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Few environmental documentaries begin with quite the urgency that “Yanuni” does. Even fewer blend political thrills with meditative visual poetry, but Austrian director Richard Ladkani strikes this balance with an even hand in his intimate chronicle of Juma Xiapaia, a brave Indigenous activist in Brazil and the first woman elected chief in the Amazon’s Middle Xingu region.

A fierce figure usually seen with tribal face paint and a feathered headdress, Juma is introduced through archival news clips from 2009, in which the smiling but forceful teenager commits to the Indigenous cause, claiming she’s ready to die for her people. Six assassination attempts later, the now-adult chieftain appears during a 2021 demonstration outside the National Congress Palace in Brasilia, which turns violent when riot police open fire on protesters. Juma and the camera are both near enough to the chaos to see muzzle flashes up close. This is just one of...

'Post Truth' will become the first feature-length AI film in the world to be released in cinemas.Distributed by Baska Sinema, Turkey's leading distributor for independent cinema, the English-language film will open this summer across more than 20 cities in what is a seismic moment in the evolution of filmmaking.The picture has been created by pioneering generative AI artist AIkan Avcioglu and is already drawing strong international interest from festivals and distributors, sparking discussions about the future of cinema.'Post Truth' is described as a "fake film about the real world" and explores humanity's relationship with technology and how the world has arrived at a point where truth and reality no longer matter.The film documents an era of endless information overload and dissonance using the very language of a time it reflects.Avcioglu said: "We live in an era where everything feels staged and unreal – from politics to social media.

Oscar-winning documentarian Luc Jacquet (March of the Penguins) will head up the jury of the 2025 immersive competition at this year’s Cannes film festival, judging VR and interactive works in this year’s lineup (see full list below).

Known for his award-winning documentaries, Jacquet has also worked in immersive formats, including with his recent Terra Incognita exhibit, which took visitors on a virtual journey from Patagonia to the South Pole.

Joining Jacquet on the Cannes immersive jury are Japanese video game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi, creator of Rez and Tetris Effect; American artist Laurie Anderson, who premiered her latest multidisciplinary work Ark: United States V in Manchester last year; British director Martha Fiennes, known for pioneering AI-driven film environments; and French author and performer Tania de Montaigne, whose work Noire won the best immersive work award in Cannes last year.

Nine works will compete for the prize for best immersive work,...

Projects featuring Daisy Ridley and Zar Amir are among the titles set to screen as part of this year’s Cannes Immersive competition.

This is the second year Cannes has run an immersive programme. 16 immersive works from 9 countries will screen as part of the immersive selection, including nine in the competition.

Ridley features in Trailblazer, an immersive project from filmmaker Eloise Singer. The film was produced by Singer Studios and screens as a French premiere. Zar Amir stars in Lili, an immersive project from Iranian artist Navid Khonsari. The project was produced by iNK Stories, The Royal Shakespeare Company, and Alambic Production. Scroll down for the full line.

The immersive competition jury will be chaired by French director Luc Jacquet. He will be joined by American artist Laurie Anderson, French writer Tania de Montaigne, British director Martha Fiennes and Japanese video game creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

This year’s event will...

Exclusive: Turkish distributor Başka Sinema is gearing up for a pioneering theatrical release across Türkiye this summer of AI-generated feature-length documentary Post Truth.

The independent film curator and distributor, which also backed the film, describes the English-language work as the first fully AI-generated feature-length film to hit theaters in the country.

The company, which has recently released features such as Flow, Hard Truths and My Favourite Cake, plans to launch Post Truth in the second half of June in at least 20 Turkish cities.

“We see Post Truth as part of an ongoing dialogue about new modes of artistic expression. Artificial intelligence is poised to disrupt every medium of art, and filmmaking is no exception,” commented Başka Sinema Director Armağan Lale.

Created by pioneering generative AI artist Alkan Avcıoğlu, the documentary has been created in its entirety by AI, including all visuals, sound, music, and voice.

Described as “a fake film about the real world,...

“It’s also getting hot in here, so I think I’ll get more serious and roll my sleeves up by taking the jacket off.”

When it comes to the Criterion Closet, “Nickel Boys” writer/director RaMell Ross didn’t come to mess around. Trying to emulate the feeling of what it was like when he first discovered cinema in the library of the Rhode Island School of Design where he earned his Mfa degree, Ross let his focus turn towards the many shelves of titles for him to choose from. After grabbing Volker Schlöndorff’s 1979 adaptation of “The Tin Drum,” Ross was drawn to the work of Wong Kar-Wai, as both an admirer and a student interested in learning more.

“I know his work, but I haven’t digested it,” said Ross. “I think people should digest work, not encounter it. You need to bring it in. You need to eat it.

