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As she gears up for the release of The Tortured Poets Department later this month, Taylor Swift has shared five new playlists on Apple Music comprised of her old songs, angled around the five stages of grief and heartbreak: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

Swift shared brief audio messages with each playlist, and the first playlist, titled “I love You, It’s Ruining My Life Songs” represents denial. “This is a list of songs about getting so caught up in the idea of something that you have a hard time seeing the red flags,...

Taylor Swift has given the world some of the most popular love songs of modern times. A love song by a well-known indie band knocked her off of her feet. She said the tune was dark, but it managed to capture the true feeling of romance. Notably, Swift went on to work with the band in question.

Taylor Swift said this love song feels ‘like a memory’

During a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Swift was asked to name the music that made her into an artist. Some of her picks included Carly Simon’s breakup song “You’re So Vain,” Faith Hill’s country-pop love song “This Kiss,” and Jimmy Eat World’s crossover hit “The Middle.” One of the folk songs on the list was Bon Iver’s “Blood Bank.” Swift must be a big Bon Iver fan since “Blood Bank” is not one of the band’s more famous tunes.

Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn have reportedly ended their relationship after six years together, Entertainment Tonight first revealed. Sources also confirmed the split to People and Page Six.

The breakup apparently occurred a few weeks ago, was amicable, and “it was not dramatic,” according to Et. “The relationship had just run its course. It’s why [Alwyn] hasn’t been spotted at any shows,” Et was told. Swift is in the midst of her The Eras tour, which runs through the beginning of August, culminating in back-to-back shows at Sofi...

Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn have reportedly broken up after six years of dating.

Entertainment Tonight reports that Swift and Alwyn split a “few weeks ago.” The breakup “was amicable” and “not dramatic,” sources told Et, adding that their “relationship had just run its course.” People also confirmed news of their breakup.

Swift started dating Alwyn, a British actor, in late 2016. Several of the songs on Swift’s 2017 album, reputation, were inspired by the couple’s relationship, including “Gorgeous,” “Call It What You Want,” and “Delicate.”

During lockdown, the two began collaborating on music together: Alwyn ended up as a co-producer on seven tracks featured on 2020’s folklore, as well as co-writing “Exile” under the moniker William Bowery. Alwyn later received a Grammy when folklore won Album of the Year at the 2021 Grammy Awards.

Alwyn also contributed to songs appearing on Swift’s albums evermore and Midnights (“Sweet Nothing). Additionally,...

Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn have called it quits. Et has exclusively learned that the “Lavender Haze” singer and the British actor broke up a few weeks ago.

Et has also learned that the split was amicable and “it was not dramatic.” Et’s told “the relationship had just run its course. It’s why [Alwyn] hasn’t been spotted at any shows.” Swift, 33, is currently on her The Eras tour, which heads to Tampa, Florida next week.

It wasn’t so long ago when Swift and Alwyn were said to have been in a great place in their relationship. They started dating in late 2016, and a source told Et back in October that they were “doing great” and that their “relationship is super strong.”

That update came just hours after Swift dropped her highly anticipated 10th studio album, Midnights, followed by seven additional songs released in her surprise 3am Edition of the album.

What is considered the best Rolling Stones album? It’s a fair question, and there are plenty to choose from. Would it be one of the classics the band strung together in the 1960s and 1970s? Would it be one of the albums that peaked at No. 2 despite housing incredible songs? Or one of the many compilations stacked with hits (and some of the band’s controversial songs)? Best is subjective, but we know which of the nine Rolling Stones albums to reach No. 1 were the most commercially successful of the group’s records (thanks to some help from Billboard’s meticulous record-keeping).

Note: We used the time spent at No. 1 as the benchmark of success. We broke the ties in the middle of the pack by looking at duration on the charts.

(l-r) Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Mick Taylor, and Bill Wyman | Jorgen Angel/Redferns 9. ‘It’s...

In a bid to further address the burgeoning, albeit underserved Latino kids’ market, Exile Content Studio has tapped Stephen Davis, former executive VP and chief content officer of Hasbro, for the position of Chairman of Exile Kids.

Davis, who has been advising Exile since he retired from Hasbro about a year ago, will be working with the Exile team to identify and scale global franchises for the Latin American studio across original IP, acquisitions, licensing and merchandising.

