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Promised Hearts explores the complexities of arranged marriages, love, and duty, where societal expectations clash with personal desires. The film follows a young woman, Niyala, whose life changes dramatically when she’s forced to marry a man she’s never met before, in order to save her family from financial ruin. The emotional journey she undertakes, navigating love and obligation, mirrors themes seen in many films that delve into arranged marriages or relationships where personal and family expectations collide. If you’re drawn to stories of love tested by circumstance, familial pressures, and cultural expectations, then these films are perfect for you. From heartfelt romances to emotional struggles, here are five movies like Promised Hearts that capture the powerful dynamics of love and duty.

The Syrian Bride

If Promised Hearts touched on the challenges of love amidst societal and familial constraints, then The Syrian Bride is a film that takes...

Reading Lolita in Tehran (2024) is a film based on the memoir of an Iranian-American author and Professor Azar Nafisi. The memoir was released in 2003. Eran Riklis, the director of this film is well known for his earlier films, “Lemon Tree,” “The Syrian Bride,” and “Dancing Arabs” among others. He stands opposed to the Israeli establishment’s views/policies/ treatment of Palestinians. Nadav Lapid is another Israeli film director who has similar views regarding Palestinians.

Be that as it may, the screen adaptation of the memoir has four parts. The narrative starts in a linear mode but digresses in the mid-part of the film. As this writer has not read the memoir, he is unable to gauge its actual adaptation. In other words, the intertextuality of this film, hence, also the cinematic liberties taken by the director. Any close observer of the developments in Iran over the last 4-5 decades will...

The director, Eran Riklis, adapts Azar Nafisi’s biography for Reading Lolita in Tehran, illuminating her experiences as a literature professor in Iran after the revolution. As the narrative progresses, teaching Western classics becomes a quiet act of rebellion in a society struggling with authoritarian rules. Golshifteh Farahani’s Nafisi invites female students to engage with texts questioning their oppressive reality by turning her living room into a secret classroom.

The political background is very important. Women’s rights were seriously limited after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, making Nafisi’s struggle to teach books like “The Great Gatsby” a question of survival—an exploration of identity in a repressive regime.

The film’s release still has a lot of meaning today, especially after the sad death of Mahsa Amini, which has brought up issues of women’s rights in Iran again. Nafisi taking off her headscarf in front of the...

Exclusive: The Palm Springs Film Festival has booked its 2025 “Books to Screen” schedule.

The event will host January Q&As with Conclave director Edward Berger, Nickel Boys helmer RaMell Ross, Queer screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes and Reading Lolita in Tehran director Eran Riklis, author Azar Naifisi and screenwriter Marjorie David.

The 36th annual festival runs January 2-13 in the desert city east of Los Angeles.

Here are details on the fest’s “Books to Screen” lineup, with Deadline writers moderating the panels:

Conclave with director Edward Berger

10 a.m. Saturday, January 4

Following the death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with overseeing the election of a new one. As the Catholic Church’s most powerful men gather on his watch, Lawrence uncovers a trail of deep secrets left in the dead Pope’s wake, secrets that could shake the foundations of the Church.

Related: ‘Wicked’s Ariana Grande Set For...

On Oct. 1, as Iran was firing a fusillade of missiles on his country, Israeli director Eran Riklis was in Tel Aviv “trying to cling on to the fact” that he would hopefully soon be premiering his new film “Reading Lolita in Tehran” — which he calls “an iconic Iranian story, featuring iconic Iranian actresses” — at the Rome Film Festival.

On Oct. 27, one day after Israel launched retaliatory missile strikes on Iran, Rikils beamed on stage as he accepted the Rome event’s audience award and special jury prize alongside most of the film’s ensemble female cast that includes Golshifteh Farahani, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Mina Kavani, Lara Wolf, Isabella Nefar and Raha Rahbari.

At a time when tensions between Israel and Iran are soaring, “Reading Lolita in Tehran” – an adaptation of Azar Nafisi’s bestselling autobiographical novel about a fearless literature teacher in post-revolution Tehran – stands as a powerful symbol of...