Christopher Nolan has been attracting the eyes of critics throughout his entire career. Although it was working with a minuscule budget of $6,000 and only played in a few theaters in the United States, his 1998 debut feature "Following" was praised for its tight storytelling and terse psychological underpinnings. Nolan then rose to international fame with his 2000 film "Memento," a neo-noir about a man unable to form new memories. Its backward-chronological-order plot was cleverly conceived and impeccably laid out, somehow coming to a traditional narrative climax even while running in reverse.

From there it was off to the races, so to speak. Nolan became a power player in Hollywood, directing gigantic movie stars like Al Pacino and Robin Williams in a remake of "Insomnia" and making a gigantic, zeitgeist-shifting hit with 2005's "Batman Begins." Nolan's three Batman movies are still spoken of with enthusiasm to this day. Their success also allowed him...

American Zoetrope's filmography is kind of mind-boggling. Co-founded by "Movie Brats" Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas in 1969, the distributor and production company has stayed pretty true to its mission statement of backing not just projects by Coppola and his family, but also experimental and international cinema. The list of directors that've had American Zoetrope in their corner at some point or another is just as extraordinary. There's Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, Wim Wenders, Paul Schrader, Agnieszka Holland, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, Godfrey Reggio, Carroll Ballard, and, of course, Tim Burton. Wait, what?

It's true: At the peak of his powers in the 1990s, the ringmaster of the "macabre funhouse" (as /Film's Bj Colangelo has aptly put it) teamed up with Coppola's American Zoetrope for 1999's "Sleepy Hollow." 

When you think about it, it's not so surprising that Coppola got in on Burton's creep-tastical revamp of Washington Irving's 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

It’s very easy to misread the title of Victor Kossakovsky’s latest documentary as “Architection,” since it is, in some ways, a detective story about the world we live in, albeit one in which it is very easy to figure out whodunit (spoiler: we did it to ourselves). The actual title, Architecton, is a Greek word that means “master builder,” and the film plays with the irony of what that may mean — pitting the “master builders” of yesteryear against the “master builders“ of today — from the very beginning, using a cryptic line from “L’aquilone,” a rumination on bygone times by Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912). “There is something new within the sun today, or rather ancient,” he writes. This fascinating, engrossing film interrogates the subtext of this seemingly paradoxical statement.

In a haunting prolog, we see the ruins of a housing estate in what is presumably war-torn Ukraine...

Godfrey Reggio––New Mexico’s irascible, irrepressible, eternally eccentric monk-turned-academic-turned-filmmaker whose wordless Philip Glass-scored 1982 masterpiece Koyaanisqatsi transformed American avant-garde cinema––has finally debuted his new 50-minute film, Once Within a Time. As always without conventional plot or dialogue, Once is an eclectic, nearly indescribable feast of visual and aural ideas, at once an expansion on and radical departure from Reggio’s Qatsi trilogy, which combines the aesthetics of early-20th-century cinema with modern digital techniques for a thundering parable about the society of the smartphone and its uncertain future. Ridiculous and provocative, garish and sublime, didactic and obscure, the headtrip of a film Reggio dubs his “Kittyqatsi” is a theatrical fairytale “for children of all ages” as liable as any movie in recent memory to trigger a wildly different response in each person who sees it.

On the eve of its release, we sat with Reggio for an unfiltered,...

Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall from Neon grossed $125,377 at five theaters for a per screen average of $25,075 — a solid limited opening for the Justine Triet-directed film that made its theatrical debut Friday in NYC, LA and San Francisco. A limited expansion is planned for next week.

Sandra Hüller stars as a German writer living a secluded life in a remote town in the French Alps with her husband Samuel and their 11-year-old son. When Samuel is found dead in the snow below their chalet, the police question whether it was suicide or murder. They fix on the latter and Sandra becomes the main suspect who finds herself and her relationship dissected in a courtroom. Anatomy most recently packed screenings at the New York Film Festival.

The dynamics at play are all different, but here are some of the best recent limited openings in terms of...

By any standards — other than the over-the-top, pre-release hype — “Taylor Swift The Eras Tour” (Variance/AMC) provided a spectacular initial weekend with an estimated $96 million gross. Foreign estimates are $31 million-$33 million, which would reflect the anticipated 75/25 percent split.

To put it in perspective, and how badly theaters needed this success: “Eras” grossed more than the total of any film released since August 2, over two months ago. “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”were brilliant, but the follow-up hasn’t been encouraging.

AMC Theatres, overseeing domestic distribution of the film (Variance handles actual bookings), estimates say that the weekend will gross $95 million – $97 million. It’s unusual for a distributor to provide a range rather than specific number, but this is a case with few precedents.

It seems churlish to describe “Eras” ($96 million on a $15 million production budget!) as any kind of shortfall, but the reason pundits seemed to accept $100 million-plus as a given is...

