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Exclusive: Anonymous Content’s sales and finance division AC Independent and France’s Goodfellas are joining forces to handle global sales on Burhan Qurbani’s upcoming feature No Beast. So Fierce.

The drama is described as a fresh interpretation of Shakespeare’s play Richard III, with a present-day female Arabic gangster boss in a role inspired by the scheming, power-hungry king.

Shooting is underway with Germany-based Syrian actress Kenda Hmeidan, whose credits include the refugee boat drama mini-series Liberame : Nach dem Sturm, in the lead role.

Further cast members include Verena Altenberger, Hiam Abbass, Mona Zarreh Hoshyari Khah, Mehdi Nebbou, Meriam Abbas and Banafshe Hourmazdi.

No Beast. So Fierce will be the fifth feature of German-born Qurbani, who is the son of political refugees from Afghanistan, and follows his Berlinale 2020 Golden Bear contender Berlin Alexanderplatz.

His other credits include 20xBrandenburg (2010), and We Are Young, We Are Strong (2014).

The German-Polish-French...

There's nothing like a good miniseries. The ability to take as much time as needed to tell a dense yet self-contained story, marrying the immediacy and formal panache of great cinema to the narrative depth of great TV, has allowed many auteurs in both mediums to create some of their finest and most vital work.

Historically, miniseries have been the province of some of television's most memorable hits, from "Roots" to "Taken" to "Band of Brothers." Series like Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage" and Mike Nichols' "Angels in America" are also regularly cited in the upper tiers of master directors' filmographies. In recent years, the format has seen a kind of mainstream revival, thanks largely to the smashing success of titles like "The Queen's Gambit" and "Watchmen."

But countless miniseries from around the world remain that have yet to receive the attention they deserve. Here are 12 examples of...

The All Quiet on the Western Front cast is just one of the elements contributing to the acclaimed for this Best Picture nominee. The Netflix film is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, which was previously adapted for film in 1930 to great acclaim. However, the 2022 version of the story is considered a new adaptation of Remarque’s book rather than a remake of the original film, making Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front a new, different experience. This new version has found its own staggering level of acclaim. Following its Golden Globe win for Best Foreign Language Film, All Quiet on the Western Front has been nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, a testament to the talents of the filmmakers and the cast.

All Quiet on the Western Front is an anti-war film, showing the realities of the war in...

Tár writer/director Todd Field discusses a few of his favorite movies with Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

You Only Live Twice (1967) – Dana Gould’s trailer commentary

Tár (2022)

Man With A Movie Camera (1929)

Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Koyaanisqatsi (1982)

The Big Parade (1925)

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

The Crowd (1928)

Star Wars (1977)

The Servant (1963)

Parasite (2019) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Dennis Cozzalio’s review

The Three Musketeers (1973) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Figures In A Landscape (1970)

M (1931)

M (1951)

I Am Cuba (1964)

The Cranes Are Flying (1957) – Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Letter Never Sent (1960)

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965)

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

The Towering Inferno (1974) – George Hickenlooper’s trailer commentary

The Great Waldo Pepper (1975)

The Sting (1973)

The World of Henry Orient (1964) – Larry Karaszewski’s trailer commentary

Thelma And Louise (1991)

Murmur Of The Heart (1971)

The Silent World (1956)

Opening Night (1977)

The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie (1976) – Larry Karaszewski’s...

Rainer Werner Fassbinder died as he lived: at many frames per second. The cinephile’s errand of trying to watch everything the German filmmaker made in his lifetime, from all 10 hours of “Berlin Alexanderplatz” to more modestly scaled melodramas like “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,” often feels like an act of running in place. Reports of his “contradictory” and “complex” nature reveal what we already know: He was a self-medicating, workaholic perfectionist who drove himself into the ground, completing more than 40 films in his short life, and died because of it. He also did not believe in love, or so say his latest collaborators in absentia, director François Ozon and Fassbinder’s longtime muse Hanna Schygulla.

Ozon has made his best film in years with “Peter von Kant,” one that will be seen by few but relished by all who do. The movie is both a response to...

Dominik Graf has been busy turning out termite art for decades. Finding a home on German TV shows like Tatort and Police Call 310, which air feature-length episodes with self-contained storylines, his work is modest but powerful, somewhere between Michael Mann and Johnnie To. Though subject of a retrospective at New York’s Anthology Film Archives in 2019, he has only recently received much attention outside Germany. His dedication to genre cinema––to which he has devoted two documentaries––and disdain for New German Cinema helps explains this, as does the infrequency with which subtitled TV is imported here. Two of his best films, Cold Spring and Bitter Innocence, are acridly cynical examinations of capitalism’s effect on German family life, mixing family melodrama with thriller.

