When it was released in 2010, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's "The Tourist" -- a remake of Jérôme Salle's 2005 French thriller "Anthony Zimmer" -- was unfairly maligned. The film only racked up a piddling 21% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 175 reviews, with critics lambasting the complicated plot and the casual pace. Peter Travers called it one of the worst films of the year, and Roger Moore felt the two leads, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, had no romantic chemistry.
Stephanie Zacharek, however, loved it, noting that it was the kind of romantic international caper film that isn't made anymore, calling it "elegant" and "sensuous." This author tends to agree with Zacharek, feeling "The Tourist" to be sexy, adult, and dazzling. It has two sexy movie stars trekking through gorgeous European locales, engaging in lightweight espionage and trading flirty looks. It feels like a movie from a prior generation, one...
Stephanie Zacharek, however, loved it, noting that it was the kind of romantic international caper film that isn't made anymore, calling it "elegant" and "sensuous." This author tends to agree with Zacharek, feeling "The Tourist" to be sexy, adult, and dazzling. It has two sexy movie stars trekking through gorgeous European locales, engaging in lightweight espionage and trading flirty looks. It feels like a movie from a prior generation, one...
- 9/29/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
"At a certain point, sex, drugs, & rock 'n roll wasn't enough – war was the ultimate drug." Greenwich Ent. has revealed an official trailer for a compelling documentary titled Never Look Away, telling the story of renowned camerawoman Margaret Moth. Most people will not recognize her and aren't familiar with her name, but the footage she shot is as important as ever. Never Look Away is a biopic doc telling the life story of Moth and her exceptional courage to always head right into war zones rather than walk away from them. Swashbuckling CNN combat camerawoman, Margaret Moth, risks it all to put the viewer inside the conflict. When a fateful injury gets in the way of her appetite for danger and adrenaline, Moth must find the strength to carry on. There was another 2009 doc about her already called Fearless: The Margaret Moth Story. This new one is the first film...
- 9/24/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Germany has selected The Seed Of The Sacred Fig by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof as its submission to the 97th Academy Awards.
The film was selected from a 13-strong shortlist and was chosen by a nine-member jury appointed by promotional organisation German Films.
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig premiered in Competition at Cannes in May, winning the special jury prize and Fipresci award, before going on to win the audience award at Sydney in June.
Although set in Tehran with a predominantly Iranian cast and crew, the film is produced by Rasoulof’s German outfit Run Way Pictures alongside...
The film was selected from a 13-strong shortlist and was chosen by a nine-member jury appointed by promotional organisation German Films.
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig premiered in Competition at Cannes in May, winning the special jury prize and Fipresci award, before going on to win the audience award at Sydney in June.
Although set in Tehran with a predominantly Iranian cast and crew, the film is produced by Rasoulof’s German outfit Run Way Pictures alongside...
- 8/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
Germany has revealed the 13 titles that it will consider for submission to the 97th Academy Awards, including Cannes award-winner The Seed Of The Sacred Fig by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof.
Further features in the selection include Andreas Dresen’s From Hilde, With Love and Matthias Glasner’s Dying, which both played in Competition at this year’s Berlinale; Fabian Stumm’s Sad Jokes, set to screen at Toronto; and documentary Hollywoodgate, directed by German-based Egyptian filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at, which premiered at Venice in 2023.
Although set in Tehran with a predominantly Iranian cast and crew, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig...
Further features in the selection include Andreas Dresen’s From Hilde, With Love and Matthias Glasner’s Dying, which both played in Competition at this year’s Berlinale; Fabian Stumm’s Sad Jokes, set to screen at Toronto; and documentary Hollywoodgate, directed by German-based Egyptian filmmaker Ibrahim Nash’at, which premiered at Venice in 2023.
Although set in Tehran with a predominantly Iranian cast and crew, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig...
- 8/13/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Starz’s return to the Spartacus universe with House of Ashur poses the question: What if Ashur (Nick Tarabay) hadn’t died on Mount Vesuvius at the end of Spartacus: Vengeance and instead was gifted Batiatus’s Ludus in return for helping to kill Spartacus and end the slave rebellion?
The answer will arrive in the premiere episode via Og Queen Bee Lucretia, as Lucy Lawless sets her return in a guest-starring role “elevating” all that’s around her. Her appearance will be instrumental in setting up the “what if” alternate timeline.
In addition to Tarabay, the series will also star Graham McTavish, Tenika Davis, Jamaica Vaughan, Ivana Baquero, Jordi Webber, Claudia Black, India Shaw-Smith and Leigh Gill.
Spartacus creator, writer and executive producer Steven S. DeKnight returns to the franchise he helped create as showrunner and executive producer of Spartacus: House of Asher, a new original series Starz describes as a “history-bending,...
The answer will arrive in the premiere episode via Og Queen Bee Lucretia, as Lucy Lawless sets her return in a guest-starring role “elevating” all that’s around her. Her appearance will be instrumental in setting up the “what if” alternate timeline.
In addition to Tarabay, the series will also star Graham McTavish, Tenika Davis, Jamaica Vaughan, Ivana Baquero, Jordi Webber, Claudia Black, India Shaw-Smith and Leigh Gill.
Spartacus creator, writer and executive producer Steven S. DeKnight returns to the franchise he helped create as showrunner and executive producer of Spartacus: House of Asher, a new original series Starz describes as a “history-bending,...
- 7/23/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Margaret Moth lived her life on the edge, driven by a fierce commitment to bearing witness. As a video journalist, she fearlessly plunged into the world’s most volatile warzones for over two decades, determined to capture the hardest-hitting footage.
But what compelled such a risk-taking existence? Lucy Lawless’ arresting documentary Never Look Away sets out to shine light on the woman behind the camera, delving into Moth’s turbulent origins and unwavering determination to show reality, however raw.
Best known for her lead role in Xena: Warrior Princess, Lawless makes her directorial debut with this in-depth profile. Rather than take a traditional path, she constructs Moth’s narrative by layering poignant interviews and rarely-seen archive material. Through this nuanced approach, a vivid portrait emerges of a complex and captivating figure.
Both trailblazer and tormented soul, Moth pushed limits physically and emotionally, yet kept fighting even when confronted with her gravest challenge.
But what compelled such a risk-taking existence? Lucy Lawless’ arresting documentary Never Look Away sets out to shine light on the woman behind the camera, delving into Moth’s turbulent origins and unwavering determination to show reality, however raw.
Best known for her lead role in Xena: Warrior Princess, Lawless makes her directorial debut with this in-depth profile. Rather than take a traditional path, she constructs Moth’s narrative by layering poignant interviews and rarely-seen archive material. Through this nuanced approach, a vivid portrait emerges of a complex and captivating figure.
Both trailblazer and tormented soul, Moth pushed limits physically and emotionally, yet kept fighting even when confronted with her gravest challenge.
- 7/21/2024
- by Naser Nahandian
- Gazettely
The thin line between cheating death and chasing it appears to have been smudged, repeatedly, by maverick video journalist Margaret Moth, the subject of first-time filmmaker Lucy Lawless’ fascinating documentary “Never Look Away.” At least, that’s the impression we’re left with at the end of this compact yet complex portrait of a singularly and aggressively unconventional war correspondent who inspired equal measures of admiration and anxiety among her friends, colleagues and lovers throughout her 20 years of assignments in the world’s trouble spots — Baghdad, Sarajevo, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Zaire, you name it, she was there — for CNN.
Something of an enigma even to those closest to her — “I never fully understood what was ticking inside of her” is a comment typical of responses by interviewees questioned by an off-camera Lawless — Moth was fond of proudly proclaiming, “I live life to the fullest.” But it was a life she repeatedly risked by going places,...
Something of an enigma even to those closest to her — “I never fully understood what was ticking inside of her” is a comment typical of responses by interviewees questioned by an off-camera Lawless — Moth was fond of proudly proclaiming, “I live life to the fullest.” But it was a life she repeatedly risked by going places,...
- 5/1/2024
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
The Sundance Institute has released the lineup for the 11th edition of Sundance Film Festival: London.
The Festival, which will run from June 6-9, will open with the UK premiere of writer and director Rich Peppiatt’s boisterous Irish-language film Kneecap and close with the UK premiere of Dìdi (弟弟) written and directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sean Wang.
