News

The 19th Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival has wrapped in Yogyakarta (Jogja), Indonesia, with local feature “Yohanna” dominating the Indonesian Screen Awards while Neo Sora’s “Happyend” secured the festival’s top Golden Hanoman Award.

“Yohanna,” directed by Razka Robby Ertanto, collected five honors including best film, director, storytelling, performance, and cinematography (Odyssey Flores). Truong Minh Quy’s “Viet and Nam” took home the Silver Hanoman Award.

In other awards, “Ma – Cry of Silence” by The Maw Naing won the Netpac Award and Geber Award, while Hung Chen’s “When the Wind Rises” secured both the Blencong Award and Jaff Student Award. Behzad Nalbandi’s “Anita, Lost in the News” received a Special Jury Mention.

The festival program featured a masterclass with Taiwan-based auteur Tsai Ming Liang, which attracted filmmakers like Riri Riza, Mira Lesmana, Kamila Andini, and Jaff director Ifa Isfansyah. Three of Tsai’s works were screened: “Vive L’Amour...

France and Indonesia are deepening their cinema ties with the launch of the France-Indonesia Film Lab at the inaugural Jaff Market, which operates alongside the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (Jaff).

The lab, a partnership between the French Embassy, Institut Français Indonésie, the Indonesian Film Producers Association (Aprofi), Jaff, and the Indonesian Ministry of Culture, aims to support emerging Indonesian filmmakers working on their first or second features by connecting them with international mentors.

The lab is envisioned as a sustainable, long-term initiative, growing in scale and influence over time. The goal is to establish the lab as an annual event, to create a permanent framework for nurturing talent and fostering co-production opportunities. Plans for future editions include increased participation and mobility programs for selected talents to come to France and Indonesia.

“We need to structure the networks, and we need to help young Indonesian filmmakers to feel more comfortable with the French market,...

Despite heavy drizzle since the afternoon, it did not lessen the enthusiasm of thousands of people gathered at Empire Xxi Jogja for the opening night of the 19th Jogja-netpac Asian Film Festival (Jaff) on November 30, 2024. Among the attendees were filmmakers Yandy Laurens, Sidharta Tata, Tumpal Tampubolon, Timo Tjahjanto, also Dian Sastrowardoyo, Sheila Dara, Hannah Al Rashid, and Eva Celia. All appeared excited to kick off the festive Jaff, Indonesia’s biggest and longest-running international film festival.

This year, Jaff carries the theme “Metanoia” signifying the ongoing transformation of Asian cinema in achieving excellence amidst various global challenges. Aligning with the theme, Garin Nugroho, Founder of Jaff, shared in his opening remarks, “Tonight is a special night, not just for us at Jaff, but also for the entire community of Jogja,” he stated. “Your presence and togetherness are the biggest form of support for festivals like Jaff. Trust, togetherness and collaboration...

The 19th Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (Jaff) kicked off over the weekend at Empire Xxi Jogja, drawing thousands of attendees despite persistent rain.

The event, which stands as Indonesia’s longest-running international film festival, gathered notable Indonesian film figures including directors Yandy Laurens, Sidharta Tata, Tumpal Tampubolon, and Timo Tjahjanto, alongside actors Dian Sastrowardoyo, Sheila Dara, Hannah Al Rashid, and Eva Celia.

Operating under the theme “Metanoia,” this year’s edition focuses on Asian cinema’s transformation amid global challenges. Jaff founder, filmmaker Garin Nugroho, addressed the crowd, emphasizing the importance of community support. “Trust, togetherness and collaboration are the key elements to building a thriving film ecosystem, whether in Indonesia, Asia and even the world,” he said.

Indonesia’s Minister of Culture, Dr. Fadli Zon, highlighted Indonesian filmmakers’ global achievements and pledged support for the industry’s growth, particularly in international distribution. The minister called for collaborative efforts to...

Garin Nugroho has built a career on expanding cinematic expression occasionally across boundaries, occasionally following interdisciplinary paths. “Samsara” a black-and-white film that is silent in terms of dialogue but filled with music, seems to be a title where the Indonesian’s style finds its apogee.

Samsara is screening at Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival

The story takes in place in Bali (where the film was actually shot), circa 1932 . Darta, a man from an impoverished family, who is rejected by the wealthy parents of the woman he loves, Sinta, makes a bargain with the Monkey King, performing a dark ritual to gain wealth. In this case, the wealth is mirrored in a rather expensive ornament Darta presents to Sinta, who eventually agrees to marry him. The two live happily and have a son after a while, but the deal turns out to be a curse involving the son being given to the Monkey King,...

In a clear move toward commercial fare, Spain’s boutique production house Señor y Señora, present this week at Madrid’s Ecam Forum with Pedro Hernando’s work in progress “A Whale,” is lining up its biggest slate ever. |

Heading the outfit’s scripted lineup is “Karateka,” Señor y Señora co-founder Aritz Moreno’s third feature after his Efa nominated breakthrough debut “Advantages of Travelling by Train” and dark thriller “Moscas” which bowed at Sitges and Rotterdam.

Budgeted at over €6 million ($6.5 million), “Karateka” tells the larger-than-life story of Spanish karate queen and Olympic gold medallist Sandra Sánchez.

“It’s the story of a woman’s extraordinary achievement, both on a sports and personal level,” says Moreno, currently location scouting in Japan where he resides.

