Notizie

Netflix produced its first non-documentary feature in 2015. It was called Beasts of No Nation, and it was fine. However, the film did not get nominated for an Academy Award. Lots has changed in the last decade.

Your favorite streamer often gets nominated for major awards each year. 2025 is no different. Emilia Pérez has 13 nominations alone, including one for Best Picture. So far, Netflix has yet to get a win in that category, and Emilia Pérez is not the favorite this year, either.

In fact, Netflix has also almost been entirely shut out of wins in the acting categories. Only Laura Dern won, and that was for Best Supporting Actress in 2020. But the streamer does do well in some other categories. Those might not be part of the Big 6, but when it comes to documentaries, Netflix knows what it is doing. Just see below, and you'll know.

The 2025 Oscars will be held on Sunday,...

Netflix subscribers in the U.S. can look forward to a price increase in 2025. Per CBS News, the streamer, which added nearly 19 million subscribers worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2024, is raising prices across all of its subscription tiers. The increase was announced on Jan. 21.

The Squid Game streamer will increase its standard, ad-based plan by $1, taking it to $7.99 per month. A standard ad-free subscription will now be $17.99 per month, as opposed to the current $15.49. Netflix’s premium plan will increase by $2 per month, from $22.99 to $24.99 a month. The highest-priced tier includes 4K video quality. For households wanting to “share” their accounts, adding an extra member will also prove to be more expensive, going from $7.99 to $8.99 on ad-free plans. An extra member on ad-based subscriptions will stay at $6.99 a month.

In a letter to its investors obtained by CNN, Netflix commented on the price hike saying, “As we continue to...

One streamer surpassed expectations by adding 18.91 million subscribers from October through December 2024. Per Variety, analysts expected that Netflix's subscriber base would grow, but the numbers exceeded expectations. Analysts predicted that 9.18 people would subscribe to Netflix during that time period, as opposed to the 18.91 million.

The numbers for the last quarter of 2024 saw Netflix reach 301.63 million total subscribers globally last year. The numbers crushed 2023’s fourth-quarter subscriber tally which was 13.2 million new subscribers. Overall, Netflix’s subscribers were up a total of 15.9% from 2023 to 2024. The streamer, which features series like Squid Game, added 5.1 million paid subscribers in the third quarter of 2024.

“Our Q4 slate outperformed even our high expectations: Squid Game Season 2 is on track to become one of our most watched original series seasons, Carry-On joined our all-time Top 10 film list, the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight became the most-streamed sporting event ever and on Christmas Day we...

Netflix is the latest platform to remove some of its original titles from its streaming library. Starting Feb. 2, seven originals, mostly foreign language offerings, will leave the platform, per What’s on Netflix.

The trend of removing originals from platforms is nothing new for Netflix, which has already lost its Marvel original shows including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and The Punisher, to Disney+ due to expiring licensing agreements. Disney+ removed its Willow reboot series from the platform in 2023 due to low viewership, and Paramount+ did the same with its Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.

Related The Best Thrillers Streaming On Prime Video Right Now (January 2025)

Don't miss out on Amazon's best thrillers this month. Great movies like A Quiet Place: Day One and Edge of Tomorrow are now streaming on Prime Video.

A Bill Pullman-Led Film is Leaving Netflix

The Hungarian film, On Body and Soul (2017) will leave Netflix on Feb.

Netflix is removing six of its own original shows and movies in February 2025. In the increasingly uncertain streaming landscape, many streaming services have removed their own originals from their libraries, for a variety of reasons. This includes low viewership, as was the case with Paramount+'s Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies and Disney+'s Willow. Other reasons include tax write-offs, as has been the case with many Max titles including the cancelled Batgirl movie, which had wrapped filming and was in post-production but was never released.

Netflix has also removed a number of original titles from its library, though the majority of these have been taken down because of the end of licensing agreements rather than viewership or financial issues. This includes the Netflix Marvel shows in the Defenders universe, including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and The Punisher, which are now streaming on Disney+. Even though many shows and movies...

Les Arcs Film Festival’s industry programme has selected eight emerging directors for its Talent Village initiative running December 14-17, and has named Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi as its 2024 ambassador.

The Talent Village, consisting of workshops and meetings, is designed to help the directors move from short to feature-length projects and engage with industry professionals before joining the Coproduction Village market.

This year’s class of rising talents, who have all made short films that have played at leading festivals, includes Norway’s Ivar Aase, Poland’s Michal Edelman, Lithuania’s Lukas Kacinauskas and Eglé Razumaité, Spain’s Anna Llargués,...

