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In the animated film space, two things naturally come to mind: stories for children and big-budget, formulaic projects. The former idea is something directors have been fighting for years, a recent example being the successful and not-so-child-friendly Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, but the formulaic factor has recently been challenged too — by an uprising in independent animation — and it’s changing the awards landscape.

One of the first films to break through in this way was Flee, a 2021 animated documentary film from Denmark about a gay man looking back on his life as a child refugee from Afghanistan. The film received widespread acclaim for its LGBTQ representation, archival footage and subject matter, leading to many festival awards and three Oscar nominations.

‘Flee’, 2021 Janus Films/Everett Collection

Related: Cannes Film Festival 2025: Read All Of Deadline’s Movie Reviews

Competing against three Disney films — Encanto, Luca and Raya and the Last Dragon...

Cinetic Marketing founder Ryan Werner is the newest addition at Neon, now joining the 2025 Best Picture-winning studio as the President of Global Cinema.

In that newly created position, Werner will focus full-time on theatrical distribution and work closely with Neon’s senior leadership to bolster marketing campaigns and release strategies.

Meanwhile, Courtney Ott has now been appointed head of Cinetic Marketing, having served at the company since 2016, most recently as Senior Vice President. Before Cinetic, Ott had been Director of PR and Marketing at the Film Society of Lincoln Center for six years.

“Ryan’s taste, passion, and instincts for cinema are boundless,” Neon CEO/Founder Tom Quinn said. “Together, combined with Ryan’s extensive knowledge, wealth of relationships and envious track record, we look forward to continue growing Neon as a premiere home for groundbreaking cinema. To say we’re thrilled about working with Ryan would be the understatement of the year.

Ryan Werner, the marketing, publicity and awards season veteran, has joined Neon in the new role of president of global cinema.

Werner will focus full-time on theatrical distribution and work closely with senior leadership to enhance marketing and release strategies as the company continues to expand into production and global distribution.

Cinetic Marketing, the company he founded in 2014, will continue to operate independently under the leadership of Courtney Ott. It represented six of the last 10 Palme d’Or winners in Cannes, and worked on Oscar-winning campaigns for five best pictures, 10 best documentaries, seven best international features, and three best animated features.

Neon has tapped veteran film marketing and publicity pro Ryan Werner as its new president of global cinema, the company announced Wednesday from Cannes. The newly created role positions Werner near the top of Neon’s theatrical distribution operations as the award-winning studio continues to expand its footprint in auteur-driven international cinema.

Werner’s appointment comes amid a busy Cannes for Neon, with four titles in this year’s festival lineup — including Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, both premiering in competition, and Raoul Peck’s Orwell: 2+2=5 screening as a special presentation. The announcement also follows a stellar awards season for the company, capped by Sean Baker’s Anora winning last year’s Palme d’Or followed by five Oscars, including best picture.

“Ryan’s taste, passion, and instincts for cinema are boundless,” said Neon founder and CEO Tom Quinn in a statement. “Together, combined with his extensive knowledge,...

Longtime indie film marketing and publicity exec Ryan Werner has joined Neon as President of Global Cinema. In the newly created role, Werner will lead distribution efforts and bring decades of experience in marketing, publicity and awards to Neon’s slate.

Werner joins from Cinetic Marketing, which he founded in 2014. That company has played a pivotal role in crafting some of the most successful and lauded campaigns in independent film. At Neon, Werner will focus on theatrical distribution full time, and he will work closely with the company’s senior leadership to elevate the studio’s marketing and release strategies.

Cinetic Marketing, which will continue to operate independently, has worked across a slew of Oscar-winning projects including five Best Pictures, 10 Best Documentaries, seven Best International Features and three Best Animated Features. It has had a huge presence at major film festivals, including Cannes where they have repped six of the last 10 Palme d’Or winners.

Partners Sideshow Pictures and Janus Films open All We Imagine As Light on Friday and will follow the playbook for Drive My Car, the indie distributor’s first film that began a slow rollout about this time in 2021, collecting awards, nice grosses and finishing with an International Picture Oscar win amid a flurry of nominations. Payal Kapadia’s film, among the best reviewed of the year, was snubbed by India for an Oscar selection. Its distributor has something to say about that and is campaigning for other key categories.

Also this weekend, comedy A Real Pain with Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin from Searchlight Pictures hits 900-plus screens in a major expansion. Sony Pictures Classics’ Saorsie Ronan starrer The Outrun, which opened in early October and was down to 19 screens, is jumping back to 200 by popular demand, which is nice to hear.

Gkids debuts Ghost Cat Anzu on 300-plus screens.

