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With an eye on indigenous communities and the women that dutifully anchor them, Bolivian multi-hyphenate Álvaro Olmos Torrico brings his introspective second feature, “The Condor Daughter” (“La hija cóndor”), to Montevideo for Ventana Sur’s Copia Final showcase, touting the fiction prodction at this year’s market, which runs Dec. 2-6.

Via Bolivia’s Empatia Cine (“The Visitor”), Olmos Torrico is producing budding Bolivian helmer Yashira Jordán’s 2021 Ventana Sur buzz title “Diamond,” (“Diamante”) alongside Buenos Aires-based Maravilla Cine, and has directed several documentaries leading up to his 2019 full-length debut feature “Wiñay,” all films that allow his protagonists’ self-reflection to spill into rich on-screen narratives.

“I find internal journeys very inspiring, they represent the perfect form of conflict for me. The sensitivity of my characters is my own,” Olmos Torrico told Variety. “I question the role of people in time and space, mainly female characters – almost always inspired by my mother.

Iconic actor Tony Todd has died at the age of 69, it has been confirmed. As reported by THR, the Candyman, Platoon, and Star Trek: The Next Generation star, who amassed in excess of 250 professional credits over the course of an astonishing, five decade spanning career, passed away on 6 November at his home in Los Angeles after a long battle with illness.

Anthony Tiran Todd was born in Washington D.C. on 4 December, 1954 to Evetta Lyons Gaither. At the age of just three a young Tony Todd moved to Hartford, Connecticut where his auntie, Clara Elliston, took custody of him and nurtured his adolescent curiosity with the arts. Having enrolled Todd in summer acting courses as a boy, Elliston supported her nephew — artistically, financially, and emotionally — as his interest in theatre led to spells at both Eugene O’Neill National Actors Theatre Institute in Connecticut and Trinity Repertory Company in Rhode Island.

The entertainment world lost a true icon with the passing of Tony Todd. The long-time actor appeared in everything it felt like, rising to fame as the lead in the Candyman franchise, while appearing in other properties like Spider-Man 2 the video game, starring as Venom, and hit television shows like Psych. He was a name that many people were familiar with, especially due to his booming voice.

He was a key figure in many voice-acting roles because of it. Even going as far as to voice Zoom in The Flash television series. Yet for Star Trek fans, they will remember him as one of the few actors who appeared on Star Trek's The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, all in different roles.

He appeared in three different roles across the franchise, all uniquely different from one another. Highlighting the true depth of Todd's talents. So today,...

Known to Star Trek fans as Kurn, a Klingon warrior, the son of Mogh, and the biological younger brother of Worf [Michael Dorn], Tony Todd passed away November 6 at the age of 69, just one month shy of his 70th birthday. His wife, Fatima, told The Hollywood Reporter that Todd died at their home in Marina del Ray, California after a long illness.

For as much as Todd was known to the Star Trek franchise, he was also a well-loved member of two horror franchises, Candyman and Final Destination. New Line Cinema paid tribute to the actor on its Instagram account, saying "the industry has lost a legend."

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according to IMDb with eleven projects in post-production.

Adding to this Star Trek credits, Todd also appeared in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, "Prey," as a Hirogan Alpha, and...

Tony Todd has died. A veteran actor with a deep, resonant voice that matched his towering frame, Todd racked up nearly 250 credits across a 40-year film and television career. But while he played superheroes, supervillains, Klingons, soldiers, jazz men, preachers, cops, killers, doctors, monsters, mobsters, generals, aliens, Transformers, and more,...

Duran Duran are getting back into the Halloween spirit with their new cover of Electric Light Orchestra’s 1975 classic, “Evil Woman.” The track will appear on the upcoming deluxe edition of the band’s 2023 album, Danse Macabre, which is set to arrive Oct. 11.

Duran Duran’s take on “Evil Woman” is propulsive, slinky, and just the right touch of sinister, with the band blending elements of new wave, disco, and rock. The track arrives with an animated lyric video from Juan Pinto that leans into the spooky season theme.

Danse Macabre,...

Star Trek has aired 930 episodes of television since it debuted in 1966. That's an astonishing legacy, especially when you factor in that people continue to tune in to every series every day. There's not a day that goes by that at least one episode of Star Trek isn't watched, especially some of the favorites like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "The Visitor" or Star Trek: Picard's "The Last Generation." Out of all the 930 episodes, surprisingly, there aren't that many complete duds.