Across “Lemon Tree,” “The Syrian Bride” and “Shelter,” Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis has built a sturdy body of work, telling defiant stories of Middle Eastern women from different walks of life. With “Reading Lolita in Tehran” — a moving adaptation of Iranian-American author and professor Azar Nafisi’s memoir — he adds an understated, yet generally absorbing and similarly minded entry to his oeuvre, warmly transposing Nafisi’s experience in the post-revolution Iran onto the screen with sensitivity.

Unfolding in episodic segments and significant jumps in time that sometimes feel too abrupt, the screenplay by Marjorie David follows Nafisi (an expressive Golshifteh Farahani) across a 24-year period, after the young academic holding a fresh American degree settles in Tehran with her husband Bijan (Arash Marandi) in 1979, on the heels of the country’s Islamic Revolution. A title card at the start contextualizes the couple’s return to their homeland. Historically, it was...

It is a big moment fornewly launched Italian distribution, production, and sales company PiperFilm, which releases its debut film today (October 24) – Paolo Sorrentino’sParthenope, one of the most high-profile Italian movies of the year.

Set up earlier this year by former Vision Distribution executives, PiperFilm’s management team is led Massimiliano Orfei as CEO, alongside COO Luisa Borella, head of distribution Davide Novelli, head of international sales Catia Rossi and Emanuela Semeraro as marketing director.

PiperFilm acquired Parthenope in April, just before its world premiere in Competition at Cannes, and has been prepping its release strategy since then. “What better...

The British Independent Film Awards (Bifa) longlist for the Raindance Maverick award includes documentaries Witches by Elizabeth Sankey and Strike: An Uncivil War by Daniel Gordon.

The 13-strong longlist also includes Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane’s non-fiction title Grand Theft Hamlet, about a staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet inside the Grand Theft Auto videogame.

Scroll down for the full longlist

Witches examines the relationship between cinematic portrayals of witches and postpartum depression, utilising archival film footage alongside personal testimony. Having been the sole non-fiction title in the UK’s Great 8 showcase at Cannes this year, the film premiered at Tribeca in June,...

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has selected 10 world premieres for its Critics’ Picks section, including titles from Italy, Bhutan and Kazakhstan.

Three of the features hail from Italy, including Vincenzo Alfieri’s crime thriller The Body, in which an inspector begins to question whether the businesswoman whose death he is investigating is really dead.

Scroll down for the full list of Tallinn Critics’ Picks titles

Starring Claudia Gerini and Giuseppe Battiston, it is produced by Roberto Proia with Columbia Pictures Industries handling world sales.

The section will open with Paolo Marinou-Blanco’s Dreaming Of Lions, which was previously presented...

The British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) has unveiled the documentary and international film longlists for its 2024 ceremony, with films including in-videogame title Grand Theft Hamlet and Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora.

Grand Theft Hamlet is on the 12-strong best feature documentary list. The film is the debut feature from directorial duo Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane; it premiered at SXSW this year and was recently acquired for a UK-Ireland theatrical release. It follows two struggling actors who find solace from lockdown isolation by staging William Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the online Grand Theft Auto game.

Scroll down...

India’s Film Bazaar market has revealed the 21 feature projects selected for this year’s Co-Production Market.

The invited titles span seven countries including India, UK, Australia and Germany. The projects will be pitched to producers, distributors, festival programmers, financiers and sales agents at Goa’s Marriott Resort from November 20-24.

Titles include The Song Of Flowers from UK-based producer Neeraj Churi whose previous projects include SXSW 2024 audience award winner A Place Of Our Own. The film is directed by Shubham Negi and Sourav Yadav.

Also selected is Payal Sethi’s India-Germany co-production The Disappearing Flower, produced by Thanikachalam Sa...

Switzerland-based First Hand Films has boarded international sales on Najiba Noori’s documentary Writing Hawa.

The film will have its world premiere in the International Competition at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) next month.

Filmed over five years, Writing Hawa tells the story of three generations of Hazara women from the same family in Afghanistan, including those forced into child marriage, suffering abuse from men and learning to read, write and start businesses.

It is produced by Christian Popp of France’s Tag Film, co-produced by Hasse van Nunen and Renko Douze for the Netherlands’ Een van de jongens. The...

Protestors from animal rights group PETA disrupted the closing night of the 68th BFI London Film Festival (Lff) causing a brief delay to the European premiere of Morgan Neville’s Pharrell Williams film Piece By Piece.

