The forbidden love between two soldiers in a society riven by war is at the heart of “So the Lovers Could Come Out Again,” the sophomore feature from Lebanese filmmaker George Peter Barbari, whose debut, “Death of a Virgin, and the Sin of Not Living,” premiered in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama strand. Barbari will be presenting the project at the Crossroads Co-Production Forum, which takes place Nov. 5 – 9 at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.
“So the Lovers Could Come Out Again” is the story of two young soldiers holed up in a building controlled by Christian militias during the Lebanese civil war. As the fighting intensifies, the two men begin to find safety in each other, sharing their hopes and fears and recognizing that both are running from the past, as well as the war that rages inside them. Each offers the other their perspective on life, love,...
“So the Lovers Could Come Out Again” is the story of two young soldiers holed up in a building controlled by Christian militias during the Lebanese civil war. As the fighting intensifies, the two men begin to find safety in each other, sharing their hopes and fears and recognizing that both are running from the past, as well as the war that rages inside them. Each offers the other their perspective on life, love,...
- 11/5/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
You can approach old classics just like new films, argued participants during Locarno’s Heritage Monday panel.
“I talked to an exhibitor in Paris and they don’t consider repertory cinema to be different from contemporary cinema. They are collapsing both models into one and it’s very interesting,” said K.J. Relth-Miller of the Academy Museum.
Swiss Film Archive director Frédéric Maire noted that they also mix “fresh” films with older titles. “This idea of separating them can be useful for communication, but we try to avoid it. Yesterday, I was watching [Daniel Schmid’s 1974 film] ‘La Paloma’ [at the festival] and it felt modern and new. I don’t want to make these distinctions in terms of cultural perspective,” he said.
Such an approach can be beneficial also when it comes to raising audience’s awareness, argued Film Movement’s Erin Farrell.
“When we talk about ‘heritage films’ in the same breath as our new releases,...
“I talked to an exhibitor in Paris and they don’t consider repertory cinema to be different from contemporary cinema. They are collapsing both models into one and it’s very interesting,” said K.J. Relth-Miller of the Academy Museum.
Swiss Film Archive director Frédéric Maire noted that they also mix “fresh” films with older titles. “This idea of separating them can be useful for communication, but we try to avoid it. Yesterday, I was watching [Daniel Schmid’s 1974 film] ‘La Paloma’ [at the festival] and it felt modern and new. I don’t want to make these distinctions in terms of cultural perspective,” he said.
Such an approach can be beneficial also when it comes to raising audience’s awareness, argued Film Movement’s Erin Farrell.
“When we talk about ‘heritage films’ in the same breath as our new releases,...
- 8/8/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
This year, all the Oscar-contending directors are nominated for original screenplay: the Daniels, Todd Field, Martin McDonagh, Ruben Östlund and Steven Spielberg (writing with Tony Kushner).
This is the first time it’s happened in AMPAS history.
The only year that came close was 2017, when all five helmers had written or co-written their scripts, though they didn’t all get writing noms.
So here’s Film History 101.
In Hollywood lore, Preston Sturges is often credited as the first scribe to become a hyphenate, as writer-director of the 1940 “The Great McGinty.” But as with all Hollywood “facts,” there is only an element of truth here.
In the next few years, he was joined by some heavyweights: Orson Welles (“Citizen Kane”) and John Huston (“The Maltese Falcon”) in 1941; Leo McCarey (co-writer of “Going My Way”); Billy Wilder (writing with Raymond Chandler) for “Double Indemnity” in 1944; and Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“Dragonwyck”), 1946.
However, a writer-director wasn’t an innovation.
This is the first time it’s happened in AMPAS history.
The only year that came close was 2017, when all five helmers had written or co-written their scripts, though they didn’t all get writing noms.
So here’s Film History 101.
In Hollywood lore, Preston Sturges is often credited as the first scribe to become a hyphenate, as writer-director of the 1940 “The Great McGinty.” But as with all Hollywood “facts,” there is only an element of truth here.
In the next few years, he was joined by some heavyweights: Orson Welles (“Citizen Kane”) and John Huston (“The Maltese Falcon”) in 1941; Leo McCarey (co-writer of “Going My Way”); Billy Wilder (writing with Raymond Chandler) for “Double Indemnity” in 1944; and Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“Dragonwyck”), 1946.
However, a writer-director wasn’t an innovation.
- 3/3/2023
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
Just days before the curtain rises on the second edition of the Red Sea Film Festival, which takes place Dec. 1 – 10 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Saudi filmmakers were out in force this week at the Cairo Film Festival, where they sought to highlight the rapid strides being taken by their country’s burgeoning screen industry.
Abduljalil Al-Nasser, general manager of sector development and investment at the Saudi Film Commission, praised the combination of public support and private equity pouring into the industry during a panel moderated by film critic Jay Weissberg. “There is now a serious commitment to make the film industry in Saudi Arabia happen,” he said.
Characterizing the rapid growth as “unprecedented even around the world” and pointing to seismic shifts in everything from talent development and production to distribution and exhibition, Al-Nasser added: “What Saudi filmmakers have been trying to do over many years, and they’ve been...
Abduljalil Al-Nasser, general manager of sector development and investment at the Saudi Film Commission, praised the combination of public support and private equity pouring into the industry during a panel moderated by film critic Jay Weissberg. “There is now a serious commitment to make the film industry in Saudi Arabia happen,” he said.
Characterizing the rapid growth as “unprecedented even around the world” and pointing to seismic shifts in everything from talent development and production to distribution and exhibition, Al-Nasser added: “What Saudi filmmakers have been trying to do over many years, and they’ve been...
- 11/21/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
€50,000 joint restoration grant to the film Life Of A Shock Force Worker.
Ace (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes) has awarded its 53,000 joint restoration grant to Life Of A Shock Force Worker, the 1972 film by Bosnian director Bahrudin ‘Bato’ Cengic.
The jury was comprised of filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, Pordenone Silent Film Festival director Jay Weissberg and Arte director Claudia Tronnier.
Ace’s A Season of Classic Films will run online and in European cinemas from June to December.
The free screenings look to engage younger audiences. Most are new digital restorations, and some screenings will include live music performances and interactive educational sessions.
Ace (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes) has awarded its 53,000 joint restoration grant to Life Of A Shock Force Worker, the 1972 film by Bosnian director Bahrudin ‘Bato’ Cengic.
The jury was comprised of filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, Pordenone Silent Film Festival director Jay Weissberg and Arte director Claudia Tronnier.
Ace’s A Season of Classic Films will run online and in European cinemas from June to December.
The free screenings look to engage younger audiences. Most are new digital restorations, and some screenings will include live music performances and interactive educational sessions.
- 5/23/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Given that, after its shuttered 2020 edition, the 74th Locarno Film Festival’s ident features a prowling, growling, resurgent leopard and the distinctly tumescent tagline “Cinema is Back” it’s somewhat ironic that the festival’s top prize should go to a film about erectile dysfunction.
In other ways, however, Indonesian director Edwin’s fabulously if nonsensically titled “Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash” is perhaps the ideal Golden Leopard winner, in what is a strange year for the world, and a strange year for the Swiss festival, which is finding its footing under the new artistic direction of Giona A. Nazzaro.
As an admixture of several distinctly populist genres that still, as Variety critic Jay Weissberg noted, uses impotence as a metaphor “to make a broader critique of a toxic culture that puts so much emphasis on virility,” the film is among the best exemplars of Nazzaro’s avowed...
In other ways, however, Indonesian director Edwin’s fabulously if nonsensically titled “Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash” is perhaps the ideal Golden Leopard winner, in what is a strange year for the world, and a strange year for the Swiss festival, which is finding its footing under the new artistic direction of Giona A. Nazzaro.
As an admixture of several distinctly populist genres that still, as Variety critic Jay Weissberg noted, uses impotence as a metaphor “to make a broader critique of a toxic culture that puts so much emphasis on virility,” the film is among the best exemplars of Nazzaro’s avowed...
- 8/14/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Giorgio Diritti’s biopic “Hidden Away,” about crazed primitivist painter Antonio Ligabue, was the big winner at Italy’s 66th David di Donatello Awards, the country’s top film prizes.
The Davids were held with an in-person ceremony aired from two venues amid a strong spirit of restart as Italian movie theaters gradually begin to reopen.
