News

‘On The Adamant’ won the 2023 Golden Bear in Berlin.

Nicolas Philibert has added Averroes & Rosa Parks and The Typewriter And Other Headaches to a triptych of feature documentaries that kicked off with Berlin Golden Bear winner On The Adamant.

Les Films du Losange has French rights and is handling sales for both titles. It will start talking to buyers at Unifrance’s Paris Rendez-vous in January.

Averroes & Rosa Parks is named after two units in the Esquirol Hospital, part of the same Paris Central Psychiatric Group as portrayed in On The Adamant. The film focuses on individual interviews and meetings...

Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard and Jacques Audiard are among 500 French cinema professionals to have signed an open letter in support of a silent march for peace in Paris this Sunday.

The initiative – created in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict and its ongoing reverberations around the world – is being spearheaded by the newly launched Une Autre Voix (Another Voice) collective.

“This fratricidal war affects us all, and regardless of our reasons or affinities on each side of the wall, we want it to cease and that both peoples finally live in peace,” reads the letter.

“This is why we are organizing a silent, united, humanist and peaceful march that will open with a single long white banner. No political claims nor slogans. White flags, white handkerchiefs are welcome.”

Belgian-Moroccan actress Lubna Azabal presides over the Une Autre Voix collective which also features French...

Further new projects include In The Land Of Limpopo by Gur Bentwich and post-war drama Wild Animals by Yona Rozenkier.

The next film from award-winning Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid will be Yes! – one of five features in to receive fresh investment from the Israel Film Fund.

The director of Berlin Golden Bear winner Synonyms and Cannes jury prize winner Ahed’s Knee is in pre-production on the feature, and has received NIS2.2m from the Israel Film Fund.

Locally titled Ken!, Lapid’s fifth feature revolves around a character named Y. He decides that what takes real courage is not saying “no,...

Exclusive: Oscar Isaac, Evangeline Lilly, Elliott Gould and Billy Zane will voice the Gidi Dar-directed animated movie Legend of Destruction.

The Ushpizin‘s filmmaker’s latest project has been nine years in the making incorporating a unique visual style with 1,500 original still paintings by David Polonsky and Michael Faust, the artists behind Waltz with Bashir and The Congress. The paintings are edited together to produce an innovative cinematic language, in creating a full-fledged experience of an epic action war film.

The pic is set in 66 Ad, Judea, under Roman rule; a virtual powder keg waiting to explode. Its society is polarized, and there is rampant social injustice and corruption. When the Jews revolt against the Roman Empire, the situation quickly deteriorates into a brutal civil war and the Roman war beast is unleashed to crush the rebellion. The film ends in...

Documentary world premieres in Berlin.

Les Films du Losange has sold Nicolas Philibert’s Berlinale competition title On The Adamant to key territories including Adok Films in Switzerland and to I Wonder Pictures in Italy.

The documentary market premiered at Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris and Les Films du Losange will continue sales at February’s EFM.

On The Adamant follows patients and caregivers at a psychiatric centre with a unique floating structure located in the middle of the Seine river in central Paris.

Philibert’s Être Et Avoir (To Be And To Have) premiered in Cannes in 2002, La Maison...

Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has debuted the trailer (below) for the Israeli-Ukrainian drama “Valeria Is Getting Married,” which will have its world premiere in Venice’s Horizons Extra Friday.

The film will have its North American premiere at Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 14, where it is part of the Contemporary World Cinema lineup.

The film, directed by Israeli female filmmaker Michal Vinik, is shot from the perspective of two Ukrainian sisters, and follows the tense emotional journey that unfolds over the course of one day. Valeria (Dasha Tvoronovich) arrives in Israel to meet the man she is supposed to marry, thanks to a deal made online. She is following in the footsteps of her older sister Christina (Lena Fraifeld), who is happy with her new life in Israel, but Valeria struggles with the decision.

The accessible, emotionally-charged chamber drama, confined to a few interior rooms for a large part of the film,...

Haj’s first film ’Personal Affairs’ also screened in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2016.

Paris-based sales company Luxbox has boarded sales on Palestinian director Maha Haj’s second film Mediterranean Fever, which was announced as a fresh addition to Cannes Un Certain Regard section on Thursday (April 21).

At the same time, Dulac Distribution has also announced its acquisition of French rights for the film.

Haj’s debut feature Personal Affairs also world premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2016.

The new drama revolves around an aspiring but depressed writer living in Haifa who befriends his small-time crook neighbour in the hope...

Producers Adam Mirels and Robbie Mirels of 141 Entertainment, the team behind Ana Lily Amirpour’s hotly anticipated “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon,” which plays Sunday in competition at the Venice Film Festival, have signed an option to remake director-writer Sameh Zoabi’s 2018 Venice Horizons Award entry “Tel Aviv on Fire.” The adaptation will be set on the border between the Sonora region of Mexico and a small Arizona town.