Prior to the screening, while festival director Kristy Matheson was asking questions to Neville and Williams, two men draped a barrier over the balcony at the Royal Festival Hall and began shouting about animal rights, including directly towards Williams. The full video of the protest, with responses from Matheson and Williams, is available below.

Watch: Protests disrupted the @BFI London Film Festival closing night...

Modern Films has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights on Memoir Of A Snail, which won the Best Film award in Official Competition at the BFI London Film Festival today.

Modern is scheduling a theatrical release for February 2025, with an awards campaign. Anton and Charades handle international sales on the film.

Australian director Elliot’s second feature-length animation is a story of a melancholic woman – voiced by Sarah Snook – who is a hoarder of snails, romance novels and guinea pigs.

Australian stars Eric Bana, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jacki Weaver and Nick Cave are also among the voice cast, as is Elliot.

The film...

Adam Elliot’s stop-motion animation Memoir Of A Snail has won the Best Film Award in Official Competition at the 68th BFI London Film Festival (Lff).

Australian director Elliot’s second feature-length animation is a story of a melancholic woman – voiced by Sarah Snook – who is a hoarder of snails, romance novels and guinea pigs.

Scroll down for the full list of Lff 2024 winners

The film had its world premiere in competition at Annecy in June where it also won the top prize, and went on to open Melbourne film festival and win awards at festivals in Sitges and Ottawa.

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (known as PÖFF) has unveiled the full lineup of its flagship Official Selection, whose 18 features from 23 countries will compete for the coveted €20,000 Grand Prix.

They include 11 world premieres. The jury is helmed by acclaimed German director Christoph Hochhäusler.

Tiina Lokk, the founder and director of the festival, said “the Official Selection Competition has it all! There’s a psycho-thriller that approaches horror, a psychological family drama, and sci-fi genre is represented. The selection is broad, and so is the range of countries. We’re not trying to highlight a certain theme or a particular region, we are free in our choices,” she noted.

Emphasizing the various topics covered, Lokk cites old age, the end of life and euthanasia “perhaps due to the influence of Covid,” domestic violence and war, “not tackled in the traditional form” but rather via psychological dramas.

“Last year there were...

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has selected a further 14 features, including 11 world premieres, to complete the lineup of its Official Selection Competition.

The new titles include the world premiere of Serhii Kastornykh’s Ukrainian feature The Mousetrap. Shot during a break between Kastornykh’s military service periods, the film follows a soldier trapped alone in a bunker on the frontline of the Russian war.

Scroll down for the full list of Poff Official Selection Competition titles

Also selected is the world premiere of Juris Kursietis’ third feature The Exalted, in which a world-renowned German organist uncovers her Latvian husband...

Paola Malanga is the artistic director of the Rome Film Festival which kicks off tomorrow (October 16) with the world premiere of Andrea Segre’s political drama The Great Ambition.

It is Malanga’s third edition at the helm of the festival, having joined in 2022 from Rai Cinema where she was deputy director of its product division spanning production and acquisition. She has also been a journalist, film critic and author throughout her career.

Among the world premieres in Rome’s main Progressive Cinema competition are dark comedy The Trainer by American History X director Tony Kaye and Eran Ricklis’ Reading Lolita In Tehran.

The Rome Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 19th edition, which takes place from October 16-27.

Rome will present a lifetime achievement award to Johnny Depp, who will present Modi - Three Days on the Wing of Madness, about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, at the festival.

Viggo Mortensen will also receive a lifetime achievement award, and will present The Dead Don’t Hurt, which he wrote, directed and stars in.

Francis Ford Coppola will also be in Rome for a special ‘pre-opening’ festival presentation of the Italian premiere of Megalopolis at Cinecittà Studios – the Rome studio that hosted him...

Exclusive: United Talent Agency (UTA) has signed up Iranian-French actress, director, producer, and casting director Zar Amir.

Amir, best known for her breakout turn in Ali Abbasi’s 2022 Cannes competition title Holy Spider, has signed with UTA for representation in all areas and will continue to be represented by Untitled Entertainment, Das Imperium in Berlin, Adequat in Paris, and Alh PR.