Telluride is where it all begins. It’s the launch of a long culling process as audiences and critics watch, and judge, the carefully curated program. Some movies will land distributors; some will have the right stuff to build word of mouth, critical support, and the momentum that can sustain a lengthy Oscar campaign.

This year’s Telluride is a starrier affair than the last. With strikes in the rear view, optimism and anxiety run high in equal measure. At the annual Patrons’ Brunch, where the mountain views are sublime (see below), French auteur Jacques Audiard hung in the shade while his Cannes prize-winning “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón soaked up sun and attention. Netflix is campaigning her for Best Actress, while her costar at the brunch, Selena Gomez, will go for supporting.

A view from the Telluride brunchAnne Thompson

It was Gascón’s first Telluride, she said through an interpreter.

The Cannes 2024 market saw a thrilling revival with nine movies — including four movies in the main competition — selling to specialized distributors in domestic deals. However, this wasn’t exactly a return to business as normal: The buyers weren’t stalwarts like A24, or Focus, or IFC. Instead Mubi, Metrograph Pictures, and Sideshow (in partnership with Janus Films) established themselves as major buyers.

Mubi bought three titles in the main competition: “The Girl With the Needle,” “The Substance,” and added North American rights on Andrea Arnold’s “Bird.” (It came to the festival with UK rights.) “The Substance” starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley represents a major swing for the upstart, with one source placing the deal in the low-eight figures.

Sideshow picked up Indian drama “All We Imagine As Light” in the main competition, the animated “Flow” from Un Certain Regard, and “Misericordia” and Leos Carax’s “It’s Not Me,...

Pierpoline takes over from Kathryn Busby.

US producer Joyce Pierpoline is taking over as the second chair of Bafta North America’s board of directors, succeeding inaugural lead, Kathryn Busby.

Pierpoline is founder of New York and Paris-based Pierpoline Films, serves as chair of Bafta North America’s Film Committee and is co-founder of the Producers Guild of America’s Women’s Impact Network, which promotes gender equality in the industry.

Her production credits include Mediha, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Doc NYC 2023 and Sundance 2007 premiere, Teeth.

The Bafta North America Board will also have a new member – David Linde — CEO of Participant,...

The British Academy has appointed award-winning producer Joyce Pierpoline as the chair of BAFTA North America’s board of directors.

Pierpoline — whose credits include Doc NYC winner “Mediha,” “Angelica” and Sundance-winning cult classic “Teeth” — succeeds Kathryn Busby, who was given the newly-created role in January 2022 after BAFTA united its New York and Los Angeles entities.

“I am delighted to take over the role of chair of BAFTA North America from Kathryn Busby, who carried out such brilliant work during her tenure,” said Pierpoline, who is also the founder of Pierpoline Films, serves as chair of BAFTA North America’s Film Committee and is co-founder of the Producers Guild of America’s Women’s Impact Network, promoting gender equality in the industry. “I’m looking forward to the future of BAFTA North America and will continue working with my colleagues on the board to ensure that BAFTA’s charitable work reflects...

Producer Joyce Pierpoline has been appointed chair of BAFTA North America’s Board of Directors. She succeeds Kathryn Busby.

Pierpoline’s credits include Mediha, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Doc NYC 2023, Angelica (2016), and Sundance-winning Teeth (2007). She founded Pierpoline Films based in New York and Paris, serves as chair of BAFTA North America’s Film Committee, and is co-founder of the Producers Guild of America’s Women’s Impact Network.

Also joining the BAFTA North America board today is David Linde, CEO of Participant. Linde has previously served as the CEO and owner of Lava Bear Films, chairman of Universal Pictures, and co-founded Focus Features. Continuing their BAFTA North America executive board terms are actor Elliot Knight as Deputy Chair, Betsy Rodgers as Secretary, and Josephine Coyle as Treasurer.

The extended BAFTA North America board includes Alexis Alexanian...

The indie box office busted out this year, hitting is stride post-Covid with an eclectic string of releases that made a splash artistically and financially.

Independents and mini-majors saw $1.47 billion in box office receipts as of Dec. 27, up from $811.7 million in 2022, according to Comscore.

Focus Features had the biggest limited opening of the year with Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City (gross $28 million). Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers with Paul Giamatti ($17.9 million) drew older demos, picky, yes, but finally comfortable back in theaters. Ditto for MGM’s Air, a film Amazon originally slated to go directly to Prime Video, that hit a core 45+ audience and a $52 million cume.

A24’s Past Lives, the much-nominated first film by Celine Song, made $10.9 million and its low-budget horror Talk to Me cleared $48 million. Emma Seligman’s raunchy teen comedy Bottoms from MGM topped $12 million.

