Costa-Gavras, the celebrated Franco-Greek master who’s won an Oscar and a Palme d’Or, has teamed with French sales company Playtime for his latest film, “Last Breath.”
Currently in post-production, “Last Breath” boasts a strong international cast led by Denis Podalydès (“Deception”) and Kad Merad (“Welcome to the Sticks”), who star alongside Marilyne Canto (“The Starry Sky Above Me”), Charlotte Rampling (“Dune”), Ángela Molina (“Broken Embraces”), Karin Viard (“Strangers by Night”), Hiam Abbass (“Succession”) and Agathe Bonitzer (“Maria Montessori”).
Costa-Gavras penned the film, based on the book “Le Dernier Souffle” by Régis Debray and Claude Grange. A Cannes regular, Costa-Gavras won the Palme d’Or for “Missing” in 1982, served on the jury in 1976 and won the Jury Prize with his political thriller “Z” which went on to win an Oscar. He has also been feted as guest of honor at Cannes Classics, the selection dedicated to heritage films.
“We...
Currently in post-production, “Last Breath” boasts a strong international cast led by Denis Podalydès (“Deception”) and Kad Merad (“Welcome to the Sticks”), who star alongside Marilyne Canto (“The Starry Sky Above Me”), Charlotte Rampling (“Dune”), Ángela Molina (“Broken Embraces”), Karin Viard (“Strangers by Night”), Hiam Abbass (“Succession”) and Agathe Bonitzer (“Maria Montessori”).
Costa-Gavras penned the film, based on the book “Le Dernier Souffle” by Régis Debray and Claude Grange. A Cannes regular, Costa-Gavras won the Palme d’Or for “Missing” in 1982, served on the jury in 1976 and won the Jury Prize with his political thriller “Z” which went on to win an Oscar. He has also been feted as guest of honor at Cannes Classics, the selection dedicated to heritage films.
“We...
- 5/14/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Jessica Hausner on the references to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby: “The idea behind Hotel [starring Franziska Weisz] was to use all those classical horror film elements on purpose, to put them together but to not lift the secret.”
In the second instalment with Jessica Hausner on three of her feature films before her latest, the bewitching Club Zero (European Film Award Best Original Score to Markus Binder), we move the conversation to Hotel, starring Franziska Weisz with Birgit Minichmayr (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon) and Lovely Rita with Barbara Osika as Rita, Wolfgang Kostal and Karina Brandlmayer as her parents, and Peter Fiala as her man of interest. The two films have the costumes, as always, designed by Tanja Hausner, cinematography by Martin Gschlacht, sound design by Erik Mischijew (Maren Ade’s multiple European Film...
In the second instalment with Jessica Hausner on three of her feature films before her latest, the bewitching Club Zero (European Film Award Best Original Score to Markus Binder), we move the conversation to Hotel, starring Franziska Weisz with Birgit Minichmayr (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon) and Lovely Rita with Barbara Osika as Rita, Wolfgang Kostal and Karina Brandlmayer as her parents, and Peter Fiala as her man of interest. The two films have the costumes, as always, designed by Tanja Hausner, cinematography by Martin Gschlacht, sound design by Erik Mischijew (Maren Ade’s multiple European Film...
- 5/11/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Jessica Hausner with Anne-Katrin Titze on Sylvie Testud’s Christine, Léa Seydoux’s Maria, Bruno Todeschini’s Kuno, and Gilette Barbier’s Frau Hartl in Lourdes: “I was thinking about the story of Heidi [by Johanna Spyri].”
In the first installment with Jessica Hausner on three of her feature films before her latest, the bewitching Club Zero (European Film Award Best Original Score to Markus Binder), we start the conversation with Lourdes, costumes, as always, designed by Tanja Hausner, cinematography by Martin Gschlacht, sound design by Erik Mischijew, and production design by Katharina Wöppermann (Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari’s Women Without Men).
Kuno (Bruno Todeschini) with Christine (Sylvie Testud), Frau Hartl (Gilette Barbier) and Cécile (Elina Löwensohn)
Maria (Léa Seydoux), a newcomer to the...
In the first installment with Jessica Hausner on three of her feature films before her latest, the bewitching Club Zero (European Film Award Best Original Score to Markus Binder), we start the conversation with Lourdes, costumes, as always, designed by Tanja Hausner, cinematography by Martin Gschlacht, sound design by Erik Mischijew, and production design by Katharina Wöppermann (Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari’s Women Without Men).
Kuno (Bruno Todeschini) with Christine (Sylvie Testud), Frau Hartl (Gilette Barbier) and Cécile (Elina Löwensohn)
Maria (Léa Seydoux), a newcomer to the...
- 4/26/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
France’s mk2 Films has boarded Sandhya Suri’s title Santosh ahead of its premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard.
The Hindi-language, narrative fiction debut from UK-Indian filmmaker Suri (Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023).
A newly widowed woman inherits her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low caste girl is found raped and murdered, she is pulled into the investigation under the wing of a charismatic, feminist inspector. Zwigato and A Suitable Boy’s Shahana Goswami stars.
It is produced by Mike Goodridge and James Bowsher of the UK’s Good Chaos,...
The Hindi-language, narrative fiction debut from UK-Indian filmmaker Suri (Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023).
A newly widowed woman inherits her husband’s job as a police constable in the rural badlands of Northern India. When a low caste girl is found raped and murdered, she is pulled into the investigation under the wing of a charismatic, feminist inspector. Zwigato and A Suitable Boy’s Shahana Goswami stars.
It is produced by Mike Goodridge and James Bowsher of the UK’s Good Chaos,...
- 4/22/2024
- ScreenDaily
Updated: The Cannes Film Festival will have an admirable UK and Irish presence in 2024, including three films from Dublin, London and Belfast-based production company Element Pictures, Andrea Arnold’s Bird in Competition and features from fresh talents Sandhya Suri and Rungano Nyoni, as well as Sister Midnight in Directors’ Fortnight.
Competition is still proving a tricky spot to land for UK or Irish directors. In 2022, none made the cut, while in 2023, UK filmmakers Ken Loach and Jonathan Glazer made it through with The Old Oak and The Zone Of Interest respectively.
This year, Arnold is flying the flag with her...
Competition is still proving a tricky spot to land for UK or Irish directors. In 2022, none made the cut, while in 2023, UK filmmakers Ken Loach and Jonathan Glazer made it through with The Old Oak and The Zone Of Interest respectively.
This year, Arnold is flying the flag with her...
- 4/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Ms Novak’s (Mia Wasikowska) students Fred (Luke Barker), Ragna (Florence Baker), Helen (Gwen Currant), Elsa (Ksenia Devriendt), and Ben (Samuel D Anderson) in Jessica Hausner’s bewitching Club Zero
In the second installment with Jessica Hausner on Club Zero (co-written with Geraldine Bajard) and scored by Markus Binder (European Film Award winner), starring Mia Wasikowska (as Conscious Eating instructor Ms Novak), we discussed her longtime collaborators, costume designer Tanja Hausner and cinematographer Martin Gschlacht plus Sidse Babett Knudsen and Peter & The Wolf.
Jessica Hausner on using Peter & The Wolf in Club Zero: “It’s a very common fairytale and we found out that it’s really very well known …” Photo: Anne Katrin Titze
The parents of the students are played by Elsa Zylberstein (Simone Veil in Olivier Dahan’s all-embracing portrait Simone: Woman Of The Century) Mathieu Demy, Camilla Rutherford...