The award-winning producer and entertainment executive oversaw the creation and production of some of the most successful television, film and consumer products-driven franchises in the international arena. These include the multi-billion dollar “Transformers” franchise, “GI Joe,” “My Little Pony,” “Dungeons and Dragons,” “Power Rangers,” “Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless” and “Monopoly” among many others.

“We feel so privileged that someone of Davis’ scale and stature has come to work with us full-time,” said Exile Content CEO,...

Strand Releasing has acquired all U.S. rights to Oscar-nominated Cambodian director Rithy Panh’s “Irradiated,” which world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won best documentary. The film is represented in international markets by Playtime.

Through “Irradiated,” Panh sheds light on the human horrors perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge regime which he experienced during his childhood. Narrated by Rebecca Marder and André Wilms (“Le Havre”), the film brings together black-and-white archival war footage across a tryptic of panels juxtaposing images of war and suffering across the 20th century and around the world. The cinematic documentary is scored by Panh’s longtime collaborator Marc Marder.

“What it means to be a survivor cannot be put into words. To live on, to make contact with this irradiation, for which there may be no cause, no knowledge, but from which there is no protection,” said Panh about his film. “Evil radiates.

Taylor Swift has released her performance of “Exile,” her duet with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, from her concert film/documentary, Folkore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions.

The Long Pond Studio Sessions found Swift performing her 2020 album, Folklore, for the first time with collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff. For “Exile,” Vernon contributed his part remotely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, although the clip does show him wearing a mask, which could be a safety precaution or a creative choice to add a bit more muffle to his vocals. Despite the distance,...

The film by the newcomer Georgian director was unanimously victorious, with Special Mentions going to Exile, My Morning Laughter and So She Doesn’t Live, and Cineuropa singling out Sweat. Beginning by Dea Kulumbegashvili (a Georgian-French co-production) is the winner of the 2021 Trieste Film Festival. The jury were unanimous in their decision to award the movie the Trieste Prize, with the film having already bagged no fewer than four trophies at San Sebastián in September, as well as scooping prizes at seven other international events. They described it as: “A debut film displaying a rare authorial confidence, as well as pure stylistic coherence, resulting in a cinematic reality composed of pictures, sounds and performances (notably that of the astonishing lead actress) which continually encourage viewers to question their opinions on this astounding and thrilling story”. The jury also awarded special mentions to Exile...

European Shooting Stars 2021

This year’s ten European Shooting Star actors are Seidi Haarla (Finland), Nicolas Maury (France), Albrecht Schuch (Germany), Natasa Stork (Hungary), Fionn O’Shea (Ireland), Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė (Lithuania), Martijn Lakemeier (The Netherlands), Sara Klimoska (North Macedonia), Alba Baptista (Portugal) and Gustav Lindh (Sweden). The selection jury included U.S. casting director Cassandra Han, Kosovan director Antoneta Kastrati and Danish producer René Ezra. European Film Promotion’s 24th edition of the program will take place digitally, from 23 to 25 February 2021. Previous Shooting Stars have included Carey Mulligan, Alba Rohrwacher, Alicia Vikander, Maisie Williams and Riz Ahmed.

Nent Group Chair

Nent Group Chair David Chance has decided not to stand for re-election this year. The Nent Group Nomination Committee has proposes the election of Pernille Erenbjerg as the new Chair of the Board. Erenbjerg has served as member of the Nent Group Board since May 2020, and was previously President and CEO of Tdc,...

Every year we get a couple of surprise wins at the Grammys. In 2015 many was shocked when Beyoncé’s self-titled album lost Album of the Year to Beck’s “Morning Phase,” while many were just as shocked a few years earlier in 2011 when indie rockers Arcade Fire‘s “The Suburbs” pulled a surprise win against commercial heavyweights like Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and Eminem’s “Recovery.” With the 2021 Grammy Awards already being a little controversial with unexpected noms and snubs across the board, who do we think could surprise us come January 31?

SEELuke James on his Grammy nomination for ‘To Feel Love/d’ and why this album felt like his ’emancipation’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Album of the Year

According to our odds, most people are fixed on Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” to win the top prize, with a couple hundred predicting Dua Lipa’s “Future Nostalgia” instead. However, two surprise nominees shouldn...

With the 2021 Grammy Award ceremony set to be on January 31, 2021, we’re excited to see what’s in store for this year’s show, especially given the current pandemic circumstances. Here are a couple of things I hope to see come next month.