That led into a fall bonanza heading into awards season with Anatomy Of A Fall,...

Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things from Yorgos Lanthimos earned a stellar $72K per-screen average opening weekend at nine theaters in four markets, for an estimated three-day total of $644K. In a competitive season, this marks the fall’s best limited opening on ten or fewer screens and is in the year’s top three.

The big two for 2023 were heavy hitters Asteroid City by Wes Anderson, from Focus Features, which had a $100k+ PSA in six theaters in June; and A24’s Beau Is Afraid by Ari Aster that took in $80K per screen last spring at four locations. Both had notable activations like Focus’ takeover of the Landmark Sunset, and Beau starting out on Imax. For Poor Things, Lanthimos and the film’s stars Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe and Ramy Youssef have been doing sold out Q&As around NYC over the weekend.

In an abundance of riches this weekend,...

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Venice Golden Lion Winner Poor Things is here with Searchlight Pictures sewing up nine theaters in four major markets for leg one of the Emma Stone-starring surreal-period-comedy-horror.

The film debuts in NYC and LA as well as San Francisco and Austin (Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar). Lanthimos, Stone and stars Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe join Q&As in New York and tickets have been selling out. Stone hosted SNL last Saturday, joining the exclusive “five-timers club”, and made stops in recent days at Good Morning America, Sunday Today and ABC News Live Prime to talk up the fantastical tale.

Stone plays Bella Baxter, a young Victorian woman mysteriously brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Godwin Baxter (Dafoe) who lives as the doctor’s ward.

When the Gotham Awards paid tribute to then-IFC Films president Jonathan Sehring, his speech contained a passage that could have been written by Cassandra, the Trojan priestess fated to speak true prophecies that would not be believed.

“Traditional theatrical distribution isn’t dead, but film distributors large and small are competing with more and more entertainment options on a daily basis,” he said. “The digital revolution is now.”

It was easy to overlook the warning in 2008. That year saw the release of Fox Searchlight’s “Slumdog Millionaire,” which won eight Oscars, including Best Picture, and grossed $378 million worldwide. Barry Jenkins made his debut on the festival circuit with “Medicine for Melancholy,” which later would be distributed by IFC.

Sehring left the company in 2018. Five years later, IFC faces a turning point in the specialty film ecosystem it helped create. With the abrupt departure of president Arianna Bocco at the end of last month,...

Exclusive: Deadline has learned that IFC Films’ longtime Head of PR Laura Sok will be departing the indie distribution company.

Sok has been Head of PR for the last five years in an overall seven-year career at IFC (she worked there from 2008-2010), and was first hired by Jonathan Sehring to run the department. She led public-relations efforts for IFC Films, IFC Midnight, Sundance Selects and streaming service IFC Films Unlimited. Last December, her oversight was expanded to include the labels Shudder and Rlje Films.

Sok led 20th anniversary efforts for IFC Films and was integral in constructing the 2020 drive-in release and promotion strategy during the pandemic. She also led publicity strategy and campaigns for all films during the most successful financial years in IFC Films history.

While Sok is one of many executives to recently leave IFC including distribution head Jasper Basch,...

Filmmakers and executives, creatives of music, theater and art remembered Tom Luddy as friend and mentor, tastemaker and cultural force who deployed an astonishingly vast network to nurture talent and bring people and projects together over decades.

The co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival passed away in February.

“I am thinking of getting a tattoo of you on my arm,” said Irish director Mark Cousins at tribute event at the Paris Theatre over the weekend. “Here is Hitchcock on my arm, and here is and Kira Muratova. Maybe you would fit between the two?” He added, “For the rest of my life, I will see partly through your eyes. I miss you and I love you.”

“Tom Luddy was a constant presence. The sun around which so many of us have revolved,” said Ken Burns. The two met when Burns screened Huey Long at Telluride in 1985. “For the next 35-plus years,...

When you cover the arthouse business, you get used to familiar faces more than famous ones. Programmers, distributors, and sales agents may not walk the red carpet alongside their stars, but they’re at all the afterparties, in the trenches of every major film festival, constantly plotting ways to get new work seen. Their ubiquity makes it possible to visualize this pocket of the entertainment industry so when the faces change places, it stands out.

In that respect, this week was extraordinary. Within 48 hours, news broke of senior independent film executives leaving jobs they held for years, in some cases not of their own volition. Welcome to the great indie contraction.

First came John Vanco, the 18-year veteran of the IFC Center, heading to Netflix to take over the booking of New York’s Paris Theater, as well as the Bay Cinema and the Egyptian in L.A.. On its...

