Memento International has closed a raft of deals on “Fremont,” a critically acclaimed film starring Anaita Wali Zada, an Afghan refugee and first-time actor, and featuring “The Bear” actor Jeremy Allen White.
Directed by BAFTA-nominated Iranian-born director Babak Jalali, the black-and-white movie tells the story of Donya, a young woman working at a Chinese fortune cookie factory in the San Francisco bay. Formerly a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, she struggles to put her life back in order. In a moment of sudden revelation, she decides to send out a special message in a cookie. Following its Sundance premiere, the film was acquired by Music Box for North America in a deal negotiated by CAA.
Memento International has just struck deals for the movie in Australia and New Zealand (Mushroom Studios), Eastern Europe (HBO), Spain (Madfer Films), Italy (Wanted), Greece (One From the Heart), Czech Republic (Aerofilms...
Directed by BAFTA-nominated Iranian-born director Babak Jalali, the black-and-white movie tells the story of Donya, a young woman working at a Chinese fortune cookie factory in the San Francisco bay. Formerly a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, she struggles to put her life back in order. In a moment of sudden revelation, she decides to send out a special message in a cookie. Following its Sundance premiere, the film was acquired by Music Box for North America in a deal negotiated by CAA.
Memento International has just struck deals for the movie in Australia and New Zealand (Mushroom Studios), Eastern Europe (HBO), Spain (Madfer Films), Italy (Wanted), Greece (One From the Heart), Czech Republic (Aerofilms...
- 3/14/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Ever since resurrecting the erotic thriller with the respectably lurid 2021 drama “The Voyeurs,” it was clear Sydney Sweeney and director Michael Mohan were interested in second comings. So it was only a matter of time before they’d turn their attention to Christ himself in “Immaculate,” an enjoyable if uneven horror film cut from a slightly different cloth than its religious brethren with a captivating turn from its star as a virginal nun whose pregnancy inspires questions beyond the health of the child, and a hell of an ending.
Refreshingly free of the pseudo-theology that usually bogs down films set inside the church, “Immaculate” simply suggests that My Lady of Sorrows is no place for a young woman. A resting home for older sisters to spend their final days, it seems from the nun (Simona Tabasco) trying to make a break for it in its energetic opening sequence, age doesn...
Refreshingly free of the pseudo-theology that usually bogs down films set inside the church, “Immaculate” simply suggests that My Lady of Sorrows is no place for a young woman. A resting home for older sisters to spend their final days, it seems from the nun (Simona Tabasco) trying to make a break for it in its energetic opening sequence, age doesn...
- 3/13/2024
- by Stephen Saito
- Variety Film + TV
Fremantle has appointed new heads for its Italian labels The Apartment and Wildside and has agreed a co-production deal with their former CEOs Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani.
Film and TV producer Annamaria Morelli becomes CEO of The Apartment while former Sky Italia exec Sonia Rovai has been named CEO of Wildside.
Their appointments follow the recent departures of The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani from the Fremantle-owned companies.
Mieli and Gianani are launching a new company together, full details of which will be announced in the near future. Fremantle has signed a co-production agreement with...
Film and TV producer Annamaria Morelli becomes CEO of The Apartment while former Sky Italia exec Sonia Rovai has been named CEO of Wildside.
Their appointments follow the recent departures of The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani from the Fremantle-owned companies.
Mieli and Gianani are launching a new company together, full details of which will be announced in the near future. Fremantle has signed a co-production agreement with...
- 2/29/2024
- ScreenDaily
The rain stayed away from Santa Monica Beach on Sunday (February 25) as Past Lives was named best film and Celine Song best director at the 39th annual Spirit Awards.
While the legacy studio and streamer contenders have dominated much of the big-ticket awards shows this season like Saturday night’s SAG Awards, last weekend’s Baftas, the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, this was a good opportunity for the Oscar-nominated A24 romance and Song to earn gongs for a film which has done well among critics groups since its world premiere at Sundance just over one year ago.
Jeffrey Wright...
While the legacy studio and streamer contenders have dominated much of the big-ticket awards shows this season like Saturday night’s SAG Awards, last weekend’s Baftas, the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards, this was a good opportunity for the Oscar-nominated A24 romance and Song to earn gongs for a film which has done well among critics groups since its world premiere at Sundance just over one year ago.
Jeffrey Wright...
- 2/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
Greta Lee and Teo Yoo in ‘Past Lives’ (Photo Credit: Jon Pack / Courtesy of A24)
Past Lives took home top film honors at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, held on February 25th in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica. The film also earned Celine Song the Best Director award, with American Fiction‘s Cord Jefferson and May December‘s Samy Burch earning screenplay honors.
On the television side, The Last of Us collected two awards: Nick Offerman for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series and Keivonn Montreal Woodard for Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series. Beef also netted two wins, with Ali Wong awarded Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series and the show earning the Best New Scripted Series award.
2024 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations
Best Feature (Award given to the producer.)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin,...
Past Lives took home top film honors at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, held on February 25th in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica. The film also earned Celine Song the Best Director award, with American Fiction‘s Cord Jefferson and May December‘s Samy Burch earning screenplay honors.
On the television side, The Last of Us collected two awards: Nick Offerman for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series and Keivonn Montreal Woodard for Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series. Beef also netted two wins, with Ali Wong awarded Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series and the show earning the Best New Scripted Series award.
2024 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations
Best Feature (Award given to the producer.)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin,...
- 2/26/2024
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Past Lives was named best feature at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which were handed out Sunday afternoon in Santa Monica.
In addition, Celine Song was named best director for her work on the film.
Elsewhere, Da’Vine Joy Randolph won the Spirit Award for best supporting performance, for her role in The Holdovers, repeating her win from Saturday night’s SAG Awards and other shows this awards season. Her co-star, Dominic Sessa, won the Spirit Award for best breakthrough performance.
American Fiction also collected two trophies: Cord Jefferson won the award for best screenplay, while Jeffrey Wright won for best lead performance.
May December won the award for best first screenplay for Samy Burch (story by Burch and Alex Mechanik). Four Daughters was named best documentary.
On the TV side, Beef was named best new scripted series, while Ali Wong won best lead performance for her role in the show,...
In addition, Celine Song was named best director for her work on the film.
Elsewhere, Da’Vine Joy Randolph won the Spirit Award for best supporting performance, for her role in The Holdovers, repeating her win from Saturday night’s SAG Awards and other shows this awards season. Her co-star, Dominic Sessa, won the Spirit Award for best breakthrough performance.
American Fiction also collected two trophies: Cord Jefferson won the award for best screenplay, while Jeffrey Wright won for best lead performance.
May December won the award for best first screenplay for Samy Burch (story by Burch and Alex Mechanik). Four Daughters was named best documentary.
On the TV side, Beef was named best new scripted series, while Ali Wong won best lead performance for her role in the show,...
- 2/26/2024
- by Kimberly Nordyke
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The best in independent film and television were honored at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards!
Plenty of A-List stars were in attendance at the event on Sunday afternoon (February 25) at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, Calif.
Movies are only eligible for a Spirit Award if they have a budget of less than $30 million, so there are some awards favorites like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon that are not nominated.
American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives lead the pack this year with five nominations each.
Make sure to check out our post with photos of Every celeb who attended the event! Also check out our best dressed list.
