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And the wins keep on coming for Neon. But also for Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, currently in exile from his home country of Iran for how he’s voiced opposition through his cinema. This includes his latest film and now Palme d’Or winner, “It Was Just an Accident,” a moral thriller that finds five dissidents debating whether or not to murder their former torturer.

In IndieWire’s review out of Cannes, David Ehrlich said of the film, “From the plot description alone, it’s obvious that ‘It Was Just an Accident’ finds Panahi working in a very different register than he had to while “banned” from making films — a period that saw his long-standing penchant for metafiction become considerably more pronounced, as he was forced to make himself the subject of iPhone/camcorder masterpieces like ‘This Is Not a Film.’ This one still had to be shot in secret...

Cannes habitués Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne debuted their latest film, Young Mothers, in Competition this afternoon, greeted by a 10.5-minute ovation.

The story follows five girls who are housed in a shelter for young mothers. The teenagers are hoping for a better life for themselves and their babies.

Marking their ninth time in Competition, the Dardenne brothers are two-time Palme d’Or winners, for 1999’s Rosetta (which also took a Best Actress prize for Emilie Dequenne who passed away earlier this year), and for 2005’s L’Enfant.

Other laurels the Belgian brothers have received on the Croisette include Best Screenplay for 2008’s Lorna’s Silence, a shared Grand Prize for 2011’s The Kid with a Bike, Best Director for Young Ahmed in 2019 and a special 75th Award for 2022’s Tori and Lokita.

Luc Dardenne told the Cannes Film Festival of Young Mothers, “We wanted to tell five stories about five young girls who,...

The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival got off to both a politically charged and Hollywood start on Tuesday evening as Robert De Niro was presented with an honorary Palme d’Or by Leonardo DiCaprio.

An impassioned De Niro used his acceptance speech to address issues he said are facing the artistic community and threatening democracy under the presidency of Donald Trump.

“In my country, we are fighting like hell for the democracy we once took for granted. That affects all of us here because the arts are democratic. Art is inclusive, it brings people together. Art embraces diversity and that’s why art is a threat, that’s why we are a threat to autocrats and fascists,” he said.

“America’s philistine president has had himself appointed head of one of our premier cultural institutions,” he continued. “He has cut funding and support to the arts, humanities and education.

Will Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardennes win their third Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival later this month? The Belgian filmmaking duo has already won the fest’s top award twice, for “Rosetta” in 1999 and “L’Enfant” in 2005. But no director has ever won it three times, and a victory for the Dardennes’ latest, “The Young Mother’s Home,” would thus cement the brothers’ already sterling Cannes reputation with unprecedented status.

Continue reading ‘The Young Mother’s Home’ Trailer: Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne Cannes Drama Gets A French Teaser at The Playlist.

Iranian directors Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghadam have received a 14-month jail sentence as well as $14,000 worth of fines related to their feature My Favourite Cake which world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2024.

The filmmaking duo and their producer and Gholamreza Mousavi have been in the crosshairs of Iran’s authoritarian Islamic Republic regime since early 2023 over the heartwarming drama about an elderly widow who reconnects with life’s small pleasures in the face of solitude.

Sanaeeha and Moghadam, who is also a Swedish national, were grounded by a travel ban prior to the film’s world premiere in Berlin and the couple have since been subjected to an Islamic Revolutionary Court investigation. In the lead-up to the court hearing in February, they also started receiving death threats.

Elements of My Favourite Cake which upset the Iranian authorities include showing the female protagonist, played by Lily Farhadpour, without...

Updated May 8: The Cannes lineup is now complete with four more additions, included below.

Updated April 23: The original April 10 Cannes announcement has been updated to reflect new additions to the lineup.

Updated 10:40 a.m. Et: Cannes has now confirmed that Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” will play out of competition at Cannes. The film was omitted from Thursday morning’s announcement, though Lee shared on Instagram afterward that “Highest 2 Lowest” would be heading to Cannes. We’ve now included the film below.

Earlier: The 2025 Cannes Film Festival lineup was revealed bright and early, starting at 5 a.m. Et on Thursday, April 10 for those following in the States. For those in France, festival director Thierry Frémaux and president Iris Knobloch unveiled this year’s crop of films from the main competition to Un Certain Regard and beyond at the more reasonable hour of 11 a.m. local time.

Ahead of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, taking place May 13 to 24, the lineup has now been unveiled. Iris Knobloch, President of the Festival de Cannes, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, have revealed the slate this morning.