“Sandra won Spain’s first-ever karate Olympic gold medal aged 39 in Japan, while her long-time Japanese rival Kiyou Shimizu was 27. On a personal level, when she was in her twenties,...

Lois Patiño, one of the leading lights of the New Galician Cinema in Spain, is putting the final touches to “Ariel,” the highly anticipated follow up to his critically-acclaimed feature ”Samsara” which has secured distribution in more than a dozen territories and won a Special Jury Prize at the Berlinale Encounters 2023.

A contemporary and playful reinterpretation of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” from the perspective of the character Ariel, the feature, produced by Spain’s Filmika Galaika with Portugal’s Bando à Parte, will be sneak-peeked for the first time ever at the inaugural Ecam Forum co-production market, set to run June 10-14 in Madrid.

Producer Beli Martínez said more than 80% of the financing is locked via broadcasting partners Rtp in Portugal, Tvg in Galicia, Spain, public funders Agadic in Galicia and Spanish federal agency Icaa and Turismo de Portugal.

At Ecam Forum, she will be looking for post-production financing, distribution and sales.

Programmers from Sundance, Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, Toronto, and Rotterdam, sales agents such as Goodfellas and Coproduction Office and U.S. distributor Magnify Pictures are among 50 top international guests expected at the inaugural Ecam Forum co-production market in Madrid, which is due to unspool June 10-14.

More than 300 delegates have signed up for the co-pro event where a curated slate of 37 Spanish, Latin American and international films and series will compete for the best project, including the next Lois Patiño (“Samsara”), Pablo Hernando (“Berserker”), Belén Funes (“A Thief’s Daughter”) and Sergi Perez (“The Long Way Home”).

Other highlights include masterclasses from U.S. indie mogul Ted Hope, and France’s illustrious cinematographer Hélène Louvart, a regular Alice Rohrwacher and Karim Aïnouz collaborator, and Silver Bear winner 2023 for “Disco Boy.”

In this exclusive interview, Ecam Forum’s coordinator Alberto Valverde maps out the full program of the latest industry initiative of Madrid’s Ecam film school,...

With Samsara, Lois Patiño applies his dramatized ethnographic approach to the Bardo Thodol, commonly known in the West as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The film presents a diptych of two stories, one set in Luang Prabang, Laos, and its surrounding countryside, the other in a hamlet in Zanzibar. Patiño stresses the gulf of distance, culture, and more between the two locales by going so far as to employ separate cinematographers—Mauro Herce for the Laos segment and Jessica Sarah Rinland for Zanzibar segment. Despite the marked differences between the two halves, though, Patiño worked with local, nonprofessional actors to craft a unifying metaphysical narrative that traces the ephemeral journey of one soul through death and rebirth by finding the parallels in spiritual beliefs that link two peoples.

A Laotian teenager, Amid, rows out each morning to the hut of a dying old woman and reads to her from the Bardo Thodol,...

Four projects have been selected as the first recipients of Indonesia’s debut government-funded film grant, Film Matchfund.

The $13M annual fund was announced at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and draws from the country’s Cultural Endowment Fund. The selected projects are director Mouly Surya’s This City is a Battlefield, director Tumpal Tampubolon’s Crocodile Tears (produced by Talamedia), director Garin Nugroho’s Samsara and director Loeloe Hendra’s Tale of The Land (produced by Kawankawan Media).

These four projects have also received international support from other international grants such as the Hubert-Bals Fund, Cnc Cinema du Monde, World Cinema Fund and Sørfond, totalling around $1.5M. This amount will be matched by Film Matchfund.

Hilmar Farid, Indonesia’s director-general of Culture at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, said: “We hope that this category will not only support Indonesian filmmakers in manifesting their creative ideas,...

Indonesia has unveiled the four film projects that will be the pilot recipients of the country’s first government-funded film grant, Film Matchfund, at the Cannes Film Festival.

As revealed by Variety, the $13 million annual fund was launched at Cannes 2023 by Nadiem Makarim, Indonesia‘s minister of education, culture, research and technology. It is sourced from the country’s National Cultural Endowment Fund. The 1:1 matching grant scheme from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology is designed to promote international cooperations between filmmakers and is open for international co-production projects with Indonesia and for story development and research, production, post-production or internal promotion and distribution incentives.

The qualified films are “This City Is a Battlefield” by Mouly Surya, produced by Rama Adi and Fauzan Zidni, with Cinesurya as the production company; Tumpal Tampubolon’s “Crocodile Tears,” produced by Mandy Marahimin and Talamedia; Garin Nugroho’s “Samsara,” produced by...

Tagged as the new co-production showcase “like all those European markets but hotter,” Ecam Forum, launched by Madrid Film School Ecam, has unveiled the first 10 projects in development and eight in post-production, to be pitched to international decision-makers between June 10-13, in the Spanish capital.

Famed for its standout talent development program Ecam Incubator, the Madrid Film School has set a high bar for its inaugural Forum, which aims to broaden the reach of Spanish productions and co-productions and build bridges between Spain and the global industry.

First case in point: the heavyweight industry names in the selection committees, which reflect the ambitions of coordinator Alberto Valverde and his team, to frame Ecam Forum as a must-attend industry event.

