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For many years most in the industry have looked to the fall festival trifecta of Venice, Telluride and Toronto as the real start of Oscar season, but recently, with two Palme d’Or winners going on to also be Best Picture winners, the “start” of the season has to be redefined. It really now starts at Cannes.

For example, in 2024 the Cannes Film Festival selections and winners scored very big at the Oscars, with Palme d’Or winner Anora becoming only the third film to also win the Best Picture Academy Award (after 1955’s Marty and 2019’s Parasite). Emilia Perez, The Substance and the animation feature winner Flow also saw big success out of Cannes at the Oscars, where the festival’s films scored an overall whopping 31 nominations. In fact the track record has been pretty good, not at all a detriment for its early positioning, in the past seven...

Rolling off French critical and commercial hit “The Marching Band,” Playtime is reteaming with filmmaker Emmanuel Courcol for his next film, “Greenland.” The family drama headlined by two of France’s biggest stars, Sandrine Kiberlain (“The Divine Sarah Bernhardt”) and Benoit Magimel (“The Taste of Things”).

Freely adapted from Valentine Goby’s bestseller “Banquises,” the film takes place in the aftermath of a young girl’s disappearance during a trip to Norway. “Three years later, her passport resurfaces in Greenland. Without telling anyone, Manon, her 17-year-old sister, embarks on a quest to solve the mystery of her disappearance. Torn between the hope of finding their first daughter and the fear of losing their second, Carine and Laurent, though separated, set off together for Greenland,” according to the synopisis.

The movie is produced by Marc Bordure at Agat Films, whose credits include “The Great Arch” and “The Marching Band.” Co-producers are...

“Dead Language,” the feature adaptation of 2014’s Oscar-nominated short film “Aya,” is heading to Cannes, where WestEnd Films will launch world sales.

The film was recently announced as screening in Tribeca’s Viewpoint Section in June.

Shot under the radar, “Dead Language,” stars Sarah Adler, Ulrich Thomsen, Yehezkel Lazarov and Lars Eidinger. It was co-directed by husband-and-wife filmmakers Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun, based on their original short, which also starred Adler and Thomsen.

“Dead Language” tells the story of a chance encounter that propels Aya, a young woman waiting for her husband at an airport, to pick up a complete stranger instead. The intimacy that sparks between the two ends abruptly when the man disappears, leaving Aya with a key to his hotel room and a yearning that perhaps only a stranger can fulfill.

The film marks the director duo’s second feature following their award-winning debut “The Etruscan Smile,...

IFC Films is rebranding to Independent Film Company (IFC) with a new logo and a renamed parent, IFC Entertainment Group, taking on a higher profile within AMC Networks.

The 25-year-old New York-based distributor also revealed a new a customized audio logo created by Adam “Adrock” Horovitz of the Beastie Boys.

IFC Entertainment Group — previously the AMC Networks Entertainment Group — formalizes the integrated structure of AMC Networks’ four distinct film verticals helmed by Scott Shooman, including Independent Film Company, IFC Center, Rlje, and the premiere horror streamer Shudder. The brands will continue to operate with a “synergistic” approach acros the AMC Networks ecosystem.

“IFC Films is synonymous with taste and terrific curation. With our brand refresh, we are taking the storied foundation of quality, filmmaker first cinema and giving it a fresh face for the evolving filmgoing audience,” said Shooman. “We are also proud to establish IFC Entertainment Group to further...

New York-based IFC Films announced on Tuesday that it is rebranding as Independent Film Company (IFC) andwill operate under the newly named umbrella IFC Entertainment Group.

The group integrates AMC Networks’ four distinct film divisions led by head of IFC Entertainment Group Scott Shooman: Independent Film Company, IFC Center, Rlje, and horror streamer Shudder.

Each brand will continue to operate in a synergistic approach. Shooman told Screen the emphasis will continue to be on curating “the cream of the crop”, adding: “This is an extension of what we’ve been doing for a long time and reinvigorating it with...

In time for the iconic brand’s 25th anniversary, IFC Films is getting a refresh: as Independent Film Company (IFC). Much about the New York-based leader in indie film’s identity will remain the same, though AMC Networks film head Scott Shooman told IndieWire that the company’s approach to release strategies — including windows and number of theaters — will be more specifically tailored to each film.

Independent Film Company will now fall under a new named umbrella of IFC Entertainment Group, under which AMC Networks’ four film verticals will now fall: Independent Film Company, the IFC Center theater in the West Village of Manhattan, genre releaser Rlje Films, and premier horror streaming service Shudder. This season, for example, the IFC Entertainment Group has “Clown in a Cornfield” and Cannes premiere “Dangerous Animals”, both of which it plans to take out into 2,000 theaters based off the success of last year’s “Late Night with the Devil.