In a year in which two of world cinema’s oldest industries, Japan and Italy, have signed a long-awaited co-production treaty, jury members at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) were talking up the importance of both film history and the theatrical experience on the first full day of the festival.

After praising TIFF for its selection of established and emerging Asian filmmakers, Hong Kong actor and jury president Tony Leung Chiu-wai also pointed to the festival’s in-depth programmes of classic movies observing that they play an important role in “introducing Italian directors like [Federico] Fellini and Japanese filmmakers like [Akira] Kurosawa to younger audiences.

“They are not only introducing what is current, but also the vast history of cinema, which is a wonderful opportunity for audiences to learn about the past,” the star of In The Mood For Love and Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings said.

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Hungary has picked Lajos Koltai’s biopic Semmelweis as its contender for the 2025 Oscars in the best international feature category.

The feature traces the life of Hungarian doctor Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures who became known as “the savior of mothers” for his efforts in fighting deadly infections following childbirth. Set in 19th-century Vienna, it shows Semmelweis, played by Miklós H. Vecsei as a passionate, if short-tempered, doctor determined to find the cause of puerperal fever, a mysterious epidemic decimating patients after childbirth. Even after he discovers the cause of the infection and a means to prevent it, his peers and superiors work to discredit him.

Semmelweis was a commercial hit back home, selling more than 350,000 tickets and grossing more than $2 million on its theatrical release, becoming the most successful Hungarian movie of the past five years. Nfi World Sales is handling world sales on the title.

Viktória Sovák, the new head of post-production house Nfi Filmlab in Hungary, whose credits include Venice competition titles “The Brutalist” and “Maria” and upcoming films by Ildiko Enyedi, the director of Oscar nominee “On Body and Soul,” and Laszlo Nemes, the director of Oscar winner “Son of Saul,” has spoken to Variety about its work, which stretches back more than 60 years.

Sovák, who became managing director of Nfi Filmlab in February, has worked at leading European film laboratories such as Laboratoires Éclair in France, L’immagine Ritrovata in Italy, and Hiventy/Transperfect in France.

“From the full analog era until the appearance of born-digital movies, I took it as my responsibility to know all workflows, machines and software,” she says. “I have solid experience in almost every area of film post-production from film processing and negative editing, through analog color grading to digitization and digital deliveries.”

Viktoria Sovak

Sovák has also...

At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much common cause between Pablo Larraín’s anticipated Maria Callas biopic, “Maria,” starring Angelina Jolie as the titular opera singer, and Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” a 215-minute epic about a Holocaust survivor forging a new life in America. Though both films will premiere on the Lido at this year’s Venice Film Festival, where they’re competing for the Golden Lion, they are in most ways worlds apart.

Yet both owe a good deal to the contributions of Hungarian talent, joining a roster of recent awards bait and blockbusters to film in the Central European country that includes Yorgos Lanthimos’ multi-Oscar winner “Poor Things” and both chapters of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi tentpole “Dune.” While an attractive 30% cash rebate is undoubtedly part of the draw, it’s also a testament to a long history of artistry and technical craftsmanship in...

French actor Chiara Mastroianni and iconic Hong Kong director Johnnie To are among a pack of heavyweight names joining Tony Leung Chiu-wai on the main competition jury of this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. The festival is set to run Oct. 28 – Nov. 6.

Completing the judging panel are Hungarian screenwriter and director Ildiko Enyedi and Japanese star actor Hashimoto Ai.

The festival’s full lineup of films and events will be outlined at a presentation in late September.

The selection of Enyedi, who won the 2017 edition of the Berlin festival with her “On Body and Soul,” cannot be a coincidence. She is directing Leung in upcoming title “Silent Friend,” a picture which marks Leung’s first European movie role.

“Being in a jury is always an exceptional, very intense experience. This is not a field for small talk. Jury work is a series of unusually deep and revealing meetings,” said Enyedi.

Tokyo International Film Festival has unveiled the international competition jury for its 37th edition.

Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To, French actress Chiara Mastroianni, Hungarian writer/director Ildiko Enyedi and Japanese actress Ai Hashimoto will join Hong Kong star Tony Leung, who was previously named this year’s jury president.

The full line-up of this year’s programme will be announced in late September ahead of the festival, which is set to run October 28 to November 6.

To is the acclaimed director of films such as Breaking News and Drug War and sat on the Berlinale international competition jury in 2023. He is also a regular at Cannes,...

The full competition jury for the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival has been revealed.

On Friday, festival organizers announced that Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To, Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi, Japanese actress Ai Hashimoto and French actress Chiara Mastroianni will be members of the 2024 main competition jury alongside previously announced jury president Tony Leung.