Zoabi’s original film nabbed the best actor award in Venice Horizons and went on to receive a host of international kudos. The film uses comedy to explore the absurdity of everyday life under a militarized border force. The remake will utilize these themes and the universal romantic-comedy at its core.

141 Entertainment will attach a Spanish-speaking writer and director to adapt the work to its new U.S. border setting. Zoabi will remain involved creatively and will also serve...

Memento International (“Call Me By Your Name”) has closed a raft of sales on Leah Purcell’s Australian revenge tale “The Drover’s Wife,” and Alex Camilleri’s “Luzzu” which world premiered at SXSW and Sundance.

After selling North American rights to “The Drover’s Wife” to Samuel Goldwyn, Memento has sold “The Drover’s Wife” to the U.K. (Modern Film), Latin America (Encripta), Greece (Spentzos), Bulgaria (Film Vision), Ex Yugoslavia, (Megacom), Indonesia (Pt Falcon) and Airlines (Anuvu). The film is being handled by Roadshow Films in Australia.

A searing Western thriller, the play “The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson” is a reimagining of Henry Lawson’s classic short story “The Drover’s Wife” and an adaptation of Purcell’s successful Australian stage play.

The story is set in 1893, and centers on the heavily pregnant Molly Johnson (Purcell) and her children, who struggle in isolation to survive the harsh Australian...

Memento International (“Call Me By Your Name”) has boarded “Legend of Destruction,” a thought-provoking animated feature by Israeli filmmaker Gidi Dar (“Ushpizin”), produced by Lama Films.

The film’s unique visual style is being created from 1,500 original paintings which are edited and animated together. The paintings and art direction are being handled by David Polonsky and Michael Faust, the artists behind the Oscar-nominated “Waltz With Bashir.”

Dar co-wrote the script with Shuli Rand, a veteran Israeli actor with whom he also collaborated on “Ushpizin” which competed at Tribeca in 2004. On top of having co-written “Legend of Destruction,” Rand is also leading the voice cast.

Set in Jerusalem during the first Jewish–Roman War, “Legend of Destruction” follows an oppressive Roman governor who is driven out of the city by the people. Due to rampant social inequalities, corruption and injustice, secret groups of religious fanatics appear and seek to rebel in the name of God.

Actress’s recent credits include Gaza Mon Amour, Tel Aviv On Fire and The Reports On Sarah and Saleem.

Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi was injured on Sunday while participating in a protest in the Israeli city of Haifa against Israeli police brutality and the planned expulsion of Palestinian families from their long-time homes in East Jerusalem.

A source close to the actress said she had been filming the demonstration on Haifa’s central Ben Gurion Avenue when Israeli police moved in to clear the hundreds of protestors. She was hurt when a police stun grenade exploded on the back of her right leg.

Focus Features will release Ben Sharrock’s two-time BAFTA nominated Limbo on Friday, April 30 in limited theaters.

The pic is a wry and poignant observation of the refugee experience, set on a fictional remote Scottish island where a group of new arrivals await the results of their asylum claims. It centers on Omar, a young Syrian musician who is burdened by his grandfather’s oud, which he has carried all the way from his homeland. Limbo received two BAFTA noms for Best British Film and Best Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.

Sharrock spent time working for an Ngo in refugee camps in southern Algeria and living in Damascus in 2009 shortly before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war. There, he formed a network of friends whose personal stories inspired the film he wrote and directed.

Limbo stars Amir El-Masry (The Night Manager), along with Vikash Bhai, Ola Orebiyi,...

“No Man’s Land,” “Fauda” and “False Flag” producer Maria Feldman is teaming with “Tel Aviv on Fire” writer-director Sameh Zoabi on a new identity crisis series “Inheritance,” which offers a fresh, comedic take on the Israel-Palestine conflict, breaking new ground for scripted TV.

Created by Zoabi, Alma Ganihar and Leora Kamenetzky, a writer on “Fauda” and co-creator with Feldman on “False Flag,” “Inheritance” is set up at Feldman’s New York-based Masha Productions label, with Feldman and Cliff W. Roberts taking producer credits. The partners have a bible and screenplay for a pilot. Zoabi will direct all episodes.

Zoabi’s TV debut, “Inheritance” asks a weighty question: How far people can change their position on the Palestine-Israeli conflict? But it looks set to do so through light, fast-paced comedy – a combination of thematic weight and lightness of touch at the heart of “Tel Aviv on Fire,” Zoabi’s 2018 breakthrough movie,...