“Hidden Away,” which was the frontrunner with 15 nominations, scored seven statuettes including best picture, director and actor honors won by Elio Germano who tackles “the fiendishly difficult role” of the self-taught artist “with customary gusto,” as Variety critic Jay Weissberg noted in his review.
The best actress statuette went to Sophia Loren for her role as Madame Rosa, a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor, in Netflix Original “The Life Ahead,” directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. The Italian icon’s return to the big screen after a decade had been snubbed by the Oscars earlier this year.
The Davids were held with an in-person ceremony aired from two venues amid a strong spirit of restart as Italian movie theaters gradually begin to reopen.
“Hidden Away,” which was the frontrunner with 15 nominations, scored seven statuettes including best picture, director and actor honors won by Elio Germano who tackles “the fiendishly difficult role” of the self-taught artist “with customary gusto,” as Variety critic Jay Weissberg noted in his review.
The best actress statuette went to Sophia Loren for her role as Madame Rosa, a former prostitute and Holocaust survivor, in Netflix Original “The Life Ahead,” directed by her son Edoardo Ponti. The Italian icon’s return to the big screen after a decade had been snubbed by the Oscars earlier this year.
- 5/11/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Following on an initial sale to Mubi for U.S., U.K, Italy, Turkey and India, Brussels-based sales agency Be For Films has clinched its first tranche of sales to international distributors on Berlinale Encounters title “Azor,” the first feature from Swiss talent to track Andreas Fontana.
In new sales, Pamela Leu at Be For Films, part of the pan-European Playtime Group, has closed Spain (Vitrine Filmes), Portugal (Legendmain Filmes), Greece (Cinobo), Cis (Capella Film), China (Huanxi Media Group), Brazil (Vitrine Filmes) and, just this week, Switzerland (Xenix Filmdistribution).
The news deals mean that “Azor” has sold more of less half of the 15 major territories in the world.
“Azor” is produced by Eugenia Mumenthaler and David Epiney from Alina Film and co-produced by France’s Local Films, Argentina’s Ruda Cine and Swiss public broadcaster Rts.
The deals also show “Azor” shaping up as one of the standout Swiss titles...
In new sales, Pamela Leu at Be For Films, part of the pan-European Playtime Group, has closed Spain (Vitrine Filmes), Portugal (Legendmain Filmes), Greece (Cinobo), Cis (Capella Film), China (Huanxi Media Group), Brazil (Vitrine Filmes) and, just this week, Switzerland (Xenix Filmdistribution).
The news deals mean that “Azor” has sold more of less half of the 15 major territories in the world.
“Azor” is produced by Eugenia Mumenthaler and David Epiney from Alina Film and co-produced by France’s Local Films, Argentina’s Ruda Cine and Swiss public broadcaster Rts.
The deals also show “Azor” shaping up as one of the standout Swiss titles...
- 3/31/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
U.S indie distributor Film Movement has acquired North American rights from Italian sales company True Colours to Palestinian director Ameen Nayfeh’s drama “200 Meters,” about a Palestinian construction worker who takes huge risks to cross the West Bank wall to reach his hospitalized son.
In September, “200 Meters,” which marks Nayfeh’s debut, launched from the Venice Film Festival’s Venice Days section, where it won the audience award. The pic was praised by Variety critic Jay Weissberg for “drawing out how one man’s story is a reflection of a collective experience.” “200 Meters” subsequently scooped the best actor prize at Turkey’s Antalya Golden Orange fest for protagonist Ali Suliman and other awards at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.
Suliman (“Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”) plays the Palestinian construction worker named Mustafa, who is separated from his family on the other side of the wall in the West Bank.
In September, “200 Meters,” which marks Nayfeh’s debut, launched from the Venice Film Festival’s Venice Days section, where it won the audience award. The pic was praised by Variety critic Jay Weissberg for “drawing out how one man’s story is a reflection of a collective experience.” “200 Meters” subsequently scooped the best actor prize at Turkey’s Antalya Golden Orange fest for protagonist Ali Suliman and other awards at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt.
Suliman (“Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan”) plays the Palestinian construction worker named Mustafa, who is separated from his family on the other side of the wall in the West Bank.
- 3/9/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The treasures of an extended Oscar season just keep on giving, as Venice Film Festival winner and award season favorite “Nomadland” finds its way to theaters — and Hulu subscribers. It’s a special film, about a woman (played by two-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand) who pulls up stakes and travels the country by van, hitting theaters at a time when many people have been reexamining their own lives. So if there’s a safe way to see it, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option out there.
The week’s a bit thinner on conventional crowd pleasers. Channeling “The Wolf of Wall Street”-style energy on an indie scale, both “Silk Road” and “Body Brokers” offer cutting-edge takes on 21st-century crimes: a black market for illegal drugs in the former and a scheme to profit on recovering addicts in the latter. Also in the Scorsese vein, the Montreal-made...
The week’s a bit thinner on conventional crowd pleasers. Channeling “The Wolf of Wall Street”-style energy on an indie scale, both “Silk Road” and “Body Brokers” offer cutting-edge takes on 21st-century crimes: a black market for illegal drugs in the former and a scheme to profit on recovering addicts in the latter. Also in the Scorsese vein, the Montreal-made...
- 2/19/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Heretic Outreach has acquired world sales rights to “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” from acclaimed Romanian writer-director Radu Jude, which world premieres in competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Variety can reveal.
Jude’s latest film is the story of a schoolteacher, Emi (Katia Pascariu), whose life is turned upside down after a sex video shot with her husband is leaked on the internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, she refuses to give in, instead confronting the hypocrisy and prejudice behind Romanian society’s attitudes toward sex.
“Bad Luck Banging” is produced by Ada Solomon of Romania’s microFILM, in co-production with Paul Thiltges Distributions (Luxembourg), endorfilm (Czech Republic) and Kinorama (Croatia). Photography is by veteran cinematographer and long-time Jude collaborator Marius Panduru.
In his ninth feature, Jude leverages the hysteria and moral panic around the leaked video to examine “what is obscene and how do we define it.
Jude’s latest film is the story of a schoolteacher, Emi (Katia Pascariu), whose life is turned upside down after a sex video shot with her husband is leaked on the internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, she refuses to give in, instead confronting the hypocrisy and prejudice behind Romanian society’s attitudes toward sex.
“Bad Luck Banging” is produced by Ada Solomon of Romania’s microFILM, in co-production with Paul Thiltges Distributions (Luxembourg), endorfilm (Czech Republic) and Kinorama (Croatia). Photography is by veteran cinematographer and long-time Jude collaborator Marius Panduru.
In his ninth feature, Jude leverages the hysteria and moral panic around the leaked video to examine “what is obscene and how do we define it.
- 2/17/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Focus Features has nabbed worldwide rights to Luke Holland’s “Final Account,” a documentary about the last living generation from Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. The announcement was tied to International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Focus plans to release the film — in collaboration with Participant Media — in the U.S. on May 21, 2021. Universal Pictures International will distribute the film overseas, excluding Israel.
“Final Account” was filmed, directed and produced over the course of the past decade by the late Holland, whose credits also include the docs “I Was a Slave Labourer” and “Good Morning Mr. Hitler.”
The documentary combines hundreds of hours of never-before-seen interview with men and women — ranging from SS members to civilians — to record their memories, perceptions and personal appraisals of their own roles in the Holocaust.
Variety praised “Final Account” following its world premiere at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. Critic Jay Weissberg wrote, “Holland’s most important...
Focus plans to release the film — in collaboration with Participant Media — in the U.S. on May 21, 2021. Universal Pictures International will distribute the film overseas, excluding Israel.
“Final Account” was filmed, directed and produced over the course of the past decade by the late Holland, whose credits also include the docs “I Was a Slave Labourer” and “Good Morning Mr. Hitler.”
The documentary combines hundreds of hours of never-before-seen interview with men and women — ranging from SS members to civilians — to record their memories, perceptions and personal appraisals of their own roles in the Holocaust.
Variety praised “Final Account” following its world premiere at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. Critic Jay Weissberg wrote, “Holland’s most important...
- 1/27/2021
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
With the Sundance Film Festival less than a week away (and available to anyone in the U.S. willing to buy tickets to a Covid-safe 2021 virtual edition), late January sees more streaming options than virtually any week since the pandemic began. That doesn’t necessarily mean big movies for home viewers, but at least it offers a raft of new options.