To, like Leung a legend of Hong Kong cinema, is famed the world over for his action and crime films. The veteran and prolific filmmaker’s credits include Breaking News, Exiled, Mad Detective, Drug War and the Election films (Election, Election 2 (a.k.a. Triad Election). To, a regular feature of the international film festival circuit, has had six films screen at the Cannes Film Festival, two in competition, as well as had four films selected to compete at the Venice Film Festival.

Enyedi is best known for writing and directing the Hungarian drama On Body and Soul,...

Emma Laird, Fionn Whitehead, Zar Amir and Adwoa Aboah star in psychological drama “Satisfaction.”

The film is the narrative feature debut of theater and commercial director Alex Burunova, who is also known for the acclaimed shorts “Pale Blue” and “Lonely Planet.” Set against the backdrop of the Greek isles, the film follows Lola (Laird) who takes revenge against her sexual partner Philip (Whitehead). Things begin to unravel when they encounter the enigmatic Elena (Amir), who intoxicates Lola with her uninhibited way of being and emboldens her to face the roots of her pain. Amir, best actress winner at Cannes 2022 for “Holy Spider,” also serves as executive producer for the female empowerment tale.

The film, which has wrapped principal photography, is shot by Budapest-based cinematographer Mate Herbai (Oscar-nominated “On Body and Soul”). The film is a Ukrainian co-production with Ukrainian companies Constant Production and Kristi Films.

Burunova said: “I wanted to...

Renowned Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai ditched his quiet, brooding persona on Saturday in Venice, where he is to receive a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award.

Instead, at a press conference in his honor, Leung positively gushed about his upcoming first European movie role and about the strengths of the “golden era” acting training he received in Hong Kong in the 1980s.

Leung has made a speciality of saying little in many of his films. In his first Venice film, “City of Sadness,” Leung pays a mute. In “The Grandmaster” he lets his fists and feet do the talking. In “In the Mood for Love,” Leung’s facial expressions are far more expressive than words.

And on many public occasions, Leung keeps the repartee to a minimum, amps up the soulful glare and goes long on banal gratitude. Awarded the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award at Busan in October,...

Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the Hong Kong star of “In the Mood for Love” and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” has joined the cast of “Silent Friend” by Oscar-nominated Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi (“On Body and Soul”).

Leung will be honored at the Venice Film Festival, where he will receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. He previously starred in three movies that have won the Venice Golden Lion: “A City of Sadness” (1989) by Hou Hsiao-hsien, “Cyclo” (1995) by Tran Anh Hung and “Lust, Caution” (2007) by Ang Lee.

“Silent Friend” is being produced by German banner Pandora Film. It marks Enyedi’s follow up to “The Story of My Wife” which competed at Cannes, and “On Body and Soul,” the Berlinale Golden Bear-winning film that earned an Oscar nomination.

Currently in pre-production, “Silent Friend” is set in the botanical garden of Marburg, a medieval university town in Germany,...

Hungarian director and screenwriter Ildikó Enyedi brought some art-house royalty to the Shanghai International Film Festival this week with a masterclass that focused on her process and the struggle to maintain a unique voice.

At one point in her on-stage discussion with Chinese director Zheng Dasheng, she called filmmaking “essentially a sole desperate cry, hoping to be heard by others.”

Enyedi’s voice has certainly registered and been heard at Europe’s major film festivals. She won the Camera d’Or in Cannes in 1989 for best debut feature “My 20th Century,” saw her 1994 film “Magic Hunter” play in competition in Venice and she won the top prize Golden Bear in Berlin in 2017 with “On Body and Soul.”

Her subjects have ranged from music to the human condition in its dry absurdity (“On Body and Soul”), to Stasi agents in the old East Germany (TV series “Balaton Brigade”). But her process...

Denmark’s “Norwegian Offspring,” by Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, from Den Danske Filmskole, was chosen as the winner of the 26th edition of La Cinef.

In the story, a mother passes away and her estranged son – obsessed with theories about the repression of male sexuality in modern society – starts longing for offspring of his own.

“The jury was captivated by this bold filmmaker,” said Ildikó Enyedi, who presided over the jury.

“It made us laugh and cringe at the same time.”

Earlier, the Hungarian director – behind “On Body and Soul” and, most recently, “The Story of My Wife,” which was at Cannes – addressed the audience: “You made it. To be in this room, it’s a lot and we all know it. We really felt for you [during our discussions]. We tried to go for the raw talent, for the promise. I just hope we did a good job, because we wanted to.”

“It...