The title “Gaza Mon Amour” carries threatening echoes of those cutesy auteur short anthologies in which assorted drifting souls find love in the same scenic city streets. Happily, Palestinian twin filmmakers Arab and Tarzan Nasser’s entirely self-contained feature is nothing so slick or glib, though it boasts internationally flavored romantic whimsy in spades. Mixing a minor-key midlife love story with gently politicized farce against the turbulent backdrop of the Gaza Strip, the Nassers’ amiably shaggy film does, in fact, feel a little like a gossamer-weight short that has been stretched to breaking point at a hair under 90 minutes — only just sustained by its vivid sense of place and the unforced charisma of stars Salim Daw and Hiam Abbass.

Such charms have made “Gaza Mon Amour” well-liked on the festival circuit: It secured spots at Venice and Toronto in the fall, before being named Palestine’s submission for the international feature Oscar.

Exclusive: Showtime may have found its next Homeland. The network is tying up a preemptive deal to acquire and turn the Nathan Englander Israeli-Palestine conflict novel Dinner at the Center of the Earth into a series that Homeland architects Howard Gordon & Alex Gansa will write and run as executive producers. Deal is being made through Sony Pictures Television Studios, where Gordon and Gansa made a four-year overall deal last year.

Showtime isn’t commenting, but Deadline hears the commitment is for a pilot that will be written by Gordon & Gansa, who steered Homeland through eight solid seasons. The hope is for this to be the next major series for the duo.

The novel is a sprawling drama that has some basis in real players in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, set in the Middle East and Europe, but the simplest way to describe it is a spy thriller in the vein of Homeland and The Night Manager.

Feature is lead produced by Israeli The Cakemaker producer Itai Tamir.

Paris-based Alpha Violet has acquired sales rights to Israeli director Roy Krispel’s debut feature Abu Omar, starring Palestinian actor Kais Nashif as a man attempting to smuggle the body of his dead son back into Palestine from Israel.

Nashif won best actor in Venice’s Horizons competition in 2018 for his performance in Sameh Zoabi’s Tel Aviv On Fire and is soon to be seen in Ben Sharrock’s Cannes 2020 selection Limbo. He originally broke out internationally in Hany Abu Assad’s 2005 Oscar-nominated drama Paradise Now.

In Abu Omar,...

Mayor Musa Hadid is a celebrity of sorts in Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital in the central West Bank, situated just a few miles north of Jerusalem. But it’s hard out there for this idiosyncratic, handsomely attired and mustachioed character, greeted often by excited kids and curious adults whenever he is spotted in the streets of the bustling town he tries to better for its citizens, burdened by the stifling politics of the region. And we get to understand why throughout the gripping and surprisingly witty “Mayor,” filmmaker David Osit’s thoughtful study of a spirited man and his burgeoning city, anchored in Hadid’s everyday dilemmas. It’s an acutely observed you-are-there procedural about a modern metropolis that dares to exist, even thrive amid the enduring repercussions of 1967’s Six-Day War, when Israel occupied the region.

Considering all the hardships that surround the borders of Ramallah — among...

The film is inspired by the true story of an Ancient Greek statue that was fished out of the sea off Gaza and then disappeared.

Paris-based sales company Versatile has revealed fresh details for Palestinian directors Arab and Tarzan Nasser’s upcoming Gaza-set film Apollo, which is currently in post-production having shot in Jordan and Portugal.

The fraternal directorial duo’s debut feature Degradé, about a group of women trapped in their local hair salon by fighting, premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2015. Prior to that, their short film Condom Lead played in Cannes Official Selection.

They have returned to...

The annual Palm Springs International Film Festival in California is always an opportunity to catch up on many of the contenders for the Best International Feature — née Best Foreign-Language — Film Academy Award. Now in its 31st edition, the festival this year has 51 of them, from favorite-to-beat “Parasite” from South Korea and Senegal’s “Atlantics,” to other films quietly making strides in the race: Czech Republic’s “The Painted Bird,” Sweden’s “And Then We Danced,” Russia’s “Beanpole,” Romania’s “The Whistlers,” North Macedonia’s documentary contender “Honeyland,” Norway’s “Out Stealing Horses,” and many more.

The festival will screen 188 films from 81 countries, including 51 premieres, from January 2-13, 2020. The Awards Buzz section includes a special jury of international film critics, who will review these films to present the Fipresci Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, as well as Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay in this category.

One hundred eighty-eight films films from 81 countries including 51 premieres highlight the lineup for the 31st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which kicks off January 2 with a star-studded gala that has become a must-stop during awards season for Oscar hopefuls. The festival, which runs through January 13, also is known for showcasing a large number of submissions in the Motion Picture Academy’s International Film (formerly Foreign Language) competition and will feature 51 of those entries.

