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Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel (VdR) has unveiled the 28 projects to be presented across four categories at its 2025 VdR-Industry section, taking place April 6-9.

Among 14 projects in development selected for VdR–Pitching are Sarvnik Kaur’s Disruption, which uses a board game to explore climate change, corporate greed, and identity. Kaur’s previous film Against The Tide won the special jury prize at Sundance in 2023

Also being showcased is France’s Mariana Otero, whose History Of A Secret played at VdR in 2023. Her new project From One Body to Another sees her collaborate with 10 visually impaired adults with mental health issues.

Rich Peppiatt’s drama Kneecap, which made it onto short list for Best International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards earlier this week, has scooped the top Crystal Arrow for best film at France’s Les Arcs Film Festival.

The prize, awarded in partnership with state broadcaster France Télévisions, comes with a digital promotional campaign worth €20,000 to support the theatrical release in France next summer by local distributor Wayna Pitch.

The picture also won Best Original Music, with Michael ‘Mikey J’ Asante winning the €1,000 prize donated by the French music rights management body Sacem.

The jury – announced as a collective without a president – comprised actor Pio Marmaï, writer Delphine de Vigan, director and producer Peter Kerekes, actor Céline Sallette, singer, actor and producer Sofiane Zermani and composer Herdís Stafánsdóttir.

In a third prize, decided by eight local high school students, the film also won the Young Jury Prize. The...

Visar Morina’s Hatixhe And Shaban, Alexandra Makarová’s Perla, and Ivan Ostrochovský’s The Springare among 13 feature projects in post-production selected for the 2024 Les Arcs Film Festival Work in Progress session.

The strand is designed to help the films find international sales agents, distributors and festival premieres. The projects will be presented to industry professionals on Sunday, December 15 as part of the Industry Village (December 14-17) at the 16thedition of the festival (December 14-21).

Scroll down for the full list of projects

Kosovo-born German filmmaker Visar Morina will pitch his third feature Hatixhe And Shaban about a family living...

It is fitting that for the 30th year of the Geneva International Film Festival, artistic director Anais Emery and her team are going back to the future.

“It was very important to recall the history of the festival but not through a retrospective,” says Emery of the event that takes place in the Swiss city from November 1-10.

”We wanted to renew, to celebrate and underline Giff’s speciality and specificity.”

That means showcasing innovative storytelling delivered via the myriad audiovisual mediums available to creators, from film, TV and web content to installations, virtual reality and extended reality (Xr) works.

The Seed of the Sacred Fig, the Iranian drama from exiled director Mohammad Rasoulof has won the top prize for best film at the Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films.

The prize was announced at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival. A jury of critics from 15 Arab countries picked Rasoulof’s drama from among 22 European productions. The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a French-German-Iranian production and is Germany’s official entry for the 2025 Academy Awards in the best international feature category.

The film, a depiction of a conservative Iranian family that breaks apart amid the political turmoil of the Women Life Freedom protests, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year, where it won a special jury prize, and the Fipresci honor from international film critics.

Rasoulof, a sharp critic of the Iranian regime — Rasoulof had been arrested and imprisoned in Tehran’s notorious Evin jail in July 2022 for...

With the rise of alternative spiritual documentaries this year, including Lana Wilson’s buzzy “Look Into My Eyes” about psychics, it’s only fitting that an early festival favorite also centers on mysticism.

Documentary “Wishing On A Star,” which will premiere at Venice and also screen at TIFF, follows an Italian astrologer who encourages people to be “reborn.” The docu-drama is directed by Peter Kerekes, who co-wrote the film with Erica Barbiani.

The official synopsis reads: “Luciana, a Neapolitan astrologer, has a method to make her clients’ wishes come true. All they need to do is take a trip on their birthday to a precise destination to be reborn under a new sky. Whether it’s Taipei, Beirut, or a nearby village, during these birthday journeys, the protagonists will go through unexpected transformations to help them discover what they truly desire.”

The feature is billed as a blend of documentary with storytelling elements.

“Baltic Uxo” and “The Big Chief” won awards Sunday at Docu Talents From the East during the Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Industry Days.

Eight documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe, set for theatrical release in the next 12 months, were presented at Docu Talents From the East.

Lithuanian-German-Latvian co-production “Baltic Uxo,” directed by Agnė Dovydaitytė and Alexander Belinski, and produced by Dagnė Vildžiūnaitė, took the top award, which came with $5,000, in cooperation with Current Time TV.