Here’s a rundown of some of the top Hungarian projects in the pipeline or selling at the Cannes Market:

Semmelweis

Director: Lajos Koltai

Producer: Tamas Lajos (Film Positive)

Sales: N/A

Set in 1847, as a mysterious epidemic rages in a maternity clinic in Vienna, this period drama from the Oscar-nominated cinematographer and director Koltai (“Malena”) stars promising young thesp Miklos H. Vecsei as the titular doctor Ignác Semmelweis, who spurns traditional medical theories to find a cure.

The Lefkovicses Are in Mourning

Director: Ádám Breier

Producers: Kázmér Miklós, Felszeghy Ádám, Ausztrics Andrea

Sales: N/A

Breier’s feature debut is a dramedy about a generous but stubborn elderly boxing coach who gets along with everyone except his own son. While the two haven’t spoken in years, they’re reunited during after the death of the old man’s wife and forced to face old grievances.

Cat Call

Director:...

Hungarian director and screenwriter Ildikó Enyedi has been announced as president of the Cannes Film Festival jury deciding the Short Film Palme d’Or and the 3 La Cinef prizes for student films in the Official Selection.

She will be joined by Iranian-American screenwriter and director Ana Lily Amirpour, Canadian actress and director Charlotte Le Bon, French actress Karidja Touré and Israeli filmmaker Shlomi Elkabetz.

Enyedi got her international break in Cannes in 1989 when her first film My 20th Century was selected for Un Certain Regard and won the Caméra d’Or

“When, in 1989, in that magical year of change in Europe I arrived in Cannes with my first feature film – with exhibitions banned, a student film banned and many difficulties – it was an unbelievable feeling,” said Enyedi.

“Being chosen meant to be understood, to be seen for real, as if this huge, colorful and flamboyant community of brilliant artists and...

The Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival) comprises the annual pre-autumn festival circuit alongside Sundance, SXSW and Cannes. Though the competition isn’t exactly a pipeline to the Oscars, it has hosted premieres for past Best International Feature winners and nominees “A Fantastic Woman,” “On Body and Soul” and “A Separation.” Additionally, the festival launched “45 Years,” which earned Charlotte Rampling her first Academy Award nomination in 2016, and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” which received nine bids and won four in 2015. The 73rd festival was held February 16 – 26.

This year’s jury was presided over by Academy Award nominee Kristen Stewart. The slate includes new efforts from Christian Petzold, Angela Schanelec and Christoph Hochhäusler, all three of whom belong to the Berlin school of filmmaking that emerged in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. 2023’s Golden Bear went to Nicolas Philibert’s “On the Adamant,” a documentary about a health care facility in...

The Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival) comprises the annual pre-autumn festival circuit alongside Sundance, SXSW and Cannes. Though the competition isn’t exactly a pipeline to the Oscars, it has hosted premieres for past Best International Feature winners and nominees “A Fantastic Woman,” “On Body and Soul” and “A Separation.” Additionally, the festival launched “45 Years,” which earned Charlotte Rampling her first Academy Award nomination in 2016, and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” which received nine bids and won four in 2015. The 73rd festival was held February 16 – 26.

This year’s jury was presided over by Academy Award nominee Kristen Stewart. The slate includes new efforts from Christian Petzold, Angela Schanelec and Christoph Hochhäusler, all three of whom belong to the Berlin school of filmmaking that emerged in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. 2023’s Golden Bear went to Nicolas Philibert’s “On the Adamant,” a documentary about a health care facility in...

A version of this review first ran during the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

When you saw Joaquin Phoenix dancing down those outdoor steps toward the end of “Joker,” you probably didn’t think about Princess Elsa belting out “Let It Go” in the 2013 animated film “Frozen.” But Mark Cousins did –- and that’s the difference between him and you and me and the rest of the people who see Cousins make that juxtaposition in his documentary “The Story of Film: A New Generation.”

Cousins ties Joker and Elsa together because of the defiance at the heart of his dance and her song, and he does so at the start of “The Story of Film: A New Generation.” The documentary was an extraordinarily apt film to screen on the opening afternoon of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, which came 14 months after the pandemic had forced the festival to cancel its 2020 edition. The...

On the outskirts of Budapest, a big-budget period drama is recreating the fateful day that sparked the Hungarian war of independence in 1848. Construction is underway at the state-owned Mafilm studio complex on a massive set that will stand in for the Hungarian capital in the 19th century. With 100-plus shooting days planned through September, director Balázs Lóth describes “Now or Never!” as “the most ambitious Hungarian film ever made.”