Sure, there are some that we may fast forward through because they still have good parts. And there are some that we skip altogether because we don't want to watch about ghost sex, but according to the viewers from IMDb, there is one that is ranked so low, it would be a surprise if anyone is rewatching it.

It's "Shades of Gray" from Star Trek; the Next Generation...

According to Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes, the band “unlocked an unexpected box of curiosity and creativity” when they started making their 2023 album, Danse Macabre. Now, the latest product of that newfound energy has arrived: “New Moon (Dark Phase),” a reimagined version of their 1984 song “New Moon On Monday.”

Released as a single ahead of the upcoming deluxe re-release of Danse Macabre, “New Moon (Dark Phase)” swaps out the original’s pulsing ‘80s synths with a more ethereal, modern arrangement, featuring contributions from former band member, Andy Taylor. Throughout, vocalist Simon Le Bon carries the melody, gracefully slipping into his upper register on the verses and delivering the chorus’ catchy hook.

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Speaking about the release in a new statement, Rhodes explained that the inspiration sparked with Danse Macabre “was somehow still lingering,” which led the band to return to the studio for even more recording.

In what is shaping up to be a rather thin awards season, could a small but formidable film, written and directed by a filmmaker with three Oscar winners in his family, find its way into contention?

That’s what Falling Forward Films is betting on in acquiring the U.S. distribution rights for Jack Huston’s impressive directorial debut Day of the Fight, a black-and-white indie about a once-renowned boxer — played by Huston’s former Boardwalk Empire costar Michael C. Pitt — as he takes a redemptive journey through his past and present on the day of his first fight since he was released from prison.

Indeed, the upstart distributor has already begun mounting an awards campaign for the film, which also stars Nicolette Robinson, Ron Perlman, John Magaro, Anatol Yusef, Steve Buscemi (another Boardwalk Empire alum) and — coming out of retirement to make a brief but shattering appearance — Oscar winner Joe Pesci.

Rising Norwegian writer-director Anders Emblem whose “A Human Position” bowed at the Tromsø, Rotterdam and San Sebastian festivals in 2022 before landing a global deal with Mubi, has teamed up again with up-and-coming actor Amalie Ibsen Jensen for his third pic, “Also a Life.”

The Norwegian feature in development to be pitched at the Nordic Co-Production Market Aug. 21, in Haugesund, Norway, is being produced by the talent-driven Elisa Fernanda Pirir (Stær Film), associated to award-winning international helmers including Luis Alejandro Yero (“Calls from Moscow”), Laura Mora (“The Kings of the World”), Nabil Ayouch (“Everybody Loves Touda”), and Ernst de Geer (“The Hypnosis”).

The Guatemala-born Norwegian producer said she first set eyes on Emblem’s work when his sophomore pic “A Human Position” opened the Tromsø International Film Festival 2022.

Pirir said: “I was amazed by such a refreshing new Nordic voice; “A Human Position” was both moving, funny and cleverly constructed. Since...

Bolivian filmmaker Martin Boulocq’s drama in development, “The Strange Woman” (“La Mujer Extraña”), which participates in the upcoming San Sebastian Film Festival Co-Production Forum, has tapped Uruguay’s Cimarrón Cine, part of the Mediapro Studio since 2023, as a co-production partner.

This would be the second time it has backed a Boulocq film. In 2022, it co-produced Tribeca Best Screenplay-winner “The Visitor” (“El Visitante”) about an ex-convict who returns home in a bid to restart his life and reconnect with his young daughter.

Among the leading production companies in Uruguay, Cimarrón has provided production services to Oscar-nominated “Society of the Snow” and co-produced Prime Video’s lauded series, “Iosi, the Regretful Spy,” alongside Oficina Burman, among others.

Lead produced by Boulocq and Andrea Camponovo’s Cq Films, “The Strange Woman” is set in a future Bolivia torn apart by the war over lithium, a vital component in EVs and smartphones, where...

Germany’s Weltfilm has boarded Bolivian filmmaker Martín Boulocq’s “Criminal Body,” a work in progress (Wip) at the Santiago Intl. Film Festival’s industry section run by festival co-founder Gabriela Sandoval.

Founded in 2003 by Kristina Konrad and Christian Frosch, Weltfilm has participated in co-productions with Latin America, Africa and Europe, as it seeks to produce movies of all genres, including documentaries and arthouse pics with international appeal.

It joins co-producers comprising Boulocq’s Cq Films, Argentina’s Maravillacine and France’s L’Œil Vif. The project recently secured three funds in France: Cnc, Toulouse Métropole and Procirep-Angola.