The film looks at how 1.6 million tons of munitions, including chemical weapons, were dumped into the Baltic Sea and the North Sea after World War II. The film explores the ecological effects on marine life and the coastal landscapes.

The jury said the project “looks very professional, features beautiful cinematography, and seems to turn a hidden secret into a universal story.” They added: “We can imagine the success of the planned impact campaign, connecting...

A profile of the late Irish literary giant Edna O’Brien and a story about the haenyeo fisherwomen of South Korea are among the 21 TIFF Docs selections unveiled by Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday.

Joining Sinéad O’Shea’s Blue Road - The Edna O’Brien Story and Sue Kim’s The Last Of The Sea Women are Men Of War, an exploration of a failed coup in Venezuela from the team behind Cocaine Cowboys, and The Last Republican from Hot Tub Time Machine director Steve Pink, who looks at how former Congressman Adam Kinzinger broke ranks and stood up to Donald Trump.

Eddie Huang, creator of ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat comedy, is set to open the Toronto Film Festival’s TIFF Docs sidebar with a world premiere for Vice is Broke, a documentary about the rise and fall of Vice Media.

Huang will chronicle events leading up to Shane Smith’s Vice Media, a scrappy media player once valued at $5.7 billion, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023 to open the way for a sale of the company.

There’s also world bows in Toronto’s documentary strand for Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story, directed by Sinéad O’Shea, who did hours of interviews with the legendary Irish novelist in the last year of O’Brien’s life; Jen Gaiten and Screwball doc maker Billy Corben bringing Men of War, about a former U.S. Green Beret caught up in a failed 2020 coup to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; and...

Venice Film Festival has revealed the programme for its 81st edition, featuring a 21-strong Competition that includes new films from Todd Phillips, Pedro Almodovar, Luca Guadagino, Pablo Larrain, Brady Corbet and Justin Kurzel.

Scroll down for full line-up

The selection was unveiled by festival president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and artistic director Alberto Barbera. It marked Buttafuoco’s first time at the annual press conference, after replacing Roberto Cicutto in October 2023.

Further filmmakers in Competition include Wang Bing, Luis Ortega, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Dag Johan Haugerud, Athina Rachel Tsangari and Walter Salles.

The line-up also includes Jon Watt’s Wolfs, starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney,...

The Taiwan International Documentary Festival (Tidf) proudly announces its complete lineup for the 14th edition, featuring almost 140 documentaries, over 200 screenings and a variety of related events. Held from May 10 to May 19, 2024, in various venues in Taipei and New Taipei City, audiences will have the opportunity to experience a diverse selection of documentary cinema from around the globe.

The programme includes four competition sections – the Asian Vision Competition, International Competition, Taiwan Competition, and Tidf Visionary Award – each presenting 14-15 meticulously selected works chosen through a rigorous and highly competitive selection process, alongside nine originally curated sections.

As a cornerstone of Taiwan's cinematic landscape, Tidf remains dedicated to unearthing treasures of the country's film history. Audiences can anticipate masterpieces of Taiwanese documentary cinema and rare glimpses into amateur films, preserving and celebrating the country's cultural heritage.

Notably, Tidf embarks on its first-ever collaboration with an international film festival, the Ukrainian Docudays UA International Human Rights Films Festival,...

When East Meets West (Wemw), is the co-production forum of January’s Trieste Film Festival in Italy.

Fresh projects from Czeck director Barbora Chalupová, Greece’s Asimina Proedrou and Brazil’s Caru Alves de Souza are among the 18 features to be showcased at When East Meets West (Wemw), the Italian co-production forum of the Trieste Film Festival, taking place from January 21-24.

First-time feature directors Anna Llargués Lala Aliyeva, and Leo Černic will also be presenting projects at what will be the 14th edition of Wemw, to some 500 industry professionals.

Scroll down for the full list

“This year, we received an exceptional number of submissions,...

Slovak directors Ivan Ostrochovsky and Pavol Pekarčík’s Ukraine war drama “Photophobia,” which won the Europa Cinemas Label Award after its Venice Days premiere and is Slovakia’s entry in the best international feature film Oscar race, has been acquired by Prague-based sales agent Filmotor.