“The donkey is cute, but this is not a Disney movie,” said Jonathan Sehring, the former IFC Films head whose young distribution outlet Sideshow, with Janus Films, presents Jerzy Skolimowski’s Cannes Jury Prize winning Eo at two NYC theaters this weekend. “We launched Sideshow for great movies that would otherwise get overlooked to give them the best release that they can possibly get,” he told Deadline.

Eo hits the big screen a year after the partners opened Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, tenderly leading the three hour-long Japanese film about a bereft theater director overseeing a production of Uncle Vanya through a decorated awards season expansion that garnered four Oscar nominations, a win for Best International Feature and some solid box office coin.

“It’s not something we invented. It was a very traditional platform release for, what we hoped when we acquired it, would be a critically acclaimed film.

Imprison Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears” has sold into North America, with Sideshow and Janus Films acquiring U.S. rights, and Films We Like buying the movie for Canada.

“No Bears,” which premiered earlier this month at the Venice Film Festival, portrays two parallel love stories. “In both, the lovers are troubled by hidden, inevitable obstacles, the force of superstition and the mechanics of power,” reads an official synopsis.

The film is written, produced, and directed by Panahi, and stars Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjei, Mina Kavani, Narjes Dalaram and Reza Heydari.

The pic won Venice’s Special Jury Prize before appearing as a Special Presentation at the Toronto International Film Festival. It will next screen at this month’s New York Film Festival and at the BFI London Film Festival.

Panahi was recently ordered by Iranian authorities to serve out a six-year sentence that he...

Iranian’s Lido prize-winner heading to New York, London festivals.

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all US rights from Celluloid Dreams to Jafar Panahi’s Venice special jury prize winner No Bears and will mount an awards push for the imprisoned Iranian director.

Films We Like has picked up all Canadian rights to the tale of two parallel love stories which explores superstition and the mechanics of power.

Panahi wrote, directed, produced and stars in No Bears alongside Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjei, Mina Kavani, Narjes Dalaram, and Reza Heydari.

The film screened in Toronto following its world...

Iranian director Jafar Panahi remains behind bars in Tehran but his cinema continues to travel.

In a fresh sales announcement, Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all U.S rights and Films We Like has taken all Canadian rights to Panahi’s Venice Special Jury Prize winner ‘No Bears’.

Celluloid Dreams handles international sales.

U.S. distributors Sideshow and Janus Films are now planning an awards season campaign in the best director category for Panahi and will release the film in time for an Oscar push.

The director is currently serving a reactivated, six-year suspended prison sentence, originally handed out in 2010, after he was detained in July by Iranian authorities as part of a crackdown on freedom of expression and dissent.

Since then, tensions over the Iranian government’s authoritarian rule have ratcheted up in recent days amid protests over the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, while in custody for not wearing her burqa properly.

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired the U.S. rights to “No Bears,” the next film from Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who is imprisoned and serving a six-year prison sentence by the Iranian government.

Panahi’s latest film made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this fall and won the Special Jury Prize. It later played at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The accolades came shortly after Panahi was arrested by Iranian authorities after he had inquired about the status of two other detained Iranian directors. The government has now forced him to serve out a six-year jail sentence originally issued to Panahi in December 2010. At that time, he was banned for 20 years from directing movies, writing screenplays or giving any form of interview with an Iranian or foreign press, though he has since showcased other films such as “This Is Not a Film,” “Closed Curtain,” “Taxi” and...

Cannes sensation “Eo,” which tells the story of a donkey’s life, has been acquired for North America by Sideshow and Janus Films. The film is the latest collaboration for the U.S. distribution duo that brought this year’s best international feature Oscar winner, “Drive My Car,” to audiences Stateside.

Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, “Eo” shared the Cannes Jury Prize with Félix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s “The Eight Mountains.”

The film, a word-of-mouth hit on the Croisette, shares a vision of modern Europe through the prism of a gray donkey, who meets all sorts of people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, as well as disasters and unexpected bliss — all without losing his beautiful innocence. Upon accepting the Jury Prize in Cannes, Polish director Skolimowski thanked “all six” of his donkeys.

The project is the latest collaboration between filmmaker and HanWay Films founder Jeremy Thomas and Skolimowski,...

The donkey tale has also sold across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

UK outfit HanWay Films has closed a raft of deals on Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo, which won the jury prize at Cannes on Saturday (May 28).

The film, which depicts the existential odyssey of a donkey, has been picked up for North America by Sideshow and Janus Films, and for the UK and Ireland by BFI Distribution.