In the second installment with Jessica Hausner on Club Zero (co-written with Geraldine Bajard) and scored by Markus Binder (European Film Award winner), starring Mia Wasikowska (as Conscious Eating instructor Ms Novak), we discussed her longtime collaborators, costume designer Tanja Hausner and cinematographer Martin Gschlacht plus Sidse Babett Knudsen and Peter & The Wolf.
Jessica Hausner on using Peter & The Wolf in Club Zero: “It’s a very common fairytale and we found out that it’s really very well known …” Photo: Anne Katrin Titze
The parents of the students are played by Elsa Zylberstein (Simone Veil in Olivier Dahan’s all-embracing portrait Simone: Woman Of The Century) Mathieu Demy, Camilla Rutherford...
- 4/2/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for “Club Zero,” a presupposition story about eating techniques that can lead to complete elimination for food, written and directed by Jennifer Hausner. In select theaters since March 15th. See local listings
Rating: 5.0/5.0
The film is set in an elite boarding school, which brings in progressive teachers. One such guru who is instructing a group of students is Miss Novak (Mia Wasikowska), a leader in “conscious eating.” She instructs her new pupils to apply a special thought process to food, eventually weaning themselves off the eating of larger amounts, which is justified as the food industry contribution to world destruction in our modern era. But the experiment goes too far, and Miss Novak’s rule breaking closeness to a particular male student comes under scrutiny. Will any of the pupils join Club Zero, the elimination of a need to eat?
“Club Zero...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
The film is set in an elite boarding school, which brings in progressive teachers. One such guru who is instructing a group of students is Miss Novak (Mia Wasikowska), a leader in “conscious eating.” She instructs her new pupils to apply a special thought process to food, eventually weaning themselves off the eating of larger amounts, which is justified as the food industry contribution to world destruction in our modern era. But the experiment goes too far, and Miss Novak’s rule breaking closeness to a particular male student comes under scrutiny. Will any of the pupils join Club Zero, the elimination of a need to eat?
“Club Zero...
- 3/18/2024
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Premiering to much critical acclaim at Cannes in 2023, Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner’s new dark satire, “Club Zero,” lands in U.S. theaters today, Friday, March 15. Starring Mia Wasikowska, it centers on a young teacher who takes a job at an elite school and forms a strong bond with five students—a relationship that eventually takes a dangerous turn.
Continue reading ‘Club Zero’ Clip: Mia Wasikowska Teaches “Conscious Eating” In Jessica Hausner’s Acclaimed Satire [Exclusive] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Club Zero’ Clip: Mia Wasikowska Teaches “Conscious Eating” In Jessica Hausner’s Acclaimed Satire [Exclusive] at The Playlist.
- 3/15/2024
- by The Playlist
- The Playlist
Club Zero director Jessica Hausner with Anne-Katrin Titze (in Batsheva): “I do see the film in connection to a fairy tale. I think in all my films there is a connection to one fairy tale or the other.”
Jessica Hausner’s bewitching Club Zero (co-written with Geraldine Bajard), shot by Martin Gschlacht, scored by Markus Binder (European Film Award winner) with costumes by the ever surprising Tanja Hausner, starts off with students Fred (Luke Barker), Elsa (Ksenia Devriendt), Ragna (Florence Baker), Ben (Samuel D Anderson), Helen (Gwen Currant), Joan (Sade McNichols-Thomas), and Corbinian (Andrei Hozoc), all dressed in gender-neutral pale yellow polo shirts, beige skorts, and purple knee socks, gathering insect-like chairs for a Conscious Eating class, led by recently hired instructor Ms Novak (Mia Wasikowska). Ms Dorset (Sidse Babett Knudsen), the head mistress of this elite and very expensive international boarding school, is well-meaning and oblivious of...
Jessica Hausner’s bewitching Club Zero (co-written with Geraldine Bajard), shot by Martin Gschlacht, scored by Markus Binder (European Film Award winner) with costumes by the ever surprising Tanja Hausner, starts off with students Fred (Luke Barker), Elsa (Ksenia Devriendt), Ragna (Florence Baker), Ben (Samuel D Anderson), Helen (Gwen Currant), Joan (Sade McNichols-Thomas), and Corbinian (Andrei Hozoc), all dressed in gender-neutral pale yellow polo shirts, beige skorts, and purple knee socks, gathering insect-like chairs for a Conscious Eating class, led by recently hired instructor Ms Novak (Mia Wasikowska). Ms Dorset (Sidse Babett Knudsen), the head mistress of this elite and very expensive international boarding school, is well-meaning and oblivious of...
- 3/14/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Across her five previous features, Austrian director Jessica Hausner has developed a distinctly unique tone––one which carries through her sixth outing Club Zero. Led by Mia Wasikowska, the dark satire follows a nutrition teacher at an elite school whose relationship with five students takes a dangerous turn. While Hausner is perhaps intentionally poking the bear as it relates to eating disorders, one could swap out the subject of her new film to another topic du jour and still retain a cogent, one-of-a-kind look at cult mentality.
Ahead of Film Movement’s theatrical release of Club Zero this Friday––followed by their digital release of new 4K restorations of Lovely Rita and Hotel, along with Lourdes, on March 29––I spoke with Hausner about being inspired by fairy tales, the provocation of withholding food, collaborating with Mia Wasikowska, divisive reactions, the overwhelming stress of youth, and more.
The Film Stage: You...
Ahead of Film Movement’s theatrical release of Club Zero this Friday––followed by their digital release of new 4K restorations of Lovely Rita and Hotel, along with Lourdes, on March 29––I spoke with Hausner about being inspired by fairy tales, the provocation of withholding food, collaborating with Mia Wasikowska, divisive reactions, the overwhelming stress of youth, and more.
The Film Stage: You...
- 3/13/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Prime of Miss Jean Foodie: Hausner Satirizes Cult Behavior Through Caloric Deficit
Expanding on the genre sentiments which guided her past titles Hotel (2004) and Little Joe (2018), Austrian director Jessica Hausner‘s latest playfully examines how a toxic mixture of elitism and passive progressiveness can provide a slippery slope to absurdity in Club Zero. The arrival of a new teacher at a prestigious private high school thanks to her reputation as a nutritionist guru for her theories on ‘conscious eating’ eventually reveals she has a more perverse agenda utilizing this faddy mindfulness technique. With school staff and parents basically easy targets just waiting to be swept away from their bored lives filled with recitations on conservation and consumerism as a means to remain oblivious to their own contributions in capitalist conformity, Hausner’s latest is delightfully subversive at its core.…...
Expanding on the genre sentiments which guided her past titles Hotel (2004) and Little Joe (2018), Austrian director Jessica Hausner‘s latest playfully examines how a toxic mixture of elitism and passive progressiveness can provide a slippery slope to absurdity in Club Zero. The arrival of a new teacher at a prestigious private high school thanks to her reputation as a nutritionist guru for her theories on ‘conscious eating’ eventually reveals she has a more perverse agenda utilizing this faddy mindfulness technique. With school staff and parents basically easy targets just waiting to be swept away from their bored lives filled with recitations on conservation and consumerism as a means to remain oblivious to their own contributions in capitalist conformity, Hausner’s latest is delightfully subversive at its core.…...
- 3/11/2024
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Few sacred cows emerge unscathed from director Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero. No matter where audiences sit on the political spectrum, they’re liable find something discomfiting, if not enraging, in the film. Hausner and co-writer Géraldine Bajard can be applauded for the inclusivity of their derision, which is hostile to all forms of complacency. Then again, maybe it’s too easy to toss people and ideas so indiscriminately into the vat of irony while defending nothing, potentially leaving the viewer at a tiresome, cynical impasse.