Highlights include Ari Aster’s Eddington, Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, Joachim Trier’s Sentimal Value, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, Carla Simon’s Romeria, and more. In other sections we have Rebecca Zlotowski’s Vie Privée, the directorial debuts of Scarlett Johansson and Harris Dickinson, Michael Angelo Covino’s Splitsville, Sebastián Lelio’s The Wave, Sylvain Chomet’s The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, and more.

See below.

In Competition

After (Oliver Laxe)

Alpha (Julia Ducournau)

The Eagles of the Republic (Tarik Saleh)

Eddington (Ari Aster)

Dossier 137 (Dominik Moll...

Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne, known for her breakout role in Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Palme d’Or winning Rosetta, has died aged 43.

Her agent announced that she had died of a rare cancer at a hospital just outside of Paris on Sunday evening.

Dequenne, who starred in more than 50 films during her long career,won the best actress prize in Cannes for Rosetta in 1999 and has been nominated for five Cesar awards, including a win in 2021 for Emmanuel Mouret’s Love Affair(s).

She balanced commercial films with more auteur fare and worked with acclaimed filmmakers including Claude Berri,...

Émilie Dequenne, the Belgian actress best known for her award-winning role in Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s “Rosetta,” died Sunday in Paris, her family announced. She was 43.

Dequenne shared she had been diagnosed with adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare adrenal gland cancer, in October 2023.

“Rosetta” launched the actress to international acclaim after she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for the 1999 film. She continued to rack up awards for mostly French-language movies, including 2009’s “The Girl on the Train” and 2012’s “Our Children.”

Dequenne was in attendance at Cannes in 2024 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Rosetta” and to promote her movie “Survive.” In an interview with The Action Elite, Dequenne said she didn’t know she was sick when she filmed the movie.

Dequenne also said that her own experiences as a mother drew her to the movie, a dystopian drama that centers on a family. ” can’t explain,...

Émilie Dequenne, the Belgian actress who first achieved fame with her 1999 Cannes d’Or-winning, big screen debut in Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s drama Rosetta, has died at the age 43.

The actress, who revealed in October 2023 that she was battling a rare adrenal gland cancer, died in hospital on the outskirts of Paris on Sunday evening, her agent Danielle Gain announced to Afp.

Born on August 29, 1981, Dequenne studied at Belgium’s Music & Spoken Word Academy in Baudour from an early age, taking up drama there at the age of 12, alongside joining the La Relève Theater troupe.

She landed her first cinema role at age 17 in Rosetta. She clinched Best Actress at Cannes in 1999 for her performance as the titular teenager living in a caravan with an alcoholic mother in the film, which also won the Dardenne brothers their first Palme d’Or.

“It’s terrible, life is disgusting sometimes,...

Juliette Binoche, Pedro Almodóvar and Mohammad Rasoulof have joined a campaign in support of persecuted Iranian filmmakers Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha.

The wife and husband directorial duo have been in the crosshairs of Iran’s authoritarian Islamic Republic regime since 2023 over their feature film My Favourite Cake, which world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2024.

The heartwarming story of love and loss revolves around 70-year-old widow, played by Lily Farhadpour, who reconnects with life’s small pleasures in the face of solitude, following her husband’s death.

The Iranian authorities are unhappy with the film because it flies in the face of their sexist, draconian laws around what women should wear and how they should act, with the protagonist seen without a hijab head covering, sharing a drink with a suitor and dancing.

The Islamic Republic government slapped a travel ban on Moghadam and Sanaeeha, preventing any travel for the last two years,...

Support is mounting across the global film community for Iranian directing duo Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha ahead of their trial over “propaganda against the regime” allegations related to their film “My Favourite Cake.” The two are set to face Iran’s Revolutionary Court on Saturday.

Signatories include Mohammad Rasoulof — the director of the Oscar-nominated feature “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” who in May fled from Iran to avoid prosecution related to that film — as well as Pedro Almodóvar, Juliette Binoche, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Agnieszka Holland, Hiam Abbas, Isabel Coixet and the directors of the Venice, Berlin, Rotterdam and Sydney film festivals. The petition, launched by the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr), has gathered over 3,000 signatures so far.

After months of interrogations and continuous travel bans over the past two years — which prevented them from attending last year’s Berlin Film Festival, where “My Favourite Cake” bowed in...

The international film community is in uproar over the summoning of Iranian filmmakers Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha to court in their native country amid the production and distribution of their 2024 Berlin Film Festival feature My Favourite Cake.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr) has reiterated its unequivocal support for Moghadam and Sanaeeha, currently awaiting the start of their trial with Iran’s Revolutionary Court on Mar. 1.