Two experimental films executive produced by Steven Soderbergh — Eddie Alcazar’s Divinity and Godfrey Reggio’s Once Within a Time – join Neon’s anticipated Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall in theaters today, a bit of counterprogramming on a weekend dominated by Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.

Divinity, about a dark and creepy future populated by bodybuilders hooked on an elixir for eternal life, “was always made for the theater,” said Alcazar. “But it’s kind of a roll of the dice of what a distributor wants to do with it.” Utopia, which acquired the black-and-white romp — set mostly in a mansion on a desert that looks like the moon — after its Sundance premiere (see Deadline review), opens Divinity at Regal Union Square in NYC, expanding to Los Angeles next week, with a national rollout on 11/3.

There will be opening-weekend Q&As with Alcazar, Soderbergh, star Stephen Dorff and DJ Muggs.

“Art should be painful. It’s like if you have a boil, you want to lance it to get the pus out. Art should be like an art-opsy. It releases the tension. Art’s not a happy thing.” That's a Variety interview with director Godfrey Reggio, the legendary director behind the Qatsi trilogy who hasn't released a film in a decade, since Visitors. But boy, is he back, and with the help of Naqoyqatsi editor Jon Kane as editor and co-director. Their creation, Once Within a Time, is a perfect "art-opsy" and a truly unique experience.

People may not be familiar with the 20-year-long Qatsi trilogy, but they were produced by a few of the greatest American directors and had some of the best film scores of all time, thanks to Philip Glass. Their formal experimentation, absence of dialogue, and stunning technological processes depicted a world out of balance, drifting...

Godfrey Reggio helped shape the syntax for contemporary commercial advertising, not to mention the music video, with his trilogy of experimental non-narrative films that began with 1983’s Koyaanisqatsi. Reggio’s autodidactic films require users to create their own meaning through the collision of hyperkinetically edited imagery with composer Philip Glass’s evocative music. At 83, Reggio isn’t resting on his laurels—or courting them at all.

After slowing down his rhythm to focus on extended shots trained on human faces in 2013’s Visitors, Reggio’s newest film, Once Within a Time, finds him once again working with more involved edits and compositions. Don’t call it a return to form, though, because he crafted something that looks and sounds quite different. The 52-minute short, co-directed with Jon Kane (who edited 2002’s Naqoyqatsi), conjures the look of Georges Méliès-era, hand-tinted frames while utilizing modern effects to overwhelm the dense frames with information.

Stop reading if you’ve seen this movie before — a wooden mannequin with the face of Greta Thunberg greets a horde of kindergarteners emerging from a steampunk Trojan horse under a dome of gigantic smartphones bathing them in hot blue light.

Alright, keep scrolling.

That singular image is one of the many goofy but eerie arrangements that Godfrey Reggio conjures in his newest odyssey, “Once Within a Time” — a dense, trance-inducing 43-minute feature that sees the “Koyaanisqatsi” director sounding the alarm on the technocratic foundations of our digital age.

“No festival wanted this film,” Reggio tells Variety, smoking American Spirits and sporting a gray bushy beard while speaking on a Zoom call in his Sante Fe, N.M. studio. “Not even Telluride, where they celebrated the 40th anniversary of ‘Koyaanisqatsi.’ They didn’t know what to make of it.”

Perhaps the festivals could be forgiven, as implied meaning isn’t...

Godfrey Reggio, creator of the Qatsi trilogy, has been down this road before. The obsessions are familiar — nature’s innocence corrupted by industry, technology and the atomic age — but the audience is presumably different. This time, it’s younger. Now in his 80s, the avant-garde filmmaker who, in collaboration with composer Philip Glass, found a new cinematic language to caution people of their impact on the environment, has now turned his attention to kids.

With “Once Within a Time,” Reggio communicates his fears about the pitfalls of progress to the generation he’s counting on to fix the messes grown-ups have made of this hand-me-down planet, using circus-trained acrobats, a next-dimension soundtrack and Mike Tyson (of all things) to get his message across. At well under an hour (just 43 minutes before credits), the project presumes a different attention span than the ex-monk’s groundbreaking 1982 essay film, “Koyaanisqatsi,” which used slow-motion,...

A pack of wolves howls at a massive iPhone that’s propped up in the snow like a monolith, an image from George Méliès “A Trip to the Moon” frozen on its screen. A steampunk Trojan horse — or is it an ark? — delivers a fleet of small children into the future, where they’re greeted by a marionette wearing a mask of Greta Thunberg’s face. Mike Tyson, dressed in the most fantastic Afrofuturist chic, pumps up the youngest survivors of a nuclear and/or robot-induced apocalypse in the middle of a boxing ring that’s held together with actual ropes.