That ambition is being matched by Hungary’s National Film Institute, which awarded “Now or Never!” a 12.5 million production grant — the largest amount given to a feature film since the fall of communism in 1989.

It’s the second big swing on a splashy historical drama taken by the Nfi in the past year, after it awarded 29 million to “Rise of the Raven,” an epic drama series produced by Robert Lantos’ Serendipity Point Films (“Crimes of the Future”) and Beta Film (“Gomorrah...

The EnergaCamerimage international cinematography film festival has unwrapped its main competition lineup, which includes Belfast, Dune and The Tragedy of Macbeth, which will be the opening night film, with director Joel Coen and Dp Bruno Delbonnel scheduled to attend.

Camerimage, held annually in Poland, has become a bellwether for what’s to come in the cinematography Oscar race. In three of the past five years, the winners of Camerimage’s Golden Frog have gone on to earn Oscar nominations in cinematography. Those films include 2016’s Lion, 2019’s Joker and 2020’s Nomadland. The 2017 Camerimage winner, On Body and Soul, was nominated in the foreign-language film Oscar category.

The festival’s 2018 ...

The EnergaCamerimage international cinematography film festival has unwrapped its main competition lineup, which includes Belfast, Dune and The Tragedy of Macbeth, which will be the opening night film, with director Joel Coen and Dp Bruno Delbonnel scheduled to attend.

Camerimage, held annually in Poland, has become a bellwether for what’s to come in the cinematography Oscar race. In three of the past five years, the winners of Camerimage’s Golden Frog have gone on to earn Oscar nominations in cinematography. Those films include 2016’s Lion, 2019’s Joker and 2020’s Nomadland. The 2017 Camerimage winner, On Body and Soul, was nominated in the foreign-language film Oscar category.

The festival’s 2018 ...

The European Arthouse Cinema Day, an initiative aimed at promoting European films and moviegoing, will be hosting its sixth edition with ambassadors including Oscar-nominated Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi (“The Story of My Wife”) and Italian actor Valeria Golino (“The Morning Show”).

Organized by the International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas (Cicae) in partnership with Europa Cinemas, the event has involved hundreds of cinemas in more than 40 countries as well as film promotion orgs and right holders including distributors and sales agents. Last year, over 700 cinemas in 44 countries registered.

The lineup will comprise European classics and premieres of new films, as well as masterclasses, special guests, programmes for young audiences and exhibitions. All cinemas have access to common promotional materials created specially for the day.

Besides Enyedi and Golino, the other ambassadors of this upcoming edition include Spanish filmmaker Jonás Trueba (“La reconquista”) and actor-turned-director Mathieu Amalric (“Hold Me Tight”); they will...

“Commitment Hasan,” a Turkish drama by Semih Kaplanoğlu that world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, has been sold by Films Boutique to several key markets.

The movie is part of a trilogy that began with “Commitment Asli,” Turkey’s official entry for the Oscar international feature film race in 2020. Kaplanoglu, one of Turkey’s most celebrated filmmaker, previously directed the trilogy “Grain,” “Honey” and “Milk.” “Grain” won Berlin’s Golden Bear award in 2010.

“Commitment Hasan” is now being buzzed about as Turkey’s potential Oscar submission. Films Boutique has closed a raft of deals on the movie to Spain (Paco Poch Cinema), Ex Yugoslavia (Five Stars Distribution), Israel (Lev Cinemas) and Portugal (Leopardo). Arp Selection will release the film in France and Cgv Mars will distribute it in Turkey.

“Commitment Hasan” follows a man who makes his living from gardening and farming in the land he inherited from his father.

European television group Newen Connect and Berlin-based Flare Entertainment are joining forces to co-develop and distribute Balaton Brigade, a Cold War spy drama from Hungarian production company Joyrider, which Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ildiko Enyedi (On Body and Soul, The Story of My Wife) will direct.

The project, which Joyrider presented at the Berlinale Co-Pro series pitching event earlier this year, is set at the Hungarian resort of Lake Balaton in 1986, at the height of the Cold War. It follows Berndt Reider, the leader of a Stasi unit stationed at Balaton and tasked with preventing East German holidaymakers from sneaking over the border ...

European television group Newen Connect and Berlin-based Flare Entertainment are joining forces to co-develop and distribute Balaton Brigade, a Cold War spy drama from Hungarian production company Joyrider, which Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ildiko Enyedi (On Body and Soul, The Story of My Wife) will direct.

The project, which Joyrider presented at the Berlinale Co-Pro series pitching event earlier this year, is set at the Hungarian resort of Lake Balaton in 1986, at the height of the Cold War. It follows Berndt Reider, the leader of a Stasi unit stationed at Balaton and tasked with preventing East German holidaymakers from sneaking over the border ...

