Following the October parliamentary election that saw the defeat of the right-wing Law and Justice party and appointment of leader of the opposition party Donald Tusk as prime minister, Polish filmmakers are cautiously readying for change.
“So far, our cinema authorities have not changed. It remains to be seen whether they will change their approach to funding more topical or controversial projects. Recent years have been very difficult in this regard,” says acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland.
Holland’s latest film, refugee drama “Green Border,” had been attacked by the right-wing government last year. Her next film, “Franz,” about Franz Kafka, is a Czech-German-Polish co-production to be sold at EFM by Films Boutique.
“We know everything and nothing about Kafka. There are dozens of detailed biographies and the reasons for his growing importance remain a mystery. I am trying to put this film together like a scattered jigsaw puzzle,” she adds.
“So far, our cinema authorities have not changed. It remains to be seen whether they will change their approach to funding more topical or controversial projects. Recent years have been very difficult in this regard,” says acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland.
Holland’s latest film, refugee drama “Green Border,” had been attacked by the right-wing government last year. Her next film, “Franz,” about Franz Kafka, is a Czech-German-Polish co-production to be sold at EFM by Films Boutique.
“We know everything and nothing about Kafka. There are dozens of detailed biographies and the reasons for his growing importance remain a mystery. I am trying to put this film together like a scattered jigsaw puzzle,” she adds.
- 2/17/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The BFI Flare: London Lgbtqia+ Film Festival has revealed the line-up for its 38th edition which takes place March 13-24.
The programme comprises 57 features across the Hearts, Bodies and Mind strands, four of which are world premieres.
Scroll down for full line-up
World premiering is Karen Knox’s sophomore feature We Forgot To Break Up about a trans musician caught in a love triangle with his bandmates. The Canadian actress and filmmaker’s debut Adult Adoption premiered at Glasgow Film Festival in 2022.
Other world premieres are Kat Rohrer’s Austrian romantic comedy What A Feeling about two women who meet...
The programme comprises 57 features across the Hearts, Bodies and Mind strands, four of which are world premieres.
Scroll down for full line-up
World premiering is Karen Knox’s sophomore feature We Forgot To Break Up about a trans musician caught in a love triangle with his bandmates. The Canadian actress and filmmaker’s debut Adult Adoption premiered at Glasgow Film Festival in 2022.
Other world premieres are Kat Rohrer’s Austrian romantic comedy What A Feeling about two women who meet...
- 2/13/2024
- ScreenDaily
Helsinki-based production company It’s Alive Films has boarded upcoming “Copernicus Secrets” as ca o-producer, joining Orka Studio’s Magdalena Zimecka (Poland) and 4film’s Anita Juka (Croatia.)
Recently, Orka co-produced Naomi Watts survival drama “Infinite Storm” by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert, as well as Marta Minorowicz’s “Illusion.”
“We like to try new things and we have never been involved in this kind of co-production before. Copernicus was an intellectual giant, whose vision had a tremendous effect on modern science. In a way, this story has been relevant since the 15th century,” said Finland’s Jani Pösö.
Running It’s Alive Films alongside director and longtime collaborator Teemu Nikki, Pösö is also behind “Euthanizer,” Finland’s 2018 Oscar submission, Venice-winning “The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic” or children’s film “Snot & Splash – The Mystery of Disappearing Holes,” starring Pekka Strang.
Currently, the duo is shopping their new feature “100 Liters of Gold.
Recently, Orka co-produced Naomi Watts survival drama “Infinite Storm” by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert, as well as Marta Minorowicz’s “Illusion.”
“We like to try new things and we have never been involved in this kind of co-production before. Copernicus was an intellectual giant, whose vision had a tremendous effect on modern science. In a way, this story has been relevant since the 15th century,” said Finland’s Jani Pösö.
Running It’s Alive Films alongside director and longtime collaborator Teemu Nikki, Pösö is also behind “Euthanizer,” Finland’s 2018 Oscar submission, Venice-winning “The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic” or children’s film “Snot & Splash – The Mystery of Disappearing Holes,” starring Pekka Strang.
Currently, the duo is shopping their new feature “100 Liters of Gold.
- 2/3/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Festival selection includes Nikolaj Arcel’s ‘The Promised Land’ and Ernst De Geer’s ‘The Hypnosis’.
Goteborg Film Festival has selected almost 250 films for its 47th edition, including recent Nordic favourites The Promised Land starring Mads Mikkelsen and The Hypnosis by Ernst De Geer.
The festival, which runs from January 26 to February 4, has also programmed events including a talk between Ruben Ostlund and Cannes director Thierry Fremaux; and selected Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen to receive its Nordic Honorary Dragon award.
Scroll down for the list of festival titles
The 10 films competing in the Nordic Competition include Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land,...
Goteborg Film Festival has selected almost 250 films for its 47th edition, including recent Nordic favourites The Promised Land starring Mads Mikkelsen and The Hypnosis by Ernst De Geer.
The festival, which runs from January 26 to February 4, has also programmed events including a talk between Ruben Ostlund and Cannes director Thierry Fremaux; and selected Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen to receive its Nordic Honorary Dragon award.
Scroll down for the list of festival titles
The 10 films competing in the Nordic Competition include Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land,...
- 1/9/2024
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Memento International has boarded “Arenas,” Camille Perton’s feature debut set in the world of professional soccer, starring Édgar Ramírez (“Carlos”), Iliès Kadri (“Nobody’s Hero”), Sofian Khammes (“November”) and Lorenzo Zurzolo (“Eo”).
Now in post-production, the film shot across Lyon, Monaco, Nice and Baku in Azerbaijan. Memento International will kick off sales at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase in Paris next week.
The film follows Brahim, a rising soccer star who is about to sign his first contract at his prestigious hometown club. But when a mysterious and powerful agent disrupts the negotiations, Brahim discovers the shady side of the business. Torn between loyalty and money, he will engage in a race against time to claim his destiny.
“Arenas” is produced by Eve Robin and Judith Lou Lévy for Les Films du Bal, the ambitious independent company behind Mati Diop’s Cannes prizewinner “Atlantics,” “Ahed’s Knee” by Nadav Lapid and the...
Now in post-production, the film shot across Lyon, Monaco, Nice and Baku in Azerbaijan. Memento International will kick off sales at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase in Paris next week.
The film follows Brahim, a rising soccer star who is about to sign his first contract at his prestigious hometown club. But when a mysterious and powerful agent disrupts the negotiations, Brahim discovers the shady side of the business. Torn between loyalty and money, he will engage in a race against time to claim his destiny.
“Arenas” is produced by Eve Robin and Judith Lou Lévy for Les Films du Bal, the ambitious independent company behind Mati Diop’s Cannes prizewinner “Atlantics,” “Ahed’s Knee” by Nadav Lapid and the...
- 1/8/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border will open the 22nd Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, running from March 6 to 28 in various locations across London.
The opening gala screening at the BFI Southbank will tie in with the film’s UK release by Modern Films, which kicks off on March 8. The picture previously made its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
The timely drama explores the migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border from a variety of points of view, from the people stuck in the treacherous natural environment, to activists trying to help them and border guards charged with keeping them out.
The work hit the headlines earlier this year when Holland was attacked by Poland’s far-right government as the film world premiered to acclaim at the Venice Film Festival in September, where it won the Special Jury Prize.
Polish distributor Kino Świat pushed on with the...
The opening gala screening at the BFI Southbank will tie in with the film’s UK release by Modern Films, which kicks off on March 8. The picture previously made its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
The timely drama explores the migrant crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border from a variety of points of view, from the people stuck in the treacherous natural environment, to activists trying to help them and border guards charged with keeping them out.
The work hit the headlines earlier this year when Holland was attacked by Poland’s far-right government as the film world premiered to acclaim at the Venice Film Festival in September, where it won the Special Jury Prize.
Polish distributor Kino Świat pushed on with the...
- 12/20/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
“Woman Of…,” Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert’s pioneering trans drama, has been sold by Memento International across Europe.
Set against the landscape of the Polish transformation from communism to capitalism, “Woman Of” stars Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik as Aniela Wesoły. “Woman Of…” spans 45 years of Aniela’s life as she aspires to find personal liberty as a trans woman and faces hardships in marriage and parenthood, strained family relations and complicated attitudes in her environment.