For those seeking diversion with familiar faces, genre movies such as “Brothers by Blood” (featuring Matthias Schoenaerts and Joel Kinnaman), “No Man’s Land” (with George Lopez) and “Born a Champion” (starring Sean Patrick Flanery). Jason Segel plays a family friend who helps a couple (played by Casey Affleck and Dakota Johnson) through the ugliness of cancer in “Our Friend,” based on a true story. If that sounds too serious, try “Psycho Goreman,” in which resourceful low-budget horror director Steven Kostanski makes a deliberately schlocky family film.
On the foreign language front,...
For those seeking diversion with familiar faces, genre movies such as “Brothers by Blood” (featuring Matthias Schoenaerts and Joel Kinnaman), “No Man’s Land” (with George Lopez) and “Born a Champion” (starring Sean Patrick Flanery). Jason Segel plays a family friend who helps a couple (played by Casey Affleck and Dakota Johnson) through the ugliness of cancer in “Our Friend,” based on a true story. If that sounds too serious, try “Psycho Goreman,” in which resourceful low-budget horror director Steven Kostanski makes a deliberately schlocky family film.
On the foreign language front,...
- 1/22/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Hatem Ali, the influential Syrian multi-hyphenate whose hit historical TV dramas provided collective insight across the Arab world on the roots and complexities of the region’s turbulence, died on Tuesday at 58.
The cause of death, which took place in a Cairo hotel, was a heart attack, according to multiple Middle East news reports.
Born in 1962 in Syria’s Golan Heights, the strategic region occupied by Israel in 1967, Ali started out writing short stories and plays in which he also performed. In 1986 he graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus with an acting degree.
After starting out in showbiz as an actor, Ali segued into directing during the 1990s helming several made-for-tv feature films, including “The Long Night,” a potent drama about the lives of three dissidents released from a Syrian prison after 20 years of incarceration that in 2009 won the top prize at Italy’s Taormina Film Festival.
The cause of death, which took place in a Cairo hotel, was a heart attack, according to multiple Middle East news reports.
Born in 1962 in Syria’s Golan Heights, the strategic region occupied by Israel in 1967, Ali started out writing short stories and plays in which he also performed. In 1986 he graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus with an acting degree.
After starting out in showbiz as an actor, Ali segued into directing during the 1990s helming several made-for-tv feature films, including “The Long Night,” a potent drama about the lives of three dissidents released from a Syrian prison after 20 years of incarceration that in 2009 won the top prize at Italy’s Taormina Film Festival.
- 12/30/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Cameras are set to roll in February on the long delayed Arabic adaptation of hit Italian concept movie “Perfect Strangers” with a high-caliber ensemble cast now in place comprising star Lebanese director/actor Nadine Labaki (“Capernaum”).
After being postponed due to both Covid-19 and political turmoil in Lebanon, the latest in a slew of remakes of the dramedy involving cellphones and personal secrets, is now on track for principal photography to start February 2. It will be directed by Lebanese first-timer Wissam Smayra who has co-written the Arabic “Perfect Strangers” screenplay with Gabriel Yammine.
Along with Labaki, the pan-Arabic “Perfect Strangers” cast also features Egypt’s Mona Zaki; Egypt-based Jordanian actor/director Eyad Nassar (“The Blue Elephant 2”); Lebanon’s Diamand Bou Abboud (“The Fixer”), Adel Karam (“The Insult”), and fellow Lebanese actor/director/playwright/composer Georges Khabbaz, who co-wrote “Capernaum.”
The original “Perfect Strangers” was directed by Italy’s Paolo Genovese...
After being postponed due to both Covid-19 and political turmoil in Lebanon, the latest in a slew of remakes of the dramedy involving cellphones and personal secrets, is now on track for principal photography to start February 2. It will be directed by Lebanese first-timer Wissam Smayra who has co-written the Arabic “Perfect Strangers” screenplay with Gabriel Yammine.
Along with Labaki, the pan-Arabic “Perfect Strangers” cast also features Egypt’s Mona Zaki; Egypt-based Jordanian actor/director Eyad Nassar (“The Blue Elephant 2”); Lebanon’s Diamand Bou Abboud (“The Fixer”), Adel Karam (“The Insult”), and fellow Lebanese actor/director/playwright/composer Georges Khabbaz, who co-wrote “Capernaum.”
The original “Perfect Strangers” was directed by Italy’s Paolo Genovese...
- 12/29/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Amjad Abu Alala’s feature debut “You Will Die at Twenty,” which marks Sudan’s first official Oscar submission.
As part of the deal, Film Movement will give “You Will Die at Twenty” a theatrical rollout via virtual cinema in 2021, followed by a release on home entertainment and digital platforms.
The film, which is only the eighth narrative feature film to be made in Sudan, follows Muzamil, whose death at age 20 is prophesied on the day of his birth by a traveling sheik. Growing up with his mother, Sakina, in a small village under the constant loom of death, the young boy becomes increasingly curious about what it means to live beyond his mother’s confines.
Represented worldwide by Pyramide International, the film won several awards on the festival circuit, including the Lion of the Future for best debut film at the...
As part of the deal, Film Movement will give “You Will Die at Twenty” a theatrical rollout via virtual cinema in 2021, followed by a release on home entertainment and digital platforms.
The film, which is only the eighth narrative feature film to be made in Sudan, follows Muzamil, whose death at age 20 is prophesied on the day of his birth by a traveling sheik. Growing up with his mother, Sakina, in a small village under the constant loom of death, the young boy becomes increasingly curious about what it means to live beyond his mother’s confines.
Represented worldwide by Pyramide International, the film won several awards on the festival circuit, including the Lion of the Future for best debut film at the...
- 12/23/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Egypt’s Film Clinic, the prominent indie shingle headed by Cairo Film Festival president Mohammed Hefzy, has scored the rare distinction of being the Middle East and North Africa region distributor of a trio of Arabic films that are in the running for the 2021 Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
Film Clinic, which since 2006 has been producing a wide range of Arabic film and TV fare – most recently Netflix Arabic Original series “Paranormal” – in 2016 branched out and launched Film Clinic Indie Distribution and since then has been gradually stepping up activity.
Film Clinic’s distribution arm is now set to soon release “When We’re Born” by Egypt’s Tamer Ezzat; “200 Meters” by Palestinian/Jordanian auteur Ameen Nayfeh, which is representing Jordan; and “You Will Die at Twenty,” by Amjad Abu Alala, which marks Sudan’s first submission to the Oscars.
The titles are all recent festival circuit standouts.
Film Clinic, which since 2006 has been producing a wide range of Arabic film and TV fare – most recently Netflix Arabic Original series “Paranormal” – in 2016 branched out and launched Film Clinic Indie Distribution and since then has been gradually stepping up activity.
Film Clinic’s distribution arm is now set to soon release “When We’re Born” by Egypt’s Tamer Ezzat; “200 Meters” by Palestinian/Jordanian auteur Ameen Nayfeh, which is representing Jordan; and “You Will Die at Twenty,” by Amjad Abu Alala, which marks Sudan’s first submission to the Oscars.
The titles are all recent festival circuit standouts.
- 12/6/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
If last week was a big one for Netflix (what with “Mank” and “Hillbilly Elegy” out in theaters), then this one belongs to Amazon, who have a pair of big projects launching via their Prime Video subscription service. The first is “12 Years a Slave” director Steve McQueen’s anthology “Small Axe,” an epic and altogether unconventional series that doesn’t fit neatly into the “film” or “TV” categories: McQueen has made five features, all set in London’s immigrant West Indian community, dealing with aspects of cultural identify, racism and community. Of the three entries I’ve seen, this week’s entry, “Mangrove,” is the strongest — and a great way to kick off the cycle, with a courtroom drama for those who felt Netflix’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” didn’t give adequate time to Bobby Seale.
Amazon also launches “The Sound of Metal,” a drama about...
Amazon also launches “The Sound of Metal,” a drama about...
- 11/21/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Egyptian filmmaker Sam Abbas made a splash when he released his queer-themed movie “The Wedding” in secret locations across the Middle East via his Egypt-based ArabQ shingle. The director is now starting a new company in Paris.
Abbas, who is Egypt-born and until recently lived in New York, drew some media attention in 2018 with “The Wedding,” which he wrote, directed and starred in as a young closeted Muslim man from Brooklyn who, while planning to marry his American girlfriend — played by Canada’s Nikohl Boosheri — is having affairs with other men.