Newen Connect, the distribution arm of the TF1-owned group Newen Group, has boarded “Balaton Brigade,” a prestige historical spy thriller series directed by Ildikó Enyedi, the Oscar-nominated Hungarian director of “On Body and Soul” and “The Story of My Wife” which competed at Cannes.

Created by Gábor Krigler (“Terapia”), Balázs Lengvel (“Thos Janos”) and Balázs Lovas, the eight-part series was previously pitched at the Berlinale Series Market and was selected to be presented at Series Mania’s CoPro Pitching Sessions as part of the partnership between the two industry events. The show, which is produced by Joyrider and Film Force, and co-produced by Martin Heisler at Flare Entertainment in Germany, garnered strong buzz at the Berlinale and sparked the interest of more than 50 companies.

“Balaton Brigade” is set in 1986, amid the Cold War, during a long hot summer in a seemingly idyllic Hungarian summer resort. Located by the Balaton Lake,...

The industry centerpiece at Series Mania’s Forum, Monday’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions take on a special relevance this year as the number of admissions have almost doubled – up to 560, near twice the usual number, says Series Mania director Francesco Capurro. “Producers have had more time to develop with Covid-19. Projects run a wide gamut. The idea is tat there will be something for everybody attending,” Capurro explains. Ambitions – budgetary, artistic – are often high. There are multiple period thrillers, as projects wrestle with key issues – identity, peace, high-tech, big business, sacrifice, survival – crucial to these convulsive times.

“Amal,” (Eran Riklis, Israel)

Powered by one of the most established talents at the Forum, reputed film director Riklis (“Lemon Tree”). Also one of its most ambitious projects, an epic yet intimate love story between a Palestinian woman and Israeli man, spanning three decades and Columbia U, Hollywood, Ramallah and Gaza through to...

A man asks the first woman who enters the room to marry him and then is surprised to find she does not respect him. This sums up “The Story of My Wife” from Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi, playing in Competition at this year’s Festival de Cannes. It might seem like an unfairly reductive interpretation of an almost three-hour-long film from a respected arthouse director, who won the Camera d’Or for her film “My Twentieth Century” in 1989 in Cannes and more recently the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2017 for “On Body and Soul.” But so little is done with the emotions running through this husband across the years that the ups and downs of his torturous marriage merely register as repetitive blips on a fairly unchanging screen.

Continue reading ‘The Story of My Wife’: Léa Seydoux Hypnotic Performance Prevents Ildikó Enyedi’s Drama From Fully Falling Into Tedium [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.

Today’s grid also includes Ildiko Enyedi’s ’The Story Of My Wife’.

Jacques Audiard’s Paris, 13th District and Sean Baker’s Red Rocket achieved middling scores on Screen‘s Cannes jury grid, whilst Ildiko Enyedi’s The Story Of My Wife failed to impress the majority of our jurors.

The latest film from Jacques Audiard – a Palme d’Or winner in 2015 with Dheepan – came out on top of the new arrivals with a score of 2.5, placing it fifth on the grid - just behind Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero. Helping the average were scores of four (excellent) from...

A man declares he will marry the next woman to walk into a bar. That’s the most interesting thing about Ildiko Enyedi’s The Story Of My Wife, a flat Cannes Film Festival competition entry that squanders its intriguing premise.

An adaptation of Milán Füst’s 1920s set novel, it enjoys attractive settings but suffers from fatal flaws. Chief of these is the decision to hire international actors for a script that’s in the English language. Dutch actor Gijs Naber plays it straight as Jakob Störr, the sea captain who decides to marry the conveniently beautiful Lizzy (Léa Seydoux) when he spies her in the Parisian bar. Mystifyingly, she agrees. He goes off to sea; we don’t know what she gets up to while he’s away. He comes back, worried about what she’s been up to while he’s been away. It probably involved Louis Garrel.

In The Story of My Wife (A feleségem története), the strong auteurist voice of one of Eastern Europe’s most fascinating filmmakers, Hungarian distaff director Ildikó Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician, On Body and Soul), seems not only muted but even slightly musty. This adaptation of Milán Füst’s most famous novel, set in the 1920s in Paris, Hamburg and at sea, is divided into chapters and should feel novelistic. Instead, especially its midsection more often feels like an endless feuilleton in which an upright Dutch sea captain and his flighty French wife seem to play a monotonous game of cat and mouse,...

