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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This year’s edition marks the first time Buff will take place outside of London after relocating to Leeds and Halifax

The British Urban Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for the 18th edition featuring the world premieres of Jordon Scott Kennedy’s Suicide Kelly and Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stepanian’s Tour De Moon.

Kennedy’s debut feature follows a disgraced former boxer who reconnects with his estranged grandson while Hayoun-Stepanian’s documentary explores an annual UK festival which celebrates plurality, countercultures and nightlife.

Other titles include Andy Mundy-Castle’s documentary White Nanny Black Child which first premiered at Sheffield DocFest...

The anti-apartheid South African drama premiered 35 years ago at Cannes.

Film Movement has acquired all rights for North America to the digital restoration of Oliver Schmitz’s 1988 anti-apartheid drama Mapantsula, currently celebrating the 35th anniversary of its world premiere at that year’s Cannes festival.

The company plans a theatrical release late this year under its Film Movement Classics banner, followed by a wide release on home entertainment and digital platforms.

Mapantsula - which examines racial discrimination and resistance to the then South African regime through the story of a ‘mapantsula,’ or petty gangster, arrested by police during a demonstration...

New titles include ‘Seven Winters In Tehran’, ‘Lonely Oaks’.

The Berlinale has unveiled the programme for the Perspektive Deutches Kino strand at its 2023 festival, with 16 films of which seven are feature world premieres.

The section will open with the world premiere of Steffi Niederzoll’s feature debut documentary Seven Winters In Tehran, analysing the case of Reyhaneh Jabbari, a female student in Iran who was hanged for murder having acted in self-defence against her rapist.

Scroll down for the Perspektive Deutches Kino features list

Titles also include Engin Kundag’s debut feature Ararat, in which a woman causes a traffic accident in Berlin,...

The Berlin Film Festival has revealed a raft of titles across strands and also 33 film projects vying for coin at the coproduction market.

Selections for the topical Perspektive Deutsches Kino strand from emerging German talent include “Seven Winters in Tehran” by Steffi Niederzoll, “Elaha” by Milena Aboyan, “Ararat” by Engin Kundag, “The Kidnapping of the Bride” by Sophia Mocorrea, Fabian Stumm’s “Bones and Names,” “Long Long Kiss” by Lukas Röder, Tanja Egen’s “On Mothers and Daughters,” “Ash Wednesday,” by João Pedro Prado and Bárbara Santos, “Nuclear Nomads” by Kilian Armando Friedrich and Tizian Stromp Zargari and “Lonely Oaks” by Fabiana Fragale, Kilian Kuhlendahl and Jens Mühlhoff.

All the selected films in the strand will compete for the Heiner Carow Prize and the Compass-Perspektive-Award, both of which are endowed with €5,000.

A 4K restoration of David Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch” will open the Berlinale Classics section, which also includes Oliver Schmitz’ “Mapantsula,...

The Berlin Film Festival today unveiled the titles selected for its retrospective section chosen by a collection of international directors and actors, including Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Nadine Labaki, and Tilda Swinton.

This year the theme of the retrospective sidebar is “Coming of Age at the Movies,” and each invited artist was tasked with submitting their personal favorite film that either deals with “being young and growing up” or had a “decisive role in the evolution or development” of their own artistic practice. The retrospective section will also exclusively screen films that have been newly restored.

The full list of invited artists includes Maren Ade, Pedro Almodóvar, Wes Anderson, Juliette Binoche, Lav Diaz, Alice Diop, Ava DuVernay, Nora Fingscheidt, Luca Guadagnino, Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, Ethan Hawke, Karoline Herfurth, Niki Karimi, Nadine Labaki, Nadav Lapid, Sergei Loznitsa, Mohammad Rasoulof, Céline Sciamma, Martin Scorsese, Aparna Sen, M. Night Shyamalan, Carla Simón, Abderrahmane Sissako,...

India’s Oscar entry is screening from Jan 27, 3pm UK time.

Screen International has partnered with film market platform Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.

This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.

The upcoming screenings are listed below, with more titles set to be added during this year’s awards season.