HanWay has also secured sales for Benelux (The Searchers), Italy (I Wonder), Spain (A Contracorriente), Portugal (Nitrato), Greece (Odeon), Turkey (Bir), Middle East (Front Row), China (Dddream), Japan (Fine Films), Taiwan...

This year’s Academy Award nominations are dominated by films from deep-pocketed studios, specialty divisions and streamers. Yet as most 2021 indies were sidelined to the Spirit Awards, a few such as “Drive My Car,” “Flee,” “The Worst Person in the World” and “Writing With Fire” managed to score noms in David vs. Goliath campaign battles.

With less funding and smaller platforms, how did they do it? The awards publicity firm worth asking is Perception PR, which scored high-profile noms for indies with Joachim Trier’s Norwegian romantic comedy-drama “The Worst Person in the World” (original screenplay and international feature), distributed by Neon; Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Danish animated doc “Flee”, from Neon/Participant; and a actress nom for Kristen Stewart in Pablo Larraín’s “Spencer,” from Neon/Topic.

Several Oscar voters cited the online Academy Screening Room, now in its third year as a great equalizer to catching up with smaller films,...

As Drive My Car sped from a best screenplay win and stellar reviews at Cannes to four Oscar nominations, distributor credits for the three-hour Japanese drama went to Sideshow/Janus Films – the former a little known new venture from Jonathan Sehring.

The longtime head of IFC Films said he launched Sideshow with “a group of friends.” Drive is its first project. Other are coming but “nothing we are ready to talk about yet.” The friends include Jonathan Turell and Peter Becker, partners in Janus Films. Turell is also CEO and Becker president of The Criterion Collection, a separate company that shares a leadership team and frequently works in concert with Janus. Their fathers, the late William Becker and Saul Turell, acquired Janus Films in 1965 and, Sehring said, gave him his first job out of college. “I worked for their dads. It’s almost like family to me,...

When “Drive My Car” received four Oscar nominations this week, it represented a triumph of arthouse cinema at a moment when it could really use the boost. The Academy might have wished that one of the 10 Best Picture slots went to James Bond or Spider-Man, but Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s three-hour adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story has become a better case study for what it takes to keep the movie business alive.

Daring, non-English language cinema challenges even the bravest distributors. That was certainly the situation at Cannes last July, when more than one buyer told me they were having a hard time parsing the marketplace potential for several of the festival’s critical darlings. One of these was “Drive My Car,” which took 30 minutes to roll its opening credits and used a quiet, enigmatic approach to craft the world of a widowed theater director rediscovering his creative passion...

Starz Original Programming President Kathryn Busby is to chair BAFTA’s new-look North America Board, with actor Elliot Knight and ThunderChild CEO Karl Stewart set as Deputy Chairs.

Deadline revealed in 2020 that BAFTA would be merging its LA and New York entities in the U.S., with former BAFTA LA CEO Matthew Wiseman promoted to Executive Director and Head of North America and former BAFTA New York Director, Lisa Harrison, becoming Director of Operations, North America.

The UK awards body officially confirmed the new structure and board today and said it will unify the New York and LA entities, “strengthening its global mission and delivering greater benefits to members.”

Busby, who succeeded Christina Davis at Starz this week, and Knight will also join BAFTA’s Board of Trustees, which is chaired by London-based BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar.

“With the election of Kathryn Busby as chair of our new North America board,...

BAFTA is expanding its North American operations with the launch of a single North America board, which unites the organization’s New York and Los Angeles entities.

Kathryn Busby, president of original programming at Starz, has been appointed the inaugural chair of the board. She will be joined by actor Elliot Knight and Karl Stewart, CEO of Thunder Child and president of 1TwentyFour as deputy chairs.

The single united board aims to strengthen BAFTA’s “global mission to inspire, support and celebrate across film, games and television, delivering greater benefits to its membership, programme participants and audiences wherever they are,” according to the organization.

Matthew Wiseman, BAFTA Los Angeles’s CEO has been promoted to executive director and head of North America while Lisa Harrison, BAFTA New York’s director, becomes director of operations for North America.

Betsy Rodgers, SVP of business & legal affairs at IFC Entertainment and Rlje Films,...

AMC Networks on Wednesday said that longtime film executive Arianna Bocco has been named president of its IFC Films division. Bocco was previously EVP of Acquisitions and Production. She replaces departing IFC Films Co-President Lisa Schwartz. Schwartz had served as Co-President with Jonathan Sehring who retired at the end of 2018.

Bocco has spent more than a decade overseeing acquisitions and productions for IFC Films as well as genre label IFC Midnight.