The 10-plus Films to Come or features in development were picked by producers Inés Massa (Materia Cinema) and Agustina Chiarino (Bocacha Films), Eurimages project manager Sergio García de Leániz, and Marina Maesso,...

by Cláudio Alves

Commercial releases aside, Patiño's Samsara is 2023 best film.Better late than never, am I right? As we all know, here at The Film Experience, a cinematic year only ends after the Oscars, so maybe I'm not so late after all. Whatever the case, it's time to say goodbye to 2023, with the Miyazaki ranking as my prelude to this farewell. At long last, let's consider newer releases and, most importantly, turn away from the now to ruminate on the before – film history, here we come. Indeed, I've missed writing about older pictures like you wouldn't believe. But let's hold our horses. Before such revelry into the distant past, one has to look back at the year that's gone and all its big screen wonders. Personally, I thought they were a vibrant twelve months of cinema…...

A snapshot of the most exciting voices working in American and international cinema today––and with a strong focus on newcomers––the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look festival returns this week, taking place March 13-17.

As always, the annual festival brings together a varied, eclectic lineup of cinema from all corners of the world––including a number of films still seeking distribution, making this series perhaps one of your only chances to see these works on the big screen. Check out our top picks below, along with the exclusive premiere of the festival trailer.

Arthur&Diana (Sara Summa)

A lo-fi siblings road trip movie shot with a mix of MiniDV, Betacam, and 16mm, Sara Summa’s Arthur&Diana marks an interesting, mostly successful gamble of personal storytelling, in which Summa stars alongside her-real brother, Robin Summa. Jared Mobarak said in his TIFF review, “As such, we glean...

The greatest cinema is often an exciting cocktail for the senses: sound and image in perfect harmony, intricately woven to create an immersive experience that transports us to another world. But what happens when one of those senses is numbed? Silent movies formed the foundations of visual grammar for audiences, and sound was a luxury audiences lived without for many years. Few films have attempted the inverse, plunging the viewer into darkness and relying on sound alone to guide them from one experience to another. Enter Galician filmmaker Lois Patiño's bold and beautiful “Samsara”, a meditative drama set between Laos and Zanzibar that tracks a soul moving between states of existence, and the lives that are touched in big and small ways by this cosmic rite of passage. The term ‘samsara' itself is the cycle of death and reincarnation as seen by Buddhism, and while it may sound familiar...

Sujo Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute Museum of the Moving Image will open its 13th edition on March 13 with the New York premiere of Sujo. The winner of Sundance's World Cinema Grand Jury prize tells the story of a youngster growing up in the shadow of drug cartel violence. The festival, which also includes work-in-progress screenings and sessions and gallery installations, will close with New York premiere of Bill and Turner Ross’s coming-of-age road movie Gasoline Rainbow on March 17.

The 2024 lineup will premiere 46 works, including 20 features, representing 21 countries. Among the other highlights are the experimental Samsara, which features some of the best cinematography of the past 12 months to tell the story of a woman as she transitions from one life to the next and, also fresh from Sundance, Brooklyn-set drama Tendaberry.

Among the documentaries to look out for is Knit's Island, which sees the filmmakers step inside a...

Going into Berlin’s European Film Market, Spain’s biggest sales agents are under no illusion just how tough international markets have become.

“Paradoxically, in one of the best moments for Spanish productions, we are finding that some of our top dramas are getting hard to sell unless selected in Cannes, Venice or Berlin,” says Latido Films CEO Antonio Saura.

Also, “If American productions dominate at least 80% of markets, and local productions claim about half what remains. You’re left with just 10% of markets for many wonderful films to try to find audience opportunities. Competition is fiercer than ever,” he says.

“Many newer platforms are insisting on revenue shares. This rarely works for us,” observes Feel Sales’ Yennifer Fasciani.

Yet companies are fighting back. “Either a film works very well or not at all. Our strategy is increasingly focusing on major titles, leaving no middle ground,” states Film Factory Entertainment’s Vicente Canales,...

Museum of the Moving Image is pleased to announce the complete lineup for the 13th edition of First Look, the Museum's festival of new and innovative international cinema, which will take place in person March 13–17, 2024. Each year, First Look offers a diverse slate of major New York premieres, work-in-progress screenings and sessions, gallery installations, and fresh perspectives on the art and process of filmmaking. This year's festival introduces New York audiences to more than three dozen works from around the world. The guiding ethos of First Look is openness, curiosity, and discovery, aiming to expose audiences to new art, artists to new audiences, and everyone to different methods, perspectives, interrogations, and encounters. For five consecutive days the festival takes over MoMI's two theaters, as well as other rooms and galleries throughout the Museum—with in-person appearances and dialogue integral to the experience. Each night concludes with one of five...

Víctor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers” and Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” dominated this year’s 21st Ics Awards, winning the top prizes.

“Close Your Eyes,” which picked up best picture and best director, revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a Spanish actor during the filming of a movie. Although his body is never found, the police concludes that he has suffered an accident on the edge of a cliff. Many years later, the cold case resurfaces.

Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won three awards, including best actress for Sandra Hüller, original screenplay for Triet and Arthur Harari, and editing for Laurent Sénéchal. The movie is nominated for five Oscars, seven BAFTA’s and 11 Cesar Awards.

The romantic fantasy “All of Us Strangers,” meanwhile, won four prizes, including best actor for Andrew Scott, supporting actor for Jamie Bell, adapted screenplay for Haigh,...

The annual Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look Festival has given IndieWire an exclusive “first look” at the lineup.