The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available for 24 hours after the start time.

Click here to RSVP or fill out the form below

For more...

India’s Oscar entry is screening from Jan 27, 3pm UK time.

Screen International has partnered with film market platform Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.

This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.

The upcoming screenings are listed below, with more titles set to be added during this year’s awards season.

The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available for 24 hours after the start time.

Click here to RSVP or fill out the form below

For more...

Nigeria’s Oscar entry is screening from Jan 22, 3pm UK time.

Screen International has partnered with film market platform Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.

This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.

The first screenings in the programme are the Oscar entries for India (Jallikattu); Latvia (Blizzard Of Souls); Nigeria (The Milkmaid); and South Africa (Toorbos). More titles will be added during this year’s awards season.

The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available for 24 hours after the start time.

The first titles are the Oscar entries for India, Latvia, Nigeria, and South Africa.

Screen International has partnered with film market Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.

This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.

The first screenings in the programme are the Oscar entries for India (Jallikattu); Latvia (Blizzard Of Souls); Nigeria (The Milkmaid); and South Africa (Toorbos). More titles will be added during this year’s awards season.

The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available...

Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

Scroll down for the full list

The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September.

South African producers have struck a string of international co-production deals in recent months that are poised to push scripted drama series from the Rainbow Nation onto the global stage.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity to take African stories to the world,” says Yolisa Phahle, CEO for general entertainment at the MultiChoice Group, which includes pay-tv heavyweight DStv and the M-Net group of channels. “It’s all about finding the biggest, best and leading producers of drama in the world to help us distribute our stories.”

MultiChoice is planning to develop three to four scripted drama series with international partners per year. In development are “Trackers,” a six-part TV adaptation of the novel by bestselling South African author Deon Meyer, which is being produced with German broadcaster Zdf; and “Reyka,” a crime series it’s producing with the U.K.’s Serena Cullen Prods. and Emmy-nominated South African production company Quizzical Pictures,...

For the second straight year, a record eight African films were submitted to the Academy for consideration, vying for a chance to bring home just the third statue for the continent in the nearly 50 years since Costa-Gavras won for the Algerian-French political thriller “Z.”

This year’s submissions aren’t likely to get the buzz of 2017 hopefuls “Felicité,” which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize in Berlin for Franco-Senegalese helmer Alain Gomis, or fest darling “The Wound,” by South Africa’s John Trengove. Both were shortlisted for the Oscar but failed to make the final cut.

Related Content Critical Analysis: Prior Nominees Canada and Australia

Even as recent years have showcased a wealth of burgeoning talent in sub-Saharan Africa, moviemaking on the continent remains a challenge, and few countries find the resources to produce Oscar-worthy candidates year after year. Tellingly, it took funding from five countries to power “Felicité...

Nabbing a third place Panorama Audience Award prize at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, it might not have been enough to put Oliver Schmitz‘s “Shepherds and Butchers” on the lips of cinephiles, but it’s definitely enough to warrant some attention. And while the movie is still making its way through the festival circuit, a […]

The post Steve Coogan Defends A Killer In New Trailer For ‘Shepherds And Butchers’ With Andrea Riseborough appeared first on The Playlist.

Full programme revealed for this year’s East End Film Festival.

Hellboy star Ron Perlman and Suffragette director Sarah Gavron have joined the jury of the 15th East End Film Festival (June 23 – July 3).

It marks a return to the East End for Us star Perlman, who attended Eeff in 2014 when Dermaphoria - in which he starred - opened the festival.

Ivy director Tolga Karaçelik, who won best feature at last year’s festival, returns as the 2016 director in residence and jury chair alongside Perlman and Gavron.

Also awarding the Best Feature prize will be film writer and producer Kaleem Aftab and Bangladeshi film-maker Mostofa Sarwar (Television).

This year’s country focus will be Turkey, with screenings including the UK premiere of Emin Alper’s Turkey-France-Qatar co-pro Frenzy.

