With more and more films crossing borders and getting viewed in countries miles away from the land it was made, the idea that only a certain kind of film is made in a particular country and is thematically, aesthetically, and stylistically unique to that particular land is challenged in today’s highly connected world. These films from foreign lands not only affect how people watch or consume cinema but also how people make films.
Although such cinematic trade and influences had always been a part of any country’s cinema culture, earlier it was films only by certain masters of ‘world’ cinema that became easily available to watch, courtesy of film societies and film clubs. This, however, was limited only to connoisseurs of cinema who had access to such societies and clubs. This has changed with the advent of, firstly, the internet and various legal (and illegal) ways of accessing films,...
Although such cinematic trade and influences had always been a part of any country’s cinema culture, earlier it was films only by certain masters of ‘world’ cinema that became easily available to watch, courtesy of film societies and film clubs. This, however, was limited only to connoisseurs of cinema who had access to such societies and clubs. This has changed with the advent of, firstly, the internet and various legal (and illegal) ways of accessing films,...
- 7/17/2025
- by Anand Subhash Borse
- High on Films
“Hell is waiting for you. I’ll be your nightmare forever,” Yoshii (Masaki Suda) is told at gunpoint in one of the most thrilling sequences of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s career in “Cloud.”
It’s a line, though, that could apply across the Japanese filmmaker’s work, whether the specters in the machine stalking a post-Y2K digital realm in “Pulse” or the elusive serial killer who seems to operate by hypnosis in “Cure,” one of the very best horror movies ever made.
“Cloud” is Kurosawa’s first movie to weld his techno anxieties to a Western framework, as his movie about a sociopath-adjacent internet reseller and hoarder culminates in what I wouldn’t quite call a glorious shootout, but certainly the grandest action set piece yet from the filmmaker. “Cloud” is out in U.S. theaters from Sideshow/Janus Films on July 18, and IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer below.
Suda,...
It’s a line, though, that could apply across the Japanese filmmaker’s work, whether the specters in the machine stalking a post-Y2K digital realm in “Pulse” or the elusive serial killer who seems to operate by hypnosis in “Cure,” one of the very best horror movies ever made.
“Cloud” is Kurosawa’s first movie to weld his techno anxieties to a Western framework, as his movie about a sociopath-adjacent internet reseller and hoarder culminates in what I wouldn’t quite call a glorious shootout, but certainly the grandest action set piece yet from the filmmaker. “Cloud” is out in U.S. theaters from Sideshow/Janus Films on July 18, and IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer below.
Suda,...
- 7/1/2025
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Janus Films has picked up the North American rights to Sergei Loznitsa’s Cannes competition drama Two Prosecutors.
The Ukrainian director’s Soviet-era thriller set during Stalin’s Great Purge in 1937 earned the François Chalais Prize in Cannes. Two Prosecutors centers on a law school grad who tries as a young prosecutor takes on corruption in the Soviet system and winds up facing the consequences.
The drama is based on the novella by Soviet scientist and political prisoner Georgy Demidov and stars Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Alexander Filippenko, Anatoli Beliy, Andris Keišs and Vytautas Kaniušonis.
“Impeccably directed and impressively acted, this slow-burn story of political injustice is filled to the brim with atmosphere — specifically the stifling, claustrophobic atmosphere of the U.S.S.R. at the height of Stalin’s Great Purge,” The Hollywood Reporter film critic Jordan Mintzer said of the historical drama in his Cannes festival review.
Director Loznitsa in...
The Ukrainian director’s Soviet-era thriller set during Stalin’s Great Purge in 1937 earned the François Chalais Prize in Cannes. Two Prosecutors centers on a law school grad who tries as a young prosecutor takes on corruption in the Soviet system and winds up facing the consequences.
The drama is based on the novella by Soviet scientist and political prisoner Georgy Demidov and stars Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Alexander Filippenko, Anatoli Beliy, Andris Keišs and Vytautas Kaniušonis.