The opening-night film on January 3 is the Italian farce An Almost Ordinary Summer, while the closer is director Peter Cattaneo’s heartwarming dramedy Military Wives in which Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan and Jason Flemyng lead a superb ensemble cast. The film had its world premiere at September’s Toronto International Film Festival and became an instant crowd-pleaser. Bleecker Street releases it in 2020.

Among the previously announced honorees at the January 2 gala are Antonio Banderas, Renee Zellweger,...

Now in their 32nd year, the European Film Awards unfold Saturday in Berlin, and here’s where you can live-stream the ceremony. With some titles controversial (Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy”) and others at least a year old for those of us stateside (“The Favourite”), this year’s ceremony is sure to be a fun romp.

Leading the pack is director “An Officer and a Spy,” the Dreyfus affair drama that picked up a top prize at Venice back in September, tied for four nominations alongside Pedro Almodóvar’s self-reflective “Pain and Glory,” Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor,” and Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Favourite.” While released in the fall of 2018 in the United States, the latter film’s international release window made it eligible for the European Film Awards this year. “The Favourite” won star Olivia Colman, who plays a gout-stricken Queen Anne, a Best Actress Academy Award earlier...

The Closing Night Film at the Israel Film Festival Los Angeles, daring and funny…how can Palestinians criticize Israelis and Israelis criticize Palestinians? Make a comedy like ‘Tel Aviv on Fire’. In this interview with the director and co-writer, Sameh Zoabi, we explore the power and pitfalls of comedy in the international market place.

Commonly considered outside of the “arthouse” genre, comedy is a little looked down on by cinephiles. But this notion is belied by the social-political comedies of Ernst Lubitsch or Charlie Chaplin…and Life is Beautiful did win the Oscar in 1998.

Tel Aviv on Fire is about Salam, an inexperienced young Palestinian man who becomes a writer on a popular soap opera after a chance meeting with an Israeli soldier. His creative career is on the rise — until the soldier and the show’s financial backers disagree about how the show should end, and Salam is caught in the middle.

The movie awards season is full speed ahead, and today, the European Film Awards unveiled their nominations for the best films of 2019. Leading the pack is director Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy,” the Dreyfus affair drama that picked up a top prize at Venice back in September, tied for four nominations alongside Pedro Almodóvar’s self-reflective “Pain and Glory,” Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor,” and Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite.” While released in the fall of 2018 in the United States, the latter film’s international release window made it eligible for the European Film Awards this year. “The Favourite” won star Olivia Colman, who plays a gout-stricken Queen Anne, a Best Actress Academy Award earlier this year — the movie’s only win from 10 nominations.

Also picking up heat among the nominees is Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which Neon opens stateside in December. Sciamma...

Veteran indie exhibitor Ted Mundorff, longtime president and CEO of Landmark Theatres, shocked the specialized film industry with his unexpected resignation October 24. While Landmark confirmed his exit, the company offered no further information. However, circumstances suggest his departure was not amicable: An email to his Landmark address returned with a boilerplate message stating that Mundorff is no longer is with the company, along with new contact information.

The backdrop to all of this is Landmark’s acquisition late last year by the media group of Manhattan real estate mogul Charles Cohen. He also owns Cohen Releasing, which has a significant interest in foreign film as well as a large catalog of classic films. Cohen previously operated Manhattan’s Quad Cinema, which is now part of the Landmark chain.

Mundorff’s abrupt resignation could be written off as a matter of bureaucracy, a clash between two high-powered leaders who couldn’t get along following an acquisition.

The long list for the coveted best international picture prize at the British Independent Film Awards includes Cannes Palme d’Or and London Film Festival winners, as well as pictures from Pedro Almodovar, Robert Eggers and Noah Baumbach. Multiple titles that have been submitted to compete for the Oscar for best international feature film are also in the mix.

The long list for the Best International Independent Film at the BIFAs, shared exclusively with Variety, includes Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or-winning “Parasite,” and Alejandro Landes’ child soldier saga “Monos,” which was named best picture at the London Film Festival.

Other titles that launched at Cannes and on the Bifa long list include Nora Fingscheidt’s “System Crasher” and Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory,” which are Germany’s and Spain’s Oscar entries, respectively. Other national entries to the Oscars that are also on the Bifa long list include...

Company also announces first sales on ‘Between Two Worlds’.

France TV Distribution has boarded sales on French director Raphaël Jacoulot’s upcoming love triangle drama Dreamchild starring Jalil Lespert, Louise Bourgoin and Mélanie Doutey.

The company has also unveiled a slew of sales on its other Tiff titles, including Juliette Binoche-starring social drama Between Two Worlds, as the market kicks off.

Set in a small frontier town on the French-Swiss border, the provisionally titled Dreamchild began shooting in eastern France on August 5 and will wrap final scenes in October.

