News

Though doubtless a crucial aspect of many of the most dramatic occurrences in human history, letter-writing is not the most cinematic of activities. And so it unfortunately proves once again in Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s “Sicilian Letters,” a heavily fictionalized riff on a real-life mafia tale, which sets up a battle of wits between a ruthless mob boss and the family friend working with the authorities to bring him down, but struggles to maintain any kind of momentum when the duel is merely a case of epistles-at-dawn.

Elio Germano plays Matteo, a character based on notorious Sicilian mafioso Matteo Messina Denaro who was the subject of a 30-year manhunt which only ended in 2023 when he was finally caught. Toni Servillo plays the more heavily fictionalized Catello Polumbo, whose 2004 correspondence with Matteo gets the authorities closer to his apprehension than ever before. As the film begins, Catello, a well-read,...

Directorial duo Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza (“Sicilian Ghost Story”) tell the true tale of Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro – who was dubbed “the last godfather” – in their new drama “Sicilian Letters,” launching on Thursday from the Venice Film Festival.

“Sicilian Letters” pairs two top Italian actors — Elio Germano, who plays Messina, and Toni Servillo as his antagonist Catello, a shady secret services operative who is trying to catch him — working in tandem for the first time. The title refers to a surreptitious correspondence between them using “pizzini,” small slips of paper that the Sicilian Mafia used for high-level communications.

The film looks at a time during Denaro’s three decades as a fugitive from Italian justice, when he was at the peak of his nefarious powers. After being on the run for three decades, Messina Denaro was arrested in mid-January 2023 outside an upscale medical facility in Palermo, where...

There are some big changes coming to Netflix in July.

From new shows and movies, to shows and movies leaving the service, it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up to speed on all the movers and shakers.

That's why we'll be running this monthy article with all the information you need about these changes.

The biggest premiere on the streaming giant in the month of July will likely be Stranger Things Season 3, which is getting a Thursday launch on July 4th.

The extra long weekend should give viewers ample time to binge the eight-episode third season of the sci-fi drama.

Related: Stranger Things Season 3 Gets Premiere Date at Netflix

Orange is the New Black is also back in July, but it will be the final season. The streamer confirmed last year that it was time to bring the groundbreaking series to a close.

13 new episodes remain, and they debut July...

Netflix has confirmed that 44 new original series, movies and specials will be debuting on the streaming service in Ju;y including: season 3 of “Stranger Things”; season 4 of “Queer Eye”; season 7 of “Orange is the New Black”; and season 11 of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”

Among the new films on offer are: several installments of “Bangkok Love Stories”; a remake of “Point Blank” starring Anthony Mackie; the documentary “The Great Hack”‘; and the mockumentary “Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein.”

Below is the full schedule of everything that is coming and leaving Netflix in July 2019.

Sign Up for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions

Available July 1

“Designated Survivor: 60 Days” (Netflix Original)

“Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room” (Netflix Original)

“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”

“Astro Boy”

“Caddyshack”

“Caddyshack 2”

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)

“Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke”

“Cloverfield”

“Disney’s Race to Witch Mountain”

“Frozen River”

“Inkheart...

Netflix has everyone’s Fourth of July entertainment covered.

Hitting the streaming platform on July 4 is “Stranger Things” season three, which is finally returning two years after its predecessor. Martin Scorsese fans are also sure to be excited once they see four of the director’s films (“Taxi Driver” “Mean Streets” “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and “Who’s That Knocking at My Door?”) ready to stream on the first day of the month.

Additionally, Fourth of July celebrants can look back on history with Netflix’s own revisionist features such as “Inglourious Basterds” before enjoying some family fun with more kid friendly options like “Megamind” and “Princess and the Frog.”

See the full list of titles below.

July 1

“Designated Survivor: 60 days”

“Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room”

“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”

“Astro Boy”

“Caddyshack”

“Caddyshack 2”

“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (2005)

“Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke”

“Cloverfield...

It’s almost July. We know that because Netflix has come through with its list of new content being added in July, and what titles are being removed from the streamer throughout the month.

Most notably, “Stranger Things” Season 3 is dropping on July 4, so you can watch fireworks And be reunited with Eleven, Will Byers, Dustin, Mike, Lucas, Max, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve Harrington, Joyce and Hopper at long last, all in one day.