“Impeccably directed and impressively acted, this slow-burn story of political injustice is filled to the brim with atmosphere — specifically the stifling, claustrophobic atmosphere of the U.S.S.R. at the height of Stalin’s Great Purge,” The Hollywood Reporter film critic Jordan Mintzer said of the historical drama in his Cannes festival review.
Director Loznitsa in...
- 6/24/2025
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Cannes Film Festival is over, and while the Marché Du Film is as booming as ever with exciting packages of future films, the main action has been for those films playing in competition, all of which could make a big splash at the box office or the awards season race for the right buyer. Last year’s “The Substance” was acquired by Mubi before it landed a Best Picture Oscar nomination and made $77.3 million worldwide.
Here are the 13 films we predicted ahead of the festival could find homes quickly, several of which already have. We’ll update the below list with all the acquisitions as they come in.
“Two Prosecutors”
Section: Competition
Distributor: Janus Films
Director: Sergei Loznitsa
Buzz: In the return to fiction filmmaking for the first time since 2018 from the “Donbass” and “The Invasion” director, Sergei Loznitsa adapted a suppressed novella set during Stalin’s Great Purge...
Here are the 13 films we predicted ahead of the festival could find homes quickly, several of which already have. We’ll update the below list with all the acquisitions as they come in.
“Two Prosecutors”
Section: Competition
Distributor: Janus Films
Director: Sergei Loznitsa
Buzz: In the return to fiction filmmaking for the first time since 2018 from the “Donbass” and “The Invasion” director, Sergei Loznitsa adapted a suppressed novella set during Stalin’s Great Purge...
- 6/24/2025
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
It seems that the spirit of Lav Diaz‘s filmmaking is still going strong in the Philippines (even if this film is actually an Italian production), and who better to channel it once more than one of his former assistants? Liryc Dela Cruz, who worked with the master of long and slow cinema in “Norte, the End of History” and “Prologue to the Great Desaparecido”, now presents his own vision. Interestingly, Dela Cruz keeps his work at just 65 minutes. “Where the Night Stands Still” is currently screening in Shanghai.
Far removed from the American Dream, the Filipino dream, particularly for those working abroad as domestic helpers, often culminates in being included in an employer’s will, one of the few paths to upward mobility. This is exactly what Lila achieves after working for over three decades in Italy: she inherits the very home she once maintained, a grand, decaying manor...
Far removed from the American Dream, the Filipino dream, particularly for those working abroad as domestic helpers, often culminates in being included in an employer’s will, one of the few paths to upward mobility. This is exactly what Lila achieves after working for over three decades in Italy: she inherits the very home she once maintained, a grand, decaying manor...
- 6/21/2025
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Prime Cruz’s supernatural horror feature “The Sacrifice” has wrapped principal photography in the Philippines and revealed its complete cast lineup.
The production has unveiled the full cast joining acclaimed filmmaker Lav Diaz in a rare acting appearance. Leading the ensemble are Lovi Poe, Enchong Dee and Timothy Granaderos.
The newly revealed supporting cast includes Max Collins, Louie Chapman, Pokwang, and Tommy Alejandrino.
The film, scripted by Jerrold Tarog, follows a group of vloggers who venture into a remote Philippine village in search of a mysterious substance harvested only once a decade. Their content-driven expedition transforms into a nightmare as they become entangled in sacred rites and face off against an ancient entity from Filipino folklore.
Cruz previously helmed “Sleepless” and “The Other Wife.”
Montgomery Blencowe and Mark Stewart (“Escape Plan”) are producing under C’est Lovi Productions and Kind Hearts Entertainment, with Cmb Film Services also on board. Jaime G. Baltazar...
The production has unveiled the full cast joining acclaimed filmmaker Lav Diaz in a rare acting appearance. Leading the ensemble are Lovi Poe, Enchong Dee and Timothy Granaderos.
The newly revealed supporting cast includes Max Collins, Louie Chapman, Pokwang, and Tommy Alejandrino.
The film, scripted by Jerrold Tarog, follows a group of vloggers who venture into a remote Philippine village in search of a mysterious substance harvested only once a decade. Their content-driven expedition transforms into a nightmare as they become entangled in sacred rites and face off against an ancient entity from Filipino folklore.