An all-star line-up, including actors Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong, and Alba Rohrwacher, auteur directors Hong Sangsoo, Payal Kapadia, and Carlos Reygadas, French Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, and Congolese documentarist Dieudo Hamadi will join Oscar-winning French star Juliette Binoche on this year’s international jury for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

The group will pick the winners of this year’s Palme d’Or for best film.

From left to right: Jeremy Strong, Alba Rohrwacher, Dieudo Hamadi, Leïla Slimani, Juliette Binoche, Halle Berry, Carlos Reygadas, Payal Kapadia, Hong Sangsoo

Strong and Kapadie return to Cannes after a triumphant 2024, which saw the U.S. actor impress on the Croisette as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, a turn that would earn him a best-supporting Oscar nomination this year, and the Indian director win the festival’s Grand Prix with her debut feature, All We Imagine As Light.

Rohrwacher and Reygadas are Cannes regulars. The...

Extensively labeled as one of the best genres in the history of film, drama can connect audiences with interesting characters, meaningful narratives and well-constructed technical qualities that enhance the viewing experience of a movie. As the decade of the 2020s introduced moviegoers to wonderful films, there have also been great dramas to come along and make an impression; so much so, that a collection of acclaimed drama movies have already earned their placement as instant classics within the wider landscape of cinema.

Defined by cultural status and top-notch filmmaking, a classic drama film should captivate viewers at every turn and display timeless storytelling that always provokes an audience to rewatch said movie to gain some perspective. With several solid pieces of drama produced in the 2020s, fans can look at these works with excitement and depth.

Everything Everywhere All at Once Explores Family Drama Excitingly

Conceived as a fantastical reaction...

If there is a filmmaker whose work can be described as “elemental cinema,” that’s Lucile Hadžihalilović. It’s easy to chronicle her 2015 film Evolution as fluvial for its many water (and underwater) scenes, but also how its rhythmic flow steers the mysteries of a post-humanist plot. One might say that Innocence is earthy with a soil that’s dry––there, the woods are where secrets are concealed––and the San Sebastian Special Jury Prize winner Earwig is as ethereal as it is enigmatic. The way Hadžihalilović borrows from elements serves to alchemize the images we see onscreen, lacing them with a thin veil of unknowability. Yet their meaning is never fully out of reach; these are coming-of-age stories at their core. Hadžihalilović’s newest film, The Ice Tower, was billed as her most accessible work yet, borrowing from a source more familiar than she has before: Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale “The Snow Queen.

Like a distant French cousin to the late David Lynch, but with a name significantly harder to pronounce, director Lucile Hadzihalilovic has been making bizarre, intricately crafted movies for over two decades now. A rarity in Gallic cinema, where talk-heavy dramas and comedies tend to be the norm, her quietly disturbing films, which include Innocence, Evolution and Earwig, often put children in hazardous situations where horror, sci-fi and fantasy come clashing together in highly artful ways.

Her latest feature, The Ice Tower (La Tour de glace), is no exception, weaving a twisted retro fairytale that sits somewhere between Frozen and Mulholland Drive. Starring Marion Cotillard, who also headlined Innocence, it’s the kind of movie where it’s better not to know much before going in. Suffice it to say that if you’re looking for a Disney film or a horror flick, or perhaps both, The Ice Tower isn...

Two decades after their last collaboration, Marion Cotillard reunites with filmmaker Lucile Hadzihalilovic for “The Ice Tower,” a fractured fable that lifts as much from the work of Hans Christian Andersen as from Hadzihalilovic’s formative years.

Premiering in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, the 1970s-set film follows a young orphan who falls into an hypnotic — and soon reciprocated — obsession with a film star shooting an adaptation of Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.”

“All my films are fairy-tales,” says Hadzihalilovic. “I don’t care to situate my stories in an everyday reality or a contemporary timeframe; whereas the storybook form comes naturally, allowing for poetry and escape.”

Cotillard, of course, plays that regal film star — “a cold, cold woman,” per the director — who doubles as a vision of glamour and a taste of something altogether more acrid. And after working together on 2004’s “Innocence,” Hadzihalilovic now wanted to give...

Gold Derby’s top news stories for Feb. 4, 2025. Juliette Binoche named president of 2025 Cannes jury

Juliette Binoche has been named president of the international jury for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The Oscar winner succeeds Greta Gerwig, whose jury awarded the Palme d’Or to Anora last spring. The appointment coincides with the 40th anniversary of Binoche’s first appearance at the festival for Rendez-vous. She won Cannes’ Best Actress prize in 2010 for Certified Copy and last attended in 2023 for The Taste of Things. “I look forward to sharing these moments of life with the members of the Jury and the public,” Binoche said in a statement. “In 1985, I climbed the Steps for the first time with the enthusiasm and uncertainty of a young actress; I did not imagine returning 40 years later in this honorary role of President of the Jury. I weigh the privilege, the responsibility and the absolute necessity of humility.