In the film within a film also written by Boulocq, locals Miguel and Marcos are involved in the production of an American horror movie set in a sub-Andean forest. Miguel, a bodybuilder, takes on the role of the monster, while Marcos, a local farmer, provides his bulls for the shoot. Together, they...

At the start of the year, it was announced that Criminal, the Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Sean Phillips, is getting a series adaptation from Prime Video. Now Variety reports that Adria Arjona of Morbius and the upcoming Netflix release Hit Man and Richard Jenkins of The Shape of Water and The Visitor are set to star in the series.

Criminal tells “the interweaving saga of several generations of families tied together by the crimes and murders of the past.” The official logline for the series says it will show viewers an interlocking universe of crime stories.

Brubaker has written the script for the pilot and will serve as showrunner of the series alongside Jordan Harper (Hightown). Brubaker and Harper are also executive producing with Sean Phillips, Sarah Carbiener, Phillip Barnett, and Legendary Television.

Arjona is taking on the role of Greta, “a...

Richard Jenkins has been cast in Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming series adaptation of the “Criminal” graphic novels, Variety has learned.

The series was originally ordered at Amazon back in January. Jenkins is the first confirmed cast member. The show is described as “an interlocking universe of crime stories” based on the graphic novels by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

Jenkins will play Ivan. The character is described as “Leo’s dad’s best friend, and has always been an uncle figure to him. He used to be a robber and criminal, but is now currently suffering from dementia. Leo is trying to care for him but realizes he’s more work than he can handle.”

Jenkins is a highly-respected actor with the rare ability to do comedy and drama in seemingly equal measure. He received Oscar nominations for his performances in the films “The Shape of Water” and “The Visitor...

Two-time Oscar nominated and Emmy-winning actor Richard Jenkins has joined the cast of Criminal, Prime Video’s upcoming drama series based on Ed Brubaker and artist Sean Phillips’ multi-Eisner Award-winning graphic novel series.

Criminal is an interlocking universe of crime stories based on the graphic novels.

Jenkins will play Ivan, Leo’s dad’s best friend, who has always been an uncle figure to him. He used to be a robber and criminal, but is now currently suffering from dementia. Leo is trying to care for him but realizes he’s more work than he can handle.

Brubaker, who penned the pilot script, will co-showrun the TV series with crime fiction author Jordan Harper (Hightown). Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden will direct the first four episodes.

Criminal is produced by Amazon MGM Studios. The series is executive produced by Brubaker and Harper, alongside Sean Phillips, Sarah Carbiener, and Phillip Barnett.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSThe Little Mermaid.A generative AI start-up has been accused of stealing the voices of actors for its subscription service.IATSE expects to schedule additional days of bargaining with AMPTP in June, but has vowed not to extend its contract past July 31.With Incaa defunded by Argentine president Javier Milei, Ventana Sur is in talks to relocate from Buenos Aires to Uruguay for its sixteenth edition.As the Italian film industry continues to wait on a divided government to make production tax credits available, anticipating modest cuts, a new law in the Czech Parliament would more than double the existing cap on their incentives. Meanwhile, industry insiders in Poland urge a newly elected government to increase their rebate...

Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, the Polish composer who won a Oscar for his score of the 2004 film Finding Neverland, died today in Krakow following a years-long battle with Multiple System Atrophy. He was 71.

His death was announced bythe Polish Music Foundation.

A prolific composer for film and television, Kaczmarek’s credits beginning in the 1980s and building momentum in the 1990s and 2000s. Among the titles: Total Eclipse, Washington Square, Aimee and Jaguar, Unfaithful, Soldier’s Girl, The Visitor, City Island, Get Low and Paul, Apostle of Christ.

But it was his score for Finding Neverland that he’ll perhaps be most remembered for. Nominated for both BAFTA and Golden Globe awards, the score for Marc Forster’s J.M. Barrie 2004 biopic won the Oscar for Best Original Score the following year. The win made Kaczmarek an international presence in cinema.

Born in Konin in 1953, Kaczmarek abandoned his legal training in the 1970s...

Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, who won a 2004 Oscar for “Finding Neverland,” died Tuesday in Krakow, the Polish Music Foundation announced. He was 71 and had suffered from Multiple System Atrophy (Msa) in recent years.

Also among Kaczmarek’s 50-plus film and television scores, mostly from the 1990s and 2000s, were “Unfaithful,” “Bliss,” “Aimee and Jaguar,” “The Visitor” and “Get Low.” He also scored the lavish four-part French-Italian miniseries of “War and Peace” in 2007.