Lespert plays the owner of a family-run saw mill who...

Welcome back everybody to the weekly box office report! As always, each and every Sunday you can expect a look at what made the most money in theaters, as well as just how all of the new releases fared. This week, the spinoff Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw enters the fray, hoping to dethrone Disney’s hit The Lion King, as well as slow down the second weekend for the ninth film from Quentin Tarantino in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. How did all of the titles do this time around, you might be wondering? Let us take a look right now at just that… Taking the crown this week was the action spinoff Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. With a haul of $60.8 million, it wasn’t as huge as some of the franchise’s main outings, but still a pretty solid total. A $200 million price tag...

The weekend has had a sizable crowd of specialty newcomers, though as summer begins its sunset, it appears some audiences are going beyond the big studio brouhaha. Sundance psycho-thriller Luce lead the pack with a $132,916 start in five locations, grabbing a $26,583 per theater average for the Neon release in the three-day estimate, while not far behind was IFC Films’ The Nightingale for $40,082 in two theaters and a $20,041 PTA. A24’s The Farewell, meanwhile, landed comfortably in the top 10 this weekend, while being in far fewer theaters than the studio titles. The Sundance title by Lulu Wang grossed over $2.4M in 409 theaters, averaging a robust $5,939 for the Mandarin and English-language feature. It has cumed over $6.84M.

Neon reported Sunday that writer-director Julius Onah’s Luce’s exits showed “broad appeal,” with a 28% African-American audience and about a 50/50 split between crowds over and under 40 years-old. Moviegoers were about 59% female and 41% male.

“Julius...

Don’t call it a wave just yet, but Israel has emerged as a mini-hotbed for wry comedies of late. “Tel Aviv on Fire” picks up where “One Week and a Day” left off, with writer-director Sameh Zoabi delivering on a setup you’re unlikely to have seen before: a lush soap opera about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that gives the film its title.

Much of the drama is set on the show’s, well, set, shifting between the “fake” and “real” stories with ease — and, the longer things go on, blurring the line between the two as art imitates life (and vice versa).

Navigating that porous border is Salam (Kais Nashif), a Palestinian who recently landed his “Tel Aviv” gig thanks to a producer on the show who just happens to be his uncle. Initially hired to punch up the dialogue, he falls upwards into a staff-writing position. His inexperience...

A winsome and delicate farce about a (fictional) Palestinian soap opera that people are able to enjoy on both sides of the West Bank, Sameh Zoabi’s “Tel Aviv on Fire” might be the film we need right now if it didn’t have so much fun taking the piss out of the notion that there could ever be a “film that we need right now;” that a movie, or a daytime television show, could ever help broker a peace that the real world isn’t ready to support.

But this clever little comedy isn’t quite as cynical as that makes it sound. Dancing around political dynamite for 95 dryly amusing minutes, Zoabi’s self-reflexive third feature asks if it’s even possible to tell a credible story about an ongoing conflict without picking sides, or if the only viable options are propaganda and naïveté. And in order to do that,...

Barry Levinson knows from comedy. He began his career writing for Marty Feldman, Carol Burnett and Mel Brooks. Then brought us “Diner,” “Good Morning Vietnam” and one of my favorites, the dark and prescient “Wag The Dog.” So when he says a new film about a Palestinian soap opera is funny, I believe him. He hosted a recent industry screening in Manhattan’s Landmark Theater for “Tel Aviv On Fire.” How do you get a legendary writer and director to support your film? Mail it to him. “I was sent a screener to take a look at and I thought it was really fascinating,” he revealed. “And I thought the approach to the issues of the region were done in a way that’s so unexpected and so humanistic I was just quite taken by it.”

SEEOscar Best Director Gallery: Every Winner In Academy Award History

The comedy set in...

Eric Névé, a prominent French producer whose credits include Ziad Doueiri’s Oscar-nominated “The Insult,” has died. Névé, 57, was the founder of the Paris-based production banner La Chauve-Souris and co-founder of the international sales company Indie Sales and its sister outfit Indie Prod. He died Sunday.

Through La Chauve-Souris, which he launched in 1995, Névé produced several popular and daring films from a mix of established and emerging directors, notably Jan Kounen’s “Doberman,” Jean-Paul Salomé’s “Les femmes de l’ombre,” Romain Gavras’ “Notre jour viendra,” Moussa Touré’s “La Pirogue” and Daouda Coulibaly’s “Wùlu.”

Névé was well-known for his contribution to the flourishing of new talents in West Africa, in particular Senegal, through his other production company, Astou Films.

In 2013, Névé launched the banner Indie Sales with former TF1 International executive Nicolas Eschbach. The sales and co-production company boasts a library of about 60 movies, among which are Jean-Pierre Améris’s “Marie Heurtin,...

