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Over the past week, Dn have been immersing ourselves in the 47th edition of the mighty Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and I instantly fell in love. Queues of thousands of people, not only filmmakers and industry professionals, but actual passionate filmgoers more than willing to wait for over an hour to fill every seat in the festival’s dauntingly huge venues. These eager individuals flock to see films and masterclasses from distributors and buyers alongside ‘meet and greet’ events put on in Clermont-Ferrand’s Short Film Market where stations of internationally acclaimed festivals buzz with excitement. Among the films selected for their filmmaking prowess regardless of premiere status, it was a joy to see so many Dn alum films in the programme including Bunnyhood, Milk, The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, Yuck!, A Move, and our recent Best of Fest picks from Sundance and Annecy A Round of Applause for Death and Hurikán.

All genres are welcome at Locarno’s co-development initiative Alliance 4 Development this year, from “dramas to dark comedies and thrillers,” says project manager Francesca Palleschi. But 11 projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland do share some recurring themes.

“Identity, history’s enduring legacy, environmental concerns, family ties, the sense of belonging and displacement, societal dynamics. And the desperate search for attention,” Palleschi list.

In “I’m Not Here to Make Friends” by Julia Niemann, who recently enjoyed arthouse success with controversial Sundance premiere “Veni Vidi Vici” co-directed with Daniel Hoesl, she’s following Emmy, a contestant on a dating reality show. The film will be shot in English.

“Reality TV may be the lowest of all forms of entertainment. But when it’s done well, it tells of nothing less than the human condition, just like the movies. It’s a film about what we all want: Attention. Why...

Following the main lineups for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, a handful of sidebar slates have been unveiled, featuring Directors Fortnight, Critics Week, and Acid. Notable highlights include the Sundance favorite Good One (read our review here), Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point starring Michael Cera, the first film in over a decade from James White director Josh Mond, the Christopher Abbott-led It Doesn’t Matter, Eat the Night from Jessica Forever duo Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel, Carson Lund’s Eephus, Patricia Mazuy’s Visting Hours, The Hyperboreans, a new film from The Wolf House directors Cristobal Leo & Joaquin Cocina, Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century follow-up Universal Language, and more.

Check out the lineups below.

Cannes Directors Fortnight

Feature films:

“Ma Vie Ma Gueule,” Sophie Fillieres (France) – opening film

“A Son Image,” Thierry de Peretti (France)

“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” Tyler Taormina (USA)

“Desert of Namibia,...

The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section has unveiled its lineup for the 2024 festival, which will open with This Life of Mine, the final feature from the late French director Sophie Fillières. The drama features Agnès Jaoui as a woman whose identity starts to unravel when she turns 55. Fillières died shortly after wrapping principal photography on the film and her children finished post-production.

There are four U.S. titles in the feature section of the non-competitive sidebar: Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point, Carson Lund’s Eephus, India Donaldson’s Good One and Gazer from Ryan J. Sloan.

Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, starring Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, Francesca Scorsese. Ben Shenkman, Gregg Turkington, Sawyer Spielberg, Maria Dizzia and newcomer Matilda Fleming, follows four generations as they gather for what might be their last Christmas in the family home. Lund, who lensed Christmas Eve, makes his feature debut with Eephus,...