These are just some of the surreal but stiflingly hyper-legibible sights on display in Godfrey Reggio’s “Once Within a Time,” a 43-minute curio that would seem to find the “Koyaanisqatsi” director venturing beyond the time-lapse technophobia that made his documentary work so iconic. And to a degree, it does,...

Koyaanisqatsi director Godfrey Reggio returns with his first feature in a decade, Once Within a Time, opening this Friday at New York’s IFC Center from Oscilloscope Labs. In Filmmaker‘s Fall, 2014 issue, Reggio, co-director Jon Kane and Dp Trish Govoni discussed the “perfect image” of his last feature, Visitors, which was comprised of just 74 black-and-white shots, each running 70 or so seconds. Made during the Covid-19 pandemic, the animated Once Within a Time is a very different work, described as “a bardic fairy tale about the end of the world and the beginning of a new one, tinged with […]

The post Trailer Watch: Godfrey Reggio’s Once Within a Time first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Koyaanisqatsi director Godfrey Reggio returns with his first feature in a decade, Once Within a Time, opening this Friday at New York’s IFC Center from Oscilloscope Labs. In Filmmaker‘s Fall, 2014 issue, Reggio, co-director Jon Kane and Dp Trish Govoni discussed the “perfect image” of his last feature, Visitors, which was comprised of just 74 black-and-white shots, each running 70 or so seconds. Made during the Covid-19 pandemic, the animated Once Within a Time is a very different work, described as “a bardic fairy tale about the end of the world and the beginning of a new one, tinged with […]

The post Trailer Watch: Godfrey Reggio’s Once Within a Time first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Godfrey Reggio and Jon Kane’s Once Within a Time pulses with contradiction. Both technical feat and techno-pessimist fable, this strange brew brims with apocalyptic unease and naïve exuberance in equal measure, marking a departure from the strict documentary mode of Reggio’s Qatsi Trilogy without sacrificing his unmistakable style.

Another wordless film for Reggio (though it contains many indecipherable words), and with a runtime of only 52 minutes, Once Within a Time is more of a gesture than a chain of events, though it arguably lands a little closer to the narrative pole than his previous work. As its starting point, it takes the biblical story of Genesis, with a visual pun connecting the “apple” to digital technology—maybe not knowledge per se, but the incessant barrage of visual information that, for Reggio, obliterates our innocence even as it infantilizes us.

Fenced in by screens, a group of children watch a bewildering array of images.

While the sheer power of Taylor Swift scared off a number of October releases to flee further into the year, this month still offers no shortage of heavy hitters. From one of the most-anticipated films of the last many years to acclaimed documentaries to the final feature from a legendary director, there’s plenty to seek out.

13. Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin; Oct. 23)

One of the most acclaimed documentaries of the year, Madeleine Gavin’s Sundance audience award winner Beyond Utopia tracks the intense, harrowing journey of a handful of individuals who attempt to flee North Korea. Considering how few dispatches we see from inside the country, this promises to be a rare, vital look at the costs of freedom.

12. Once Within a Time (Godfrey Reggio & Jon Kane; Oct. 13 in theaters)

Godfrey Reggio, the legendary director of the Qatsi trilogy, is back with Once Within a Time, co-directed by Jon Kane.

Godfrey Reggio, the filmmaker behind the landmark experimental documentary “Koyaanisqatsi,” returns with his first film in nine years, the surreal and visually striking fantasy “Once Within A Time.” The movie has no narrative but instead charts a journey through the imaginative subconscious of children. Drawing on the aesthetic of fairy tales, “Once Within A Time” is made out of the visuals, with the collection of images and filmic techniques creating a whimsical dreamscape.

Continue reading ‘Once Within A Time’ Trailer: Godfrey Reggio, Director Of ‘Koyaanisqatsi,’ Returns With A Psychedelic, Dreamlike Fairy Tale at The Playlist.

"Experience a film beyond words..." Stop and watch this!! Oscilloscope Labs has revealed an official trailer for Once Within a Time, a mesmerizing fantasy thriller from the incredible mind of filmmaker Godfrey Reggio. This is his first narrative feature after making iconic docs for years. Celebrated director Godfrey Reggio (of the Koyaanisqatsi trilogy) returns after ten years with a new experimental film unlike any other from his already daring career: a bardic fairy tale about the end of the world and the beginning of a new one, tinged with apocalyptic comedy, rapturous cinematography, unforgettable vistas, and the innocence and hopes of a new generation. With an electrifying score composed by Reggio's longtime collaborator Philip Glass with additional vocals from Sussan Deyhim, and co-directed by veteran editor and filmmaker Jon Kane, Once Within a Time is the indie revelation of the year. Let's go, Godfrey! It's also executive produced by Steven Soderbergh & Alexander Rodnyansky.