“The Wedding” played in secret speakeasy-type venues by invitation only in Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt via ArabQ, Abbas claimed, which helped prompt some publicity when the film briefly screened in New York to unenthusiastic reviews. Variety’s Jay Weissberg called “The Wedding” “a dull slice of Lower Manhattan mumblecore.”
Still, the ArabQ initiative was bold since LGBTQ people...
Abbas, who is Egypt-born and until recently lived in New York, drew some media attention in 2018 with “The Wedding,” which he wrote, directed and starred in as a young closeted Muslim man from Brooklyn who, while planning to marry his American girlfriend — played by Canada’s Nikohl Boosheri — is having affairs with other men.
“The Wedding” played in secret speakeasy-type venues by invitation only in Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt via ArabQ, Abbas claimed, which helped prompt some publicity when the film briefly screened in New York to unenthusiastic reviews. Variety’s Jay Weissberg called “The Wedding” “a dull slice of Lower Manhattan mumblecore.”
Still, the ArabQ initiative was bold since LGBTQ people...
- 10/28/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
It’s a week of high-profile sequels and remakes, all of which are easier to see at home than in theaters.
The splashiest of the bunch is Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” follow-up, in which the gotcha comedian parodies right-wing values not only by attempting to embarrass Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani, but also in getting American conservatives to react to the character’s medieval values. Although Amazon Prime subscribers can watch the movie via the service, it’s also available in select drive-ins around the country.
Another hybrid release, available in theaters and on demand, has already done big business abroad, rivaling “Tenet” on a per-screen basis in limited U.K. release: “After We Collided” continues the steamy fan-fiction romance inspired by Harry Styles of One Direction, and by all reports, the only thing worse than the movie is the news that it’s part two of a planned four-film franchise.
The splashiest of the bunch is Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” follow-up, in which the gotcha comedian parodies right-wing values not only by attempting to embarrass Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani, but also in getting American conservatives to react to the character’s medieval values. Although Amazon Prime subscribers can watch the movie via the service, it’s also available in select drive-ins around the country.
Another hybrid release, available in theaters and on demand, has already done big business abroad, rivaling “Tenet” on a per-screen basis in limited U.K. release: “After We Collided” continues the steamy fan-fiction romance inspired by Harry Styles of One Direction, and by all reports, the only thing worse than the movie is the news that it’s part two of a planned four-film franchise.
- 10/23/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Venice 2020: The features, both produced or co-produced in Europe, took home the Grand Prize and the Verona Film Club Award, respectively. At an unusual but highly successful Venice Film Festival this year, it’s finally prize-giving time. The International Film Critics’ Week, run by the National Union of Italian Film Critics, has announced the awards of its 35th edition. The international jury, composed of Wendy Mitchell, Eugenio Renzi and Jay Weissberg, gave the Grand Prize of €5,000 (made possible by Taranto Town Hall) to Ghosts, the debut by Turkish filmmaker Azra Deniz Okyay. The jury said it was “a vivid portrayal of the tensions currently tearing apart Turkish society; the film boldly explores the intersection of public and private anxiety”. The Verona Film Club Award, decided upon by a jury made up of members of the Verona Film Club aged under 35, went to Bad Roads by Natalya Vorozhbit from...
Before this year’s Venice Film Festival comes to a close with Saturday’s announcement of the official selection awards, the fest’s autonomous sections got the ball rolling Friday with their own prizes.
Coming out on top in the Venice Days program was Russian director Philipp Yuryev’s debut feature “The Whaler Boy,” an offbeat story of a teenage whale hunter on the Bering Strait, who sets out to meet the webcam model with whom he’s become obsessed.
The film received the Director’s Award — which carries a cash prize of €20,000 for Yuryev and Paris-based sales agent Loco Films — from a jury headed by Nadav Lapid, the Israeli auteur who won last year’s Berlinale Golden Bear for “Synonyms.” Unusually, the jury’s extended deliberations were live-streamed to the public. In a statement, Lapid praised Yuryev’s film for “[depicting] a world that has not yet been explored with...
Coming out on top in the Venice Days program was Russian director Philipp Yuryev’s debut feature “The Whaler Boy,” an offbeat story of a teenage whale hunter on the Bering Strait, who sets out to meet the webcam model with whom he’s become obsessed.
The film received the Director’s Award — which carries a cash prize of €20,000 for Yuryev and Paris-based sales agent Loco Films — from a jury headed by Nadav Lapid, the Israeli auteur who won last year’s Berlinale Golden Bear for “Synonyms.” Unusually, the jury’s extended deliberations were live-streamed to the public. In a statement, Lapid praised Yuryev’s film for “[depicting] a world that has not yet been explored with...
- 9/11/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe New York Film Festival has announced its Main Slate (featuring Chloé Zhao's Nomadland as the Centerpiece film) and its lineup of Revivals. Linda Manz, best known for her roles in Days of Heaven, Out of the Blue, and Gummo, has died. In memory of her iconic acting career, we're returning to Nick Pinkerton's 2011 interview with Manz (which contains her recipe for clam bread) and Sheila O'Malley's essay on Manz's performanceJanus Films has released a gorgeous teaser trailer for the 4K restoration of Claire Denis's Beau travail, which will be released in virtual cinemas in September. A24 has released the official trailer for Sofia Coppola's upcoming On the Rocks, starring Rashida Jones and Bill Murray. Recommended READINGThe Baffler's A.S. Hamrah interviews Michael Almereyda, who discusses his latest Tesla,...
- 8/19/2020
- MUBI
In what’s shaping up to be the strangest weekend yet since the coronavirus outbreak forced American theaters to close, the biggest release is Beyoncé’s visual album, “Black Is King,” a visionary feature-length companion to her 2019 album, in the tradition of “Lemonade.”
A number of studio movies — including Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” — had tentatively planted their flag on July 31, only to delay amid the latest spike of infections. But the strategy is changing lately, as Russell Crowe road-rage thriller “Unhinged” moves forward with its release … abroad. Now “Tenet” and other titles are weighing a similar international-first strategy.
That leaves U.S. audiences with two very different options: Buy a ticket and fly abroad to see the tentpoles you’re missing (assuming foreign nations let Americans enter the country), or make do with the virtual releases that remain. In some cases, films are still pushing for limited theatrical releases among...
A number of studio movies — including Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” — had tentatively planted their flag on July 31, only to delay amid the latest spike of infections. But the strategy is changing lately, as Russell Crowe road-rage thriller “Unhinged” moves forward with its release … abroad. Now “Tenet” and other titles are weighing a similar international-first strategy.
That leaves U.S. audiences with two very different options: Buy a ticket and fly abroad to see the tentpoles you’re missing (assuming foreign nations let Americans enter the country), or make do with the virtual releases that remain. In some cases, films are still pushing for limited theatrical releases among...
- 7/31/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
High-profile doc “The Rossellinis,” described as a tongue-in-cheek autobiographical look at the descendants of iconic Italian director Roberto Rossellini’s extended family, is among the standout world premieres in the lineup of the upcoming Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini’s grandson, Alessandro Rossellini, the doc is unspooling out of competition and will close the separately-run Venice section that will feature seven first works in competition. It’s not yet know whether Isabella Rossellini will be on the Lido to promote the film.
The competition titles — all first works as well as world premieres — include “Topside,” the feature film debut of U.S. directorial duo Celine Held and Logan George, which is described in promotional materials as a drama set deep in the underbelly of New York City, where a five year-old girl and her mother live among a community that has claimed the abandoned subway tunnels as their home.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini’s grandson, Alessandro Rossellini, the doc is unspooling out of competition and will close the separately-run Venice section that will feature seven first works in competition. It’s not yet know whether Isabella Rossellini will be on the Lido to promote the film.
The competition titles — all first works as well as world premieres — include “Topside,” the feature film debut of U.S. directorial duo Celine Held and Logan George, which is described in promotional materials as a drama set deep in the underbelly of New York City, where a five year-old girl and her mother live among a community that has claimed the abandoned subway tunnels as their home.
- 7/21/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Venice Critics’ Week, the independent sidebar of the Italian festival which is pressing on with its physical edition September 2-12, has unveiled a line-up of seven debut features and two special events in its competition program.
Joining the previously announced opening film The Book Of Vision are features from the U.S., Mexico and Denmark. Closing the event will be Alessandro Rossellini’s Italy-Latvia co-production The Rossellinis, which is the debut feature of Alessandro Rossellini, the grandson of revered director Roberto Rossellini. The full line-up is below.