This caustic satire follows a group of students at a private high school who sign up for a nutrition course taught by Ms. Novak (Mia Wasikowska), who’s hired at the recommendation of the parent board. Ms. Novak teaches—or rather, preaches—the doctrine of “conscious eating.” Each student has their reasons for enrolling: Helen (Gwen Currant) to protect the environment by cutting down on consumption,...
This caustic satire follows a group of students at a private high school who sign up for a nutrition course taught by Ms. Novak (Mia Wasikowska), who’s hired at the recommendation of the parent board. Ms. Novak teaches—or rather, preaches—the doctrine of “conscious eating.” Each student has their reasons for enrolling: Helen (Gwen Currant) to protect the environment by cutting down on consumption,...
- 3/9/2024
- by William Repass
- Slant Magazine
It is the busiest time of the year for Doha Film Institute (Dfi) CEO Fatma Hassan Al Remaihi and her team as they gear up the 10th edition of the org’s Qumra talent and project incubator.
The initiative is a cornerstone of the activities of the Dfi which was launched in 2010 to help nurture a local film and TV sector as well as the wider independent filmmaking community in the Middle East and North Africa.
From March 1 to 6, some 250 professionals – including this year’s Qumra Masters Leos Carax, Toni Collette, Claire Denis, Atom Egoyan, Martín Hernández, and Jim Sheridan – will gather in Doha to support 40 projects by emerging directors, selected from recent Dfi grantees.
The Dfi also runs year-round grants programs, workshops and screenings for locally based filmmakers as well as Mena directors and a handful of emerging talents outside of the region. In a separate funding stream, it...
The initiative is a cornerstone of the activities of the Dfi which was launched in 2010 to help nurture a local film and TV sector as well as the wider independent filmmaking community in the Middle East and North Africa.
From March 1 to 6, some 250 professionals – including this year’s Qumra Masters Leos Carax, Toni Collette, Claire Denis, Atom Egoyan, Martín Hernández, and Jim Sheridan – will gather in Doha to support 40 projects by emerging directors, selected from recent Dfi grantees.
The Dfi also runs year-round grants programs, workshops and screenings for locally based filmmakers as well as Mena directors and a handful of emerging talents outside of the region. In a separate funding stream, it...
- 2/28/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Across her five previous features, Austrian director Jessica Hausner has developed a distinctly unique tone and now she’s back with her sixth outing, Club Zero. Led by Mia Wasikowska, the dark satire follows a nutrition teacher at an elite school whose relationship with five students takes a dangerous turn. Following a Cannes premiere last year, Film Movement picked it up for a U.S. release on March 15 in theaters and now the first trailer and poster have landed.
Here’s the synopsis: “At an international boarding school, an unassuming, yet rigorous, Miss Novak (Mia Wasikowska) joins the teaching staff to instruct a new class on “conscious eating.” Her impressionable teenage students each have their own reasons for joining the class – to improve fitness, reduce their carbon footprint, or get extra credit. Although early lectures focus on mindful consumption, Miss Novak’s discussions soon become increasingly disordered and extreme. A suspicious headmistress,...
Here’s the synopsis: “At an international boarding school, an unassuming, yet rigorous, Miss Novak (Mia Wasikowska) joins the teaching staff to instruct a new class on “conscious eating.” Her impressionable teenage students each have their own reasons for joining the class – to improve fitness, reduce their carbon footprint, or get extra credit. Although early lectures focus on mindful consumption, Miss Novak’s discussions soon become increasingly disordered and extreme. A suspicious headmistress,...
- 2/7/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"Don't you get it? It's a question of faith." Film Movement has revealed an official trailer for Club Zero, an unsettling dark comedy thriller from provocative Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner. This premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival to mixed reviews (here's ours defending it), because it is a very interesting film that dares to provoke a reaction from the audience by confronting them with freaky blind faith. Mia Wasikowska stars as Miss Novak, a young teacher who takes a job at an elite school and forms a strong bond with five students who join her group called "Club Zero", challenging them to participate in "conscious eating". Combining a pitch-black comedic sensibility with elements of body horror, Club Zero satirizes the contemporary inclinations toward myopic insularity and blind faith brought on by anxieties regarding food, consumerism and environmental catastrophe. Though I think it's digging even deeper than that getting at religion,...
- 2/6/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Nutritional experts are a dime a dozen on social media. You can’t scroll through Instagram or TikTok without seeing someone trying to pitch you on a new way to diet, often bordering on a form of disordered eating. That’s exactly the type of thing that is tackled in “Club Zero.”
Read More: ‘Club Zero’ Review: Jessica Hausner Mines Straight-Faced Body Horror From An Eating Disorder Cult [Cannes]
As seen in the trailer for the film, “Club Zero” tells the story of a nutrition teacher who joins an international boarding school staff.
Continue reading ‘Club Zero’ Trailer: Mia Wasikowska Stars In Jessica Hausner’s Acclaimed, Subversive Body Horror at The Playlist.
Read More: ‘Club Zero’ Review: Jessica Hausner Mines Straight-Faced Body Horror From An Eating Disorder Cult [Cannes]
As seen in the trailer for the film, “Club Zero” tells the story of a nutrition teacher who joins an international boarding school staff.
Continue reading ‘Club Zero’ Trailer: Mia Wasikowska Stars In Jessica Hausner’s Acclaimed, Subversive Body Horror at The Playlist.
- 2/6/2024
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
There’s a new diet trend with sinister intentions, courtesy of Jessica Hausner’s latest dark comedy “Club Zero.”
The film, which premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, stars Mia Wasikowska as a nefarious teacher who encourages her students to stop eating altogether. The reason? Other than weight loss and pseudo-environmental concerns, it’s a tactic to gain new cult members.
“Club Zero” competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes before going on to become a Best Picture nominee at both the Sitges and Munich International Film Festivals.
The official synopsis reads: “At an international boarding school, an unassuming yet rigorous Miss Novak (Wasikowska) joins the teaching staff to instruct a new class on ‘conscious eating.’ Her impressionable teenage students each have their own reasons for joining the class – to improve fitness, reduce their carbon footprint, or get extra credit. Although early lectures focus on mindful consumption, Miss Novak...
The film, which premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, stars Mia Wasikowska as a nefarious teacher who encourages her students to stop eating altogether. The reason? Other than weight loss and pseudo-environmental concerns, it’s a tactic to gain new cult members.
“Club Zero” competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes before going on to become a Best Picture nominee at both the Sitges and Munich International Film Festivals.
The official synopsis reads: “At an international boarding school, an unassuming yet rigorous Miss Novak (Wasikowska) joins the teaching staff to instruct a new class on ‘conscious eating.’ Her impressionable teenage students each have their own reasons for joining the class – to improve fitness, reduce their carbon footprint, or get extra credit. Although early lectures focus on mindful consumption, Miss Novak...
- 2/6/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Nordic Honorary Dragon Award recipient Sidse Babett Knudsen said at Sweden’s Göteborg Film Festival that she felt “frustrated” when filming HBO’s “Westworld,” particularly regarding the treatment of horses.
“In the U.S., they don’t have a flat hierarchy, which won’t surprise anyone. I would knock on the producers’ door all the time, saying: ‘These horses have been out in the sun for 10 hours, they are going to fucking die,” she recalled. “They are not even working today – get them in the shade!'”