In The Story of My Wife (A feleségem története), the strong auteurist voice of one of Eastern Europe’s most fascinating filmmakers, Hungarian distaff director Ildikó Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician, On Body and Soul), seems not only muted but even slightly musty. This adaptation of Milán Füst’s most famous novel, set in the 1920s in Paris, Hamburg and at sea, is divided into chapters and should feel novelistic. Instead, especially its midsection more often feels like an endless feuilleton in which an upright Dutch sea captain and his flighty French wife seem to play a monotonous game of cat and mouse,...

Though legendary for a callous disregard for the lives of the sailors who criss-cross her stormy surfaces, the sea turns out to be a far milder mistress than Léa Seydoux in Ildikó Enyedi’s handsome but heavy-bottomed “The Story of My Wife,” the Hungarian director’s first return to Cannes since winning the Camera d’Or for her charming 1989 debut, “My Twentieth Century.” Starring Imola Lang’s superb 1920s/’30s production design, Leá Seydoux’s bouncy, tousled bob and Seydoux herself — in roughly that order — the film probably contains enough visual flourish to fill a perfectly watchable, if hardly groundbreaking feature. Just not one that sails dangerously close to the three-hour mark, taking on water the whole time.

A central problem: This is much more the story of the veteran seaman husband of the titular wife, played recessively by Dutch actor Gijs Naber, who is apparently as passively weak-willed on...

Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi has already won at the Cannes Film Festival once already: the Golden Camera award for her 1989 feature film debut “My 20th Century.” Now, Enyedi vies for the Palme d’Or as her latest film, “The Story Of My Wife,” has its world premiere in competition at Cannes this week.

Read More: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Preview: 25 Films To Watch

“The Story Of My Wife” is Enyedi’s first film since 2017’s “On Body And Soul.” That film won the coveted Golden Bear, the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, and later nabbed a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at that year’s Oscars.

Continue reading Watch 3 ‘Story Of My Wife’ Clips: Léa Seydoux Stars In Hungarian Director Ildikó Enyedi’s New Cannes Romance at The Playlist.

"You want me to like your admirer?" Films Boutique has unveiled a festival promo trailer for The Story of My Wife, the first English-language feature from acclaimed, award-winning Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi. She won the Golden Bear top prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017 for her last film On Body and Soul. The Story of My Wife, adapted from Hungarian author Milán Füst's novel, is set to premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in the Main Competition, and it runs a full 2 hours, 49 minutes. Whew. There's not of a description. Only an introduction: the film follows a Dutch sea captain who makes a bet in a café to wed the first woman who enters through the door. In walks Lizzy, played by Léa Seydoux. The cast also includes Gijs Naber and the ubiquitous Louis Garrel. This is the best of any Cannes trailer we've posted before the festival...

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for “The Story of My Wife,” which screens in competition at Cannes Festival. Oscar-nominated director Ildikó Enyedi’s film stars Palme d’Or winner Léa Seydoux. Films Boutique is handling world sales rights.

Enyedi’s “On Body and Soul” won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2017 and was Oscar nominated the following year. Seydoux won Cannes’ Palme d’Or, alongside director Abdellatif Kechiche and co-star Adèle Exarchopoulos, for “Blue Is the Warmest Color” in 2013.

Also in the cast are Gijs Naber (“How to Avoid Everything”), Louis Garrel (“Redoubtable”), Josef Hader (“Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe”), Sergio Rubini (“The Stuff of Dreams”) and Jasmine Trinca (“Honey”).

“The Story of My Wife” is an adaptation of Milan Fust’s 1942 novel of the same name. The story, a variation of the legend of the Flying Dutchman, is set in the 1920s. In it sea...

Bonnie Anderle Bunyik, co-founder of the Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles, has died. She was 77.

Bunyik died on May 19 in Los Angeles following a battle with Als, according to her representatives who said she “passed away peacefully and surrounded by loved ones.”

The veteran film distributor was raised in L.A. by her parents Albert and Pauline Anderle and went on to graduate from Fairfax High School in 1962. Two decades later, she and husband Bela Bunyik founded European Video Distributors and Bunyik Enterprises. The European film distribution company brought overseas cinema westward and distributed films throughout the United States and Canada. Propelled by their mission to bring Hungary’s greatest in feature films, documentaries, shorts and student and animated movies to North American audiences, the Bunyiks produced and distributed over 900 films. Titles included “My 20th Century,” “We Never Die” and “Simon the Magician.”

Building on their success, Bunyik co-founded...

Industry veteran survived by husband of 48 years, Bela Bunyik, children, grandchildren.

Bonnie Anderle Bunyik, the Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles co-founder who also established two distribution companies with her husband Bela Bunyik, has died in Los Angeles. She was 77.