The charges leveled against them concern the production and distribution of their My Favourite Cake, a movie about a woman in Tehran who rediscovers her desires in a country where women’s rights are heavily restricted.

Authorities first raided the offices of the film’s editor in 2023, the Icfr said, with Moghadam and Sanaeeha “under continuous scrutiny of the Iranian regime.” The Iranian government’s persecution efforts led to a travel ban for the directors, which meant they could not attend...

The Belgium submission for the 2025 Oscars blends the sports intensity of “Challengers” with the emotional weight of “She Said.”

The hauntingly titled “Julie Keeps Quiet,” which is screenwriter Leonardo Van Dijl’s directorial debut, was shot on film like fellow tennis drama “Challengers,” but the comparisons end there. Tessa Van den Broeck stars as a top player at an academy who stays silent when her older male coach is suspended amid an investigation.

The official synopsis reads: “As the star player at an elite youth tennis academy, Julie’s life revolves around the game she loves. She trains hard, pausing only for class or physical therapy before returning to the gym fixated on making it into the Belgian Tennis Federation. When her coach Jérémy is suddenly suspended following the suicide of one of his female protégées, all the players at the academy are encouraged to speak up about their experiences with him.

Film Movement has bought North American rights to Belgium Oscar entry “Julie Keeps Quiet” which is executive produced by tennis champion Naomi Osaka, and world premiered at Cannes’ Critics Week.

A feature debut directed by Leonardo Van Dijl, “Julie Keeps Quiet” went on to play Karlovy Vary and Toronto, and will next screen at the BFI London Film Festival following its Cannes bow. The movie will have its U.S. premiere at the Hamptons Film Festival.

The drama stars newcomer Tessa Van den Broeck as Julie, a young and promising tennis player who faces a dilemma when her prominent coach is suspended after the suicide of a former prodigy. Suspicions of inappropriate conduct arise and pressure starts mounting for Julie to speak up. As she refrains from sharing her experiences, her silence leaves the investigation and the coach’s future in limbo.

“Julie Keeps Quiet” is slated for a theatrical...

Leonardo Van Dijl’s Julie Keeps Quiet has been selected as Belgium’s submission for the 97th Academy Awards in the best international feature category.

Van Dijl’s feature debut premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week, winning both the Prix Sacd and the Prix Fondation Gan.

Julie Keeps Quiet is a story of a star player at an elite tennis academy. When her coach falls under investigation and is suspended, the club’s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet…

Tennis champion Naomi Osaka is executive producing the movie through her company Hana Kuma. The film...

Feature film projects from Godland filmmaker Hlynur Palmason and Small Body director Laura Samani are among 31 titles that have received a combined €8.8m in the latest session of Council of Europe co-production fund Eurimages.

Iceland’s Palmason received €500,000 for On Land And Sea. Produced by France’s Maneki Films, Denmark’s Snowglobe and Iceland’s Still Vivid, it will shoot this autumn. Set at the turn of the 19th century, the film will follow a family which transforms its house into a raft and goes looking for a new place to live.

Scroll down for the full list or projects...

Cannes Critics’ Week title Julie Keeps Quiet, directed by Belgium’s Leonardo Van Dijl, is to be released in the UK and Ireland through Curzon’s Artificial Eye distribution label.

It unfurls as an elite tennis academy star’s coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended. All of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up, but Julie decides to keep quiet.

The feature is produced by Gilles De Schryver, Gilles Coulier, Wouter Sap and Roxanne Sarkozi for De Wereldvrede (Belgium), and co-produced by Delphine Tomson, Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne for Les Films du Fleuve (Belgium), Nima Yousefi...

Tennis champion Naomi Osaka’s company Hana Kuma has boarded Leonardo Van Dijl’s debut feature “Julie Keeps Quiet” ahead of its world premiere May 18 in Cannes Critics’ Week. The film is being sold by New Europe Film Sales.

Osaka and her longtime agent and business partner Stuart Duguid are behind Hana Kuma, an Emmy Award-nominated creative house, and will serve as executive producers on the film.

“Julie Keeps Quiet” tells the story of Julie, the star player at an elite tennis academy whose life revolves around the game she loves. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet.

“I’m so excited to be joining the incredible team on this film with a subject matter that resonates so deeply with me and Hana Kuma,” said Osaka. “Leonardo is an incredible...

After a frenzied day of covert organizing and internal discussions, members of the Precarious Film Festival Workers Collective (Le Collectif des précaires des festivals de cinéma) staged an impromptu rooftop protest at Tuesday’s Cannes Film Festival opening-night gala.