The movie has been acquired for Italy (I Wonder), France (UFO), Germany (Salzgeber), Austria (Filmladen), Spain (Karma), Benelux and Israel (Cinemien), Switzerland (Xenix), Sweden (Lucky Dogs), Greece (Cinobo), Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic) and Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe).
Discussions are ongoing in other territories including the U.K. and Scandinavia. North American sales are handled by Anonymous Content and Memento International. The film will be released in Poland by Next Films and is set for March...
Set against the landscape of the Polish transformation from communism to capitalism, “Woman Of” stars Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik as Aniela Wesoły. “Woman Of…” spans 45 years of Aniela’s life as she aspires to find personal liberty as a trans woman and faces hardships in marriage and parenthood, strained family relations and complicated attitudes in her environment.
The movie has been acquired for Italy (I Wonder), France (UFO), Germany (Salzgeber), Austria (Filmladen), Spain (Karma), Benelux and Israel (Cinemien), Switzerland (Xenix), Sweden (Lucky Dogs), Greece (Cinobo), Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic) and Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe).
Discussions are ongoing in other territories including the U.K. and Scandinavia. North American sales are handled by Anonymous Content and Memento International. The film will be released in Poland by Next Films and is set for March...
- 11/6/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Memento International has scored further deals on “Omen,” the feature debut of artist and musician turned director Baloji. The film world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, where it won the New Voice Award, and was acquired by Utopia for North America.
“Omen” follows Koffie, who after spending years in Belgium, returns home to the Congo to find himself confronted by his past and culture at a family event. Koffie visits his birthplace after being mysteriously ostracized by his family and spending years abroad in Europe. With his soon-to-be wife and unborn child in tow, Koffie’s arrival sets in motion a sprawling, nightmarish and psychedelic fairy tale about ancestry, belief, wrestling, witchcraft and sorcery in Africa today.
The movie was acquired for France (Pan Distribution), Italy (I Wonder), Spain (Filmin), Germany and Austria (Grandfilm), the U.K. (Aya Films), Switzerland (Outside the Box) and Eastern Europe (HBO). The movie...
“Omen” follows Koffie, who after spending years in Belgium, returns home to the Congo to find himself confronted by his past and culture at a family event. Koffie visits his birthplace after being mysteriously ostracized by his family and spending years abroad in Europe. With his soon-to-be wife and unborn child in tow, Koffie’s arrival sets in motion a sprawling, nightmarish and psychedelic fairy tale about ancestry, belief, wrestling, witchcraft and sorcery in Africa today.
The movie was acquired for France (Pan Distribution), Italy (I Wonder), Spain (Filmin), Germany and Austria (Grandfilm), the U.K. (Aya Films), Switzerland (Outside the Box) and Eastern Europe (HBO). The movie...
- 10/9/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Writers’ Development
The U.K.’s National Film and Television School (Nfts) has partnered with “The Crown” producer Left Bank Pictures on the Nfts Diverse Writers Development Program that kicks off in March 2024. It will select six emerging U.K. screenwriters from under-represented backgrounds to contribute their voices to the entertainment landscape and inject fresh perspectives into scripted drama.
The chosen writers will embark on a paid 10-week program, during which four full series ideas will be developed and pitched, with the aim of creating commercially viable television drama concepts. The participants will work through a curriculum designed by the Nfts. The initiative will connect writers with production executives from Left Bank Pictures and potentially other British production companies.
Applications are open now and close Oct. 31.
Promotion
Alexandre Moreau has been promoted to head of sales at Paris-based company Memento International. The executive will oversee Memento International’s slate of films and strategy,...
The U.K.’s National Film and Television School (Nfts) has partnered with “The Crown” producer Left Bank Pictures on the Nfts Diverse Writers Development Program that kicks off in March 2024. It will select six emerging U.K. screenwriters from under-represented backgrounds to contribute their voices to the entertainment landscape and inject fresh perspectives into scripted drama.
The chosen writers will embark on a paid 10-week program, during which four full series ideas will be developed and pitched, with the aim of creating commercially viable television drama concepts. The participants will work through a curriculum designed by the Nfts. The initiative will connect writers with production executives from Left Bank Pictures and potentially other British production companies.
Applications are open now and close Oct. 31.
Promotion
Alexandre Moreau has been promoted to head of sales at Paris-based company Memento International. The executive will oversee Memento International’s slate of films and strategy,...
- 10/2/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
A pair of noteworthy Cannes titles in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and Tran Anh Hung’s The Pot-au-Feu, some Locarno items such as Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World but with a major slew of Venice-preemed films are part of the 21 newly added titles to be considered for a whole bunch of prizes for the upcoming European Film Awards. The European Film Academy have now set their 4600 members with a batch of 40 films competing for various prizes at the ceremony that will be set for December 9th in Berlin. Here are the added films:
Animal – Sofia Exarchou (Greece/Austria/Bulgaria/Romania/Cyprus)
Blaga’s Lessons – Stephan Komandarev (Bulgaria/Germany)
Club Zero – Jessica Hausner (Austria/UK/Germany/France/Denmark/Qatar)
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World – Radu Jude (Romania/Luxembourg/France/Croatia)
Excursion – Una Gunjak (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia...
Animal – Sofia Exarchou (Greece/Austria/Bulgaria/Romania/Cyprus)
Blaga’s Lessons – Stephan Komandarev (Bulgaria/Germany)
Club Zero – Jessica Hausner (Austria/UK/Germany/France/Denmark/Qatar)
Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World – Radu Jude (Romania/Luxembourg/France/Croatia)
Excursion – Una Gunjak (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Croatia...
- 9/27/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
40 feature films now selected for Academy’s 2023 shortlist.
The European Film Academy has added a further 21 features to its shortlist for the 2023 European Film Awards, including Cannes premieres The Zone of Interest and Club Zero and Venice competition titles The Green Border and Io Capitano.
The shortlist for the European Film Awards now comprises 40 features. The first 19 titles titles in the running for the 2023 European Film Awards were unveiled in August and included Anatomy Of A Fall, How To Have Sex, The Old Oak and Firebrand.
The European Film Academy said that more than 40% of all selected films are directed by women.
The European Film Academy has added a further 21 features to its shortlist for the 2023 European Film Awards, including Cannes premieres The Zone of Interest and Club Zero and Venice competition titles The Green Border and Io Capitano.
The shortlist for the European Film Awards now comprises 40 features. The first 19 titles titles in the running for the 2023 European Film Awards were unveiled in August and included Anatomy Of A Fall, How To Have Sex, The Old Oak and Firebrand.
The European Film Academy said that more than 40% of all selected films are directed by women.
- 9/27/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
We came, we saw, we conquered. Our Nicholas Bell was in review overdrive assessing the entire competition and much more. We’ll still have film reviews to populate the site and this page in the near future, but for the time being here is a handy quick link to the wealth of richness (and some rubbish) selections that made up all sections of the Lido this year.
Competition:
Adagio – Stefano Sollima [Review]
La Bête – Bertrand Bonello [Review]
Comandante – Edoardo De Angelis [Review]
Dogman – Luc Besson [Review]
El Conde – Pablo Larraín [Review]
Enea – Pietro Castellitto [Review]
Evil Does Not Exist – Ryusuke Hamaguchi [Review]
Ferrari – Michael Mann [Review]
Finalmente l’alba – Saverio Costanzo [Review]
Green Border – Agnieszka Holland [Review]
Holly – Fien Troch [Review]
Io capitano – Matteo Garrone [Review]
The Killer – David Fincher [Review]
Lubo – Giorgio Diritti [Review]
Maestro – Bradley Cooper [Review]
Memory – Michel Franco [Review]
Origin – Ava DuVernay [Review]
Hors-saison – Stéphane Brizé [Review]
Poor Things – Yorgos Lanthimos [Review]
Priscilla – Sofia Coppola [Review]
The Promised Land – Nikolaj Arcel [Review]
The Theory of Everything – Timm Kröger [Review]
Woman Of…...