Set on a cold February morning in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “Photophobia” follows 12-year-old Niki and his family as they arrive at the Kharkiv metro station to take shelter from the terrifying war raging outside. For Niki’s family, daylight is synonymous with mortal danger, and the boy is not allowed to leave the station premises, living under the constant glow of their neon lights.

While aimlessly wandering around the abandoned cars and full platforms, Niki meets 11-year-old Vika, and a new world opens up to him. As their bond strengthens, the children find the courage once again to feel the sun on their faces.

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

New Europe Film Sales is set to launch international sales on “Stepne,”the debut feature of Ukraine’s Maryna Vroda, a best short Cannes Palme d’Or winner, which was announced this July 5 morning as part of Locarno’s main International Competition.

Born in Kyiv, Vroda won a Palme d’Or in 2011 for her short “Cross Country” (“Kross”), a seemingly allegorical psychological drama about a boy who is forced to run, then does so willingly, ending up watching his classmates running a senseless cross-country race as a boy rolls in a transparent ball in a river. “Kross” was inspired by Vroda’s memories of physical education lessons. “Stepne” is equally personal, coming to Vroda when her grandparents died. In it, a middle-aged man travels to his family home to care for his dying mother. He meets his brother and a woman he loves and thinks back to his life choices...

The selection also includes projects from Kirill Serebrennikov and Agnieszka Holland

David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds is among 32 projects to receive a share of €8.3m in Eurimages’ latest round of co-production funding.

Cronenberg’s new feature, a co-production between Canada and France, received €500,000 – the largest amount awarded in this round of funding. Vincent Cassel plays a widower who creates a device that allows you to connect with the dead. Diane Kruger and Guy Pearce also star in the thriller.

Scroll down for full list of titles

The only other project to also receive €500,000 was Adrià Garcia’s animation The Treasure Of Barracuda,...

Ruben Östlund’s latest satire, Triangle of Sadness, dominated the European Film Awards with four wins, including Best Film, the evening’s top prize.

Östlund also picked up the Best Screenplay and Best Director Awards for his work on the film, and Zlatko Burić nabbed Best Actor for his leading role.

The film, which picked up this year’s Palme d’Or, follows Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), a celebrity model couple who are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged boat captain (Woody Harrelson). What first appeared Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting to stay alive.

In other top prizes, Vicky Krieps won the Best Actress award for the well-received period drama Corsage, and the Javier Bardem starrer, The Good Boss, won Best Comedy.

The awards ceremony, overseen by the European Film Academy, took place...

Vicky Krieps was also a winner as best European actress for Corsage.

Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness was the big winner at the 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs), which took place today (December 10) in Reykjavík.

Scroll down for winners

The class warfare comedy won best European film, director, screenwriter and actor, for Zlatko Burić.

Vicky Krieps was also a winner as best European actress for Corsage.

Mantas Kvedaravičius’ Mariupolis 2 won the European documentary prize, whilst Alain Ughetto’s No Dogs Or Italians Allowed picked up the animated feature award.

Fernando León de Aranoa’s The Good Boss,...

The Efa ceremony is taking place December 10 at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavík.

The 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs) ceremony is taking place today (December 10) at 19.15 GMT in Reykjavík.

Scroll down for winners

Screen will be posting the winners on this page as they are announced during the live ceremony (refresh the page for latest updates). The ceremony kicks off at 19.15 GMT.

Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle Of Sadness is among the five titles up for the European film award, and is also competing in the director, actor (for Zlatko Burić) and screenwriter (Ostlund) categories.

Lukas Dhont’s...

Euro-ukrainian Co-production Solidarity

The Eurimages Co-production Award, presented as part of the annual European Film Awards, will this year be awarded to all the film producers of war-torn Ukraine.

Eurimages, a Council of Europe-backed film finance organization described the unusual award “as an expression of strong appreciation for the growing quality of Ukrainian production in the past years, and as a sign of ongoing support now that the infrastructure for production support within Ukraine has collapsed.” The award will be accepted by a delegation of Ukrainian producers who are Academy members at the European Film Awards ceremony on Dec. 10 in Reykjavík, Iceland.

The quality of Ukrainian productions is reflected in the Ukrainian films shortlisted for the European Film Awards earlier this year, Eurimages said. These include: “Reflection,” directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych for the feature film selection; “Pamfir,” directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk is nominated for European Discovery – Prix Fipresci.

In addition,...

Award to be presented to delegation of Ukrainian producers at Efa ceremony next month.