Members of the group snuck onto the roof of the Palais where they dropped a sign with their motto Sous les écrans la dèche. At the same time, another group of demonstrators from the collective began a second protest on the ground. They held a sign with the same message and began chanting and blowing whistles to draw attention.

Local armed police immediately descended on the ground protesters and snatched the banner away after a brief tussle with the protestors. There were around a dozen protesters on the roof and a dozen more on the ground. You can see footage from the dramatic tug between the protesters and police below.

Cannes festival workers turned a pre-festival meet-and-greet event into a spontaneous strike rally on Sunday, applauding representatives from the Sous les écrans la dèche collective, a group that has called for a walkout by freelance workers to disrupt this year’s event.

On Sunday, May 12, festival workers were invited to meet with management for a pre-festival cocktail and informal welcome, something that happens every year before the festival kicks off.

But this time, members of the Sous les écrans distributed badges and stickers for workers to show their solidarity with the group’s demands, which include a general strike of “all employees of the Cannes Film Festival and of its sidebars” in protest of what the group terms the “precarious” position of freelancer workers at the event.

In a video sent to The Hollywood Reporter by a member of Sous les écrans, workers can be seen applauding the group’s spokesman and cheering him on.

A growing list of at least 300 international industry professionals, including John Landis, Louis Garrel, Ernest Dickerson, and Ariane Labed have lent their names to a petition in support of a planned strike action by Cannes Film Festival workers during this year’s edition.

The petition was launched this week by the Precarious Film Festival Workers Collective (Le Collectif des précaires des festivals de cinéma), the unofficial workers union behind the strike action. The names of signatories had initially been kept private but the group made them public this afternoon on their official website.

Other signatories on the petition include Thomas Hakim, the producer behind 2024 Cannes competition title All We Imagine As Light, Belgian filmmaker and two-time Palme d’Or winner Jean-Pierre Dardenne, and veteran French cinematographer Agnès Godard.

The extent of the petition comes as we revealed this morning that France’s main union for people employed in the entertainment...

Mubi’s May 2024 (streaming) lineup embraces their latest (theatrical) coup with a Radu Jude program. In addition to Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World arriving May 3, the Romanian director is highlighted with a six-film program launching on May 10. Lee Chang-dong and Bertrand Bonello are each given two-title highlights. While most of us can’t be at Cannes (I guess that’s a pun), the festival’s greatest tradition, booing, is celebrated with Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, and Olivier Dahan’s Grace of Monaco. Among new releases, Al Warren’s Dogleg and the Ross brothers’ Gasoline Rainbow are notable selections.

As Lee Chang-dong recently told us in an extended interview, “Experiences in my life are what shaped me as a filmmaker, as obvious as that sounds. My artistic taste was shaped by the mountains and fields of my childhood village,...

Jour2Fete has acquired French distribution rights to Cannes Critics’ Week title Julie Keeps Quiet.

The debut feature of Belgian director Leonardo Van Dijl, Julie Keeps Quiet is set in an elite tennis academy. When an investigation into her tennis coach ignites and he is suspended, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up but star player Julie chooses to keep quiet - leaving the investigation and the coach’s future in doubt. Van Dijl’s short film Stephanie played in Cannes, San Sebastian and TIFF in 2020 and was set in the world of gymnastics.

International sales for...

French actress Emmanuelle Béart and Belgian-Congolese director/songwriter Baloji will co-preside over the Caméra d’Or jury of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

The Caméra d’Or is awarded to the best first feature film in Cannes’ Official Selection, or in the parallel Critics Week or Directors’ Fortnight sections.

Béart’s long list of credits include 8 Women (2002), Mission: Impossible (1996), Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995), Heart In Winter (1992), La Belle Noiseuse (1991) and Manon Des Sources (1986).

Baloji won the New Voice Prize in Un Certain Regard last year for his debut feature Omen.

This year’s Caméra d’Or jury includes director of photography Gilles Porte,...

Belgian rapper and filmmaker Baloji and French film actress Emmanuelle Béart have been announced as co-presidents of the Cannes Film Festival’s Caméra d’Or jury for the upcoming 77th edition, running from May 14 to 25.

The award for the best first film is open to all the debut feature films presented in Official Selection and the parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.

The Caméra d’Or Jury has been co-chaired three times before: by actress Françoise Fabian and director Daniel Schmid in 1996, by Marthe Keller and Géraldine Chaplin in 2002, and by brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne in 2006.

Announcing the pair today, the festival described Baloji and Béart as “free spirits with no limits, who rely on their art to achieve creative freedom.” Baloji is best known for his directorial debut Omen, which debuted at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it picked up the New Voice Prize in Un Certain Regard.