With Holy Spider, Amir picked up the best actress award at Cannes. She also served as an associate producer and casting director on the pic, which was Denmark’s submission for the Academy Awards. As an actor, she can next be seen in the Cate Blanchett-produced Shayda, which debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The pic, directed by Noora Niasari, took the audience award in the World Cinema competition at Sundance and has since been chosen as Australia’s submission for the best international feature race at this year’s Oscars.

A long-anticipated adaptation of the 2003 bestselling novel “Reading Lolita in Tehran” by Azar Nafisi is hitting the Marché du Film at Cannes this month.

Directed by award-winning director Eran Riklis (“Lemon Tree”) and written by Marjorie David, the film stars an ensemble cast led by Golshifteh Farahani (“Pirates of the Caribbean”), Zar Amir-Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”) and Mina Kavani (“Red Rose”).

Set in post-revolution Iran as extremism took hold, Nafisi’s book tells the autobiographical story of a fearless teacher who secretly gathered seven of her female students to read forbidden Western classics.

According to a synopsis: “As the Islamic Republic took power, morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran and as fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, the women in Nafisi’s living room, whose rights had been systematically removed, risked everything to find a safe space to remove their veils and speak their minds. Despite the grave danger they are in,...

Iranian-American writer Azar Nafisi’s classic memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran has been adapted for the big screen with an ensemble cast led by actors Golshifteh Farahani (Paterson) and Zar Amir-Ebrahimi (Holy Spider).

The pic is an Italian-Israeli co-production directed by Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree) from a screenplay by Marjorie David. Production took place in Italy. It’s now in post, and WestEnd will launch sales at the upcoming Cannes market.

Translated into 32 languages and set after the revolution in Iran as extremism took hold, Nafisi’s memoir tells the autobiographical story of a bold and inspired teacher, who secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics, while their world as they knew it closed in around them. As the Islamic Republic took power, morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, and as fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, the women in Nafisi’s living room,...

Golshifteh Farahani (Pirates of the Caribbean, About Elly, Paterson) and Zar Amir-Ebrahami (Palme d’Or-winner in 2022 for Holy Spider) — two of most recognized and in-demand Iranian stars working outside of Iran today — have teamed for the feature adaptation of Azar Nafisi’s bestselling Iranian novel Reading Lolita in Tehran.

The two lead an ensemble cast in the the drama — from award-winning director Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree, The Syrian Bride, Dancing Arabs) and written by Marjorie David — alongside Mina Kavani (Red Rose, No Bears). WestEnd Films are launching sales of the film in Cannes.

Translated into 32 languages across the world and set after the revolution in Iran as extremism took hold, Reading Lolita in Tehran tells the autobiographical story of a bold and inspired teacher, who secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden western classics while their world as they knew it closed in around them.

Co-financing, co-production forum takes place September 11-12.

New projects involving the producer of The Babadook, Game Of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin and Lemon Tree filmmaker Eran Riklis will be front and centre when the first in-person Ontario Creates International Financing Forum (Iff) in three years kicks off at TIFF next month.

Now in its 17th year, the two-day co-financing and co-production market takes place from September 11-12 in association with TIFF and features 42 feature film producer teams – 20 from Canada and 22 from as far afield as Australia, India, Norway, Scotland and the US.

The producers will participate in one-on-one producer...

Co-financing, co-production forum takes place September 11-12.

New projects involving the producer of The Babadook, Game Of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin and Lemon Tree filmmaker Eran Riklis will be front and centre when the first in-person Ontario Creates International Financing Forum (Iff) in three years kicks off at TIFF next month.

Now in its 17th year, the two-day co-financing and co-production market takes place from September 11-12 in association with TIFF and features 42 feature film producer teams – 20 from Canada and 22 from as far afield as Australia, India, Norway, Scotland and the US.

The producers will participate in one-on-one producer...

Portrait of a refugee dreaming of home in a sensitive, sombre documentary that also has thoughts about friendship, politics and birds

Artist and film-maker Sarah Beddington makes her feature documentary debut with this record of her friendship with Fadia Loubani, a Palestinian woman in Bourj el-Barajneh in Beirut, one of the 58 Un refugee camps. Loubani’s story is fraught with drama and sadness: when she was a much younger woman – and a widow – her extended family had the chance to get refugee status and EU citizenship in Denmark, but bureaucratic qualifications meant her children would only be eligible if she sent them on alone without her. She chose instead to keep them with her, closer to that yearned-for Palestinian homeland which is just a few miles away but behind grim barriers.

