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Wondrous Is the Silence of My Master, director Ivan Salatić’s sophomore feature, will be world premiering in the Tiger Competition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), which runs Jan. 30-Feb. 9. THR can here present an exclusive trailer for the cinematic reflection on identity, displacement, and home.

Written and directed by Salatić, the movie stars Marko Pogačar, Croatia’s most translated contemporary poet in his debut film role, Luka Petrone, Jakov Zovko, and Vanja Matic.

The film is set in 19th-century Montenegro “where tribes led by a poet and a bishop named Morlak (Pogačar) are locked in an age-old struggle against a common enemy,” according to a synopsis. “When Morlak falls gravely ill, he sets out in search of a cure, leaving behind his war-torn homeland. Along with his daughter and two loyal servants, Morlak settles in a remote house in southern Italy, hoping for healing and peace.”

Torn between duty and homesickness,...

Swiss sales agent Lightdox has acquired international rights for “The Other Profile” by French director Armel Hostiou, which is nominated for the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival’s top Dox:Award.

The film’s starting point is when he discovers the existence of a Facebook doppelganger whose friends are mostly women based in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This other Facebook profile organizes auditions for an upcoming film to be shot in the Drc.

After notifying Facebook about what clearly seems to be identity theft, Hostiou receives an answer informing him that it is not a fake profile and cannot be shut down, leading to what he describes as a “Kafkaesque” situation.

“When I got this answer, which implicitly suggested that I might be the fake since the other one wasn’t, it felt absurd, like the beginning of a fantasy film,” Hostiou tells Variety.

This marks...

Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel has unveiled its VdR-Industry selection, which includes 27 projects in different stages of production.

The works will be invited to participate in three key forums – VdR-Pitching, VdR-Work in Progress and VdR-Rough Cut Lab – that run as part of the fest’s industry activities in Nyon from April 10-14.

Those who cannot make it to the festival will be able to participate online but organizers are focusing strongly on the in-person event.

“We can’t wait to finally welcome back project holders and industry representatives to the shores of Lake Geneva. We feel strengthened by the lessons we have learned from the digital and hybrid editions of the last two years. In fact, they have opened up new possibilities in terms of activities format and allowed us to widen the range of professionals participating in VdR–Industry,” said Madeline Robert, head of industry and artistic advisor of Visions du Réel,...

Agora Doc Market took place entirely online for the first time due to coronavirus concerns.

A timely documentary focused on Italian nurses has won a brace of awards at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival’s annual Agora Doc Market.

Scroll down for full list of winners

A Steady Job, directed by Mattia Colombo and Gianluca Matarrese, picked up the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum Award of €2,000 and the Mfi Doc Lab Script2Film Workshop award with a full scholarship worth €2,500.

The film follows the journey taken by multitudes of Italian nurses every month, who journey from the south of the country to the...

Screen reveals a slate of forthcoming projects from producers promoting movies at the Seville Film Festival

Iranian director Sina Ataeian Dena is to follow his successful drama Paradise, about a struggling teacher, with two more interconnected feature films about violence in Iranian society.

Dena is to collaborate with producers Yousef Panahi (brother of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi) and Amir Hamz at Bon Voyage Films on all three films.

The second, as yet untitled, film has already started shooting in Iran, although the team have had to do so discreetly.

“We are having to be very creative in our approach to avoid challenges when making these films, each of which will take a different artistic approach to violence in Iran,” explained Panahi. “There will be a crossover in certain scenes between the three movies.”

Dena, Panahi and Hamz also revealed plans to work on a feature length film project in Shanghai with a Chinese co-production partner.

“We would also...