“Queer Eye” Season 4 is comin’ at ya July 19, along with new episodes of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.” The seventh and final season of “Orange Is The New Black” comes July 26.

Also Read: Netflix Renews 'The Rain' For a Third and Final Season

This month is your last chance to watch the first two “Austin Powers” films, “The Matrix” trilogy, the first three “Mummy” movies, “Cool Hand Luke,” “Definitely, Maybe,” “Dumb and Dumber,” and all...

While many might subscribe to Netflix to enjoy unwinding by digging into some easy-to-digest sitcoms, the streaming giant has also curated a sizable collection of horror films and TV shows.

Just last month, The Perfection was made available, and as we reported at the time, some viewers found it so disturbing that they ended up getting sick. Aside from new movies though, there’s also plenty of spooky anime, creepy classic films and shows like Stranger Things, which borrow elements of horror while infusing them with our love and nostalgia for the 1980s.

Thankfully, Netflix has no plans to slow down, as the company has plenty of great choices heading to the platform next month. Those who enjoy older selections will be glad to hear that classics like Scream 3 and Cloverfield are arriving at the beginning of July, along with a few less creepy choices such as The Book...

Following last weekend’s big roll out of The Favourite from Fox Searchlight, this weekend will likely see a pause for awards contenders making splashy Specialty box office numbers. Orion Pictures is giving a limited start to comedy-horror-musical Anna And the Apocalypse, starring Ella Hunt and Malcom Cumming. Timed to the holiday season, the title fits the company’s strategy of releasing films that target specific audiences. Screen Media, meanwhile, has two very different features heading out, though both will have one-time event screenings around the country (on different dates) in addition to specific targeted regular runs. James Marsh’s The Mercy starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz opens Village East in New York through the distributor, while animated feature Elliot: The Littlest Reindeer will have regular engagements starting in New York and L.A. Friday in a day and date release in addition to event screenings in over 100 cities.

Zombies, ghosts and exorcisms will hit the big screen Friday.

Pretty Little Liars actress Shay Mitchell stars in horror flick The Possession of Hannah Grace, set to be released alongside the Christmas zombie-musical Anna and the Apocalypse. The Nick Nolte starrer Head Full of Honey and Italian drama Sicilian Ghost Story will have a limited release this weekend as well.

Read on to see what critics for The Hollywood Reporter had to say about this week's offerings.

Zombies, ghosts and exorcisms will hit the big screen Friday.

Pretty Little Liars actress Shay Mitchell stars in horror flick The Possession of Hannah Grace, set to be released alongside the Christmas zombie-musical Anna and the Apocalypse. The Nick Nolte starrer Head Full of Honey and Italian drama Sicilian Ghost Story will have a limited release this weekend as well.

Read on to see what critics for The Hollywood Reporter had to say about this week's offerings.

With only two months to go until 2018 expires, we recently published our guide on where to stream the best films of 2018. There’s also plenty of worthwhile theatrical options, including a long-awaited film 40 years in the making, darkly comedic period pieces, highly-anticipated Best Picture follow-ups, and much more.

Matinees to See: Boy Erased (11/2), A Private War (11/2), Distant Constellation (11/2), The Front Runner (11/7), Overlord (11/9), Outlaw King (11/9), El Angel (11/9), The New Romantic (11/9), The Long Dumb Road (11/9), Shoah: The Four Sisters (11/14), At Eternity’s Gate (11/16), Jonathan (11/16), The World Before Your Feet (11/21), Anna and the Apocalypse (11/30), and Sicilian Ghost Story (11/30)

15. Searching for Ingmar Bergman (Margarethe von Trotta; Nov. 2)

The celebration of Ingmar Bergman’s immaculate career continues on his birth centenary. Well-timed with the release of The Criterion Collection’s epic new box set, a new documentary on the Swedish master will arrive this month. Margarethe von Trotta’s Searching for Ingmar Bergman take an...