Loubani’s friendship with Beddington is complicated by history but she tells Beddington about her family’s home village...

Exclusive: U.S. management and production house Anonymous Content is teaming up with Euro firm Federation Entertainment to launch France-based TV label Anonymous/Federation.

The company is the latest joint venture between True Detective and Bad Robot producer Anonymous and an international firm, joining AC Nordic, AC Brazil and Chapter One in the UK as part of the company’s global expansion.

Development and production label Anonymous/Federation will be overseen by Dawn Olmstead and David Levine on behalf of Anonymous Content, and by Pascal Breton, Lionel Uzan and Patrick Wachsberger on behalf of The Bureau (pictured), Bad Banks and Around The World In 80 Days outfit Federation.

The MD of the newly created company, which will make content for the French and global markets, is to be announced soon.

Meanwhile, the first project for the label has been set as The Abduction of Yossele Schumacher, a limited series thriller based on a true story,...

Eran Riklis is developing a new feature that he hopes will strike a chord at this week’s Mia Market in Rome, where the acclaimed Israeli director will be pitching it to potential partners.

“Last Chord in Thessaloniki” follows a family of jazz musicians who are forced to confront their dysfunctions while traveling together to perform in Greece’s second city, where the family’s roots, though buried deep in the past, upend the present and cast a dark shadow over the future. Setting off on a journey from Tel Aviv to Thessaloniki, they are waylaid and sidetracked along the way – offering an opportunity, however, for them to arrive at an unexpected destination.

“Sometimes you have to travel really far in order to rediscover yourself,” Riklis explained. “The distance is possibly quite short. It’s actually traveling somewhere between your mind and your heart. The fact that you’re out...

Rome’s new concept Mia Market dedicated to international TV series, feature films, documentaries and more kicked off Wednesday in the Eternal City’s 17th century Palazzo Barberini with 1,700 registered industry execs – roughly 600 of whom have made the trek from abroad – and 350 new titles of various types, in development and production, on display.

At a press conference attended by Italian Culture Minister Dario Franceschini and all top Italian industry reps, organizers also boasted a 30% increase in completed films screening at the Mia film market where about 80 mostly European titles will be having their market – or, in some cases, even world – premieres.

While the Oct. 11-14 Mipcom market in Cannes is suffering a reduced presence, and the AFM this year has gone entirely online, Mia seems to be reaping the benefits of being conceived more congenially to how the global content industry is evolving.

“Mia was born as a challenge,” said...

Exclusive: Seven years in the making, the Jerusalem Cinematheque is now ready to launch an English-language on-demand digital version of its Israel Film Archive.

The archive, based in a climate-controlled film centre adjacent to Jerusalem’s Old City walls, holds 96% of all features ever produced in Israel. To date, it has largely served cultural institutions, researchers, and filmmakers in Israel and abroad.

From Monday October 18, the Archive is being opened for people to search and stream on demand from around the world. The opening follows a $10M preservation, restoration, and digitization process begun in 2015.

The materials on the new site will all be translated, tagged, and searchable in English by keyword or phrase, year, landmark, and location.

The Archive holds around 32,000 titles, including a new print of Otto Preminger epic Exodus starring Paul Newman. Among the site’s main projects in recent years has been the restoration of 16mm original...

Film and TV market devoted to scripted and unscripted content will unfold October 13 to 17.

Rome’s Mia film and TV market has unveiled the line-up and highlights of its seventh edition, unfolding October 13 to 17 in and around the Italian capital’s Piazza Barberini district.

The market is expected to be of greater importance for European film buyers and sellers this autumn, after the Covid-19 pandemic deterred many from travelling to Toronto earlier this September and forced the American Film Market (Nov 1-5) to move online for a second year.

In a sign of this, Mia has reported a 30% increase in...

Rome’s growing Mia market, dedicated to international TV series, feature films and documentaries, has secured a rich roster of fresh international product in various stages and announced a clutch of prominent U.S. and European execs set to make the trek for the mostly in-person Oct. 13-17 event.