As per usual, awards will be handed out including the Grand Prize, this year overseen by jury members Wendy Mitchell, Eugenio Renzi, and Jay Weissberg, as well as the Verona Film Club Award, and the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best Technical Contribution. A Lion of the Future “Luigi De Laurentiis” is also given to a debut film from the entire Venice program,...
Joining the previously announced opening film The Book Of Vision are features from the U.S., Mexico and Denmark. Closing the event will be Alessandro Rossellini’s Italy-Latvia co-production The Rossellinis, which is the debut feature of Alessandro Rossellini, the grandson of revered director Roberto Rossellini. The full line-up is below.
As per usual, awards will be handed out including the Grand Prize, this year overseen by jury members Wendy Mitchell, Eugenio Renzi, and Jay Weissberg, as well as the Verona Film Club Award, and the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best Technical Contribution. A Lion of the Future “Luigi De Laurentiis” is also given to a debut film from the entire Venice program,...
- 7/21/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
After last weekend’s influx of movies from big-name directors like Spike Lee and Judd Apatow, the landscape for movies looks to be comparatively calmer this weekend. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a fair share of worthwhile releases hitting VOD and streaming services this weekend, from studio movies with big stars, independently produced treasures coming off of buzzy festival runs and projects from major foreign filmmakers being distributed in the United States.
Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried star in Blumhouse Productions’ latest thriller “You Should Have Left.” Following its release strategies for “Trolls World Tour” and “The King of Staten Island,” Universal has decided to give the movie a “home premiere” and price 48-hour digital rentals at $19.99.
Meanwhile, French director Olivier Assayas’ latest film “Wasp Network” is premiering on Netflix nine months after its debut at the Venice Film Festival last September. The primarily Spanish language film...
Kevin Bacon and Amanda Seyfried star in Blumhouse Productions’ latest thriller “You Should Have Left.” Following its release strategies for “Trolls World Tour” and “The King of Staten Island,” Universal has decided to give the movie a “home premiere” and price 48-hour digital rentals at $19.99.
Meanwhile, French director Olivier Assayas’ latest film “Wasp Network” is premiering on Netflix nine months after its debut at the Venice Film Festival last September. The primarily Spanish language film...
- 6/19/2020
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
“Black-ish” star Tracee Ellis Ross has the coveted late-May weekend virtually to herself with “The High Note,” as summer studio releases hold back for a time when it’s safe to return to theaters.
Still, if you’re caught up TV and looking for new movies worth seeing, there are enticing offerings on Netflix, Amazon and HBO Max, where the #MeToo-aligned Russell Simmons documentary “On the Record” shows a very different side of the music industry from Ross’ escapist R&b fantasy.
Here are the week’s new releases, with excerpts from reviews and links to where you can watch them.
High-profile on-demand studio and indie offerings:
The High Note (Nisha Ganatra)
Distributor: Focus Features
Where to Find It: Rent for $19.99 on Amazon, iTunes and other on-demand platforms.
Dakota Johnson, with her sun-dazed smile and wary doe-eyed glow (the look of an innocent who knows how to thread her way...
Still, if you’re caught up TV and looking for new movies worth seeing, there are enticing offerings on Netflix, Amazon and HBO Max, where the #MeToo-aligned Russell Simmons documentary “On the Record” shows a very different side of the music industry from Ross’ escapist R&b fantasy.
Here are the week’s new releases, with excerpts from reviews and links to where you can watch them.
High-profile on-demand studio and indie offerings:
The High Note (Nisha Ganatra)
Distributor: Focus Features
Where to Find It: Rent for $19.99 on Amazon, iTunes and other on-demand platforms.
Dakota Johnson, with her sun-dazed smile and wary doe-eyed glow (the look of an innocent who knows how to thread her way...
- 5/29/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
“Wasp Network,” a Cuban political thriller starring Penelope Cruz and Edgar Ramirez, will debut on Netflix next month.
The film, written and directed by Olivier Assayas, drops on the streaming service on June 19 across the globe, except for China, Eastern Europe, Greece, Portugal, the Middle East and France.
“Wasp Network” is based on the true story of the Cuban Five — intelligence officers who were arrested in Florida in the ’90s and later convicted of espionage and other illicit activities.
The movie follows René González (Ramirez), a Cuban pilot who leaves his wife and daughter behind to start a new life in Miami. After joining forces with a group of Cuban exiles in South Florida, known as the Wasp Network, he becomes part of a spy ring tasked with observing and infiltrating Cuban-American organizations against Fidel Castro.
Assayas, whose credits include Cannes-winner “Personal Shopper” and the miniseries “Carlos,” wrote the screenplay...
The film, written and directed by Olivier Assayas, drops on the streaming service on June 19 across the globe, except for China, Eastern Europe, Greece, Portugal, the Middle East and France.
“Wasp Network” is based on the true story of the Cuban Five — intelligence officers who were arrested in Florida in the ’90s and later convicted of espionage and other illicit activities.
The movie follows René González (Ramirez), a Cuban pilot who leaves his wife and daughter behind to start a new life in Miami. After joining forces with a group of Cuban exiles in South Florida, known as the Wasp Network, he becomes part of a spy ring tasked with observing and infiltrating Cuban-American organizations against Fidel Castro.
Assayas, whose credits include Cannes-winner “Personal Shopper” and the miniseries “Carlos,” wrote the screenplay...
- 5/19/2020
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Metrafilm’s Russian spy series project “Pawns,” pitching at this year’s CoPro Series event at the Berlinale, will be joined by Latvian co-producer Tasse Film.
“Pawns” is the brainchild of writers Michael and Lily Idov, co-writers of 2018 Cannes Palme d’Or competitor “Leto,” and creators of two hugely popular Russian series in “Londongrad” and “The Optimists.” Metrafilms’ Artem Vasilyev is producing.
It’s 1965, the middle of the Cold War, and the Kgb has recruited a timid chess pro named Max to aid in trapping a Western spy recruiter working out of Austria. When the sting goes badly, Max proves his genius goes in more than black and white and proves himself an adept stand-in field agent.
Max gets partnered with alpha-male spy-master Ivan, before the Soviet odd couple are joined by a young, leftist West German activist named Hanna. The trio investigate the attack, and learn more than they could have bargained for.
“Pawns” is the brainchild of writers Michael and Lily Idov, co-writers of 2018 Cannes Palme d’Or competitor “Leto,” and creators of two hugely popular Russian series in “Londongrad” and “The Optimists.” Metrafilms’ Artem Vasilyev is producing.
It’s 1965, the middle of the Cold War, and the Kgb has recruited a timid chess pro named Max to aid in trapping a Western spy recruiter working out of Austria. When the sting goes badly, Max proves his genius goes in more than black and white and proves himself an adept stand-in field agent.
Max gets partnered with alpha-male spy-master Ivan, before the Soviet odd couple are joined by a young, leftist West German activist named Hanna. The trio investigate the attack, and learn more than they could have bargained for.
- 2/25/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Participant and Magnolia Pictures have acquired North American rights to “Collective,” a documentary that followed a team of Romanian reporters who untangle an intricate web of corruption in the wake of a devastating nightclub fire.
The film premiered to sterling reviews at the Venice Film Festival and was greeted with similar acclaim when it screened at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Both IndieWire and Rolling Stone listed it as one of the 12 best films to come out of Toronto, and Vox called it one of the five best films that “flew under the radar.” Other reviewers were similarly enthusiastic.
Variety’s Jay Weissberg said that its look at bureaucratic and corporate malfeasance made “Collective” both prescient and sadly universal despite its Eastern European setting. “This is truly a documentary for our times, deserving of widespread exposure,” he wrote.
Magnolia and Participant plan to release the film theatrically in...
The film premiered to sterling reviews at the Venice Film Festival and was greeted with similar acclaim when it screened at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Both IndieWire and Rolling Stone listed it as one of the 12 best films to come out of Toronto, and Vox called it one of the five best films that “flew under the radar.” Other reviewers were similarly enthusiastic.
Variety’s Jay Weissberg said that its look at bureaucratic and corporate malfeasance made “Collective” both prescient and sadly universal despite its Eastern European setting. “This is truly a documentary for our times, deserving of widespread exposure,” he wrote.
Magnolia and Participant plan to release the film theatrically in...
- 10/3/2019
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Suhaib Gasmelbari, whose Sudanese documentary “Talking About Trees” premiered in the Berlinale’s Panorama section, received the Variety Middle East and North Africa Region Talent Award Saturday at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt from festival director Intishal Al Timimi.
