and Kathryn Newton, not to mention winsome star Paul Rudd, but Harper's presence is yet another pleasant surprise on the cast list that also includes returning stars Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Evangeline Lilly. While his role is still being kept close to the chest — he hasn't appeared in any footage from the film to date — fans have been mentioning his name during conversations about who would make a great Reed Richards (of Fantastic Four fame) for years.

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The 2022 Marrakech Film Festival will pay tribute to talents from four continents this year, with Scottish actor Tilda Swinton, U.S. director James Gray, Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh and pioneering Moroccan filmmaker Farida Benlyazid all receiving the festival’s Étoile d’or, or Golden Star, honor for their contributions to cinema.

Swinton, an Oscar winner for Michael Clayton (2007), most recently appeared in a doppelgänger performance as a filmmaker and her elderly mother in Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter, her third film with the British director. In a statement, Swinton called the Étoile d’or honor “truly touching. To return [to Marrakech] to celebrate with my friends this exceptional forum for world cinema and the perpetual global fellowship of film love with the beautiful audience there will be a pure joy for which I am deeply grateful.”

Tilda Swinton in ‘The Eternal Daughter’

Veteran filmmaker Gray,...

Two years after First Cow, which we collectively named our favorite film of 2020, Kelly Reichardt returns with a work like a line drawing: neat, lean, evocative. Showing Up is about art, how art is made, and the people who use their time to make it. It stars Michelle Williams, an actress who has always been at home to the quiet rhythms of Reichardt’s filmmaking, appearing over the years as a down-on-her-luck drifter in Wendy and Lucy (2008), a settler on the wagon trail in Meek’s Cutoff (2011), and as a woman burdened by a belittling man in the director’s anthology Certain Women (2016).

In Showing Up, Williams plays Lizzie, a sculptor who is neither famous nor struggling, but somewhere in-between: an undefined lower-middle-class of artist that cinema tends to overlook. Lizzie is hard-working, passionate about her craft, protective of it, and rather good at what she does (foot-high clay sculptures of...

In his previous film Martin Eden, and now with Scarlet, Pietro Marcello has found a novel way to depict artistic striving, closely tying it with the concept of labor. It’s also something that runs through Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, about the poetry-penning bus driver of the same name: both filmmakers have helped demystify our idea of the artist as a potential “great man of history” and the deification often accorded them. The would-be literary maven of Martin Eden and two artist-craftsmen of Scarlet are engaged instead in a noble struggle, a bit like the eternal workers’ struggle of Marcello’s other chief interest: that of leftist political thought.

Scarlet, a quasi-fairytale adapted from Russian author Aleksandr Grin’s Scarlet Skies, is a more even-tempered work than Martin Eden, and less likely to command the same ardor directed towards that film. But it finds Marcello acing another high-end literary adaptation,...

An Arnaud Desplechin film showing up in the Cannes competition lineup is as expected as the changing seasons. An Arnaud Desplechin film starring two titans of French cinema, Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud? Even more welcome. “Brother and Sister” is among the main competition titles heading to this year’s festival, which runs May 17 through May 28. Ahead of the film community’s big return to the Croisette, watch the first trailer for the film, exclusive to IndieWire, below.

In “Brother and Sister,” or “Frère et Soeur” as it’s known in French, Alice (Cotillard) and Louis (Poupaud) are siblings. She is an actress, while he was a teacher and a poet. For the past two decades, Alice has resented him, and they’ve remained estranged for the last 20 years. That is, until their parents become involved in a serious accident, and they are forced to toss blood under the bridge and reconcile anew.

It’s been a decade since Lena Dunham was the voice of her generation. Or, well, a voice of a generation.

HBO series “Girls” revolutionized the TV landscape when it premiered on April 15, 2012. The series, created by Dunham, who also starred in, executive-produced, wrote, and directed the show, first debuted at SXSW before its TV premiere and eventual five Emmy Award nominations that year. Jenni Konner served as co-showrunner and producer while Judd Apatow also executive produced.

“Girls” stars Dunham as 20-something struggling writer Hannah Horvath, who has one foot in adolescence thanks to an allowance from her parents. After she’s informed she’s been financially cut off two years after graduating from a liberal arts college, Hannah embarks on navigating New York City by experiencing one mistake at a time.

Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, and Allison Williams play Hannah’s eccentric and at times codependent circle of friends.

William Jackson Harper (Love Life) has joined the cast of Landscape With Invisible Hand, a heightened comedy that Cory Finley is directing for MGM, Deadline can confirm.

He’s set to star alongside previously announced cast members including Tiffany Haddish, Asante Blackk, Kylie Rogers, Clifton Collins Jr., Michael Gandolfini, Josh Hamilton and Brooklynn MacKinzie.

The film adapting M.T. Anderson’s National Book Award-winning novel of the same is set in a deeply stratified, alien future. Further details with regard to its plot have not been disclosed. Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner are producing for Plan B, with Megan Ellison and Sue Naegle for Annapurna. Production is underway.

Harper is an Emmy nominee known for his turn on NBC’s The Good Place who will next be seen opposite Cristin Milioti in the Peacock series The Resort. He most recently exec produced and starred in the second season...

In just 10 years, Adam Driver has risen to prominence as one of the most capable actors of his generation. Driver first stole scenes and hearts as Adam Sackler in HBO's "Girls," and has since demonstrated his considerable range across a variety of genres. From acclaimed films by indie directors to epic period dramas ("The Last Duel") and world-renowned franchises (the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy), Driver has acted in an impressive number of projects in a short amount of time. 

So it should come as no surprise then that, at an earlier point in his career, Driver was in the running...

The post Adam Driver Almost Joined the Dceu as This Major Villain appeared first on /Film.

Jaden Michael was well aware of Colin Kaepernick before he ever auditioned to play him in “Colin in Black & White.” The actor, perhaps best known for his lead role in 2020’s “Vampires vs. the Bronx,” respected Kaepernick not only as an athlete but also for his advocacy. Created by Kaepernick and Ava DuVernay, “Colin in Black & White” hits Netflix on Oct. 29 and details Kaepernick’s life as a teenager striving to become an NFL player, well before he famously began kneeling during the national anthem before San Francisco 49ers games to protest police brutality and systemic racism in the U.S.

I heard you found out you got the role of Colin on or around your 17th birthday.

My birthday is always really lucky. Last year I was celebrating “Vampires vs. the Bronx” coming out and secretly celebrating getting Colin. The year before, I was celebrating my birthday at BAFTA.

Further new openers include ‘Wildfire’, ‘Rise of the Footsoldier: Origins’.

Blockbuster and independent titles are on releaes at UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend, with Disney debuting Shang-Chi And The Legend of the Ten Rings, and Mubi launching Leos Carax’s Cannes opener Annette.

Playing in 643 locations for Disney and made under the Marvel Studios banner, Shang-Chi And The Legend of the Ten Rings tells the story of a master of unarmed weaponry-based Kung Fu, who is forced to confront his past after being drawn into the Ten Rings organisation.

The film is a substantial step up in budget and...

While the pandemic failed to vanquish awards season in 2020, one key prize was left out of the picture. For many filmmakers, the Palme d’Or is the most revered accolade on the planet, and in 2019, it set the bar high. After Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” won the Competition and went on to commercial and critical success — not to mention that historic Oscar for Best Picture — many expected that it would place renewed focus on Cannes as a major launchpad for international cinema. That didn’t happen in 2020, as the festival canceled its physical edition, but it’s back to business as usual in 2021.

With Spike Lee as its president, the return of the Cannes Competition looks to be one of the most unpredictable in years. He’s joined by an international group of filmmakers and actors, mostly women, whose work suggest a wide array of sensibilities in play: The other directors are Mati Diop,...

Naomi Watts’ update on the cult horror film “Goodnight Mommy” just secured two crucial roles in Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti.

The twin boys will play Watts’ sons in the Amazon Studios project, which just kicked off production in New Jersey. Matt Sobel is directing the new take on the film, whose predecessor was selected as Austria’s entry for best international film at the 2015 Oscars.

The story follows two brothers who arrive at their mother’s country home to discover her face covered in bandages, what she says is the result of a recent cosmetic surgery. As her behavior grows increasingly erratic, a horrifying question takes root in the boys’ minds: what if the woman beneath the gauze isn’t their mother at all?

Sobel is directing from a script by Kyle Warren. Joshua Astrachan, David Kaplan, Nicolas Brigaud-Robert and Valery Guibal are producing. Watts, Sobel, Warren and the directors of the original film,...