French cinema star Juliette Binoche will preside over the 78th Festival de Cannes, marking a remarkable full-circle moment in her celebrated career. The acclaimed actress has been selected as the international jury president for the 2025 festival, exactly 40 years after her breakthrough performance launched her to global stardom.

Binoche’s appointment carries deep personal significance. In 1985, she first climbed the festival’s famous steps in André Téchiné’s “Rendez-vous,” a film that catapulted her into the international spotlight. “I was born at the Festival de Cannes,” Binoche has often said, reflecting on that pivotal moment.

“In 1985, I walked up the steps for the first time with the enthusiasm and uncertainty of a young actress,” Binoche shared. “I never imagined I’d return 40 years later in the honorary role of Jury President.” She emphasized her appreciation for the responsibility, noting the need for humility in such a prestigious role.

The actress brings...

French actress Juliette Binoche has been named President of the Jury for the 2025 edition of the Cannes Film Festival in May.

The honor, which was announced on Tuesday morning Paris time, will fall exactly 40 years after the Oscar-winning The English Patient star first touched down at the festival with André Téchiné’s Palme d’Or contender Rendez-vous in 1985.

Binoche follows in the footsteps of U.S. director Greta Gerwig whose jury feted Sean Baker’s Anora with the Palme d’Or last year.

“I’m looking forward to sharing these life experiences with the members of the Jury and the public. In 1985, I walked up the steps for the first time with the enthusiasm and uncertainty of a young actress; I never imagined I’d return 40 years later in the honorary role of President of the Jury. I appreciate the privilege, the responsibility and the absolute need for humility,” said Binoche.

Juliette Binoche, the Oscar- and César-winning actress who’s a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, will serve as its jury president for the 2025 edition. The festival runs May 13 – 24 on the French Riviera, where Binoche will be responsible for overseeing the main competition jury, comprised of an international crop of actors and filmmakers.

The iconic Binoche has been a Cannes mainstay since André Téchiné’s “Rendez-vous” made her the belle of the festival in 1985. That’s exactly 40 years ago come this year’s Cannes. In other words, Binoche was born at Cannes. She’s taken many projects to the festival, including the films of Michael Haneke and Claire Denis, and she won Best Actress for Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy” in 2010. Last year, she gave Meryl Streep (perhaps the equivalent of an actress of Binoche’s stature here in the United States) the Honorary Palme d’Or. In 2023, filmmaker Anh Hung Tran...

Touting her lifelong “love affair with the camera,” the Cannes Film Festival announced Monday that Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche has been named president of the 2025 main competition jury. The 78th edition of the festival will run from May 13th to 24th.

Binoche, 60, is the winner of best actress prizes from all three of the major international film festivals. She first walked on the Cannes red carpet with her early role in André Téchiné’s “Rendez-vous,” which caused a stir at Cannes 40 years ago.

The Paris-born actress quickly made her name as an international star, appearing in acclaimed French and English-language dramas such as “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “Three Colours: Blue,” “Damage” and “The English Patient,” for which she won an Oscar and a BAFTA in 1997.

“I’m looking forward to sharing [my] life experiences with the members of the jury and the public,” Binoche said in a statement. “In 1985, I...

Former Decal and Neon executive Ayo Kepher-Maat has joined the IFC Films in the new role of vice president of acquisitions and productions at the AMC Networks division to help build a diverse slate of “iconic, noisy and genre-bending titles” across the fiction, non-fiction and international categories, the company said.

Kepher-Maat, who is based in LA, reports to Scott Shooman, AMC’s EVP and head of the film group encompassing IFC Films, Rlje Films and Shudder. She will work alongside director of acquisitions Adam Koehler and collaborate with the entire film group to ensure cohesion across the three divisions. She will be on the team heading to Sundance.

Kepher-Maat joins AMC Networks from Decal, the home entertainment Jv between Neon and Bleecker Street, where she was a SVP of acquisitions and played a pivotal role in shaping the company’s content strategy and acquiring titles such as Which Brings Me to You,...

International film biz pros may be gearing up for the Berlinale and its European Film Market in February, but most of Europe’s top buyers were already back on the circuit last week for the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris showcasing French movies, series and talent.