While companies such as ITV Studios, Banijay and Fremantle are either bowing out or reducing their presence at the Oct. 11-14 Mipcom market in Cannes — and the AFM has gone entirely online — Mia seems to be succeeding in luring a robust group of international industry heavyweights. They are also boasting a 30% increase in completed films screening on its film market side while some 80 new European film, TV and doc projects will be pitched to prospective partners.

Joe Russo, who with his older brother Anthony became the creative superheroes of the Marvel Universe with a string of four blockbusters climaxing with 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,...

Respected Jerusalem project lab is up and running again after two-year hiatus

Israeli filmmaker Netelie Braun has won the ninth edition of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab for Oxygen, the tale of a mother who takes drastic action when her son volunteers for active duty in Lebanon.

It will be writer and director Braun’s first fiction feature after documentary Hope I’m In The Frame, about pioneering female director Michal Bat-Adam, and a number of short films including The Hangman, about the man who hanged Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

Braun describes the feature as ”a political film,...

The industry centerpiece at Series Mania’s Forum, Monday’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions take on a special relevance this year as the number of admissions have almost doubled – up to 560, near twice the usual number, says Series Mania director Francesco Capurro. “Producers have had more time to develop with Covid-19. Projects run a wide gamut. The idea is tat there will be something for everybody attending,” Capurro explains. Ambitions – budgetary, artistic – are often high. There are multiple period thrillers, as projects wrestle with key issues – identity, peace, high-tech, big business, sacrifice, survival – crucial to these convulsive times.

“Amal,” (Eran Riklis, Israel)

Powered by one of the most established talents at the Forum, reputed film director Riklis (“Lemon Tree”). Also one of its most ambitious projects, an epic yet intimate love story between a Palestinian woman and Israeli man, spanning three decades and Columbia U, Hollywood, Ramallah and Gaza through to...

Past participants have included ‘Son Of Saul’, ‘The Death Of Cinema and My Father Too’ and ‘Beginning’.

The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel International Film Lab (Jsfl) has unveiled the 12 projects selected for its 9th edition, which is running online for now due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Founded in 2011 under the auspices of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School (Jsfs), the lab traditionally selects six international and six Israeli projects.

The lab usually combines residential workshops and remote support but this year most of the programme is expected to take place online.

The first writing session will take place in December, followed...

Past participants have included ‘Son Of Saul’, ‘The Death Of Cinema and My Father Too’ and ‘Beginning’.

The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel International Film Lab (Jsfl) has unveiled the 12 projects selected for its 9th edition, which is running online for now due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Founded in 2011 under the auspices of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School (Jsfs), the lab traditionally selects six international and six Israeli projects.

The lab usually combines residential workshops and remote support but this year most of the programme is expected to take place online.

Participants include UK director Claire Oakley with English Animals, her...

Streaming online via video presentations from March 25, Series Mania’s experimental Digital Forum will make or break on the quality of its centerpiece, its Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. This year’s lineup, at least on paper, looks particularly strong.

Following, a break-down on the 16 originally selected projects:

“The Abduction of Yossele Shuchmacher” (Israel)

Co-created and to be directed by celebrated Israeli cineaste Eran Riklis, based on a notorious true case in 1961 and co-created by “Fauda” writer Moshe Zonder.-Backed by veteran producer Michael Sharfshtein, the title “blends an intimate, painful drama within a powerful social-political set up, wrapped as a psychological thriller,” says Riklis.

“The Black Lady”

An English-language six-part bio-series led by Brussels-based At-Prod about Madga Goebbels which author Hélène Duchateau describes as a “depressingly modern” miniseries: “Beyond Madga Goebbels’ unique experience, it echoes the growing populist trends in Europe and the processes of radicalization in our time.”

“Casa Girls” (France)

A comedic,...

Madrid — Never has a TV Festival re-launched in such extraordinary circumstances, or using such novel means.

France’s Series Mania, one of Europe’s two or three most reputed TV events, confirmed on March 11 that it was canceling 2020’s March 20-28 edition, amid inescapable fears of Covid-19 contagion.