Following up her Best Picture-nominated Past Lives, Celine Song has officially unveiled her next feature. Starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal, The Materialists is a romantic comedy that follows “a professional matchmaker who gets involved with a wealthy man but still harbors feelings for the broke actor-waiter she left behind,” Deadline reports. Once again backed by A24, producers Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler of Killer Films, and 2Am’s David Hinojosa, the project is aiming to start shooting this spring, so expect a 2025 release.

Also on the 2025 release calendar is likely Kogonada’s third feature following Columbus and After Yang. Reteaming with Colin Farrell with Margot Robbie also starring, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is said to be an “imaginative tale of two strangers and the unbelievable journey that connects them,” Deadline reports. With production beginning this spring in California, it’ll be Robbie’s second project after Barbie,...

If the shooting schedule remains intact, we can circle a 2025 Cannes Film Festival playdate for the next Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne film project and quite possibly a 2025 Lido premiere for Laura Wandel‘s sophomore project — which could logically be L’intérêt d’Adam – a project that was workshopped at the 44th Cannes Residence. Both of these films would be housed by the Dardenne’s les Films du Fleuve prod company label.

For the Dardennes, casting is currently underway for what is tentatively August to October 2024 shoot. No word on the title, synopsis or location, but we imagine this will be shot in their own backyard and tonally will once again fall under the social realism umbrella.…...

llker Çatak, the director of Germany’s Oscar shortlisted The Teachers’ Lounge with Anne-Katrin Titze on Wim Wenders, the director of Japan’s Oscar shortlisted Perfect Days: “Wim is such a nice guy! He’s not my competitor, he’s one of my teachers.”

Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed), Laurent Cantet’s The Class (Entre Les Murs), Stéphane Brizé’s The Measure Of A Man, starring the unforgettable Vincent Lindon, and Gus Van Sant’s Elephant are four of the films that inspired llker Çatak’s outstanding The Teachers’ Lounge. Shot by Judith Kaufmann, edited by Gesa Jäger (Jakob Lass’s Love Steaks with Lana Cooper and Franz Rogowski; Anna Winger's Transatlantic and Maria Schrader's Unorthodox series with Shira Haas), stars a terrific Leonie Benesch (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon).

Ms Nowak (Leonie Benesch) in the classroom with her students...

Fien Troch’s “Holly,” which world premieres in competition at the Venice Film Festival, has debuted its trailer. MK2 is handling world sales. Troch’s previous film, “Home,” won the Horizons best director award at Venice.

“Holly” follows 15-year-old Holly, who calls her school to say she is staying home for the day. Soon after, a fire breaks out at the school, killing several students. With everyone touched by the tragedy, the community comes together, trying to heal.

Anna, a teacher, intrigued by Holly and her strange premonition, invites her to join the volunteering group she runs. Holly’s presence seems to bring peace of mind, warmth and hope to those she encounters. But soon, people begin to seek out Holly and her cathartic energy, demanding more and more from the girl.

Troch admits that there is something of herself in Holly. “Yes, like her, I am very receptive to other people’s emotions,...

Oliver Stone said Friday he was shocked to hear that the stars of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer had walked out of its London premiere the day before as SAG-AFTRA officially declared strike action.

“I know several producers are opening movies, like Oppenheimer. Chuck Roven, he was in London. I heard it was going to be cancelled,” said Stone, when asked for his view on the strike.

“I don’t know if it went ahead but all the actors left. That was shocking that they really meant business and cut off right away all the promotion, which is big.”

Commenting on the ongoing 11-week WGA strike, Stone suggested the roots of the current industrial action lie in the deal brokered to end the five-month writers strike in 1988.

“There was a basic miscarriage of justice way back when, when Brian Walton was the head of the WGA, when we gave in. I...

Helen Mirren dedicated a Jerusalem Film Festival life-time achievement award to actors around the world on Thursday, just an hour before a looming SAG-AFTRA strike was made official.

The actress received the honorary prize ahead of the Israeli premiere of Guy Nattiv’s Golda as the festival’s opening film, in which she stars as iconic late stateswoman Golda Meir.

“I would just like to say, I am a member of a tribe and members of my tribe can be found in Germany, in Belgium, America… they are Palestinians, they are Israelis, they are Africans,” she told the 6,000-strong crowd at the outdoor opening ceremony in the shadow of Jerusalem’s Old City walls.

“They are the tribe to whom I really want to dedicate this award and that is the tribe of actors. Actors are wonderful people.”

Mirren gave a special mention to the Israeli cast members on...