Fabian: Going to the Dogs takes seemingly familiar ground and breathes new life into it. Set in 1931, it shows the gradual rise of fascism as a...

German Films, an agency that promotes German cinema worldwide, has announced the talent who will feature in its 7th annual Face to Face With German Films campaign. The high-profile platform sets out to bring international visibility to the wealth of ground-breaking talent working in film and TV in Germany, and shaping the future of the industry.

This year’s selected talent are documentary writer-director Sarah Noa Bozenhardt (“Among Us Women”), actor-producer-writer Sara Fazilat (“Nico”), actor-director Jerry Hoffmann (“Shahada”), film editor Julia Kovalenko (“System Crasher”), writer-director Matthias Luthardt (“Pingpong”), cinematographer and director Zamarin Wahdat (“Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)”) and actor Anne Zander (“For Jojo”).

After spotlighting well-known actors, writers and directors such as Saskia Rosendahl (“Lore”), Alexander Fehling, Burhan Qurbani (“Berlin Alexanderplatz”) and Jonas Nay in its first five years, last year’s Face to Face With German Films – The Filmmakers campaign broadened its...

MangroveFor many, the entrance of Steve McQueen into television was expected—his mercurial career has encompassed video-art installations, music videos, shorts and award-winning feature films. Before the critical success of Small Axe (2020) and Uprising (2021), twin anthology series that navigate the lives and passions of London’s Caribbean and West Indian communities, McQueen had already directed the pilot episode of HBO’s TV series Codes of Conduct, and his fourth feature, Widows (2018), smartly transplanted Lynda La Plante’s 1980s mini-drama into present-day Chicago.McQueen is one of many working directors—David Fincher, Jane Campion, and Andrea Arnold, of recent years—whose careers have migrated from cinema to small-screen television. Switch between your streaming channels, and the volume of director-driven programs is extensive—and growing. In the past, the director-led format of television was far less common and expected, with the groundbreaking prestige series of Rainer Fassbinder, Krzysztof Kieślowski (Dekalog), and David Lynch...

Cologne-based The Match Factory, one of the world’s leading arthouse sales agencies, is at Mia Market in Rome with two German features and one upcoming Italian project, following a busy summer with 20 premieres between Cannes and Toronto.

Nana Neul, best known for her film “My Friend From Faro,” is back with an entertaining German-Italian-Greek feature “Daughters,” starring Birgit Minichmayr, Alexandra Maria Lara and Josef Bierbichler. Produced by Germany’s Heimatfilm and distributed by Warner Bros Germany, the comedy hit German cinemas last week and has its international market premiere at Mia on Friday. The international festival premiere will follow soon.

Andreas Kleinert’s “Dear Thomas” is an authentic portrait of Thomas Brasch, one of the most talked about German authors of the last 50 years. The film stars the German actor Albrecht Schuch from “System Crasher,” “Berlin Alexanderplatz” and “Fabian: Going to the Dogs.” It celebrated its world premiere in...

New Indie

“Zola” (Lionsgate) is the first film based on a viral Twitter thread (and probably won’t be the last), but it’s compelling viewing for reasons that have nothing to do with its provenance. Taylour Paige (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”) stars as A’Ziah “Zola” King, a waitress and sometimes stripper whose epic road trip to Florida hits one bump after another. It really is about the company you keep, and Zola is hanging out with a trouble-making dancer (Riley Keough), her hapless boyfriend (Nicholas Braun), and her enigmatic “manager” (Colman Domingo), and the twists are unpredictable, off-putting, and darkly hilarious in Janicza Bravo’s comedy.

Also available: Altered Innocence, one of the best-curated boutique labels around, delivers festival fave “A Dim Valley,” which asks the question, “What if a film about a cabin in the woods was a comedic meditation on love and not a horror movie?...

Michal Aviram, one of the writers of global hit series “Fauda,” has created six-part drama thriller series “Munich Match” (working title).

The series is set in 2022, 50 years after the Munich Massacre, a terrorist attack on the Israeli Olympic team in 1972. On the anniversary of the attack, Munich is hosting a friendly soccer game between an Israeli and a German football club. Political stakes are high and everything is being done to make the match a safe and peaceful event, but history might be repeating all over again.

Aviram wrote the scripts with Martin Behnke (“Berlin Alexanderplatz”). Philipp Kadelbach (“We Children from Bahnhof Zoo”) is directing.

The series, produced by Sky Studios, Amusement Park Film (“A Most Wanted Man”) and CBS Studios, will commence principal photography in Germany this month.