Opening film

The festival will open with the world premiere of Ian Bonhote’s Alleycats, with a cast that includes Screen Stars of Tomorrow Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark) and Sam Keeley ([link...

Israeli directors win both top awards; runners-up include Steve Coogan’s Shepherds And Butchers and Madonna dancer documentary Strike A Pose.Scroll down for full list of winners

At the Berlinale, the 18th Panorama Audience Awards are to be presented to Junction 48 by Udi Aloni for best fiction film and Who’s Gonna Love Me Now? by Tomer and Barak Heymann for best documentary. Both films were made by Israeli directors.

Aloni has presented all of his films at the festival since 2003 and Junction 48 marked his sixth production to premiere in the Panorama section.

It is his first feature since Art/Violence, which premiered at the festival in 2013 and won the Cinema Fairbindet Prize.

Junction 48 follows two young hip-hop artists who use their music to battle the oppression they encounter in Israeli society. Israeli-American director Oren Moverman (Rampart, The Messenger) co-wrote the screenplay with Tamer Nafar. Sales are handled by The Match Factory.

Documentary...

South Africa’s record on executions is put in the dock by Steve Coogan in this forthright Berlin premiere, though its courtroom clashes cannot match the chilling spectacle of the scaffold

Shepherds, because the prison guards of 1980s Pretoria feed, wash and exercise their inmates. Butchers, because then they escort them to the gallows. They march them in groups of seven to a room where they’re placed between a floor that will drop and a rope that will break them.

In 1987, 164 South Africans (the majority black) were killed in this way. One three-day stretch saw 21 people executed. All that death takes its toll. In South African director Oliver Schmitz’s drama, which is based on real events, one guard, Leon Labuschagne (Garion Dowds), is left to pay the cost. Seventeen years old, fresh on the job with no training or counselling, Leon soon becomes party to multiple executions. After enough of them he snaps,...

It’s seldom seen to step foot into the courtroom in a cinematic endeavour, without any sense of ambiguity as to whether the defendant is guilty, or not guilty. But Oliver Schmitz’s Shepherds and Butchers is a unique picture that hinges instead on the extent of the sentence, and whether or not he will be

The post Berlinale 2016: Shepherds and Butchers Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.

The lineup for the Berlinale's Panorama section is now complete. Today's additions include new work by Sérgio Andrade and Fábio Baldo, Aslı Özge, Alejandro Fernández Almendras, E J-yong, Rachid Bouchareb, Anna Muylaert, Alex Anwandter, Jordan Schiele, Ali Abbasi, Oliver Schmitz, Patric Chiha, Marcos Prado, Jan Gassmann, Sophia Luvarà, Sara Jordenö, Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan, Rob Cannan and Ross Adam, Lee Dong-ha, Fan Jian, Monika Treut—and Tomer Heymann, Barak Heymann and Alexander Bodin Saphir. The festival's 66th edition runs from February 11 through 21. » - David Hudson...

The lineup for the Berlinale's Panorama section is now complete. Today's additions include new work by Sérgio Andrade and Fábio Baldo, Aslı Özge, Alejandro Fernández Almendras, E J-yong, Rachid Bouchareb, Anna Muylaert, Alex Anwandter, Jordan Schiele, Ali Abbasi, Oliver Schmitz, Patric Chiha, Marcos Prado, Jan Gassmann, Sophia Luvarà, Sara Jordenö, Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan, Rob Cannan and Ross Adam, Lee Dong-ha, Fan Jian, Monika Treut—and Tomer Heymann, Barak Heymann and Alexander Bodin Saphir. The festival's 66th edition runs from February 11 through 21. » - David Hudson...

Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...

Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...

Berlinale Co-Production Market matches 36 new feature film projects with international co-production partners .

The 13th edition of the Berlinale Co-Production Market (Feb 14-16) has unveiled the 36 feature film projects from 29 different countries that will look to forge international co-production and financing partnerships.

Among the directors of the selected projects are Ciro Guerra, whose Embrace of the Serpent was presented as a project at a past edition of the market and is nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards.