We're a month away from the release of "The Creator," the latest sci-fi film from writer and director Gareth Edwards ("Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"). It's the story of a future in which A.I. and humans are at war after the robots set off a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. Ex-special forces agent Joshua (John David Washington), who is dealing with the disappearance of his wife, is sent off to find the architect of advanced A.I. He's created a new weapon that could destroy humans completely. However, when Joshua goes to take out the weapon, he finds that it's in the body of a little child. How do you destroy a weapon that you find yourself beginning to care for? 

Recently /Film's own Vanessa Armstrong attended a press screening of 30 minutes of footage from "The Creator," as well as a Q&a with Edwards, where the filmmaker...

As has become standard in recent years, our annual fall and winter film preview comes with something of an asterisk: it’s (another!) unpredictable time for movies, right down to when we might even expect to see them. With both the WGA and SAG-afra strikes still winding on, everything from production to promotion has been disrupted for many new features, and the entire calendar remains in flux.

And yet, even with those very valid concerns in place, the next three months at the multiplex (and beyond) offer a bounty of exciting new films. We’re talking new films from Martin Scorsese, Pablo Larraín, Sofia Coppola, Todd Haynes, Emerald Fennell, David Fincher, Jonathan Glazer, Taika Waititi, Justine Triet, Wes Anderson, and Yorgos Lanthimos. Jeff Nichols is back, as is Godfrey Reggio and the juicy stars of “Chicken Run.” Festival faves like Christos Nikou, Kristoffer Borgli, and Chloe Domont make a play for further dominance.

Godfrey Reggio, the legendary director of the Qatsi trilogy, has completed his next film and it will be arriving this fall. Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today they’ve acquired North American Rights to his latest film Once Within a Time, co-directed by Jon Kane. Featuring original music composed by Philip Glass with additional music and vocals by Sussan Deyhim, the film will arrive in theaters this fall following its premiere as part of the Museum of Modern Art’s film series Total Cinema of Sight and Sound: Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass, taking place September 26 – October 4, 2023.

Here’s the synopsis: “Celebrated director Godfrey Reggio returns after ten years with a new experimental film unlike any other from his already daring career: a bardic fairy tale about the end of the world and the beginning of a new one, tinged with apocalyptic comedy, rapturous cinematography, unforgettable vistas, and the innocence and hopes of a new generation.

Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to “Once Within a Time” from Godfrey Reggio, the experimental filmmaker behind the cult masterpiece “Koyaanisqatsi.”

The indie studio will release “Once Within a Time” theatrically in the fall of 2023, following its premiere as part of The Museum of Modern Art’s film series “Total Cinema of Sight and Sound: Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass,” which runs Sept. 26 – Oct. 4.

The movie is co-directed by Jon Kane, with original music is composed by Philip Glass with additional music and vocals by Sussan Deyhim. Glass, a legendary experimental composer, first worked with Reggio on “Koyaanisqatsi,” which was “presented” by Francis Ford Coppola in 1982. Reggio and Glass have collaborated on seven films over the last four decades, including “Visitors,” “Evidence,” and “Anima Mundi.”

“Once Within a Time” is produced by Mara Campione, and executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, Alexander Rodnyansky, Lawrence Taub, Michael Fitzgerald and Dan Noyes.

In June, Berlin's Sinema Transtopia presented “Echoes from South Asia”, a program curated by Arindam Sen, devoted to experimental cinema from the region. The main focus was on the works of Sri Lankan, Bengali, Hindi and diasporic filmmakers from the subcontinent. The selection offered a plethora of approaches towards nonfiction filmmaking, and brought to light films which usually functioned in obscurity, either only in academic contexts, or as examples of niche experimental filmmaking.

The main themes of the programmed films that came to the fore tackled issues of social justice, homelessness, labour rights and (self-)exotification, with the filmmakers interest in nonlinear (or even nonnarrative) forms of filmmaking becoming the overarching feature. With many of the films made in the 70s and 80s, on the back of the revolution of highly politicized Third Cinema of the 60s, the filmmakers were keen on rejecting the traditional modes of storytelling. Thus, the...

The Video Essay is a joint project of Mubi and Filmadrid International Film Festival. Film analysis and criticism found a completely new and innovative path with the arrival of the video essay. The limits of this discipline are constantly expanding; new essayists are finding innovative ways to study the history of cinema working within images. With this non-competitive section of the festival, both Mubi and Filmadrid will offer the video essay format the platform and visibility it deserves. The seven selected works will premiere online from June 5 through June 11, 2023, on Mubi's online publication Notebook. The selection was made by the Notebook editors and Filmadrid.Godfrey Reggio and TikTok by Eva ElcanoMovement, correct speed, language, words, music, image, shape, resolution. An audiovisual composition built through the collaborative filmography of Godfrey Reggio, looking for a new encounter—a very human encounter.Again, we fearlessly look into the face of technology and the enigma that characterizes it.