Other titles in the program include the Zellner brothers’ Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough-starrer Sasquatch Sunset, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s adaptation of Jeff Hobbs’ bestselling biography Rob Peace, and Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls, which won the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. The documentaries include Skywalkers: A Love Story by multi-Emmy award-winning filmmaker Jeff Zimbalist and Never Look Away by Lucy Lawless in her directorial debut.
There will also be a short film program dedicated to films either produced in the UK or made by filmmakers based in the UK.
The Festival, which will run from June 6-9, will open with the UK premiere of writer and director Rich Peppiatt’s boisterous Irish-language film Kneecap and close with the UK premiere of Dìdi (弟弟) written and directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Sean Wang.
Other titles in the program include the Zellner brothers’ Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough-starrer Sasquatch Sunset, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s adaptation of Jeff Hobbs’ bestselling biography Rob Peace, and Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls, which won the 2024 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. The documentaries include Skywalkers: A Love Story by multi-Emmy award-winning filmmaker Jeff Zimbalist and Never Look Away by Lucy Lawless in her directorial debut.
There will also be a short film program dedicated to films either produced in the UK or made by filmmakers based in the UK.
- 4/23/2024
- by Hannah Abraham
- Deadline Film + TV
Sundance Film Festival is heading to London again this summer and the programme is full of cinematic goodies. More below.
The days are getting lighter, the sun is shining ever so slightly more now and we’ve packed away our thickest wool jumpers, although we still need some thick socks. That must mean one thing and one thing only.
Sundance Film Festival: London is almost upon us.
Some might say summer is coming too, but we’re mostly excited for Sundance London, which has just revealed their full programme for this year’s festival. The festival brings a fine selection of films which originally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, in Park City, Utah. The crème de la crème, so to speak.
The festival will open on 6 June with a screening of Kneecap, Rich Peppiatt’s Irish-language film and draw to a close on 9 June with Sean Wang...
The days are getting lighter, the sun is shining ever so slightly more now and we’ve packed away our thickest wool jumpers, although we still need some thick socks. That must mean one thing and one thing only.
Sundance Film Festival: London is almost upon us.
Some might say summer is coming too, but we’re mostly excited for Sundance London, which has just revealed their full programme for this year’s festival. The festival brings a fine selection of films which originally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, in Park City, Utah. The crème de la crème, so to speak.
The festival will open on 6 June with a screening of Kneecap, Rich Peppiatt’s Irish-language film and draw to a close on 9 June with Sean Wang...
- 4/23/2024
- by Maria Lattila
- Film Stories
The line-up for the Sundance Film Festival: London 2024 edition includes surreal comedy Sasquatch Sunset, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Rob Peace and A24 horror I Saw The TV Glow.
The festival takes place at London’s Picturehouse Central from June 6-9, and will present 11 feature films that premiered at the US edition of Sundance in January.
Sasquatch Sunset is directed by David and Nathan Zellner and stars Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg. It follows a family of sasquatch - hairy, human-like mythical creatures from the northwestern US - over a year. Ejiofor also stars in biographical drama Rob Peace, which is based on Jeff Hobbs’ bestselling book.
The festival takes place at London’s Picturehouse Central from June 6-9, and will present 11 feature films that premiered at the US edition of Sundance in January.
Sasquatch Sunset is directed by David and Nathan Zellner and stars Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg. It follows a family of sasquatch - hairy, human-like mythical creatures from the northwestern US - over a year. Ejiofor also stars in biographical drama Rob Peace, which is based on Jeff Hobbs’ bestselling book.
- 4/23/2024
- ScreenDaily
Leading European distributor Global Screen, part of Telepool, has secured further international sales of high-end drama “Davos 1917” at MipTV. New acquisitions of the six-part thriller include Sbs Australia, Tvp in Poland and Big Tree Entertainment in India and the subcontinent.
“Davos 1917,” which launched at the end of last year on Srf in Switzerland and Ard in Germany, has already been bought by a strong lineup of premium international broadcasters and streamers across North America, Europe and Asia.
Inspired by real events that occurred in the early days of the European secret services, “Davos 1917” boasts a stellar cast headed by Dominique Devenport (“Sisi”), David Kross (“The Reader”), Jeanette Hain (“Never Look Away”), Max Herbrechter (“Rauhnächte”), Sunnyi Melles (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Stipe Erceg (“Vienna Blood”).
The show is set in 1917 as World War I is ravaging Europe. By contrast, Switzerland seems like an oasis of peace. But behind the scenes of neutral Switzerland,...
“Davos 1917,” which launched at the end of last year on Srf in Switzerland and Ard in Germany, has already been bought by a strong lineup of premium international broadcasters and streamers across North America, Europe and Asia.
Inspired by real events that occurred in the early days of the European secret services, “Davos 1917” boasts a stellar cast headed by Dominique Devenport (“Sisi”), David Kross (“The Reader”), Jeanette Hain (“Never Look Away”), Max Herbrechter (“Rauhnächte”), Sunnyi Melles (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Stipe Erceg (“Vienna Blood”).
The show is set in 1917 as World War I is ravaging Europe. By contrast, Switzerland seems like an oasis of peace. But behind the scenes of neutral Switzerland,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Toronto’s Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, has unveiled the full lineup of films that will screen in its Special Presentations program. The festival runs April 25 to May 5.
World premieres include “Red Fever,” which sees Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond travel to the four corners of Turtle Island and across Europe to explore the world’s fascination with Native Americans; “American Cats: The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly,” in which “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” correspondent Amy Hoggart explores the controversial practice of declawing cats; “The Ride Ahead,” an expansion of co-director Samuel Habib’s short film “My Disability Roadmap” (which got an Honorable Mention in the International Shorts section of Hot Docs in 2022), exploring a typical 21-year-old itching to move out, start a career and find love—all while navigating life with a disability; “Lost in the Shuffle,” which follows world champion magician Shawn Farquhar as...
World premieres include “Red Fever,” which sees Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond travel to the four corners of Turtle Island and across Europe to explore the world’s fascination with Native Americans; “American Cats: The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly,” in which “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” correspondent Amy Hoggart explores the controversial practice of declawing cats; “The Ride Ahead,” an expansion of co-director Samuel Habib’s short film “My Disability Roadmap” (which got an Honorable Mention in the International Shorts section of Hot Docs in 2022), exploring a typical 21-year-old itching to move out, start a career and find love—all while navigating life with a disability; “Lost in the Shuffle,” which follows world champion magician Shawn Farquhar as...
- 3/12/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Sundance documentary Never Look Away, the directorial debut of actress Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess), has been sold by XYZ to Greenwich Entertainment for all rights in North America, and to Kaleidoscope for all rights in UK.
Both distributors have committed to theatrical releases in the territories. Kaleidoscope will also take over rest of world sales. The film is set to have additional screenings at SXSW this weekend.
The film puts a spotlight on the late, swashbuckling CNN combat camerawoman, Margaret Moth, who risked it all to put the viewer inside the conflict. When a fateful injury got in the way of her appetite for danger and adrenaline, she had a decision to make about her career and survival.
Pic was produced by Matthew Metcalfe of Gfc Films, Tom Blackwell and Lawless, and was written by Metcalfe, Blackwell, Lawless and Whetham Allpress. XYZ Films is executive-producing.
The deals for...
Both distributors have committed to theatrical releases in the territories. Kaleidoscope will also take over rest of world sales. The film is set to have additional screenings at SXSW this weekend.
The film puts a spotlight on the late, swashbuckling CNN combat camerawoman, Margaret Moth, who risked it all to put the viewer inside the conflict. When a fateful injury got in the way of her appetite for danger and adrenaline, she had a decision to make about her career and survival.
Pic was produced by Matthew Metcalfe of Gfc Films, Tom Blackwell and Lawless, and was written by Metcalfe, Blackwell, Lawless and Whetham Allpress. XYZ Films is executive-producing.
The deals for...
- 3/8/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Fremantle has acquired worldwide rights excluding German-speaking territories to Constantin Film’s fantasy drama Hagen (working title) and released first-look images.
The deal will see Fremantle produce a feature film and a television series of six one-hour episodes. Rtl group holds German streaming and free TV rights.