Competition:
Adagio – Stefano Sollima [Review]
La Bête – Bertrand Bonello [Review]
Comandante – Edoardo De Angelis [Review]
Dogman – Luc Besson [Review]
El Conde – Pablo Larraín [Review]
Enea – Pietro Castellitto [Review]
Evil Does Not Exist – Ryusuke Hamaguchi [Review]
Ferrari – Michael Mann [Review]
Finalmente l’alba – Saverio Costanzo [Review]
Green Border – Agnieszka Holland [Review]
Holly – Fien Troch [Review]
Io capitano – Matteo Garrone [Review]
The Killer – David Fincher [Review]
Lubo – Giorgio Diritti [Review]
Maestro – Bradley Cooper [Review]
Memory – Michel Franco [Review]
Origin – Ava DuVernay [Review]
Hors-saison – Stéphane Brizé [Review]
Poor Things – Yorgos Lanthimos [Review]
Priscilla – Sofia Coppola [Review]
The Promised Land – Nikolaj Arcel [Review]
The Theory of Everything – Timm Kröger [Review]
Woman Of…...
- 9/26/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Exclusive: Poland will submit animated feature drama The Peasants for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
- 9/25/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Seated before a photo of filmmaker Sarah Moldoror, panelists at this year’s Women in Film roundtable shared strategies for greater industry parity, while reflecting on recent successes and standstills in that ongoing pursuit. Variety has been give access to the video of the panel discussion.
Organized by Magaajyia Silberfeld and Winta Ghebre, and moderated by journalist and filmmaker Rahmatou Keïta, the Venice Film Festival roundtable brought together filmmakers Malgorzata Szumowska (“Woman Of”), Gina Kim (whose 3D-360 doc “Comfortless” screens in Venice Immersive), and Leila Basma (director of the Horizons-selected short “Sea Salt”), alongside set decorator Brandi Kalish (“The Killer”).
Moderator Rahmatou Keïta stressed the need for historical memory and for a greater degree of focus in order to prevent real gains from slipping into PR lip service. Keïta made mention of the equality charter signed at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival before caustically pointing out that five years prior,...
Organized by Magaajyia Silberfeld and Winta Ghebre, and moderated by journalist and filmmaker Rahmatou Keïta, the Venice Film Festival roundtable brought together filmmakers Malgorzata Szumowska (“Woman Of”), Gina Kim (whose 3D-360 doc “Comfortless” screens in Venice Immersive), and Leila Basma (director of the Horizons-selected short “Sea Salt”), alongside set decorator Brandi Kalish (“The Killer”).
Moderator Rahmatou Keïta stressed the need for historical memory and for a greater degree of focus in order to prevent real gains from slipping into PR lip service. Keïta made mention of the equality charter signed at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival before caustically pointing out that five years prior,...
- 9/9/2023
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Pieces of a Woman: Szumowska & Englert Compose Compassionate Portrait of Trans Woman
“Testosterone is power,” confirms one physician advising Andrzej, the protagonist of Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert’s latest, Woman Of…, which parallels a trans woman’s eternally inhibited sex reassignment with the shifting political landscape of Poland over four decades. It’s a statement reflecting the staunchly heteronormative and conservative sentiments of a country struggling to divorce itself from the grip of nationalism in its post-Communist era, where manliness remains close to godliness. An anguish crystallized by countless consultations with a medical community in a country whose policies actively impede women and the LGBTQ+ community is one of many shifting facets of Andrzej’s journey to becoming Aniela.…...
“Testosterone is power,” confirms one physician advising Andrzej, the protagonist of Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert’s latest, Woman Of…, which parallels a trans woman’s eternally inhibited sex reassignment with the shifting political landscape of Poland over four decades. It’s a statement reflecting the staunchly heteronormative and conservative sentiments of a country struggling to divorce itself from the grip of nationalism in its post-Communist era, where manliness remains close to godliness. An anguish crystallized by countless consultations with a medical community in a country whose policies actively impede women and the LGBTQ+ community is one of many shifting facets of Andrzej’s journey to becoming Aniela.…...
- 9/8/2023
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
With her enigmatically titled Woman Of… (Kobieta z..), Malgorzata Szumowska returns from the magical satire of Never Gonna Snow Again to trenchant social realism, recounting a journey lasting half a lifetime, of sacrifice, sorrow and resilience.
Written and directed in collaboration with regular cinematographer and creative partner Michal Englert, this is a rare close-up of an older trans woman making tough choices in a majority Catholic country that remains legislatively and socially hostile. The film’s compassionate gaze and stirring performances make it an illuminating window into gender recognition in an unaccommodating environment.
Like many dramas focused on a highly specific community and developed out of extensive interviews, Woman Of… doesn’t entirely escape the feel of a representational project that ticks all the required boxes in a not entirely seamless narrative. However, that doesn’t make it any less sincere or moving, not only in the principal character’s...
Written and directed in collaboration with regular cinematographer and creative partner Michal Englert, this is a rare close-up of an older trans woman making tough choices in a majority Catholic country that remains legislatively and socially hostile. The film’s compassionate gaze and stirring performances make it an illuminating window into gender recognition in an unaccommodating environment.
Like many dramas focused on a highly specific community and developed out of extensive interviews, Woman Of… doesn’t entirely escape the feel of a representational project that ticks all the required boxes in a not entirely seamless narrative. However, that doesn’t make it any less sincere or moving, not only in the principal character’s...
- 9/8/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The first real clue comes when Andrzej is called up for national service and, standing in front of the army medics in his underwear, refuses to take his socks off. His toenails were painted blue, he tells his mates cheerfully a couple of years later, as if it were a joke. But it isn’t a joke; it is the most serious thing in his life. He is waving a flag at the time; they are in the bloom of the Solidarity movement and the promise of a new world, when it feels like anything goes.
But it isn’t quite like that, either. Poland will soon find its conservative heart. An occasional magazine article about newly recognized gender dysphoria may pop up. The internet is full of sex sites offering new combinations, even if that doesn’t quite chime with what Andrzej, who has a beloved wife and children,...
But it isn’t quite like that, either. Poland will soon find its conservative heart. An occasional magazine article about newly recognized gender dysphoria may pop up. The internet is full of sex sites offering new combinations, even if that doesn’t quite chime with what Andrzej, who has a beloved wife and children,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
Trans women are women, deserving of all the respect and rights of their cis counterparts. That reality is conveyed poignantly in “Woman Of,” from Polish directors Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert, a sprawling, lyrical, and sensitive journey of a woman becoming her true self.
While it occasionally bags at the seams, spending time meandering down inconsequential tangents bereft of purpose, the film’s characters are acted with such nuanced specificity that even at two hours and 20 minutes, “Woman Of” is a never-tiring portrait of gender and sexuality told across 45 years of Poland. We begin in the 1970s and move through communism, independence, and Covid, but society still largely languishes in the bureaucratic hell that awaits Polish LGBTQ+ people seeking lives without discrimination, to marry who they please, or to be legally recognized for their gender.
Aniela Wesoly, or Andrej as her parents named her, has spent her whole life in...
While it occasionally bags at the seams, spending time meandering down inconsequential tangents bereft of purpose, the film’s characters are acted with such nuanced specificity that even at two hours and 20 minutes, “Woman Of” is a never-tiring portrait of gender and sexuality told across 45 years of Poland. We begin in the 1970s and move through communism, independence, and Covid, but society still largely languishes in the bureaucratic hell that awaits Polish LGBTQ+ people seeking lives without discrimination, to marry who they please, or to be legally recognized for their gender.
Aniela Wesoly, or Andrej as her parents named her, has spent her whole life in...
- 9/8/2023
- by Leila Latif
- Indiewire
There will come a time, perhaps not even too far from now, when films like “Woman Of…” may feel, if not old hat, at least familiar, part of a genre unto itself: not a coming-of-age story but a coming-of-self one, tracing the particular life stages of identifying oneself as transgender, accepting oneself as such, and finally living that truth out loud. Spanning decades in its closeup portrait of a Polish trans woman traveling that trajectory in a social climate hostile to her very existence, Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s heart-on-sleeve film isn’t aiming to be revolutionary — there’s an old-fashioned melodramatic heft to its episodic construction, setting its heroine’s tale in a pointedly mainstream context. But it still represents a bold gesture of cinematic allyship, drawing attention as it does to Poland’s dire record on LGBT rights.