Also included Jasmila Zbanic, winner of the Golden Bear in 2006; Irish director Mark Noonan, who presented his debut film You’re Ugly Too last year at the Berlinale in the Generation Kplus programme and is currently working on his second feature film; as well as a host of other acclaimed directors such as Diego Lerman, Oliver Schmitz, Brandon Cronenberg and Alvaro Brechner.

The latest feature from Roar Uthang, who directed...

It’s become a great breaking in the new year traditional here at Ioncinema.com. We begin our countdown to the our most anticipated foreign films (anything outside the U.S.) with our own Nicholas Bell curating the best bets for 2016. Here are the titles and filmmakers that didn’t make our final Top 100 cut, but are nonetheless “radar” worthy.

101. El Rey del Once – Daniel Burman

102. The Dancer – Stephanie Di Giusto

103. Le Cancre – Paul Vecchiali

104. While the Women are Sleeping – Wayne Wang

105. Tomorrow – Martha Pinson

106. Spring Again – Gael Morel

107. Crowhurst – Simon Rumley

108. Le Garcon – Philippe Lioret *

109. Marie and the Misfits – Sebastien Betbeder

110. Le Caravage – Alain Chevalier

111. Night Song – Raphael Nadjari

112. Réparer les vivants – Katell Quillevere *

113. Project Lazarus – Mateo Gil

114. Afterimages – Andrzej Wajda

115. Don’t Knock Twice – Caradog James

116. Detour – Christopher Smith

117. The Bride of Rip Van Winkle – Shunji Iwai

118. Three on the Road – Johnnie To

119. Le Vin et le Vent...

Exclusive: Andrea Riseborough joins Shepherds and Butchers ahead of June shoot.

Birdman star Andrea Riseborough is to star opposite Steve Coogan (Philomena) in apartheid drama Shepherds and Butchers.

WestEnd Films has launched Cannes sales on the project from Oliver Schmitz, director of 2012 Un Certain Regard entry Life, Above All, with shoot due to get underway in South Africa on June 15.

Cox’s script, adapted from the novel of the same name, sees a hotshot lawyer (Coogan) face his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men.

Anant Singh (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) and Brian Cox (Kite) produce the drama for Distant Horizon and Videovision Entertainment. Sudhir Pragjee, Sanjeev Singh and Basil Ford are executive producers.

Production design and costume design come from District 9 duo Mike Berg and Diana Cilliers, respectively.

“The film deals with the death penalty, which is a controversial issue globally and we believe...

Oliver Schmitz to direct Philomena star.

Steve Coogan (Philomena) is to star in Shepherds and Butchers, an apartheid-era drama about a jaded lawyer, who takes on a seemingly hopeless multiple murder case and uncovers scandalous shortcomings in South Africa’s capital punishment system.

The film will be directed by Oliver Schmitz, whose mother-daughter drama Life, Above All played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand in 2010.

Anant Singh’s Distant Horizon will produce Shepherds and Butchers, which is due to shoot in South Africa in June and will be sold by WestEnd at Cannes.

Singh (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) and Brian Cox (Kite) are producing for Distant Horizon and Videovision Entertainment.

Executive producers are Sudhir Pragjee, Sanjeev Singh and Basil Ford.

Singh said: “We are pleased to be working with WestEnd Films as Eve, Sharon and their team are passionate about our film. We have been friends for a long time and have acquired their films for distribution...

Exclusive: Steve Coogan (Philomena) will star in Oliver Schmitz’s Shepherds And Butchers. The film is set in South Africa as Apartheid crumbles and follows a jaded lawyer, Johan Webber (Coogan), who takes on a seemingly hopeless multiple murder case and uncovers scandalous shortcomings in South Africa's capital punishment system as he mounts a defense for a prison guard traumatized by the executions he took part in. Principal photography begins June 15th in South Africa…...

Forty Canadian and international producers will head to the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s annual International Financing Forum in Toronto.Scroll down for full list of projects

The ninth-annual International Financing Forum (Iff), a feature co-financing market for English-language projects, will run Sept 7-8 during Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14).