Fremantle will showcase Hagen as one of its key scripted drama titles at Fremantle Presents on Friday (March 1) as part of London TV Screenings 2024.
Hagen is based on Wolfgang Hohlbein’s novel Hagen von Tronje and is styled as a reimagining of the medieval Nibelungen folk saga. The story is widely considered...
The deal will see Fremantle produce a feature film and a television series of six one-hour episodes. Rtl group holds German streaming and free TV rights.
Fremantle will showcase Hagen as one of its key scripted drama titles at Fremantle Presents on Friday (March 1) as part of London TV Screenings 2024.
Hagen is based on Wolfgang Hohlbein’s novel Hagen von Tronje and is styled as a reimagining of the medieval Nibelungen folk saga. The story is widely considered...
- 2/28/2024
- ScreenDaily
Here’s a first look at Hagen (working title), the German-Czech fantasy drama epic, which now counts Fremantle as its worldwide distributor.
Based on Wolfgang Hohlbein’s bestselling novel ‘Hagen von Tronje’, the series is a reimagining of the medieval Nibelungen folk saga, which is widely considered as an inspiration behind modern fantasy franchises such as George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings.
Super-indie Fremantle has jumped to acquire rights outside of German-speaking territories, with the agreement covering the six-part series and accompanying feature film. Fremantle’s stablemate at German conglomerate Bertelsmann, Rtl, has German streaming and TV rights.
Fremantle plans to launch the series at its Fremantle Presents showcase this Friday (March 1) at the London TV Screenings. This follows an agreement between Rebecca Dundon on behalf of Fremantle and Friedrich Radmann on behalf of Constantin Film.
The series is billed...
Based on Wolfgang Hohlbein’s bestselling novel ‘Hagen von Tronje’, the series is a reimagining of the medieval Nibelungen folk saga, which is widely considered as an inspiration behind modern fantasy franchises such as George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings.
Super-indie Fremantle has jumped to acquire rights outside of German-speaking territories, with the agreement covering the six-part series and accompanying feature film. Fremantle’s stablemate at German conglomerate Bertelsmann, Rtl, has German streaming and TV rights.
Fremantle plans to launch the series at its Fremantle Presents showcase this Friday (March 1) at the London TV Screenings. This follows an agreement between Rebecca Dundon on behalf of Fremantle and Friedrich Radmann on behalf of Constantin Film.
The series is billed...
- 2/28/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Fremantle revealed Wednesday that it has secured worldwide distribution rights, outside of German-speaking territories, to the premium fantasy drama “Hagen” — a working title — from Constantin Film. The deal includes rights to a six-part series and a feature film for theatrical release. Rtl Group holds German streaming and free TV rights.
Fremantle will be showcasing “Hagen” as one of its key scripted drama titles at Fremantle Presents this Friday as part of London TV Screenings.
“Hagen,” which is based on Wolfgang Hohlbein’s bestselling novel “Hagen von Tronje,” is a reimagining of the medieval “Nibelungen” folk saga. The story is considered to be one of the inspirations behind modern fantasies such as “Game of Thrones” and J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.”
The show centers on dutiful soldier Hagen and Siegfried, the legendary dragon slayer. Hagen, bound by loyalty to the kingdom, is Lord Commander, ready to serve and stand by his king.
Fremantle will be showcasing “Hagen” as one of its key scripted drama titles at Fremantle Presents this Friday as part of London TV Screenings.
“Hagen,” which is based on Wolfgang Hohlbein’s bestselling novel “Hagen von Tronje,” is a reimagining of the medieval “Nibelungen” folk saga. The story is considered to be one of the inspirations behind modern fantasies such as “Game of Thrones” and J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.”
The show centers on dutiful soldier Hagen and Siegfried, the legendary dragon slayer. Hagen, bound by loyalty to the kingdom, is Lord Commander, ready to serve and stand by his king.
- 2/28/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Leading European distributor Global Screen, part of Westbrook’s Telepool, has sold premium spy drama series “Davos 1917” to North America and to additional free-to-air broadcasters in Europe.
Global Series Network picked up the series for its innovative SVOD feed Walter Presents in North America. National broadcaster Rtp in Portugal has also acquired the series, as well as Filmin VOD services for Spain and Portugal.
These deals are in addition to recently announced sales to Mediaset for Italy, Mtva for Hungary and Orf for Austria. The six-part thriller launched in December on Srf in Switzerland and Ard in Germany.
Inspired by real events that occurred in the early days of the European secret services, “Davos 1917” has a stellar cast headed by Dominique Devenport (“Sisi”), David Kross (“The Reader”), Jeanette Hain (“Never Look Away”), Max Herbrechter (“Rauhnächte”), Sunnyi Melles (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Stipe Erceg (“Vienna Blood”).
In 1917, World War I is ravaging Europe.
Global Series Network picked up the series for its innovative SVOD feed Walter Presents in North America. National broadcaster Rtp in Portugal has also acquired the series, as well as Filmin VOD services for Spain and Portugal.
These deals are in addition to recently announced sales to Mediaset for Italy, Mtva for Hungary and Orf for Austria. The six-part thriller launched in December on Srf in Switzerland and Ard in Germany.
Inspired by real events that occurred in the early days of the European secret services, “Davos 1917” has a stellar cast headed by Dominique Devenport (“Sisi”), David Kross (“The Reader”), Jeanette Hain (“Never Look Away”), Max Herbrechter (“Rauhnächte”), Sunnyi Melles (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Stipe Erceg (“Vienna Blood”).
In 1917, World War I is ravaging Europe.
- 2/20/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Margaret Moth in Never Look Away
Lucy Lawless steps behind the camera for the first time as a director to tell the story of fellow New Zealander, Margaret Moth, who passed away in March 2010. A trailblazing combat camerawoman who worked for CNN, Moth’s images from the frontlines of conflicts including Desert Storm and the Bosnian War, confronted people in their homes with the abject reality of war. Her footage not only caught historic moments but framed the violent and merciless propensity of human beings to dehumanise others.
Moth herself was a contradictory figure, living a carefree and hedonistic lifestyle of sex, drugs and thrill-seeking, whose life was transformed after she was shot by a sniper’s bullet in Sarajevo. Never Look Away charts her endurance against adversity, peeling away the layers of her life to offer an understanding of its enigmatic subject.
In conversation with Eye For Film, Lawless...
Lucy Lawless steps behind the camera for the first time as a director to tell the story of fellow New Zealander, Margaret Moth, who passed away in March 2010. A trailblazing combat camerawoman who worked for CNN, Moth’s images from the frontlines of conflicts including Desert Storm and the Bosnian War, confronted people in their homes with the abject reality of war. Her footage not only caught historic moments but framed the violent and merciless propensity of human beings to dehumanise others.
Moth herself was a contradictory figure, living a carefree and hedonistic lifestyle of sex, drugs and thrill-seeking, whose life was transformed after she was shot by a sniper’s bullet in Sarajevo. Never Look Away charts her endurance against adversity, peeling away the layers of her life to offer an understanding of its enigmatic subject.
In conversation with Eye For Film, Lawless...
- 2/4/2024
- by Paul Risker
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In an exclusive uInterview, Lucy Lawless discusses her new documentary Never Look Away, which tells the story of CNN correspondent Margaret Moth, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
“I just love bad girls, and she was the baddest,” Lawless said about Moth. “There’s so much stuff that I couldn’t even fit in this film that I would have loved to explore if I had the time, but she’s truly raging and iconic and I find it inspirational. We are all coloring inside the lines, and people like her are bursting with color and life.”
Lawless, known for her role as Xena: The Warrior Princess, said it took her a long time to understand the famous camerawoman, who was known for her work in various combat zones.
“I think for Margaret, unless she was at the burning cold face of history and life and intensity, that she didn’t fit in.
“I just love bad girls, and she was the baddest,” Lawless said about Moth. “There’s so much stuff that I couldn’t even fit in this film that I would have loved to explore if I had the time, but she’s truly raging and iconic and I find it inspirational. We are all coloring inside the lines, and people like her are bursting with color and life.”
Lawless, known for her role as Xena: The Warrior Princess, said it took her a long time to understand the famous camerawoman, who was known for her work in various combat zones.