Producer credits included Dobermann, La Pirogue, Fast Convoy, and Suburra.

French producer Eric Névé, whose varied credits included Jan Kounen’s Dobermann, Cannes Un Certain Regard title La Pirogue, and Italian organised crime thriller Suburra, has died at the age of 57.

Paris-based international sales company Indie Sales, which Névé co-founded with Nicolas Eschbach in 2013, put out a statement on Tuesday (23) announcing the producer’s sudden and unexpected death on July 21.

Having graduated in business finance from France’s Sciences Po and Paris-Dauphine universities, Névé got into cinema working for historic film company Ugc, state broadcaster film arm France 3 Cinéma,...

How do you make a movie about conflict between Israel and Palestine? If you ask Sameh Zoabi, the answer may surprise you. The Palestinian director’s latest film, “Tel Aviv on Fire,” turns the Middle Eastern crisis into a comedy about the perils of a soap opera writer. It follows a Palestinian man who crosses the border into Israel each day, as he turns his interactions with the military into material that fuels his TV writing career. The mediocre writer, played by Kais Nashef, keeps failing upwards until he finds himself in the center of a conflict that’s more than he can handle.

The film premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in 2018, where it was nominated for several awards, with Nashef taking Best Actor in the Orizzonti category. It followed that with a screening at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and now it’s gearing up for a theatrical release.

“Bodies at Rest,” a Chinese-language crime thriller directed by Beijing-resident Renny Harlin (“Die Hard 2”) has been set as the opening title of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The festival will close with Francois Ozon’s “By the Grace of God,” which recently claimed the grand prize in Berlin.

Between the two events, the festival will unspool 230 titles from 63 countries and regions, of which 64 are world, international and Asian premieres. The festival, under the new leadership of Albert Lee, will run March 18-April 1.

Other highlights include gala screenings of: “Synonyms,” the winner of the Berlinale’s Golden Bear for best film, by Israeli director Nadav Lapid; Peter Jackson’s restored footage Wwi documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old”; and “First Night Nerves,” by Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan.

Chinese director Lou Ye’s “The Shadow Play” will receive a special screening after Lou, Jiang Wen, Tony Leung Ka-fai, actress...

Around The World When You Were My AgeThe titles for the 48th International Film Festival Rotterdam are being announced in anticipation of the event running January 23 – February 3, 2018. We will update the program as new films are revealed.Tiger COMPETITIONSons of Denmark (Ulaa Salim)Take Me Somewhere Nice (Ena Sendijarević)Present.Perfect. (Shengze Zhu)Sheena667 (Grigory Dobrygin)Nona. If They Soak Me, I’ll Burn Them (Camila José Donoso)Koko-di Koko-da (Johannes Nyholm)Els dies que vindran (Carlos Marqués-Marcet)Bright Future COMPETITIONAlva (Ico Costa)Chèche lavi (Sam Ellison)De nuevo otra vez (Romina Paula)Doozy (Richard Squires)Dreissig (Simona Kostova)Ende der Saison (Elmar Imanov)Fabiana (Brunna Laboissière)The Gold-Laden Sheep & the Sacred Mountain (Ridham Janve)Heroes (Köken Ergun)Historia de mi nombre (Karin Cuyul)Last Night I Saw You Smiling (Kavich Neang)Lost Holiday (Michael Kerry Matthews/Thomas Matthews)Maggie (Yi Okseop)Mens (Isabelle Prim)No Data Plan (Miko Revereza...

Japanese social drama “Shoplifters” was named best film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Thursday. Directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu, the film previously won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

“’Shoplifters’ turns an intimate story about an unusual family into a metaphorical social analysis that is relevant not only for Japan, but everywhere,” said “Leviathan” producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who headed the main prize jury.

The Jury Grand Prize, or second place award, went to “Burning,” by South Korea’s Lee Chang-dong. The best director prize went to Nadine Labaki for “Capernaum” (Lebanon).

The prizes were presented at a ceremony at the Exhibition & Convention Centre in Brisbane, Australia. Winners each receive a stunning glass ornament made by Brisbane artist Joanna Bone.

Those treading the red carpet included Mpa chief Charles Rivkin, popular Australian actor Jack Thompson, British filmmaker and educationalist David Puttnam, Singaporean director Anthony Chen,...

Lyon, France – Attending the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon for the first time this week, Charles S. Cohen, chairman and CEO of Cohen Media Group, praised the event and its International Classic Film Market (Mifc).

A producer and distributor of independent and arthouse films and the biggest distributor of French films in the U.S., Cohen Media Group also releases restored and re-mastered editions of classic films through its Cohen Film Collection, which includes the Merchant Ivory library and the Buster Keaton catalog.