Pier-Philippe Chevigny with Anne-Katrin Titze on Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne: “They are my true heroes and Abbas Kiarostami.” And on Jayro Bustamante: “He has a production company in Guatemala City and they actually held auditions for us.”

Ariane (Ariane Castellanos) sees a crying man on a bus and is told by Michèle (Eve Duranceau) to take care of it. So starts Pier-Philippe Chevigny’s gripping Richelieu. Ariane is beginning her new job as an interpreter of French and Spanish and is traveling to a corn facility in the Richelieu region of Quebec with migrant workers on board. Upon arrival she is greeted by her boss Stéphane (Marc-André Grondin) and is told that “any fool” could do her job.

Stéphane (Marc-André Grondin) confronts Ariane (Ariane Castellanos) Photo: Gabriel Brault Tardif

The work environment is abominable. Steadily, the minutiae of injustice mounts. The seasonal workers cannot join the union but have to pay dues.

No matter what Belgian filmmaking duo Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, aka the Dardenne brothers, ever do, they will always be known as members of a very elite super club: two-time Palme d’Or winners at Cannes.

While their latest film, “Tori and Lokita” did not win the Palme d’Or prize last year, it competed at Cannes, which is pretty much the case any time the Dardennes ever deign us with a new film—it’s an instant Cannes competition title which is nothing to sneeze at.

Continue reading ‘Tori And Lokita’ Clip: Martin Scorsese Calls The Dardenne’s Latest Drama The “Most Devastating Cinematic Experiences” at The Playlist.

For decades, Belgian duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have been directing movies that get inside the challenges of their protagonists. Their trademark handheld camerawork and naturalistic dramas often have a strong sociopolitical perspective, from working-class problems to immigration struggles. Their acclaimed work has yielded countless prizes, including two Palme d’Ors and other awards from Cannes, where they regularly premiere their work.

At last year’s festival, they won a special 75th anniversary prize for “Tori and Lokita,” and it’s easy to see why: The Dardennes embody the kind of the consistency of auteur filmmakers embraced by the festival and cinephiles worldwide.

“Tori and Lokita” follows a pair of young African migrants (Pablo Schils and Joely Mbundu) posing as siblings in Belgian while dealing with the older of the pair’s challenge getting residency papers. In the process, they wind up with criminals on their trail searching for money related to a drug deal.

To cinéastes fixated on tabulating statistics like sports fanatics, the Dardennes often come up as examples of unerring consistency, like a player with an impeccable xG rate in soccer: for their nine appearances in the official competition at Cannes, they’ve left with seven major awards, including two Palme d’Ors. And although it could be said they’re not currently in the finest fettle of their career, generations of filmmakers working in a realist vein still bear their influence: watch several films in a row at any big festival, especially from newer directors, and it’s ever-apparent this is Jean-Pierre and Luc’s world, and we’re only living in it.

Tori and Lokita, now beginning its US rollout, shows their dramatic and narrative gifts very much in evidence, maintaining their appeal to audiences otherwise unconcerned with the latest developments in world cinema. When I saw the film at Cannes myself,...

European Film Promotion Unveils 2023 European Shooting Stars

Belgian actress Joely Mbundu, co-star of Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Cannes 2022 feature Tori And Lokita, is among the eight rising talents selected for the 2023 edition of European Film Promotion’s European Shooting Stars initiative. The selection also includes Italy’s Benedetta Porcaroli, seen recently in Venice Horizons 2022 title Amanda, and Norway’s Kristine Kujath Thorp, who previously made her mark in Fanny, The Burning Sea and Ninjababy, and also won praise for her performance in Cannes Certain Regard 2022 selection Sick of Myself. The other spotlighted titles comprise Alina Tomnikov (Finland), Leonie Benesch (Germany), Yannick Jozefzoon (The Netherlands), Judith State(Romania), Gizem Erdogan (Sweden) and Kayije Kagame (Switzerland) Thorvaldur Kristjansson (Iceland). This year’s talents were selected by an eight-person jury featuring Polish director Jan Komasa, Dutch casting director Rebecca van Unen and Norwegian producer Maria Ekerhovd. The eight talents will participate in...

European Film Promotion, which represents film organizations in 37 countries, has revealed the up-and-coming acting talent who have been selected for the next edition of European Shooting Stars. They will be introduced to the international press, film industry and the audience during the 73rd Berlin Film Festival.

The four-day tailormade promotion and networking program, running Feb. 17-20, culminates with a celebration of the talent at an awards ceremony at the Berlinale Palast.