Head inside to see the full list of winners…
Keep scrolling to see the full list of winners…
Best Feature (Award given to the producer)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson,...
Plenty of A-List stars were in attendance at the event on Sunday afternoon (February 25) at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, Calif.
Movies are only eligible for a Spirit Award if they have a budget of less than $30 million, so there are some awards favorites like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon that are not nominated.
American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives lead the pack this year with five nominations each.
Make sure to check out our post with photos of Every celeb who attended the event! Also check out our best dressed list.
Head inside to see the full list of winners…
Keep scrolling to see the full list of winners…
Best Feature (Award given to the producer)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson,...
- 2/26/2024
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
The 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday awarded A24’s Past Lives its Best Feature and the film’s Celine Song the Best Director in a ceremony on the beach in Santa Monica, giving the indie romantic drama a boost as it heads toward the Oscars where it is up for Best Picture.
Past Lives topped a marquee Best Feature category that included Netflix’s May December, Amazon MGM Studios’ American Fiction, Searchlight’s All of Us Strangers, Sony Pictures Classics’ We Grown Now and Mubi’s Passages.
“There is a concept in our film, an Eastern concept, and it’s called inyeon,” Song, making her feature directorial debut, said in her acceptance speech with her producers and cast. “It is about how just by being in the same space and time in this life, it means we actually knew each other for many, many lives that came before this one.
Past Lives topped a marquee Best Feature category that included Netflix’s May December, Amazon MGM Studios’ American Fiction, Searchlight’s All of Us Strangers, Sony Pictures Classics’ We Grown Now and Mubi’s Passages.
“There is a concept in our film, an Eastern concept, and it’s called inyeon,” Song, making her feature directorial debut, said in her acceptance speech with her producers and cast. “It is about how just by being in the same space and time in this life, it means we actually knew each other for many, many lives that came before this one.
- 2/26/2024
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2024 Independent Spirit Awards took place on Sunday at the traditional Santa Monica beach tent location, with Aidy Bryant hosting. “Past Lives” took home the coveted Best Feature award, with “Beef” being honored as Best New Scripted Series. Check out the full list of winners and nominees below.
Best Feature
“Past Lives”
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
“All of Us Strangers”
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
“American Fiction”
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair
“May December”
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon
“Passages”
Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd
“We Grown Now”
Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro
Best Lead Performance
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Jessica Chastain, “Memory”
Greta Lee, “Past Lives”
Trace Lysette, “Monica”
Natalie Portman, “May December”
Judy Reyes, “Birth/Rebirth”
Franz Rogowski, “Passages”
Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”
Teyana Taylor,...
Best Feature
“Past Lives”
Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon
“All of Us Strangers”
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
“American Fiction”
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair
“May December”
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon
“Passages”
Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd
“We Grown Now”
Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro
Best Lead Performance
Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”
Jessica Chastain, “Memory”
Greta Lee, “Past Lives”
Trace Lysette, “Monica”
Natalie Portman, “May December”
Judy Reyes, “Birth/Rebirth”
Franz Rogowski, “Passages”
Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”
Teyana Taylor,...
- 2/25/2024
- by William Earl
- Variety Film + TV
The Film Independent Spirit Awards have been dutifully assigned to their worthy recipients, thus putting a button on yet another great year of indie film and innovative visual storytelling. And as awards prognosticators now ponder their Oscar futures with this new data set and the tent falls around our knees, we want to shout out one more time all of the producers, writers, directors, performers and more who made this such a special experience.
This year’s ceremony streamed live on IMDb’s YouTube and across other social platforms, including Film Independent’s own YouTube channel and Twitter (or “X” if you’re being pedantic). The full livestream (see below) will remain available to watch On Demand for the next eight weeks, which highlights, behind-the-scenes moments, arrival carpet interviews and more will are available at filmindependent.org and wherever fine entertainment journalism prevails.
Best Supporting Performance
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers...
This year’s ceremony streamed live on IMDb’s YouTube and across other social platforms, including Film Independent’s own YouTube channel and Twitter (or “X” if you’re being pedantic). The full livestream (see below) will remain available to watch On Demand for the next eight weeks, which highlights, behind-the-scenes moments, arrival carpet interviews and more will are available at filmindependent.org and wherever fine entertainment journalism prevails.
Best Supporting Performance
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The Holdovers...
- 2/23/2024
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
Now that the Oscar nominations are official, catch-up time begins in earnest. But if you’ve already seen everything on Oscar voters honored, a worthwhile also-ran is hitting digital platforms this week.
The contender to watch this week: “Ferrari“
MIchael Mann‘s biopic about car mogul Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) never got the awards-season fuel it needed to make the nomination roster. The movie’s roaring engines missed out on the Best Sound nod that many pundits expected, and Penélope Cruz, who plays Ferrari’s wronged wife, couldn’t nab the Best Supporting Actress recognition she deserved. (Cruz fared better with the Screen Actors Guild Awards.) The film did, however, make the National Board of Review’s list of the year’s 10 best, and now you can rent or purchase it for a premium rate on VOD.
Other contenders:
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”: You know what did get Oscar nominations?...
The contender to watch this week: “Ferrari“
MIchael Mann‘s biopic about car mogul Enzo Ferrari (Adam Driver) never got the awards-season fuel it needed to make the nomination roster. The movie’s roaring engines missed out on the Best Sound nod that many pundits expected, and Penélope Cruz, who plays Ferrari’s wronged wife, couldn’t nab the Best Supporting Actress recognition she deserved. (Cruz fared better with the Screen Actors Guild Awards.) The film did, however, make the National Board of Review’s list of the year’s 10 best, and now you can rent or purchase it for a premium rate on VOD.
Other contenders:
“Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”: You know what did get Oscar nominations?...
- 1/27/2024
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
2024 Sundance Film Festival
Through Sunday, one can experience the 2024 Sundance Film Festival from the comfort of their own home, if it’s in the United States. Having seen over 50 titles in the lineup, in terms of films with tickets still available I can highly recommend Good One, Between the Temples, Tendaberry, Black Box Diaries, Ibelin, Kneecap, Didi, Brief History of a Family, Porcelain War, Sugarcane, Sujo, Seeking Mavis Beacon, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Union, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Realm of Satan. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Official Site (through Sunday only)
Amanda (Carolina Cavalli)
Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature doesn’t hit theaters for another few months, but you’d be forgiven if you thought it was actually Amanda, writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly humorous,...
2024 Sundance Film Festival
Through Sunday, one can experience the 2024 Sundance Film Festival from the comfort of their own home, if it’s in the United States. Having seen over 50 titles in the lineup, in terms of films with tickets still available I can highly recommend Good One, Between the Temples, Tendaberry, Black Box Diaries, Ibelin, Kneecap, Didi, Brief History of a Family, Porcelain War, Sugarcane, Sujo, Seeking Mavis Beacon, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Union, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Realm of Satan. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Official Site (through Sunday only)
Amanda (Carolina Cavalli)
Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature doesn’t hit theaters for another few months, but you’d be forgiven if you thought it was actually Amanda, writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly humorous,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
While the likes of Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Killers of the Moon will likely battle it out at the Oscars, Film Independent Spirit Awards is putting the spotlight on the indie productions of the year, with budget ranges from $10,000 to $28 million. May December, Past Lives, and American Fiction lead the nominations for the 39th ceremony, each taking five nods.