A series of rituals play out across Helmut Dosantos’ nearly wordless documentary “Gods of Mexico.” Honing in on Indigenous communities and their labor in Mexico despite the shadow of the country’s creeping modernization, Dosantos’s breathtaking film recalls the work of Ron Fricke and Godfrey Reggio in its emphasis on the juxtaposition between static imagery and the syncopated rhythms of manual labor. Highly formal in its construction, “Gods of Mexico” eschews context for a fully immersive experience that is ultimately hypnotic, even if its overall message sometimes gets muddled in the process.

Read More: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2023

Dosantos splits his film into two sections: “White,” which follows workers in the South’s salt pans in crisp black-and-white cinematography and “Black,” which turns to the North’s underground mines and is presented in color.

Continue reading ‘Gods Of Mexico’ Review: A Wordless and Hypnotic Exploration of Indigenous Mexican Communities at The Playlist.

Tom Luddy, the co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival and a longtime producer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, died on Monday after a prolonged illness. He was 79.

His death comes on the verge of the festival’s 50th anniversary, as Telluride planned to salute the man responsible for establishing the Colorado gathering as a critical launchpad for international cinema. Luddy was shrewd cinephile with a daunting grasp of film history that informed his sharp opinions about the medium, much of which played a role in the unique nature of the Telluride community.

The festival drew crowds of major directors and industry insiders in tandem with amateur movie lovers attracted to the same welcoming environment he created for anyone who shared his passion for the movies. For many Telluride devotees, Luddy was its biggest draw — someone as emblematic of cinema’s global presence as the directors he championed.

As...

The 14th Annual Santa Fe International Film Festival has announced its juried award winners for the event which has run from Oct. 19-23.

More than 100 filmmakers have traveled to the Land of Enchantment state to show off their cinematic wares.

Says SFiFF Artistic Director Jacques Paisner, “We play strange movies, small movies and foreign films, and the audience is keen on a chance to see something they wouldn’t otherwise experience.”

Courtesy of Santa Fe International Film Festival A scene from Godfrey Reggios Once Within a Time.

Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award tonight is Qatsi trilogy filmmaker Godfrey Reggio who is here with his new documentary, scored by longtime collaborator Phillip Glass and edited by Jon Kane, Once Within a Time. The pic is billed as a “fantasy of the real with themes of climate change and the perils of technology, and their effects on future generations. It is geared...

The Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) has announced its first 15 feature titles. These films are part of the Special Presentation section and will be followed by a full schedule of competition films, short films, panels and events. SFiFF starts October 19 and will run through October 23.

Broker directed by Hirokazu Koreeda

One rainy night, a baby is left at the baby box facility. Sang-hyun and Dong-soo secretly take it home to find suitable parents to adopt him. However, the next day, So-young unexpectedly returns, and calls the police when she discovers her baby is missing. Meanwhile, police detectives have been investigating the case for the past 6 months, waiting for the decisive moment when they can catch the duo in the act.

Holy Spider directed by Ali Abbasi

A journalist descends into the dark underbelly of the Iranian holy city of Mashhad as she investigates the serial killings of sex workers...

In one of analytic philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s most widely shared quotes, he mused that “if a lion could talk, we would not understand him.” The barrier of language and gulf of understanding between man and animal is the subject of the quite wondrous Eo, a true surprise from the great Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski, now enjoying his mid-80s. It is adapted—freely inspired may be a better term—from Robert Bresson’s iconic 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar; from Eo’s opening minutes any memory or sense of that masterpiece’s forbidding stature is banished—we’re dealing with quite a different animal here. No, it isn’t as good. But it’s different, and a companion piece that flatters both that film and itself.

For Bresson—a cruel moralist, but definitely not a sadist—the donkey Balthazar was meant to unveil the human capacity for sin; with intensely...

Fox Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to “Khan: The Series,” from Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content, Variety can reveal.

Currently in development, the epic action series is based on the best-selling book “Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World” by Jack Weatherford, and will focus on the largest contiguous empire in human history and its iconic creator.

Writer and executive producer Chris Collins will serve as showrunner, with Sergei Bodrov tapped to direct and executive produce. The series is executive produced by Rodnyansky, Leslie Greif (Big Dreams Entertainment), Stuart Manashil (Novo Entertainment), and Michael Kupisk (Ar Content).

“We are happy and honored to have Fox Entertainment as a partner for this title in development,” said Rodnyansky. “I am very excited to bring the extraordinary story of Genghis Khan to life together with my partners: producer Leslie Greif, known for ‘Hatfields & McCoys,’ ‘The Offer,’ and other high-end projects,...

Katerina Pshenitsyna is joining from Central Partnership in a big shake-up of the Russian scene.