SEELuke James on his Grammy nomination for ‘To Feel Love/d’ and why this album felt like his ’emancipation’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

1. Fewer performances, more awards

Listen, as much as I love those unique Grammy moments every year, do we really need that many performances? The Grammys are still, you know, an awards show, so why not give out more awards during the primetime broadcast instead of presenting almost all of them at the Premiere Ceremony that streams online earlier in the day? Maybe they can limit the performers to general field nominees (which is plenty since there are eight nominees in each of those categories), or maybe do one performance per award.

Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner didn’t expect to make another record so soon after Folklore. As they were putting the final touches on Swift’s album this past summer, the two artists had been collaborating remotely on possible songs for Big Red Machine, Dessner’s music project with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver (who also dueted with Swift on the Folklore track “Exile”).

“I think I’d written around 30 of those instrumentals in total,” Dessner recalls. “So when I started sharing them with Taylor over the months that we were working on Folklore,...

In July Taylor Swift released a surprise album, “Folklore,” and less than five months later she has come out with a surprise companion album, “Evermore,” which dropped on December 11. Is it as good as its predecessor? Less than 12 hours after its release, music fans in our forums have already devoured it, some of them multiple times. And they have opinions. Scroll down to read some of their comments, and join the discussion here.

Swift explained the quick release of more new music on social media, saying, “We just couldn’t stop writing songs. To try and put it more poetically, it feels like we were standing on the edge of the ‘Folklorian’ woods and had a choice: to turn and go back or to travel further into the forest of this music. We chose to wander deeper in.”

SEEBeyonce leads 2021 Grammy nominations with 9, followed by Dua Lipa, Roddy Ricch and Taylor Swift

As with “Folklore,...

Skydance Television has struck an exclusive first-look deal with Exile Content Studio to develop and produce scripted English-language series, Variety has learned.

“We are very proud to partner with Exile Content Studio to bring its diverse array of Latinx-based content to our current development slate,” said Jesse Sisgold, Skydance Media president and chief operating officer. “Skydance shares Exile’s vision to amplify the voices of all creators and producers to bring their stories to global audiences, and to do so with a strategy focused on where entertainment is heading.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Skydance TV will have first consideration of Exile’s English-language projects. The move marks Skydance Media’s continuing efforts to further exploit IP across various genres and platforms for an international audience; it already has a partnership with South Korea-based Cj Enm, the studio behind “Parasite,” and has long been working with China’s Tencent Holdings.

With the same air of secrecy that flew in her album of the same name, Taylor Swift’s documentary “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions” surprise-dropped on Disney+ just in time for Thanksgiving. Though this recording session writ feature-length is hardly as revealing as the Netflix film “Miss Americana” centered on the pop queen that debuted earlier this year,

The film brings together Taylor Swift with collaborators Aaron Dessner of The National and Jack Antonoff of Bleachers for the first time in a marooned farmhouse in upstate New York, cozy as an old cardigan. They’d all previously recorded the elements of “Folklore” separately, so it’s charming to see them in the same room — and in a simulacrum of what their process might’ve looked like in a non-pandemic world.

Throughout the movie, Swift speaks in less than concrete terms about the stories and secrets comprising each of the 17 songs off “Folkore.

The release of Taylor Swift's album Folklore in July caused a lot of chatter about her introspective lyrics, but it also sparked a new mystery: who is William Bowery?

On Swift's Instagram announcement prior to releasing Folklore, she credited several people who helped make it happen. For the most part, it was recognizable names: Aaron Dessner, Bon Iver, and Jack Antonoff, plus the sound team of Laura Sisk, Jon Low, and Serban Ghenea, and photographer Beth Garrabrant. Among those names, though, she also dedicated a line to "William Bowery (who co-wrote two [songs] with me)." Interestingly enough, he's not the only name who doesn't have a tagged Instagram account in Swift's post - Sisk, Low, and Ghenea also are all untagged.

While many fans theorized who it could be following the album's release, Swift put all the rumors to rest when she released her new Disney+ film, Folklore: the Long Pond Studio Sessions,...

Earlier this year, Taylor Swift released her latest album, “folklore.” The new music marked a bit of a change for the singer-songwriter. Instead of the pop ballads and dance-y beats she’s used previously, Swift is embracing more melancholy, almost folk-music sounds for her latest release. And to further show this new side of Swift, she’s teamed with Disney+ to release a concert film, titled “folklore: the long pond studio sessions.”