Cruz previously helmed “Sleepless” and “The Other Wife.”
Montgomery Blencowe and Mark Stewart (“Escape Plan”) are producing under C’est Lovi Productions and Kind Hearts Entertainment, with Cmb Film Services also on board. Jaime G. Baltazar...
- 6/18/2025
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Films by Richard Linklater, Oliver Laxe and Joachim Trier are among 53 titles selected by the Munich International Film Festival for its four main competition strands CineMasters, CineVision, CineRebels and CineCoPro.Munich runs from June 27 to July 6.
CineMasters
Oliver Laxe’s Sirat will be joined by another two Cannes 2025 Official Competition titles - Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague and Mascha Schilinski’s award-winning Sound Of Falling - to screen in the CineMasters competition for the €15,000 CineMasters Award. The prize is being sponsored for the first time this year by Dorint Hotels & Resorts and is presented to the director of the best international film.
CineMasters
Oliver Laxe’s Sirat will be joined by another two Cannes 2025 Official Competition titles - Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague and Mascha Schilinski’s award-winning Sound Of Falling - to screen in the CineMasters competition for the €15,000 CineMasters Award. The prize is being sponsored for the first time this year by Dorint Hotels & Resorts and is presented to the director of the best international film.
- 6/17/2025
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Le Pacte has closed several deals for Left-Handed Girl, Shih-Ching Tsou’s Taiwanese drama that premiered in Critics’ Week at Cannes and is produced by Anora director Sean Baker.
The film has been acquired for Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Spain (Avalon), Benelux (September Film), Japan (Starcat), South Korea (The Coup Distribution), Poland (So Films), Scandinavia (Selmer Media), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), Greece (Cinobo) and Israel (New Cinema).
It follows a deal announced yesterday with Netflix, which scooped up rights for most of the world including North America and the UK.
‘Left-Handed Girl’ review
The story follows...
The film has been acquired for Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Spain (Avalon), Benelux (September Film), Japan (Starcat), South Korea (The Coup Distribution), Poland (So Films), Scandinavia (Selmer Media), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), Greece (Cinobo) and Israel (New Cinema).
It follows a deal announced yesterday with Netflix, which scooped up rights for most of the world including North America and the UK.
‘Left-Handed Girl’ review
The story follows...
- 6/4/2025
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Le Pacte has closed several deals for Left-Handed Girl, Shih-Ching Tsou’s Taiwanese drama that premiered in Critics’ Week at Cannes and is produced by Anora director Sean Baker.
The film has been acquired for Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Spain (Avalon), Benelux (September Film), Japan (Starcat), South Korea (The Coup Distribution), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Poland (So Films), Scandinavia (Selmer Media), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), Greece (Cinobo), and Israel (New Cinema).
It follows a deal announced yesterday with Netflix, which scooped up rights for most of the world including North America and the UK.
‘Left-Handed Girl...
The film has been acquired for Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Spain (Avalon), Benelux (September Film), Japan (Starcat), South Korea (The Coup Distribution), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Poland (So Films), Scandinavia (Selmer Media), Hong Kong (Golden Scene), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), Greece (Cinobo), and Israel (New Cinema).
It follows a deal announced yesterday with Netflix, which scooped up rights for most of the world including North America and the UK.
‘Left-Handed Girl...
- 6/4/2025
- ScreenDaily
Janus Films has acquired another movie from the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, this time in Lav Diaz’s historical drama “Magellan.”
The film stars Gael García Bernal as the Portuguese explorer and premiered out of competition last month.
“We are thrilled that Lav Diaz’s work will reach a wider North American audience than ever before through his mesmerizing ‘Magellan,’ a unique collaboration between the modern master of Filipino filmmaking and one of the finest, most soulful actors of his generation,” Janus Films shared in a Tuesday statement. “A vivid slice of vital history rendered on a grand scale, ‘Magellan’ is visually ravishing and profoundly moving.”