She continued, “As a Dane, I was just looking at the resources, money and logic, going: ‘It’s crazy!’ But, of course, it’s super irritating when an actress talks about horses all the time. How did they react? Not well.”
In the first season of the dystopian series, Knudsen played Theresa Cullen, Westworld’s head of quality assurance. HBO did not immediately...
“In the U.S., they don’t have a flat hierarchy, which won’t surprise anyone. I would knock on the producers’ door all the time, saying: ‘These horses have been out in the sun for 10 hours, they are going to fucking die,” she recalled. “They are not even working today – get them in the shade!'”
She continued, “As a Dane, I was just looking at the resources, money and logic, going: ‘It’s crazy!’ But, of course, it’s super irritating when an actress talks about horses all the time. How did they react? Not well.”
In the first season of the dystopian series, Knudsen played Theresa Cullen, Westworld’s head of quality assurance. HBO did not immediately...
- 1/31/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The Göteborg Film Festival has unveiled the competition titles selected for its 47th edition, which runs from January 26 to February 4. (Scroll down for the full list).
Göteborg is split into four competition strands. The main strand is the Nordic Competition, which features nine films from the Nordic region. The competition’s winner takes home the Dragon Award and a Sek 400,000 cash prize. The rest of the festival comprises the Nordic Documentary Competition, the Ingmar Bergman Competition for first-time filmmakers, and the International Competition.
Among the Nordic highlights is Madame Luna, Swedish filmmaker Daniel Espinosa’s return to Nordic filmmaking following a series of Hollywood titles such as Morbius and Safe House. Inspired by real-life events, the film follows an Eritrean refugee who gets stuck in Libya and becomes a notorious human trafficker known as “Mama Luna” with deep ties to the Italian Mafia. When she is forced to flee to...
Göteborg is split into four competition strands. The main strand is the Nordic Competition, which features nine films from the Nordic region. The competition’s winner takes home the Dragon Award and a Sek 400,000 cash prize. The rest of the festival comprises the Nordic Documentary Competition, the Ingmar Bergman Competition for first-time filmmakers, and the International Competition.
Among the Nordic highlights is Madame Luna, Swedish filmmaker Daniel Espinosa’s return to Nordic filmmaking following a series of Hollywood titles such as Morbius and Safe House. Inspired by real-life events, the film follows an Eritrean refugee who gets stuck in Libya and becomes a notorious human trafficker known as “Mama Luna” with deep ties to the Italian Mafia. When she is forced to flee to...
- 1/9/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Bertrand Bonello’s “Coma,” which won a prize at the Berlin Film Festival in 2022, has been acquired by Film Movement for North American distribution.
The film follows a teenager who is stuck at home during once of France’s strict early-pandemic lockdowns. Cut off from the outside world, she begins to go back and forth between dreams and reality, guided by a disturbing and mysterious youtuber, Patricia Coma. Represented internationally by Best Friend Forever, the movie weaves genre, animation and live action to explore online behavior and content consumption.
“Coma” stars Louise Labeque (“Zombi Child”) and Julia Faure (“Camille Rewinds”), with voice acting from beloved late actor Gaspard Ulliel as well as Louis Garrel, Laetitia Casta, Anaïs Demoustier and Vincent Lacoste.
Along with winning the Fipresci prize at Berlin, the movie won best picture and best production design at the International Cinephile Society Awards. Film Movement previously worked with Bonello...
The film follows a teenager who is stuck at home during once of France’s strict early-pandemic lockdowns. Cut off from the outside world, she begins to go back and forth between dreams and reality, guided by a disturbing and mysterious youtuber, Patricia Coma. Represented internationally by Best Friend Forever, the movie weaves genre, animation and live action to explore online behavior and content consumption.
“Coma” stars Louise Labeque (“Zombi Child”) and Julia Faure (“Camille Rewinds”), with voice acting from beloved late actor Gaspard Ulliel as well as Louis Garrel, Laetitia Casta, Anaïs Demoustier and Vincent Lacoste.
Along with winning the Fipresci prize at Berlin, the movie won best picture and best production design at the International Cinephile Society Awards. Film Movement previously worked with Bonello...
- 1/5/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.
There was much to be thankful for in 2023. Besides new works by several legendary directors, there were personal opportunities that allowed me to spread a larger net and take stock of the cinema landscape from a more privileged vantage point. I got to attend the Cannes and Toronto film festivals for the first time and also became a voter for some key year-end awards. The experience of thus watching films, before most of my cinephile brethren, allowed me to contemplate how much campaigns and narratives can alter a film’s reception and trajectory.
What has come into sharper relief, and what is evident from the list below too, is that Cannes has the lock on much of the best product of the year––at least anything not...
There was much to be thankful for in 2023. Besides new works by several legendary directors, there were personal opportunities that allowed me to spread a larger net and take stock of the cinema landscape from a more privileged vantage point. I got to attend the Cannes and Toronto film festivals for the first time and also became a voter for some key year-end awards. The experience of thus watching films, before most of my cinephile brethren, allowed me to contemplate how much campaigns and narratives can alter a film’s reception and trajectory.
What has come into sharper relief, and what is evident from the list below too, is that Cannes has the lock on much of the best product of the year––at least anything not...
- 12/27/2023
- by Ankit Jhunjhunwala
- The Film Stage
British-Indian filmmaker Suri is a Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023.
Sandhya Suri’s UK-European co-production Santosh has wrapped production in India.
The Hindi-language film is the narrative feature debut of Suri, a Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023. It is produced by Mike Goodridge and James Bowsher of the UK’s Good Chaos, France’s Balthazar de Ganay and Alan McAlex of India’s Suitable Pictures.
The co-producers are Razor Film in Germany and Haut et Court in France. Haut Et Court Distribution will release Santosh in France.
Backers are the British Film Institute, BBC Film., Zdf/Arte and Cnc.
Suri directed...
Sandhya Suri’s UK-European co-production Santosh has wrapped production in India.
The Hindi-language film is the narrative feature debut of Suri, a Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023. It is produced by Mike Goodridge and James Bowsher of the UK’s Good Chaos, France’s Balthazar de Ganay and Alan McAlex of India’s Suitable Pictures.
The co-producers are Razor Film in Germany and Haut et Court in France. Haut Et Court Distribution will release Santosh in France.
Backers are the British Film Institute, BBC Film., Zdf/Arte and Cnc.
Suri directed...
- 12/14/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Justine Triet’s acclaimed French courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall has won best film at the 2023 European Film Awards, held Saturday evening, Dec. 9 in Berlin.
Sandra Hüller, a double nominee in the best actress category, won for her barnstorming turn in Anatomy of a Fall as a writer who may have killed her husband.
Accepting her prize, Hüller, speaking to the various conflicts raging in and around Europe at the moment, called for a moment of silence from the audience to “silently, strongly, vividly, imagine peace.”
Justine Triet took the best directing honor for Anatomy and shared the best screenplay honor with Arthur Harari for their joint script to the twisty murder mystery. A couple in real life, Triet and Harari said writing the script, which is a piercing dissection of a marriage in crisis, “put our relationship to the test but thankfully we survived.”
Anatomy of a Fall...
Sandra Hüller, a double nominee in the best actress category, won for her barnstorming turn in Anatomy of a Fall as a writer who may have killed her husband.
Accepting her prize, Hüller, speaking to the various conflicts raging in and around Europe at the moment, called for a moment of silence from the audience to “silently, strongly, vividly, imagine peace.”
Justine Triet took the best directing honor for Anatomy and shared the best screenplay honor with Arthur Harari for their joint script to the twisty murder mystery. A couple in real life, Triet and Harari said writing the script, which is a piercing dissection of a marriage in crisis, “put our relationship to the test but thankfully we survived.”