“I think for Margaret, unless she was at the burning cold face of history and life and intensity, that she didn’t fit in.
- 1/26/2024
- by Ava Lombardi
- Uinterview
From Serge Daney's Footlights: Critical Notebooks 1970–1982, translated by Nicholas Elliott and published by Semiotext(e). The series Never Look Away: Serge Daney's Radical 1970s screens January 26 through February 4 at Film at Lincoln Center in New York.Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom.The fact that Salò is Pasolini’s last film doesn’t mean that it must at all costs be seen as his “will”.1 It’s simpler to see it as the reconstruction of what masters on the road to perdition would do in a final attempt to enjoy [jouir de] their power, in a comparable context (Italian fascism) and a similar setting (Salò).It has too often been forgotten that, in the history of Italian fascism, the republic of Salò (September 1943–January 1944) is only the grotesque final act, the repetition as grand guignol of what had already failed as farce, the setting for “some last cowardly turpitudes.”2 Salò is not fascism triumphant,...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
2024 Sundance marks something of a milestone in the documentary space for XYZ Films, best known for championing global genre fare like The Raid, Mandy, and The Invitation.
On Thursday opening night the Los Angeles-based company premieres two documentaries which it produced or executive produced. After years of relatively random engagement in the non-scripted format, producing the likes of Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce’s Framing John DeLorean (2019) and Marq Evans’s 2021 Tribeca premiere Claydream (2022), the documentary division led by Tamir Ardon is in full flow, with multiple projects in the pipeline.
Jeff Zimbalist’s Skywalkers: A Love Story is...
On Thursday opening night the Los Angeles-based company premieres two documentaries which it produced or executive produced. After years of relatively random engagement in the non-scripted format, producing the likes of Don Argott and Sheena M. Joyce’s Framing John DeLorean (2019) and Marq Evans’s 2021 Tribeca premiere Claydream (2022), the documentary division led by Tamir Ardon is in full flow, with multiple projects in the pipeline.
Jeff Zimbalist’s Skywalkers: A Love Story is...
- 1/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
On the eve of Sundance and Berlin, XYZ Films has hired former STX, Studiocanal and Wanda executive Celine Lin as SVP of international sales and distribution.
Lin will spearhead distribution and licensing strategy across the Apac region and select European markets. She will report to XYZ president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe.
Lin most recently served as SVP of international sales at STX Entertainment in London. Prior to that she held senior executive posts at Studiocanal in Paris and Wanda in Beijing. She began her career managing international sales for Coproduction Office.
Joffe said, “We are thrilled for...
Lin will spearhead distribution and licensing strategy across the Apac region and select European markets. She will report to XYZ president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe.
Lin most recently served as SVP of international sales at STX Entertainment in London. Prior to that she held senior executive posts at Studiocanal in Paris and Wanda in Beijing. She began her career managing international sales for Coproduction Office.
Joffe said, “We are thrilled for...
- 1/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Company premiering Skywalkers: A Love Story, Krazy House in Sundance.
On the eve of Sundance and Berlin, XYZ Films has hired former STX, Studiocanal and Wanda executive Celine Lin as SVP of international sales and distribution.
Lin will spearhead distribution and licensing strategy across the Apac region and select European markets. She will report to XYZ president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe.
Lin most recently served as SVP of international sales at STX Entertainment in London. Prior to that she held senior executive posts at Studiocanal in Paris and Wanda in Beijing. She began her career managing international sales for Coproduction Office.
On the eve of Sundance and Berlin, XYZ Films has hired former STX, Studiocanal and Wanda executive Celine Lin as SVP of international sales and distribution.
Lin will spearhead distribution and licensing strategy across the Apac region and select European markets. She will report to XYZ president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe.
Lin most recently served as SVP of international sales at STX Entertainment in London. Prior to that she held senior executive posts at Studiocanal in Paris and Wanda in Beijing. She began her career managing international sales for Coproduction Office.
- 1/17/2024
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The schedule for the milestone 40th Sundance Film Festival continues to fall into focus. The beloved Utah event — scheduled for Jan. 19-26 in Park City — has unveiled the lineup for Beyond Film programming and revealed that the documentary The Greatest Night in Pop, a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the iconic song “We Are the World,” will be part of this year’s program.
The roster of Beyond Film speakers includes notables with films in this year’s festival like Steven Soderbergh (Presence), Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Rob Peace), Sue Bird (Sue Bird: In The Clutch), Dee Rees (Pariah), Lucy Lawless (Never Look Away), André Holland (Exhibiting Forgiveness), Debra Granik (Conbody vs Everybody), Jay Ellis (Freaky Tales) and Nzingha Stewart (Me/We).
The slate also includes a conversation within New Frontier, which champions artists practicing at the crossroads of film, art, performance and new media. Titled...
The roster of Beyond Film speakers includes notables with films in this year’s festival like Steven Soderbergh (Presence), Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Rob Peace), Sue Bird (Sue Bird: In The Clutch), Dee Rees (Pariah), Lucy Lawless (Never Look Away), André Holland (Exhibiting Forgiveness), Debra Granik (Conbody vs Everybody), Jay Ellis (Freaky Tales) and Nzingha Stewart (Me/We).
The slate also includes a conversation within New Frontier, which champions artists practicing at the crossroads of film, art, performance and new media. Titled...
- 1/6/2024
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A still from ‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ by Bao Nguyen, an official selection of the Episodic Program at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute)
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival has added The Greatest Night in Pop, a documentary that explores the creation of the collaborative “We Are the World” song and video, to its lineup.
“We’re thrilled to be adding to our program a special screening of The Greatest Night in Pop, taking us behind the scenes of how ‘We Are the World’ came together, followed by a conversation with Lionel Richie, filmmaker Bao Nguyen, and producer Julia Nottingham,” stated Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “Our robust film lineup will be rounded out by a wide range of conversations touching upon themes in the programming and featuring some of today’s most inspiring creators and leaders.”
The festival also announced the 2024 Beyond Film schedule,...
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival has added The Greatest Night in Pop, a documentary that explores the creation of the collaborative “We Are the World” song and video, to its lineup.
“We’re thrilled to be adding to our program a special screening of The Greatest Night in Pop, taking us behind the scenes of how ‘We Are the World’ came together, followed by a conversation with Lionel Richie, filmmaker Bao Nguyen, and producer Julia Nottingham,” stated Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “Our robust film lineup will be rounded out by a wide range of conversations touching upon themes in the programming and featuring some of today’s most inspiring creators and leaders.”
The festival also announced the 2024 Beyond Film schedule,...
- 1/5/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Documentary lovers are digesting the announcement of the Sundance nonfiction lineup, a slate of films certain to factor in awards conversation into next Oscar season.
“I think there’s a lot of discoveries in there,” Sundance Senior Nonfiction Programmer Basil Tsiokos says of the lineup revealed on Wednesday. “It’s a nice blend of new filmmakers and alumni, lots of different kinds of approaches to filmmaking… There’s biodocs, but there’s also films that are political. There’s films that are dealing with the environment. There’s lots of other things happening, so it’s a nice mix we think.”
Will Ferrell and Harper Steele ‘in Will & Harper’
Among the most eye-popping titles are Will & Harper, Josh Greenbaum’s nonfiction road movie about comedian Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, his close friend of 30 years who came out as trans. “The two decide to embark on a cross-country...
“I think there’s a lot of discoveries in there,” Sundance Senior Nonfiction Programmer Basil Tsiokos says of the lineup revealed on Wednesday. “It’s a nice blend of new filmmakers and alumni, lots of different kinds of approaches to filmmaking… There’s biodocs, but there’s also films that are political. There’s films that are dealing with the environment. There’s lots of other things happening, so it’s a nice mix we think.”
Will Ferrell and Harper Steele ‘in Will & Harper’
Among the most eye-popping titles are Will & Harper, Josh Greenbaum’s nonfiction road movie about comedian Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, his close friend of 30 years who came out as trans. “The two decide to embark on a cross-country...