Other highlights include All of Us Strangers and Passages for Best Feature, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt and Earth Mama for Best First Feature, Kokomo City and The Mother of All Lies for Best Documentary, Glenn Howerton for BlackBerry, Marin Ireland and Anne Hathaway for Eileen, Marshawn Lynch for Bottoms, How to Blow Up a Pipeline for Best Editing, Godland and Tótem for Best International Film, and more.
See the nominations below ahead of the ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024 (a full two weeks before the Oscars), hosted by Aidy Bryant.
Best...
Other highlights include All of Us Strangers and Passages for Best Feature, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt and Earth Mama for Best First Feature, Kokomo City and The Mother of All Lies for Best Documentary, Glenn Howerton for BlackBerry, Marin Ireland and Anne Hathaway for Eileen, Marshawn Lynch for Bottoms, How to Blow Up a Pipeline for Best Editing, Godland and Tótem for Best International Film, and more.
See the nominations below ahead of the ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024 (a full two weeks before the Oscars), hosted by Aidy Bryant.
Best...
- 12/5/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Erika Alexander stars as Coraline and Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison in ‘American Fiction’ (Photo credit: Claire Folger © 2023 Orion Releasing LLC)
American Fiction, Past Lives, and May December lead the list of the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Each of the three films picked up five nominations and will be going head-to-head in the Best Film and Best Supporting Performance categories. Films and TV shows earning four nominations included The Holdovers, I’m a Virgo, The Last of Us, and Passages.
The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards will be held on February 25 on the beach in Santa Monica. Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live) is on board to host.
“This year’s exciting group of Spirit Award nominees reflect the undeniable strength and vitality of independent storytelling – this is the beating heart of film culture today,” said Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent. “It’s especially thrilling to see so many nominees...
American Fiction, Past Lives, and May December lead the list of the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Each of the three films picked up five nominations and will be going head-to-head in the Best Film and Best Supporting Performance categories. Films and TV shows earning four nominations included The Holdovers, I’m a Virgo, The Last of Us, and Passages.
The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards will be held on February 25 on the beach in Santa Monica. Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live) is on board to host.
“This year’s exciting group of Spirit Award nominees reflect the undeniable strength and vitality of independent storytelling – this is the beating heart of film culture today,” said Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent. “It’s especially thrilling to see so many nominees...
- 12/5/2023
- by Rebecca Murray
- Showbiz Junkies
Ceremony to take place on Santa Monica Beach on February 25, 2024.
The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations have been announced and May December, American Fiction, and Past Lives lead the field with five nods apiece.
The Holdovers earned four and there were three for All Of Us Strangers – winner of seven Bifas at the weekend – as the nominations were announced on Tuesday. A24 leads the studio field with 11 nominations, followed by Netflix on 10.
Andrew Scott for All Of Us Strangers, Jessica Chastain for Memory, Greta Lee for Past Lives, Franz Rogowski for Passages, and Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction are...
The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations have been announced and May December, American Fiction, and Past Lives lead the field with five nods apiece.
The Holdovers earned four and there were three for All Of Us Strangers – winner of seven Bifas at the weekend – as the nominations were announced on Tuesday. A24 leads the studio field with 11 nominations, followed by Netflix on 10.
Andrew Scott for All Of Us Strangers, Jessica Chastain for Memory, Greta Lee for Past Lives, Franz Rogowski for Passages, and Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction are...
- 12/5/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The full list of nominations for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards has been announced!
Movies are only eligible for a Spirit Award if they have a budget of less than $30 million, so there are some awards favorites like Maestro and Killers of the Flower Moon that are not nominated here.
Aidy Bryant is set to host the 2024 awards ceremony, which will take place on February 25. The event will no longer air on television and will instead stream on YouTube.
American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives lead the pack this year with five nominations each.
Head inside to check out the full list of nominations…
Keep scrolling to see the full list of nominations…
Best Feature (Award given to the producer)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair
May December
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell,...
Movies are only eligible for a Spirit Award if they have a budget of less than $30 million, so there are some awards favorites like Maestro and Killers of the Flower Moon that are not nominated here.
Aidy Bryant is set to host the 2024 awards ceremony, which will take place on February 25. The event will no longer air on television and will instead stream on YouTube.
American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives lead the pack this year with five nominations each.
Head inside to check out the full list of nominations…
Keep scrolling to see the full list of nominations…
Best Feature (Award given to the producer)
All of Us Strangers
Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey
American Fiction
Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair
May December
Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell,...
- 12/5/2023
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
American Fiction, May December and Past Lives lead the nominations for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which were were announced Tuesday morning.
Each film garnered five noms, including best feature. Also nominated in that category are All of Us Strangers, Passages and We Grown Now.
The Robert Altman Award, which is given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast, will be presented to Showing Up, directed by Kelly Reichardt. The casting director is Gayle Keller, and the ensemble cast includes André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez and Michelle Williams.
On the TV side, Jury Duty was tapped for the award of best ensemble in a new scripted series, an honor bestowed on one show (there are no nominees). The cast includes Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball,...
Each film garnered five noms, including best feature. Also nominated in that category are All of Us Strangers, Passages and We Grown Now.
The Robert Altman Award, which is given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast, will be presented to Showing Up, directed by Kelly Reichardt. The casting director is Gayle Keller, and the ensemble cast includes André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez and Michelle Williams.
On the TV side, Jury Duty was tapped for the award of best ensemble in a new scripted series, an honor bestowed on one show (there are no nominees). The cast includes Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball,...
- 12/5/2023
- by Kimberly Nordyke
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The final month of the year has arrived, and with it an early Festivus bounty of news (very exciting!) about the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which are happening once again on February 25, back on the beach in Santa Monica. Last week brought tell of our incomparable new Spirit Awards host: SNL funnywoman and Emmy-nominated streaming series auteur Aidy Bryant. Now, the nondenominational secular-humanist Holiday Gnomes have brought us something potentially even more exciting… the nominees!
For the third consecutive year, the Spirit Awards will recognize outstanding achievement in uniqueness of vision, innovation and boldness in TV and streaming in addition to feature film. And for the second year, all acting categories are gender-neutral.
Noms were revealed in a livestream earlier today on Film Independent’s YouTube channel (like and subscribe!) by special guest presenters Joel Kim Booster and Natalie Morales:
Spirit Awards winners are voted on exclusively by Film Independent Members.
For the third consecutive year, the Spirit Awards will recognize outstanding achievement in uniqueness of vision, innovation and boldness in TV and streaming in addition to feature film. And for the second year, all acting categories are gender-neutral.
Noms were revealed in a livestream earlier today on Film Independent’s YouTube channel (like and subscribe!) by special guest presenters Joel Kim Booster and Natalie Morales:
Spirit Awards winners are voted on exclusively by Film Independent Members.
- 12/5/2023
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent News & More
“American Fiction,” “May December” and “Past Lives” dominated the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards nominations on Tuesday, picking up five nods apiece. The three movies are all up for best feature, where they will battle it out against “All of Us Strangers,” “Passages” and “We Grown Now.”