Anatomy of a Fall...
- 12/9/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Excellence Awards also honour ’Anatomy Of A Fall’, ‘La Chimera’, ‘Club Zero’ and ’The Zone Of Interest’
Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land and J. A. Bayona’s Society Of The Snow have both won two craft prizes each at the European Film Awards.
They are among eight winners of the Excellence Awards for the arts and craft of filmmaking which will be presented at the European Film Awards on December 9 in Berlin.
For The Promised Land, Rasmus Videbæk won the prize for European Cinematography and Kicki Ilander for European Costume Design.
The Society Of The Snow’s Ana López-Puigcerver,...
Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land and J. A. Bayona’s Society Of The Snow have both won two craft prizes each at the European Film Awards.
They are among eight winners of the Excellence Awards for the arts and craft of filmmaking which will be presented at the European Film Awards on December 9 in Berlin.
For The Promised Land, Rasmus Videbæk won the prize for European Cinematography and Kicki Ilander for European Costume Design.
The Society Of The Snow’s Ana López-Puigcerver,...
- 11/30/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Film Movement has acquired U.S. rights to Jessica Hausner’s thought-provoking dark comedy “Club Zero,” which competed at the Cannes Film Festival.
Represented in international markets by Coproduction Office, “Club Zero” stars Mia Wasikowska as an eating instructor at an elite boarding school who exerts a dangerous influence over her students. When parents become concerned, calling for the firing of the teacher, it’s already too late as students are willing to go to a point of no return.
“Cults have been and still are a crucial issue in western societies,” Hausner said. “We believe in nutrition ideas like we used to believe in God, and I’m very happy that Film Movement will be bringing ‘Club Zero’ to U.S. audiences soon. Bon Appétit!”
The film previously won accolades at Munich and Sitges, and played at Karlovy Vary, Chicago, Busan, Sarajevo, Jerusalem, Sydney and Melbourne film festivals.
“Since...
Represented in international markets by Coproduction Office, “Club Zero” stars Mia Wasikowska as an eating instructor at an elite boarding school who exerts a dangerous influence over her students. When parents become concerned, calling for the firing of the teacher, it’s already too late as students are willing to go to a point of no return.
“Cults have been and still are a crucial issue in western societies,” Hausner said. “We believe in nutrition ideas like we used to believe in God, and I’m very happy that Film Movement will be bringing ‘Club Zero’ to U.S. audiences soon. Bon Appétit!”
The film previously won accolades at Munich and Sitges, and played at Karlovy Vary, Chicago, Busan, Sarajevo, Jerusalem, Sydney and Melbourne film festivals.
“Since...
- 10/26/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Philippe Bober’s Coproduction Office, whose recent films include Jessica Hausner’s Cannes Competition title “Club Zero” and Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness,” has kicked off international sales on Gust Van den Berghe’s “The Magnet Man.” The Paris and Berlin based production and sales outfit is attending this week’s Mia Market in Rome.
Van den Berghe’s previous films, “Blue Bird” (2011) and “Little Baby Jesus of Flandr” (2010), have both premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
“The Magnet Man,” which is in post-production, tells the tragicomic tale of how our greatest talents can become our greatest flaws, and how unpredictable our lives can be.
The film follows Lucien, who is a human magnet: everything made of iron sticks to his body. Rural Belgium at the beginning of the 20th century is no place for his unusual natural talent. One day, he accidentally gets attached to...
Van den Berghe’s previous films, “Blue Bird” (2011) and “Little Baby Jesus of Flandr” (2010), have both premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
“The Magnet Man,” which is in post-production, tells the tragicomic tale of how our greatest talents can become our greatest flaws, and how unpredictable our lives can be.
The film follows Lucien, who is a human magnet: everything made of iron sticks to his body. Rural Belgium at the beginning of the 20th century is no place for his unusual natural talent. One day, he accidentally gets attached to...
- 10/11/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- 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
The Busan International Film Festival put aside many of its recent internal and local political problems to Tuesday unveil a large selection ranging from bleeding edge art titles to international festival favorites.
“The difficult times are not behind us, but hard work has made this year’s festival better than ever,” said programmer and interim festival chief Nam Dong-chul, speaking at an online press conference.
International guests expected to attend the festival include Luc Besson, Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, Japanese directors Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Kore-Eda Hirokazu, Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Korean Americans Justin Chon (“Gook”) and Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”).
Hong Kong-based superstar Chow Yun-fat has been named as Busan’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year and will be in person to receive the award. The Korean Cinema Award will presented to the late Yun Jung-hee, the actress who starred in “The General’s Mustache” and Lee Chang-dong’s 2010 drama “Poetry.
“The difficult times are not behind us, but hard work has made this year’s festival better than ever,” said programmer and interim festival chief Nam Dong-chul, speaking at an online press conference.
International guests expected to attend the festival include Luc Besson, Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, Japanese directors Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Kore-Eda Hirokazu, Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Korean Americans Justin Chon (“Gook”) and Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”).
Hong Kong-based superstar Chow Yun-fat has been named as Busan’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year and will be in person to receive the award. The Korean Cinema Award will presented to the late Yun Jung-hee, the actress who starred in “The General’s Mustache” and Lee Chang-dong’s 2010 drama “Poetry.
- 9/5/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Zylberstein unveils ambitious new slate of female-driven titles.
Isabel Coixet is in talks to direct Happy People Read And Drink Coffee, an adaptation of Agnes Martin-Lugand’s best-selling novel of the same name for Elsa Zylberstein’s fast-growing production company Sonia Films.
Mediawan Pictures is in advanced talks to co-produce the English and French-language film set between Paris and Ireland and is about a woman grieving her husband and daughter when a new love affair blossoms.
Zylberstein is also set to star in what is the latest project to be added to her female-focused film and TV slate.
The renowned French actress,...
Isabel Coixet is in talks to direct Happy People Read And Drink Coffee, an adaptation of Agnes Martin-Lugand’s best-selling novel of the same name for Elsa Zylberstein’s fast-growing production company Sonia Films.
Mediawan Pictures is in advanced talks to co-produce the English and French-language film set between Paris and Ireland and is about a woman grieving her husband and daughter when a new love affair blossoms.
Zylberstein is also set to star in what is the latest project to be added to her female-focused film and TV slate.
The renowned French actress,...
- 8/23/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Zylberstein unveils ambitious new slate of female-driven titles.
Isabel Coixet has signed to direct Happy People Read And Drink Coffee, an adaptation of Agnes Martin-Lugand’s best-selling novel of the same name for Elsa Zylberstein’s fast-growing production company Sonia Films.
Mediawan Pictures is in advanced talks to co-produce the English and French-language film set between Paris and Ireland and is about a woman grieving her husband and daughter when a new love affair blossoms.
Zylberstein is also set to star in what is the latest project to be added to her female-focused film and TV slate.
The renowned French actress,...
Isabel Coixet has signed to direct Happy People Read And Drink Coffee, an adaptation of Agnes Martin-Lugand’s best-selling novel of the same name for Elsa Zylberstein’s fast-growing production company Sonia Films.
Mediawan Pictures is in advanced talks to co-produce the English and French-language film set between Paris and Ireland and is about a woman grieving her husband and daughter when a new love affair blossoms.
Zylberstein is also set to star in what is the latest project to be added to her female-focused film and TV slate.
The renowned French actress,...
- 8/23/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
The Austrian director gave a masterclass at the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner is writing a film about workplace culture with the working title Toxic.