"For me if you dream something, it means it might exist..." Strand Releasing has debuted the full Us trailer for an Italian indie horror film titled Sicilian Ghost Story, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in Critics' Week last year, and played at a number of other festivals last year. Set in a little Sicilian village at the edge of a forest, the film is about a girl named Luna who goes into the forest to search for a boy she's in love with from school, Giuseppe, who disappeared. What she finds is unlike anything she's seen before. The film stars Julia Jedlikowska as Luna, and Gaetano Fernandez as Giuseppe, with Corinne Musallari, Andrea Falzone, Federico Finocchiaro, Lorenzo Curcio, Vincenzo Amato, plus Filippo Luna. This does remind me a bit of del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, but with an Italian touch. Looks creepy but good. Full Us trailer (+ posters) for...

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again hits £54.5m in the UK.

Today’s Gbp to Usd conversion rate - 1.28

RankFilm / DistributorThree-day gross (Aug 17-19) Running gross Week 1 Christopher Robin (Disney) £2.4m £2.5m 1 2 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Disney) £2.2m £54.5m 5 3 The Meg (Warner Bros) £2.1m £8.5m 2 4 The Equalizer 2 (Universal) £1.9m £2m 1 5 Incredibles 2 (Disney) £1.4m £48.6m 6 Disney

Christopher Robin, director Marc Forster’s film based on A. A. Milne’s classic Winnie-the-Pooh children’s novels, starring Ewan McGregor alongside a CGI Winnie (voiced by Jim Cummings) got underway in the UK with a £2.4m weekend from 658 sites, an average of £3,647. With previews,...

The Heiresses, Heathers re-release roll out in the UK.

Update: Following yesterday’s delay due to a system error, this weekend’s full UK box office results are now in.

Today’s Gbp to Usd conversion rate - 1.29

Rank Film / Distributor Three-day gross (Aug 10-12) Running gross Week 1 ‘The Meg’ (Warner Bros) £3.7m £4.4m 1 2 ’Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Disney) £3.6m £49.3m 4 3 Incredibles 2 (Disney) £2.4m £45m 5 4 Ant-Man And The Wasp (Disney) £2.3m £10.5m 2 5 Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Paramount) £2m £17.8m 3 Warner Bros

The Meg, the action movie in which Jason Statham battles a 70-foot prehistoric shark, got its chops...

The Heiresses, Heathers re-release roll out in the UK.

A system error at Odeon Cinemas means today’s UK box office report will be delayed. Full numbers are scheduled to be delivered later this afternoon. The below titles are largely not playing at Odeon or, where indicated, are incomplete due to the missing figures.

Today’s Gbp to Usd conversion rate - 1.29

Arrow Films

The re-release of Michael Lehmann‘s 1988 comedy Heathers, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, on the film’s 30th anniversary, took £37,933 from 107 cinemas this weekend.

Thunderbird

The Heiresses, Marcelo Martinessi’s Paraguay-set drama which premiered at the Berlinale this year,...

Holdovers likely to dominate UK box office this weekend.

It’s a soft-looking set of releases in the UK this weekend, which will mean holdover studio fare such as Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Universal), Ant-Man And The Wasp (Disney) and Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Paramount) will be looking to make use of the forecast break from the UK’s summer heatwave.

The Mamma Mia! sequel stayed top of the chart for the third straight week last weekend, moving to a mighty £39.3m, while Marvel’s Ant-Man sequel disappointed with a soft opening of £5m (for a superhero title).

In the indie space,...

Musical sequel tops UK chart for third straight week.

Today’s Gbp to Usd conversion rate - 1.29

RankFilm / DistributorThree-day gross (Aug 3-5) Running gross Week 1 Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (Universal) £4.1m £39.3m 3 2 Ant-Man And The Wasp (Disney) £3.8m £5m 1 3 Mission: Impossible – Fallout (Paramount) £2.5m £13.3m 2 4 Incredibles 2 (Disney) £2.4m £40m 4 5 Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation (Sony) £1.5m £7.8m 2 Universal

In its third week on release, musical sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again triumphed over the competition again, dropping 43% with £4.1m. The film now sits on a hugely impressive £39.3m, though still some way shy of Mamma Mia!

Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s drama “Sicilian Ghost Story,” Variety has learned exclusively.

“Sicilian Ghost Story” opened the International Critics’ Week at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, marking the first time an Italian film launched the Critics’ Week. Grassadonia and Piazza won the David di Donatello award for top adapted script.