In town for the Festival premiere of his documentary, “The Great Buster,” directed by Peter Bogdanovich, Cohen described the market as “specialized and highly focused, which is really appealing to me because it allows me to focus on what we take great pride in, acquiring and licensing these wonderful film assets that are really the DNA of Cohen Media.”

The company partnered with the Festival this year...

Sameh Zoabi’s “Tel Aviv on Fire,” the critically acclaimed Israeli comedy that world premiered at the Venice Film Festival, has been acquired by Cohen Media for the U.S., along with a flurry of distributors in key territories.

Paris-based sales company Indie Sales has also sold the pic to Italy (Academy Two), Spain (Surtsey Films), Switzerland (Trigon Film), and Greece (Seven Films). Indie Sales is now in final negotiations to close deals for Canada, Benelux, Germany, and Austria.

The politically-charged comedy world premiered at Venice in the Orizzonti section, nabbing the best actor award for Kais Nashif. It went on to play at fests in Toronto and Haifa, where it won best film and screenplay prizes.

“Tel Aviv on Fire” reteams actor Kais Nashef and Lubna Azabal (“Incendies”), who co-starred in the foreign-language Oscar-nominated “Paradise Now.”

“Tel Aviv” follows the journey of Salam, a charming 30-year-old Palestinian man living...

Gyorgi Palfi’s “His Master’s Voice” will line up against Fruit Chan’s “Three Husbands” and Veit Helmer’s “The Bra” in the main competition section of the Tokyo International Film Festival. Ralph Fiennes’ “The White Crow” will also receive its Asian premiere in competition.

The festival announced its full line up Tuesday in Tokyo. The festival will run Oct 25. – Nov. 3, 2018 at venues around the Japanese capital. It previously announced Japanese films, “Another World” and “Just Only Love” in main competition.

Another earlier announcement revealed that the festival will open with Bradley Cooper’s Lady Gaga-starring “A Star is Born.” The festival will close with “Godzilla: The Planet Eater,” the third and final part in the animated “Godzilla” trilogy. Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s “The House Where the Mermaid Sleeps” was Tuesday confirmed as a second closing film.

The 16-film competition selection is balanced between Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas,...

Given how illuminating comedies about impossible situations can be, it’s a great pity so few deal with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. When they do crop up, like “Tel Aviv on Fire,” reactions tend to be relief – “Finally we can laugh about this!” – or uncritical support coming from a well-meaning yet ultimately condescending place – “Isn’t it great these people can make a comedy!” Both responses will attach themselves to Sameh Zoabi’s genial satire about a Palestinian soap opera writer and the Israeli security officer who tries to influence the direction of a TV show’s plot. Fitfully amusing yet unable to withstand close inspection, the movie will be a popular item in festivals and showcases, though Israeli money means Arab play is impossible.

Zoabi’s imagining of the soap, itself called “Tel Aviv on Fire,” is the film’s masterstroke, reproducing all the outrageous plot twists and visual excesses of the genre.

Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” took home the top prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, the Golden Lion for Best Film.

The film is a semi-autobiographical black-and-white film chronicling a year in the life of a middle-class family in Mexico City in the early 1970s.

“Roma,” produced and financed by Participant, will be distributed by Netflix.

David Linde, CEO of Participant Media and Executive Producer of “Roma,” said, “Working with Alfonso on ‘Roma’ has already been an amazing journey for everyone at Participant, and we are beyond thrilled that his brilliant film has been honored with the Golden Lion. This film is a gift to all audiences, transcending language and cultural barriers and inspiring compassion across the globe.”

The drama, which the streaming giant plans to release theatrically as well, was the choice of a Venice jury led by another Mexican filmmaker, “The Shape of Water” director Guillermo del Toro.

To the surprise of no one in attendance, “Roma” has won the Golden Lion. Alfonso Cuarón’s wrenching drama has emerged as the most critically acclaimed film on the festival circuit this year, and has been widely expected to take home Venice’s top prize since premiering there last week. Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite” proved to be a hit as well, taking home Best Actress for a never-better Olivia Colman and the Grand Jury Prize as well.

Other big winners include Best Actor Willem Dafoe, whose masterful performance as Vincent van Gogh drives Julian Schnabel’s “At Eternity’s Gate,” and the Coen Brothers, who took home Best Screenplay laurels for “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.” Notable films that left the Lido empty-handed include Brady Corbet’s “Vox Lux,” László Nemes’ “Sunset,” and Luca Guadagnino’s polarizing “Suspiria” remake.

Cuarón’s close friend Guillermo del Toro led this year’s...