Hausner, most recently in Cannes Competition with Club Zero, said this will be her most optimistic and hopeful film. “The new idea is going to be about someone who tries to improve the world and the film has a happy end. It’s about the hope you can change things for the better.”
The film will be about “working hours, the working atmosphere - toxic workers,” she continued, explaining she had yet to...
Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner is writing a film about workplace culture with the working title Toxic.
Hausner, most recently in Cannes Competition with Club Zero, said this will be her most optimistic and hopeful film. “The new idea is going to be about someone who tries to improve the world and the film has a happy end. It’s about the hope you can change things for the better.”
The film will be about “working hours, the working atmosphere - toxic workers,” she continued, explaining she had yet to...
- 8/21/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Elene Naveriani’s “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry” won the top prize, the Heart of Sarajevo Award for best feature film, Friday at the Sarajevo Film Festival. The Georgian film, in which a stoically independent woman in her late 40s experiences a gentle existential awakening during an affair with a local deliveryman, also won the best actress prize for Ekaterine Chavleishvili’s performance.
The award for best director went to Ukraine’s Philip Sotnychenko for “La Palisiada,” and the best actor prize was picked up by Serbia’s Jovan Ginić — who won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award at Cannes — for “Lost Country.” Serbian director Nemanja Vojinović’s “Bottlemen” took the documentary film award.
The awards were given by a jury headed by actor Mia Wasikowska (“Club Zero”), which included Danish-Croatian actor Zlatko Burić (“Triangle of Sadness”), Serbian-Danish actor Danica Ćurčić (“The Chestnut Man”), Museum of Modern Art Department of Film...
The award for best director went to Ukraine’s Philip Sotnychenko for “La Palisiada,” and the best actor prize was picked up by Serbia’s Jovan Ginić — who won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award at Cannes — for “Lost Country.” Serbian director Nemanja Vojinović’s “Bottlemen” took the documentary film award.
The awards were given by a jury headed by actor Mia Wasikowska (“Club Zero”), which included Danish-Croatian actor Zlatko Burić (“Triangle of Sadness”), Serbian-Danish actor Danica Ćurčić (“The Chestnut Man”), Museum of Modern Art Department of Film...
- 8/18/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias and Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Bono made a surprise appearance at the Sarajevo Film Festival this evening, where he accompanied the crew behind the U2-inspired Bosnian war documentary Kiss The Future, which opened the festival.
Bono was joined by his U2 band member The Edge on the red carpet at Bosnia’s National Theatre alongside CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, who also features in the doc, during which she recounts her time as a young reporter covering the Bosnian conflict.
Directed by filmmaker Nenad Cicin-Sain, Kiss the Future tells the story of the underground community that continued to work and live throughout the 1990s siege of Sarajevo. Amid the breakup of Yugoslavia, the citizens of Sarajevo woke up to find their city under siege and wider Bosnia at war.
Bono and Christiane Amanpour.
In a far-fetched scheme inspired by local resistance, Bill Carter, an American aid worker living in Sarajevo, reached out to the world...
Bono was joined by his U2 band member The Edge on the red carpet at Bosnia’s National Theatre alongside CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, who also features in the doc, during which she recounts her time as a young reporter covering the Bosnian conflict.
Directed by filmmaker Nenad Cicin-Sain, Kiss the Future tells the story of the underground community that continued to work and live throughout the 1990s siege of Sarajevo. Amid the breakup of Yugoslavia, the citizens of Sarajevo woke up to find their city under siege and wider Bosnia at war.
Bono and Christiane Amanpour.
In a far-fetched scheme inspired by local resistance, Bill Carter, an American aid worker living in Sarajevo, reached out to the world...
- 8/11/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
At times Bosnia and Herzegovina has looked like it was stuck in a bit of a no-man’s land when it comes to film production, lacking the financial fire-power to press forward, but its TV series business is booming.
The Southeast European country boasts two Oscar nominations – Danis Tanović’s “No Man’s Land,” which nabbed a statuette in 2002, and Jasmila Žbanić’s “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” which was nominated in 2021 – and its filmmakers have enjoyed success on the festival circuit, but it still hasn’t upped its meagre level of production, especially in terms of fiction features, with only one or two majority Bosnian films produced a year.
The problem lies in the “messy and unregulated model of audiovisual support in general,” according to producer-director Jasmin Duraković, whose film “The Glory of Unhappiness” screens in the Bh Film sidebar at Sarajevo Film Festival, which presents the recent crop of films with investment from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Southeast European country boasts two Oscar nominations – Danis Tanović’s “No Man’s Land,” which nabbed a statuette in 2002, and Jasmila Žbanić’s “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” which was nominated in 2021 – and its filmmakers have enjoyed success on the festival circuit, but it still hasn’t upped its meagre level of production, especially in terms of fiction features, with only one or two majority Bosnian films produced a year.
The problem lies in the “messy and unregulated model of audiovisual support in general,” according to producer-director Jasmin Duraković, whose film “The Glory of Unhappiness” screens in the Bh Film sidebar at Sarajevo Film Festival, which presents the recent crop of films with investment from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 8/11/2023
- by Tara Karajica
- Variety Film + TV
When the Sarajevo Film Festival returned to full strength last year after successive, slimmed-down pandemic editions, a robust turn-out was to be expected. For nearly three decades, the audience-facing event has been the cultural lifeblood of the lively, cosmopolitan city it calls home.
The 2022 edition broke attendance records set in 2019, and just days after its online ticketing system launched this month, the fest appears on pace to surpass that mark again. It is a testament to the enduring love affair between a city and a festival that was founded in impossible circumstances in 1995, at the tail end of a brutal, four-year siege — proof that even in times of war and scarcity, cinema could endure.
The festival returns Aug. 11 – 18, with organizers insisting the event’s 29th edition will stay true to its roots. “We wanted to keep the festival focused on its main goals: presenting the best of cinema today to...
The 2022 edition broke attendance records set in 2019, and just days after its online ticketing system launched this month, the fest appears on pace to surpass that mark again. It is a testament to the enduring love affair between a city and a festival that was founded in impossible circumstances in 1995, at the tail end of a brutal, four-year siege — proof that even in times of war and scarcity, cinema could endure.
The festival returns Aug. 11 – 18, with organizers insisting the event’s 29th edition will stay true to its roots. “We wanted to keep the festival focused on its main goals: presenting the best of cinema today to...
- 8/11/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Drawn from an exciting Locarno Pro lineup, these talents – directors, producers and industry execs – impacted at Locarno, and will often in the future. Nine are women, which says a lot about cutting-edge innovation in Europe and beyond.
Despina Athanassiadis, France
Born in France and with Greek roots, Athanassiadis is currently focusing on her Alliance4Development project “The Young One,” about female truck drivers – “It’s a story of transmission, from older to younger generation” – which was awarded script consultancy residency at DreamAgo. “As a filmmaker, I’m interested in people who struggle. I find it fascinating, watching how they find ways to fix their problems. I want to see them on screen,” she states. In her next film, she will focus on a middle-aged French woman, whose life changes forever when she goes to Greece. “It’s a movie with inner and outer journeys, and with lots of international characters.
Despina Athanassiadis, France
Born in France and with Greek roots, Athanassiadis is currently focusing on her Alliance4Development project “The Young One,” about female truck drivers – “It’s a story of transmission, from older to younger generation” – which was awarded script consultancy residency at DreamAgo. “As a filmmaker, I’m interested in people who struggle. I find it fascinating, watching how they find ways to fix their problems. I want to see them on screen,” she states. In her next film, she will focus on a middle-aged French woman, whose life changes forever when she goes to Greece. “It’s a movie with inner and outer journeys, and with lots of international characters.