The annual honors recognize the best of television, as well as film. “The Last of Us,” a sci-fi epic that was a ratings hit for HBO, and “I’m a Virgo,” an absurdist miniseries from Boots Riley that was produced by Amazon, led the small screen crop, with four nominations each. Only new TV shows that have run for one season and were released between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of this year are eligible for awards. That’s why some big-budgeted fare was deemed eligible or, in the parlance of the show, independent.
That’s not the case on the feature front, where films have to be...
The annual honors recognize the best of television, as well as film. “The Last of Us,” a sci-fi epic that was a ratings hit for HBO, and “I’m a Virgo,” an absurdist miniseries from Boots Riley that was produced by Amazon, led the small screen crop, with four nominations each. Only new TV shows that have run for one season and were released between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of this year are eligible for awards. That’s why some big-budgeted fare was deemed eligible or, in the parlance of the show, independent.
That’s not the case on the feature front, where films have to be...
- 12/5/2023
- by Brent Lang and Jordan Moreau
- Variety Film + TV
The winners of the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) were announced at the annual ceremony at Old Billingsgate with BIFA patron Ray Winstone kicking off the celebration of independent film.
The award for Best British Independent Film, presented by Fiona Shaw, went to Andrew Haigh’s ‘All of Us Strangers’, a beautifully unsettling tale of a writer revisiting his past, starring Andrew Scott. Haigh, who was previously BIFA nominated for 2015’s 45 Years and 2018’s Lean on Pete, also came away with the coveted awards for Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema and Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films.
There were two winners announced for Best Supporting Performance from a field of ten nominees and Paul Mescal took one of those trophies for his role in the film. All of Us Strangers won four awards on the night.
Best Lead Performance went to Mia McKenna-Bruce in Molly Manning Walker...
The award for Best British Independent Film, presented by Fiona Shaw, went to Andrew Haigh’s ‘All of Us Strangers’, a beautifully unsettling tale of a writer revisiting his past, starring Andrew Scott. Haigh, who was previously BIFA nominated for 2015’s 45 Years and 2018’s Lean on Pete, also came away with the coveted awards for Best Director sponsored by Sky Cinema and Best Screenplay sponsored by Apple Original Films.
There were two winners announced for Best Supporting Performance from a field of ten nominees and Paul Mescal took one of those trophies for his role in the film. All of Us Strangers won four awards on the night.
Best Lead Performance went to Mia McKenna-Bruce in Molly Manning Walker...
- 12/4/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Once more we celebrate another remarkable year for British talent, as the 2023 British Independent Film Awards rolled out their red carpet this evening. We were there once again on the carpet to talk with the nominees and presenters, all to champion a fierce and fulsome chorus of new cinematic voices.
A full list of winners follows the interviews. Colin Hart and Ethan Hart were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.
The 2023 BIFAs Red Carpet Interviews
The full list of winners is below.
Best British Independent Film All Of Us Strangers – Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey Femme – Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping, Myles Payne, Sam Ritzenberg How To Have Sex – Molly Manning Walker, Ivana MacKinnon, Emily Leo, Konstantinos Kontovrakis Rye Lane – Raine Allen-Miller, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones Scrapper – Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough Best Joint Lead Performance David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah – Rye Lane Nathan Stewart-Jarrett,...
A full list of winners follows the interviews. Colin Hart and Ethan Hart were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.
The 2023 BIFAs Red Carpet Interviews
The full list of winners is below.
Best British Independent Film All Of Us Strangers – Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey Femme – Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping, Myles Payne, Sam Ritzenberg How To Have Sex – Molly Manning Walker, Ivana MacKinnon, Emily Leo, Konstantinos Kontovrakis Rye Lane – Raine Allen-Miller, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones Scrapper – Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough Best Joint Lead Performance David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah – Rye Lane Nathan Stewart-Jarrett,...
- 12/3/2023
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The British Independent Film Awards took place on Sunday, December 3 in London, honoring the best independent films from around the world. “Rye Lane” led the pack with 16 nominations, followed by “All of Us Strangers” and “Scrapper,” which both earned 13 nominations a piece. But it was Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers” that walked away with most of the night’s top prizes. In addition to the coveted Best British Independent Film, Haigh won Best Screenplay and Best Director while Paul Mescal shared the Best Supporting Performance award with Shaun Thomas from “How to Have Sex.”
The ceremony also honored the best independent films from outside of the United Kingdom, with Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” winning Best International Independent Film.
Keep reading for a complete list of nominees at the 2023 British Independent Film Awards, with winners listed in bold.
Best British Independent Film
Winner “All Of Us Strangers” – Andrew Haigh,...
The ceremony also honored the best independent films from outside of the United Kingdom, with Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” winning Best International Independent Film.
Keep reading for a complete list of nominees at the 2023 British Independent Film Awards, with winners listed in bold.
Best British Independent Film
Winner “All Of Us Strangers” – Andrew Haigh,...
- 12/3/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The British Independent Film Award nominations have been unveiled, with “Rye Lane” leading the honors.
The BIFA ceremony will take place Sunday, December 3. “Rye Lane” tops the nominations with 16 nods, followed by 14 nominations for both “All of Us Strangers” and “Scrapper.” “How to Have Sex” follows with 13 nominations, plus 11 nods for “Femme.”
In total, 26 British feature films were recognized. Hosts Susan Wokoma and Morfydd Clark announced the 2023 nominations from One Hundred Shoreditch, London on November 2. Previous BIFA nominees like Tilda Swinton, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, and Amir El-Masry are recognized this year, with Andrew Scott being the sole male nominee for Best Lead Performance.
Raine Allen-Miller’s romantic comedy “Rye Lane” is dually nominated for Best Director and the Best Debut Director (The Douglas Hickox Award), as well as Best Screenplay, Best Debut Screenwriter, and leads Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson for Best Joint Lead Performance. Oparah is additionally recognized in the Breakthrough Performance category.
The BIFA ceremony will take place Sunday, December 3. “Rye Lane” tops the nominations with 16 nods, followed by 14 nominations for both “All of Us Strangers” and “Scrapper.” “How to Have Sex” follows with 13 nominations, plus 11 nods for “Femme.”
In total, 26 British feature films were recognized. Hosts Susan Wokoma and Morfydd Clark announced the 2023 nominations from One Hundred Shoreditch, London on November 2. Previous BIFA nominees like Tilda Swinton, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell, and Amir El-Masry are recognized this year, with Andrew Scott being the sole male nominee for Best Lead Performance.
Raine Allen-Miller’s romantic comedy “Rye Lane” is dually nominated for Best Director and the Best Debut Director (The Douglas Hickox Award), as well as Best Screenplay, Best Debut Screenwriter, and leads Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson for Best Joint Lead Performance. Oparah is additionally recognized in the Breakthrough Performance category.
- 11/2/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Rye Lane Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute
This year's British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) were announced today, dominated by Raine Allen-Miller's London-set comedy Rye Lane, with 16 awards. All Of Us Strangers, Scrapper and How To Have Sex provided close competition, while Sam H Freeman and Ng Choon Ping's noir thriller Femme also scoring well.
The winners will be revealed on 3 December.
Those nominations in full:
Best British Independent Film All Of Us Strangers - Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey Femme - Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping, Myles Payne, Sam Ritzenberg How To Have Sex - Molly Manning Walker, Ivana MacKinnon, Emily Leo, Konstantinos Kontovrakis Rye Lane - Raine Allen-Miller, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones Scrapper - Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough
Best International Independent Film Anatomy Of A Fall - Justine Triet, Arthur Harari, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion Fallen...