The 13th annual event, which takes place March 13 through 17 in Astoria, Queens, opens with the New York premiere of Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s “Sujo,” which recently took home the Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema Dramatic Competition, at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

The First Look Festival focuses on emerging talents and international voices, with the fest premiering 46 works, including 20 features that represent 21 countries. Highlights include Farhad Delaram’s “Achilles,” Graham Swon’s “An Evening Song (for three voices), and the U.S. premiere of Lois Patiño’s “Samsara.” Zhang Mengqi’s “Self-Portrait: 47 Km 2020,” which won the Award of Excellence winner at the 2023 Yamagata Documentary Festival, will also screen along with Shoghakat Vardanyan’s 2023 IDFA grand prize winner “1489,” the debut for the filmmaker. Returning First Look directors like Michaël Andrianaly...

Paramount’s “Mean Girls” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £3.2 million ($4.1 million), according to numbers from Comscore.

After a stellar reign at the top, Warner Bros.’ “Wonka” slid to second place with £1.6 million and after seven weekends, has a total of £58.3 million. In its second weekend, Disney’s “Poor Things” collected £1.09 million in third place for a total of £3.7 million. In fourth position, in its fourth weekend, Sony’s “Anyone But You” took in £1.07 million for a total of £7 million.

Rounding off the top five was Warner Bros.’ “One Life” that collected £858,245 in its third weekend for a total of £7.4 million.

There were two other debuts in the Top 10. Universal’s awards season contender “The Holdovers,” which has won two Golden Globes and scored five Oscar and seven BAFTA nominations, bowed with £689,771 in sixth place. Pathe Live’s “Queen Rock Montreal” concert film placed ninth with £285,110.

In 10th place,...

Tenerife’s Bendita Film Sales has picked up worldwide sales for “Memories of a Burning Body,” a hybrid-doc just selected for the Berlinale Panorama.

Directed by Antonella Sudasassi Furniss, the Costa Rican writer-director-producer, this is her second film following the critically acclaimed “The Awakening of the Ants.”

Her debut film, which premiered at Berlinale 2019, was the Costa Rican entry for the Academy Awards and received global recognition, including a Goya Award nomination, and Costa Rica’s first Platino Award.

“We immediately fell in love with the film when we attended the Wip screening at Ventana Sur, where it would later win the main awards in Primer Corte,” said Luis Renart, CEO at Bendita Film Sales.

“Antonella has a dazzling talent and has crafted a beautiful, honest, intimate and unique film,” he added. “At the end of the [Ventana Sur] screening, almost all attendees stayed silent for a few minutes, deeply moved by...

"The world opens to those who open up to it." Curzon in the UK has unveiled a trailer for an acclaimed film called Samsara, described as a "highly immersive and meditative film by artist and director Lois Patiño." Not to be confused with Ron Fricke's meditative globe-spanning documentary also called Samsara (2012). The term "saṃsāra" is actually a Pali/Sanskrit word that means "wandering" as well as "world," wherein the term connotes "cyclic change" or, less formally, "running around in circles." In the temples of Laos, teenage monks accompany a soul in transit from one body to another through the bardo. A luminous and sonorous journey leads to reincarnate on the beaches of Zanzibar, where groups of women work in seaweed farms. Berlinale adds: "In this conversation held on the border between life, death & meditation, Patiño continues his exploration of the image as an immersive experience. [As with films] by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the cycle of birth,...

Bookmark this page for the latest updates in the territory.

Screen is listing the 2024 release dates for films in the UK and Ireland in the calendar below.

For distributors who wish to add/amend a date on the calendar, please get in touch with Screen here. Screen is also running a calendar for festival and market dates throughout 2024 here.

January

January 5

Priscilla (Mubi), One Life (Warner Bros), Scala! (BFI), Night Swim (Universal), Blank (Sparky)

January 6

Nabucco - Met Opera 23/24 (Trafalgar)

January 12

Poor Things (Disney), The Boys In The Boat (Warner Bros), Freaks Vs The Reich (Miracle/Dazzler), The Beekeeper (Studiocanal...

Festival ran November 2-12.

Sofia Exarchou’s Animal has won the €10,000 Golden Alexander-Theo Angelopoulos prize for best film at the 64th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, the first time in 30 years a Greek production has won the top prize.

The film’s lead actress Dimitra Vlagopoulou also won the best actress award ex aequo with Joanna Arnow for US production The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, which she also directed.

Vlagopoulou had previously won best actress at Locarno where the film had its world premiere.

The Greek, Austrian, Romanian, Cypriot, Bulgarian co-production follows a group of women...

Animal Photo: Courtesy of Locarno Film Festival It seems appropriate that the Greek port city of Thessaloniki has become a cultural meeting point for films from around the globe. The festival hub - where much of the 64th edition of the event unfolded in the past week - is in the dock area, now a hive of cultural activity.

The stately Olympion cinema also offers a warm welcome to festivalgoers nearby, although my favourite discovery this year was the small but lovely Makedonikon cinema, tucked away in a back street near the city's White Tower monument. An arthouse cinema outside the festival dates, it was the perfect place to catch the experimental Samsara. This was not the Ron Fricke film but a transportive journey from Spanish director Lois Patiño (Coast Of Death), which, at its midway point, instructs viewers to close their eyes before taking on a sensory trip "through...

Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal” won the Golden Alexander at the 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival on Sunday, marking the first time in 30 years that a Greek film took home the top honors at the country’s longest-running film event.