- 8/9/2023
- by John Hopewell and Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Submissions to the competition sections up 23% for this year’s festival.
Sudabeh Mortezai’s Europa is one of 10 feature world premieres set to screen in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival next month (August 11-18).
Europa is the fifth feature from Austrian-Iranian filmmaker Mortezai, and follows an ambitious executive working at a mysterious corporation looking to expand into the Balkans. Mortezai’s previous feature Joy debuted at Venice in 2018; while her 2014 title Macondo premiered at the Berlinale.
Five of the 10 titles in the feature film competition are directed by women. Also having its world premiere in the feature film competition...
Sudabeh Mortezai’s Europa is one of 10 feature world premieres set to screen in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival next month (August 11-18).
Europa is the fifth feature from Austrian-Iranian filmmaker Mortezai, and follows an ambitious executive working at a mysterious corporation looking to expand into the Balkans. Mortezai’s previous feature Joy debuted at Venice in 2018; while her 2014 title Macondo premiered at the Berlinale.
Five of the 10 titles in the feature film competition are directed by women. Also having its world premiere in the feature film competition...
- 7/20/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Disney+ Asia Slate Takes Shape
Disney+ has set an Aug. 9 upload date for Korean series “Moving” from webtoon pioneer Kang Full.
The previously announced title forms part of a 20-component slate of films and series from East Asia that will release on the Disney-backed streaming platform in the second half of 2023 and through 2024.
Also from Korea is “The Worst of Evil,” a detective series in which a rural policemen is brought to the big city to bring down a DJ dealing in a potent new drug. It stars Ji Changwook, “Squid Game” actor Wi Hajun and Lim Semi.
Highlights from Japan include “Tokyo Revengers: Tenjiku Arc,” the latest instalments of a popular anime franchise, and the previously announced “Dragons of Wonderhatch,” a hybrid story set in both the “real world” and an anime land where dragons and humans coexist. The multi-dimensional story stars Nakajima Sena, Okudaira Daiken and Mackenyu.
The...
Disney+ has set an Aug. 9 upload date for Korean series “Moving” from webtoon pioneer Kang Full.
The previously announced title forms part of a 20-component slate of films and series from East Asia that will release on the Disney-backed streaming platform in the second half of 2023 and through 2024.
Also from Korea is “The Worst of Evil,” a detective series in which a rural policemen is brought to the big city to bring down a DJ dealing in a potent new drug. It stars Ji Changwook, “Squid Game” actor Wi Hajun and Lim Semi.
Highlights from Japan include “Tokyo Revengers: Tenjiku Arc,” the latest instalments of a popular anime franchise, and the previously announced “Dragons of Wonderhatch,” a hybrid story set in both the “real world” and an anime land where dragons and humans coexist. The multi-dimensional story stars Nakajima Sena, Okudaira Daiken and Mackenyu.
The...
- 7/10/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The local council’s report has stated it could not “afford to continually invest”.
The UK’s Elstree Studios, located in Buckinghamshire, is in urgent need of between £150m and £200m to secure the future of the film complex, after a report found roofs of some older stages were “dangerous” and evidence of asbestos.
The report is from Hertsmere Borough Council, which purchased the studios in 1996 “in a very dilapidated state”. It said the money was needed to replace “life-expired buildings”, but that the council also could not “afford to continually invest” in the complex, where The Crown, Star Wars...
The UK’s Elstree Studios, located in Buckinghamshire, is in urgent need of between £150m and £200m to secure the future of the film complex, after a report found roofs of some older stages were “dangerous” and evidence of asbestos.
The report is from Hertsmere Borough Council, which purchased the studios in 1996 “in a very dilapidated state”. It said the money was needed to replace “life-expired buildings”, but that the council also could not “afford to continually invest” in the complex, where The Crown, Star Wars...
- 7/7/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Sony starting latest ‘Insidious’ film, Picturehouse has ‘Smoking Causes Coughing’ for independents.
Elemental, the latest Disney-Pixar animation collaboration, is the widest opening title at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, which sees reduced location numbers due to the immediate closure of six sites in the Empire Cinemas chain.
The chain, which has 14 cinemas and 129 screens, is entering administration, with venues at Bishop’s Stortford, Catterick Garrison, Sunderland, Swindon, Walthamstow and Wigan all closing today.
Elemental will therefore start in 625 venues, down slightly from its anticipated number. Directed by Peter Sohn, Elemental is set in a city where fire, water, land...
Elemental, the latest Disney-Pixar animation collaboration, is the widest opening title at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, which sees reduced location numbers due to the immediate closure of six sites in the Empire Cinemas chain.
The chain, which has 14 cinemas and 129 screens, is entering administration, with venues at Bishop’s Stortford, Catterick Garrison, Sunderland, Swindon, Walthamstow and Wigan all closing today.
Elemental will therefore start in 625 venues, down slightly from its anticipated number. Directed by Peter Sohn, Elemental is set in a city where fire, water, land...
- 7/7/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex and Ken Loach’s final film The Old Oak are among the 13 titles that received cash awards through the BFI’s Global Screen Fund.
The BFI announced the full list of recipients who received support from the £7m per year fund this afternoon. The list also includes the Cannes Competiton title Club Zero, starring Mia Wasikowska, and In Camera, written and directed by Naqqash Khalid, which screened at Karlovy Vary. Scroll down for the full list.
Financed through the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (Dcms), the BFI said today that a further £743,225 was allocated through the fund’s International Distribution strand. To date this strand has made 47 awards totaling over £1.7 million, the BFI said.
UK Global Screen Fund applications are currently open to international distribution festival launch support and international sales support, both assessed on a rolling basis. The fund will...
The BFI announced the full list of recipients who received support from the £7m per year fund this afternoon. The list also includes the Cannes Competiton title Club Zero, starring Mia Wasikowska, and In Camera, written and directed by Naqqash Khalid, which screened at Karlovy Vary. Scroll down for the full list.
Financed through the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport (Dcms), the BFI said today that a further £743,225 was allocated through the fund’s International Distribution strand. To date this strand has made 47 awards totaling over £1.7 million, the BFI said.
UK Global Screen Fund applications are currently open to international distribution festival launch support and international sales support, both assessed on a rolling basis. The fund will...
- 7/7/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
13 titles have received funding in the latest round from the £7m per year UK Global Screen Fund.
A raft of UK Cannes titles are among the 13 features to receive awards given out by the British Film Institute (BFI) in the latest round of funding from the £7m per year UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf), supporting international opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector.
These include Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero, on which Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge is the UK producer and will receive the award; Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex, with the funding going to Emily Leo...
A raft of UK Cannes titles are among the 13 features to receive awards given out by the British Film Institute (BFI) in the latest round of funding from the £7m per year UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf), supporting international opportunities for the UK’s independent screen sector.
These include Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero, on which Good Chaos’ Mike Goodridge is the UK producer and will receive the award; Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex, with the funding going to Emily Leo...
- 7/7/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Wasikowska will be joined by jurors including ‘Triangle of Sadness’ star Zlatko Buric.
Australian actress and filmmaker Mia Wasikowska will lead the competition jury for the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival, which runs from August 11 to 18 this summer.
Wasikowska will be joined on the jury by Croatian actor Zlatko Buric, who starred in Ruben Ostlund’s 2022 Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness; and Serbian actress Danica Curcic, who recently appeared in Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom Exodus.