The market component of the 27th edition, running January 14 to 17, swapped its recent location of the swanky Champs-Elysées Avenue eighth arrondissement for the grittier but storied Left Bank neighborhood of Montparnasse.

More than 80 French film and TV sales companies set up residence in the hangar-like Espace Pullman in the shadow of the Montparnasse Tower, to showcase their new French-language wares to 500 buyers from roughly 40 mainly European territories.

After years of being crammed into separate rooms, it was the first time France’s film and TV sales sectors were together in the same space and there was a different kind of energy.

“There’s a real market feel this year,...

South Korea’s Green Narae Media won the inaugural Unifrance Distribution Prize at this year’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, claiming $10,290 in prize money honoring the distributor’s innovative local rollout of Trần Anh Hùng’s “The Taste of Things.”

Released in South Korea this past June, the Cannes prizewinner turned French Oscar submission went on to bank more than 45,000 local admissions, making the romantic drama a boutique success story for 2024. After buying the title off script, the Korean distributor put together a robust social media campaign that targeted young audiences while emphasizing the film’s mouth-watering content.

“[The film] contains many scenes of cooking and food that may cause stomach rumbling, which may affect viewers on an empty stomach,” teased the witty campaign. “Please be careful when watching.”

“They organized many events, most notably with [Michelin starred chef and ‘The Taste of Things’ actor] Pierre Gagnaire, who owns a renowned restaurant in Seoul,” says Charles Tesson, who oversees this new prize.

South Korean distributor Green Narae Media has won Unifrance’s first €10,000Distribution Award for its 2024 release of Tran Anh Hung’s culinary romance The Taste Of Things.

The inaugural award, launched with the Cnc, was designed to honour an international distribution company for its innovative and ambitious release of a French film.

The Taste Of Things stars Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel as two cooks navigating a slow-burning romance in late 19th-centuryFrance. Gaumont produced the film and has international rights.

Green Narae released the film in South Korea on 100 screens on June 19, 2024, ultimately expanding the release to 234 screens. Itwent on...

South Korean distributor Green Narae Media has won Unifrance’s first €10,000Distribution Award for its 2024 release of Tran Anh Hung’s culinary romance The Taste Of Things.

The inaugural award, launched with the Cnc, was designed to honour an international distribution company for its innovative and ambitious release of a French film.

The Taste Of Things stars Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel as two cooks navigating a slow-burning romance in late 19th-centuryFrance. Gaumont produced the film and has international rights.

Green Narae released the film in South Korea on 100 screens on June 19, 2024, ultimately expanding the release to 234 screens. Itwent on...

The international box office for French cinema dropped by 11% in 2024, according to data released by Unifrance on Monday, but the film and TV export agency said the figures only gave part of the picture.

Unifrance said French film productions racked up 33.4M admissions internationally in the first 50 weeks of 2024 for a €222.8M ($227.09M) gross. The body gave a preliminary forecast for the entire year of 38M admissions for €250M ($254M) of revenue, which it said corresponded to a 11% drop compared to 2023.

The top performing French film in international markets was The Count of Monte Cristo, which generated 3.3M admissions for a €20.7M ($21.2) gross. It was followed in the charts by four films that had begun their international careers in 2023: Anatomy of a Fall, Autumn and the Black Jaguar, The Taste Of Things and The Jungle Bunch 2: World Tour.

2024 newcomers in the international top ten included surprise local breakout A Little Something Else,...

French films took an estimated €250.2m in overseas markets in 2024 from 38.1 million admissions, according to projected annual figures released by Unifrance today (January 13).

This represents an 11% drop from 2023’s final tally of €271.4m and 42.7 million admissions although the final 2024 figures won’t be announced until October. Last year’s January predicted figures for 2023 (€234m and 37.4 million admissions) ended up being surpassed by the final numbers.

Dramatic films led the way with 26.1% of ticket sales abroad, followed by comedies at 21.8%, and action and adventure films with 21.3%;animation – 2023’s top genre – dropped to 17.7%.

Europe remains the continent with the largest appetite for French fare,...

French movies had a banner 2024 on home turf with a 44% market share at the French box office, which broke a 15-year record; meanwhile, Gallic films saw a 11% year-on-year drop in international revenues, according to figures unveiled by the National Film Board (Cnc) and Unifrance during the Rendez-Vous in Paris market on Monday.

During the first 50 weeks of 2024, French movies generated 222.8 million euros ($227.2 million) from 33.4 million admissions outside France. Taking into account tickets sales during the second half of December, Unifrance anticipates the final box office for international will be closer to 38 million admissions and 250 million euros ($255.2 million) in revenues.

While it doesn’t represent France in the Oscar race, “The Count of Monte-Cristo,” a three-hour epic adventure film adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ classic, ranks as the biggest French film export in 2024.