Exarchou’s sophomore feature, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, was praised by Variety’s Jessica Kiang as “a poignant portrait of life amid the sequins and the seediness of a Greek resort.” The film follows a group of entertainers at an all-inclusive island resort preparing for the busy tourist season who are forced to wrestle with the dark reality that the show must go on as the sultry Mediterranean nights turn violent.

Lead actor Dimitra Vlagopoulou, who won the acting award at the prestigious Swiss fest for what Kiang called a “riveting” performance, also shared the award for best actress in Thessaloniki. The awards were handed out by a jury comprised of producer Diana Elbaum,...

In standout results that suggests the strength of select Spanish arthouse films on the current international market, Bendita Films Sales, the Santa Cruz de Tenerife-based boutique world sales agency, has closed a formidable raft of deals to Galician auteur Lois Patiño’s multisensory journey film “Samsara.”

Winner of a Special Jury Award at Berlin’s 2023 major sidebar Encounters and the Audience Award at Mexico’s Ficunam festival, “Samsara” has just screened in main competition at the 68th Valladolid Intl. Film Festival (Oct. 21-28), running up more than a dozen international film festival selections.

Bendita Film Sales has clinched commercial release pacts in the U.K. and Ireland, with Curzon Film, scheduled for a Jan. 26 launch; with Films Sans Frontiéres in France, Mooov in Belgium and Netherlands – planned for May 15 and Feb. 15, respectively – and with Exit Media in Italy by June, among other markets.

Produced by Leire Apellaniz at San Sebastian-based Señor y Señora,...

In times of dramatic change for the film-tv industry, Spanish auteur cinema is booming, goosed by multiple significant and high-quality titles, reaping prizes, critical praise and profile at international festivals.

Beyond the preeminent interest in established auteurs such as Pedro Almodóvar, Alejandro Amenábar, J.A. Bayona, Isabel Coixet and Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Spanish sales agents and distributors celebrate the increasingly strong presence of young local film auteurs on the international scene. The big question is, however, how this profile can translate into box office impact and substantial sales.

“We are living a very sweet moment in terms of the recognition of our cinema at international festivals, with ever more filmmakers who are creating dazzling works,” says Luis Renart, founder of Santa Cruz de Tenerife-based sales company Bendita Films.

“There’s a generation of creators and producers who look to international auteur cinema when they build their projects, made with a European sensibility and a very marked identity,...

One of Spain’s biggest and oldest movie events, the Valladolid Intl. Film Festival, known as the Seminci in Spain, is broadening its range of Spanish films and aims to strengthen its position as an international platform for art films.

Running Oct. 21-28 in Valladolid, the capital city of Spanish region Castilla-Leon, the Seminci’s 68th edition marks the first under new director José Luis Cienfuegos, named last April.

With an illustrious near 30-year career as a festival director, at the helm of the Seville European Film Festival (2012-2023) and prior to that at the Gijon Intl. Film Festival (1995-2011), Cienfuegos has arrived to Valladolid at a time when a new generation of Spanish film auteurs, often women, is booming, making waves at the international festivals circuit.

“Valladolid is a city absolutely dedicated to the festival that demands and needs to open the doors to a new generation of filmmakers,...

“All of Us Strangers,” Andrew Haigh, U.K., U.S.)

Setting a high benchmark for Valladolid’s main competition, “a curious kind of ghost story, at once incredibly tender and profoundly devastating as it slowly reveals its secrets,” Variety wrote in its review. Written and directed by Haigh. behind an impressive body of work taking in “Weekend,” “45 Years” and HBO series “Looking.”

“Andrea’s Love,” (“El amor de Andrea,” Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain)

Sold by Film Factory, the latest from the always interesting Martín Cuenca about Andrea, 15, attempting to reconnect with her estranged father. “A title opening up a new stage in Martín Cuenca’s career, his simplest, most tender and sincere of works,” Valladolid Festival notes run.

“Gasoline Rainbow,” (Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross, U.S.)

Produced by Mubi and sold by The Match Factory, the Venice Horizons world premiere follows five teens who pile into a van...

The 68th edition will screen a mix of new Spanish films and 2023 favourites and host an expanded industry programme.

The 68th edition of the Seminci, the Valladolid International Film Week opens this weekend (October 21) with a screening of The Movie Teller, directed by Lone Scherfig, starring Bérénice Béjo, Antonio de la Torre and Daniel Brühl and written by Walter Salles, Isabel Coixet and Rafa Russo.

For what is a vital launchpad into the Spanish market, new festival director José Luis Cienfuegos has programmed a series of international festival favourites from 2023 alongside new films by Spanish directors Antonio Méndez Esparza and...

Underscoring a renaissance on Spain’s genre scene, a duo of titles – Daniel Calparsoro’s “All the Names of God” and Carlota Pereda’s “The Chapel” – lead the lineup of the second Spanish Screenings on Tour, which unspools at Rome’s Mia forum, taking place Oct. 9-13.

A platform of market premieres, projects, pics in post and potential remake titles, the Spanish Screenings also underscore the ever stronger emergence in Spain of open arthouse titles – Isaki Lacuesta’s “Saturn Return,” Arantxa Echeverría “Chinas,” Benito Zambrano’s “Jumping the Fence” and Gerardo Herrero’s “Under Therapy,” which was one of the best-selling titles at March’s Malaga Spanish Screenings.