The two-day event includes one-on-one meetings, an industry panel discussion, roundtable meetings, a networking luncheon, and a producers’ opening night networking reception.

Iff partners include Telefilm Canada, UK Trade and Investment (Ukti), and Toronto Film Commission & Entertainment Industries.

Among this year’s international projects are:

The Lunchbox producer Guneet Monga with sci-fi drama Punha, starring Kanal Nayyar of The Big Bang Theory;

Land Ho! producers Mynette Louie and Sara Murphy reteaming with director Aaron Katz on Settlers;

former Screen International Future Leader Sol Bondy of Germany’s One Two Films with Us-based Jennifer Fox with her thriller The Tale to star Laura Dern, Ellen Burstyn and [link...

New films from Peter Webber, Pernille Fischer Christensen, Oliver Schmitz, Eran Kolirin.

A total of 39 features have been selected for Berlin’s co-production market (Feb 9-11).

Directors with work in the market include Peter Webber, Pernille Fischer Christensen, Oliver Schmitz, Eran Kolirin, Christos Georgiou, Erik Skjoldbjaerg and Nir Bergman.

All projects have 30% of their financing in place while budgets range from €700,000 to €6.5m.

This year’s Residency participants comprise Emir Baigazin, Alistair Banks Griffin, Bence Fliegauf, Sebastián Lelio, Elina Psykou and José Luis Valle. The participants will present new projects to potential partners at the co-production market.

The Talent Project Market will see ten new producers and directors primed for the international market. Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox featured last year, while Italian filmmaker Fabio Mollo’s Il Sud e Niente plays in this year’s Generation programme.

Five companies have been selected for the Company Matching programme and three more projects have been picked for the...

Above: Juan Gatti’s original Spanish poster for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, Spain).

After covering the posters for the very first and the current New York Film Festivals, I thought it might be fitting, in this last year of Richard Peña’s tenure as Program Director and Selection Committee Chairman of the festival, to gather all the posters from Peña’s very first Nyff, 24 years ago.

In the current edition of Film Comment—an essential souvenir of the history of the festival to date, complete with a list of every feature film to have played the festival in its 50 years—Gavin Smith writes that “The 25-film lineup of the 1988 Nyff was partly a reflection of the decade’s drift and uncertainty—two came from Nyff veterans (Sergei Paradjanov, Marcel Ophuls), two were post-Glasnost rediscoveries (Andrei Konchalovsky, Larissa Shepitko), and nine were bets that didn...

Titled after the snarky tune sung by Groucho Marx in the Marx Bros. film Animal Crackers, Hello I Must Be Going is the story of a 30-something woman who becomes re-dependent on her parents after the catastrophe of her divorce. Her emotional slump is changed when she starts a relationship with a young man who happens to be her father’s client’s son (played by Christopher Abbott, from “Girls”). Equally emotionally honest and sexy, the film directed by Todd Louiso and written by Sarah Koskoff proves that this memorable actress is well-deserving of more lead roles in her colorful filmography’s future.

Making her debut in 1994 opposite Kate Winslet in Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures, Lynskey has become a familiar face to both the independent and mainstream film world, appearing in movies like Up in the Air, The Informant!, Sweet Home Alabama, Away We Go, and soon The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

With a start in independent films like Nights and Weekends with “mumblecore” director Joe Swanberg, actress Greta Gerwig has recently expanded her quirky prowess to larger films, both from the independent and Hollywood scene. Recently, she played Russell Brand’s on-screen love interest in Arthur, playing the part once made famous by Liza Minnelli. Now, she’s in Damsels in Distress, the latest movie from Metropolitan and The Last Days of Disco filmmaker Whit Stillman.

In the vibrant comedy Damsels, Gerwig plays a college student named Violet, an eccentric character with an unusual circle of friends. As tap dance-loving Violet falls into a “downward spiral,” her group of friends incorporate a new student (played by Crazy Stupid Love’s Analeigh Tipton) into their deadpan world of boys, suicide prevention centers, and the “Sambola.”

I sat down with Gerwig to talk about her unique character, the difference between working on a...