Kaczmarek had one of the most unusual backgrounds of any film composer of his time. Born in Konin in 1953, he was educated as a lawyer. But he abandoned a planned career as a diplomat to compose music for an experimental theater company, headed by avant-garde theater director Jerzy Grotowski, in Poznan during the 1970s.

He formed his own ensemble, the Orchestra of the Eighth Day, which toured Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s, releasing an LP,...

Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights of Alireza Khatami’s “The Things You Kill.” The film is in post-production.

Khatami is already known for Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard title “Terrestrial Verses” and “Oblivion Verses,” which was awarded best screenplay in Venice Horizons competition 2017 and won the Fipresci Prize.

Le Pacte will release “The Things You Kill” in France.

In the film, Ali, a university professor, is haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, and coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance. As long-buried family secrets resurface, the police tighten their noose, and doubts begin eroding his conscience, Ali has no choice but to look into the abyss of his own soul.

The star-studded Turkish cast includes Ekin Koç (“Burning Days”), Erkan Kolçakköstendil, Hazar Ergüçlü (“The Wild Pear Tree”) and Ercan Kesal (“Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”).

Khatami said: “‘The Things...

Alien Hunt is a brand-new sci-fi horror from director Aaron Mirtes and stars Barron Boedecker, Brent Bentley, Deiondre Teagle, Chelsey Fuller, Jesse Santoyo, and Adam Pietripaoli

On a hunting trip in the wilderness, a group of siblings discovers an abandoned military outpost on their land, but is it what it seems? Their trip takes a sinister turn when they find themselves facing off against a relentless army of extra-terrestrial beings. Suddenly, the hunters become the hunted. The formidable squad of alien soldiers will stop at nothing to wipe out the enemy and in an all-out, brutal battle for survival, it’s kill or be killed in Alien Hunt.

Executive produced by Devilworks and their US distribution arm New Era Entertainment, Alien Hunt will be released on Premium Tvod, rolling out across all digital platforms, such as In-Demand, Hoopla, Vudu, Amazon, YouTube, etc., on May 14th 2024. Check out the trailer...

Paris-based international sales and production company Totem Films has revealed its production slate, with projects by Nastia Korkia, Vytautas Katkus, Ernst de Geer and Anna Roller.

Totem Atelier, the development and production arm of the company, has revealed that it has boarded Korkia’s “A Short Summer.”

Korkia’s short documentary “Dreams About Putin” premiered at IDFA last year. Her first documentary feature “Ges-2” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2021.

“A Short Summer” is produced by Germany’s TamTam (“Pacifiction” by Albert Serra) together with independent producer Natalia Drozd (“Compartment N°6” by Juho Kuosmanen) and Serbia’s Art&Popcorn.

The film centers on eight-year-old Katya, who is going on vacation with her grandparents. In the summer heat, the war in Chechnya takes shape, while her grandparents’ relationship falls apart. Despite her youth, Katya wants to look at the world straight in the eyes.

“A Short Summer” has received support from Creative Europe Media,...

Exclusive: Harvardwood announced its Writers Competition winners and award for Most Staffable TV Writers. Now in its 18th year, the renowned competition has experienced exciting growth in submissions to the Feature category.

Notably, last year’s feature winner has returned to win once more with a new project. The TV category is headlined by writers from the Harvardwood Writers Program, which has doubled since the beginning of the pandemic and has expanded its global participation. The writers will be mentored by leading TV and film professionals, read by top producers, and considered for representation at established agencies and management companies.

“We are proud to elevate these talented writers and to build on our track record as a source of and resource to diverse and compelling artists of all experience levels,” says Harvardwood founder Mia Riverton Alpert.

The winners of the Harvardwood Writers Competition in each category are:

Feature Category Winner:...

DevilWorks has launched a new trailer for the sci-fi horror ‘Alien Hunt’.

On a hunting trip in the wilderness, a group of siblings discovers an abandoned military outpost on their land, but is it what it seems? Their trip takes a sinister turn when they find themselves facing off against a relentless army of extra-terrestrial beings. Suddenly, the hunters become the hunted. The formidable squad of alien soldiers will stop at nothing to wipe out the enemy and in an all-out, brutal battle for survival, it’s kill or be killed.