Leading international producer Alexander Rodnyansky’s Russian production outfit Ar Content has appointed Central Partnership executive Katerina Pshenitsyna as director of international business development and co-productions, in what is a significant shake-up of the Russian film sales and production scene.

Pshenitsyna was formerly vice president, international distribution at Central Partnership.

Rodnyansky is Russia’s leading international-focused producer, with credits including Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Oscar-nominated Leviathan and Loveless.

“I have always been fascinated with the work of Alexander Rodnyansky and the global impact his projects make,...

The Ji.hlava Film Festival has launched New Visions Forum and Market, a financing, co-production and networking event. The program will present 16 new documentary projects by U.S. filmmakers to the more than 1,000 film professionals who are expected to take part in the festival physically and online.

The director-producer pair behind the projects will be pitching to potential co-producers, distributors, sales representatives and film festivals from Europe. The projects, in all stages of production, will be presented along with a preview of the film. The filmmakers taking part include Godfrey Reggio, Sara Dosa, Fern Silva and Brent Chesanek.

The New Visions Forum and Market will take place physically at the Ji.hlava Industry Hub and will be streamed online to the holders of industry accreditation. It will take place on Oct. 28-29.

Projects In Development

Backside

Director: Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana

Producers: Gabriella Garcia-Pardo, Patricia Alvarez Astacio

Production Company: Backside Film...

The veteran Russian producer is attending the Venice Film Festival with Vladimir Bitokov’s Mama I’m Home.

Alexander Rodnyansky is Russia’s busiest and most prolific producer, making films for both the international arthouse market and for local Russian audiences including those who run more mainstream in their tastes.

The 60-year-old Kiev-born mogul had two features in official selection in Cannes earlier this summer: Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching The Fists, which won the Un Certain Regard prize, and Ari Folman’s animated feature Where is Anne Frank, which screened out of competition.

He has many new films in the pipeline,...

Wild Bunch International has acquired world sales rights to Vladimir Bitokov’s “Mama, I’m Home,” which will have its world premiere next month in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival, Variety can reveal.

Bitokov’s second feature, which follows his 2018 Karlovy Vary premiere “Deep Rivers,” is a Non-Stop Production and Ar Content film produced by two-time Academy Award nominee Alexander Rodnyansky and Sergey Melkumov. It was written by Maria Izyumova and stars Kseniya Rappoport, Yura Borisov, Ekaterina Shumakova, Alexander Gorchilin, Natalia Pavlenkova, Darren Kushkhov, Mazhit Zhanguzarov and Valeriy Balkizov.

“Mama, I’m Home” is the story of a bus driver, Tonya, who lives in a village on the outskirts of Nalchik, a modest city in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. Together with her daughter, Tonya eagerly awaits the return of her only son, who is fighting for a private military contractor in Syria. When Tonya is told...

Apple has signed a first-look deal with Ar Content, the production company led by Academy Award-nominated producer and director Alexander Rodnyansky, Variety can reveal.

The deal is for a slate of both Russian-language and multilingual shows for Apple TV Plus, set both inside and outside Russia, and creatively led by both Russian and international writers and directors.

Although the pact is with Rodnyansky’s L.A.-based Ar Content, which he set up three years ago to finance the development of feature films and television, it is his production expertise and experience in Russia that appeals to Apple most.

The deal is similar to those Apple has signed with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment.

Rodnyansky credits the global streaming platforms with having “opened the doors and destroyed the borders,” enabling foreign-language shows to find audiences worldwide.

“This is an amazing time when you have...

He is also working again with Kantemir Balagov and with US documentarian and visual artist Godfrey Reggio.

Leading Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky has unveiled a new internationally-focused slate.

It is headlined by the English-language debut of Andrey Zvyagintsev, the next film from filmmaker Kantemir Balagov following their collaboration on 2019’s Beanpole and a documentary by US filmmaker and visual artist Godfrey Reggio that is being co-produced by Steven Soderbergh.

Zvyagintsev’s What Happens is written by Oleg Negin and will shoot in the US. No further details are yet known. Rodnyansky and Zvyagintsev prevously collaborated on the Oscar-winning Leviathan and the Oscar- nominated Loveless.

He is also working again with Kantemir Balagov and with US documentarian and visual artist Godfrey Reggio.

Leading Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky has unveiled a new internationally-focused slate.

It is headlined by the English-language debut of Andrey Zvyagintsev, the next film from filmmaker Kantemir Balagov following their collaboration on 2019’s Beanpole and a documentary by US filmmaker and visual artist Godfrey Reggio that is being co-produced by Steven Soderbergh.

Zvyagintsev’s What Happens is written by Oleg Negin and will shoot in the US. No further details are yet known. Rodnyansky and Zvyagintsev prevously collaborated on the Oscar-winning Leviathan and the Oscar- nominated Loveless.