Read More: Marvel Studios Reportedly Making Upcoming Disney+ Series “The Priority” Right Now

Much like what Disney+ did with Beyonce earlier this year, the streaming platform has released Taylor Swift’s concert doc/visual album, “folklore: the long pond studio sessions.” And to help show what you can expect in the new program, there is a brand new video of Swift performing the song “Exile,” which features acclaimed musical act Bon Iver.

Continue reading ‘folklore’ Clip: Watch Taylor...

Los Angeles, Nov 25 (Ians) The 2021 Grammy Awards nominations are all about women power with Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa leading the way.

Beyonce is leading the contender at the 2021 Grammy Awards with nine nods. She is followed by Taylor Swift, Roddy Ricch and Dua Lipa, who earned six nominations each.

Brittany Howard, of Alabama Shakes fame, earned five nominations for her solo debut. Earning four each were Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Phoebe Bridgers, Justin Bieber, jazz pianist John Beasley and classical producer David Frost, reports Variety.

As a shocker, The Weeknd didn't get nominated. Despite being predicted to dominate the nominations at the 63rd annual Grammys, the pop-r&b superstar's "Blinding lights" single and "After Hours" album got zero nominations.

Beyonce will be competing against herself in the Record of the Year category. She is nominated in the category for "Black Parade" as well as "Savage". She fights Black Pumas,...

It's been a wild roller coaster of a year, but the one thing we've been able to count on is an abundance of great music releases. And now, the 2021 Grammy Awards nominations have arrived, and we're celebrating artists like Fiona Apple, Brittany Howard, Grace Potter, and more! The nominees were announced on Nov. 24 by four-time Grammy winner Pepe Aguilar, Yemi Alade, Nicola Benedetti, Lauren Daigle, Mickey Guyton, Imogen Heap, Dua Lipa, Gayle King, and The Talk host Sharon Osbourne.

Beyoncé reclaimed her place as most-nominated artist of the year with nine nominations, followed by Roddy Ricch, Dua Lipa, and Taylor Swift, who earned six nods each. Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes fame picked up five nods for her solo debut, with Megan Thee Stallion earning four for her Hot Girl Year. Check out the full list of nominations ahead, and get ready for music's biggest night, hosted by Trevor Noah,...

The 2021 Grammy Award nominations were announced on Tuesday, November 24, at noon Eastern (9:00 a.m. Pacific). So who made the cut? Scroll down to see the list. Winners of the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards will be revealed on Sunday, January 31 in a two-part ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

The majority of the awards in the 84 categories spread across 30 fields will be handed out in a non-televised event, the Premiere Ceremony, that afternoon. The televised portion of the Grammys will begin on CBS at 5:00 p.m. Pt/8:00 p.m. Et. Expect that 3.5 hour telecast to be dominated by musical performances with about a dozen presentations of prizes. Scroll down for the full and complete list of nominees for the 63rd Grammys.

Keep refreshing this page for the most up-to-date results

General Field

Album Of The Year

“Chilombo,” Jhené Aiko

“Black Pumas (Deluxe Edition),” Black Pumas

“Everyday Life,...

The long holiday weekend just got even better thanks to Taylor Swift. On Tuesday, the singer announced that she's dropping a concert film on Disney+ for her latest album Folklore on Nov. 25. The special, officially titled Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, will feature appearances from Swift, Aaron Dessner, Jack Antonoff, and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) as they perform and reveal the stories behind every single track on the album.

The news comes after Swifties went wild thinking that the singer, queen of Easter eggs, was hinting something big on her socials. One telling post was when Swift shared a photo of her in a cabin on Nov. 22 with the caption, "Not a lot going on at the moment," a direct nod to the shirt she wears in her "22" music video. As fans noted, it's the same caption she used on April 27 when she first started working on Folklore, plus...

Taylor Swift is giving her fans a big, cardigan-wrapped holiday gift this year: The Grammy-winning singer will perform her recent folklore album in an upcoming Disney+ concert special, she announced Tuesday.

folklore: the long pond studio sessions will feature Swift performing each song from folklore, in order, while revealing the stories and secrets behind all 17 tracks for the first time. She’ll be joined by fellow musicians Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, who co-produced folklore, and Bon Iver lead singer Justin Vernon will appear to perform “Exile” with Swift.

More from TVLineHigh School Musical Trailer: First Look at Disney+ Holiday...