Directed by Aaron Mirtes (Robot Riot, The OctoGames, The Bigfoot Trap, Painted in Blood), the cast includes Barron Boedecker (Escape Pod, The Bigfoot Trap), Brent Bentley (The Perfect In-Laws, Haunt Season), Deiondre Teagle (The Visitor, Painted in Blood, Death Ranch), Chelsey Fuller (The Bigfoot Trap, The Silent Natural), Jesse Santoyo (A Nashville Country Christmas, Potter’s Ground), Adam Pietripaoli (The Bigfoot Trap,...

While you wait for Alien: Romulus, the folks over at Devilworks have cooked up their own slice of “mockbuster” fun with Alien Hunt, and we’re debuting the trailer here on Bd this morning.

This brand-new sci-fi horror from director Aaron Mirtes is set for its US premiere on May 14, and you can find it on digital thanks to Devilworks.

You can exclusively watch the official trailer for Alien Hunt below, which looks to combine elements of Alien and Predator. This particular “mockbuster” has very little interest in hiding its inspirations, with the alien designs plucked straight out of H.R. Giger’s beautiful brain. Hey, if you’re going to pull from other movies, might as well take from the all-time greats!

In Alien Hunt, “On a hunting trip in the wilderness, a group of siblings discovers an abandoned military outpost on their land, but is it what it seems?...

Utopia’s label Circle Collective has bought Bruce Labruce’s bold and thought-provoking film “The Visitor” for North America and the U.K. Represented in international markets by Best Friend Forever, “The Visitor” world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section.

A London-set reimagining of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1968 film “Teorema,” “The Visitor” stars the well-known performance artist Bishop Black as a refugee who emerges naked from a mysterious suitcase on the banks of the Thames. Entering the lives of a privileged white family, he becomes their employee and conquers each member of the family in a series of explicit encounters where taboos are shattered.

The cast is completed by Macklin Kowal, Amy Kingsmill, Luca Federici, Ray Filar and Kurtis Lincoln. The film was presented as an installation by A/political, an art and activist body, during Frieze London, a contemporary art fair.

Labruce said he wanted...

From a certain perspective, Micah Nelson’s entire life has been building up to the Neil Young and Crazy Horse tour this summer, where he’ll be taking over for Nils Lofgren as the group’s new guitarist. As the youngest son of Willie Nelson, Micah, 33, has been exposed to Young’s catalog for longer than he can even remember. “Neil’s music always sort of being around in the periphery,” he tells Rolling Stone. “I grew up going to Farm Aid every year, so he was always this sort of figure,...

Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights to emerging director Dania Reymond-Boughenou’s debut feature “Silent Storms,” a supernatural film set in a fictional Arab city.

Currently in post production, the movie follows Nacer, a 45-year-old journalist who is observing the appearance of strange yellow sandstorms looming over Algiers and its surroundings. While covering the phenomenon for his newspaper, he starts witnessing more and more supernatural events, until his late wife Fajar returns to life. Faced with increasingly threatening storms, Samir has to face a dark past that haunts him.

“Silent Storms” stars Khaled Benaïssa (“Papicha”), singer-turned-director Camélia Jordana, Shirine Boutella (“Lupin”) and Mehdi Ramdani. The movie is scored by Dan Levy (“I Lost my Body”).

Reymond-Boughenou previously directed the short film “Constellation de la Rouguiere,” which was selected for Fid Marseille and Clermont Ferrand film festivals.

The helmer said she wanted the film to depict the reappearing of a traumatic memory.

Bruce Labruce has consistently stuck two middle fingers up at the status quo ever since he and G.B. Jones first began churning out queer punk zines and experimental movies in the late ’80s. As his directing career progressed from a Toronto basement to film festivals and beyond, the co-father of Queercore put those two middle fingers — and the other eight as well — to increasingly subversive use.

Films like “The Raspberry Reich,” “Otto, Or Up with Dead People,” and “L.A. Zombie” (which was banned by Australian censors in 2010) pushed the envelope with their explicit blend of taboo-busting sex and violence. Twincest, amputee fetishism, zombie porn… Nothing’s off the table for one of cinema’s most daring provocateurs, and that’s true again of his latest feature, “The Visitor,” which started out as a London art exhibition before washing up on German shores to premiere as a film in this year’s Berlinale.