Simon Kinberg and David Weil are headed to Apple TV+ with “Invasion,” an original science-fiction drama that is slated to premiere on Apple TV+ on October 22, 2021. The streaming service unveiled the teaser trailer for the upcoming show on Wednesday. Per Apple, “Invasion,” which is set across multiple continents, follows an alien invasion through different perspectives around the world. The series stars Shamier Anderson, Golshifteh Farahani, Sam Neill, Firas Nassar (“Fauda”), and Shioli Kutsuna.

“Invasion” is written and executive produced by Kinberg and Weil. In addition to directing, Verbruggen serves as executive producer. Audrey Chon (“The Twilight Zone”), Amy Kaufman (“When They See Us”), and Elisa Ellis serve as executive producers alongside Andrew Baldwin (“The Outsider”), who also writes. Katie O’Connell Marsh serves as executive producer for Boat Rocker Studios.

“Invasion” is part of Apple’s efforts to bulk up its sci-fi offerings for the company’s streaming service. Apple TV+ is home to “See,...

Apple has revealed the premiere date and teaser for the eagerly awaited ten-episode science fiction drama series ‘Invasion’.

Coming from Academy Award-nominated and two-time Emmy Award-nominated producer Simon Kinberg and David Weil (“Hunters”), the series is set across multiple continents, the show follows an alien invasion through different perspectives around the world.

Shamier Anderson, Golshifteh Farahani, Sam Neill, Firas Nassar (“Fauda”) and Shioli Kutsuna star.

Also in trailers – Teaser trailer drops for Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Demonic’

The series will globally debut on Apple TV+ with the first three episodes on October 22, 2021, followed by new episodes weekly, every Friday.

The post What would you do if Aliens invaded earth? Teaser trailer drops for Apple series ‘Invasion’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Films and references to cultural traditions may flicker past your inner eye in Iva Radivojevic’s Aleph, a luminous take on Jorge Luis Borges, narrated by Anne Waldman, which is a highlight of the 50th anniversary edition of New Directors/New Films. The Thai ghost may be Uncle Boonmee’s brother from Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s picture. An ad for Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson graces the back pages of a newspaper in Buenos Aires and Oscar Wilde’s Happy Prince is not the only one who is able to see without eyes.

The woman who disappears into the painting in Aleph feels strangely related to the old couple who befriend and haunt Naomi Watts in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, only to appear downsized out of a paper bag later on.

During my conversation with the filmmaker, I learned that Roland Barthes is responsible for the like/dislike structure in...

Naomi Watts is set to star in and executive produce the English-language remake of the hit Austrian psychological thriller “Goodnight Mommy,” set up at Amazon Studios.

The streamer will mount the remake with indie prestige label Animal Kingdom and production company Playtime. Released in 2014, the original film became a cult classic and was selected as the Austrian entry for best foreign language film at the Academy Awards.

Matt Sobel (“Take Me To The River”) is directing from a script by Kyle Warren. David Kaplan, Joshua Astrachan, Valery Guibal and Nicolas Brigaud-Robert are producing. In addition to Watts, the original film’s directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz will serve as executive producers.

Playtime acquired the remake rights and developed the new film with Playtime. Amazon is financing and releasing worldwide.

“Goodnight Mommy” follows twin brothers who, when sent to stay with their mother, are surprised to find her swathed in bandages from a recent procedure.

Exclusive: Fledgling U.S. production firm Rivulet Media has wrapped production today in LA on writer-director Greg Pritikin’s (The Last Laugh) feature The Mistress starring John Magaro (First Cow) and Chasten Harmon (Paterson).

The film was inspired by the history of Pritikin’s Angelino Heights home, and was shot almost entirely on the property.

The film follows newlyweds Parker (Magaro) and Madeline (Harmon) who move into their dream home – a 1892 Queen Ann Victorian in LA’s historic Angelino Heights neighborhood. Shortly after arriving they discover a collection of 100-year-old letters hidden in the walls – desperate and lovelorn correspondence from a young woman who committed suicide after being shunned and abandoned by the owner of the home – a married businessman with whom she was having an affair. While the tragedy of the mistress’s correspondence begins to manifest with disturbing spectral frequency, Maddie begins to suspect that Parker is hiding something dark from his past.