Taylor Swift will release a new concert documentary, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions, November 25th on Disney+. Swift announced the new film a day before its release, November 24th, sharing a short trailer.

The film, which Swift directed, was filmed at Long Pond Studio, the Hudson Valley, New York, studio that’s home to the National and Aaron Dessner, Swift’s key collaborator on Folklore. Swift, Dessner, and the album’s other co-producer, Jack Antonoff, all gathered there this September to perform each song off Folklore and share...

With the Shadowlands expansion, the World of Warcraft team hopes to make the legendary Mmo more accessible than it’s ever been before. While I think they’ve done a pretty good job of breaking down some of the game’s more intimidating barriers, that doesn’t mean that Shadowlands offers the perfect new player experience.

In fact, it’s entirely possible to leave Shadowlands‘ new player starting area (an island called Exile’s Reach) without understanding or even knowing about some of the game’s core mechanics. It would have been impossible for Exile’s Reach to teach you absolutely everything you needed to know about the modern WoW experience, but it would have been nice if the new (mostly) universal starting area offered a better taste of the full game.

With that in mind, there are 10 of the most important things you won’t learn about in Shadowland‘s new tutorial area.

Taylor Swift has shared a cryptic message and fans are convinced that she is definitely up to something big.

Taking to her social media, the 'Cardigan' singer tease her fans posting a black-and-white photo of herself sitting on a couch.

"Not a lot going on at the moment," she captioned the simple looking photo as she perched on the couch donning simple clothes, with a bored expression on her face.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)

The caption sounds a little familiar and many fans have already started creating wild theories attached to the image.

Back in April, Taylor Swift posted the same phrase the day she started working on 'Folklore' at the time. The singer's latest post has sent fans into a frantic mission to crack any hidden secrets.

Many of her fans are convinced that the new post is just another Easter...

The Grammy nominations are coming up on November 24, so we asked our readers who they thought would get the most bids. They answered decisively that it would be Taylor Swift even though her last two albums, “Reputation” and “Lover,” underperformed with the recording academy. But there’s good reason to believe she’ll get back in voters’ good graces. Scroll down to see our complete poll results.

A whopping 57% of respondents said Swift would come out on top in the Grammy nominations, and it might be due in large part to just how many opportunities she has. Her surprise album “Folklore” quickly became the most critically acclaimed of her career and the bestselling of the year (the first 2020 release to sell more than one million copies in the US). So despite the Album of the Year snubs for her last two releases, this collection might be undeniable to voters.

Her lead single from the album,...

Taylor Swift responded to Scooter Braun’s sale of her master records on Monday with a lengthy letter to fans explaining the state of her music and more.

“This was the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge,” the “Cardigan” singer wrote.

More than a year after the music executive’s Ithaca Holdings acquired the singer’s master recordings of her first albums from former Swift’s former label Big Machine Label Group, Braun sold the music to private equity company Shamrock Holdings. Swift laid the scenario all out for her fans, explaining that Shamrock had reached out, notifying her of the purchase. However, despite the firm’s willingness to speak with Taylor, the singer wanted little to do with the deal, noting that “Scooter’s participation is a non-starter for me.”

“As soon as we started communication with Shamrock, I learned that under their terms Scooter...

Election Day 2020 is here and Taylor Swift is using her platform to spread an important message. On Nov. 2, the pop star took to Twitter in a final attempt to urge everyone to get up and vote.  "So we are all very stressed out about this election and rightfully so," she said in the 30-second clip. "I feel you, but allow me to be the one millionth person to remind you that tomorrow is your last chance to get your voice heard and to make your vote count. So if you haven't voted yet, please do."  The "Exile" singer also encouraged fans to "stay safe, wear a mask, take care of yourselves" before adding, "I love you very much, happy voting." The...

The November 2020 lineup for The Criterion Channel has been unveiled, toplined by a Claire Denis retrospective, including the brand-new restoration of Beau travail, along with Chocolat, No Fear, No Die, Nenette and Boni, Towards Mathilde, 35 Shots of Rum, and White Material.

There will also be a series celebrating 30 years of The Film Foundation, featuring a new interview with Martin Scorsese by Ari Aster, as well as a number of their most essential restorations, including films by Jia Zhangke, Ritwik Ghatak, Luchino Visconti, Shirley Clarke, Med Hondo, and more.