Daniel Brühl, Amelie von Kienlin and Malte Grunert from Amusement Park Film, Frank Jastfelder and Julia Jaensch from Sky Studios, Meghan Lyvers from CBS Studios,...

Principal photography scheduled to commence in August in Athens, Greece,

In a tantalising package, David Cronenberg will direct Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart in sci-fi Crimes Of The Future, Neon and Serendipity Point Films announced on Thursday (April 29).

Crimes Of The Future is based on Cronenberg’s first original screenplay since eXistenZ in 1999 and sees the Canadian auteur return to his familiar sci-fi stomping ground. “I have unfinished business with the future,” he said.

Neon will distribute in the US and MK2 | Mile End will release in Canada, with Rocket Science handling international sales.

Principal photography is scheduled...

"You want to be something you cannot be. You want to be good in a world that is bad." Kino Lorber in the US has debuted their own official US trailer for the acclaimed, award-winning German epic drama Berlin Alexanderplatz, from filmmaker Burhan Qurbani. This premiered at last year's Berlin Film Festival and later won four German Film Awards including Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Score. This was also listed as my #2 film of 2020 on my Top 10 list from last year, as it reminded me of City of God in many ways. Qurbani is the third filmmaker to reinterpret the classic novel Berlin Alexanderplatz (a mini-series by R.W. Fassbinder was released in 1980). This modern day update follows an an undocumented immigrant from West Africa named Francis, played by Welket Bungué, who spirals further into the drug scene in Berlin in order to survive. This also stars Albrecht Schuch,...

German author Erich Kästner is most celebrated for the children’s novel Emil and the Detectives, but he was one of the more renowned men of letters of his day, publishing poetry, reviews, and satirical columns in Berlin liberal newspapers like Berliner Tageblatt and Vossische Zeitung––both of which were shut down as the Third Reich ascended to power. His novel Fabian – Going to the Dogs was published earlier in 1932, but is now perceived as a prophetic harbinger for the Weimar Republic’s demise. And of course, notions of liberal democracy’s twilight are rich in the minds of artists and commentators today, so here we have German literary film-specialist Dominik Graf with a timely and maybe predictable adaptation of Fabian.

Except, as sundry early viewers of Fabian have identified, this is a story and milieu bathed in overfamiliarity, and Graf’s three-hour film version doesn’t distinguish itself well...

“The Fam” (“La Mif”), Swiss filmmaker Fred Baillif’s bruising, raw portrait of the residents and staff of a Geneva, Switzerland, teen girl care home, has won the Berlinale’s Generation 14plus Grand Prix

“Like a rushing, energetic, pulsing heartbeat, this film pushes its characters and viewers in brutal honesty through different stories and incidents. Carried by captivating and strong acting performances, it never loses its balance between power and vulnerability. The film pulls you in, never lets go and hits straight to the heart,” the jurors said in their praise of the pic.

“The Fam,” which features remarkable performances for non-pro actors, is produced by the director’s own outfit, Freshprod, and Rts, the Swiss French-language public television. It is sold by Latido Films.

A Special Mention in the category Feature Film Generation 14plus went to U.S. director Dash Shaw’s animated fantasy “Cryptozoo,” which premiered at Sundance.

Distributor also unveils Kino! Germany Now!

Kino Lorber, scouring the Berlinale for potential acquisitions, has announced a North American deal on Burhan Qurbani’s 2020 Berlinale hit Berlin Alexanderplatz.

The film stars Welket Bungué as an undocumented African immigrant who struggles to make a new life for himself in Berlin.

Without papers, a work permit, and limited options to make money, the man gets an offer from a psychopathic gangster as his life begins to spiral out of control.

Berlin Alexanderplatz won best film and best actor at 2020 Stockholm International Film Festival, among others, and is a fresh retelling of Alfred Döblin...

Though little known in the English-speaking world, Erich Kästner’s slim novel originally translated in 1932 as “Fabian. The Story of a Moralist” is a brilliantly astute rendering of life in Weimar Berlin, straightforward and yet surreal, witty and perverse. To tackle it in cinema would seem like an impossible task, and while Dominik Graf’s “Fabian – Going to the Dogs” is to be commended for getting quite a lot right, the movie is blowsy where the book is succinct, awkwardly paced and portentous where Kästner is consistently rhythmical and unpretentious. Set in a teetering world of dissoluteness and disillusion in which a good man without professional ambition awakens to life’s promise only to have it all torn away, the story has modern resonances that Graf (“The Beloved Sisters” among many others) keenly underlines, and while the film’s core is affectingly developed, the rest tries too hard to expose...

New jurors join International jury announced earlier this month.

Nine new jurors have been announced for next month’s online Berlin International Film Festival (March 1-5), with three each for the Encounters, Generation and Shorts sections.