With titles in Next from Spain set to present trailers, Spanish Screenings on Tour will also position a bevy of anticipated feature debuts, at different stages of production, from Spain’s seemingly bottomless well of new talent, such as Jaume Claret Muxart.

In the lead-up to Cannes, Spanish film sales continue to show resilience despite shifting market trends and global challenges. The market signals suggest an enduring preference for genre movies and high-concept films, while the sale of arthouse fare remains tough.

Antonio Saura, director general of Latido Films, tells Variety, “The trends we are seeing confirm the trends we identified last year — movies with a strong concept, genre in general, generate interest, [whereas] drama and ‘art house’ is more complicated and requires a different type of attention and positioning.”

While there are signs of interest for movies with top talent attached, smaller films without a significant festival presence face an uphill battle.

This trend is underscored by the Spanish films selected for Cannes, which range from Benito Zambrano’s “Jumping the Fence” and Roya Sadat’s “Sima’s Song,” to Pau Calpe’s “Werewolf.” These films, part of the Spanish Screenings Goes to Cannes section,...

“20,000 Species of Bees,” (Estibaliz Urresola)

One of the big winners at Berlin, taking Leading Performance, and now racking up healthy sales, the story of a family off for a village summer holiday which builds to a moving ode to women’s freedoms. Sales: Luxbox

“21 Paraíso,” (Nestor Ruiz Medina)

Living in an idyllic Andalusia, a couple in love grapples with the realities of making a living through OnlyFans. Screened at Seville and Tallinn. Sales: Begin Again Films.

“All the Names of God,” (Daniel Calparsoro)

One of the big Spanish action-thrillers hitting this Cannes market, from a specialist (“Sky High”). Pre-sold to France (Kinovista), Germany and Italy (Koch Media) with Tripictures releasing in Spain. Sales: Latido

“Un amor,” (Isabel Coixet)

The multi-prized Coixet (“The Secret Life of Words”).

directs Goya winner Laia Costa (“Lullaby”) in a village-set study of an isolated woman’s succumbing to devouring passion. Sales: Film Constellation.

“Ashes in the Sky,...

Further winners included Paul B. Preciado’s French documentary ‘Orlando, My Political Biography’.

There Is A Stone by Japanese filmmaker Tatsunari Ota and From You by Korea’s Shin Dongmin were awarded the top prizes at South Korea’s Jeonju International Film Festival on Wednesday (May 3).

There Is A Stone took the grand prize in the international competition, which included an award of KW20m. The meditative drama, which premiered at Tokyo Filmex before screening at the Berlinale in February, follows a woman and man who meet by a river and pass the time together before twilight.

Scroll down for...

Galician language film is sold by Europe Film Sales.

Berlinale Panorama title Matria, the feature-debut of Spanish director Álvaro Gago, a Screen Star of Tomorrow, has sold to France.

French distributor Les Alquimistes has picked up the film from sales agent Europe Film Sales. Talks are ongoing for other territories.

Galician-language Matria focuses on the trials and tribulations of a 40-something single mother in a coastal town in northwestern Spain, and was well received by reviewers at Berlin.

Gago previously made a short film of the same name, featuring the same character, which won the short film grand jury prize at the 2018 Sundance film festival.

Dreams.Some of my favorite work at this year’s Berlinale engaged in some way with death or the afterlife. Lighten up, you say? Impossible. The most literal and beguiling of these was Lois Patiño’s Samsara, which ingeniously conjured the transitional passage between life and death, Buddhism’s intermediate state of bardo. There were the cinematic afterlives of lost films, excavated collections, and reimagined family albums; the archive’s perpetual reincarnation as a generative source for experimental and artists’ film. There were homages to artists from the past, whose legacies continue to inspire the present, including work by the recently deceased Michael Snow and Takahiko Iimura, and film tributes to avant-garde legends like Margaret Tait in Luke Fowler’s Being in a Place, and John Cage in Kevin Jerome Everson’s If You Don’t Watch the Way You Move. Then there was the teeming, unseen world of spirits...

The Spanish film follows a Buddhist monk who helps an elderly woman transition from death to her next life

Curzon has acquired UK and Ireland rights to Lois Patiño’s Samsara from Spain’s Bendita Film Sales.

The drama premiered in Berlin’s Encounters strand this year where it won the special jury prize.

Curzon will release the title theatrically and on its streaming service Curzon Home Cinema.

Samsara is the story of a Buddhist monk who helps an elderly woman transition from death to her next life as a reincarnated goat.

It is produced by Señor y Señora.

Patiño...

The gender-neutral acting prize was won by Spain’s Sofía Otero for ’20,000 Species of Bees’.

Nicolas Philibert’s documentary On The Adamant, about a floating care centre in Paris, was awarded Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (February 25).

The film, which is being handled internationally by Les Films du Losange, is the fourth documentary to take top honours at the Berlinale.

German films found particular favour with the jury, presided over by Kristen Stewart, with no less than three of the Bear statuettes going to local productions: the Silver Bear Grand Jury award for Christian Petzold’s Afire,...

Winners have been announced at the 73rd Berlin Film Festival, with On the Adamant by Nicolas Philibert scooping the coveted Golden Bear prize as the best film of the festival’s International Competition. Scroll down for the full list of winners, which were revealed Saturday evening at the Berlinale Palast.