The European Shooting Stars 2023 — which includes eight women and two men — were selected from a pool of 27 nominees by an international jury, comprised of Polish director Jan Komasa, Dutch casting director Rebecca van Unen, Norwegian producer Maria Ekerhovd, former Spanish Shooting Star Veronica Echegui, and Variety’s international features editor Leo Barraclough from the U.K.. These five experts recognized the talents’ potential for an international career based on several factors, including their stellar work in feature films and drama series,...

IFFKAs part of the International Film Festival of Kerala, films from across the world will be screened simultaneously on fourteen screens in Thiruvananthapuram from December 9 to 16.Don PalatharaA still from the Lav Diaz film 'When The Waves are Gone'The International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) is a mammoth event, not only in terms of the number of attendees, but also the number of films screened there each year. Films from across the world will be screened simultaneously on fourteen screens in Kerala’s capital city of Thiruvananthapuram for six days, excluding the opening and closing days. The 27th edition of the festival, scheduled to be held from December 9 to 16, is special to me for several reasons. Even though I am attending the festival with a professional obligation, many of the films being screened this time are from filmmakers whose works I admire and look up to. By now, I have...

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The Kyle Marvin-directed 80 for Brady — a Paramount Pictures comedy starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field and produced by NFL superstar Tom Brady — will touch down in Palm Springs on Jan. 6.

The film has been selected to open the 34th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival by making its world premiere at the Richards Center for the Arts. The film’s stars and director are expected to attend the opening night festivities. Inspired by a true story, it follows four best friends who take a wild trip to the 2017 Super Bowl Li to see their hero, Brady, play in the big game. In addition to making his producing debut, Brady appears in the film, which is scheduled to hit theaters Feb. 3.

The fest will close with The Lost King on Jan. 15. The Warner Bros. Pictures film stars Sally Hawkins,...

Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Sally Field star in ’80 For Brady’ from Paramount Pictures.

The world premiere of 80 for Brady starring Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno, and Lily Tomlin will open the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Festival on Friday, January 6, 2023, and The Lost King from director Stephen Frears will close the festival on Sunday, January 15th. In between, Psiff will screen 132 films including the world premiere of the documentary Shot in the Arm.

“We are beyond excited to welcome back our beloved audience and filmmakers in Palm Springs. We’re especially thrilled to be joined by all four leads of 80 For Brady. The film is brimming with joy and heart, and it’s a perfect film to kick off our 34th edition,” said Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez. “Our programmers have dedicated almost a year to scouting the world for the films that make up this edition.

IFFKSix of the legendary filmmaker’s films, known for their philosophical approach towards humanity’s problems, will be screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk).Tnm StaffImage credit/ BollywoodirectLegendary Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr, often referred to as one of the greatest innovators in world cinema, will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) this year. The award comprises a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh and a sculpture, Kerala Cultural Affairs Minister Vn Vasavan said at a press conference on Tuesday, November 29. Six of the auteur’s films, generally known for their philosophical approach towards humanity’s problems, will be screened at the festival. Some of Tarr’s best films including The Turin Horse (2011) and Werckmeister Harmonies (2000) are among the films set to be screened, the minister said. The 27th Iffk, organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy,...

It is fair to assume Criterion could plunder the world of licensed film to build an ultimate noir playlist; credit, then, for focusing sharp and nabbing deep cuts. The Criterion Channel’s November / Noirvember program will be headlined by “Fox Noir,” an eight-title program with Otto Preminger deep cut Fallen Angel, three by Henry Hathaway, Siodmak, Dassin, Kazan, and Robert Wise, and while retrospectives of Veronica Lake and John Garfield will bring some canon into the fold, I’m mostly thinking about that potential for discovery.

Following “Free Jazz,” Bob Hoskins, and Joyce Chopra programs, the other big series is a 30-year survey of Sony Pictures Classics: Sally Potter, Satoshi Kon, Panahi, Errol Morris, Almodóvar, Haneke, Mike Leigh, just a murderer’s row. Streaming premieres include 499 and A Night of Knowing Nothing, two recent epitomes of I Wish I Had Seen That; Criterion Editions comprise Cure, Brazil, Sullivan’s Travels,...

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Laura Mora’s Columbian drama The Kings of the World has won the Golden Shell for best film at the 2022 San Sebastián film festival, Spain’s premiere film fest. Mora’s sophomore feature follows five young men growing up on the streets of Medellín who set off on a journey in search of the promised land.

Best director went to Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura for dementia-focused drama Hyakka, his feature debut. Kawamura is best known as the producer of such hit Japanese animated features as Your Name (2016) and Weathering With You (2019).

Marian Mathias’ drama Runner, the story of an 18-year-old girl who decides to fulfill her dead father’s last wish to be buried in his hometown along the Mississippi, won the festival’s special jury prize.