The movie, produced by Dimitri Rassam’s Mediawan-owned banner Chapter 2 and sold internationally by Pathé, has grossed an...

Sorry, Hollywood. Indie studios have officially taken over the poster game. Of the 25 films listed below, I can count the number of legacy studios on one hand (even that’s putting Focus Features under the Universal umbrella). Yes, some of that has to do with a strike-enforced lack of releases beyond true tentpoles and their glossy, Photoshopped marketing campaigns, but it’s also a continued reluctance to take risks in all facets of production. I get that they don’t need to––those types of films sell themselves––but a bit of ingenuity still increases public perception.

Some of it probably has to do with the strain of contractual obligations as far as billing and credits go with blockbuster fare (why most of the best posters are teasers rather than finals), but there are ways around such stipulations if you’re willing to push the envelope. We know the designers...

"We're about to go into the deep end of the pool here... This is serious..." Another look back at some indie gems and other cinema highlights from 2024. The esteemed film magazine called Little White Lies from the UK has revealed their official list of their the 30 Best Films of 2024. In addition to their article (a list created by all of their writers together) they've also published an excellent countdown video of all 30 films as well. Their picks are based on UK release dates, so they include a handful of big 2023 films including The Zone of Interest, The Iron Claw, The Taste of Things (so good!), and La Chimera (already my #1 last year). They also highlight many other top notch 2024 favorites including The Brutalist, Nickel Boys, Hard Truths, Challengers, Hit Man, Close Your Eyes, Furiosa, Juror #2, and Kneecap. The editing in the first portion of this video is fabulous - mashing...

Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning look at the commandant of Auschwitz and his family living blissfully on the edge of the concentration camp makes for a deeply chilling horror

• The best films of 2024 in the UK

• More on the best culture of 2024

The Zone of Interest, a British, American and Polish production directed by Jonathan Glazer, begins with a scene of bucolic bliss: a German-speaking family picnicking on a riverbank on a summer day. The specifics of character and dialogue are less important – you can barely catch the thread of conversation, anyway – than of the family’s mood: peace, tranquility, ease; on the father’s part, a note of concern. There have been a handful of recent films – Tran Anh Hung’s The Taste of Things, Annie Baker’s Janet Planet, Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt – that have excellently refuted the tyranny of story in how we evaluate cinema,...

As evidenced in our best cinematography round-up, one of the year’s most beautiful movies is Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio, shot by Leviathan and The End cinematographer Mikhail Krichman. The Venice Silver Lion winner, selected by Italy as their Oscar entry, will now arrive this Christmas from Sideshow/Janue Films, who have released the first U.S. trailer and poster.

Here’s the synopsis: “1944. In Vermiglio, a mountain village high up in the Italian Alps, war looms as a distant but constant threat. The arrival of Pietro, a deserted soldier, disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s family, changing them forever. During the four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia, the eldest daughter of the teacher, are instantly drawn to each other leading to an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from tragedy, the family will face its own..”

Lucia Ahrensdorf said in her review,...

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This November, Hulu is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the surreal action comedy-drama series Interior Chinatown to the Christmas comedy-drama film Nutcrackers. However, for this article, we only included the films that are coming to Hulu this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 7 best films that are coming to Hulu in November 2024 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Aliens (November 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Credit – 20th Century Fox

Aliens is a sci-fi action thriller drama film written and directed by James Cameron. The 1986 film is set in a dystopian future and it follows Ellen Ripley who is sent back to the planet Lv-426 to establish communication with a terraforming colony but when she gets there she is hunted by an Alien Queen who is out for her life. Aliens stars Sigourney Weaver,...

New Movie Alert: The Best Flicks Hitting Each Streamer This Week (November 11-17) - Main Image

What better way to start this week than to check out our New Movie Alert: the best flicks coming to each streamer from November 11 to 17? From the return of classic Christmas flicks to new releases, here are a couple of movies worth watching for the week!

New Movies Hitting Netflix This Week

Netflix offers Zoe Saldana's new musical-thriller, the short and tragic life biography of Rob Peace, and the awkward boxing fight between Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson.

The streamer is also returning the complete Fast and Furious franchise free for fans to binge-watch again, while also releasing the upcoming Christmas romantic comedy, Hot Frosty.

Rob Peace — November 11The Fast and the Furious franchise — November 12Emilia Pérez — November 13Hot Frosty — November 13Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley — November 13Jake Paul vs.