Those merits will serve this Venice competition premiere well on the festival circuit,...
Those merits will serve this Venice competition premiere well on the festival circuit,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert’s transgender drama Women Of world premieres in Competition at the Venice Film Festival on Friday.
As ever the filmmaking team – who have been working together for more than two decades on titles such as Mug, In The Name Of and French-language drama Elles – are pushing boundaries in their native Poland.
Set against the backdrop of the country’s transition from communism to capitalism, Woman Of follows protagonist Aniela Wesoły across the course of 45 years as she seeks to live freely as a trans woman in a small provincial town.
The film charts Wesoly’s journey with her wife, as the couple navigate her transition in an environment where it is neither recognized nor accepted.
“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time. The first impulse was 20 years ago when Michal [who is also a cinematographer] filmed one of the first [transition] surgeries,” says Szumowska.
“But there...
As ever the filmmaking team – who have been working together for more than two decades on titles such as Mug, In The Name Of and French-language drama Elles – are pushing boundaries in their native Poland.
Set against the backdrop of the country’s transition from communism to capitalism, Woman Of follows protagonist Aniela Wesoły across the course of 45 years as she seeks to live freely as a trans woman in a small provincial town.
The film charts Wesoly’s journey with her wife, as the couple navigate her transition in an environment where it is neither recognized nor accepted.
“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time. The first impulse was 20 years ago when Michal [who is also a cinematographer] filmed one of the first [transition] surgeries,” says Szumowska.
“But there...
- 9/8/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The fall festival circuit features a powerhouse lineup of Polish cinema that showcases an industry in full stride, with hard-hitting topical dramas, award-season hopefuls and potential box-office breakouts highlighting the strength and diversity of filmmaking in a country with a storied cinematic history.
Among the hotly anticipated premieres at this week’s Toronto Film Festival is “The Peasants,” a lavish, hand-painted animated feature from the filmmaking team behind Oscar nominee and box-office sensation “Loving Vincent.” Meanwhile, three-time Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland will be on hand for the North American premiere of “Green Border,” her searing portrayal of Europe’s refugee crisis that just bowed in competition at the Venice Film Festival.
Also on the Lido, two-time Berlin Silver Bear winner Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert are vying for the Golden Lion with “Woman Of,” their decades-spanning portrait of a transgender Polish woman on a journey of self-discovery.
Producer Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska,...
Among the hotly anticipated premieres at this week’s Toronto Film Festival is “The Peasants,” a lavish, hand-painted animated feature from the filmmaking team behind Oscar nominee and box-office sensation “Loving Vincent.” Meanwhile, three-time Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland will be on hand for the North American premiere of “Green Border,” her searing portrayal of Europe’s refugee crisis that just bowed in competition at the Venice Film Festival.
Also on the Lido, two-time Berlin Silver Bear winner Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert are vying for the Golden Lion with “Woman Of,” their decades-spanning portrait of a transgender Polish woman on a journey of self-discovery.
Producer Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The film is about a woman accused of the brutal murder of her mother.
Memento International has boarded Edoardo Gabbriellini’s third feature Holiday, a suspense thriller set on the Italian Riviera that is premiering in Toronto in September.
Produced by Olivia Musini for Cinemaundici in association with Lorenzo Mieli’s The Apartment and Luca Guadagnino’s Frenesy Film Company, Holiday is about a woman who returns to her family-owned hotel after being released from prison. But even after being acquitted of the brutal murder of her mother and her mother’s lover and maintaining her innocence, she finds herself...
Memento International has boarded Edoardo Gabbriellini’s third feature Holiday, a suspense thriller set on the Italian Riviera that is premiering in Toronto in September.
Produced by Olivia Musini for Cinemaundici in association with Lorenzo Mieli’s The Apartment and Luca Guadagnino’s Frenesy Film Company, Holiday is about a woman who returns to her family-owned hotel after being released from prison. But even after being acquitted of the brutal murder of her mother and her mother’s lover and maintaining her innocence, she finds herself...
- 8/30/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Memento International and Anonymous Content have boarded “Woman Of,” a bold Venice competition entry written and directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert. The film is a pioneering trans drama set in against the landscape of the Polish transformation from communism to capitalism.
“Woman Of” stars Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik as Aniela Wesoły, who lived more than half of her adult life in a provincial Polish town as a man. “Woman Of…” spans 45 years of the life of Aniela as she aspires to find personal liberty as a trans woman and faces hardships in marriage and parenthood, strained family relations and complicated attitudes in her environment.
“‘Woman Of’ is the result of many years of work, a film that tells a story of a mature trans woman living in Poland, who does not fit the social norms of a traditional family,” said Szumowska and Englert, who have been working on movies together for over 20 years.
“Woman Of” stars Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik as Aniela Wesoły, who lived more than half of her adult life in a provincial Polish town as a man. “Woman Of…” spans 45 years of the life of Aniela as she aspires to find personal liberty as a trans woman and faces hardships in marriage and parenthood, strained family relations and complicated attitudes in her environment.
“‘Woman Of’ is the result of many years of work, a film that tells a story of a mature trans woman living in Poland, who does not fit the social norms of a traditional family,” said Szumowska and Englert, who have been working on movies together for over 20 years.
- 8/25/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
La BêteCOMPETITIONComandante (Edoardo De Angelis)The Promised Land (Nikolaj Arcel)Dogman (Luc Besson) La Bête (Bertrand Bonello) Hors-Saison (Stéphane Brizé) Enea (Pietro Castellitto) Maestro (Bradley Cooper)Priscilla (Sofia Coppola)Finalmente L’Alba (Saverio Costanzo)Lubo (Giorgio Diritti) Origin (Ava DuVernay) The Killer (David Fincher)Memory (Michel Franco)Io capitano (Matteo Garrone)Evil Does Not Exist (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi)The Green Border (Agnieszka Holland)The Theory of Everything (Timm Kröger)Poor Things (Yorgos Lanthimos)El conde (Pablo Larrain)Ferrari (Michael Mann)Adagio (Stefano Sollima)Woman OfHolly (Fien Troch)Out Of COMPETITIONFictionSociety of the Snow (J.A. Bayona)Coup de Chance (Woody Allen)The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Wes Anderson)The Penitent (Luca Barbareschi)L’Ordine Del Tempo (Liliana Cavani)Vivants (Alix Delaporte)Welcome to Paradise (Leonardo di Constanzo)Daaaaaali! (Quentin Dupieux)The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (William Friedkin)Making of (Cedric Kahn)Aggro Dr1ft (Harmony Korine)Hitman (Richard Linklater)The Palace (Roman Polanski...
- 7/29/2023
- MUBI
We have twenty-three competition entries and all the America films that were tipped to compete for the Golden Lion have indeed stuck to their plans of launching on the Lido. Of the big surprises of the line-up announcement we can add Ava DuVernay‘s Origin and especially Ryûsuke Hamaguchi‘s Evil Does Not Exist at the top of the list. That thinking could be extended to Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert‘s Woman Of, Nikolaj Arcel‘s The Promised Land and even Luc Besson‘s Dogman and especially for two films we thought were headed into 2024 with Stéphane Brizé‘s Hors-Saison and Agnieszka Holland‘s disturbing border drama (shot in secrecy) The Green Border.…...
- 7/25/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
The Venice Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 80th edition Tuesday morning, and its Official Competition featured works by five women filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay, who makes history as the first African American woman in selection.
The selected films and filmmakers are Priscilla (Sofia Coppola), Origin (Ava DuVernay), The Green Border (Agnieszka Holland), Woman Of, and Holly (Fien Troch).
There are 23 films in Competition overall, meaning the fest falls far below any sort of gender parity mark. The festival said 32% of submissions this year were from women filmmakers against 66% from male filmmakers. 60 movies did not declare a gender. Nonetheless, DuVernay’s Origin will mark a significant landmark for Venice as the first film by an African American woman to play in Competition.
Related: Venice Lineup Will Generate Debate, Not Least For Inclusion Of Roman Polanski & Woody Allen; Latter Set To Attend Festival
The pic is...