- 12/8/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
White Bird.The repeatedly delayed film White Bird, based on the 2019 graphic novel by R.J. Palacio, follows an elderly Jewish woman looking back on her youth in France during World War II, particularly the time she spent hiding from the Nazis. The framing is odd: She is telling this tale to impart a lesson to her grandson, a bully character from a different, earlier novel by Palacio, Wonder. Both stories are part of a wider fictive universe authored by Palacio, the “World of Wonder,” which comprises spinoff books, film adaptations, and merchandise, all branded with the poptimistic slogan/hashtag “Choose Kind.” A friendly schoolmate refusing to persecute White Bird’s protagonist for being Jewish is implicitly an example of “choosing kind,” divorced from any historically based understanding of solidarity or resistance to fascism. More problematically, White Bird has as its epigraph George Santayama’s famous quote “Those who can’t...
- 11/28/2023
- MUBI
Exclusive: Picture Tree International (Pti) has boarded sales on German Iranian director Alireza Golafshan’s comedy Everything’s Fifty Fifty about a divorced couple who embark on a family vacation, ahead of the AFM.
Laura Tonke (Jupiter) and Moritz Bleitreu play a divorced couple who head to Italy for a family holiday with their young son and the former’s new boyfriend, played by David Kross.
Planned with the best of intentions, the trip exposes cracks in their parenting, forcing them to reappraise their approach and work out how to function as a family again.
The movie follows Golafshan’s Ibiza-set hen party caper Jga and reunites him with producers Justyna Muesch, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann at Leonine-company Wiedemann & Berg, best known for The Lives Of Others, Never Look Away and Who am I.
They are lead producing in...
Laura Tonke (Jupiter) and Moritz Bleitreu play a divorced couple who head to Italy for a family holiday with their young son and the former’s new boyfriend, played by David Kross.
Planned with the best of intentions, the trip exposes cracks in their parenting, forcing them to reappraise their approach and work out how to function as a family again.
The movie follows Golafshan’s Ibiza-set hen party caper Jga and reunites him with producers Justyna Muesch, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann at Leonine-company Wiedemann & Berg, best known for The Lives Of Others, Never Look Away and Who am I.
They are lead producing in...
- 10/30/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Emily Deschanel and her sister, Zooey Deschanel, have been gracing our screens for years, but did you know that success in Hollywood has been in the family for generations?
The Deschanels' parents were both established in the entertainment industry long before the birth of their daughters. Their father, Caleb Deschanel, is an Oscar-nominated cinematographer. He was first nominated for an Academy Award in cinematography in 1983 for the film "The Right Stuff," followed by "The Natural" in 1984 and "Fly Away Home" in 1996. Additionally, 2000's "The Patriot," 2004's "The Passion of Christ," and 2018's "Never Look Away" all netted him nominations. He is also a member of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress.
Their mother, Mary Jo Deschanel, is an actor. She is perhaps best known for playing recurring character Eileen Hayward in "Twin Peaks." She went on to appear in the movie "The Patriot" and had roles...
The Deschanels' parents were both established in the entertainment industry long before the birth of their daughters. Their father, Caleb Deschanel, is an Oscar-nominated cinematographer. He was first nominated for an Academy Award in cinematography in 1983 for the film "The Right Stuff," followed by "The Natural" in 1984 and "Fly Away Home" in 1996. Additionally, 2000's "The Patriot," 2004's "The Passion of Christ," and 2018's "Never Look Away" all netted him nominations. He is also a member of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress.
Their mother, Mary Jo Deschanel, is an actor. She is perhaps best known for playing recurring character Eileen Hayward in "Twin Peaks." She went on to appear in the movie "The Patriot" and had roles...
- 9/30/2023
- by Eden Arielle Gordon
- Popsugar.com
Sisu, we're told, is untranslateable. What they mean by that though is not that its meaning cannot be conveyed, that it is somehow a semantic cipher, but that it has no literal equivalent. That's true of lots of words. Schadenfreude, for one, and there's plenty of opportunity for that in this solid B-movie of Nazi-killing.
Owing debts to grindhouse, or more specifically its latter impersonations, it's somewhere between a latter oater and other outposts of the relentless revenger. Kill Bill, John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Nobody, Rambo: First Blood, Inglourious Basterds, Mad Max: Fury Road, and so on.
Moments of more peaceful conflict recall the distant observations of bombing from Never Look Away or Nico, 1988, the aftermaths of 1917. We're in 1944 though, Germany retreating from Finland. Across seven chapters we will follow a bloody course.
The Gold, of course, motivation for our miner and his nemeses....
Owing debts to grindhouse, or more specifically its latter impersonations, it's somewhere between a latter oater and other outposts of the relentless revenger. Kill Bill, John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Nobody, Rambo: First Blood, Inglourious Basterds, Mad Max: Fury Road, and so on.
Moments of more peaceful conflict recall the distant observations of bombing from Never Look Away or Nico, 1988, the aftermaths of 1917. We're in 1944 though, Germany retreating from Finland. Across seven chapters we will follow a bloody course.
The Gold, of course, motivation for our miner and his nemeses....
- 5/25/2023
- by Andrew Robertson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
With some of Germany’s most successful production companies in its stable, Leonine Studios is reaping the rewards with such feature film and television hits as “School of Magical Animals,” “Nightlife,” “Dark” and “Pagan Peak.”
Leonine’s production division includes such well-established companies as Wiedemann & Berg Film, which focuses on theatrical features, W&b Television and Odeon Fiction, which produce movies and series for all broadcasters and streaming platforms in Germany, documentary outfit Gebrueder Beetz and format maker I&u TV.
“We are in for high creative quality and commercial success,” explains Quirin Berg, who, along with Max Wiedemann, serves as Leonine’s chief production officer and managing director of Wiedemann & Berg Film.
“The parameters in each segment we are operating in may be different, but the agenda is not. And that was already the profile when we started out as producers some 20 years ago.”
Indeed, Wiedemann & Berg’s first feature film,...
Leonine’s production division includes such well-established companies as Wiedemann & Berg Film, which focuses on theatrical features, W&b Television and Odeon Fiction, which produce movies and series for all broadcasters and streaming platforms in Germany, documentary outfit Gebrueder Beetz and format maker I&u TV.
“We are in for high creative quality and commercial success,” explains Quirin Berg, who, along with Max Wiedemann, serves as Leonine’s chief production officer and managing director of Wiedemann & Berg Film.
“The parameters in each segment we are operating in may be different, but the agenda is not. And that was already the profile when we started out as producers some 20 years ago.”
Indeed, Wiedemann & Berg’s first feature film,...
- 5/11/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Leading European distributor Global Screen, part of the Telepool group, will launch premium quality spy drama “Davos” at MipTV. The six-part series is inspired by real events that occurred in the early days of the secret services in Europe.
Available to buyers for the first time at MipTV, “Davos” boasts a stellar cast headed by Dominique Devenport (“Sisi”), David Kross (“The Reader”), Jeanette Hain (“Never Look Away”), Max Herbrechter (“Rauhnächte”), Sunnyi Melles (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Stipe Erceg (“Vienna Blood”).
World War I is ravaging Europe. By contrast, Davos, the aristocratic spa town in the Swiss Alps, seems like an oasis of peace. But behind the scenes, neutral Switzerland takes center stage in a relentless battle between the secret agents of the world powers. Young nurse Johanna Gabathuler unexpectedly gets caught between the fronts: to win back her illegitimate child, she starts to work as a spy for the German...
Available to buyers for the first time at MipTV, “Davos” boasts a stellar cast headed by Dominique Devenport (“Sisi”), David Kross (“The Reader”), Jeanette Hain (“Never Look Away”), Max Herbrechter (“Rauhnächte”), Sunnyi Melles (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Stipe Erceg (“Vienna Blood”).
World War I is ravaging Europe. By contrast, Davos, the aristocratic spa town in the Swiss Alps, seems like an oasis of peace. But behind the scenes, neutral Switzerland takes center stage in a relentless battle between the secret agents of the world powers. Young nurse Johanna Gabathuler unexpectedly gets caught between the fronts: to win back her illegitimate child, she starts to work as a spy for the German...
- 4/12/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Picture Tree Int’l (Pti) has boarded sales on German Sophie Scholls – The Final Days Oscar-nominee and hitmaker Marc Rothemund’s heart-warming family drama Weekend Rebels, inspired by the true story of a father who forged a special bond with his autistic son through the search for a perfect soccer club.