The film chronicles a unique day-care center in the heart of Paris that welcomes adults suffering from mental disorders, offering the kind of care that grounds them in time and space and helps them to recover or keep up their spirits.

Introducing the film, jury head Kristen Stewart said the pic is “masterfully crafted” and acts as “cinematic proof of the vital necessity of human expression.”

Other winners in the International Competition included Philippe Garrel, who picked up the Silver Bear for Best Director for his latest pic Le grand chariot (The Plough). Garrel dedicated the award to the late filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard.

“Did you know that we keep on hearing after we’re dead?” The question comes up early into Lois Patiño’s Samsara but haunts the film from first shot to last, doubling as a précis of the multisensory feast this extraordinary journey through bodies, time, and space packs throughout. “Watching” is too restrictive a word for the kind of experience Patiño has arranged. Here’s the rare film that invites your whole body into its universe––one whose haptic, aural, olfactive pleasures are just as vivid as its visual riches. It’s a tale that unspools as a Heraclitean river: you cannot step into it twice, for it is not the same film, and you are no longer the same person.

Here’s where the river starts: in a Buddhist temple in present-day Laos, where teenage monk Be Ann (Toumor Xiong) crosses paths with a boy from a nearby village,...

Bendita Film Sales has grown its slate acquiring Itsaso Arana’s directorial debut “The Girls Are Alright,” (“Las chicas están bien”).

The acquisition marks the latest pick up by the Tenerife based-outfit following recent announcements on Juan Sebastián Torales’ “Almamula,” and Lois Patiño’s “Samsara,” both featuring at the Berlinale. The film has already secured domestic distribution in Spain with Elástica Films.

“Itsaso gave us the chance to read one of the first versions of the script for ‘The Girls Are Alright.’ We immediately fell in love and realized that we were dealing with a singular talent, with a unique vision,” said Luis Renart, head of Bendita Film Sales. “It has been a pleasure to follow the evolution of this project and to finally discover this beautiful, festive and unique film, which we are thrilled to bring to audiences around the world,” he added.

Arana has built a strong reputation in film,...

Spanish sales company to handle Spanish director’s third feature.

Spanish sales company Bendita Films has acquired international rights to Lois Patiño’s third feature Samsara, which plays in the Berlinale’s Encounters section

Samsara is a Sanskrit word referring to the cycle of birth, life, death and re-incarnation. Patiño’s film travels from the temples of Laos to the beaches of Zanzibar, accompanying a soul in transit from one body to another.

Patiño’s Red Moon Tide premiered in the Berlinale Forum in 2020 while Coast of Death won the best emerging director prize at Locarno in 2013. His short film...

Pan Nalin’s Last Film Show, produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, Nalin, Dheer Momaya and Mark Duale, has been selected as India’s official entry for the Best International Feature Oscar race.

The Gujarati-language Last Film Show (Chhello Show) is a semi-autobiographical drama that pays homage to the cinema of the past — a reminder of childhood innocence and the universal magic of the movies.

Starring Bhavin Rabari, Vikas Bata, Richa Meena, Bhavesh Shrimali, Dipen Raval and Rahul Koli, the story is set against the backdrop of cinemas in India witnessing a massive transition from celluloid to digital. Samay (Rabari) and his pals hitch a ride on the train that passes their remote village and find their way to a rundown movie theater that offers all the entertainment their little hearts desire. When his friends get escorted out after sneaking in without paying, Samay bribes the hungry projectionist with the home-cooked...

Gujarati film ‘Last Film Show’ (Chhello Show) is India’s official entry to the Best International Feature Film category of the 95th Academy Awards. Pan Nalin is best known for directing award-winning and visually striking films such as ‘Samsara’, ‘Valley of Flowers’, ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ and ‘Ayurveda: Art of Being’. Last Film Show (Chhello Show) is a part-autobiographical drama that captures the charm of the western region of Gujarat while paying homage to the cinema of the past. It is a reminder of childhood innocence and the universal magic of the movies.

The film stars Bhavin Rabari, Vikas Bata, Richa Meena, Bhavesh Shrimali, Dipen Raval and Rahul Koli. The story is set against the backdrop of cinemas in India witnessing a massive transition from celluloid to digital, where hundreds of single-screen cinemas stand dilapidated or have disappeared altogether.

Last Film Show (Chhello Show) had its world premiere as the opening...

Siddharth Roy Kapur’s Roy Kapur Films is all set to bring ‘Last Film Show’ (Chhello Show), Pan Nalin’s poignant ode to celluloid dreams, back home to audiences in India. The Gujarati-language coming-of-age drama has captured the hearts of critics and audiences across the world and will now release in theatres in Gujarat and on select screens across the country on 14th October 2022. The film is produced by Roy Kapur Films, Jugaad Motion Pictures, Monsoon Films, Chhello Show Llp, and Marc Duale.

‘Last Film Show’ (Chhello Show) had its world premiere as the opening film at Robert DeNiro’s Tribeca Film Festival and has won multiple awards across various international film festivals, including the Golden Spike at the 66th Valladolid Film Festival in Spain, where it also enjoyed commercial success during its theatrical run.

Director Pan Nalin’s oeuvre includes award-winning films like Samsara, Valley of Flowers, and Angry Indian Goddesses,...

After world premiering at Tribeca and travelling the world since, Pan Nalin’s “Last Film Show” (“Chhello Show”) is coming home to India, with Siddharth Roy Kapur’s Roy Kapur Films set to distribute it across the country.