It’s safe to call Canadian artist and filmmaker Bruce Labruce a Panorama mainstay; it’s been two decades and counting since Hustler White premiered in this Berlinale strand in 1996. Between The Misandrists and his latest, The Visitor (Panorama 2024), there was the indie feature Saint-Narcisse (TIFF/Venice 2021) and the porn feature The Affairs of Lidia (2022), to prepare us for what was to come––certainly a visit one’d have a hard time forgetting. A reimagining of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s acclaimed 1968 film Teorema wherein a handsome, nameless man infiltrates a bourgeois family to then change their lives forever through sex. Naturally, Labruce would pay tribute to a film that’s already queer and treats sex as a political tool for change. Even more so, he’d do it much more explicitly (with porn), provocatively (with political critique), and playfully (with campy humor).

Labruce shapes his artistic practice through a continuous...

A low-budget romp set in contemporary London against a curdled cultural backdrop of racist politics, Bruce Labruce’s “The Visitor” pays explicit homage to Pier Paolo Pasolini’s sexually provocative last feature, “Teorema.” The cheeky Canadian director’s graphic reimagining sees various mysterious suitcases appearing here and there, each of which turns out to contain an identical naked man, all played by performance artist Bishop Black.

The rest of the film follows one of these guys, the “Visitor” of the film’s title, as he inveigles his way into the home of a wealthy family, proceeding to seduce each family member in turn. The production has managed to wangle an imposing location for the Visitor’s antics to unfold: one of those huge London statement homes made almost entirely of glass, like a sort of gigantic Cubist fishbowl. In other respects, the production values are somewhat DIY. This is Pasolini via early John Waters,...

Best Friend Forever has picked up international rights to Milano, the debut feature from Belgian director Christina Vandekerckhove, and is kicking off sales at the EFM.

The film is about a 12 year-old boy who is able to hear, yet only expresses himself in sign language. As his single father tries to make ends meet he often leaves his son alone with his neighbour. But everything changes when his mother suddenly returns.

Now in post-production, Milano is produced by Jan De Clercq and Annemie Degryse ‘s Lumiere which will also release the film in Benelux. The film stars Flemish star Matteo Simoni,...

Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever (“Banel & Adama”) has acquired international rights to “Shambhala,” the first Nepalese film to premiere in competition at the Berlinale or any other top film festival.

Directed by Min Bahadur Bham, “Shambhala” is also the first South Asian film to be selected in Berlinale’s competition lineup after three decades. Bham is best known for his feature debut, “Kalo Pothi,” which won a prize at Venice Critics’ Week in 2015. The helmer previously directed “Bansulli,” which was Nepal’s first selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2012.

“Shambhala” is set in a Himalayan polyandrous village in Nepal, where a newly married and pregnant woman, Pema, tries to make the best of her new life. But soon, her husband Tashi vanishes, prompting her to embark on a journey into the wilderness to find him, accompanied by her monk.

The film shot in the world’s highest settlement, located...

A Different Man.The Berlinale have begun to announce the first few titles selected for the 74th edition of their festival, set to take place from February 15 through 21, 2024. This page will be updated as further sections are announced.COMPETITIONAnother End (Piero Messina)Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)La Cocina (Alonso Ruiz Palacios) Dahomey (Mati Diop)A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)The Empire (Bruno Dumont)Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)My Favourite CakeLangue Etrangère (Claire Berger)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Joobeur)Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)Sterben (Matthias Glasner)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)Sleep With Your Eyes Open. ENCOUNTERSArcadia (Yorgos Zois)Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)Demba (Mamadou Dia)Direct ActionSleep With Your Eyes Open (Nele Wohlatz)The Fable (Raam Reddy...

Berlinale co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek are going out with a bang in their final year, with a lineup unveiled today featuring the latest works by Olivier Assayas, Bruno Dumont, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Abderrahmane Sissako, Jane Schoenbrun, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Matias Pineiro, Travis Wilkerson, Kazik Radwanski, Annie Baker, and more.

When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.

Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights to Lenny and Harpo Guit’s new feature “Heads or Fails,” the duo’s follow-up to Sundance comedy “Mother Schmuckers.”

Now in post, “Heads or Fails” tells the story of Armande Pigeon, a queen of shenanigans in Brussels who struggles to make ends meet because she can’t stop gambling on everything, always ending up on the wrong side of luck. When she teams up with Ronnie one night, everything changes – they win it all. And when you hit a winning streak, you have to know when to stop.

Lenny and Harpo Guit’s previous film, “Mother Schmuckers,” premiered at Sundance in the Midnight section in 2021 and was critically lauded. Along with having directed numerous short films, they also have their own YouTube channel, Clubb Guitos.

“Heads or Fails” stars Maria Cavalier-Bazan, Axel Perin (“Mother Schmuckers”), Maxi Delmelle (“Mother Schmuckers”), Michael Zindel...