There’s also David Lynch’s new restoration of The Elephant Man, retrospectives dedicated to Ngozi Onwurah, Nadav Lapid, and Terence Nance, a new edition of the series Queersighted titled Queer Fear, featuring a new conversation between series programmer Michael Koresky and filmmaker and critic Farihah Zaman, and much more.

See the lineup below and learn more on the official site.

This year’s Grammys are highly competitive when it comes to nominations, despite the coronavirus pandemic that shut down so much of the entertainment industry. This year the pop field is stacked with commercially successful hits, A-list collaborations and multiple returning champs. So let’s take a look at the two performance categories.

Seea new wave of Grammy campaigns: 3 ways the Covid-19 pandemic could affect the race Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

Front-runners include Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s “Rain On Me,” which could win based on star power alone. However, “Rain On Me” isn’t quite the biggest hit in contention despite debuting at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, which could hurt it. Ditto Grande’s other song in consideration, “Stuck with U” with Justin Bieber. It debuted at the top of the charts but didn’t spend long in the upper echelons of the Hot 100.

Similarly, another...

These should be the best of times for the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category. After all, last year’s winner, “Parasite,” went on to win additional Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. The year before, “Roma” won in the category that was then called Best Foreign Language Film, then added Best Director and Best Cinematography awards.

With the Academy adding more members outside the United States every year, the international category is becoming more and more of a powerhouse. But can it continue that clout this year, when production and exhibition has been curtailed by the Covid-19 pandemic and there may well be fewer entries than usual? And regardless of the number of entries, is there anything out there that feels like the next “Roma” or “Parasite”?

The answer is almost certainly no on the second question, but it’s premature to draw any conclusions on the first.

This is the list of the films that have been submitted in the Oscars race for Best International Feature Film. Each country is permitted to enter a single film, as selected by an Academy-approved international board.

A spot on this list does not guarantee that a film will be eligible because entries have to be vetted by the Academy to make sure they qualify.

An asterisk indicates that TheWrap has seen the film. This list will be updated as additional films are submitted. Links to trailers are provided when those trailers are available.

Algeria

“Heliopolis”

Director: Djaafar Gacem

Algeria has a pretty good record at the Oscars, with five nominations and one win (for 1969’s “Z”) in its 21 previous entries. But it hasn’t received a nomination since 2010, a dry spell it’s hoping to end with this drama about a family in northeastern Algeria on Victory in Europe Day,...

by Nathaniel R

We're up to 14 announced submissions for this year's Best International Feature Oscar so those submission charts are updated with the following films added

Algeria - Héliopolis  Czech Republic - Charlatan Ecuador - Emptiness Kosovo - Exile Singapore - Wet Season

We've only had the pleasure of seeing one of these five newly announced titles so far, Wet Season (which was a Golden Horse nominee last year). I liked it at TIFF in 2019 though I thought it erred on the side of being too much of a "slow burn" if you know what I mean. But a year later I'll admit that I think of it surprisingly frequently so even though I was a thumbs up, I underestimated it! It's an emotionally complicated story of an unhappy teacher who becomes way too involved with the life of her lonely student (they're pictured above). 

But back to the submissions,...

The Czech Film and Television Academy has selected Agnieszka Holland’s “Charlatan” to be its official entry in the International Feature Film category of the 93rd Academy Awards.

Its decision follows recent submissions by Singapore, Kosovo and Georgia. Other countries to have selected their entries include Bhutan, Taiwan, Ukraine, Bosnia, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Poland and Switzerland.

“Charlatan,” which premiered in the Berlinale Special Gala section of the Berlin Film Festival, is based on the true story of Czech healer Jan Mikolášek, who dedicated his life to treating the sick using medicinal plants. Throughout the war and turmoil of the 20th century he has to choose between his calling and his conscience.

Holland told Variety: “‘Charlatan’ tells the story of Mikolášek’s rise and fall. Of his moral fall and of his constant fight with the darkness inside him. It is the story of the mystery of a man, of the mystery of his special gift,...

Kosovo has selected Visar Morina’s “Exil” as its official entry in the International Feature Film category of the 93rd Academy Awards, while Georgia has chosen Dea Kulumbegashvili’s “Beginning.” It follows submissions by Bhutan, Taiwan, Ukraine, Bosnia, Ivory Coast, Luxembourg, Poland and Switzerland.

“Exil” had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition and also screened at the Berlinale as part of the Panorama section. The film won the Heart of Sarajevo, the top prize of Sarajevo Film Festival.