This year's British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) were announced today, dominated by Raine Allen-Miller's London-set comedy Rye Lane, with 16 awards. All Of Us Strangers, Scrapper and How To Have Sex provided close competition, while Sam H Freeman and Ng Choon Ping's noir thriller Femme also scoring well.
The winners will be revealed on 3 December.
Those nominations in full:
Best British Independent Film All Of Us Strangers - Andrew Haigh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey Femme - Sam H Freeman, Ng Choon Ping, Myles Payne, Sam Ritzenberg How To Have Sex - Molly Manning Walker, Ivana MacKinnon, Emily Leo, Konstantinos Kontovrakis Rye Lane - Raine Allen-Miller, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo, Damian Jones Scrapper - Charlotte Regan, Theo Barrowclough
Best International Independent Film Anatomy Of A Fall - Justine Triet, Arthur Harari, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion Fallen...
- 11/2/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Raine Allen-Miller’s debut feature Rye Lane leads this year’s British Independent Film Award nominations with 16 nods, including Best Director and Best British Independent Film.
Allen-Miller’s Peckham-set feature also has nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Debut Screenwriter for writing duo Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia, as well as a nod for Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo for Breakthrough Producer. The film’s leads Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson scored a Best Joint Lead Performance nomination. Oparah is also nominated in Breakthrough Performance.
Rye Lane is trailed by Scrapper and All Of Us Strangers, which both clocked 14 nominations. Scrapper received four nominations for debut feature filmmaker Charlotte Regan, including Best Director and Best Screenplay. All Of Us Strangers clocked Best Director. In the performance categories, Andrew Scott picked up a Best Lead Performance nomination, and Jamie Bell, Claire Foy, and Paul Mescal grabbed a Best Supporting Performance nod each. Seven...
Allen-Miller’s Peckham-set feature also has nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Debut Screenwriter for writing duo Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia, as well as a nod for Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo for Breakthrough Producer. The film’s leads Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson scored a Best Joint Lead Performance nomination. Oparah is also nominated in Breakthrough Performance.
Rye Lane is trailed by Scrapper and All Of Us Strangers, which both clocked 14 nominations. Scrapper received four nominations for debut feature filmmaker Charlotte Regan, including Best Director and Best Screenplay. All Of Us Strangers clocked Best Director. In the performance categories, Andrew Scott picked up a Best Lead Performance nomination, and Jamie Bell, Claire Foy, and Paul Mescal grabbed a Best Supporting Performance nod each. Seven...
- 11/2/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Feature debutant Raine Allen-Miller’s “Rye Lane” led the nominations at the 2023 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) with 16 nods.
“Scrapper” by debutant Charlotte Regan and veteran Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers” scored 14 nominations each while Molly Manning Walker’s “How to Have Sex” had 13, Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping’s “Femme” 11 and Mahalia Belo’s “The End We Start From” nine. The nominations were revealed by actors Susan Wokoma (“Enola Holmes”) and Morfydd Clark (“Saint Maud”) at an announcement event at One Hundred Shoreditch, London.
From 2022, the awards went permanently gender neutral for acting categories with the traditional best and supporting actress and actor awards being replaced by best lead performance, best supporting performance, best joint lead performance — for performances that are the joint focus of the film — and best ensemble.
The winners will be announced at the BIFA ceremony on Dec. 3.
BIFA Nominations 2023
The Richard...
“Scrapper” by debutant Charlotte Regan and veteran Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers” scored 14 nominations each while Molly Manning Walker’s “How to Have Sex” had 13, Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping’s “Femme” 11 and Mahalia Belo’s “The End We Start From” nine. The nominations were revealed by actors Susan Wokoma (“Enola Holmes”) and Morfydd Clark (“Saint Maud”) at an announcement event at One Hundred Shoreditch, London.
From 2022, the awards went permanently gender neutral for acting categories with the traditional best and supporting actress and actor awards being replaced by best lead performance, best supporting performance, best joint lead performance — for performances that are the joint focus of the film — and best ensemble.
The winners will be announced at the BIFA ceremony on Dec. 3.
BIFA Nominations 2023
The Richard...
- 11/2/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) nominations were unveiled Thursday morninh by star hosts Susan Wokoma and Morfydd Clark at One Hundred Shoreditch, London.
“Casting a spotlight on the incredible talent working in the British film industry, this year’s list once again includes exceptional debuts from the U.K.’s brightest new talent alongside previous BIFA nominees, such as Tilda Swinton, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Amir El-Masr,” the organization said.
Leading the nominations with 16 is Rye Lane, Raine Allen-Miller’s London-set romantic comedy following a pair of semi-reluctant lovers on an impromptu tour of Peckham. Among others, it scores nominations for Allen-Miller for best director and best debut director, best screenplay debut screenwriter for writing duo Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia, as well as a best joint lead performance nom for stars Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson. Oparah is also nominated in the breakthrough performance category. Rye Lane...
“Casting a spotlight on the incredible talent working in the British film industry, this year’s list once again includes exceptional debuts from the U.K.’s brightest new talent alongside previous BIFA nominees, such as Tilda Swinton, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Amir El-Masr,” the organization said.
Leading the nominations with 16 is Rye Lane, Raine Allen-Miller’s London-set romantic comedy following a pair of semi-reluctant lovers on an impromptu tour of Peckham. Among others, it scores nominations for Allen-Miller for best director and best debut director, best screenplay debut screenwriter for writing duo Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia, as well as a best joint lead performance nom for stars Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson. Oparah is also nominated in the breakthrough performance category. Rye Lane...
- 11/2/2023
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Films set in London dominate the nominations.
Raine Allen-Miller’s London-set romantic comedy Rye Lane leads the nominations for the 2023 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas), followed closely by Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper and Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers.
Rye Lane has scored 16 nominations, including best British independent film, director and debut director for Allen-Miller; plus best screenplay and debut screenwriter for Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia. Vivian Oparah is nominated for breakthrough performance, as well as for best joint lead performance alongside David Jonsson.
Scroll down for the full list of nominations
Scrapper, another London-set first film, received 14 nominations,...
Raine Allen-Miller’s London-set romantic comedy Rye Lane leads the nominations for the 2023 British Independent Film Awards (Bifas), followed closely by Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper and Andrew Haigh’s All Of Us Strangers.
Rye Lane has scored 16 nominations, including best British independent film, director and debut director for Allen-Miller; plus best screenplay and debut screenwriter for Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia. Vivian Oparah is nominated for breakthrough performance, as well as for best joint lead performance alongside David Jonsson.
Scroll down for the full list of nominations
Scrapper, another London-set first film, received 14 nominations,...
- 11/2/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Final five nominations to be announced on November 2.
Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall and Todd Haynes’ May December are among the titles on the latest British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) longlists, for Best Feature Documentary and Best International Independent Film.
15 films are on the documentary longlist, with five of them by first-time directors; with 17 films on the international list.
Scroll down for the longlists
Alongside McQueen’s film combining analysis of Amsterdam during the Second World War with the present day, documentary titles include Kevin MacDonald’s High & Low: John Galliano about the...