Completing the five-strong jury are Croatian actor and filmmaker Juraj Lerotic, whose debut feature Safe Place won best actor and the Heart...
Australian actress and filmmaker Mia Wasikowska will lead the competition jury for the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival, which runs from August 11 to 18 this summer.
Wasikowska will be joined on the jury by Croatian actor Zlatko Buric, who starred in Ruben Ostlund’s 2022 Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness; and Serbian actress Danica Curcic, who recently appeared in Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom Exodus.
Completing the five-strong jury are Croatian actor and filmmaker Juraj Lerotic, whose debut feature Safe Place won best actor and the Heart...
- 6/27/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The festival runs June 23 - July 1.
Films by Jessica Hausner, Elegance Bratton and Sebastian Silva are among 36 titles selected for the Filmfest München’s three international competition strands, CineMasters, CineVision and CineRebels. The festival runs June 23-July 1.
CineMasters
Hausner’s Club Zero will be joined by another four Cannes competition titles - Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves, Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster - to screen in Munich’s CineMasters competition for the €50,000 Arri Award which is presented to the producers of the best international film.
The 12-title line-up also includes...
Films by Jessica Hausner, Elegance Bratton and Sebastian Silva are among 36 titles selected for the Filmfest München’s three international competition strands, CineMasters, CineVision and CineRebels. The festival runs June 23-July 1.
CineMasters
Hausner’s Club Zero will be joined by another four Cannes competition titles - Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves, Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, and Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster - to screen in Munich’s CineMasters competition for the €50,000 Arri Award which is presented to the producers of the best international film.
The 12-title line-up also includes...
- 6/13/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Titles include Vincent Perez’s ‘The Edge Of The Blade’ and Leo Leigh’s ‘Sweet Sue’.
Filmest München has secured six world premieres for its upcoming 40th anniversary edition, including Vincent Perez’sThe Edge Of The Blade and Leo Leigh’s UK comedy drama Sweet Sue, recently acquirred by Curzon.
The festival in Munich has long been a staging ground for the world premieres of German films but is now looking to establish itself as a launchpad for more international titles, building on last year’s world premiere of Marcelo Gomes’ Brazilian drama Paloma.
Swiss actor-director Perez will travel to...
Filmest München has secured six world premieres for its upcoming 40th anniversary edition, including Vincent Perez’sThe Edge Of The Blade and Leo Leigh’s UK comedy drama Sweet Sue, recently acquirred by Curzon.
The festival in Munich has long been a staging ground for the world premieres of German films but is now looking to establish itself as a launchpad for more international titles, building on last year’s world premiere of Marcelo Gomes’ Brazilian drama Paloma.
Swiss actor-director Perez will travel to...
- 6/7/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
The Middle East and North Africa region’s cinema star is rising across every aspect of the chain from production to exhibition to streaming.
Fresh energy has been injected into the sector by the arrival of Saudi Arabia on the scene following the lifting of its cinema ban in 2017 as part of its 2030 Vision diversifying the country’s economy away from oil.
Neighboring Qatar, one of the only stable major sources of funding for film in the region for more than a decade, also continues to play a vital role via the Doha Film Institute.
Its grants program, year-round training initiatives and springtime talent incubator Qumra have supported more than 750 short, features and series projects from 78 countries over the past decade.
The body was out in force at Cannes this year having supported films across Official Selection and the parallel sections, including Palme d’Or contenders About Dry Grasses, Club Zero...
Fresh energy has been injected into the sector by the arrival of Saudi Arabia on the scene following the lifting of its cinema ban in 2017 as part of its 2030 Vision diversifying the country’s economy away from oil.
Neighboring Qatar, one of the only stable major sources of funding for film in the region for more than a decade, also continues to play a vital role via the Doha Film Institute.
Its grants program, year-round training initiatives and springtime talent incubator Qumra have supported more than 750 short, features and series projects from 78 countries over the past decade.
The body was out in force at Cannes this year having supported films across Official Selection and the parallel sections, including Palme d’Or contenders About Dry Grasses, Club Zero...
- 5/31/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
That’s a wrap on the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Movie stars, cinephiles, press and jet-set glitterati mixed with celebrated auteurs and the international film industry’s next generation on the French Riviera for a jam-packed schedule of black-tie world premieres, starry gatherings and beach-set parties. And what a run it was from May 16-27.
After opening with the world premiere of Maïwenn’s Johnny Depp starrer Jeanne du Barry, the festival screened such titles as Sam Levinson, The Weeknd and Reza Fahim’s The Idol; Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon; Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City; Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s Black Flies; Karim Aïnouz’s Firebrand,; Todd Haynes’ May December; Ken Loach’s The Old Oak; and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall.
To get a more exclusive look behind the iconic red carpet-laden steps of the Palais, The Hollywood Reporter once again partnered...
Movie stars, cinephiles, press and jet-set glitterati mixed with celebrated auteurs and the international film industry’s next generation on the French Riviera for a jam-packed schedule of black-tie world premieres, starry gatherings and beach-set parties. And what a run it was from May 16-27.
After opening with the world premiere of Maïwenn’s Johnny Depp starrer Jeanne du Barry, the festival screened such titles as Sam Levinson, The Weeknd and Reza Fahim’s The Idol; Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon; Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City; Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s Black Flies; Karim Aïnouz’s Firebrand,; Todd Haynes’ May December; Ken Loach’s The Old Oak; and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall.
To get a more exclusive look behind the iconic red carpet-laden steps of the Palais, The Hollywood Reporter once again partnered...
- 5/29/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week we look at Attwenger's erso&sieso, directed by Jessica Hausner. When you think of Jessica Hausner's oeuvre, the word comedy is not something you might think of, immediately. Even though she has been leaning in an increasingly darkly and dryly humorous direction with Little Joe, and according to descriptions her new film Club Zero (which premiered at Cannes), her films are 'peculiar funny' not 'ha ha-funny'. Her wit is of a scorchingly dry kind, that it is sometimes hard to even recognize them as comedies at all. Amour Fou has some very darkly funny sequences, if you can call a solemn meditation on death and suicidal ideation...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 5/29/2023
- Screen Anarchy
As a feat of pure visual craftsmanship, “Elemental” is anything but simple, often delighting the eyes with inventive character designs and trailblazing animation techniques. For that alone, the Pixar-produced, Peter Sohn-directed feature makes a fitting cap for this year’s Cannes Film Festival, closing the prestigious event with an incident rich and formally vibrant showcase for studio animation might.
Though as return to form for Pixar itself – a rekindling of that fire that set hearts ablaze by wedding prodigious technique to (ahem) elementally simple metaphor – the film falls somewhat short of previous highs. By way of pure storytelling magic, the film also unfortunately lives up to its title.
Building on multiple elements from last year’s “Turning Red,” this latest Pixar joint mines family expectations for narrative tension, doing so with a refreshing absence of conventional antagonists. This time, “Elemental” foregrounds the first-generation immigrant experience right from the start,...
Though as return to form for Pixar itself – a rekindling of that fire that set hearts ablaze by wedding prodigious technique to (ahem) elementally simple metaphor – the film falls somewhat short of previous highs. By way of pure storytelling magic, the film also unfortunately lives up to its title.
Building on multiple elements from last year’s “Turning Red,” this latest Pixar joint mines family expectations for narrative tension, doing so with a refreshing absence of conventional antagonists. This time, “Elemental” foregrounds the first-generation immigrant experience right from the start,...
- 5/27/2023
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
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