Bunyik passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, on May 19 after a battle with Als.

She was born to Albert and Pauline Anderle and grew up in several Los Angeles neighbourhoods. After graduating from Fairfax High School in 1962 she eventually made her way into the film industry.

In 1982, Bunyik and her husband launched European Video Distributors and later established Bunyik...

Sales agent M-Appeal has closed further territory deals for Japanese filmmaker Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy,” which just won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival.

Benelux rights have gone to September Film, and StraDa Films has picked the film up in Greece. September Film plans to release the title theatrically post pandemic. StraDa Films is planning a theatrical release “when the situation allows.”

M-Appeal previously closed deals for France to Diaphana, which plans a theatrical release in the second semester of 2021, with 80 to 150 prints; Portugal to Leopardo Filmes, which plans a theatrical release in November 2021; Korea to GreenNarae Media, which is planning to release the film in theaters in fall or early winter of 2021, “ideally on 100 screens or more if the pandemic situation allows”; and Taiwan to Andrews Films, which is planning a theatrical release in fall or winter 2021.

M-Appeal is in...

The winners for the virtual 2021 Berlin International Film Festival have been revealed, and Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude’s satire “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” received the Golden Bear for best film. The competition jury celebrated the film as “a rare and essential quality of a lasting art work,” adding in a statement, “It captures on screen the very content and essence, the mind and body, the values and the raw flesh of our present moment in time. Of this very moment of human existence.”

This year’s Berlinale competition jury was made up of six former winners of the festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear: “There is No Evil” director Mohammad Rasoulof, “Synonyms” filmmaker Nadav Lapid, “Touch Me Not” helmer Adina Pintilie, “On Body and Soul” director Ildiko Enyedi, “Fire at Sea” filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi, and “Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams” director Jasmila Zbanic.

The Silver Bear...

For the first time ever, two Hungarian films are competing for the Berlinale’s Golden Bear: “Forest – I See You Everywhere,” a standalone sequel to the 2003 Berlinale hit “Forest,” from veteran auteur Bence Fliegauf, and “Natural Light” from feature debutant Dénes Nagy. Csaba Káel, chairman of the National Film Institute of Hungary (Nfi), says, “I believe it demonstrates the vitality and strength of the Hungarian industry flourishing despite the unprecedented circumstances caused by the pandemic worldwide.”

The two films represent opposite poles of current Hungarian filmmaking. Brimming with discourse, the independently funded “Forest” tells multiple complex, engaging stories of contemporary life in Hungary. And as he did in his Berlinale-winner “Just the Wind” (2012), Fliegauf creates deep empathy for his characters who deliver standout performances.

On the other hand, “Natural Light,” with its minimal dialogue, harks back to an older tradition in Hungarian cinema where stunning cinematography leads the other formal elements.

Cold War spy drama “Baloton Brigade” has been selected to pitch at Series Mania in Lille as part of the Berlinale-Series Mania Project Exchange.

Under the terms of the partnership, now in its seventh year, one project pitched at Series Mania at Lille is invited to pitch again at the ongoing Berlin Series Market’s Co-Pro Series (March 1-5). In return, Series Mania invites a Berlinale project to pitch in Lille as part of the Series Mania Forum (Aug. 30-Sept. 1).

“Baloton Brigade,” an eight-part historical spy drama produced by Joyrider and Film Force (Budapest), is now Lille-bound. As revealed by Variety, Hungarian broadcaster Rtl Klub has boarded the project, which is created by Gaìbor Krigler, Balaìzs Lengyel and Balaìzs Lovas, and directed by Ildikoì Enyedi (Oscar-nominated “On Body and Soul”).

“This year again, we are delighted to collaborate with Berlinale, to choose a project that will be pitched during the Series Mania Festival,...

Year by year, the Berlin Film Festival’s drama series strand and market movers closer to center-stage. As in so many ways, Covid-19 may merely accelerate that process. The Zoo Palast Berlinale Series showcase no longer screen a time-consuming 20-minute taxi ride from the festival center, but online, its titles as accessible as festival movies.

For industry attendees movies — first arthouse and documentaries, later studio-style indie tentpoles — were the name of the game at Berlin. Now many producers who go to Berlin to talk movies are looking for a future with TV. After canvassing marketgoers, five takeaways about Berlin’s drama series lineup and Berlinale Series Market, which celebrates March 2 its Co-Pro Series pitching sessions, emerge:

The Biz So Far

In early industry news, Keshet Intl. has swooped in on sales rights to Norway’s “Suck It Up,” a drama produced by Monster Scripted for Viaplay and a reported standout...