Vermiglio is set in the eponymous alpine village during the waning days of WWII. Maura Delpero’s film, gorgeously shot by Leviathan cinematographer Mikhail Krichman, is a slow-moving fable that unfolds as a novelistic series of pastoral tableaus. The short chapters evoke Balzacian poetic realism and recall the sensual textures of last year’s The Taste of Things. But unlike that film, which exuded autumnal warmth and celebrated pleasure––therefore freedom––Vermiglio‘s stark, wintery beauty comes at the price of its characters’ desires. The painterly frames physically constrain subjects, especially women who suffer pointedly under the social restrictions of this time and place.

Its story meanders through the village but centers on a family of nine, especially the patriarch Cesare (Tommaso Ragno) and his daughters Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), Ada (Rachele Potrich), and Flavia (Anna Thaler). The central plot follows the courtship of Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a traumatized army deserter,...

The Hulu November 2024 premiere schedule has been announced and can be viewed below. The streaming service has also revealed the titles that will leave next month.

The Hulu originals for the month include FX’s Say Nothing, The Honorable Shyne, Interior Chinatown, It’s All Country, Jim Gaffigan: The Skinny, Nutcrackers, and Vow of Silence: The Assassination of Annie Mae.

Interior Chinatown Highlights

A look at the originals, exclusives, and premieres that are part of the Hulu November 2024 lineup.

A Man Called Otto (2023 – Streaming November 6)

Based on the comical and moving #1 New York Times bestseller, “A Man Called Otto” tells the story of Otto Anderson, a grumpy widower who is very set in his ways. When a lively young family moves in next door, he meets his match in quick-witted and very pregnant Marisol, leading to an unlikely friendship that will turn his world upside-down. Experience a funny, heartwarming story about...

For as much rich history and beautiful tradition as the Academy Awards are known for, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho perhaps said it best when he described the ceremony as “very local.” Though this didn’t stop his “Parasite” from sweeping the 2020 Oscars, the rules around what gets nominated and what kind of stories are deserving of such accolades has been a major issue in recent years.

For instance, despite winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes International Film Festival last year, Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” was refused as France’s submission to the Oscar, the country instead choosing the more traditional “The Taste of Things.” Triet went on to win the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for her film while “The Taste of Things” went home empty-handed. In a repeat of these circumstances, Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia stunned Cannes audiences this year, winning the Grand Prix...

As The Bear regularly commits category fraud to pass off its boiling-over stresses as comedy, House Of Spoils throws an extra ingredient into the heart attack atmosphere of high-end kitchens: a ghost. The haunted restaurant horror tosses plenty into the pot, but the half-developed flavors rest uneasily on the palate.

IFC Films and Sapan Studio have acquired the U.S. rights to “The Luckiest Man in America,” a true-life drama about a man who figured out the secret to a popular game show. The deal follows the film’s premiere at this month’s Toronto International Film Festival.

“The Luckiest Man in America” includes an ensemble of acclaimed actors such as Paul Walter Hauser (“Richard Jewell”), David Strathairn, Shamier Anderson (“John Wick: Chapter 4”), Walton Goggins (“Justified”), Maisie Williams (“Game of Thrones”), Haley Bennett (“Cyrano”), and Johnny Knoxville (“Jackass”). It was directed by Samir Oliveros, who co-wrote the screenplay with Maggie Briggs. IFC plans to release “The Luckiest Man in America” in theaters in 2025.

The film unfolds in 1984 and follows an unemployed ice cream truck driver from Ohio (Hauser), who becomes a contestant on “Press Your Luck,” all while harboring a big secret. Because he understands a flaw in the show’s central game,...

When producer David Beaubaire was an executive at Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Paramount, and Sony, he made movies like “Up in the Air,” “Dreamgirls,” “Flight,” and “The Big Short” — the kinds of original studio projects that aren’t often made today.

Development has always been a gamble, requiring many years and millions of dollars for a film that’s more likely to flop than to hit — if it ever gets made at all. It’s also become increasingly rare. Beaubaire studied 505 films released and/or to be released by major studios between 2022 and 2026 and found that the titles championed by a studio executive — someone who courted filmmakers and talent, went through rewrites, and saw it through to its release — accounted for 10 percent of the total.

Some of these films, like Paramount’s “The Lost City” and “One Love: Bob Marley,” or Universal’s “Cocaine Bear,” became modest hits. Others were intended for streaming,...

If the race for Best International Feature Film feels rushed this year, it is: the Academy pushed up country submission deadlines by a month. Films still have until November 15 to play in theaters in their respective countries. The Academy has also laid down more rigorous rules for who serves on the Oscar selection committees: 50 percent must be filmmakers (including artists and craftspeople). France, for example, beefed up its committee from seven members to 11.