The Eurimages Co-Production Award is to be presented to the producers of Ukraine at the European Film Awards next month.

Eurimages and the European Film Academy said that the award, which is normally given to one individual, is being given to all the producers of Ukraine as an expression of “strong appreciation for the growing quality of Ukrainian production in the past years, and as a sign of ongoing support now that the infrastructure for production support within Ukraine has collapsed.”

The Award will be accepted...

Click here to read the full article.

Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo, Poland’s contender for the 2023 Oscars in the best international feature category, has won this year’s Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films at the Cairo International Film Festival.

The award was unveiled at a gala ceremony at the Cairo Opera house on Thursday night.

The Polish drama, which follows the trials of a donkey traveling through modern Europe, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the jury prize. Skolimowski picked up a best European director nomination for next month’s European Film Awards, and Eo is considered a front-runner in the international Oscar race.

Skolimowski accepted his Arab Critics’ honor via video link from Los Angeles, where he is promoting Eo to the Academy.

“I am incredibly happy that Eo has been appreciated by the Arab Critics’ Circle as it must mean that my simple story...

The 35th European Film Awards have officially unveiled this year’s nominations.

Lukas Dhont’s queer coming-of-age drama “Close,” Ali Abbasi’s serial-killer thriller “Holy Spider,” and Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness” lead the 2022 nominations, with each film garnering nods in top categories: Best European Film, Best Director, and Screenwriter.

Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage” lands three nominations, including Best Actress for Vicky Krieps. “Alcarràs” has two nominations, while Venice Golden Lion winner “Saint Omer” picked up one nod for Best European Director for Alice Diop.

The European Film Academy hosts the award ceremony on December 10 in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík.

German director Margarethe von Trotta will be honored with the European Lifetime Achievement award, and Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman is set to be celebrated with the European Achievement in World Cinema Award. Italian director Marco Bellocchio will receive the Award for European Innovative Storytelling for the limited series “Exterior Night.

“Triangle of Sadness,” directed by Ruben Östlund, and “Holy Spider,” directed by Ali Abbasi, lead the European Film Awards nominations in major categories, alongside “Close,” directed by Lukas Dhont.

“Triangle of Sadness,” “Holy Spider,” “Alcarràs,” “Close” and “Corsage” vie for best European film.

Those contesting for best director are Dhont for “Close,” Marie Kreutzer for “Corsage,” Jerzy Skolimowski for “Eo,” Abbasi for “Holy Spider,” Alice Diop for “Saint Omer” and Östlund for “Triangle of Sadness.”

Nominated for European Screenwriter are “Alcarràs” scribes Carla Simón and Arnau Vilaró, Kenneth Branagh for “Belfast,” Dhont and Angelo Tijssens for “Close,” Abbasi and Afshin Kamran Bahrami for “Holy Spider,” and Östlund for “Triangle of Sadness.”

European Actress nominees are Vicky Krieps in “Corsage,” Zar Amir Ebrahimi in “Holy Spider,” Léa Seydoux in “One Fine Morning,” Penélope Cruz for “Parallel Mothers” and Meltem Kaptan in “Rabiye Kurnaz Vs.

Click here to read the full article.

Lukas Dhont’s Belgian coming-of-age drama Close, Ali Abbasi’s Persian-language crime thriller Holy Spider and Swedish director Ruben Östlund’s satirical black comedy Triangle of Sadness, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, are topping the nominations for the 2022 European Film Awards (EFAs), unveiled Tuesday.

Each of the acclaimed titles, which also happen to be Oscar contenders for the 2023 Academy Awards in the best international feature category, received Efa nominations for best European film, best director, best screenwriter and an acting category apiece.

Also in the running for the Efa for best European film are Alcarràs from Spain’s Carla Simón and Austrian director Marie Kreutzer’s period drama Corsage.

The European honors are often viewed as a bellwether for the Oscars. Although last year’s Efa’s weren’t a particularly strong Oscars predictor, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World...

Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont’s Close, Danish director Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider and Swedish director Ruben Ôstlund’s Triangle Of Sadness lead the nominations for the 35th European Film Awards, which were unveiled today.

The films have each made it into four categories including best European Film, Best Director and Screenwriter.

All three films debuted at Cannes this year, where Triangle Of Sadness clinched the Palme d’Or; Close, the Grand Prize (in ex-aequo with Claire Denis’s Stars At Noon); and Holy Spider, best actress for Zar Amir-Ebrahimi.