The Berlin Film Festival is staying true to its political roots.

The 74th Berlinale on Wednesday unveiled its Panorama, Generation and Forum sidebars, and the selection is packed with features and documentaries with a strong political bent, as is to be expected from a fest that prides itself on the social relevance of its official lineup.

Gender roles and gender politics are in focus in several of the Panorama titles, including the section’s opening film Crossing from director Levan Akin (And Then We Danced), in which an unlikely duo travels to Istanbul in search of a young trans woman; the Norwegian feature Sex from Dag Johan Haugerud, about two chimney sweeps living in monogamous, heterosexual marriages whose experiences change their views on sexuality; Bruce Labruce’s The Visitor, a provocative remake of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 1968 classic Teorema; and Anthony Schatteman’s debut feature Young Hearts, a Generation Kplus title,...

The Berlinale has announced the full line-ups of its Panorama, Forum and Generation sidebars for the 74th edition running from February 15 to 24. (scroll down for full list)

Panorama will showcase 31 titles including one series and 25 world premieres.

Highlights include Swedish-Georgian director Levan Akin’s Crossing, his first feature since 2019 Cannes breakout And Then We Danced, which opens the selection.

The drama revolves around a retired teacher whose search for her long-lost niece Tekla takes her to Istanbul where she becomes acquainted with a trans rights lawyer.

Other buzzy titles set for a world premiere include André Téchiné’s My New Friends, starring Isabelle Huppert as a solitary police officer, and and Myriam El Hajj’s documentary Diaries From Lebanon, following three people as they navigate their country on the brink of revolution.

A number of Sundance titles will also be making a Panorama splash including Nathan Silver’s Between The Temples,...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

The 88 submissions for the best international feature award at the 2023 Oscars have been announced, and Screen has profiled all the entries below.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is set to be announced on December 21 with the final five nominees announced on January 24, 2024 The 95th Academy Awards will take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

The 88 submissions are down from last year when 92 films were in contentions. Four countries submitted this year but have not appeared on the final list - Cuba with Fernando Perez...

Shortlist of 15 films to be announced December 21, nominations out on January 23, 2024.

The Academy has announced eligible features in the categories of international feature film, animation, and documentary for the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024.

The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 21, and the nominations announcement is January 23, 2024.

International

Eighty-eight countries or regions have submitted films eligible for consideration in the international feature film category. An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes long) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track. Namibia is a first-time entrant.

Academy members...

Prizes worth a combined €270,000 were awarded to 17 projects.

TorinoFilmLab’s co-production market Tfl Meeting Event has awarded prizes worth a combined €270,000 to 17 projects at its 2023 edition, which concluded on Saturday (November 25).

Scroll down for full list of prizes

Thirty projects were pitched over two days at the event in Turin - 20 titles from Tfl’s nine-month scriptwriting programme ScriptLab and another 10 from its FeatureLab strand for films at a more advanced stage.

Four FeatureLab projects were awarded production and co-production awards – worth a combined €180,000 - by a jury that included mk2 Films’ Olivier Barbier and El Gouna programmer Andrew Mohsen.

In a previous piece for Gold Derby, I referenced how all but one Best Picture Oscar winner since 2008 came from filmmakers who had never directed a Best Picture nominee before. The only exception is Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s “Birdman” in 2014; his prior Best Picture bid was for “Babel” back in 2006. Let’s dig into the last 15 years of winners, shall we?

SEEOscars alert: Watch out for ‘Barbie’ scene-stealers America Ferrera and Rhea Perlman

In 2008 “Slumdog Millionaire” was the juggernaut of the film awards season, winning eight Oscars, which is still more than any film since then. It was directed by Danny Boyle, who at the time only made one other Oscar nominated film, 1996’s “Trainspotting,” which was recognized with a nom for Best Adapted Screenplay.

In 2009 the race famously came down to two films from directors who were previously married: James Cameron‘s “Avatar” and Kathryn Bigelow‘s “The Hurt Locker.

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

‘Slow’ and ‘Animalia’ both world premiered to acclaim at Sundance while ’The Hypnosis’ picked up prizes at Karlovy Vary.

Paris-based Totem Films has agreed a slew of deals for acclaimed Sundance premieres Slow and Animalia as well as Karlovy Vary-winning feature The Hypnosis.

Marija Kavtaradze’s second feature Slow has sold to KimStim for theatrical distribution in North America and to Conic Film for the UK and Ireland. It was also scooped up by Salzgeber in Germany, Filmin in Spain, Falcon for Indonesia, New Horizons in Poland and HBO for Eastern Europe.