Steve McQueen’s Occupied City, Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall and Todd Haynes’ May December are among the titles on the latest British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) longlists, for Best Feature Documentary and Best International Independent Film.
15 films are on the documentary longlist, with five of them by first-time directors; with 17 films on the international list.
Scroll down for the longlists
Alongside McQueen’s film combining analysis of Amsterdam during the Second World War with the present day, documentary titles include Kevin MacDonald’s High & Low: John Galliano about the...
- 10/19/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Anaita Wali Zada as Donya in Fremont. Babak Jalali: 'I grew up around a lot of Afghan women and the ones I met were fiercely independent, very mighty and very powerful' Photo: Music Box Films Fremont, Babak Jalali’s latest film, written with Carolina Cavalli, comes equipped with the same sort of loose narrative framework and gentle absurdity that has served Jim Jarmusch well down the years. He focuses on the life of Donya. Unable to sleep, she is also seeing a shrink (Gregg Turkington) and, after a sudden promotion, she decides to send a message out into the world that leads to unexpected consequences and a cameo from Jeremy Allen White. The film, which closed Edinburgh International Film Festival, and we caught up with Jalali ahead of the screening to talk about his quirky, deadpan character study.
This is the first time you and Carolina Cavalli have...
This is the first time you and Carolina Cavalli have...
- 9/13/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Fremont,” a beautiful and poignant story of an Afghanistan immigrant, stuck between two cultures in America … co-written and directed by Babak Jalali. In select theaters on September 8th, see local listings.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) is an ex-translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, who just managed to get out of the war-torn country on a special visa and has found work in Fremont, California, with a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Around the same time she is promoted to write the fortunes for the cookies, she begins to see a therapist (Gregg Turkington) who connects in a profound way to her case, and she begins to open up to new possibilities, including an encounter with a lonely auto mechanic on September 8th. See local listings for other locations. Featuring Anaita Wali Zada, Gregg Tarkington, Hilda Schmelling,...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) is an ex-translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, who just managed to get out of the war-torn country on a special visa and has found work in Fremont, California, with a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Around the same time she is promoted to write the fortunes for the cookies, she begins to see a therapist (Gregg Turkington) who connects in a profound way to her case, and she begins to open up to new possibilities, including an encounter with a lonely auto mechanic on September 8th. See local listings for other locations. Featuring Anaita Wali Zada, Gregg Tarkington, Hilda Schmelling,...
- 9/8/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Adults (Dustin Guy Defa)
Six years after directing his last feature, Dustin Guy Defa returns with The Adults, a film of complicated shared histories and gradually revealing inner lives. With his relatively sprawling Person to Person, Defa followed a wide array of characters over five interweaving storylines. This time he focuses on one family and, closer still, on an unmistakable feeling: that of moving out and growing up, only to return home and realize all that delicately assembled adulthood was merely a façade. Playing out across a leafy town in upstate New York, The Adults follows a trio of siblings as they reunite: the brother who went away and the sisters who did not. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream:...
The Adults (Dustin Guy Defa)
Six years after directing his last feature, Dustin Guy Defa returns with The Adults, a film of complicated shared histories and gradually revealing inner lives. With his relatively sprawling Person to Person, Defa followed a wide array of characters over five interweaving storylines. This time he focuses on one family and, closer still, on an unmistakable feeling: that of moving out and growing up, only to return home and realize all that delicately assembled adulthood was merely a façade. Playing out across a leafy town in upstate New York, The Adults follows a trio of siblings as they reunite: the brother who went away and the sisters who did not. – Rory O. (full review)
Where to Stream:...
- 9/8/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
A long time ago, in what might as well have been a galaxy far, far away, Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) was a translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. Now, this young woman lives in the Bay Area town of Fremont, a stone’s throw from Silicon Valley and a dozen or so Bart stops from San Francisco. Every day, she commutes from an apartment complex populated by Afghan immigrants into the City by the Bay, where she works in a fortune-cookie factory in Chinatown. Every evening, she returns home...
- 9/1/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
To characters in Babak Jalali’s Fremont, memories both serve an artistic purpose and function as nuisance to be dealt with. Unresolved experiences while serving as a translator to the U.S. Army in Afghanistan prevent refugee Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) from sleeping soundly in her new home of Fremont, California. She seeks sleeping pills from oddball psychiatrist Dr. Anthony (Gregg Turkington) who spends their sessions largely promoting the virtues of his favorite immigrant story: Jack London’s White Fang.
Later when fortune cookie factory owner Ricky (Eddie Tang) offers Donya a promotion from packaging the cookies to writing the messages that go inside, he leans on his instinct that her past pain will lend her a rich worldview from which to draw from as a writer. These plot machinations are rarely front and center in Fremont, and Donya’s seemingly-troubled past isn’t something she freely discusses with those around her.
Later when fortune cookie factory owner Ricky (Eddie Tang) offers Donya a promotion from packaging the cookies to writing the messages that go inside, he leans on his instinct that her past pain will lend her a rich worldview from which to draw from as a writer. These plot machinations are rarely front and center in Fremont, and Donya’s seemingly-troubled past isn’t something she freely discusses with those around her.
- 8/31/2023
- by Caleb Hammond
- The Film Stage
After working as a translator for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) is now staking out a new life in Fremont, California. Donya is exiled from her home and haunted by memories of those she left behind, and Babak Jalali’s wryly melancholic film watches her navigate the eponymous city as she tries to find a new place in the world.
Given Fremont’s monochrome photography and monotone punchlines, the comparisons that the film has drawn to the work of Jim Jarmusch are understandable. Jarmusch has described his 1984 sophomore feature Stranger Than Paradise as looking at America “through a foreigner’s eyes,” which is also the lens through which Jalali views the world of this film. Fremont is rendered as a strange and alienating place but one whose humdrum routines are alive with quirks and curiosities for those whose senses haven’t been dulled by familiarity.
A real-life Afghan refugee,...
Given Fremont’s monochrome photography and monotone punchlines, the comparisons that the film has drawn to the work of Jim Jarmusch are understandable. Jarmusch has described his 1984 sophomore feature Stranger Than Paradise as looking at America “through a foreigner’s eyes,” which is also the lens through which Jalali views the world of this film. Fremont is rendered as a strange and alienating place but one whose humdrum routines are alive with quirks and curiosities for those whose senses haven’t been dulled by familiarity.
A real-life Afghan refugee,...
- 8/20/2023
- by Ross McIndoe
- Slant Magazine
"It's okay to feel lonely sometimes..." Music Box Films has revealed an official trailer for an indie film titled Fremont, a black & white dry comedy from writer / director Babak Jalali, co-written by Carolina Cavalli (who also directed this year's Amanda). This first premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and has stopped by lots of other festivals including SXSW, Karlovy Vary, IFFBoston, Sun Valley, Seattle, and more. Donya, a lonely Afghan immigrant in the US who works at a fortune cookie factory, is promoted to writing the fortunes inside each cookie. Seeking connection, she decides to send a message out to the world through a cookie, unsure where it will lead. "Tenderly sculpted and lyrically shot in black-and-white, Babak Jalali's Fremont is a wry, deadpan vision of the universal longing for home." Anaita Wali Zada stars as Donya, and the cast features Jeremy Allen White, Gregg Turkington, Hilda Schmelling, and Avis See-tho.