Close and Holy Spider are also the entries for their respective countries of Belgium and Denmark in the Academy Awards Best International Film category this year.

Further hot contenders include Austrian director Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, with three nominations, including best actress for Vicky Krieps, and Berlinale Berlinale Golden Lion Alcarràs with two nominations. Venice 2022 Grand Jury and best first...

’Alcarràs,’ ’Close,’ ’Corsage,’ ‘Holy Spider’ and ‘Triangle of Sadness’ shortlisted for European Film prize.

The European Film Academy has announced the nominees for the main categories of the European Film Awards, which takes place on December 10 in Reykjavík and will celebrate the best of European Film culture.

The five shortlisted films for the European Film award all have festival pedigree.

Swedish director Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy Triangle of Sadness, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, is shortlisted, and is also nominated in three other categories: European director, European actor (for Zlatko Burić) and European...

The awards aim to promote European films to Arab audiences.

Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo and Mikko Myllylahti’s The Woodcutter Story are among the nominees for the 4th Arab Critics’ Awards for European Film.

The 23-strong list, which will be shortlisted to three and an eventual winner, includes 11 entries for best international feature at the Oscars.

Alongside Eo, which follows a donkey travelling from the Polish circus to an Italian slaughterhouse, other Oscar hopefuls on the list include Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s Beautiful Beings from Iceland and Juraj Lerotic’s Locarno winner Safe Place from Croatia.

A joint venture between...

Eagle Pictures Seals Italy Distribution & Production Deal With Sony

Tarak Ben Ammar’s Italian distribution and production house Eagle Pictures has sealed a distribution and production deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment which will take effect from 2023. “The deal with Sony represents an important step in consolidating the company as one of the biggest players in the sector alongside Disney, Universal and Warner Bros Italia,” said Ben Ammar in a release. Eagle Pictures was Italy’s top-performing distributor in the second quarter of 2022, thanks in part to its long-standing relationship with Paramount which saw it handle the Italian release of Top Gun: Maverick. Under the deal, Eagle Pictures will handle the Italian release of Spe features and the partners will also produce five Italian and European films together, which will then be distributed internationally via Sony’s worldwide distribution network. Ben Ammar is already collaborating with Sony on two international productions,...

Ukrainian documentary “Dad’s Lullaby” and Romania’s “Between Revolutions” won the Docu Talent Awards, chosen from a field of nine documentary features from Central and Eastern Europe, at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Monday.

The Docu Talent Award for the most promising project went to “Dad’s Lullaby”, directed and produced by Lesia Diak. It tells the story of a Ukrainian veteran who returns home burnt out and traumatized from war but hoping to find peace for himself and his family. The jury described it as “a heartfelt depiction of a life under impossible circumstances,” adding: “Such a personal story is a valuable way to understand the scars of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.”

The DAFilms.com Distribution Award, which covers international VOD release for two years on DAFilms.com, went to “Between Revolutions”, which is directed by Vlad Petri and produced by Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan. The archive-constructed film tells...

World sales company Taskovski Films has acquired Veronika Lišková’s documentary “The Visitors,” ahead of its world premiere in Critics’ Week at the Locarno Film Festival.

The film follows a young anthropologist, Zdenka, who moves with her family to Svalbard, Norway, to study how life is changing in the polar regions. After falling in love with her new home, she discovers that more than icebergs and permafrost are vanishing in the Arctic. She has to work out to what extent she can get involved in the local community that she only originally intended to observe.

Lišková, whose feature documentary “Daniel’s World” world premiered at the Berlinale in the Panorama section in 2014, said in a statement: “When I decided to follow sociologist Zdenka Sokolickova to Svalbard, I expected the primary location for filming to be one of great beauty and profound fragility. However, it turned out to be a microcosm...

IndieWire exclusively announces the lineup for the Museum of Modern Art’s 2022 Doc Fortnight, its annual series of documentary screenings at the New York museum. The festival runs from February 23 to March 10, and the lineup focuses heavily on environmental issues. This year’s edition of Doc Fortnight will be a hybrid festival, with 19 features and 10 short documentaries screening in the museum’s Titus Theater, with a selection of films available online via MoMA’s Virtual Cinema streaming platform.