★★★☆☆ Life, Above All (2010) - which has been compared to 2009's Precious - enjoyed a warm reception on the festival circuit and was met with a ten minute standing ovation on its debut at the Cannes Film Festival. In the context of the horrifying AIDS epidemic, South African director Oliver Schmitz explores the power of love and loyalty in the face of adversity.

Read more »...

Making lists is not my favorite occupation. They inevitably inspire only reader complaints. Not once have I ever heard from a reader that my list was just fine, and they liked it. Yet an annual Best Ten list is apparently a statutory obligation for movie critics.

My best guess is that between six and ten of these movies won't be familiar. Those are the most useful titles for you, instead of an ordering of movies you already know all about.

One recent year I committed the outrage of listing 20 movies in alphabetical order. What an uproar! Here are my top 20 films, in order of approximate preference.

1. "A Separation"

This Iranian film won't open in Chicago until Jan. 27. It won the Golden Bear at Berlin and was just named the year's best foreign film by the New York Film Critics Circle. It is specifically Iranian, but I believe the more specific...

Chicago – According to multiple reports from the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Oliver Schmitz’s artfully lensed, sensitively acted film received one of the warmest receptions. Set in a modern South African village, “Life, Above All” is one of several recent pictures aiming to illustrate that an HIV-positive diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. It’s a film of grand statements delivered with quiet power.

Like Ramin Bahrani, Schmitz is extraordinarily gifted at eliciting naturalistic performances from untrained actors. At the heart of “Life” is Khomotso Manyaka, a child actress devoid of any self-conscious mannerisms to indicate that she is, in fact, acting. Manyaka’s work is beautiful, but Schmitz’s direction is the key to her success. By allowing his young star to freely inhabit her character, he avoids the usual pitfalls that occur when an overly ambitious director is paired with a blank slate. Schmitz seems to know precisely...

We have an exclusive featurette for Life, Above All, which will be released in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack December 6. Click on the video player below to go behind-the-scenes with director Oliver Schmitz on this South African drama.

Click to watch Exclusive: The Community!

Just after the death of her newly-born sister, Chanda, 12 years old, learns of a rumor that spreads like wildfire through her small, dust-ridden village near Johannesburg. It destroys her family and forces her mother to flee. Sensing that the gossip stems from prejudice and superstition, Chanda leaves home and school in search of her mother and the truth. Directed by Oliver Schmitz (Paris, je t'aime) and based on the award-winning novel "Chanda's Secrets" by Allan Stratton.

Special Features:

The Making of Life, Above All

Life, Above All was released July 15th, 2011 and stars Khomotso Manyaka, Keaobaka Makanyane, Lerato Mvelase, Harriet Lenabe, Aubrey Poolo, Tinah Mnumzana,...

Met with a ten-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival two years ago, Life, Above All was South Africa’s official submission for the “Best Foreign Language” Oscar. It has since become picked up by Sony Pictures Classics (the same folks behind the record-breaking Midnight in Paris box office push), and was touted by Roger Ebert at his film festival “Ebertfest.”

The film tells the story of a young girl who is forced to carry the weight of her family when her mother runs away after rumors of AIDS in the community spread. Khomotoso Manyaka plays Chanda, the foundation that a whole community needs to understanding the destructive power of gossip, especially as it is hid amongst our own secrets.

I sat down with director Oliver Schmitz and his teenage actress Manyaka to discuss the film and its roots in restoring neo-realism cinema to South Africa.

Life, Above All...

Chicago – As long as one person is inflicted with HIV, or full-blown AIDS, the crisis will never be averted, despite less of a profile in America and Europe. Africa is still in the midst of dealing with the epidemic, and Khomotso Manyaka portrays a symbol of that struggle in the enlightening “Life, Above All.”

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Manyaka plays a 12 year old girl, forced to care for her entire family once the disease overtakes her mother. Her journey through this situation becomes a symbol for all of Africa, and the world, as rejection from friends and fellow villagers force her to expose uncover secrets in searching for the mother that is forced into exile. Manyaka’s natural performance, both innocent and strong, represents a simple plea for humanity during a moment of truth.