As a country with a robust film industry, France has often been criticized for picking the “wrong” Oscar submission, from Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Titane” (Neon), which was not nominated, to “The Taste of Things” (IFC Films) over Neon’s eventual Best Picture contender, “Anatomy of a Fall.”

In fact, Audrey Diwan, director of “Happening” — a film many thought should have been submitted instead of “Titane” — is now on the French selection committee, along with veteran...

Things are looking up for “Emilia Pérez.” France has chosen the upcoming Netflix release as its submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. Acquired by the streaming service out of Cannes, the film won both the Jury Prize and Best Actress prize for its female ensemble at the 2024 edition of the annual international film festival along the French Riviera.

The operatic crime drama about a fearsome Mexican drug cartel leader that enlists a plucky lawyer to help coordinate their gender reassignment surgery is written and directed by French auteur Jacques Audiard, whose 2009 film “A Prophet” was one of the last of France’s submissions to receive a Best International Feature nomination.

The film was chosen by revamped Oscar committee featuring 11 French professionals on both the artistic and industry side of filmmaking, including recent Oscar-nominated producers Nadim Cheikhroua (“Four Daughters”) and David Thion (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Oscar-winning filmmaker Florian Zeller,...

France has picked Jacques Audiard’s queer crime musical Emilia Pérez as its contender for the 2025 Oscar race in the best international feature category.

Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz star alongside Spanish trans actress Karla Sofia Gascón in the genre-jumping feature about a Mexican drug lord (Gascón) who enlists the help of a lawyer (Saldaña) to undergo gender-affirming surgery.

Emilia Pérez premiered in Cannes, where it won the Jury Prize as well as a joint best actress honor for the ensemble cast.

Audiard is already an Oscar nominee for A Prophet in 2009. His filmography includes such features as Rust and Bone (2012), The Sisters Brothers (2018) and Dheepan (2015).

Traditionally, France has been a regular in the best international feature race and has won the category 12 times. But the last time the nation that invented cinema took home the trophy was in 1992 with Régis Wargnier’s Indochine. France has been shut...

France has selected Jacques Audiard’s bold musical “Emilia Perez” to represent the country in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film race, giving that category an instant frontrunner at the 97th Academy Awards.

The Netflix film, which caused a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival with its story of a Mexican drug lord undergoing sex reassignment surgery, is considered one of the year’s likeliest Best Picture nominees, making it a clear favorite in the international category as well.

It was chosen on Wednesday by a selection committee that had narrowed its choices to four: “Emilia Perez,” Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,” Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo” and Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericordia.”

Last year, that committee chose “The Taste of Things” over “Anatomy of a Fall,” going with a ravishing romance over an edgier drama that had won the top prize in Cannes. “The Taste of Things...

France has picked Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set musical Emilia Perez to represent the country in the best international feature category at the 2025 Academy Awards as it attempts to sing its way to a victory in the category for the first time in more than 30 years.

The primarily Spanish-language song-filled film is about cartel leader Emilia, who enlists an unappreciated lawyer to help fake her death so Emilia can live authentically as her true self.

It won both the Cannes Jury prize for director Audiard and a shared best actress award for its female cast Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana...

France has selected Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards.

The drama stars Karla Sofía Gascón as cartel leader Emilia who enlists the help of unappreciated lawyer Rita (Saldana) to help her fake her death so she can live authentically as her true self.

It premiered at Cannes, where it earned its four actresses – Gascón, Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz – a collective Best Actress award, and also clinched the jury prize.

The film was selected from a short list of four films which also included swashbuckler The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte; French-produced Indian drama All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia and Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie.

This year’s revamped selection committee featured sales agent Carole Baraton, producer Nadim Cheikhroua (Four Daughters), Venice Golden Lion...

France’s revamped Oscar committee has selected Jacques Audiard’s exhilarating redemption thriller “Emilia Perez” for the international feature film race. The movie won two major awards at the Cannes Film Festival and earned rave reviews.

“Emilia Perez” stars Karla Sofía Gascón as a fearsome drug lord who embraces her true self as a woman. The Spanish-language film earned one of Cannes’s longest standing ovations and went on to win the Jury Prize (in a jury presided over by Greta Gerwig), on top of a best actress prize for the ensemble cast, including Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz. The movie was bought by Netflix for the U.S. and the U.K. following its Cannes premiere.

Audiard is a revered French auteur who won a Palme d’Or with “Dheepan,” and was previously nominated for a foreign-language Oscar with “A Prophet” starring Tahar Rahim.

Although “Emilia Perez...

France has unveiled the four titles in the running to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards.

They are:

All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie

This year’s candidate is being decided by a restructured selection committee – featuring Venice Golden Lion winner Audrey Diwan and Oscar winners, writer, director and producer Florian Zeller and producer Patrick Wachsberger – as...