The new jurors are in addition to the six-person International Jury that was revealed at the beginning of February, composed of six former Golden Bear winning directors.

The Encounters jury consists of French programmer Florence Almozini, who works as senior programmer at large for New York’s Film at Lincoln Center venue; Cecilia Barrionuevo, artistic director of Argentina’s Mar del Plata International Film...

Roberto Olla, executive director of Eurimages, has revealed that the Strasbourg-based public funder has hired diversity consultants to help facilitate fairer funding for under-represented filmmakers.

Speaking at the International Film Festival Rotterdam this week on a panel titled “Reality Check: Funding Our Inclusive Futures,” Olla said that the co-production funding body, which comprises 41 member states, has commissioned a report, which should lead to a new policy being implemented by next January.

He said: “In 2021 we felt the time was right to look at diversity, we are right at the beginning of this process but have confirmed our commitment to supporting under-represented groups.”

“Getting over 40 countries to come on board with this is already a great result. The findings of the report will be presented to the board in June, with a full policy to be approved by November and implemented by next January,” he added.

Eurimages – which has funded recent festival hits including “Berlin Alexanderplatz,...

European Shooting Stars 2021

This year’s ten European Shooting Star actors are Seidi Haarla (Finland), Nicolas Maury (France), Albrecht Schuch (Germany), Natasa Stork (Hungary), Fionn O’Shea (Ireland), Žygimantė Elena Jakštaitė (Lithuania), Martijn Lakemeier (The Netherlands), Sara Klimoska (North Macedonia), Alba Baptista (Portugal) and Gustav Lindh (Sweden). The selection jury included U.S. casting director Cassandra Han, Kosovan director Antoneta Kastrati and Danish producer René Ezra. European Film Promotion’s 24th edition of the program will take place digitally, from 23 to 25 February 2021. Previous Shooting Stars have included Carey Mulligan, Alba Rohrwacher, Alicia Vikander, Maisie Williams and Riz Ahmed.

Nent Group Chair

Nent Group Chair David Chance has decided not to stand for re-election this year. The Nent Group Nomination Committee has proposes the election of Pernille Erenbjerg as the new Chair of the Board. Erenbjerg has served as member of the Nent Group Board since May 2020, and was previously President and CEO of Tdc,...

Talent showcase to move online due to ongoing virus restrictions.

The 10 rising actors selected for this year’s European Shooting Stars has been unveiled and will be showcased online for the first time as a result of the pandemic.

This year’s selection comprise: Seidi Haarla (Finland); Nicolas Maury (France); Albrecht Schuch (Germany); Natasa Stork (Hungary); Fionn O’Shea (Ireland); Zygimante Elena Jakstaite (Lithuania); Martijn Lakemeijer (Netherlands); Sara Klimoska (North Macedonia); Alba Baptista (Portugal); and Gustav Lindh (Sweden).

European Film Promotion (Efp) usually provides a high-profile platform for emerging talent at the Berlinale, introducing young actors to international casting directors, producers and filmmakers at the festival.

European Film Promotion has revealed the 10 actors who will take part in the 24th edition of European Shooting Stars. The program, which launches emerging European thespians onto the world stage, has boosted the careers of actors like Carey Mulligan, Alicia Vikander, Riz Ahmed and George MacKay.

For the first time, Efp will present the neophyte actors to the film industry, public and international press as part of a three-day online program. Efp’s oldest and most prestigious initiative will take place digitally from Feb. 23-25, one week before the industry events of this year’s 71st Berlinale (March 1-5). The Shooting Stars award ceremony will take place within the framework of the Berlinale screenings in the summer.

“Although this year we sadly cannot meet in person, we invite you to join, discover and celebrate the best in rising European acting talent, while staying safe at home,” Efp’s managing director Sonja Heinen said.

The European Shooting Stars, an annual list of the top 10 new acting talents coming out of Europe, unveiled its 2021 roster on Tuesday.

They include Germany’s Albrecht Schuch, who caught international attention for his performances in System Crasher (2019) and Berlin Alexanderplatz (2020); Irish actor Fionn O’Shea, who stars in David Freyne’s Dating Amber (2020) and has a supporting role in Hulu drama Normal People (2020); Natasa Stork, the star of Hungary’s international feature Oscar contender Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2020); and Nicolas Maury, a member of the ensemble cast of Netflix’s French ...

The European Shooting Stars, an annual list of the top 10 new acting talents coming out of Europe, unveiled its 2021 roster on Tuesday.