In her new role, Bocco will continue to oversee acquisitions, production, marketing and publicity, while adding oversight of theatrical film distribution and the fast-growing IFC Films Unlimited subscription streaming service. Bocco will report to Miguel Penella, AMC Networks’ president of SVOD, who oversees the company’s new premium subscription bundled offering AMC+, which includes IFC Films Unlimited; its portfolio of subscription video on demand services Acorn TV, Shudder, Sundance Now, and Umc; as well as Rlje Films. Penella reports to Ed Carroll,...

Arianna Bocco has been named president of IFC Films. Her promotion comes after more than a decade at the indie studio, where Bocco oversaw acquisitions and productions for IFC Films as well as for its genre label IFC Midnight.

Bocco is stepping into the role after Lisa Schwartz announced in November that she was stepping down as co-president of the studio. Jonathan Sehring, who served as co-president of IFC Films for decades, left the company in 2018.

In her new role, Bocco will continue to oversee acquisitions, production, marketing and publicity, while adding oversight of theatrical film distribution. She will also be tasked with continuing to grow its subscription streaming service, IFC Films Unlimited.

IFC Films is owned by AMC Networks. Bocco will now report to Miguel Penella, AMC Networks’ president of SVOD. He, in turn, reports to Ed Carroll, AMC Networks’ COO.

“Arianna is a talented and respected executive who...

An embarrassment of riches is presenting tough choices for the group that decides which French film to submit for a foreign language Oscar.

At midpoint, 2019 has already fielded one of the strongest editions for French movies in decades. Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and Ladj Ly’s feature debut “Les Miserables,” both of which debuted to rave reviews at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, are among those vying to be selected. They join Francois Ozon’s “By The Grace of God,” the winner of the Berlin’s Silver Bear Award, as the top candidates.

But more titles could join the list of French Oscar contenders. The National Film Board (Cnc), the organization tasked with establishing rules for the selection of French films submitted for Oscar consideration, is revising the guidelines, according to three industry insiders. Most notably, it is now allowing films to have limited,...

Following the recent news of Disney+ and Apple TV+, IFC Films has thrown its hat in the streaming arena. The indie stalwart has announced a service of its own, IFC Films Unlimited, which will become the digital home of titles it’s released throughout its nearly two-decade history.

Among the initial offerings: Palme d’Or winners “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” “Dheepan,” “The Wind That Shakes the Barley,” plus “Certified Copy,” “Gomorrah,” “Kid with a Bike,” and “Tale of Tales,” among several hundred others. More will be added on a regular basis.

The launch is coinciding with this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where many of the distributor’s most celebrated movies first premiered. IFC Films Unlimited will first be available on Amazon Prime Video Channel for a monthly price of $5.99.

“Over our nearly 20-year history, we’ve been fortunate to have established a rich library of the best in independent...

Sundance 2019 brings tempered expectations after a quiet 2018 market, when big-spenders Netflix and Amazon withdrew from the fray. As distributors can no longer rely on output deals with Netflix, they are looking to Starz and Hulu to make up the shortfall. And with Amazon Video Direct’s Film Festival Stars program gone, there’s no artificial bottom to the market, which gives everyone more room to maneuver, but also risks leaving the least commercial indies with no distribution at all. And some companies are changing their deals so that theatrical distribution is no longer guaranteed.

The festival always programs a strong selection of potential documentary Oscar contenders, but while prices are bound to be more exuberant following last year’s tsunami of box office hits led by Oscar contender “Rbg” and Morgan Neville tearjerker “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” this year’s selection may not be as commercially robust.

Read...

Sundance 2019 brings tempered expectations after a quiet 2018 market, when big-spenders Netflix and Amazon withdrew from the fray. As distributors can no longer rely on output deals with Netflix, they are looking to Starz and Hulu to make up the shortfall. And with Amazon Video Direct’s Film Festival Stars program gone, there’s no artificial bottom to the market, which gives everyone more room to maneuver, but also risks leaving the least commercial indies with no distribution at all. And some companies are changing their deals so that theatrical distribution is no longer guaranteed.

The festival always programs a strong selection of potential documentary Oscar contenders, but while prices are bound to be more exuberant following last year’s tsunami of box office hits led by Oscar contender “Rbg” and Morgan Neville tearjerker “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?,” this year’s selection may not be as commercially robust.

Read...

After the release of “Boyhood,” IFC Films co-president Jonathan Sehring reached a turning point. He agreed to finance Richard Linklater’s ambitious 12-year filmmaking project in 2002, just two years after he began overseeing the independent film production label at AMC Networks. With “Boyhood” completed in 2014 and nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars the next year, Sehring began to consider a new chapter.