Throughout the years, and at least to the people who do not deal extensively with Vietnamese cinema, the local movie industry was almost exclusively represented by Tran Anh Hung, whose films like “Cyclo”, “The Scent of Green Papaya” and “Vertical Ray of the Sun” are the first that come to the mind of any cinephile. However, the Camera D’or for best first feature film Pham Tien An won at the 76th Cannes Film Festival for “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” showed that there might be more to local cinema than the aforementioned director, who did won Best Director for “The Taste of Things”, in a production though, that is exclusively French.

Furthermore as Le Chou wrote in an article published last year in Asian Movie Pulse, “For the first time in modern Vietnam cinema since the establishment of its box office tracking, six local films topped the Vietnam box...

For nearly 20 years, Zoe Saldaña has starred in some of the most financially successful films in history, including “Avatar” and “Avengers: Endgame.” You’d think an actress with such an impressive résumé would have scripts and prominent roles constantly coming her way. Yet, in Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” where Saldaña plays Rita Moro Castro, she sings and dances, and in one high-energy number, “El Mal,” she shows the ferocity that shows the depth of her talent. It was a moment that left me incredibly frustrated with Hollywood. Despite her box office success, Saldaña has rarely been allowed to showcase the full range of her abilities. Why are we only learning about this now?

I expressed these sentiments to Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger during an interview with Variety, and she confidently replied, “That all stops now.”

Read: You can see all Academy Award predictions in all 23 categories on one...

After missing out on sending “Anatomy of a Fall” as its official entry, the stakes are high for France’s revamped Oscar committee to avoid missing out on another opportunity to give the country its first Oscar win for best international feature in over three decades. But don’t expect the French to make the obvious choice.

On paper, Jacques Audiard’s exhilarating redemption thriller “Emilia Perez,” which won two major awards at the Cannes Film Festival along and earned rave reviews, is a shoo-in. Audiard is a revered French auteur who won a Palme d’Or with “Dheepan,” was previously nominated for a foreign-language Oscar with “A Prophet” and is well known internationally. “Emilia Perez,” which stars Karla Sofía Gascón as a fearsome drug lord who embraces his true self as a woman, struck a chord at Cannes where it earned one of this year’s longest standing ovations.

Lion And Cubs

Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was recently in Locarno for a celebration, has teamed up with his sons Aryan Khan and AbRam as the voice cast of the Hindi-language version of Disney’s upcoming feature film “Mufasa: The Lion.”

The film is directed by Barry Jenkins and tells the story of the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, while also introducing an orphaned cub called Mufasa, a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline—and their expansive journey alongside an extraordinary group of misfits. The film has original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and an English voice cast of Aaron Pierre as Mufasa, Donald Glover as Simba and Braelyn Rankins as Young Mufasa.

The film will reach Indian theatres on Dec.20 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions.

Watch the trailer here:

Format Duo

Nippon TV has finalized a deal...

The Hudson Film Festival, now in its second year in the quaint upstate New York town, has revealed the lineup for its 2024 edition.

IndieWire exclusively announces Hudson’s program for its second year, running August 9-11, with all-access passes now on sale. Programming includes opening night feature “The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” (Searchlight Pictures on Hulu), Sundance award-winning documentary “Daughters” (Netflix), “My First Film” (Mubi) from Zia Anger, Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary “A New Kind of Wilderness,” a 15th-anniversary free screening of Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” and Cannes award-winner “The Taste of Things” as an international spotlight feature.

Based on the 2013 New York Times bestselling novel, writer/director Tina Mabry’s “The Supremes At Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat” stars Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Emmy nominee Sanaa Lathan, and Emmy winner Uzo Aduba as three women whose friendship withstands the test of time through the decades dating back to the 1960s.

Savory wine, blissful beaches, rugged topography, and an elusive Philippe Katerine who plays Jean-Philippe — we’ve been keeping close tabs on what will be the middle part in Sophie Letourneur‘s proposed vaca-trilogy. Now comes word that (via the Cineuropa folks) that the project will be known as L’Aventura — a wordplay on Michelangelo Antonioni’s masterwork (perhaps one of the main players will disappear here too). Casting is complete (perhaps we’ll get a surprise appearance), and Letourneur will be re-teaming with cinematopgrapher Jonathan Ricquebourg (he was onboard for Voyages en Italie and more recently The Taste of Things) and the bigger news is that the producing team to come onboard are Atelier de Production’s Thomas and Mathieu Verhaeghe – who mostly produced a string of Quentin Dupieux films and other recent fest faves in Puan (last year’s San Sebastian Film Festival) and Dog on Trial and Eat the Night...