Manyaka is Chanda, a bright and sensible soul in the midst of lower middle class circumstances and family distress.

Chicago – The spectre of AIDS seems to have diminished, but the continent of Africa still has a huge problem fighting the disease. Director Oliver Schmitz (”Paris, Je T’Aime”) focuses his lens on this physical and cultural crisis in “Life, Above All.”

The film is a fictional story based on the novel, “Chanda’s Secret,” about a young South African girl (portrayed in the film by Khomotso Manyaka) whose mother is ostracized from their village because she contracts AIDS. Chanda is determined to find where her mother has gone, and sets out on a journey that reveals the truth of the cultural attitude toward the deathly disease.

Khomotso Manyaka as Chanda and Lerato Mvelase as Chanda’s Mother in ‘Life, Above All’

Photo credit: Sony Pictures Classic

HollywoodChicago interviewed director Oliver Schmitz and the young teenage actress who portrayed Chanda, Khomotso Manyaka, during a promotional visit for their new film.

Title: Life, Above All Director: Oliver Schmitz Starring: Khomotso Manyaka, Lerato Mvelase, Aubrey Poolo, Keaobaka Makanyane, Harriet Lenabe A debut at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and the closing night gala presentation at the recent Human Rights Watch Film Festival, Oliver Schmitz’s “Life, Above All” is a well constructed, emotionally rich, issues-oriented drama that unfolds through the perspective of a determined young South African girl. Based on Allan Stratton’s respected novel “Chanda’s Secrets”, the movie should receive modest embrace in arthouse and specialty markets drawn to foreign films, especially given the gravity and unfortunately enduring topicality of the tough circumstances with which its grown-up-too-soon protagonist grapples. In a dust-ridden village on the outskirts...

A small story is laid out in broad, biblical terms in Life, Above All, a ye-who-is-without-sin parable set in contemporary, AIDS-stricken South Africa. Director Oliver Schmitz takes great and often very photogenic pains to indict the shame and secrecy attached to the epidemic that has made South Africa the country with the highest incidence of HIV infections in the world.

Although loaded with dramatic consequence, "Life, Above All" is slight. Set in the outskirts of Johannesburg, the movie follows a young girl faced with a broken family and communal rejection. Her transition from pariah to fierce young adult energizes the story with emotional resonance, but director Oliver Schmitz pushes that effectiveness as far as it can go--and then keeps pushing, until it becomes shrill. The reason to care about "Life, ...

Some words are more taboo than the usual four-letter designations, particularly since the movies have made the latter commonplace. Think of these terms: death, died, cancer, AIDS. More often than not, a person has not died but "passed away" or "passed" or "is with Jesus" or "is an angel." Even worse, kids are sometimes told that their deceased father is "asleep." As for cancer, this term was verboten to a greater extent in the past than now. The term AIDS is not uttered in some afflicted households even today. Why? There is still the belief in the evil eye, even in developed countries like ours, that the mere mention of a term will conjure up Satan. Such is the case with Oliver Schmitz's film "Life, Above All," a generic title that would have improved had Allan Stratton's novel, "Chandra's Secrets," stuck in the cinematic version.

Title: Live, Above All Directed By: Oliver Schmitz Written By: Dennis Foon, from Allan Stratton’s novel, ‘Chandra’s Secrets’ Cast: Khomotso Manyaka, Keaobaka Makanyane, Harriet Lenabe, Lerato Mvelase, Tinah Mnumzana Screened at: Sony, NYC, 6/23/11 Opens: July 15, 2011 Some words are more taboo than the usual four-letter designations, particularly since the movies have made the latter commonplace. Think of these terms: death, died, cancer, AIDS. More often than not, a person has not died but ‘passed away’ or ‘passed’ or ‘is with Jesus’ or ‘is an angel.’ Even worse, kids are sometimes told that their deceased father is ‘asleep.’ As for cancer, this term was verboten to a greater extent...