Strand made the announcement on Wednesday, ahead of “Sicilian Ghost Story’s” North American debut as the opening night film at the Open Roads: New Italian Cinema 2018 event on May 31 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City. Strand will release the film in the fall.

The film follows a young girl whose quest and search for her kidnapped friend leads her on a psychic journey to find him. Julia Jedlikowska and Gaetano Fernandez star.

Jay Weissberg wrote in his review for Variety: “‘Ghost Story...

In a ceremony dominated by gender inequality speeches most of the awards went to box office disappointments.

The Manetti brothers’ Love And Bullets won five prizes at the 62nd David di Donatello awards – Italy’s equivilent to the Oscars – after starting the evening with 15 nominations.

The musical crime comedy, which first premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, was awarded for best film, best actress in a supporting role, best score, best original song and best costumes.

Susanna Nicchiarelli’s Nico, 1988, which also premiered in Venice winning the Orizzonti competition, got four awards; best original screenplay, best sound, best make-up and best hairdressing.

In a ceremony dominated by gender inequality speeches most of the awards went to box office disappointments.

The Manetti brothers’ Love And Bullets won five prizes at the 62nd David di Donatello awards – Italy’s equivilent to the Oscars – after starting the evening with 15 nominations.

The musical crime comedy, which first premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival, was awarded for best film, best actress in a supporting role, best score, best original song and best costumes.

Susanna Nicchiarelli’s Nico, 1988, which also premiered in Venice winning the Orizzonti competition, got four awards; best original screenplay, best sound, best make-up and best hairdressing.

We live in uncertain times. Hard-fought progress is being reversed. Appeals to love and compassion are losing out to easier options like hate and fear. With horror, anxiety, and jaw-dropped disbelief we watch the worst instincts of mankind play out in a world we thought we knew.

The jumpiness seems to be felt at the cinemas as well, considering the banner year it’s been for scary movies. Right out the gate Split provided quite a kick, reminding us the playful master of paranoia M. Night Shyamalan can be. Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo, for his part, uses comedy in a high-concept, low-budget kaiju flick and turns Colossal into an absurdist delight. It doesn’t get more low-budget than Chilean director Jorge Riquelme Serrano’s debut Chameleon, but the brutal elegance of his touch drives the depiction of random, depraved home invasion to bone-chilling heights.

Kevin Phillips’ Super Dark Times and...

Chicago – The 53rd Chicago International Film Festival has kicked off, and the first weekend has already unspooled. But what is coming up for the Week One as the Festival kicks into gear? HollywoodChicago.com’s Patrick McDonald and Jon Lennon Espino preview the films and events to put on your list.

Each review is designated by (Je) Jon Espino and (Pm) Patrick McDonald. For a Pdf connection to the complete schedule, click here.

Breathe (Britain)

’Breathe,’ Directed by Andy Serkis

Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival

Master of motion capture Andy Serkis makes his directorial debut in the form of a love story that turns into an inspirational tale. Necessity is the mother of all invention, and this story shows us how Robin (Andrew Garfield) and Diana Cavendish (Claire Foy) turned their love – with the aid of white privilege and wealth – into hope for people with debilitating polio. Garfield delivers a fantastic performance,...

Today opens Fantasy Filmfest, the largest genrefilm festival in Germany, with screening locations in seven major German cities: Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Neuremburg, Berlin and Cologne. There will be an opportunity to catch the latest cream of the crop: "It",  "My Friend Dahmer", "Victor Crowley", "It Came from the Desert", "It Comes at Night", "VampyrVidar", "Blade of the Immortal", "Sicilian Ghost Story", "Jungle", "The Villainess", "Super Dark Times", "Tragedy Girls", "The Strange Ones", "Playground", "Land of the Little People", "Killing Ground", "I Remember You", "Game of Death" and so much more For further info, look up http://www.fantasyfilmfest.com/...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Andrés Muschietti's hotly anticipated adaptation of Stephen King's It will open the Fantasy Filmfest in Munich, Germany. The festival runs September 6 - 16. The festival's 2017 lineup already includes a number of eagerly awaited titles, including Paco Plaza's (Rec) Veronica, Cannes premiers such as The Villainess and Sicilian Ghost Story, as well as the Japanese box office hit Memoirs of a Murder. Other genre titles include Joe Lynch's Mayhem, Danish vigilante thriller Darkland, shark attack flick 47 Meters Down and many more. Get thee to Germany!...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Exclusive: Protagonist inks sales on Chloé Zhao’s Directors’ Fortnight winner.