They include Germany’s Albrecht Schuch, who caught international attention for his performances in System Crasher (2019) and Berlin Alexanderplatz (2020); Irish actor Fionn O’Shea, who stars in David Freyne’s Dating Amber (2020) and has a supporting role in Hulu drama Normal People (2020); Natasa Stork, the star of Hungary’s international feature Oscar contender Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (2020); and Nicolas Maury, a member of the ensemble cast of Netflix’s French ...

It’s that time of year again. While some directors annually share their favorite films of the year, Steven Soderbergh lists everything he consumed, media-wise. For 2020––a year in which he not only Let Them All Talk Review: Steven Soderbergh’s Most Emotionally Resonant Film in Years”>released a new film, but No Sudden Move and Confirms The Knick Return”>shot another––he still got plenty of watching in.

His list includes months-early screenings of Mank (x4!), I’m Your Woman, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Cherry, and The Woman in the Window, as well no shortage of classics and recent favorites, including Time, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Assistant, two films in the Small Axe anthology, and more. After beginning production on No Sudden Move on September 28, he also screened the first cut on November 14.

Check out the list below via his official site.

01/01 Les Miserables (’19)

01/02 Cassandra at the Wedding,...

Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round” took home the top prize at the 33rd European Film Awards.

The Danish dramedy swept Saturday’s virtual ceremony, nabbing additional wins for best director and best actor for Mads Mikkelsen, who plays an alcoholic high school teacher. Vinterberg also won best screenplay for the feature, along with co-writer Tobias Lindholm.

When accepting the top award, Vinterberg said, “None of my films ever could ever have been made without the support systems of my country and of European filmmaking in general. My first film was about child abuse, my second one about the same and now we’ve made a film about four heterosexual white males teaching youngsters to drink. It could never have been possible outside of this continent and I’m super proud to be awarded in this continent.”

The filmmaker dedicated his win to the memory of his 19-year-old daughter Ida, who...

Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” about a group of high school teachers who decide to live their lives in a perpetual state of inebriation, has been named the best European Film of 2020 at the European Film Awards.

The film also won awards for Vinterberg’s direction, Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm’s screenplay and Mads Mikkelsen’s lead performance. The film is Denmark’s entry in the Oscar race for Best International Feature Film.

Paula Beer won the best actress award for Christian Petzold’s German ghost story “Undine.”

French director Emmanuel Courcol’s “The Big Hit” was named European Comedy of the year, in a category that only had three nominees rather than the usual six. The hand-drawn French film “Josep” won the award for animated feature, while “Collective” won the documentary award.

Nonfiction director Mark Cousins was given the first Efa Award for Innovative Storytelling for his 14-hour, 40-chapter...

The European Film Awards, unfolding virtually this year, revealed its major winners during a ceremony on Saturday, December 12. The European Film Academy previously doled out prizes for below-the-line crafts, short films, and more throughout the week. The 33rd annual European Film Awards this year were emceed by German TV host Steven Gätjen out of Berlin. Nominees and winners Zoomed in from around the world, to some technical difficulties.

With four nominations each, European Film winner “Another Round,” “Corpus Christi,” and “Martin Eden” led the way. Also nominated in the main category were “Berlin Alexanderplatz,” “The Painted Bird,” and “Undine.” This year, the Academy upped the number of nominees in the European Film and European Documentary from five to six. Documentary nominees are “Acasa, My Home,” “Gunda,” “Little Girl,” “Saudi Runaway,” and “The Cave,” with “Collective” winning the prize.

Earlier this week, Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland was elected as the new...

Polish director Agnieszka Holland also named new European Film Academy president.

Italian drama Hidden Away has won two of the first European Film Awards of 2020, which are being staggered across four nights of virtual ceremonies due to the virus crisis.

Further winners in the first ceremony, which focussed on the technical categories, included The Personal History Of David Copperfield, Berlin Alexanderplatz and The Platform.

Hidden Away, Giorgio Diritti’s portrait of Italian painter Antonio Ligabue, won best cinematography for the work of Matteo Cocco and best costume design, for Ursula Patzak. The film premiered at the Berlinale where Elio Germano...

Italian drama Hidden Away, German literary adaptation Berlin Alexanderplatz, and Spanish sci-fi horror The Platform are among the winners in the technical categories of this year’s European Film Awards.

Hidden Away, Giorgio Diritti’s portrait of self-taught Italian painter Antonio Ligabue, won European Film honors for best cinematography (for cameraman Matteo Cocco) and for Ursula Patzak for best costume design. Dascha Dauenhauer won best original score for her soundtrack to Burhan Qurbani’s Berlin Alexanderplatz, a modern-day adaptation of Alfred Döblin’s 1929 literary classic. The Platform, a dystopian drama, that Netflix picked up worldwide, won the European Film Prize for best visual effects for Inaki Madariaga.