Slow world premiered at Sundance this year in...

Episodic storytelling is what makes TV special and if you pay attention long enough, you begin to notice some patterns. Most TV pilots play like mini-movies that often end up quite tonally different from the rest of the series to come. Season finales naturally tend to be a show’s best effort of the year as they must satiate the audience for the long offseason. But what about all the episodes in-between? What episode numbers are consistently great?

We endeavored to find out.

Yes, what you’re about to read is not a list of the “Best TV Episodes of All Time” but the “Best TV Episode Numbers of All Time.” Numbers as in literally “episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, and so forth.” By taking a holistic view of the TV industry at large, we’ve determined which episode numbers are more likely to produce quality than others.

The challenges in figuring this out are obvious.

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Stars: Dallas Schaefer, Felix Merback, Faith West | Written by Roger Barron | Directed by Charles Band

Aimee: The Visitor opens with a title card telling us that Aimee was not portrayed by an actor or created with digital effects. She is, they claim, the first femme fatale created using AI. The timing is ironic considering the current strikes in Hollywood were, in part, the result of studios wanting to replace writers and performers with AI. However, if this is state of the art, they don’t need to worry just yet.

Scott Keyes is a hacker. You can tell because he has his computer set up in an abandoned loft and sits shirtless in front of his monitor so engrossed in the porn he’s watching he doesn’t notice he’s not alone.

Hunter and his sister Gazelle (Faith West; Maid Droid) have stopped by with some software for him.

Starring: Finn Jones, Jessica McNamee, Dane Rhodes, Donna Biscoe Directed By: Justin P. Lange Written By: Adam Mason & Simon Boyes Executive Producers: Bradley Pilz, Greg Gilreath, Adam Hendricks, Jeremy Gold, Chris McCumber, David Grove Churchill Viste, Jason Blum When Robert and his wife Maia move to her childhood home, he discovers an old …

The post **Official Trailer The Visitor starring Finn Jones – On Digital and On Demand October 7, 2022 and On Epix December 2022 appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

"You think you want answers? You're wrong." Paramount Movies has released the trailer for a new original horror thriller titled The Visitor, produced by Blumhouse and out on VOD next month. After a series of tragedies, Robert moves with his wife back to her childhood home. There he discovers an old portrait of a man who looks exactly like him, and goes down a rabbit hole to discover the identity of this mysterious doppelganger. "You are where you are meant to be," is such a creepy line in this trailer. The film stars Finn Jones, Jessica McNamee, Dane Rhodes, and Donna Biscoe. There's obviously some crazy twists in this that will connect him with some creepy past, just have to find out what the hell is going on in this town. ›››

View the Post: A Creepy Portrait Haunts a Family in 'The Visitor' Horror Film Trailer...

The latest collaboration between Blumhouse and Epix is the horror film The Visitor, which will be available on Digital and VOD as of October 7th before reaching Epix in December. In anticipation of the October release, a trailer for The Visitor has arrived online and can be seen in the embed above.

Justin P. Lange (The Seventh Day) directed The Visitor from a screenplay by Adam Mason and Simon Boyes, who previously wrote the Into the Dark movie Blood Moon for Blumhouse and Hulu. For this one, Mason and Boyes crafted the following story:

When Robert and his wife Maia move to her childhood home, he discovers an old portrait of his likeness in the attic – a man referred to only as ‘The Visitor’. Soon he finds himself descending down a frightening rabbit hole in an attempt to discover the true identity of his mysterious doppelgänger, only to realize that...

Paramount Home Entertainment will release the psychological horror/thriller film The Visitor on Digital and On Demand on October 7, 2022, and on Epix in December 2022.

While you wait, check out the official trailer for The Visitor below.

In the film…

“When Robert and his wife Maia move to her childhood home, he discovers an old portrait of his likeness in the attic – a man referred to only as ‘The Visitor’.

“Soon he finds himself descending down a frightening rabbit hole in an attempt to discover the true identity of his mysterious doppelgänger, only to realize that every family has its own terrifying secrets.”

The Visitor stars Finn Jones (“Game of Thrones”), Jessica McNamee (Mortal Kombat), Dane Rhodes (Where the Crawdads Sing) and Donna Biscoe (“Saints & Sinners”). The film was written by Adam Mason (Songbird) & Simon Boyes (Songbird) and directed by Justin P. Lange (The Seventh Day).

The film was Executive Produced by Bradley Pilz,...