The film, currently in post-production, is produced by Justyna Muesch, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann.
Their Oscar-winning banner Wiedemann & Berg Film company has delivered a slew of award-winning pictures over the years including The Lives Of Others, Never Look Away and Who Am I. SevenPictures Film co-produces.
Leonine Studios is also on board and will release the film in Germany on September 28, 2023.
Florian David Fitz leads the German cast as a father who gets closer to his 10-year-old autistic son through a quest to find a soccer club they can support together,...
The film, currently in post-production, is produced by Justyna Muesch, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann.
Their Oscar-winning banner Wiedemann & Berg Film company has delivered a slew of award-winning pictures over the years including The Lives Of Others, Never Look Away and Who Am I. SevenPictures Film co-produces.
Leonine Studios is also on board and will release the film in Germany on September 28, 2023.
Florian David Fitz leads the German cast as a father who gets closer to his 10-year-old autistic son through a quest to find a soccer club they can support together,...
- 2/6/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Picture Tree Intl. has taken global sales rights for “The Peacock” by Lutz Heineking Jr. The black comedy is based on the best-selling novel of the same title by German author Isabel Bogdan, which has been published in key European territories. Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer (below).
The film’s cast is filled with German stars including Lavinia Wilson, Tom Schilling, David Kross and Jürgen Vogel. Tobis Film releases the film in Germany on March 9.
When investment banker Linda Bachmann and her team arrive at the country estate of Lord and Lady McIntosh for a team building seminar, the prospects for having a relaxing weekend in Scotland are not good: the annual balance sheet is lousy, the team is keeping a suspicious eye on each other and their boss, and there are rumors that a compliance officer will soon be restructuring the department.
To make matters worse,...
The film’s cast is filled with German stars including Lavinia Wilson, Tom Schilling, David Kross and Jürgen Vogel. Tobis Film releases the film in Germany on March 9.
When investment banker Linda Bachmann and her team arrive at the country estate of Lord and Lady McIntosh for a team building seminar, the prospects for having a relaxing weekend in Scotland are not good: the annual balance sheet is lousy, the team is keeping a suspicious eye on each other and their boss, and there are rumors that a compliance officer will soon be restructuring the department.
To make matters worse,...
- 1/31/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Jonas Dassler (The Golden Glove) has been tapped to play German pastor and theologian-turned-spy Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the thriller God’s Spy, based on a true story.
Others set for the pic written and directed by Sully scribe Todd Komarnicki include Flula Borg (The Suicide Squad), David Jonsson (Industry), August Diehl (A Hidden Life), Moritz Bleibtreu (World War Z) and BAFTA Award nominee Clarke Peters (The Wire).
The film currently in production is set in Berlin during the time of the Third Reich, examining Bonhoeffer’s determination to live his life with uncompromising political and spiritual courage, while speaking truth to power, in his attempt to save countless Jewish lives. Bonhoeffer was among only a few clergy who were early to recognize the danger of Hitler’s anti-Semitic rhetoric, and while the German church acquiesced to Hitler, Bonhoeffer took him on. First, from the pulpit — and then from the front lines.
Others set for the pic written and directed by Sully scribe Todd Komarnicki include Flula Borg (The Suicide Squad), David Jonsson (Industry), August Diehl (A Hidden Life), Moritz Bleibtreu (World War Z) and BAFTA Award nominee Clarke Peters (The Wire).
The film currently in production is set in Berlin during the time of the Third Reich, examining Bonhoeffer’s determination to live his life with uncompromising political and spiritual courage, while speaking truth to power, in his attempt to save countless Jewish lives. Bonhoeffer was among only a few clergy who were early to recognize the danger of Hitler’s anti-Semitic rhetoric, and while the German church acquiesced to Hitler, Bonhoeffer took him on. First, from the pulpit — and then from the front lines.
- 1/12/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated: Laika president Travis Knight has set the voice cast for the animation house’s stop-motion feature “Wildwood,” which he also directs: Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Amandla Stenberg, Jemaine Clement, Maya Erskine, Tantoo Cardinal, Tom Waits, and Richard E. Grant.
Earlier: Laika has begun production on its sixth stop-motion feature, “Wildwood,” the studio’s first fantasy adventure set in the natural beauty of hometown Portland, Oregon. Laika President & CEO Travis Knight directs, and legendary cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (“The Right Stuff”) makes his first foray into stop-motion. The six-time Oscar nominee brings his naturalistic style to handcrafted animation after lensing the virtual world of Jon Favreau’s “The Lion King.”
“Wildwood” is based on the first in a trilogy of YA fantasy novels by Colin Meloy, lead singer and songwriter for Portland-based The Decemberists, and illustrated by artist Carson Ellis.
Earlier: Laika has begun production on its sixth stop-motion feature, “Wildwood,” the studio’s first fantasy adventure set in the natural beauty of hometown Portland, Oregon. Laika President & CEO Travis Knight directs, and legendary cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (“The Right Stuff”) makes his first foray into stop-motion. The six-time Oscar nominee brings his naturalistic style to handcrafted animation after lensing the virtual world of Jon Favreau’s “The Lion King.”
“Wildwood” is based on the first in a trilogy of YA fantasy novels by Colin Meloy, lead singer and songwriter for Portland-based The Decemberists, and illustrated by artist Carson Ellis.
- 8/25/2022
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
It’s late summer, so it’s time to start talking about awards season. Cannes issued the first slate of contenders in the international feature Oscar race, and now Venice and Toronto are ready to screen another batch, which begs the question: What looks like the breakout pics from the festival circuit that should contend for kudos?
More than 90 countries have been submitting films for Academy consideration for the past few years, in order to walk away with the coveted best international feature Oscar. Coming off the Cinderella story of Japan’s “Drive My Car” from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, which was also nominated for three other Oscars including best picture, it became the tenth film to be recognized for both best picture and international feature.
Can we expect another groundbreaker with this year’s crop of contenders?
Venice, as usual, looks to be loaded with awards contenders, with new works from...
More than 90 countries have been submitting films for Academy consideration for the past few years, in order to walk away with the coveted best international feature Oscar. Coming off the Cinderella story of Japan’s “Drive My Car” from Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, which was also nominated for three other Oscars including best picture, it became the tenth film to be recognized for both best picture and international feature.
Can we expect another groundbreaker with this year’s crop of contenders?
Venice, as usual, looks to be loaded with awards contenders, with new works from...
- 8/24/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Each month we choose a German film or series currently available to stream, watch it independently, and come together for a hosted conversation with other fans of German film.
In honor of the upcoming Academy Awards, our film for March is Germany’s most recent Oscar nominee, Never Look Away, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Never Look Away follows thirty years in the life of artist Kurt Barnert (a character loosely based on Gerhard Richter). From a childhood witnessing Nazi Germany to life in post-war East Berlin.
Watch the trailer here.
The Kino! Film Salon will take place on Sunday, March 13th, at 11am — 12pm Pst, 2pm — 3pm Est, 8pm — 9pm Cet.
To join us, please RSVP at https://bit.ly/neverlookawaykinorsvp and the Zoom link will be emailed to you 24 hours before the event. Please don’t share this link directly (but do encourage your friends to RSVP!); our capacity is limited and admission will be on a first-come-first-served basis.
We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, March 13th!
Best,
Telescope Film and the German Film Office
Host: Sydney Levine consults, interviews and writes about filmmakers and the film industry. She has taught international film business at universities including UCLA, Chapman, The New School of Social Research, and the University of Television and Film Munich, as well as at festivals including the Cannes Producers Workshop, and Berlinale Talents. She created FilmFinders, the film industry’s first database, which was acquired by IMDb. She currently lives in Berlin and Los Angeles. https://blogs.sydneysbuzz.com/
Kino! Film Salon is a production of Telescope Film, in partnership with the German Film Office.
In honor of the upcoming Academy Awards, our film for March is Germany’s most recent Oscar nominee, Never Look Away, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.
Never Look Away follows thirty years in the life of artist Kurt Barnert (a character loosely based on Gerhard Richter). From a childhood witnessing Nazi Germany to life in post-war East Berlin.
Watch the trailer here.