The festival is set to open with “Bunker,” Jenny Perlin’s documentary about men living in military bunkers awaiting the end of the world. The official synopsis describes the film as “a timely reflection on ideas of survival and shelter among those preparing for the disintegration of society from a hundred feet underground.” The closing night selection is “The United States of America,” directed by James Benning. The documentary finds the filmmaking...

Films Boutique (“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”) has acquired international sales rights to Vincent Kelner’s cinematic documentary feature “A Taste of Whale” ahead of the European Film Market.

“A Taste of Whale” is produced by Rémi Grellety, the Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning producer of Raoul Peck’s “I Am Not Your Negro” and HBO’s “Exterminate All The Brutes.”

The film looks at the centuries-old tradition of whale hunting in the Faroe Islands. Every year, nearly 1,000 pilot whales are hunted, beached and killed by knife in the fjords. This local whaling tradition, which is known locally as “grind,” dates back to the eighth century and has been denounced by international activists. On the other end, Faroese people are calling out the hypocrisy of those who eat meat without looking at what is happening in slaughterhouses.

Kelner, an experienced journalist and cinematographer who has worked on several TV productions in France and abroad,...

Peter Kerekes’s “107 Mothers,” a Slovak drama about women living and working in a Ukrainian prison, won the Crystal Arrow Award at the 13th edition of Les Arcs European Film Festival.

The festival, which wrapped on Dec. 18, took place as an-person event with “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius presiding over the jury which also included actors Laetitia Dosch and Sidse Babett Knudsen, author Tania de Montaigne and actor-director Éric Judor. The selection was curated by Frederic Boyer, the artistic director of both Les Arcs and Tribeca.

Represented in international markets by Films Boutique, “107 Mothers” world premiered at Venice in the horizons section and revolves around the relationship between Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate who gives birth in prison, and Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward.

The Grand Jury Price was awarded to “Kapitan Volkonogov,” a Russian historical thriller directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. The movie,...

Mexican director Joaquin del Paso’s coming-of-age drama “The Hole in the Fence,” set in an all-male religious camp in rural Mexico, scored the Cairo Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Pyramid, on Sunday capping a vibrant 43rd edition of the preeminent Arab event, which was held in person despite the impending threat of the coronavirus Omicron variant.

Though there were some last minute cancellations, most international attendees made the trek to Cairo undeterred, including jury president Emir Kusturica, U.S. producer Lawrence Bender and Cannes topper Thierry Fremaux – dubbed the “King of the Croisette” by the master of ceremonies. The latter two were honored with lifetime achievement awards during the glitzy closing ceremony in Cairo’s opera house.

“Hole in the Fence,” which world premiered in Venice, is Del Paso’s second work after “Panamerican Machinery,” which had made a splash after launching from Berlin in 2016. “Hole” explores...

Slovakia’s official submission for the ‘Best International Feature’ category at the 94th Academy Awards is Péter Kerekes‘s 107 Mothers, which premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti, picking up a Best Screenplay award . In anticipation of For Your Consideration screenings, I had the opportunity to converse with Kerekes, a documentarian making his feature narrative debut. Shot over several summers in an actual women’s prison in Odessa, Ukraine, Kerekes discusses his approach to the material and the origins of the narrative. While most of the cast consists of non-professional actors playing themselves, Kerekes shares his casting process for his lead protagonist, and the considerable editing process while also sharing details about upcoming projects.…...

The words of The Beatles song: “There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you meant to be, all you need is love” leave a bittersweet taste once you get a flavour of where love can lead you to in this half-documentary/half-fiction prison drama. But don’t get your hopes up, because the touch of love, director Péter Kerekes delivers in this picture, is a cold one.

Leysa (Maryna Klimova) is an exhausted and detached young woman, sentenced to serve out a seven-year sentence in Odessa women's prison for murdering her husband out of jealousy. Her troubles start when she has to deliver her baby son, later to be named Kolya (Vyacheslav Vygovskyi), while in prison, imposing on her a difficult choice. Either give your child up for adoption to a foster home (probably never to see them again), or have a member of your family adopt them in an effort.

“Commitment Hasan,” a Turkish drama by Semih Kaplanoğlu that world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, has been sold by Films Boutique to several key markets.

The movie is part of a trilogy that began with “Commitment Asli,” Turkey’s official entry for the Oscar international feature film race in 2020. Kaplanoglu, one of Turkey’s most celebrated filmmaker, previously directed the trilogy “Grain,” “Honey” and “Milk.” “Grain” won Berlin’s Golden Bear award in 2010.