Other ...

Italian drama Hidden Away, German literary adaptation Berlin Alexanderplatz, and Spanish sci-fi horror The Platform are among the winners in the technical categories of this year’s European Film Awards.

Hidden Away, Giorgio Diritti’s portrait of self-taught Italian painter Antonio Ligabue, won European Film honors for best cinematography (for cameraman Matteo Cocco) and for Ursula Patzak for best costume design. Dascha Dauenhauer won best original score for her soundtrack to Burhan Qurbani’s Berlin Alexanderplatz, a modern-day adaptation of Alfred Döblin’s 1929 literary classic. The Platform, a dystopian drama, that Netflix picked up worldwide, won the European Film Prize for best visual effects for Inaki Madariaga.

Other ...

As foreign Oscar submissions start to roll out, France is sending Filippo Meneghetti’s feature debut “Two of Us” to the 93rd Academy Awards. This tale of a decades-long, secret lesbian romance will be distributed stateside on February 5 by Magnolia Pictures, which scooped it out of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. Check out the exclusive to IndieWire trailer below.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Two retired women, Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), have been secretly in love for decades. Everybody, including Madeleine’s family, thinks they are simply neighbors sharing the top floor of their building. They come and go between their two apartments, enjoying the affection and pleasures of daily life together, until an unforeseen event turns their relationship upside down and leads Madeleine’s daughter to gradually unravel the truth about them.”

This story of a pair of lovers in their 70s was inspired by Meneghetti...

‘Berlin Alexanderplatz’ directed by Burhan Qurbani Transposes 1920 to 2020.

I held off seeing this “new remake” of the classic 1931 version, Berlin-Alexanderplatz: The Story of Franz Biberkopf, which is almost a musical, and the 1980 Fassbinder TV mini series, Berlin Alexanderplatz. Alfred Döblin’s classic volume about Weimar Republic Berlin in 1920 is one of my favorite novels; Fassbinder is one of my favorite directors, and Berlin is my favorite city. Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...

Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” starring Mads Mikkelsen, leads the race for the 33rd European Film Awards, alongside Jan Komasa’s Oscar nominated “Corpus Christi” and Pietro Marcello’s “Martin Eden.” Each film has four nominations.

“Another Round” took nominations for best film, director, actor for Mikkelsen, and screenwriter for Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm. The film won the Audience Award at London Film Festival, and best actor, jointly for the four male leads, at San Sebastian.

“Corpus Christi” will compete for best film, director, actor for Bartosz Bielenia, and screenwriter for Mateusz Pacewicz.

“Martin Eden” is short-listed in the best film category, as well as director, actor for Luca Marinelli (who won best actor with the film at Venice last year), and screenwriter for Marcello and Maurizio Braucci.

Three films scored two nominations each. Burhan Qurbani’s “Berlin Alexanderplatz” competes for best film, and screenwriter for Martin Behnke and Qurbani.

Nominations for feature film and documentary up from five to six.

The nominations for the 2020 European Film Awards have been unveiled, with the size of two key categories extended as a result of the virus crisis.

The categories for best feature and best documentary have each been increased from five to six to offer more exposure to titles and artists impacted by cinema closures and release delays during the pandemic.

Scroll down for full list of nominees

The films nominated in the best European Film category are Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, Berhan Qurbani’s Berlin Alexanderplatz, Jan Komasa’s Corpus Christi,...

The European Film Academy has unveiled the nominations for its 2020 awards, which will take place virtually across a series of online events December 8-12.

Leading the way are Another Round, Corpus Christi, and Martin Eden which have four nominations apiece, including for European Film 2020. Joining them in that main category are Berlin Alexanderplatz, The Painted Bird, and Undine.

Nominated for European Documentary are: Acasa, My Home; Collective; Gunda; Little Girl; Saudi Runaway; and The Cave.

In the European Director category, joining Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round, Jan Komasa for Corpus Christi, and Pietro Marcello for Martin Eden are Agnieszka Holland for Charlatan, Francois Ozon for Summer Of 85, and Maria Sødahl for Hope.

The European Actress nominees are: Paula Beer (Udine); Natasha Berezhnaya (Dau. Natasha); Andrea Bræin Hovig (Hope); Ane Dahl Torp (Charter); Nina Hoss (My Little Sister); and Marta Nieto (Mother).

Up for European actor: Bartosz Bielenia (Corpus Christi...

Films Boutique sells German-French co-production.

Julia von Heinz’s political drama And Tomorrow The Entire World has been selected by an independent jury of experts to represent Germany in the best international feature film category for the 93rd Oscars on April 25, 2021.