The partly autobiographical drama takes Nalin back to his roots in Saurashtra, Gujarat, western India, where “Last Film Show” was filmed. The story is set against the backdrop of Indian cinemas witnessing a massive transition from celluloid to digital where hundreds of single-screen cinemas are either in ruins or have disappeared altogether.

The film follows nine-year-old boy Samay, whose life turns upside down after watching his first movie. He passionately falls in love with films against his father’s wish. Samay strikes a deal with Fazal, the projectionist, who will let him watch movies for free in exchange for eating the contents of his lunchbox. Their food-for-films deal turns into an endearing friendship,...

The Red Sea International Film Festival in partnership with Vox Cinemas, Mbc Group, and Saudia Airlines announced the winners of the Red Sea competition sections. The 16 feature, 18 shorts selection and 21 ground-breaking global virtual reality experiences are a celebration of the most exciting, innovative new films and cinematic storytelling from established and emerging filmmakers from the Arab world and Africa.

This year’s jury included: President of the Red Sea Features Competition, Academy Award-winning Italian director and writer Giuseppe Tornatore, Tunisian actress Hend Sabry, Palestinian-American director, writer, actress, and producer Cherien Dabis, Mexican festival director and founder of the Morelia International Film Festival Daniela Michel and Saudi film director Abdulaziz Alshlahei.

Competition Jury Prize went to the Cannes Directors Fortnight premiering Hit the Road by Panah Panahi from Iran.

Competition Best Film went to Brighton 4th by Levan Koguashvili a coproduction of Georgia, Russia, Bulgaria, USA, Monaco. This is Georgia’s submission for Oscar Nomination for Best International Film and the winner of the Asian World Film Festival, Los Angeles for Best Picture. This film about the Georgian emigrants living in Brighton Beach, USA today captures the heart of the viewers with its open sharing of the Georgians today. Its director Levan Koguashvili graduated NYU Film school. The film is the winner of three prizes at Cottbus Film Festival and three awards at Tribeca as well.

Competition Best Actor and Best Director for Europa went to Amal Ali and Haider Rashid respectively, a coproduction of Iraq, Italy, and Kuwait:

Haider Rashid says, “Regarding the main role, Kamal, I was set on finding an actor who could understand the sense of displacement that we wanted to portray on an emotional level. My colleague Daniele Bernabei ran into a trailer for a short film while at the Short Film Corner in Cannes and sent it to me, as the cast was composed of several Arab actors. As soon as I saw Adam Ali I felt there was something interesting about him, a silent movie face in a way. That made me want to find out more, since we were going to make a film in which dialogue is at a minimum and most of the film is on the protagonist’s shoulders.

While he was in Canada shooting Apple+’s Little America, we had a very interesting conversation and found some common grounds on certain issues like the misrepresentation of certain ethnicities in film and TV and what it feels like to be sometimes torn between two cultures. Adam is of Libyan origins and moved with his family to Manchester when he was a child, so the issue of identity was also a common ground between us.

Of course this film is pretty different as it is so physical and it was clear that we were going to do many things that not every actor would be willing to do. While speaking to Adam, it seemed to me that there was a certain pride about him that would help me in pushing him in certain directions both physically and emotionally by sometimes provoking him. He was great in being determined to do what was necessary and I have to say he was really brave in how he faced the physical and emotional challenges that the story entailed.”

Competition Best Actress Award went to Arawinda Kirana for her role in Yuni a production of Indonesia, Singapore, France, Australia. She also won for best actress in the Asian World Film Festival, Los Angeles. This is a beautifully shot story of the feisy rebellion of a young woman in Indonesia today, a place we have not seen in its contemporary feminine aspects until now.

Best Saudi Film Rupture by Hamzah K. Jamjoom — Saudi Arabia

Audience Award You Resemble Me by Dina Amer — Egypt, France, USA

Immersive Silver Yusr Samsara by Hsin-Chien Huang — Taiwan

Immersive Gold Yusr End of Night by David Adler — Denmark, France

Short Competition Golden Yusr Tala’vision by Murad Abu Eisheh — Jordan, Germany

Competition Special Mention Farha by Darin J. Sallam — Jordan

Competition Best Cinematic Contribution went to Amin Jafari for Hit the Road — Iran

Competition Best Screenplay Neighbours by Mano Khalil — Syria, Switzerland...

Spain has two films in this year’s main competition at the Berlinale, and a record haul of films participating across all sections. Similarly, the country boasts an impressive list of productions looking for buyers at the festival’s EFM. Below, a list of standouts from Spain looking to make moves on the global market.

“Prison 77” (Alberto Rodríguez)

A potential jewel in Spanish cinema’s 2022 crown, “Modelo 77” is produced by Spanish pay TV-vod giant Movistar Plus and Madrid-based Atípica Films, Rodríguez’s career-long producer. S.A. Film Factory

“Alcarràs” (Carla Simón)

In Berlin’s main competition, the much anticipated follow up to Simón’s “Summer 1993,” “Alcarrás” tracks the final harvest at a multi-generational family farm. Co-produced with Italy. S.A. MK2 Films

“The Beast” (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)

A Galicia-set thriller from Oscar-nominee Sorogoyen (“Mother”) and his regular co-scribe Esther Peña.

“Beyond the Summit” (Ibon Cormenzana)

Javier Rey and Patricia Lopez...