Altitude Film Distribution has taken UK and Ireland rights for Chloé Zhao’s The Rider, which won the top prize in this year’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight sidebar.

The deal was struck between Altitude’s Will Clarke and Vanessa Saal from sales outfit Protagonist Pictures.

The Rider was previously picked up for by Sony Pictures Classics for North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Eastern Europe.

Protagonist has now also sold to film to: Les Films du Losange (France), Weltkino (Germany), Caramel Films (Spain), Cherry Pickers (Benelux), Cineworx (Switzerland), NonStop (Scandinavia and Iceland), Shani Films (Israel), Front Row Entertainment (Middle East), Fabula Films (Turkey) and Blue Lake (worldwide airlines).

Separately, Protagonist has also scored a series of further deals on fellow Directors’ Fortnight title The Florida Project, which Altitude took for the UK during Cannes.

Following its warmly-received Directors’ Fortnight berth, The Rider was presented...

The festival was forced to react to anger over the inclusion of Netflix titles, then the Manchester terror attack.

Monday’s night’s devastating attack in Manchester cast a pall over the final throes of a sluggish Cannes market and a festival selection that has lacked exuberance heading into its final stretch.

Flags flew at half-mast on Tuesday and there was a minute’s silence out of respect to the victims of the atrocity.

Swift messages of condolences came from the festival and the local mayor while Pixar cancelled a Cars 3 media event.

Security was never far from the agenda in Cannes. Heavily armed police were a constant presence and Cannes’ heightened state of alert kicked into action on Saturday when an ultimately harmless suspect package resulted in an evacuation of the Debussy during a press screening of Michel Hazanavicius’ Redoubtable.

The sudden death, aged 57, of Busan deputy director Kim Ji-seok at the start of the...

Buoyed by the critical success of Salvo, their break-out debut about a mafia hitman which won the 2013 Grand Prix in Cannes’ Critics Week, co-directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza are back with the more resonant and multi-layered Sicilian Ghost Story. As in the previous film, elements of the supernatural (which may also be read as pure imagination) appear like soothing balm on the warped relationships of a typical family, school and community. Given the film’s morbidly fascinating subject based on a true crime story, it stands a very good chance of snagging audiences outside festivals, while its concessions to teen...

The 56th edition of the Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar has announced its main program, including seven films screening in competition. The sidebar is dedicated to films coming from first- and second-time filmmakers, and always promises a fertile ground for discovering new and emerging talent. Last year’s breakout title was Julia Ducournau’s horror film “Raw,” which sold to Focus World.

Read More: Cannes 2017 Announces Directors Fortnight Lineup, Including Sean Baker’s ‘The Florida Project’ and ‘Patti Cake$’

The section will open with Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza’s latest feature, “Sicilian Ghost Story,” which combines the myths of Romeo and Juliet with the present day Sicilian mafia. Dave McCary’s debut “Brigsby Bear,” the Sundance comedy that sold to Sony Pictures Classics, will close out the section.

For the first time in its history, both a documentary and an animated film will screen in competition. Ali Soozandeh’s animated...

First animation in Critics’ Week: Teheran Taboo Photo: Critics’ Week

After all the other programme revelations for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the French film critics finally have revealed today (21 April) in Paris their selection for Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique) which opens with a Mafia romance drama, Sicilian Ghost Story, from the directorial partnership of Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza.

Critics’ Week director Charles Tesson Photo: Aurélie Lamachère

The duo have a track record with Critics’ Week, having won the top prize for a hit-man thriller Salvo.

Artistic director Charles Tesson announced that the closing title is a Sundance hit, Brigsby Bear, a kidnap comedy directed by Kyle Mooney from Saturday Night Live with cast including Mark Hamill, Claire Danes, Greg Kinnear and Andy Samberg.

Seven features by first or second time directors will compete for the Nespresso Prize while ten shorts are in competition for the Leica Cine Discovery prize.