- 8/2/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
World premiering in Sundance’s Next category back in January, the trailer now arrives for director Babak Jalali’s feature debut Fremont. Co-written by Jalali and Italian filmmaker Carolina Cavalli, the Bay Area-set film stars newcomer Anaita Wali Zada, The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White and On Cinema‘s Gregg Turkington. An official synopsis reads: Each morning Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) leaves her tight-knit community of Afghan immigrants in Fremont, California. She crosses the Bay to work at a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Donya drifts through her routine, struggling to connect with the culture and people of her new, unfamiliar surroundings […]
The post Trailer Watch: Babak Jalali’s Fremont first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Babak Jalali’s Fremont first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 8/2/2023
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
World premiering in Sundance’s Next category back in January, the trailer now arrives for director Babak Jalali’s feature debut Fremont. Co-written by Jalali and Italian filmmaker Carolina Cavalli, the Bay Area-set film stars newcomer Anaita Wali Zada, The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White and On Cinema‘s Gregg Turkington. An official synopsis reads: Each morning Donya (Anaita Wali Zada) leaves her tight-knit community of Afghan immigrants in Fremont, California. She crosses the Bay to work at a family-run fortune cookie factory in San Francisco. Donya drifts through her routine, struggling to connect with the culture and people of her new, unfamiliar surroundings […]
The post Trailer Watch: Babak Jalali’s Fremont first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Babak Jalali’s Fremont first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 8/2/2023
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
“Fremont” made quiet waves at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival this year, a Jim Jarmusch-esque, laconic black-and-white dramedy about an Afghan woman making her way in the San Francisco Bay Area after working as a translator for the U.S. military. Directed by Babak Jalali, “Fremont” stars real-life Afghan refugee Anaita Wali Zada in a breakout, first-time role, along with the likes of comedian Gregg Turkington and “The Bear” Emmy nominee Jeremy Allen White in a small but smoldering role. IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the Music Box Films release below.
Wali Zada plays Donya, who works for a Chinese fortune cookie factory in San Francisco while living in the East Bay city of Fremont. Formerly a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, the 20something struggles to put her life back in order while living in an apartment complex with other Afghan immigrants. In a moment of...
Wali Zada plays Donya, who works for a Chinese fortune cookie factory in San Francisco while living in the East Bay city of Fremont. Formerly a translator for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, the 20something struggles to put her life back in order while living in an apartment complex with other Afghan immigrants. In a moment of...
- 8/2/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Bulgarian crime story “Blaga’s Lessons” by Stephan Komandarev scored the top prize and $25,000 at the 57th Karlovy Vary Film Festival on Saturday, capping a week of celebrating art film, stars and bold global work.
Calling his film a tribute to his parents’ generation, many of whom have become victims of the rough transition to capitalism, Komandarev accepted his Crystal Globe from actor Robin Wright and fest president Jiri Bartoska.
Wright, on winning the fest president’s prize moments earlier, said festgoers in the Czech spa town have shown a love for experiencing cinemas onscreen, urging them to keep up that passion as streaming platforms erode cinema audiences that have still not fully rebounded from pandemic days. “I thank all of you for supporting cinema. Let’s bring it back – Covid put a bit of downer on that.”
With sold out screenings ranging from Russell Crowe introducing “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World...
Calling his film a tribute to his parents’ generation, many of whom have become victims of the rough transition to capitalism, Komandarev accepted his Crystal Globe from actor Robin Wright and fest president Jiri Bartoska.
Wright, on winning the fest president’s prize moments earlier, said festgoers in the Czech spa town have shown a love for experiencing cinemas onscreen, urging them to keep up that passion as streaming platforms erode cinema audiences that have still not fully rebounded from pandemic days. “I thank all of you for supporting cinema. Let’s bring it back – Covid put a bit of downer on that.”
With sold out screenings ranging from Russell Crowe introducing “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World...
- 7/8/2023
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
A refreshing new voice on the Italian cinema scene popped up in the Orizzonti section (Venice Film Festival’s parallel section to the comp) in 2022 and ever since has found more film festival circuit play and has crossed over into theatrical release playdates in multiple territories. With the zesty, dry-wit humoured and precisely stylized composition, the narcissistically delightful Amanda is an impressive debut feature by Carolina Cavalli who looks at the maladroit of the bourgeoisie, finds amuse bouche quirks in sibling rivalry and takes a deep dive into a Gen Z that is defendablely infuriating but its anti-hero protagonist a la Max Fischer (played with a ferociousness and exactitude by Benedetta Porcaroli) is bad-ass in her own mischievous and misconstrued ways.…...
- 7/8/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
A sci-fi comedy by Mel Eslyn and a literary noir by Alice Troughton – who are, respectively, the longtime producer for the Duplass brothers and an award-winning UK television director — debut in limited release this weekend, alongside Adele Lim’s Joy Ride, a Lionsgate wide-release – marking first-time feature film debuts by three women.
(Noting that Chelsea Peretti’s recent Tribeca-premiering film First Time Female Director sort of re-coined that phrase.)
Troughton called it “really reassuring” to see female helmers opening films. In the UK “we are below 20% of the directing force and … directorial women’s roles are dropping, as are roles for people of color. So the diversity is sort of slacking off a bit after a really good push. So it felt really important as somebody who had the privilege to be in the position to go and make a film, to go and do it.
(Noting that Chelsea Peretti’s recent Tribeca-premiering film First Time Female Director sort of re-coined that phrase.)
Troughton called it “really reassuring” to see female helmers opening films. In the UK “we are below 20% of the directing force and … directorial women’s roles are dropping, as are roles for people of color. So the diversity is sort of slacking off a bit after a really good push. So it felt really important as somebody who had the privilege to be in the position to go and make a film, to go and do it.
- 7/7/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Do you have days when doing anything at all – especially at a social level – seems to take an enormous mental effort, and when everything anybody says to you sounds as if it was intended to hurt? For Amanda (Benedetta Porcoroli), every day is like that. She’s 25 but she still hurts and lashes out like a teenager. Her lifestyle hasn’t changed much either. She still gets her wealthy family to pay her rent and spends her days lounging around telling people how miserable she is, he nights drifting around outdoor raves trying to figure out the basics of social interaction.
Despite all this, Porcoroli manages to make Amanda sympathetic. The lonely woman’s borderline personality traits are clearly a product of emotional pain, whilst her intensity makes her a compelling subject. The impetus for the action in Carolina Cavalli’s bold début feature is Amanda’s mother’s decision to try to intervene.
Despite all this, Porcoroli manages to make Amanda sympathetic. The lonely woman’s borderline personality traits are clearly a product of emotional pain, whilst her intensity makes her a compelling subject. The impetus for the action in Carolina Cavalli’s bold début feature is Amanda’s mother’s decision to try to intervene.
- 7/6/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature doesn’t hit theaters for another few months, but you’d be forgiven if you thought it was actually Amanda, writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly humorous, stylish feature debut about an indolent young woman looking for a friend. Consider its opening frame: a little girl lounging alone in a pool while munching on cereal and basking in the afternoon shadow of her bourgeois family’s Italian villa. When she subsequently splashes into the water, nearly drowning in front of her older sister and housekeeper, it’s clear that her brief life of solitary luxury has already thrust an incommunicable existential crisis upon her. You almost expect Stephen Dorff’s absentee father from Somewhere to have been responsible.