Janus Films negotiated the deal with Luxbox. “Magellan” was produced by Portugal’s Rosa Filmes and co-produced by Spain’s Andergraun Films and El Viaje Filmes, the Philippines’ Black Cap Pictures and Ten17P, France’s Lib Films and AKP21 and Taiwan’s Volos Films.
“It...
The film stars Gael García Bernal as the Portuguese explorer and premiered out of competition last month.
“We are thrilled that Lav Diaz’s work will reach a wider North American audience than ever before through his mesmerizing ‘Magellan,’ a unique collaboration between the modern master of Filipino filmmaking and one of the finest, most soulful actors of his generation,” Janus Films shared in a Tuesday statement. “A vivid slice of vital history rendered on a grand scale, ‘Magellan’ is visually ravishing and profoundly moving.”
Janus Films negotiated the deal with Luxbox. “Magellan” was produced by Portugal’s Rosa Filmes and co-produced by Spain’s Andergraun Films and El Viaje Filmes, the Philippines’ Black Cap Pictures and Ten17P, France’s Lib Films and AKP21 and Taiwan’s Volos Films.
“It...
- 6/3/2025
- by JD Knapp
- The Wrap
Janus Films has picked up all North American rights to Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz’s historical drama Magellan that just screened in Cannes Premiere.
‘Magellan’ review
Gael García Bernal stars as the 16th century eponymous Portuguese explorer who upon reaching the Malayan Archipelago becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, triggering violent uprisings.
Magellan marks the first feature in colour from Diaz since 2013 Un Certain Regard Award selection Norte, The End Of History. His credits include 2014 Locarno Golden Leopard winner From What Is Before and 2016 Venice Golden Lion winner The Woman Who Left.
Portugal’s Rosa Filmes produced Magellan, while Andergraun Films...
‘Magellan’ review
Gael García Bernal stars as the 16th century eponymous Portuguese explorer who upon reaching the Malayan Archipelago becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, triggering violent uprisings.
Magellan marks the first feature in colour from Diaz since 2013 Un Certain Regard Award selection Norte, The End Of History. His credits include 2014 Locarno Golden Leopard winner From What Is Before and 2016 Venice Golden Lion winner The Woman Who Left.
Portugal’s Rosa Filmes produced Magellan, while Andergraun Films...
- 6/3/2025
- ScreenDaily
by Jean-Marc Thérouanne
The Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema salutes fraternally the great Iranian director Jafar Panahi, whose film «un simple accident» won the prestigious Palme d’or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. This well-deserved award crowns a humanist thriller that poses the serious question of the possibility of the pardon of the oppressed towards his executioner to achieve national reconciliation, on condition of repentance of the latter.
Jafar Panahi is a giant of the world cinema, multi-award-winning author of eleven feature films and seven shorts. He was president of the jury at the 10th Fica Vesoul 2004.
“Simple accident” also wins the citizenship award.
With Shu Qi, main actress in « Résurrection » by Bi Gan (Crédit photo J-m Thérouanne)
The Vesoul Iff Asian Cinema also extends its warm congratulations to Chinese director Bi Gan for the Special Prize of the Cannes 2025 jury, awarded to his film «Résurrection». After...
The Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema salutes fraternally the great Iranian director Jafar Panahi, whose film «un simple accident» won the prestigious Palme d’or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. This well-deserved award crowns a humanist thriller that poses the serious question of the possibility of the pardon of the oppressed towards his executioner to achieve national reconciliation, on condition of repentance of the latter.
Jafar Panahi is a giant of the world cinema, multi-award-winning author of eleven feature films and seven shorts. He was president of the jury at the 10th Fica Vesoul 2004.
“Simple accident” also wins the citizenship award.
With Shu Qi, main actress in « Résurrection » by Bi Gan (Crédit photo J-m Thérouanne)
The Vesoul Iff Asian Cinema also extends its warm congratulations to Chinese director Bi Gan for the Special Prize of the Cannes 2025 jury, awarded to his film «Résurrection». After...