Heartbeats (15)

(Xavier Dolan, 2010, Can) Xavier Dolan, Monia Chokri, Niels Schnieder, Anne Dorval. 101 mins.

He's young (22), talented, he directs, writes, produces and acts: don't you hate Xavier Dolan already? Those green with envy will find plenty to object to about the French-Canadian's second movie, not least the fact that it's rather good. It's a love triangle for our times: at its apex a charming Adonis who becomes the covert object of desire for two friends, a guy and a girl. Like its characters, it's not quite as sophisticated as it wants to be, but it's honest, accomplished and recklessly romantic.

The Hangover Part II (15)

(Todd Phillips, 2011, Us) Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms. 102 mins.

The location is different (Bangkok – or at least the movie version) but this sequel to the hit amnesiac prenuptial buddy comedy takes no risks with formula or cast (even Mr Chow is back). The adult humour, though,...

HeyUGuys brings you the latest in World Cinema film trailers in association with Film Dates UK.

Each week we’ll be showcasing some of most anticipated foreign releases as well as highlighting a few hidden gems which may have fallen off your radar. It’s no surprise that Hollywood has turned to World Cinema for inspiration in recent years with the number of remakes getting more and more popular.

Whilst it remains to be seen how many of these remakes go on to succeed or stay true to their original story counterparts, we decided it was high-time we turned the spotlight onto the next wave of foreign films to grace our screens.

This week we have 3 new trailers for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Angels Of Evil (Vallanzasca – Gli angeli del male) UK Cinema Release Date: Friday 27th May 2011

Synopsis: A biography of Milanese mobster Renato Vallanzasca.

Iframe Embed for Youtube...

The 2011 Human Rights Watch Film Festival Co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center

June 16-30 at the Walter Reade Theater Program of 19 Films from 12 Countries . including 17 New York Premieres

Now in its 22nd year, the 2011 Human Rights Watch Film Festival returns to New York with an extraordinary program of films set to inspire, inform and spark debate. A co-presentation of Human Rights Watch and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the festival will run from June 16 to 30 at the Film Society.s Walter Reade Theater. Nineteen of the best human rights themed films from 12 countries will be screened, 17 of them New York premieres. A majority of the filmmakers will be on hand after the screenings to discuss their films with the audience.

The Human Rights Watch Film Festival program this year is organized around four themes: Truth, Justice and Accountability; Times of Conflict and Responses to Terrorism; Human Dignity,...

Nineteen films from twelve countries make up the 2011 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, June 16-30 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.

Co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the festival is organized around four themes:

- Truth, Justice and Accountability

- Times of Conflict and Responses to Terrorism

- Human Dignity, Discrimination and Resources

- Migrants’ and Women’s Rights.

Launching on June 16 with the political thriller “The Whistleblower,” starring Rachel Weisz and David Strathairn, other special features include a centerpiece portrait of Harry Belafonte titled “Sing Your Song,” a tribute to the photographer, filmmaker and journalist, “No Boundaries: Tim Hetherington,” recently killed in Libya, and a HIV/AIDS themed drama, “Life, Above All” from South Africa will close out the festival.

Here’s the official word on the films in the program. For the complete line-up, screening and scheduling information, go to http://www.hrw.org/iff

Truth,...

Nineteen films from twelve countries make up the 2011 Human Rights Watch Film Festival, June 16-30 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.

Co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the festival is organized around four themes:

- Truth, Justice and Accountability

- Times of Conflict and Responses to Terrorism

- Human Dignity, Discrimination and Resources

- Migrants’ and Women’s Rights.

Launching on June 16 with the political thriller “The Whistleblower,” starring Rachel Weisz and David Strathairn, other special features include a centerpiece portrait of Harry Belafonte titled “Sing Your Song,” a tribute to the photographer, filmmaker and journalist, “No Boundaries: Tim Hetherington,” recently killed in Libya, and a HIV/AIDS themed drama, “Life, Above All” from South Africa will close out the festival.

Here’s the official word on the films in the program. For the complete line-up, screening and scheduling information, go to http://www.hrw.org/iff

Truth,...