Things aren’t much better for Amanda (Benedetta Porcaroli) as a 25-year-old, living independently in her hometown after finishing school in Paris. Instead of taking on the duties...
Things aren’t much better for Amanda (Benedetta Porcaroli) as a 25-year-old, living independently in her hometown after finishing school in Paris. Instead of taking on the duties...
- 7/6/2023
- by Jake Kring-Schreifels
- The Film Stage
Amanda hasn’t done a lot of living in her 24 years. She’s never had a job, a boyfriend, or even a friend. She doesn’t fit in with her family — all of them pharmacists — even though she loves the clan’s longtime housekeeper and she’s got a real bond with her too-serious young niece. She’s got a shitty apartment of her own, but it’s outfitted with fancy furniture she seems to have pilfered from the family home a few blocks down the street. She goes to secret raves to pass the time, stands outside the local cinema in hopes of catching a glimpse of someone who might make for a reasonable pal, and has begun harboring a desire to free a horse from a local farm. She’s addicted to her phone, which speaks to her in stilted Siri-ese and is programmed to only call her “Sexy Mama.
- 7/6/2023
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
It's often hard to let go of childhood trauma, and understandably so. A single frightening moment when we're old to process it can encourage us to destabilize our growth in ways we don't even notice. And if you don't have to grow up in order to survive, this stunted childhood can become the core of your existence. Amanda, the feature debut of Italian filmmaker Carolina Cavalli, delves into the life of just such a young person. Definitely quirky, deliberately uncaring (or so it seems) of how her actions affect her family, seemingly uninterested in anything that does not fixate her, the titular character moves in a stunted circle as she navigates her tiny, unordered world. It's not often that young people are sheltered by choice,...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/5/2023
- Screen Anarchy
After successful US screenings at Sundance and SXSW, Fremont has its international premiere at Karlovy Vary.
After world premiering at this year’s Sundance in the Next section, and also screening at SXSW, Babak Jalali’s fourth film Fremont has its international premiere at Karlovy Vary, where it it is vying for a Crystal Globe.
Born in Iran and raised in London, Jalali first came to prominence when his 2005 short film Heydar, An Afghan In Tehran garnered a Bafta nomination. His debut feature Frontier Blues premiered in Locarno’s official competition in 2009 while his sophomore effort Radio Dreams won the...
After world premiering at this year’s Sundance in the Next section, and also screening at SXSW, Babak Jalali’s fourth film Fremont has its international premiere at Karlovy Vary, where it it is vying for a Crystal Globe.
Born in Iran and raised in London, Jalali first came to prominence when his 2005 short film Heydar, An Afghan In Tehran garnered a Bafta nomination. His debut feature Frontier Blues premiered in Locarno’s official competition in 2009 while his sophomore effort Radio Dreams won the...
- 7/5/2023
- by Laurence Boyce
- ScreenDaily
Although set in a noirish Northern California, “Fremont” – which premiered at Sundance and plays in competition at Karlovy Vary this week – is a refugee story that’s firmly rooted in reality. Director Babak Jalali’s casting of real-life Afghan refugee Anaita Wali Zada, a first-time actor, in the lead role gives some indication of his commitment to authenticity.
The hardboiled script, co-written with Carolina Cavalli, turns on a young woman, Donya, working in a Chinese fortune cookie factory while starved for sleep and wracked with Ptsd from her past life working with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. The tight dialogue lends another level of stylized sheen to the film, as does the appearance of two veteran actors in wry performances – Gregg Turkington as a Jack London-obsessed therapist, and Jeremy Allen White, best known for his role as master chef in TV series “The Bear,” as a lovelorn mechanic.
The hardboiled script, co-written with Carolina Cavalli, turns on a young woman, Donya, working in a Chinese fortune cookie factory while starved for sleep and wracked with Ptsd from her past life working with the U.S. military in Afghanistan. The tight dialogue lends another level of stylized sheen to the film, as does the appearance of two veteran actors in wry performances – Gregg Turkington as a Jack London-obsessed therapist, and Jeremy Allen White, best known for his role as master chef in TV series “The Bear,” as a lovelorn mechanic.
- 7/4/2023
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Across Amanda, Carolina Cavalli’s writing and cinematic style dovetail with lead actor Benedetta Porcaroli’s calibrated strangeness to express a sensibility that feels genuinely new. It’s also the rare film about mental instability (among other things) that doesn’t pathologize and reduce its characters to a diagnosis. Rather, it’s a vindication of idiosyncrasy.
The younger of two daughters in an Italian family that runs a chain of pharmacies across Europe, Amanda (Porcaroli) is a loner. While her harried sister, Marina (Margherita Missoni), has resigned herself to the family’s bourgeois responsibilities, the 25-year-old Amanda rejects them to the best of her ability, and to the aggravation of everyone around her. Her only friend is the family’s domestic worker, Judy. Amanda lives on her own in a barebones apartment but, without a job or an income, still begrudgingly depends on her family’s financial support.
Stubbornly opposed...
The younger of two daughters in an Italian family that runs a chain of pharmacies across Europe, Amanda (Porcaroli) is a loner. While her harried sister, Marina (Margherita Missoni), has resigned herself to the family’s bourgeois responsibilities, the 25-year-old Amanda rejects them to the best of her ability, and to the aggravation of everyone around her. Her only friend is the family’s domestic worker, Judy. Amanda lives on her own in a barebones apartment but, without a job or an income, still begrudgingly depends on her family’s financial support.
Stubbornly opposed...
- 7/3/2023
- by William Repass
- Slant Magazine
Nouvelles Vagues, a new international festival dedicated to films about youth, is set to make a splashy debut Wednesday in Biarritz, a surf haven in southwestern France, with Penélope Cruz as its inaugural guest of honor.
Launching with partners such as Chanel and leading French pay TV banner Canal+, Nouvelles Vagues was founded by fashion veteran Jérôme Pulis, who worked at Christian Dior for 16 years and producer Sandrine Brauer. The pair have enlisted former Locarno artistic director Lili Hinstin as programming chief.
The festival is kicking off Wednesday evening with the screening of Tina Satter’s “Reality,” the Berlinale breakout film starring Sydney Sweeney, followed by a gala dinner hosted by Chanel. “Reality” was acquired by HBO Films for North America on the heels of its critically acclaimed world premiere at Berlin. Metropolitan FilmExport, the French distributor of “Reality,” is holding the local premiere of “Reality” at Nouvelles Vagues ahead...
Launching with partners such as Chanel and leading French pay TV banner Canal+, Nouvelles Vagues was founded by fashion veteran Jérôme Pulis, who worked at Christian Dior for 16 years and producer Sandrine Brauer. The pair have enlisted former Locarno artistic director Lili Hinstin as programming chief.
The festival is kicking off Wednesday evening with the screening of Tina Satter’s “Reality,” the Berlinale breakout film starring Sydney Sweeney, followed by a gala dinner hosted by Chanel. “Reality” was acquired by HBO Films for North America on the heels of its critically acclaimed world premiere at Berlin. Metropolitan FilmExport, the French distributor of “Reality,” is holding the local premiere of “Reality” at Nouvelles Vagues ahead...
- 6/28/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.