Six days later, it announced it was launching a Digital Forum, to feature a Buyers Showcase with, two days out from its lift-off, a sizable number of the series scheduled to world premiere in cinemas at Lille, and video presentations, which would before have been made onstage, of its major industry showcases, led by the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions of series projects.

Following, 10 points about this year’s unique event.

Industry in Contingency Mode

Drama series shoots have been shut down all over Europe. So Series Mania’s digital reincarnation catches Europe’s TV industry at an equally extraordinary time, at it seeks...

In one of the first concrete instances of a new virtual TV marketplace building in Europe as a response to the Covid-19 crisis, Series Mania, which cancelled its 2020 edition in Lille, is instead launching Series Mania Digital Platform.

The Platform will feature video pitches of the 16 selected projects in the Co-Pro Pitching sessions, Series Mania’s industry centerpiece, Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania, announced Tuesday.

Other Digital Platform features take in selected events from the Ugc Writers Campus Pitching sessions, video pitches from the Franco-Israeli residency, “Coming Next From” sessions in collaboration with Sodec, Tvfi and German Films, and curated series from its Buyers Showcase.

The platform will be made available to an online audience of accredited industry decision-makers starting Wednesday March 25, the day the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions were programmed to take place in Lille, northern France, kicking off Series Mania’s three day industry Forum.

Second prize went to Noura’s Dream, while Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi were crowned Best Actors, 143 Sahara Street Best International Doc and Fuori tutto Best Italian Doc. A White, White Day, the second work by the Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason, has been named Best Film of the 37th Turin Film Festival, which drew to a close on Saturday 30 November. The award was handed over by a jury presided over by Cristina Comencini (Italy) and composed of Fabienne Babe (France), Bruce McDonald (Canada), Eran Riklis (Israel) and Teona Strugar Mitevska (Macedonia). The next most important accolade, the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation Award, went to Noura’s Dream by Hinde Boujemaa, while Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina were named Best Actresses (for Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole), and Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi Best Actors (for Antonio Padovan’s Il grande passo). Within the international documentary section, a jury comprising Sara...

This week sees the release of director Eran Riklis’ atmospheric espionage thriller, Spider in the Web, starring Ben Kingsley as an Israeli Mossad agent, who is assigned to investigate an organisation that could be selling chemical weapons to a Syrian dictatorship.

Monica Bellucci plays the mysterious Angela Caroni, a shady operative who may also be involved in the weapons supply while harbouring other, darker secrets.

Heyuguys recently caught up with Bellucci to discuss the film, her role, balancing family life with film-making and the magical moments bringing characters to life.

Heyuguys: Your character Angela is quite elusive and enigmatic, but the story was also complex and labyrinthine? Was it the character that appealed to you more, or the script?

Monica Bellucci: What really drew me to the story was the humanity more than the espionage. The characters have great depth and delicateness which is ultimately their downfall. To me,...

Budapest Israeli Film Week Wrap

By Alex Cousy Deleon

Apparently about basketball, but not really …

There were altogether some fourteen films programmed in this overview of recent Israeli films, however, due to overlapping scheduling at the Puskin Art Mozi it was not possible to get to them all. One or two that looked particularly enticing were missed. What films were seen indicate that the Israeli film industry is thriving, loaded with talent, entering into many co-productions to expand productivity, and forging full steam ahead. The last film I managed to get to was the following.

Playoff 2011 director Eran Riklis is also the director of The Syrian Bride and Lemon Tree, two of the highest profile Israeli films at festivals and generally during the past dozen years.

This latest Riklis effort, ( # Editor note below) filmed entirely in Germany with non-Israeli actors, featured American actor Danny Huston as “Max Soller” a legendary...

"There are a lot of people out there who'd do anything to stop me from exposing the truth." Vertical Ent. has unveiled an official trailer for spy drama Spider in the Web, the latest film from Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis. This "riveting new spy drama in the vein of John Le Carré" stars Sir Ben Kingsley as an aging Mossad agent struggling to maintain his relevance. His bond with a younger operative sent to monitor him while he's on a secret mission in the heart of a troubled Europe is a reflection on human relationships as well as "on the Europe of today – fragile, troubled, under constant threats from the outside and in turmoil on the inside." Also starring Monica Bellucci, Makram Khoury, Filip Peeters, and Itay Tiran. This looks like a solid, action-y spy thriller with some big twists, but it also looks rather derivative without anything new to offer.