The selected films and filmmakers are Priscilla (Sofia Coppola), Origin (Ava DuVernay), The Green Border (Agnieszka Holland), Woman Of, and Holly (Fien Troch).
There are 23 films in Competition overall, meaning the fest falls far below any sort of gender parity mark. The festival said 32% of submissions this year were from women filmmakers against 66% from male filmmakers. 60 movies did not declare a gender. Nonetheless, DuVernay’s Origin will mark a significant landmark for Venice as the first film by an African American woman to play in Competition.
Related: Venice Lineup Will Generate Debate, Not Least For Inclusion Of Roman Polanski & Woody Allen; Latter Set To Attend Festival
The pic is...
- 7/25/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The Venice Film Festival sails on in Italy — even with much of Hollywood at a standstill.
The annual cinema celebration hosted by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera runs from August 30 through September 9. Despite already having lost Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” from its opening night slot due to its SAG-AFTRA talent including star Zendaya being unable to accompany the world premiere due to strike work stoppage orders, Venice has plenty of movie goodness in store for its 80th edition.
Competition highlights include Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” David Fincher’s “The Killer,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” Michel Franco’s “Memory,” Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde,” and many more. Out of competition, Venice will screen new films from Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, and William Friedkin.
The annual cinema celebration hosted by La Biennale di Venezia and directed by Alberto Barbera runs from August 30 through September 9. Despite already having lost Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” from its opening night slot due to its SAG-AFTRA talent including star Zendaya being unable to accompany the world premiere due to strike work stoppage orders, Venice has plenty of movie goodness in store for its 80th edition.
Competition highlights include Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” David Fincher’s “The Killer,” Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things,” Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” Luc Besson’s “Dogman,” Michel Franco’s “Memory,” Pablo Larrain’s “El Conde,” and many more. Out of competition, Venice will screen new films from Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Roman Polanski, and William Friedkin.
- 7/25/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
On the heels of yesterday’s TIFF announcement, the first major fall festival of the season––Venice International Film Festival––is unveiling its lineup. Taking place August 30-September 9, the competition jury this year is chaired by Damien Chazelle.
Highlights include new films from David Fincher, Michael Mann, Wes Anderson, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sofia Coppola, Bradley Cooper, Bertrand Bonello, Frederick Wiseman, Roman Polanski, William Friedkin, Ava DuVernay, Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, and more.
Competition
Adagio; dir. Stefano Sollima
The Beast; dir. Bertrand Bonello
Io Capitano; dir. Matteo Garrone
Comandante; dir. Edoardo de Angelis
El Conde; dir. Pablo Larraín
Die Theorie von Allem; dir. Timm Kröger
Dogman; dir. Luc Besson
Enea; dir. Pietro Castellitto
Evil Does Not Exist; dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Ferrari; dir. Michael Mann
Finalmente L’Alba; dir. Saverio Costanzo
Green Border; dir. Agnieszka Holland
Holly; dir. Fien Troch
Hors-Saison; dir. Stéphane Brizé
The Killer; dir. David Fincher
Lubo; dir. Giorgio Diritti
The Promised Land; dir.
Highlights include new films from David Fincher, Michael Mann, Wes Anderson, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sofia Coppola, Bradley Cooper, Bertrand Bonello, Frederick Wiseman, Roman Polanski, William Friedkin, Ava DuVernay, Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, and more.
Competition
Adagio; dir. Stefano Sollima
The Beast; dir. Bertrand Bonello
Io Capitano; dir. Matteo Garrone
Comandante; dir. Edoardo de Angelis
El Conde; dir. Pablo Larraín
Die Theorie von Allem; dir. Timm Kröger
Dogman; dir. Luc Besson
Enea; dir. Pietro Castellitto
Evil Does Not Exist; dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Ferrari; dir. Michael Mann
Finalmente L’Alba; dir. Saverio Costanzo
Green Border; dir. Agnieszka Holland
Holly; dir. Fien Troch
Hors-Saison; dir. Stéphane Brizé
The Killer; dir. David Fincher
Lubo; dir. Giorgio Diritti
The Promised Land; dir.
- 7/25/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Includes films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Venice Film Festival announced the programme for its 80th edition, including a 23-strong Competition with new films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Scroll down for full line-up
The selection was announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera. The SAG-AFTRA strike in the US has had a “quite modest” impact on the selection according to Barbera, who was forced to pull Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers as the opening film over the weekend due to the strike.
Venice Film Festival announced the programme for its 80th edition, including a 23-strong Competition with new films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Scroll down for full line-up
The selection was announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera. The SAG-AFTRA strike in the US has had a “quite modest” impact on the selection according to Barbera, who was forced to pull Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers as the opening film over the weekend due to the strike.
- 7/25/2023
- by Ben Dalton¬Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
This year’s selection will be announced at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by Roberto Cicutto and Alberto Barbera.
The line-up for the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-September 9) will be revealed this morning at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera
The press conference will be live-streamed below, and this page will be updated with the films as they are announced.
Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was originally set to open the festival but was pulled by MGM amid the actors’ strike. It was replaced by Edoardo De Angelis’ Comandante.
The closing film...
The line-up for the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-September 9) will be revealed this morning at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera
The press conference will be live-streamed below, and this page will be updated with the films as they are announced.
Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was originally set to open the festival but was pulled by MGM amid the actors’ strike. It was replaced by Edoardo De Angelis’ Comandante.
The closing film...
- 7/25/2023
- by Ben Dalton¬Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Aimee Lou Wood and Matt Dillon have signed on to play Anna and Fyodor Dostoevsky in Małgorzata Szumowska’s ‘The Gambler Wife.’
Written by Szumowska and Kasper Bajon adapted from Andrew D. Kaufman’s book The Gambler Wife: A True Story of Love, Risk and the Woman Who Saved Dostoyevsky, is a dark comedy about one of literature’s most towering figures.
The project follows Fyodor, or Fyedya to his intimates, and his much younger, pregnant wife, Anna, as they travel to Switzerland for their honeymoon. Anna tolerates Fyedya’s gambling addiction as this will serve as inspiration for his burgeoning literary career. However, Fyedya’s compulsive roulette playing continues to cause problems for the couple until they are forced to return to a Russia that is not quite as they remember.
Also in news – First look image revealed for Sky original film ‘Arthur’s Whisky’
Szumowska describes the feature as...
Written by Szumowska and Kasper Bajon adapted from Andrew D. Kaufman’s book The Gambler Wife: A True Story of Love, Risk and the Woman Who Saved Dostoyevsky, is a dark comedy about one of literature’s most towering figures.
The project follows Fyodor, or Fyedya to his intimates, and his much younger, pregnant wife, Anna, as they travel to Switzerland for their honeymoon. Anna tolerates Fyedya’s gambling addiction as this will serve as inspiration for his burgeoning literary career. However, Fyedya’s compulsive roulette playing continues to cause problems for the couple until they are forced to return to a Russia that is not quite as they remember.
Also in news – First look image revealed for Sky original film ‘Arthur’s Whisky’
Szumowska describes the feature as...
- 5/18/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
BAFTA-winning “Sex Education” star Aimee Lou Wood and Oscar-nominee Matt Dillon (“Crash”) have been tapped to star as Anna and Fyodor Dostoyevsky in “The Gambler Wife,” a dark comedy about one of world literature’s most towering figures, by two-time Berlinale prize winner Małgorzata Szumowska.
“The Gambler Wife” follows the Russian novelist and his much younger, pregnant wife, Anna, as they travel to Switzerland for their honeymoon. Anna tolerates her husband’s gambling addiction, which will serve as inspiration for his burgeoning literary career. However, Fyodor’s compulsive roulette playing continues to cause problems for the couple until they are forced to return to a Russia that is not quite as they remember.
“This dark comedy explores the patriarchal, nationalistic Russian identity which keeps on waging war between the West and the East, which is as relevant today as it was two hundred years ago,” said Szumowska.
Pic is produced...
“The Gambler Wife” follows the Russian novelist and his much younger, pregnant wife, Anna, as they travel to Switzerland for their honeymoon. Anna tolerates her husband’s gambling addiction, which will serve as inspiration for his burgeoning literary career. However, Fyodor’s compulsive roulette playing continues to cause problems for the couple until they are forced to return to a Russia that is not quite as they remember.