The Silver Shell for best performance went, jointly, to Paul Kircher for his performance in Christophe Honoré...

The US festival runs from September 2-5,

Telluride Film Festival (Tff) has unveiled the programme for its 49th edition, with the US festival running from tomorrow (September 2) to September 5.

Ahead of its play at Toronto and BFI London Film Festival, Sam Mendes’ Empire Of Light will world premiere. Set in an English seaside town during the 1980s, the film follows a love story and an old cinema. Olivia Colman and Colin Firth star, alongside Screen Star of Tomorrow 2020 Micheal Ward, Toby Jones, Tanya Moodie, Tom Brooke and Crystal Clarke. It is produced by Mendes and Pippa Harris’ Neal Street Productions in association with Searchlight.

As customary, Telluride Film Festival has unveiled its lineup on the eve of its kickoff. For its 49th edition, taking place from September 2-5, the festival features new work by James Gray, Luca Guadagnino, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Hlynur Pálmason, Todd Field, the Dardennes, Sarah Polley, Mia Hansen-Løve, Werner Herzog, and more, as well as a robust section of classics and filmmaker-related docs.

The 49th Telluride Film Festival is proud to present the following new feature films to play in its main program, the Show:

• Armageddon Time (d. James Gray, U.S., 2022) In person: James Gray, Jeremy Strong, Anne Hathaway

• Bardo, False Chronicle Of A Handful Of Truths (d. Alejandro González Iñárritu, Mexico-u.S., 2022) In person: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid, Íker Sánchez Solano

• Bobi Wine, Ghetto President (d. Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo, Uganda-u.K., 2022) In person: Christopher Sharp, Moses Bwayo, Bobi Wine, Barbie Kyagulanyi

• Bones And All (d.

The world premieres of Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light,” Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” and Sebastian Lelio’s “The Wonder” will take place at the 2022 Telluride Film Festival, which announced its lineup on Thursday, one day before the festival begins.

Other notable films in the Telluride lineup include Alejandro G. Inarritu’s “Bardo,” Luca Guadagnino’s “Bones and All,” Todd Field’s “TÁR” and James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” which are making their North American debuts after premiering at European festivals.

Among the documentaries heading to Telluride, premieres are Steve James’ “A Compassionate Spy,” Anton Corbijn’s “Squaring the Circle,” Ryan White’s “Good Night Oppy,” Mary McCartney’s “If These Walls Could Sing” and Eva Webber’s “Merkel.”

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TIFF 2022 Lineup: Films From Tyler Perry, Peter Farrelly, Sam Mendes and Catherine Hardwicke to Premiere

Documentary director and film historian Mark Cousins will have two films at the festival,...

The first 30 titles in the running for the EFAs have been announced.

The first 30 titles in the running for the 2022 European Film Awards have been revealed with a second wave of titles due to be announced in September.

Scroll down for first selection of films

The titles include Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness, Carla Simón’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Alcarras and Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-winner Belfast. Also selected is Colm Bairéad’s The Quiet Girl, which is Ireland’s submission for the best international feature Oscar.

Further Cannes award winners to make the first...

Deauville Unveils American Indie-Focused Competition Selection

Nick Richey’s coming-of-age drama 1-800-hot-nite, Sophia Silver’s pre-teen friendship tale Over/Under and Jamie Sisley’s Berlinale 2022 selection Stay Awake, about siblings growing up with a prescription drug-dependent mother, are among the 12 features selected for the main competition of the Deauville American Film Festival (September 2-11). “Ever since 1995, the year when the festival became a competition, it has been our ambition to showcase the best of American independent cinema,” said festival director Bruno Barde. Further titles in competition include Riley Stearns’ Dual, John Patton Ford’s Emily The Criminal, Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s Montana Story, Jamie Dack’s Palm Trees And Powerlines, Tyler Riggs’s Peace In The Valley, Vivian Kerr’s Scrap, Chloe Okune’s [/link]Watcher and Gina Gammell and Riley Keough’s War Pony which world premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard this year. Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska...

International competition titles include ‘Broker’ and ‘Decision To Leave’ from South Korea.

Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff) has revealed the line-up of international competition titles for its 39th edition, which includes several award-winners from this year’s Cannes.

Ten features will compete in the international competition of Jff, which is set to host its 39th edition from July 21-31.

These include Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker and Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave from South Korea, which respectively picked up best actor for Song Kang-ho and best director for Park. Also selected is Abi Abbasi’s Holy Spider, which saw Zar Amir-Ebrahimi pick up best actress,...