Variety critic Jay Weissberg, who selected the honoree, said that it is not usual that within five minutes of a film starting he begins to cry, but he did so when watching “Talking About Trees.” “There is this most beautiful scene of these Sudanese directors who have not been able to make films, who have not been able to watch films on a big screen, who are expressing their love for cinema by recreating a scene from ‘Sunset Boulevard,’” he explained.
The documentary has as its backdrop the destruction of cinema in Sudan due to a toxic mix of dictatorial government and religious fundamentalism, but front and center are...
Variety critic Jay Weissberg, who selected the honoree, said that it is not usual that within five minutes of a film starting he begins to cry, but he did so when watching “Talking About Trees.” “There is this most beautiful scene of these Sudanese directors who have not been able to make films, who have not been able to watch films on a big screen, who are expressing their love for cinema by recreating a scene from ‘Sunset Boulevard,’” he explained.
The documentary has as its backdrop the destruction of cinema in Sudan due to a toxic mix of dictatorial government and religious fundamentalism, but front and center are...
- 9/22/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
An official selection at the Venice and Tiff (where it won the top Platform prize), The Match Factory has released the first international trailer for Pietro Marcello’s adaptation of Jack London’s Martin Eden ahead of its North American premiere at this year’s New York Film Festival. The first preview also comes on the heels of Kino Lorber picking up the film for a U.S. release.
The film transplants Jack London’s seminal semi-autobiographical novel from early 20th century Oakland, California to Naples, Italy while keeping the engrossing plot intact. Luca Marinelli stars as the handsome sailor Martin Eden, who aspires to become a writer to rise above his station and earn the affection of a young university student Elena (Jessica Cressy). We follow him from lowly sailor to published author who eventually grapples with philosophically based political upheaval and destructive anxiety over his newfound circumstances.
Jay Weissberg...
The film transplants Jack London’s seminal semi-autobiographical novel from early 20th century Oakland, California to Naples, Italy while keeping the engrossing plot intact. Luca Marinelli stars as the handsome sailor Martin Eden, who aspires to become a writer to rise above his station and earn the affection of a young university student Elena (Jessica Cressy). We follow him from lowly sailor to published author who eventually grapples with philosophically based political upheaval and destructive anxiety over his newfound circumstances.
Jay Weissberg...
- 9/20/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Madrid — London-based Film Republic has swooped on world rights to Bulgaria’s Svetla Tsotsorkova’s second feature, “Sister,” set to world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival in its prestigious New Directors competition for first and second features.
Also playing New Directors, Tsotsorkova’s feature debut, 2015’s ”Thirst,” a character-driven coming of age tale with a strong sense of rural place, also bowed in New Directors, sparking upbeat reviews which established Tsotsorkova as a director to track.
“Rarely does a debut feature come along with the visual and narrative confidence of ‘Thirst,’ a beautifully crafted, subtly told story of two very different teens hesitantly coming together in Bulgaria’s rural southwest,” Jay Weissberg write in his Variety review.
Off the back of strong reviews, “Thirst” sold 15 territories for sales gent Alpha Violet and garnered strong festival play and prizes.
Produced and co-written by Tsotsorkova and Svetoslav Ovcharov, also the producer of “Thirst,...
Also playing New Directors, Tsotsorkova’s feature debut, 2015’s ”Thirst,” a character-driven coming of age tale with a strong sense of rural place, also bowed in New Directors, sparking upbeat reviews which established Tsotsorkova as a director to track.
“Rarely does a debut feature come along with the visual and narrative confidence of ‘Thirst,’ a beautifully crafted, subtly told story of two very different teens hesitantly coming together in Bulgaria’s rural southwest,” Jay Weissberg write in his Variety review.
Off the back of strong reviews, “Thirst” sold 15 territories for sales gent Alpha Violet and garnered strong festival play and prizes.
Produced and co-written by Tsotsorkova and Svetoslav Ovcharov, also the producer of “Thirst,...
- 9/9/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Madrid — Frederico Veiroj’s “The Moneychanger,” Andrés Wood’s “Spider” and Gael García Bernal’s “Chicuarotes” will play in San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos, the Spanish Festival’s most important sidebar, along with its New Directors strand, and a virtual best of the fests titles of Latin American movies with standout at Sundance in particular, plus Berlin, Cannes, Venice and no doubt the upcoming Toronto.
“Spider” will have its European Premiere at San Sebastian.
Bookended by Patricio Guzman’s “The Cordillera of Dreams” and “La Llorona,” the latest from Jayro Bustamante, whose “Tremors” also makes the Horizontes Latinos cut, the section also captures key trends forging Latin America’s new landscape of Latin American movies.
Mined and prized by major festivals, Latin America has yet to go off the boil. The big prizes are going ever more, however, to lesser-known talents. Alejandro Landes’ “Monos” won a Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award,...
“Spider” will have its European Premiere at San Sebastian.
Bookended by Patricio Guzman’s “The Cordillera of Dreams” and “La Llorona,” the latest from Jayro Bustamante, whose “Tremors” also makes the Horizontes Latinos cut, the section also captures key trends forging Latin America’s new landscape of Latin American movies.
Mined and prized by major festivals, Latin America has yet to go off the boil. The big prizes are going ever more, however, to lesser-known talents. Alejandro Landes’ “Monos” won a Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award,...
- 8/6/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is a Bangladeshi film director, screenwriter and film producer. Farooki is considered one of the leading figures to bring modernism/realism in Bangladeshi Cinema, those who have bridged the gap between escapism and reality. “Mostofa Sarwar Farooki could be the next South-east Asian filmmaker to break out”, The Hollywood Reporter wrote in the review of his film Television. Variety’s Jay Weissberg wrote. “Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is a key exemplar of Bangladeshi new wave cinema movement”. He is also the pioneer of an avant-grade filmmakers’ movement called “Chabial”.
He is a young director in Bangladesh who has set a new trend in terms of presentation and direction in the late 1990s. His first two films, which he considers to be an educational effort, were Bachelor (2004) and Mad_e in Bangladesh (2007). His third film Third Person Singular Number (2009) was premiered in Busan International Film Festival (2009). It had its...
He is a young director in Bangladesh who has set a new trend in terms of presentation and direction in the late 1990s. His first two films, which he considers to be an educational effort, were Bachelor (2004) and Mad_e in Bangladesh (2007). His third film Third Person Singular Number (2009) was premiered in Busan International Film Festival (2009). It had its...
- 6/12/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Directors of this year’s foreign-language Oscar nominees felt compelled to tell tales of universal themes.
Capernaum Lebanon
The Oscar race has fueled the ongoing protest against the industry’s sidelining of woman directors, serving up no female-helmed films in the best picture or director categories. That leaves Lebanon’s Nadine Labaki as the only distaff director nominated for a narrative feature film this year. “Capernaum,” a sprawling, dirt-on-the-lens labor of love about refugee children surviving on the mean streets of Beirut, is the most emotionally abrasive contender in the category. Centered on a destitute 12-year-old Syrian boy suing his parents for giving him life, it left many hardened critics weeping in the aisles at Cannes, where it duly won the Jury Prize. Variety’s Jay Weissberg was among them, deeming it “a splendid addition to the ranks of great guttersnipe dramas”; an Oscar nomination was widely predicted then and there.
Capernaum Lebanon
The Oscar race has fueled the ongoing protest against the industry’s sidelining of woman directors, serving up no female-helmed films in the best picture or director categories. That leaves Lebanon’s Nadine Labaki as the only distaff director nominated for a narrative feature film this year. “Capernaum,” a sprawling, dirt-on-the-lens labor of love about refugee children surviving on the mean streets of Beirut, is the most emotionally abrasive contender in the category. Centered on a destitute 12-year-old Syrian boy suing his parents for giving him life, it left many hardened critics weeping in the aisles at Cannes, where it duly won the Jury Prize. Variety’s Jay Weissberg was among them, deeming it “a splendid addition to the ranks of great guttersnipe dramas”; an Oscar nomination was widely predicted then and there.