Top Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who was Oscar nominated for Andrey Zvyagintsev’s films “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” is reteaming with Zvyagintsev for his first English-language film, and with Kantemir Balagov, who directed “Beanpole,” best director winner in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2019. Rodnyansky will also co-produce a documentary by Godfrey Reggio alongside Steven Soderbergh.

Rodnyansky has two films in Cannes Festival this year: Oscar nominated Ari Folman’s Out of Competition title “Where Is Anne Frank,” and Kira Kovalenko’s Un Certain Regard selected “Unclenching the Fists.”

Zvyagintsev’s “What Happens,” which will be shot in the U.S., is written by Oleg Negin. It is a contemplation on the nature of human relationships, the state of modern man, and the fragility of human life. Rodnyansky and Zvyagintsev collaborated on “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” both of which were nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.

“After Andrey finished working on ‘Loveless,...

Alexander Rodnyansky has spent his career being prolific on the international scene and Cannes 2021 is no different, with the producer in town touting three buzzy upcoming projects, alongside attending the premieres of two of his latest pictures: Ari Folman’s Where is Anne Frank and Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching the Fists.

Rodnyansky’s slate includes What Happens, which will mark the English-language debut of the twice-Oscar-nominated director of Loveless and Leviathan Andrey Zvyagintsev. Pic is the director’s contemplation on the nature of human relationships, the state of modern man, and the fragility of human life, the team said.

“After Andrey finished working on Loveless, which I always thought was the final film of our Russian trilogy, we took a break. Only last year we have been discussing our potential future plans and finally decided that our next film would be in English. It has always been my belief that Andrey’s work,...

Alexander Rodnyansky, the Russian producer whose films — including Leviathan and Beanpole – have landed four Oscar nominations, has unveiled a new slate of features set for production in 2021 and 2022.

Announced in Cannes, where Rodnyansky’s films Where Is Anne Frank from Ari Folman and Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching the Fists are getting their world premieres, the three-film strong slate includes the next movie from Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole), the first English-language film from Andrey Zvyagintsev (Leviathan, Loveless), and a documentary by Godfrey Reggio, which Rodnyansky will co-produce alongside Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh.

Balagov — who won the Cannes International Critics Prize with Closeness and the Un Certain Regard ...

Alexander Rodnyansky, the Russian producer whose films — including Leviathan and Beanpole – have landed four Oscar nominations, has unveiled a new slate of features set for production in 2021 and 2022.

Announced in Cannes, where Rodnyansky’s films Where Is Anne Frank from Ari Folman and Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching the Fists are getting their world premieres, the three-film strong slate includes the next movie from Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole), the first English-language film from Andrey Zvyagintsev (Leviathan, Loveless), and a documentary by Godfrey Reggio, which Rodnyansky will co-produce alongside Academy Award winner Steven Soderbergh.

Balagov — who won the Cannes International Critics Prize with Closeness and the Un Certain Regard ...

It’s possible that Jessica Kingdon’s terrific documentary Ascension (winner of Tribeca’s top doc prize at this year’s edition) won’t rewrite your intellectual understanding of President Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream.” For all I know, you could be very aware of the conflicting shifts in the Chinese economy, China’s straddling of a communist/authoritarian past (and present) and its participation in global capitalism with resulting class stratification.

In lieu of a lecture, Kingdon’s film, which fits into a documentary tradition that includes Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Great City and Godfrey Reggio’s ...

It’s possible that Jessica Kingdon’s terrific documentary Ascension (winner of Tribeca’s top doc prize at this year’s edition) won’t rewrite your intellectual understanding of President Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream.” For all I know, you could be very aware of the conflicting shifts in the Chinese economy, China’s straddling of a communist/authoritarian past (and present) and its participation in global capitalism with resulting class stratification.

In lieu of a lecture, Kingdon’s film, which fits into a documentary tradition that includes Walter Ruttmann’s Berlin: Symphony of a Great City and Godfrey Reggio’s ...

Photo: ‘Georgetown’/Paramount Pictures Ambiguity: The quality of being open to more than one interpretation; inexactness. Pioneer experimental documentary filmmaker Godfrey Reggio once said, “These films however, have ambiguity built into them, because it's too easy in film to make a strident work of propaganda or advertising, which are really the same thing anyway, meaning the message is unmistakable.” This articulation of the ambiguous is to say that through the muddying of the overt “message,” a film thus becomes the antithesis to the easy and most effortlessly applicable thematics in cinema. Related article: ‘Pam & Tommy’: All the Hidden Details on Pamela Anderson + Tommy Lee Series with Lily James and Sebastian Stan Related article: Everything We Know About Camila Cabello as ‘Cinderella’ – The Newest Princess Reviving the Fairytale A large host of people, be it audiences or producers alike will chastise this way of being and thinking, asserting that...