The film centers on Xhafer (played by Misel Maticevic), a Kosovan expat in Germany, who finds himself the subject of relentless xenophobic bullying. Sandra Hüller, the star of “Toni Erdmann,” plays his German wife, who slowly distances herself from what she perceives as his paranoia.

In his review for Variety, Guy Lodge describes the film as “painfully exact in dramatizing the quiet xenophobia (Xhafer) experiences on a daily basis,...

More than half of all competition titles directed by women.

Switzerland’s Zurich Film Festival (Zff) has unveiled the full programme for its 2020 edition, which is set to go ahead as a physical event from September 24 to October 4.

Scroll down for list of competition titles

The 16th edition of the festival will comprise 165 films, of which 23 are world premieres and more than half of the competition titles are directed by women. Zff also revealed that Oscar-winning UK actress Olivia Colman will receive an honorary award and Johnny Depp is set to attend the festival with a new documentary.

The feature...

Mick Jagger was supposed to have a very different 2020, playing sold-out stadiums on the Rolling Stones’ No Filter tour. But he’s not letting the pandemic slow him down. Isolating at home in the European countryside, he’s been writing, recording, and working on documentary projects. “Can’t feel sorry for yourself,” he says. He’s also spent a lot of time looking back: The Stones just released a huge box set celebrating 1973’s Goats Head Soup, one of the band’s darkest and most misunderstood LPs. Jagger and Richards...

Mick Jagger got a call from his label recently with some news: While working on a reissue of the Rolling Stones’ 1973 album Goats Head Soup, the crew found some unreleased tracks. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh, no,’” Jagger says. “Unreleased tracks, to me that always means a lot of work. It’s like, ‘Things that you didn’t like and didn’t finish!’”

Jagger’s mind changed when he heard the music. “Actually, it’s not bad at all,” he says. Soon, isolating at his home in the European countryside, he...

New releases scarce in the week before ‘Tenet’ hits many markets.

UK-Ireland, opening Friday August 21

It is a quiet weekend for new releases in UK and Irish cinemas, with just two new titles on screens: Sam Quah’s Chinese crime thriller Sheep Without A Shepherd and Grégory Magne’s Perfumes.

Sheep Without A Shepherd reached number one at the Chinese box office following a December 2019 release, and was one of the last blockbuster hits in the country before Covid-19 forced the closure of venues in January. It was re-released on July 20, following the reopening of some cinemas.

Released by Trinity Film...

New releases scarce in the week before ‘Tenet’ hits many markets.

UK-Ireland, opening Friday August 21

It is a quiet weekend for new releases in UK and Irish cinemas, with just two new titles on screens: Sam Quah’s Chinese crime thriller Sheep Without A Shepherd and Grégory Magne’s Perfumes.

Sheep Without A Shepherd reached number one at the Chinese box office following a December 2019 release, and was one of the last blockbuster hits in the country before Covid-19 forced the closure of venues in January. It was re-released on July 20, following the reopening of some cinemas.

Released by Trinity Film...

Visar Morina's drama won the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Feature and Cineuropa Award, Ru Hasanov received the Best Director award, and Merry Christmas, Yiwu was crowned Best Documentary. Kosovo-born and Germany-based filmmaker Visar Morina's Sundance and Berlinale title Exile, starring Michel Maticevic and Sandra Hüller, triumphed at the online, 26th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival, winning the Heart of Sarajevo for best feature film as well as the Cineuropa Award. Azerbaijan's Ru Hasanov received the Heart of Sarajevo for best director for his second feature film, The Island Within, which had its world premiere at the festival. Croatia's Marija Škaričić won the Heart of Sarajevo for best actress for her role in Andrea Štaka's Mare, repeating her 2006 success when she triumphed for her role in Fräulein, the first feature film by the same director. Mare also received the Cicae Award. The Heart of Sarajevo for best actor.

After being forced to pivot entirely online last-minute due to a Covid spike, Bosnia’s Sarajevo Film Festival is coming to a close and has unveiled its prize winners for this year’s edition.

A jury chaired by Michel Hazanavicius and featuring Berlinale director Carlo Chatrian, actress Jadranka Đokić, director Srdan Golubović and the Morelia Film Festival’s Andrea Stavenhagen, awarded the festival’s top prize, the Heart of Sarajevo, to Visar Morina’s Exile. The pic stars Misel Maticevic and Sandra Huller in the story of a chemical engineer of foreign origin who plunges into an identity crisis. It debuted at Sundance this year.

The Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director went to Ru Hasanov for The Island Within, while Best Actress went to Marija Škaričić for Mare, and Best Actor went to Vangelis Mourikis for Digger. You can see the list of awards below, as well as the festival’s industry winners.

Ceremony took place remotely, after festival shifted online week before opening.

Psychological thriller Exile has won the best film prize at the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival, which took place online this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Scroll down for full list of winners

In a virtual awards ceremony, streamed on the festival’s VoD platform, Kosovo-born writer-director Visar Morina accepted the Heart of Sarajevo prize via a video message after jury president Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) made the announcement from his own home in France. The award includes a prize of €16,000.

Exile, first seen at Sundance and in the Berlinale’s Panorama strand,...

Winners included coming-of-age drama The Otter from Bosnian director Srđan Vuletić.

Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry platform CineLink has announced the winners of its 18th edition, which took place entirely online for the first time as a result of the virus crisis.

Scroll down for full list of winners

More than 40 projects in various formats and stages of development were presented from August 15-20 across strands including CineLink Co-Production Market, CineLink Work in Progress and Docu Rough Cut Boutique.

Winners included Montenegro coming-of-age drama The Otter, from director Srđan Vuletić, which won the €20,000 Eurimages co-production development award.

Vuletić is known...

Visar Morina’s “Exile,” a tense psychodrama about a Kosovan pharmacologist in Germany who becomes increasingly paranoid over a series of menacing events, won the top prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival, earning the Kosovo-born German director the Heart of Sarajevo.

The award ceremony took place online Thursday night, with Morina winning top honors from a jury led by Academy Award-winning director Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”) and comprised of Carlo Chatrian, artistic director of the Berlin Intl. Film Festival; Croatian actress Jadranka Đokić; Serbian director Srdan Golubović; and Andrea Stavenhagen, head of industry and training projects at the Morelia Film Festival.

Director Michel Franco and actor Mads Mikkelsen were given honorary Heart of Sarajevo awards.

The timely drama from Morina, who was named one of Variety‘s 10 Europeans to Watch earlier this year, is a poignant study of identity and belonging at a time of ongoing uncertainty in Europe over...

Xhafer is a 45-year-old pharmacologist who left Kosovo to live in Germany, where he has a comfortable, middle-class life with his German wife and children. But one day a dead rat mysteriously appears hanging from the garden gate in front of his home, setting off a bizarre series of menacing events. Xhafer believes he’s being targeted by his co-workers because he’s a foreigner, but before long it becomes impossible to tell whether the threats are real, or if he’s become a victim of his own paranoia.

“Exile” is the sophomore feature from Kosovo-born director Visar Morina, whose 2015 debut “Babai” won the best director prize at Karlovy Vary. Starring Mišel Matičević (“Babylon Berlin”) and Sandra Hüller (“Toni Erdmann”), the film premiered in the world cinema dramatic competition in Sundance before playing in Berlin. This week it screens in the official competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival. The Germany-Belgium-Kosovo...

For many of the visitors who descended on the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, packing their day planners with meetings at the Gropius Bau and red-carpet premieres at the Berlinale Palast, there was a surreal sense of business as usual. But with coronavirus already ravaging Italy—and soon to be sweeping across the rest of Europe—Sarajevo Film Festival director Mirsad Purivatra knew that he and his team had little time to spare.

“We started immediately to think what to do with our festival,” Purivatra told Variety on the eve of Sarajevo’s 26th edition, which runs Aug. 14-21. Even though the festival’s opening night was still months away, “we had [in mind] the worst-case scenario that it could be a bad situation with the numbers of Covid-19” cases in Bosnia.

As spring turned to summer, Purivatra and his colleagues were confident that a scaled-down version of the physical festival...

DaBaby and Roddy Ricch’s irrepressible “Rockstar” returned to Number One on the Rolling Stone Top 100 Songs chart. “Rockstar” enjoyed more than a month at Number One earlier this summer before being dethroned for three weeks by Juice Wrld and Marshmello’s “Come & Go,” DJ Khaled and Drake’s “Popstar,” and Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan.” But DaBaby’s single never left the Top Five, and it jumped back to Number One this week, out-streaming Jack Harlow’s star-studded remix of “Whats Poppin.”

After dominating the Rs 100 last week, songs from...