Michael Sharfstein of Topia Communications also involved in new outfit; debut slate revealed.

Eran Riklis, the director whose credits include the upcoming Spider In The Web with Monica Bellucci and Ben Kingsley, has joined forces with Moshe Edery, founder of Israeli company United King Films, and producer Michael Sharfstein of Topia Communications to launch venture Utr Film Projects.

The outfit will develop and produce feature films and series and is officially being launched here in Cannes, where Rikilis, Edery and Sharfstein are taking meetings about their initial slate. The trio previously collaborated on Spider In The Web and are formalising...

Israeli actor Itay Tiran also stars in Eran Riklis’ latest film.

London-based Film Constellation has sold out its Ben Kingsley and Monica Bellucci spy drama Spider In The Web and struck a North American deal with Vertical Entertainment.

Eran Riklis’ latest film centres on a young agent dispatched to follow an older operative whose behaviour has come into question and is following a tip on a chemical weapons sale to a Middle Eastern dictatorship.

Israeli actor Itay Tiran (Lebanon) also stars. Film Constellation co-financed Spider In The Web and announced the project and previously licensed Germany (Concorde/Telemuenchen), Greece-Cyprus (Tanweer...

Company boards Annie Silverstein’s debut feature.

London-based Film Constellation has picked up international sales rights, excluding North America, to Us filmmaker Annie Silverstein’s debut feature Bull ahead of its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

The film stars Rob Morgan and newcomer Amber Havard and is a drama about a troubled 14-year-old who destroys her neighbour’s rundown house in an act of youthful defiance and now faces state prison. She forms a bond with a man working on the rodeo circuit.

North American rights are being handled by Us outfit 30West which helped to source financing for the project.

Film Constellation boards Annie Silverstein’s debut feature.

London-based Film Constellation has picked up international sales rights, excluding North America, to Us filmmaker Annie Silverstein’s debut feature Bull ahead of its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

The film stars Rob Morgan and newcomer Amber Havard and is a drama about a troubled 14-year-old who destroys her neighbour’s rundown house in an act of youthful defiance and now faces state prison. She forms a bond with a man working on the rodeo circuit.

North American rights are being handled by Us outfit 30West which helped to source financing for the project.

Film Constellation boards Annie Silverstein’s debut feature.

London-based Film Constellation has picked up international sales rights, excluding North America, to Us filmmaker Annie Silverstein’s debut feature Bull ahead of its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

The film stars Rob Morgan and newcomer Amber Havard and is a drama about a troubled 14-year-old who destroys her neighbour’s rundown house in an act of youthful defiance and now faces state prison. She forms a bond with a man working on the rodeo circuit.

North American rights are being handled by Us outfit 30West which helped to source financing for the project.

The company is screening ’The Love Letter’ in the Short Film Competition.

Tel Aviv University’s fledgling company Gaudeamus Productions is enjoying a high-profile Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff) debut this year, both in the festival line-up and its parallel industry events.

The production outfit showed Atara Frish’s award-winning work The Love Letter in the Israeli Short Film Competition on Monday (Aug 30) and will premiere its first feature-length work, Yona Rozenkier’s sibling drama The Dive in the Feature Competition on Wednesday (Aug 1), which heads to the Locarno Film Festival later this month.

Gaudeamus is also celebrating a win for...

St. Louis Jewish Film Festival at Plaza Frontenac Cinema

Monday, June 4, at 7 pm

Israel • English, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles

Director: Eran Riklis

Feature: 83 minutes

The Israeli thriller Shelter is a film that has been getting a lot of buzz in film circles as it make the rounds of international film festivals. Writer/director Eran Riklis’ drama is a mix of psychological and spy thriller mostly in English although the action takes place primarily at a Mossad safe house in Germany

Naomi (Neta Riskin) is a former Mossad agent who has been out of service for a couple of years. She is lured back by her former boss (Lior Ashkenazi) to take what she is told is a simple two-week assignment, guarding a female Lebanese informer in Germany while she heals from facial plastic surgery to give her a new identity. But the assignment becomes more complex than originally expected,...