The German-French co-production between Seven Elephants, Kings & Queens Filmproduktion, and Haiku Films beat off competition from such films as the Berlinale competition entries Berlin Alexanderplatz and Undine, as well as Oskar Roehler’s Fassbinder biopic Enfant Terrible.

And Tomorrow The Entire World – which is being handled internationally by Films Boutique – received its world premiere in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival,...

16 regional and international features are competing for the festival’s $50,000 Golden Star award.

Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival kicked off its fourth edition against the Covid-19 odds over the weekend, feting French actor Gérard Depardieu and UK director Peter Webber with its special Golden Star Career Achievement Award at the opening ceremony.

Taking to the stage, Depardieu praised the festival for pulling off such a large-scale event and professed his admiration for late Egyptian film director Youssef Chahine.

A host of film and TV stars from Egypt as well as a smattering of international guests walked the red carpet at the glitzy opening event,...

Sweden’s Plattform Produktion is teaming up with Dutch production group Lemming Film on director Ena Sendijarević’s colonial drama “Sweet Dreams.”

The film, which is set to shoot on location in Southeast Asia next year, follows tumultuous events triggered by the death of a Dutch sugar plantation owner who ends up leaving his Indian Ocean island estate to his young illegitimate son – the child of his Indonesian housemaid – upending not only his Dutch family’s plans but also established hierarchies in a single stroke.

Plattform, whose credits include “The Square” and “Force Majeure,” joins fellow co-producers A Private View from Belgium and Dutch pubcaster Vpro.

For Sendijarević, the film represents her contribution to the movement that is critically examining the past and the relationship between the West and the rest of the world and its continuing impact.

Following the death of the plantation owner and family patriarch, “everyone’s...

Sales agent M-Appeal has closed distribution deals for LGBT coming-of-age movie “Cocoon,” the opening film of Generation 14Plus at the Berlin Film Festival, with the U.K. and several other territories.

The film, directed by Leonie Krippendorff, stars Jella Haase and Lena Klenke. Haase won the talent showcase Shooting Stars at the Berlin Film Festival in 2016. She also starred in this year’s Berlinale competition film “Berlin Alexanderplatz,” directed by Burhan Qurbani. Klenke starred in Lars Kraume’s “The Silent Revolution” and Netflix series “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast).”

Peccadillo Pictures will distribute “Cocoon” in the U.K and Ireland, with theatrical and premium VOD releases expected at the end of October. Queer Kino has acquired all rights in Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, except free TV, and it’s planning to release the title in theaters in December.

CutAway has acquired all rights in North Macedonia and Albania,...

There are worse things than being a cinephile who’s stuck in quarantine. Finally, there’s time to catch-up on those obscure Criterion Channel classics you’ve put off for years — Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s nearly-16-hour “Berlin Alexanderplatz,” anyone? — or revisit some of your old comfort favorites. But for other cinephiles also getting an education, quarantine means that physical film schools are shuttered, as are theaters, leaving students of cinema and moviegoers challenged without that vital element of watching a movie in a dark room alongside other people.

Film historian and filmmaker Mark Cousins, whom you may known as the man behind the must-see 2011 documentary film survey “The Story of Film: An Odyssey,” has a temporary reprieve for deprived scholars of film. He’s put together “40 Days to Learn Film,” a massive undertaking at even just under two and a half hours. More a visual-essay style, poetic lecture than a typical film course,...

If you’re not fighting the good fight on the front lines at hospitals, grocery stores or other essential public services as the coronavirus pandemic makes its way across the world, chances are you’re going to be home for a while. And whether you’re self-quaranting, social distancing or otherwise becoming one with your couch, you might look at this as an opportunity to tackle some epic-length movies that might otherwise have seemed daunting. Let us recommend some great ones.

(Note: With works this long, the concepts of “movie” and “miniseries” get rather muddled: “Berlin Alexanderplatz” was originally a miniseries on German TV but was released to theaters as a marathon viewing experience in the United States. Conversely, the Russian “War and Peace” was a mammoth movie — it won 1969’s Best Foreign Film Oscar — that the Criterion Channel now presents in more easily digestible chapter form. For our purposes,...

Burhan Qurbani's Berlin Alexanderplatz, a modern-day adaptation of the 1930s-set literary classic, is the frontrunner for this year's German Film Awards, the Lolas, having picked up 11 nominations, including for best film. Berlin Alexanderplatz premiered at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

Right behind it in the running for the 2020 Lolas is Nora Fingscheidt's social drama System Crasher, a hit at last year's Berlinale, with 10 nominations including for best film.

Qurbani also was nominated as best director for Berlin Alexanderplatz and for best screenplay with co-writer Martin Behnke. The film's stars Welket Bungué and Jella Haase ...