“Commitment Hasan” is now being buzzed about as Turkey’s potential Oscar submission. Films Boutique has closed a raft of deals on the movie to Spain (Paco Poch Cinema), Ex Yugoslavia (Five Stars Distribution), Israel (Lev Cinemas) and Portugal (Leopardo). Arp Selection will release the film in France and Cgv Mars will distribute it in Turkey.

“Commitment Hasan” follows a man who makes his living from gardening and farming in the land he inherited from his father.

Films Boutique has closed several key European territories on “Mi Iubita, Mon Amour,” the feature debut of actor-turned-filmmaker Noémie Merlant which is playing at San Sebastian in the Zabaltegi Tabakalera section.

“Mi Iubita, Mon Amour” world premiered at Cannes in Special Screenings. It stars Merlant as Jeanne, a young woman who is traveling to Romania to celebrate her bachelorette party with her friends when she meets Nino. She is 27, he is 17, and they are worlds away from one another, yet for the two of them it is the beginning of a passionate and timeless summer. Merlant stars opposite Gimi Covaci and Clara Lama-Schmit.

The movie has been acquired by Triart in Sweden at San Sebastian. The deal was negotiated by Films Boutique’s head of sales Julien Razafindranaly and Matthias Nohrborg at Triart. “Mi Iubita, Mon Amour” has also been picked up by Barton Films in Spain and Agora Films in Switzerland.

Documentary Exposure from The Babushkas Of Chernobyl director Morris gets its world premiere.

The 57th Chicago International Film Festival has unveiled its international competitions line-up, a roster that includes Venice Silver Lion winner The Power Of The Dog, Tatiana Huezo’s Prayers For The Stolen, and the world premiere of Holly Morris’s documentary Exposure.

The programme includes the international premiere of Franziska Stünkel’s The Last Execution. The festival runs October 13-24 and is the longest running competitive festival in North America.

The International Feature Competition line-up comprises: Péter Kerekes’s 107 Mothers (Slo-Czech-Ukr); Mohammed Diab’s Amira (Egy-Jor-uae-Saud...

Nathaniel reporting from Venice, a smorgasbord of days 3 through ??? ... I've lost track of days. What is time?

107 Mothers (Péter Kerekes)

A ‘tough' movie doesn’t have to be hard to watch. 107 Mothers isn’t ‘easy’ in its characters or themes, but it’s a surprisingly gripping watch, even entertaining. For a few scenes in the beginning of 107 Mothers, a new film from a Slovakian director Peter Kerekes, it feels like you’ve stumbled into an unfeeling doc about a women’s prison for violent offenders. And, indeed, this narrative feature is based on real stories about a specific prison in Odessa, Ukraine and Kerekes usually does documentaries. The establishing scenes interview several of the inmates, all pregnant, about their crimes which usually involve murdering their boyfriend/husband or his lover. It’s a curiously incongruous feeling that settles in: how could such hard-eyed numb women muster enough...

Retrospective to include films from Danis Tanovic, Cristi Puiu, Mira Fornay and more.

A total of 50 films are to make up the retrospective Eastern Promises: Autobiography of Eastern Europe at the 62nd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 19-27).

The line-up includes movies produced since 2000 in the countries that lived under Soviet influence after the Second World War and include some that were never released theatrically in Spain.

Several directors of films in the retrospective will attend the festival to present their works including Sarunas Bartas (Lithuania), Kristina Buožytė (Lithuania), Marian Crisan (Romania), Mira Fornay (Slovakia), Bohdan Sláma (Czech Republic), Malgorzata Szumowska (Poland) and Anna Viduleja (Latvia).

A book will be published to accompany the retrospective with contributions from journalists and critics across Europe.

The titles are:

Kruh In Mleko / Bread And Milk

Jan Cvitkovic (Slovenia) 2001

A modern classic of Slovenian cinema, the tale of a man who went out for bread and milk and lost himself to alcohol...

The 33rd Annual Margaret Mead Film & Video Film Festival, the documentary festival named after the pioneering anthropologist, will run from November 12-15 at New York’s American Museum of Natural History. The opening night film, Péter Kerekes’s “Cooking History,” tours 20th century battlefields, asking cooks to recreate the dishes they served to their troops. Sunday’s closing night film will be Raffaele Brunetti and Marco Leopardi’s “Hair India,” a doc about the …...