“I couldn’t figure out what to do that could surpass that,” Sehring said. “‘Boyhood’ was the pinnacle.” On November 28, it was announced that Sehring would depart IFC after 18 years — and a career that included more four decades at the parent company, where he also helped launch the Independent Film Channel in 1994.

Sehring’s legacy features many key moments for independent film in the 21st century. Under his guidance, the company pivoted from production to distribution; pioneered a day-and-date VOD release strategy that saved the business; and...

IFC Films could face sanctions from the MPAA due to Wednesday’s nationwide screenings of an unrated version of Lars von Trier’s art-house gorefest “The House That Jack Built,” the organization said.

“The MPAA has communicated to the distributor, IFC Films, that the screening of an unrated version of the film in such close proximity to the release of the rated version — without obtaining a waiver — is in violation of the rating system’s rules,” the MPAA said in a statement late Wednesday.

“The effectiveness of the MPAA ratings depends on our ability to maintain the trust and confidence of American parents,” the organization continued. “That’s why the rules clearly outline the proper use of the ratings. Failure to comply with the rules can create confusion among parents and undermine the rating system — and may result in the imposition of sanctions against the film’s submitter.”

Also Read: Surprise!

IFC Films co-president Jonathan Sehring is leaving the company at the end of the year.

The veteran executive announced his plans on Wednesday. He helped launch the Independent Film Channel in 1994 and create IFC Films in 1999.

IFC Films will be led by a trio of remaining IFC Films executives: Sehring’s co-president Lisa Schwartz; Arianna Bocco, the executive vice president of acquisitions and productions; and John Vanco, senior VP/general manager of the IFC Center.

Sehring noted that he has had two careers at AMC Networks, with 20 years in film and 20 years in television. AMC Networks is IFC Films’ parent company. IFC Films encompasses its sister distribution labels Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight, its production label IFC Productions, and the IFC Center.

Under Sehring’s direction, IFC Films financed Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” for 12 years, leading to six Academy Award nominations, including best picture. Other notable IFC titles include Armando Iannucci...

Capping off a four-decade career in independent film and television, Jonathan Sehring announced today he was stepping down as co-president of IFC Films, the New York City-based film production and distribution company he helped create exactly 20 years ago. According to Deadline, which broke the news, Sehring is leaving of his own accord, opting to take time for himself, but retaining the right to pursue other endeavors in the independent film space in the future.

Sehring helped launch the Independent Film Channel in 1994 and later created IFC Films, which encompasses IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight. The film distribution labels are owned and operated by AMC Networks.

“I’ve been contemplating this move for several years and on the 20th anniversary of our launching IFC Films, it just felt like the right time,” Sehring said. “I am forever grateful to Jim Dolan and Chuck Dolan, Marc Lustgarten and Josh Sapan...

IFC Films co-president Jonathan Sehring announced on Wednesday that he has decided to step down after a two decades-long career at the company.

“I’ve been contemplating this move for several years and on the 20th anniversary of our launching IFC Films, it just felt like the right time,” Sehring said in a statement. “I am forever grateful to Jim Dolan and Chuck Dolan, Marc Lustgarten and Josh Sapan for the unbelievable opportunities they afforded me since I joined the organization nearly 40 years ago. I have had two incredible careers at AMC Networks, 20 years in film and 20 years in television, and I am immensely proud of the films and television shows we produced and distributed, the brands we built, the businesses we launched and all that we have accomplished during my time with the organization.”

Sehring has been a champion of independent filmmakers, leading IFC Films in supporting a wide...

Exclusive: Marking the end of a remarkable four decade run at its parent company, IFC Films co-president Jonathan Sehring is stepping down at year end. The decision is his, and he will take some time for himself, but retains the right to do other things in the indie film space where he has been an important figure for years. The affable Long Islander helped launch the Independent Film Channel in 1994 and later created IFC Films.

Stepping up to lead IFC Films into the future is Sehring’s co-president Lisa Schwartz, Arianna Bocco, who’s currently Evp Acquisitions and Productions, and John Vanco, who will continue in his role as Senior Vice President/General Manager of the IFC Center. The company encompasses IFC Films, Sundance Selects and IFC Midnight, the multi-platform film distribution labels owned and operated by AMC Networks.

“I’ve been contemplating this move for several years and on...

Longtime IFC Films co-president Jonathan Sehring will exit the top post at the end of the year, the company announced Wednesday.

“If there’s a Hall of Fame for independent film, a big name on that list would be Jonathan Sehring. He is one of a handful of people who ushered in and breathed life into what we now commonly call ‘independent film,’ one of the great American art forms of our time,” said Josh Sapan, CEO of AMC Networks, IFC Films’ parent company.