“This dark comedy explores the patriarchal, nationalistic Russian identity which keeps on waging war between the West and the East, which is as relevant today as it was two hundred years ago,” said Szumowska.
Pic is produced...
- 5/18/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Variety has been given access to the teaser (below) for “Murals,” an immersive 3D documentary that has its world premiere on May 18 at Cannes Next, a sidebar to the Marché du Film in Cannes.
The experience, which is created in Unreal Engine and displayed on LED screens, features murals by Banksy, created following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The project was initiated by Artem Ivanenko, a 3D artist from Irpin, Ukraine, which was one of the first towns to be hit during the Russian invasion. Later, when the Russians withdrew, Ivanenko returned to Irpin to record the devastating destruction using 3D scanning.
The directors are Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro of the New York-based production company Aggressive, alongside Ivanenko. Spain’s Tigrelab handled art direction and CG/Unreal animation.
In a statement, the filmmakers said: “An audacious war of conquest is being waged in the heart of Europe, a criminal,...
The experience, which is created in Unreal Engine and displayed on LED screens, features murals by Banksy, created following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The project was initiated by Artem Ivanenko, a 3D artist from Irpin, Ukraine, which was one of the first towns to be hit during the Russian invasion. Later, when the Russians withdrew, Ivanenko returned to Irpin to record the devastating destruction using 3D scanning.
The directors are Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro of the New York-based production company Aggressive, alongside Ivanenko. Spain’s Tigrelab handled art direction and CG/Unreal animation.
In a statement, the filmmakers said: “An audacious war of conquest is being waged in the heart of Europe, a criminal,...
- 5/2/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Prominent Paris-based producer Marianne Slot, who has been instrumental to bringing works by auteurs such as Lars Von Trier, Lucrecia Martel, and Argentina’s Lisandro Alonso to the big screen, is being honored by the Locarno Film Festival.
Slot will receive the Swiss festival’s Raimondo Rezzonico prize for a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos. She will be bestowed with the award on Aug. 5 with a tribute that will include a screening of Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson’s environmental-themed black comedy “Woman At War,” followed by an on-stage conversation on Aug. 6.
Born in Denmark, Slot set up the Paris-based production company Slot Machine in 1993. She has been Von Trier’s French producer since 1995, starting with “Breaking the Waves.” Over the years Slot has shepherded works by a slew of indie auteurs at various stages of their careers. Besides Martel and Erlingsson these include Bent Hamer, Małgorzata Szumowska, Paz Encina,...
Slot will receive the Swiss festival’s Raimondo Rezzonico prize for a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos. She will be bestowed with the award on Aug. 5 with a tribute that will include a screening of Icelandic director Benedikt Erlingsson’s environmental-themed black comedy “Woman At War,” followed by an on-stage conversation on Aug. 6.
Born in Denmark, Slot set up the Paris-based production company Slot Machine in 1993. She has been Von Trier’s French producer since 1995, starting with “Breaking the Waves.” Over the years Slot has shepherded works by a slew of indie auteurs at various stages of their careers. Besides Martel and Erlingsson these include Bent Hamer, Małgorzata Szumowska, Paz Encina,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Locarno Film Festival will honor French-Danish producer Marianne Slot with its Raimondo Rezzonico Award, given to figures who have played a major role in international production, at its 76th edition running from August 2 to 12.
Over the course of her 30-year career, Slot has worked with a host of internationally renowned auteurs including Lars von Trier, Lucrecia Martel, Bent Hamer, Malgoska Szumowska, Paz Encina, Lisandro Alonso, Sergei Loznitsa, Naomi Kawase and Benedikt Erlingsson.
Slot broke into producing on the early works of von Trier, taking co-producer credits on the original The Kingdom TV series as well as Breaking The Waves and The Idiots, and has since become a key figure on the international arthouse co-production scene.
The producer will be in Cannes this year with Lisandro Alonso’s ambitious historical drama Eureka starring Viggo Mortensen, which world premieres in the Cannes Premiere section.
“Marianne Slot’s approach to film production has...
Over the course of her 30-year career, Slot has worked with a host of internationally renowned auteurs including Lars von Trier, Lucrecia Martel, Bent Hamer, Malgoska Szumowska, Paz Encina, Lisandro Alonso, Sergei Loznitsa, Naomi Kawase and Benedikt Erlingsson.
Slot broke into producing on the early works of von Trier, taking co-producer credits on the original The Kingdom TV series as well as Breaking The Waves and The Idiots, and has since become a key figure on the international arthouse co-production scene.
The producer will be in Cannes this year with Lisandro Alonso’s ambitious historical drama Eureka starring Viggo Mortensen, which world premieres in the Cannes Premiere section.
“Marianne Slot’s approach to film production has...
- 4/27/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Second edition of the scheme will take place in Veneto in June and Amsterdam in September.
Lava Films’ Mariusz Wlodarski from Poland and Topkapi Films’ Frans van Gestel from the Netherlands are among 12 producers selected for the second edition of Ace Leadership Special, a business workshop hosted by the Ace Producers network.
The 2023 edition will take place in Italy in June and in the Netherlands in September, with online elements over the summer.
Scroll down for the 2023 selection
Ace Leadership Special aims to help producers sustain solid business foundations, improve performance and prospects for their companies and develop their personal leadership and entrepreneurial skills.
Lava Films’ Mariusz Wlodarski from Poland and Topkapi Films’ Frans van Gestel from the Netherlands are among 12 producers selected for the second edition of Ace Leadership Special, a business workshop hosted by the Ace Producers network.
The 2023 edition will take place in Italy in June and in the Netherlands in September, with online elements over the summer.
Scroll down for the 2023 selection
Ace Leadership Special aims to help producers sustain solid business foundations, improve performance and prospects for their companies and develop their personal leadership and entrepreneurial skills.
- 4/12/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
First-time writer-director Malika Musaeva is set to make history at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, where her female-centered coming-of-age drama “The Cage is Looking for a Bird” is the first Chechen-language film ever selected by the venerable German fest.
Musaeva’s debut, which world premieres Feb. 22 in the festival’s competitive Encounters section, focuses on a group of Chechen women living in a remote rural village, where they must defend their freedom and the right to live their own lives.
At the film’s heart is a friendship between two teenage girls, played by first-time actors Khadizha Bataeva and Madina Akkieva. On the precipice of adulthood, the duo seeks refuge in each other as they navigate difficult decisions about their futures.
“The Cage is Looking for a Bird” is produced by Hype Studios, the recently launched outfit of producer Ilya Stewart, whose upcoming slate includes new features from...
Musaeva’s debut, which world premieres Feb. 22 in the festival’s competitive Encounters section, focuses on a group of Chechen women living in a remote rural village, where they must defend their freedom and the right to live their own lives.
At the film’s heart is a friendship between two teenage girls, played by first-time actors Khadizha Bataeva and Madina Akkieva. On the precipice of adulthood, the duo seeks refuge in each other as they navigate difficult decisions about their futures.
“The Cage is Looking for a Bird” is produced by Hype Studios, the recently launched outfit of producer Ilya Stewart, whose upcoming slate includes new features from...
- 2/21/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The Polish film industry is embracing variety and high-profile international collaborations, with a slew of new co-productions already generating buzz among buyers and festival programmers. “More and more established filmmakers, who used to look for collaborators in Romania or Hungary, are now coming to Poland — mostly because we are backed by concrete institutions and because there is money,” says producer Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska of Madants, heading to Berlinale’s European Film Market with “Ultima Thule” and Goran Stolevski’s “Housekeeping for Beginners.”
“Our crews speak English and work abroad. We are visible internationally,” she adds.
Madants is also behind James Napier Robertson’s upcoming Polish-Kiwi title “Joika,” one of six international co-productions backed by the Polish Film Institute in 2022. The shingle’s slate includes Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s “Let Me Out” and Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s follow-up to “The Silent Twins,” “Hot Spot.”
“Foreign producers and buyers are actively looking...
“Our crews speak English and work abroad. We are visible internationally,” she adds.