- 2/6/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
In 2018 we've published 70 interviews whose subjects have ranged from old masters to emerging new voices, and including some unexpected conversations, including those with curators (Dave Kehr of the Museum of Modern Art), as well as archival finds (a 1971 talk with Jerry Lewis).Below you will find an index of our conversations throughout the year, listed in order of publication date.Blake Williams (Prototype)Samira Elagoz (Craigslist Allstars)F.J. Ossang (9 Fingers)Jerry LewisAndré Gil Mata (The Tree)Christian Petzold (Transit)Raoul Peck (Young Karl Marx)Ashley McKenzie (Werewolf)Penelope SpheerisTed Fendt (Classical Period)Dominik Graf (The Red Shadow)Blake Williams ("Stereo Visions")Arnaud Desplechin (Ismael's Ghosts)Ruth Beckermann (The Waldheim Waltz)Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias (Cocote)Esther GarrelPhilippe Garrel (Lover for a Day)Jonas MekasJohann Lurf (★)Karim Aïnouz (Central Airport Thf)Juliana Antunes (Baronesa)Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Birds of Passage)Wang Bing (Dead Souls)Donal Foreman...
- 12/27/2018
- MUBI
In a last-minute deal inked at Ventana Sur, Breaking Glass Pictures (Bgp) snapped up North American rights to gay-trans drama “Marilyn,” the feature debut of Argentine helmer-scribe Martin Rodríguez Redondo.
The Philadelphia-based company has been on a mini-buying spree, having previously snagged threesome drama “We Are Three” at the Buenos Aires confab. Bgp has bought an average of one title per edition in previous years.
Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff and Vicente Canales of film sales company Film Factory cobbled the deal at the confab. The film is slated for a North American release in the 2nd Quarter of 2019.
Based on a true story, “Marilyn” turns on Marcos, a gay-trans youth in rural Argentina where his non-conformity lands him in dire trouble. Marcos lives with his family on a ranch where his father and brother do most of the caretaking work while he stays at home with his mother. Marcos...
The Philadelphia-based company has been on a mini-buying spree, having previously snagged threesome drama “We Are Three” at the Buenos Aires confab. Bgp has bought an average of one title per edition in previous years.
Breaking Glass CEO Rich Wolff and Vicente Canales of film sales company Film Factory cobbled the deal at the confab. The film is slated for a North American release in the 2nd Quarter of 2019.
Based on a true story, “Marilyn” turns on Marcos, a gay-trans youth in rural Argentina where his non-conformity lands him in dire trouble. Marcos lives with his family on a ranch where his father and brother do most of the caretaking work while he stays at home with his mother. Marcos...
- 12/14/2018
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
As part of the Marrakech Intl. Film Festival’s reinvention for its 17th edition, artistic director Christoph Terhechte and his programming team created a section to challenge the cinematic representations of countries usually seen only through the lens of stereotypes. Looking for yet another dose of Latin American poverty porn? On the hunt for the umpteenth story about an Arab suicide bomber, or the latest titillating white slavery drama? Then the 11th Continent is not your destination, as the films in this section counter the kind of superficial socially aware programming that reinforce one-dimensional Western notions of first- and third-world nationhood.
The section opens at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent with a presentation of archival films from the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, collectively titled “Views from Morocco and the Ottoman Empire.” Dating between 1902 and 1927, this compilation (curated by this writer) is part of a continuing project designed to discover the...
The section opens at the Musée Yves Saint Laurent with a presentation of archival films from the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, collectively titled “Views from Morocco and the Ottoman Empire.” Dating between 1902 and 1927, this compilation (curated by this writer) is part of a continuing project designed to discover the...
- 11/30/2018
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
Manolo Caro’s pan-Latin American version of movie franchise hit “Perfect Strangers” is set for a Dec. 25 release in Mexico by its producer-distributor Cinepolis, followed by a Jan. 11 U.S. bow from Pantelion. Variety has been given exclusive access to the dark ensemble comedy’s official U.S. trailer and poster.
“Perfect Strangers” revolves around a circle of friends who decide to lay bare all their secrets at a dinner, placing their smartphones on the table to share any incoming messages or calls that evening. What starts as a parlor game takes an unexpected, disastrous turn.
“The premise cleverly zeroes in on a fear few want to even contemplate: Being found out,” said Variety critic Jay Weissberg in his review. “Once upon a time secrets were shared between friends, but now the cell has become the repository of our illicit behaviors, and the moment that’s exposed, all is laid bare,...
“Perfect Strangers” revolves around a circle of friends who decide to lay bare all their secrets at a dinner, placing their smartphones on the table to share any incoming messages or calls that evening. What starts as a parlor game takes an unexpected, disastrous turn.
“The premise cleverly zeroes in on a fear few want to even contemplate: Being found out,” said Variety critic Jay Weissberg in his review. “Once upon a time secrets were shared between friends, but now the cell has become the repository of our illicit behaviors, and the moment that’s exposed, all is laid bare,...
- 11/13/2018
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
For most of the 60-plus years in which foreign-language film and documentary feature have been competitive Oscar categories, they have had very little to do with each other: separate fields to honor the kinds of film that most Academy voters won’t consider for best picture, with no intersection between them. To this day, no film has ever been nominated for both awards.
In recent years, however, a few have come close, beginning with a 2008 landmark: Israel’s “Waltz With Bashir.” Ari Folman’s path-breaking animated Lebanon War memoir made history by becoming the first documentary ever nominated for foreign-language film; the documentary branch, however, ruled it ineligible due to its lack of a bi-coastal qualifying run. (The animation branch didn’t spring for it either.) One doc has cracked the foreign-language category since: Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh’s Khmer Rouge reflection “The Missing Picture,” in 2013. Unlike Folman’s film,...
In recent years, however, a few have come close, beginning with a 2008 landmark: Israel’s “Waltz With Bashir.” Ari Folman’s path-breaking animated Lebanon War memoir made history by becoming the first documentary ever nominated for foreign-language film; the documentary branch, however, ruled it ineligible due to its lack of a bi-coastal qualifying run. (The animation branch didn’t spring for it either.) One doc has cracked the foreign-language category since: Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh’s Khmer Rouge reflection “The Missing Picture,” in 2013. Unlike Folman’s film,...
- 11/8/2018
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
John M. Stahl's The Song of LifeFollowing the retrospective dedicated to the sound films of American director John M. Stahl (1886 – 1950) at Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna earlier this year, I decided to also attend for the first time Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, because the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, as it is known in English, was presenting a series of silent films from this master of melodrama. Best known for his Technicolor noir, Leave Her to Heaven (1945), Stahl's silent films have been long forgotten, but are now back in discussion after receiving much-deserved attention.The festival was a major discovery for me. It has only one cinema venue, with 35mm screenings from morning to night, and a packed and devoted audience full of appetite for discoveries and re-discoveries. Its wild cinephilic spirit and the unbeatable program composed of rarities and canonical classics prove that the Pordenone Silent Film Festival...
- 11/8/2018
- MUBI
Nadine Labaki made “Capernaum,” her arresting new drama about a young boy who sues his parents for giving birth to him, after observing the soul-crushing poverty around her in Beirut. She wondered what happened to the children she saw begging on the streets or working dead end jobs as delivery boys or assistants in mechanic shops. Many, she suspected, were refugees, fleeing various conflicts across the Middle East, often without any kind of documentation.
“We ignore them,” Labaki told Variety. “We act like they’re nonexistent when they’re here because of our wars and our conflicts and the stupid decisions of failing governments. I needed to understand what happens when one of these boys I saw on the streets disappears around the corner.”
So Labaki spent months researching the situation, speaking to families who were struggling to find food and shelter, and people faced with impossible choices. At the...
“We ignore them,” Labaki told Variety. “We act like they’re nonexistent when they’re here because of our wars and our conflicts and the stupid decisions of failing governments. I needed to understand what happens when one of these boys I saw on the streets disappears around the corner.”
So Labaki spent months researching the situation, speaking to families who were struggling to find food and shelter, and people faced with impossible choices. At the...
- 11/6/2018
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
In today’s film news roundup, “Walking on Water” gets North American distribution, Abramorama acquires rights to “Family in Transition,” and the Cinema Italian Style film festival sets its opening night film.
Acquisitions
Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to “Walking on Water,” centered on installation artist Christo and his 2016 art piece “The Floating Piers,” Variety has learned exclusively.
The yellow walkway was mounted for 16 days during that summer, a 3-kilometer walkway that allowed visitors to safely walk across stretches of Italy’s Lake Iseo to experience the sensation of floating and walking on water. More than 1.2 million people walked on “The Floating Piers,” making it the most-visited art event of that year.