The Kino! Film Salon will take place on Sunday, March 13th, at 11am — 12pm Pst, 2pm — 3pm Est, 8pm — 9pm Cet.
To join us, please RSVP at https://bit.ly/neverlookawaykinorsvp and the Zoom link will be emailed to you 24 hours before the event. Please don’t share this link directly (but do encourage your friends to RSVP!); our capacity is limited and admission will be on a first-come-first-served basis.
We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, March 13th!
Best,
Telescope Film and the German Film Office
Host: Sydney Levine consults, interviews and writes about filmmakers and the film industry. She has taught international film business at universities including UCLA, Chapman, The New School of Social Research, and the University of Television and Film Munich, as well as at festivals including the Cannes Producers Workshop, and Berlinale Talents. She created FilmFinders, the film industry’s first database, which was acquired by IMDb. She currently lives in Berlin and Los Angeles. https://blogs.sydneysbuzz.com/
Kino! Film Salon is a production of Telescope Film, in partnership with the German Film Office.
- 5/8/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: Alcon Entertainment has acquired screenwriter Steven Karczynski’s psychological thriller Vent, bringing BAFTA Award winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) aboard to direct.
The film brought to the company by Head of Creative Carl Rogers the story of a paranoid young man who believes a kidnapping victim is tapping messages to him through his apartment building air vent. Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson will produce alongside Karczynski and David Prior.
“The vision behind Vent is unique and thrilling,” said Kosovo and Johnson, “and between Steven Karczynski’s incredible writing, and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s ability to bring such films to life, we are thrilled to be a part of bringing this story to screens.”
Von Donnersmarck’s most decorated feature, The Lives of Others, told the story of an agent of the secret police in 1984 East Berlin, who found himself becoming...
The film brought to the company by Head of Creative Carl Rogers the story of a paranoid young man who believes a kidnapping victim is tapping messages to him through his apartment building air vent. Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson will produce alongside Karczynski and David Prior.
“The vision behind Vent is unique and thrilling,” said Kosovo and Johnson, “and between Steven Karczynski’s incredible writing, and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s ability to bring such films to life, we are thrilled to be a part of bringing this story to screens.”
Von Donnersmarck’s most decorated feature, The Lives of Others, told the story of an agent of the secret police in 1984 East Berlin, who found himself becoming...
- 4/5/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The machinery upon the red carpet recalls Bacon's triptych, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion. I was minded of them having seen Second Version of Triptych 1944 (1988) at the Royal Academy earlier this year. I was minded of them because those paintings appear in Memory: The Origins Of Alien, and Never Look Away also known as Work Without Author. I was minded of them because recursion, religion, repetition are embedded in Karmalink.
Described in some places as Cambodia's first science fiction film, Karmalink is an astonishing piece of work that perfectly captures a set of ideas and presents them to powerful effect. I adored it, from that first stark set piece of equipment on a carpeted auditorium incarnadine. The glow of wires like the spark of lightsabres painted on film directly, lost like tears in the rain falling on Citizen Kane.
There are small details...
Described in some places as Cambodia's first science fiction film, Karmalink is an astonishing piece of work that perfectly captures a set of ideas and presents them to powerful effect. I adored it, from that first stark set piece of equipment on a carpeted auditorium incarnadine. The glow of wires like the spark of lightsabres painted on film directly, lost like tears in the rain falling on Citizen Kane.
There are small details...
- 3/11/2022
- by Andrew Robertson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In the middle of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival, we’re taking a look back at some of the best films which have screened there is the past, all available to stream in the UK. Together they illustrate that even though its started small, this festival has consistently punched well above its weight. We haven’t just chosen the biggest names, however, but also a few gems which might have passed you by.
The Lives Of Others
The Lives Of Others - Sky
In a retrospective of Gff favourites this is doubly nostalgic. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's feature debut, it remains a stunning depiction of the mechanisms of East German's autocratic regime. Ulrich Mühe's performance as a weary apparatchik of bureaucratic oppression carries a film that flourishes from detail. Donnersmarck's keen eye would be wasted in odd Depp/Jolie vehicle The Tourist but in Work Without Author...
The Lives Of Others
The Lives Of Others - Sky
In a retrospective of Gff favourites this is doubly nostalgic. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's feature debut, it remains a stunning depiction of the mechanisms of East German's autocratic regime. Ulrich Mühe's performance as a weary apparatchik of bureaucratic oppression carries a film that flourishes from detail. Donnersmarck's keen eye would be wasted in odd Depp/Jolie vehicle The Tourist but in Work Without Author...
- 3/5/2022
- by Jennie Kermode and Andrew Robertson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Berlin-based sales agency Picture Tree Intl. has added to its European Film Market slate “Love Thing,” starring top German actor Elyas M’Barek, whose credits include “The Collini Case.” Also on the slate is “Soul of a Beast,” which debuts its trailer below.
Despite the virtual nature of the EFM, the company has taken additional office space at the Marriott Hotel in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz.
“Love Thing,” which also stars Lucie Heinze, Peri Baumeister and Alexandra Maria Lara, is directed and written by Anika Decker, whose last feature “High Society” sold widely. Decker scripted box office successes like “Rabbit Without Ears,” which grossed $85 million.
“Love Thing” is produced by German production-distribution powerhouse Constantin Film, which has set its release for July 7. The producers are Rüdiger Böss and Philipp Reuter; the co-producers are Anika Decker and Jan Decker; and the executive producer is Martin Moszkowicz. Picture Tree will present a first teaser trailer to select buyers.
Despite the virtual nature of the EFM, the company has taken additional office space at the Marriott Hotel in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz.
“Love Thing,” which also stars Lucie Heinze, Peri Baumeister and Alexandra Maria Lara, is directed and written by Anika Decker, whose last feature “High Society” sold widely. Decker scripted box office successes like “Rabbit Without Ears,” which grossed $85 million.
“Love Thing” is produced by German production-distribution powerhouse Constantin Film, which has set its release for July 7. The producers are Rüdiger Böss and Philipp Reuter; the co-producers are Anika Decker and Jan Decker; and the executive producer is Martin Moszkowicz. Picture Tree will present a first teaser trailer to select buyers.
- 2/2/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The race for best cinematography is among the most competitive races this year at the Oscars. Black-and-white dramas, sci-fi dazzlers and Hollywood blockbusters are among the contenders, and it’s not entirely sure where it all might land. The American Society of Cinematographers, which announces its nominees tomorrow, will set a tone leading up to the opening of Oscar nomination voting, which begins on Thursday.
From ASC’s theatrical releases category to the Oscars, the track record averages about four out of five matches every year. Past ASC selections like “First Man” (Linus Sandgren), “Ford v Ferrari” (Phedon Papamichael), and last year’s “Cherry” (Newton Thomas Sigel) failed to transition to the Academy in favor of “Never Look Away” (Caleb Deschanel), “The Lighthouse” (Jarin Blaschke) and “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Sean Bobbitt). The last time they perfectly aligned was in 2017.
Over 93 years of the Academy Awards, Rachel Morrison is...
From ASC’s theatrical releases category to the Oscars, the track record averages about four out of five matches every year. Past ASC selections like “First Man” (Linus Sandgren), “Ford v Ferrari” (Phedon Papamichael), and last year’s “Cherry” (Newton Thomas Sigel) failed to transition to the Academy in favor of “Never Look Away” (Caleb Deschanel), “The Lighthouse” (Jarin Blaschke) and “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Sean Bobbitt). The last time they perfectly aligned was in 2017.
Over 93 years of the Academy Awards, Rachel Morrison is...
- 1/24/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Munich-based sales agency Global Screen has sold crime drama “Dark Woods” to streaming service Walter Presents for the U.K., where it’ll be shown on Channel 4’s All 4 platform, and across the Nordic Region, via C More.
The drama, which was produced by ConradFilm and Bavaria Fiction on behalf of Ndr and Ard Degeto for Das Erste, was the most-watched show on Ard’s catch-up service in Germany this year, and was the German TV Award winner.
Julia Weber, head of acquisitions and sales at Global Screen, said: “We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of this highly original and sought-after series, across Scandinavia and in the U.K., where crime drama has proved to be a key genre and is hugely popular with viewers of all ages.”
The show, inspired by real-life-events, starts out in the summer of 1989, when the sister of high-ranking Hamburg police officer Thomas...