IFC Films is one of the last remaining New York-based indie film ...

Longtime IFC Films co-president Jonathan Sehring will exit the top post at the end of the year, the company announced Wednesday.

“If there’s a Hall of Fame for independent film, a big name on that list would be Jonathan Sehring. He is one of a handful of people who ushered in and breathed life into what we now commonly call ‘independent film,’ one of the great American art forms of our time,” said Josh Sapan, CEO of AMC Networks, IFC Films’ parent company.

IFC Films is one of the last remaining New York-based indie film ...

’I’ve been contemplating this move for several years and on the 20th anniversary of IFC Films, it just felt like the right time.’

Independent film stalwart and IFC Films co-president Jonathan Sehring, who was part of the team that pioneered the day-and-date distribution model and championed numerous auteur-driven gems throughout his career, will leave IFC Films at the end of the year, the company said on Wednesday (28).

Sehring, one of the most urbane and knowledgeable executives in the business, has led IFC Films for two decades, in which time he has built a world-class home for auteur filmmaking whose...

IFC Films announced on Wednesday that it has acquired the U.S. rights to British writer-director Michael Winterbottom’s “The Wedding Guest,” starring Dev Patel.

The thriller follows a mysterious British man (Patel) who leaves London for Pakistan. He arrives at a Punjabi village, where the locals are getting ready for a lavish wedding, arranged by the bride’s rich, respectable family while she was in Britain. The man tells the villagers that he is a friend of the family, but this isn’t true. The man has a lot of secrets.

Radhika Apte and Jim Sarbh also star in the film.

Also Read: Dev Patel and 'The Wedding Guest' Co-Star Radhika Apte Feel Fortunate for Diversity Shift in Hollywood (Video)

“We are thrilled to be teaming up with [director Michael Winterbottom] again, as this marks our tenth film together over the last decade. After working with him most recently on the comedic series ‘The Trip,...

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions retains worldwide rights excluding the Us.

IFC Films has picked up Us rights to The Wedding Guest starring Dev Patel following its recent world premiere at Tiff.

Michael Winterbottom reunites with the distributor on the drama about a British man who sets off to the wedding of a rich family’s daughter in Pakistan armed with fake ID’s and a gun. Radhika Apte and Jim Sarbh also star.

Melissa Parmenter, Winterbottom, Deepak Nayar, Nik Bower and Patel produced, and Peter Touche and Andrea Scarso served as executive producers.

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions’ Stage 6 Films, Riverstone Pictures...

IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to Michael Winterbottom’s thriller “The Wedding Guest” with Dev Patel.

The movie, which had its world premiere at Toronto in the Special Presentations section, stars Patel as a mysterious British man who leaves London and embarks on a journey across Pakistan and India with fake ID cards. He arrives at a lavish wedding, pretending to be a friend of the family, but this isn’t true. The man has a gun and a job to do; he also has a lot of secrets, and so does the bride. Patel stars opposite Radhika Apte and Jim Sarbh.

This marks the 10th collaboration between IFC Films/Sundance Selects and Winterbottom who last worked together on the director’s hit series “The Trip” with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon.

“After working with him most recently on the comedic series ‘The Trip,’ we’re looking forward...

The opening weekend of Jonah Hill’s feature directorial debut Mid90s has given distributor A24 two of the year’s three best opening-frame per-theater averages to date. Fresh off premiere screenings at the Toronto and New York film festivals, the coming-of-age pic grossed $249,500 during the weekend for a robust $62,375 per-screen average to lead a full slate of specialty fare.

Also debuting this weekend was Fox Searchlight’s Can You Ever Forgive Me?, starring Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant, which started its box office run by taking in $150,000 in five locations. Wildlife, from director and co-writer Paul Dano and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan, opened $105,614 in four locations, averaging $26,403.

A24 said Mid90s, starring Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges and Katherine Waterston in Hill’s homage to his growing up in 1990s Los Angeles, will add more runs next weekend after the strong opening. It was 2018’s third-best per-screen...

Independent handles international sales.

IFC Films has picked up Us rights to the Patricia Clarkson detective noir Out Of Blue following its recent world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival.

Carol Morley wrote and directed the Martin Amis adaptation about a New Orleans homicide detective who investigates the shooting of leading astrophysicist and black hole expert in a case that shakes her view of the universe and herself.

Rounding out the key cast are Mamie Gummer, Jacki Weaver, James Caan, and Toby Jones. Independent handles international sales. IFC FIlms plans a 2019 theatrical release.

Luc Roeg, Cairo Cannon, and Maggie Monteith produced.