Burhan Qurbani's Berlin Alexanderplatz, a modern-day adaptation of the 1930s-set literary classic, is the frontrunner for this year's German Film Awards, the Lolas, having picked up 11 nominations, including for best film. Berlin Alexanderplatz premiered at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

Right behind it in the running for the 2020 Lolas is Nora Fingscheidt's social drama System Crasher, a hit at last year's Berlinale, with 10 nominations including for best film.

Qurbani also was nominated as best director for Berlin Alexanderplatz and for best screenplay with co-writer Martin Behnke. The film's stars Welket Bungué and Jella Haase ...

It’s a brave young director who has the gumption to revisit Alfred Doblin’s 1929 Weimar Republic classic Berlin Alexanderplatz. A 1931 film version directed by Piel Jutzi was notably followed by Rainer W. Fassbinder’s 15-hour adaptation for German television in 1980, starring Gunter Lamprecht, Barbara Sukowa and Hanna Schygulla. Given that 40 years have passed since Fassbinder’s opus, perhaps it’s time for the current generation to experience some of the novel’s noble seediness in a contemporary idiom. This is the task Afghan-born, German-based director Burhan Qurbani (We Are Young. We Are Strong) sets himself —...

It’s a brave young director who has the gumption to revisit Alfred Doblin’s 1929 Weimar Republic classic Berlin Alexanderplatz. A 1931 film version directed by Piel Jutzi was notably followed by Rainer W. Fassbinder’s 15-hour adaptation for German television in 1980, starring Gunter Lamprecht, Barbara Sukowa and Hanna Schygulla. Given that 40 years have passed since Fassbinder’s opus, perhaps it’s time for the current generation to experience some of the novel’s noble seediness in a contemporary idiom. This is the task Afghan-born, German-based director Burhan Qurbani (We Are Young. We Are Strong) sets himself —...

"It's a sad and stupid thing to have to proclaim yourself a revolutionary just to be a decent man." What kind of world do we live in where being decent is an impossibility? That's the question this film answers. I had a good feeling about this beforehand, but it still exceeded my expectations in every possible way. I will never forget watching this at a packed press screening at 8 o'clock in the morning at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival. Burhan Qurbani's Berlin Alexanderplatz is an utterly phenomenal film, an astonishing work of profound cinema and empathetic storytelling that hit me deep in my gut. It is an epic saga in the life of one man, and one of the best examinations of modern Berlin and the way the city treats immigrants. It may be three hours long, but all of it is vital. There is not a single frame or...

‘The Woman Who Ran’, ‘Bad Tales’ score moderately.

Eliza Hittman’s Us drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always has become the runaway leader on Screen’s Berlin 2020 Competition jury grid.

The film achieved 3.4 - 0.3 ahead of the previous leader, Christian Petzold’s Undine.

This is also significantly ahead of the 3.0 for Synonyms and A Tale Of Three Sisters, the tied winners for 2019; and tops the 3.3 of 2018 winner Isle Of Dogs.

Segnocinema’s Paolo Bertolin, Meduza’s Anton Dolin and The Morning Star’s Rita Di Santo each gave it a top-score four (excellent), with the remaining three critics to have scored...

Steady market trade, mixed response to festival films.

Heading into the second week of a rainy Berlin lacking Asian buyers due to Coronavirus fears, there has been a mixed response to the inaugural festival selections of Carlo Chatrian, and a steady stream of Efm deal-making with at least one spectacular Us acquisition understood to be in the works.

Occurring later than usual due to the Academy’s decision to bring the Oscars forward this year, Berlin kicked off 17 days after Sundance Film Festival. That offered some comfort to sales agents in their annual scramble with producers and agents to lock in talent.

Variety’s “10 Europeans to Watch” were feted Saturday night at a party held by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg at Berlin’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Co-hosting the evening were Kirsten Niehuus and Helge Jürgens, managing directors of Medienboard, the regional film, TV and digital-media funding body.

Pictured above are U.K. filmmaker and rapper Andrew Onwubolu, known by his alias Rapman, Irish producer Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, Italian director Carlo Sironi (“Sole”), German director Leonie Krippendorff (“Cocoon”), Estonian director Tanel Toom, Germany-based Kosovan director Visar Morina (“Exile”), and Hungarian actor Abigél Szõke (“Those Who Remained”).

Before welcoming to the stage some of Europe’s most promising stars of tomorrow, Variety executive VP of content Steven Gaydos noted: “Variety is celebrating our 115th year covering international entertainment, before people were watching movies.”

He also shared the story of local producer Sol Bondy, who met Russian producers Ilya Stewart and Murad Osmann at Variety’s “10 Producers to...