The drama, which was produced by ConradFilm and Bavaria Fiction on behalf of Ndr and Ard Degeto for Das Erste, was the most-watched show on Ard’s catch-up service in Germany this year, and was the German TV Award winner.
Julia Weber, head of acquisitions and sales at Global Screen, said: “We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of this highly original and sought-after series, across Scandinavia and in the U.K., where crime drama has proved to be a key genre and is hugely popular with viewers of all ages.”
The show, inspired by real-life-events, starts out in the summer of 1989, when the sister of high-ranking Hamburg police officer Thomas...
- 11/30/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Bleecker Street’s I’m Your Man opens on 12 screens in seven markets, expanding to another 15 next week in a rare platform release banking on strong word of mouth for the well-reviewed, 94% Certified Fresh film that’s Germany’s entry for the 2022 International Feature Oscar race.
Helmed by Unorthodox director Maria Schrader, the sci-fi romantic comedy earned star Maren Eggert the Best Actress Silver Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
Co-star Dan Stevens supported the film on social and in a Today show appearance Wednesday. He’ll be at a Q&a at the Landmark in LA on Saturday.
Initial openings include NY, LA, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, D.C., Phoenix and Dallas. Bleecker plans a small expansion in those markets as well next week. The film has a 17-day exclusive theatrical window. Deadline review here,
Eggert plays...
Helmed by Unorthodox director Maria Schrader, the sci-fi romantic comedy earned star Maren Eggert the Best Actress Silver Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
Co-star Dan Stevens supported the film on social and in a Today show appearance Wednesday. He’ll be at a Q&a at the Landmark in LA on Saturday.
Initial openings include NY, LA, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, D.C., Phoenix and Dallas. Bleecker plans a small expansion in those markets as well next week. The film has a 17-day exclusive theatrical window. Deadline review here,
Eggert plays...
- 9/24/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch), the Maria Schrader-directed film that earned star Maren Eggert the best actress Silver Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, has been selected as Germany’s entry into the 2022 International Feature Oscar race.
The film stars Eggert as a a scientist at the famous Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In order to obtain research funds for her work, she is persuaded to participate in an extraordinary study: For three weeks, she is to live with a humanoid robot (Dan Stevens) tailored to her character and needs, whose artificial intelligence is intended to be the perfect life partner created solely to make her happy.
Bleecker Street acquired North American rights to the German-language pic and is releasing it in U.S. theaters September 24.
I’m Your Man, which also is playing at the Toronto Film Festival, was selected by a nine-member jury overseen by German Film.
The film stars Eggert as a a scientist at the famous Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In order to obtain research funds for her work, she is persuaded to participate in an extraordinary study: For three weeks, she is to live with a humanoid robot (Dan Stevens) tailored to her character and needs, whose artificial intelligence is intended to be the perfect life partner created solely to make her happy.
Bleecker Street acquired North American rights to the German-language pic and is releasing it in U.S. theaters September 24.
I’m Your Man, which also is playing at the Toronto Film Festival, was selected by a nine-member jury overseen by German Film.
- 9/15/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
German-born UK composer is known for his work on ‘Mary Queen Of Scots’ and ‘Waltz With Bashir’.
The World Soundtrack Awards has named award-winning composer Max Richter as the guest of honour for its upcoming edition in October.
The German-born, UK composer is known for writing scores spanning both film and TV from period feature Mary Queen Of Scots and Oscar-nominated animation Waltz With Bashir to HBO’s The Leftovers and BBC drama Taboo. He has also recorded nearly a dozen solo albums.
Richter will attend the 21st edition of the awards, which will take place in-person as part of...
The World Soundtrack Awards has named award-winning composer Max Richter as the guest of honour for its upcoming edition in October.
The German-born, UK composer is known for writing scores spanning both film and TV from period feature Mary Queen Of Scots and Oscar-nominated animation Waltz With Bashir to HBO’s The Leftovers and BBC drama Taboo. He has also recorded nearly a dozen solo albums.
Richter will attend the 21st edition of the awards, which will take place in-person as part of...
- 6/30/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
In his latest work, “Fabian — Going to the Dogs,” Dominik Graf adapts a work that defines the tragic, hedonistic and dysfunctional era of the Weimar Republic from a writer widely known for his children’s books.
Set in 1931 Berlin, the story, based on Erich Kästner’s novel of the same name, is seen through the eyes of Jakob Fabian (Tom Schilling), a fatalistic writer who finds solace in his love for Cornelia, played by Saskia Rosendahl (“Never Look Away”) and his best friend Stephan (European Shooting Star Albrecht Schuch), and the wild nights of the city’s outlandish establishments while longing for the return of decency in a society gone astray.
The film premiered in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and screened this week at Rotterdam Film Festival.
Graf, one of Germany’s preeminent filmmakers, is behind such lauded works as “The Cat,” “A Map of the Heart,...
Set in 1931 Berlin, the story, based on Erich Kästner’s novel of the same name, is seen through the eyes of Jakob Fabian (Tom Schilling), a fatalistic writer who finds solace in his love for Cornelia, played by Saskia Rosendahl (“Never Look Away”) and his best friend Stephan (European Shooting Star Albrecht Schuch), and the wild nights of the city’s outlandish establishments while longing for the return of decency in a society gone astray.
The film premiered in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and screened this week at Rotterdam Film Festival.
Graf, one of Germany’s preeminent filmmakers, is behind such lauded works as “The Cat,” “A Map of the Heart,...
- 6/6/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
After first gaining prominence in Germany as a teen actor, Paula Beer rose to international arthouse stardom with her leading role in Francois Ozon’s Frantz in 2016. Winning the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at that year’s Venice Film Festival, an accolade previously awarded to the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Gael García Bernal, put her in demand from Europe’s most renowned auteurs. In 2018, she starred in both Never Look Away, the German language comeback of The Lives of Others director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, and Transit, the final film in Christian Petzold’s self-proclaimed “Love in the Time of Oppressive Systems” trilogy.
Three years later, her second collaboration with Petzold and actor Franz Rogowski is finally getting released to American audiences. In Undine, Beer plays a modern interpretation of the famous mythological character. We’re introduced to her amidst a breakup with her lover, informing...
Three years later, her second collaboration with Petzold and actor Franz Rogowski is finally getting released to American audiences. In Undine, Beer plays a modern interpretation of the famous mythological character. We’re introduced to her amidst a breakup with her lover, informing...
- 6/2/2021
- by Alistair Ryder
- The Film Stage
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit star Carla Juri in her Brooklyn sweatshirt in Iceland, on her role: “I was wondering, they describe her as a bit more difficult. Ha, Ha! I like difficult!”
Carla Juri has had a number of memorable performances since 2013, from David Wnendt’s adaptation of Charlotte Roche’s novel Wetlands to Frauke Finsterwalder’s Finsterworld, co-written with Christian Kracht, Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, and in 2021 Andy Goddard’s Six Minutes To Midnight and Caroline Link’s adaptation with Anna Brüggemann of Judith Kerr’s When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.
The father Arthur Kemper (Oliver Masucci) reunited with his son Max (Marinus Hohmann), wife Dorothea (Carla Juri), and daughter Anna (Riva Krymalowski)
Carla Juri, Riva Krymalowski, Oliver Masucci (a Joseph Beuys look-alike in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away), and Marinus Hohmann star as the Kemper family, with a terrific ensemble cast, including Ursula Werner,...
Carla Juri has had a number of memorable performances since 2013, from David Wnendt’s adaptation of Charlotte Roche’s novel Wetlands to Frauke Finsterwalder’s Finsterworld, co-written with Christian Kracht, Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, and in 2021 Andy Goddard’s Six Minutes To Midnight and Caroline Link’s adaptation with Anna Brüggemann of Judith Kerr’s When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.
The father Arthur Kemper (Oliver Masucci) reunited with his son Max (Marinus Hohmann), wife Dorothea (Carla Juri), and daughter Anna (Riva Krymalowski)
Carla Juri, Riva Krymalowski, Oliver Masucci (a Joseph Beuys look-alike in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away), and Marinus Hohmann star as the Kemper family, with a terrific ensemble cast, including Ursula Werner,...
- 5/18/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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