Mafia tale Sicilian Ghost Story to open sidebar, Sundance hit Brigsby Bear selected as closer.

Cannes Critics’ Week, devoted to first and second features as well as shorts, has unveiled the line-up of its 56th edition, running May 18-26.

Italian directors Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza will open the selection with their second feature Sicilian Ghost Story, a genre-mixing work following a teenage girl as she searches for the boy she loves after he is kidnapped by the Mafia.

It is inspired by the real-life tale of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the son of a former Mafia hitman-turned-informant, who was abducted in 1993.

Critics’ Week artistic director Charles Tesson described it as a “staggering crossover between cinema genres, combining politics, fantasy and terrible teen love.”

The directorial duo premiered their debut feature Salvo in competition in Critics’ Week in 2013, winning the €15,000 Nespresso Grand Prize.

The screenplay for Sicilian Ghost Story was developed at the Sundance Screenwriting Lab and went...

After featuring such discoveries as Raw, Mimosas, It Follows, The Tribe, and more in recent years, the Cannes sidebar Critics’ Week have now unveiled their 2017 line-up. Now in their 56th year, the Jury President is Kleber Mendonça Filho, who came to Cannes last year with Aquarius, and he’ll be joined by Niels Schneider, Diana Bustamante Escobar, Hania Mroué and Eric Kohn.

After receiving 1,700 short films and 1,250 feature films, 11 features have been selected, with 6 being first films and 5 being second features, including the closing night film Brigsby Bear, which we reviewed at Sundance. Running from May 18-26, check out the line-up below with a hat tip to Mubi and see more about the films here.

Opening Film

Sicilian Ghost Story (Fabio Grassadonia & Antonio Piazza)

Competition

La familia (Gustavo Rondon)

Los perros (Marcela Said)

Oh Lucy! (Atsuko Hirayagani)

Gabriel e a montanha (Felipe Gamarano Barbosa)

Ava (Lea Mysius)

Tehran Taboo (Ali Soozandeh...

Directing duo Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza will open the Critics' Week program in Cannes with their genre-busting mythical mafia romance drama Sicilian Ghost Story, which will screen out of competition, organizers said Friday.

The pair won the top prize in 2013 for their hit-man thriller Salvo and will bring their Romeo and Juliette-meets-The Godfather drama back to the sidebar.

The out-of-competition closing film will be Dave McCary’s star-studded Sundance hit Brigsby Bear. The kidnap comedy from Saturday Night Live's Kyle Mooney stars Mark Hamill, Claire Danes, Greg Kinnear and Andy Samberg.

The Critics’ Week sidebar aims to promote young filmmakers with first...

Every year since 2009, the San Francisco Film Society (Sffs) selects multiple film projects to receive the biannual Sffs/Krf Filmmaking Grant that helps fund some of the best up-and-coming narrative features that support the Bay Area filmmaking industry.

The grant is presented in tangent with the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and is the largest granting body for independent narrative feature films in the U.S. The winners of the grant will be announced in November, with one or more of the fifteen projects eligible to receive upwards of $250,000 for assistance in post-production, screenwriting, or packing.

The fall 2016 finalists are as follows:

Read More: San Francisco Film Society Announces Winners of 2016 Documentary Film Fund

“Buoyancy” – Rodd Rathjen, writer/director:

Chakra, a Cambodian teenager, leaves his family to seek a better life in Thailand, but is soon sold onto a Thai fishing trawler and enslaved at sea indefinitely, working 22 hours a day with little food.

Nate Parker’s directorial debut claimed the Us Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and corresponding audience award at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, capping off a barnstorming week for the slave revolt drama.

Last week The Birth Of A Nation sparked a bidding frenzy that resulted in the biggest on-site deal in the festival’s history as Fox Searchlight paid $17.5m for worldwide rights.

Sonita, Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami’s film about a rapping Afghan teenager opposed to arranged marriage, earned similar double honours as it won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary and audience awards.

The Us Grand Jury Prize: Documentary award went to Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg’s Weiner, while the audience voted for Brian Oakes’ Jim: The James Foley Story.

The World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic went to Elite Zexer’s Sand Story and the audience choice was Carlos del Castillo’s Between Land And Sea.

In other winners:...