After its strong presence earlier this year in Berlin and Cannes, Arab cinema is represented at Venice by six titles hailing from Syria, Palestine, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, which all reflect the region’s politics albeit in very different ways.

Though there are no Arab pics competing for the Golden Lion in Venice — unlike Cannes, where Lebanese director Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum” and Egyptian-Austrian first-time filmmaker Abu Bakr Shawky’s “Yomeddine” competed for the Palme d’Or — there are two Arab entries vying for prizes in the Lido’s Horizons section dedicated to more cutting-edge works: France-born Syrian first-time feature helmer Soudade Kaadan’s drama “The Day I Lost My Shadow,” and “Tel Aviv on Fire,” a high-concept comedy by Palestinian director Sameh Zoabi, who studied at Columbia U., plus four other films spread across other sections.

Set in war-torn Damascus in 2012, “The Day I Lost My Shadow” is about...

Born near Nazareth, Israel, director-writer Sameh Zoabi now lives in Brooklyn and teaches at NYU. His second feature, “Tel Aviv on Fire,” screens in Venice’s Orrizonte competition and then at Tiff.

Your first feature, “Man Without a Cell Phone” (2010), had a comedic tone like “Tel Aviv.”

My first feature was inspired by my upbringing, I was not necessarily seeking to make a comedy, but rather to be truthful to a reality I grew up with as a Palestinian. A constant sense of despair hovers, yet there is spirit and a sense of humor around the dinner table. With “Tel Aviv on Fire,” the story deals directly with the subject of conflict perspectives. Similar to my previous film, the tone is comedic — not to make light of a situation that is more dire than ever before, but rather to use the insights that comic exaggeration can bring. As Charlie Chaplin put it,...

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict gets a clever comic sendup in Tel Aviv on Fire, the latest feature from writer-director Sameh Zoabi (Family Albums, Under the Same Sun). Taking us behind the scenes of a cheesy soap opera whose head writer turns out to be a humble loser with a knack for stealing ideas, the film smartly undercuts cliches while bringing together Jews and Arabs in their common love for tear-jerking televised fluff (as well as for the perfect hummus). Making its world premiere in Venice, this modest little charmer presents a lighter side of the long and ongoing crisis.

Jumping slyly among fiction,...

Paris-based Indie Sales has scooped up international sales rights to Natalia Meschaninova’s Russian drama “Core of the World,” which will make its international premiere at Toronto in the Contemporary World Cinema section.

Written by Meshchaninova, Boris Khlebnikov and Stepan Devonin (who also stars), “Core of the World” centers on Egor, a lonely veterinarian who works in a remote farm in rural Russia and at a hunting dog special training center using domesticated foxes. Egor, who has endured a violent relationship with his mother, only wants to care for the animals and feel part of the close-knit family he works for; but his world begins to unravel when animal rights activists come into play.

The film is produced by Ctb Film Company and Just a Moment.

Nicolas Eschbach, Indie Sales CEO and co-founder, pointed out his company previously teamed up with Ctb Film Company twice before on internationally-driven, successful Russian films: “Salyut-7” and “Arrhythmia,...

Paris-based company Indie Sales has acquired Romain Laguna’s feature debut “Meteorites” ahead of its world premiere at San Sebastian in the New Directors lineup.

Romain Laguna, who studied at La Femis and previously directed several short films, made “Meteorites” with non-professional actors.

Shot in the South of France near Laguna’s hometown Beziers, “Meteorites” stars French newcomer Zéa Duprez as Nina, a 16-year-old girl with big dreams who spends the summer between her village and the theme park where she works. Just before meeting Morad, a teenage from an Algerian family living in the nearby projects, Nina sees a meteorite falling in the sky that seems only visible to her as an omen.

“We are delighted to team-up with one of France’s most interesting young directors on this singular and surprising first film. Zéa Duprez is going to catch more than one viewer, she’s radiant,” said Martin Gondre,...

The Toronto International Film Festival has added Brady Corbet’s drama “Vox Lux,” starring Natalie Portman and Jude Law, and Neil Jordan’s “Greta,” with Chloe Grace Moretz and Isabelle Huppert.

The festival also announced Tuesday a total of 46 titles in its Discovery program, which is devoted to up-and-coming filmmakers. The festival will screen 255 features and 88 shorts with 138 being world premieres, including “Greta.” The 43rd Toronto International Film Festival will begin on Sept. 6.

“Vox Lux” and “Greta” have been added to the Special Presentations program. “Vox Lux,” which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, is a musical drama about a woman who achieves success after a tragic childhood. The film also stars Jennifer Ehle, Stacy Martin and Raffey Cassidy. “Greta” stars Moretz as a young woman in New York who befriends a widow, played by Huppert, who has sinister intentions.

The Discovery program includes Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s ‘Girl,...