The documentary, directed by Andrey Paounov, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and will have its New York premiere on Nov. 10 at Doc NYC and a theatrical release in 2019.
Originally conceived with...
Acquisitions
Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to “Walking on Water,” centered on installation artist Christo and his 2016 art piece “The Floating Piers,” Variety has learned exclusively.
The yellow walkway was mounted for 16 days during that summer, a 3-kilometer walkway that allowed visitors to safely walk across stretches of Italy’s Lake Iseo to experience the sensation of floating and walking on water. More than 1.2 million people walked on “The Floating Piers,” making it the most-visited art event of that year.
The documentary, directed by Andrey Paounov, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and will have its New York premiere on Nov. 10 at Doc NYC and a theatrical release in 2019.
Originally conceived with...
- 10/24/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Smash hit Italian concept movie “Perfect Strangers” is set to be adapted for the Arab world, following a flurry of remakes worldwide.
Dubai-based Middle East distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and sister company Kuwait National cinema have acquired Arabic remake rights from Italy’s Medusa Film to director Paolo Genovese’s 2016 ensemble dramedy involving smartphones and personal secrets.
Front Row will co-produce the Arabic version with prominent Egyptian shingle Film Clinic, whose latest titles include Cannes competition entry “Yomeddine,” and with Lebanese distributor Empire International.
The deal was negotiated by Front Row’s Gianluca Chakra with sales agent Faruk Alatan for Medusa. Besides Chakra, Film Clinic chief Mohamed Hefzy, Kuwait National’s Hisham Alghanim, and Empire’s Mario Haddad Jr. are also attached to produce and finance.
Chakra told Variety that the plan is for the adaptation to be ready in 2019 and have pan-Arabic elements that can appeal to Egyptian...
Dubai-based Middle East distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and sister company Kuwait National cinema have acquired Arabic remake rights from Italy’s Medusa Film to director Paolo Genovese’s 2016 ensemble dramedy involving smartphones and personal secrets.
Front Row will co-produce the Arabic version with prominent Egyptian shingle Film Clinic, whose latest titles include Cannes competition entry “Yomeddine,” and with Lebanese distributor Empire International.
The deal was negotiated by Front Row’s Gianluca Chakra with sales agent Faruk Alatan for Medusa. Besides Chakra, Film Clinic chief Mohamed Hefzy, Kuwait National’s Hisham Alghanim, and Empire’s Mario Haddad Jr. are also attached to produce and finance.
Chakra told Variety that the plan is for the adaptation to be ready in 2019 and have pan-Arabic elements that can appeal to Egyptian...
- 10/23/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights for A.B. Shawky’s road comedy “Yomeddine” from CAA and Wild Bunch.
“Yomeddine” has been announced as the official Egyptian entry for foreign language film at the Academy Awards. The deal was done between Jon Gerrans of Strand Releasing, Eva Diederix of Wild Bunch, and CAA Media Finance.
The film had its world premiere in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It centers on Rady Gamal, who portrays a man cured of leprosy who travels across Egypt to search for long lost relatives. Ahmed Abdelhafiz plays an orphaned adolescent who joins him. The film won the Francois Chalais Prize in Cannes, which is dedicated to life affirmation.
In his review for Variety, Jay Weissberg wrote: “Anchored by lead Rady Gamal’s warm-hearted charisma, the film is a sweet, solid first feature marbled with genuinely touching moments that make up for...
“Yomeddine” has been announced as the official Egyptian entry for foreign language film at the Academy Awards. The deal was done between Jon Gerrans of Strand Releasing, Eva Diederix of Wild Bunch, and CAA Media Finance.
The film had its world premiere in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It centers on Rady Gamal, who portrays a man cured of leprosy who travels across Egypt to search for long lost relatives. Ahmed Abdelhafiz plays an orphaned adolescent who joins him. The film won the Francois Chalais Prize in Cannes, which is dedicated to life affirmation.
In his review for Variety, Jay Weissberg wrote: “Anchored by lead Rady Gamal’s warm-hearted charisma, the film is a sweet, solid first feature marbled with genuinely touching moments that make up for...
- 9/18/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
The Italian contingent at Toronto comprises new works by heavyweights such as Oscar-winner Paolo Sorrentino and Matteo Garrone alongside emerging talents who’ve already made a splash, including Roberto Minervini and Edoardo De Angelis, and newcomer Laura Luchetti, among a growing group of women directors breaking the country’s gender barrier.
These helmers are all under 50. In different ways their latest works all have political connotations, which range from former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s deep impact on Italy, to immigration and the upheaval being caused by President Trump in the U.S. While rooted in local contexts, they spring from the Italian film community’s increasingly international mindset.
“Loro,” Paolo Sorrentino
Section: Masters
“Loro,” which means “Them,” stars Sorrentino regular Toni Servillo as a grinning Silvio Berlusconi. Servillo previously played Italian pol Giulio Andreotti in the director’s caustic pop opera “Il Divo,” but the tone in this depiction...
These helmers are all under 50. In different ways their latest works all have political connotations, which range from former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s deep impact on Italy, to immigration and the upheaval being caused by President Trump in the U.S. While rooted in local contexts, they spring from the Italian film community’s increasingly international mindset.
“Loro,” Paolo Sorrentino
Section: Masters
“Loro,” which means “Them,” stars Sorrentino regular Toni Servillo as a grinning Silvio Berlusconi. Servillo previously played Italian pol Giulio Andreotti in the director’s caustic pop opera “Il Divo,” but the tone in this depiction...
- 9/14/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Haut et Court, the upscale producer-distributor of Palme d’Or winner “The Class” and company behind TV series smash hit “The Returned,” has moved smartly at this year’s Venice Festival to acquire French rights to Argentine Gonzalo Tobal’s competition contender “Acusada” (The Accused).
Warner Bros. which has rights to Latin America, will release the murder trial thriller in Argentina on Sept. 13.
Deals on Venice competition titles more often close at Toronto. Struck by Vicente Canales’ Film Factory Ent., the Venice deal with a prestige distributor in Europe’s biggest market for foreign-language movies giveS “Accused” an early tailwind as it segues to Toronto, to screen in its Contemporary World Cinema.
World premiering on the Lido on Tuesday, “The Accused” was described by Variety’s Jay Weissberg as “dependably handsome and pleasingly involving, a classic ‘did-she-or-didn’t-she’ murder scenario” [that] mostly focuses on the family dynamics of a young woman...
Warner Bros. which has rights to Latin America, will release the murder trial thriller in Argentina on Sept. 13.
Deals on Venice competition titles more often close at Toronto. Struck by Vicente Canales’ Film Factory Ent., the Venice deal with a prestige distributor in Europe’s biggest market for foreign-language movies giveS “Accused” an early tailwind as it segues to Toronto, to screen in its Contemporary World Cinema.
World premiering on the Lido on Tuesday, “The Accused” was described by Variety’s Jay Weissberg as “dependably handsome and pleasingly involving, a classic ‘did-she-or-didn’t-she’ murder scenario” [that] mostly focuses on the family dynamics of a young woman...
- 9/5/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Kino Lorber has acquired all North American rights to Adina Pintilie’s drama “Touch Me Not,” which won the Golden Bear and best first feature prizes at the Berlin Film Festival.
“Touch Me Not” will have its North American premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival, in its Discovery showcase for rising global directors. The film centers on Romanian filmmaker Pintilie and characters she documents who together venture into a deep, personal soul-searching into how to achieve real human intimacy.
Jay Weissberg said in his Berlin review for Variety, “Seamlessly blending fiction with reality, Pintilie invents a story about an Englishwoman grappling with intimacy issues and weaves in real people guiding her toward being comfortable with her body and the bodies of others.”
The film will be rolled out in theaters in January, followed by VOD and home video release. The deal was was negotiated by Kino Lorber...
“Touch Me Not” will have its North American premiere next month at the Toronto International Film Festival, in its Discovery showcase for rising global directors. The film centers on Romanian filmmaker Pintilie and characters she documents who together venture into a deep, personal soul-searching into how to achieve real human intimacy.
Jay Weissberg said in his Berlin review for Variety, “Seamlessly blending fiction with reality, Pintilie invents a story about an Englishwoman grappling with intimacy issues and weaves in real people guiding her toward being comfortable with her body and the bodies of others.”
The film will be rolled out in theaters in January, followed by VOD and home video release. The deal was was negotiated by Kino Lorber...
- 8/27/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
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