Madants is also behind James Napier Robertson’s upcoming Polish-Kiwi title “Joika,” one of six international co-productions backed by the Polish Film Institute in 2022. The shingle’s slate includes Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s “Let Me Out” and Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s follow-up to “The Silent Twins,” “Hot Spot.”
“Foreign producers and buyers are actively looking...
- 2/19/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Polish directorial duo Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert have set drama “Let Me Out” as their next film.
Spanning 45 years, the film will focus on Adam, trying to be a good husband and father in a small town in Poland. But Adam starts to feel increasingly uncomfortable in his body, one that doesn’t reflect his true identity — as a woman, Aniela.
Produced by No-Mad Films — a collaboration of Madants and Nowhere — it stars Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik and “Cold War” breakout Joanna Kulig, recently seen in Berlinale opener “She Came to Me.”
Both actors have collaborated with Szumowska before, on her films “Body,” for which Szumowska won a Berlinale Silver Bear, and “Elles.”
“People’s knowledge of that subject is still very limited — old stereotypes persist. It will be a difficult film and a sensitive subject, but therefore very important,” says Szumowska, admitting the duo has been thinking about the story...
Spanning 45 years, the film will focus on Adam, trying to be a good husband and father in a small town in Poland. But Adam starts to feel increasingly uncomfortable in his body, one that doesn’t reflect his true identity — as a woman, Aniela.
Produced by No-Mad Films — a collaboration of Madants and Nowhere — it stars Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik and “Cold War” breakout Joanna Kulig, recently seen in Berlinale opener “She Came to Me.”
Both actors have collaborated with Szumowska before, on her films “Body,” for which Szumowska won a Berlinale Silver Bear, and “Elles.”
“People’s knowledge of that subject is still very limited — old stereotypes persist. It will be a difficult film and a sensitive subject, but therefore very important,” says Szumowska, admitting the duo has been thinking about the story...
- 2/16/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based international sales and production company Totem Films have boarded debutant Malika Musaeva’s “The Cage is Looking for a Bird,” which will receive its world premiere in the Encounters strand of the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.
The film focuses on a group of Chechen women living in a remote rural village and their struggles to defend their right for freedom and the choice to live their own lives. At the centre is a friendship between two teenage girls, on the verge of adulthood, who seek refuge in each other as they navigate decisions around their future.
Musaeva was born in Grozny, Chechnya, in 1992. During the Second Chechen War in 1999 her family fled and lived in Ingushetia and Ukraine, before settling in Germany. In 2003 her family returned to Russia and lived in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. In 2010, she enrolled in the Kabardino-Balkarian State University and studied under the acclaimed film director Aleksandr Sokurov.
The film focuses on a group of Chechen women living in a remote rural village and their struggles to defend their right for freedom and the choice to live their own lives. At the centre is a friendship between two teenage girls, on the verge of adulthood, who seek refuge in each other as they navigate decisions around their future.
Musaeva was born in Grozny, Chechnya, in 1992. During the Second Chechen War in 1999 her family fled and lived in Ingushetia and Ukraine, before settling in Germany. In 2003 her family returned to Russia and lived in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. In 2010, she enrolled in the Kabardino-Balkarian State University and studied under the acclaimed film director Aleksandr Sokurov.
- 1/30/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias and Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Poland’s American Film Festival readies for its — lucky — 13th edition, unspooling Nov. 8-13 in Wrocław.
The fest, which will open with “Bones and All” and close with Florian Zeller’s “The Son,” will once again combine classics with contemporary titles, for instance pairing Nancy Buirski’s doc “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy” with John Schlesinger’s Oscar-winner, or introducing retrospectives dedicated to Robert Altman and Nina Menkes.
Menkes — behind “Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power” — will also get Aff’s Indie Star Award. Previous recipients include Todd Solondz, David Gordon Green, Hal Hartley, Whit Stillman, Rosanna Arquette and John Waters, who came to Poland last year.
“It was amazing,” Waters tells Variety, and he was “pleasantly surprised and flattered” by the local audience’s knowledge of his work.
“They really knew who I was! My favorite thing happened during a Q&a, when this man, who looked like an old Communist,...
The fest, which will open with “Bones and All” and close with Florian Zeller’s “The Son,” will once again combine classics with contemporary titles, for instance pairing Nancy Buirski’s doc “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy” with John Schlesinger’s Oscar-winner, or introducing retrospectives dedicated to Robert Altman and Nina Menkes.
Menkes — behind “Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power” — will also get Aff’s Indie Star Award. Previous recipients include Todd Solondz, David Gordon Green, Hal Hartley, Whit Stillman, Rosanna Arquette and John Waters, who came to Poland last year.
“It was amazing,” Waters tells Variety, and he was “pleasantly surprised and flattered” by the local audience’s knowledge of his work.
“They really knew who I was! My favorite thing happened during a Q&a, when this man, who looked like an old Communist,...
- 11/3/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Producer Ilya Stewart has launched an independent studio based in Europe that will operate on a global scale, working with international talent and focusing on English-language feature films and television series, Variety can exclusively reveal.
Hype Studios is the new venture from Stewart, the formerly Moscow-based producer who in recent years has been a fixture at the Cannes Film Festival, where his collaborations with Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov, including “Petrov’s Flu” and “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” have premiered in competition.
Among the co-productions with American and European partners currently on Hype Studios’ slate is Zach Wigon’s “Sanctuary,” starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott, which premieres as a Special Presentation next month at the Toronto International Film Festival and was produced with Rumble Films and Mosaic Films, along with Charades. Also on the slate is Pietro Marcello’s French-language “Scarlet,” produced in partnership with CG Cinéma’s Charles Gillibert, which opened this...
Hype Studios is the new venture from Stewart, the formerly Moscow-based producer who in recent years has been a fixture at the Cannes Film Festival, where his collaborations with Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov, including “Petrov’s Flu” and “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” have premiered in competition.
Among the co-productions with American and European partners currently on Hype Studios’ slate is Zach Wigon’s “Sanctuary,” starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott, which premieres as a Special Presentation next month at the Toronto International Film Festival and was produced with Rumble Films and Mosaic Films, along with Charades. Also on the slate is Pietro Marcello’s French-language “Scarlet,” produced in partnership with CG Cinéma’s Charles Gillibert, which opened this...
- 8/25/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Australian Film, Television and Radio School
Australia’s preeminent screen arts and broadcast school benefits from a beautiful setting in one of the most pleasant parts of Sydney, as well as a wealth of industry lecturers and connections to the country’s working film and TV world. Notable alumni include last year’s Oscar best director nominee Jane Campion (Power of the Dog) and Black Widow filmmaker Cate Shortland, in addition to a slew of past Oscar nominees and winners in technical categories, like David White (sound editing for Mad Max: Fury Road), Andrew Lesnie (cinematography for The Lord of the Rings) and Tony McNamara (best original screenplay with The Favourite).
Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica (Mexico)
Mexico’s most prestigious film school prides itself on the gender parity of its student body (a goal it first achieved in 2020) and its track record in turning out world-class professionals,...
Australian Film, Television and Radio School
Australia’s preeminent screen arts and broadcast school benefits from a beautiful setting in one of the most pleasant parts of Sydney, as well as a wealth of industry lecturers and connections to the country’s working film and TV world. Notable alumni include last year’s Oscar best director nominee Jane Campion (Power of the Dog) and Black Widow filmmaker Cate Shortland, in addition to a slew of past Oscar nominees and winners in technical categories, like David White (sound editing for Mad Max: Fury Road), Andrew Lesnie (cinematography for The Lord of the Rings) and Tony McNamara (best original screenplay with The Favourite).
Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica (Mexico)
Mexico’s most prestigious film school prides itself on the gender parity of its student body (a goal it first achieved in 2020) and its track record in turning out world-class professionals,...
- 8/5/2022
- by Scott Roxborough, Etan Vlessing, Patrick Brzeski and Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Films take top awards in Mexican and Iberoamerican competition sections.
Claudia Sainte Luce’s The Realm Of God) and Sivina Schnicer and Ulises Porra’s Carajita swept the prizes at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, which wrapped on June 18.
Sainte Luce’s coming -of- age tale, which world premiered in the Berlinale’s Generation Kplus sidebar, won four prizes in the Mexican Film competition, including best film worth 25,000, best cinematography, actor and director. The director’s previous credits include The Amazing Catfish in 2013.
Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic-Argentinan coproduction Carajita dominated the Iberoamerican competition section, winning best film and 25,000, best director,...
Claudia Sainte Luce’s The Realm Of God) and Sivina Schnicer and Ulises Porra’s Carajita swept the prizes at the Guadalajara International Film Festival, which wrapped on June 18.
Sainte Luce’s coming -of- age tale, which world premiered in the Berlinale’s Generation Kplus sidebar, won four prizes in the Mexican Film competition, including best film worth 25,000, best cinematography, actor and director. The director’s previous credits include The Amazing Catfish in 2013.
Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic-Argentinan coproduction Carajita dominated the Iberoamerican competition section, winning best film and 25,000, best director,...
- 6/22/2022
- by Alexis Grivas
- ScreenDaily
First edition to include 14 features.
An EU-backed European Film Festival is set to launch in Saudi Arabia this week, comprising 14 acclaimed features and a series of filmmaker events.
The festival has been organised by the Delegation of the European Union in the Saudi capital of Riyadh with support from media firm Arabia Pictures Group (Apg). Taking place from June 15-22 in Riyadh, it is intended to promote European cinema and foster contacts between European and Saudi filmmakers.
Subjects covered in the programme of films include female empowerment, climate change and disability. Titles selected for the inaugural edition include Polish drama Never Gonna Snow Again,...
An EU-backed European Film Festival is set to launch in Saudi Arabia this week, comprising 14 acclaimed features and a series of filmmaker events.
The festival has been organised by the Delegation of the European Union in the Saudi capital of Riyadh with support from media firm Arabia Pictures Group (Apg). Taking place from June 15-22 in Riyadh, it is intended to promote European cinema and foster contacts between European and Saudi filmmakers.
Subjects covered in the programme of films include female empowerment, climate change and disability. Titles selected for the inaugural edition include Polish drama Never Gonna Snow Again,...
- 6/13/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” described by Variety as “a fizzy, delirious, impishly energized, compulsively watchable 2-hour-and-39-minute fever dream,” is set to open the 37th Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (Ficg) on June 10.
The biopic starring Austin Butler as Elvis opposite Tom Hanks as his controversial manager, received a rousing 12-minute standing ovation at Cannes, the longest at this year’s edition.
The Festival closes June 18 with Mexico’s own musical icons, Los Tigres del Norte, in the documentary “Los Tigres del Norte: Historias que contar,” by Carlos Pérez Osorio (“Las Cronicas del Taco”), with its band members descending on Guadalajara to present it.
The documentary debuts on Prime Video the day before but it’s all about bringing back the in-person theatrical experience, said festival director Estrella Araiza.
Ficg has managed to push through the pandemic and the current government’s indifference to culture and subsequent budget cuts. Nevertheless,...
The biopic starring Austin Butler as Elvis opposite Tom Hanks as his controversial manager, received a rousing 12-minute standing ovation at Cannes, the longest at this year’s edition.
The Festival closes June 18 with Mexico’s own musical icons, Los Tigres del Norte, in the documentary “Los Tigres del Norte: Historias que contar,” by Carlos Pérez Osorio (“Las Cronicas del Taco”), with its band members descending on Guadalajara to present it.
The documentary debuts on Prime Video the day before but it’s all about bringing back the in-person theatrical experience, said festival director Estrella Araiza.
Ficg has managed to push through the pandemic and the current government’s indifference to culture and subsequent budget cuts. Nevertheless,...
- 6/10/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
As Hollywood events return to full force in New York and Los Angeles amid the coronavirus pandemic, here’s a look at this week’s (non-Oscar) biggest premieres, parties and openings, including red carpets for Atlanta season three, Moon Knight, The Lost City and Everything Everywhere All At Once.
The Lost City L.A. Premiere
After debuting in Austin, the Paramount adventure rom-com continued onto Los Angeles with a Monday night premiere in Westwood, sans Channing Tatum but joined by stars Sandra Bullock, Daniel Radcliffe, Bowen Yang, Oscar Nunez, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Patti Harrison.
Moon Knight Launch Event
Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke premiered their new Marvel series Moon Knight at a Los Angeles launch event on Tuesday, which follows Isaac as the mercenary Marc Spector, a character who is granted the powers of an Egyptian moon god while also struggling with dissociative identity disorder (Did).
iHeartRadio Music Awards
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The Lost City L.A. Premiere
After debuting in Austin, the Paramount adventure rom-com continued onto Los Angeles with a Monday night premiere in Westwood, sans Channing Tatum but joined by stars Sandra Bullock, Daniel Radcliffe, Bowen Yang, Oscar Nunez, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Patti Harrison.
Moon Knight Launch Event
Oscar Isaac and Ethan Hawke premiered their new Marvel series Moon Knight at a Los Angeles launch event on Tuesday, which follows Isaac as the mercenary Marc Spector, a character who is granted the powers of an Egyptian moon god while also struggling with dissociative identity disorder (Did).
iHeartRadio Music Awards
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- 3/25/2022
- by Kirsten Chuba
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A24’s SXSW opener Everything Everywhere All At Once, Bleecker Street’s Infinite Storm and Sony Pictures Classics’ Mothering Sunday offer something that’s been rare of late at the specialty box office, fresh content and choice.
They’re in a market with only one new studio wide release, Paramount’s The Lost City with Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock. And if that film does okay it’s a nice win for everyone, said a specialty distribution executive, since it appeals to an older and female demo that’s been hard to win back to theaters. He’s got fingers crossed that the variant of the Omicron variant won’t make a new dent in the very slowly reviving market for non-superhero films. He and others have noted week after week that no specialty recovery is really possible in any case without the consistent flow of new content that we’re just starting to see.
They’re in a market with only one new studio wide release, Paramount’s The Lost City with Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock. And if that film does okay it’s a nice win for everyone, said a specialty distribution executive, since it appeals to an older and female demo that’s been hard to win back to theaters. He’s got fingers crossed that the variant of the Omicron variant won’t make a new dent in the very slowly reviving market for non-superhero films. He and others have noted week after week that no specialty recovery is really possible in any case without the consistent flow of new content that we’re just starting to see.
- 3/25/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s a beautiful tale of grief and rebirth at the center of Malgorzata Szumowska’s Infinite Storm. The only reason Pam Bales (Naomi Watts) hiked up Mt. Washington despite warnings of blizzards and extreme temperatures that November day is because, as she tells her friend (Denis O’Hare), “It’s cheaper than therapy.” This has been her ritual on the anniversary of her daughters’ death. She climbs. She remembers. She mourns without the threat of anyone trying to comfort or pity her in a moment of self-reflection and, warranted or not, blame. Maybe she does it for the release. Maybe for the silence. Or perhaps Pam goes up that mountain knowing she might not come back because she’s okay with it. It wouldn’t be suicide, but it might bring peace.
Whether what Szumowska puts onscreen is as accurate an account of Pam’s harrowing day or not doesn’t,...
Whether what Szumowska puts onscreen is as accurate an account of Pam’s harrowing day or not doesn’t,...
- 3/24/2022
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Has a movie ever been improved by the insistence that it’s “based on a true story”? More often than not, these pronouncements feel as if they’re doing less to contextualize the actual films that follow than they are to compensate for them — that they’re insisting upon a degree of importance that the rest of their running times don’t justify and/or pleading for a suspension of disbelief that the rest of their running times don’t earn.
The dangers hardly stop there: Malgorzata Szumowska’s “Infinite Storm” is an unusual reminder that such an approach also runs the risk of provoking the exact opposite effect. Remarkable as the true story behind this emotionally detached survival drama might be, the non-fiction label it staples to itself during the opening credits steels viewers for an urgency that never develops, and limits them to .
Here are the facts: At...
The dangers hardly stop there: Malgorzata Szumowska’s “Infinite Storm” is an unusual reminder that such an approach also runs the risk of provoking the exact opposite effect. Remarkable as the true story behind this emotionally detached survival drama might be, the non-fiction label it staples to itself during the opening credits steels viewers for an urgency that never develops, and limits them to .
Here are the facts: At...
- 3/23/2022
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
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