- 5/31/2025
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
By the standards of Filipino formalist and running-time maximalist Lav Diaz, his latest opus “Magellan” qualifies as a veritable blockbuster. A grand-scale historical biopic on a universally known figure, headlined by an international star in Gael García Bernal, it’s Diaz’s first feature since his 2013 breakout “Norte, the End of History” to be shot in color, and one of his shortest to boot: just 160 minutes, no sweat for faithful Lav-ers who sat through the 10-hour-plus “Evolution of a Filipino Family” and other Diaz megamovies. “Accessible” is a relative term when it comes to this most simultaneously expansive and ascetic of filmmakers, but this is as close as it gets.
Which is to say that while “Magellan” reps Diaz’s best shot at general arthouse distribution in some time, it’s no artistic compromise. The spirit of slow cinema is alive and languid in this stunningly mounted, politically rigorous work,...
Which is to say that while “Magellan” reps Diaz’s best shot at general arthouse distribution in some time, it’s no artistic compromise. The spirit of slow cinema is alive and languid in this stunningly mounted, politically rigorous work,...
- 5/28/2025
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Lav Diaz to Direct ‘An Amazon’ With Sine Olivia Pilipinas and Silverbelt Films Producing (Exclusive)
Filipino director Lav Diaz is in pre-production with “An Amazon,” following the world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival of “Magellan,” starring Gael Garcia Bernal.
The project will be shot in Diaz’s native Philippines. Diaz’ Sine Olivia Pilipinas will produce the film with the French production company Silverbelt Films, founded by Pierre-Yves Bezat, who previously worked at Films Boutique.
The new film is based on a little known short story written by Alexandre Dumas. It will be the first film that Diaz will make in English, and will include some internationally well-known actors among its cast.
“An Amazon” is the story of a young man who meets a mysterious and masked woman during a ball. She refuses to disclose her identity, and swears to kill him if he reveals their affair.
Bezat said: “For ‘An Amazon,’ Lav Diaz was extremely inspired since our very first discussions around this deep and unknown story by Dumas,...
The project will be shot in Diaz’s native Philippines. Diaz’ Sine Olivia Pilipinas will produce the film with the French production company Silverbelt Films, founded by Pierre-Yves Bezat, who previously worked at Films Boutique.
The new film is based on a little known short story written by Alexandre Dumas. It will be the first film that Diaz will make in English, and will include some internationally well-known actors among its cast.
“An Amazon” is the story of a young man who meets a mysterious and masked woman during a ball. She refuses to disclose her identity, and swears to kill him if he reveals their affair.
Bezat said: “For ‘An Amazon,’ Lav Diaz was extremely inspired since our very first discussions around this deep and unknown story by Dumas,...
- 5/28/2025
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
If “Gael Garcia Bernal as Magellan” sounds to you like a pretty cool Netflix series, you have never seen a film by Filipino auteur and slow-cinema master Lav Diaz. Known on the international festival circuit for his epically minimalist features with bladder-busting running times, his movies are challenging, high-art dramas made for a very select few — the opposite of the flashy, Adhd-friendly content found on streamers.
Premiering in Cannes, where Diaz’s most awarded film, Norte, the End of History, played in Un Certain Regard back in 2013, Magellan (Magalhães) is not for the impatient viewer who likes their explorer stories action-packed and easy to digest.
And yet this exquisitely crafted feature may be one of the director’s most accessible works to date. It clocks in at only 160 minutes (Diaz’s films often run twice that long, if not more), but, more importantly, provides an honest glimpse at a figure...
Premiering in Cannes, where Diaz’s most awarded film, Norte, the End of History, played in Un Certain Regard back in 2013, Magellan (Magalhães) is not for the impatient viewer who likes their explorer stories action-packed and easy to digest.
And yet this exquisitely crafted feature may be one of the director’s most accessible works to date. It clocks in at only 160 minutes (Diaz’s films often run twice that long, if not more), but, more importantly, provides an honest glimpse at a figure...
- 5/24/2025
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lav Diaz’s Magellan unfolds across 156 brooding minutes in a classic 4:3 frame, a chamber for souls and corpses alike. Here, Gael García Bernal embodies the infamous Portuguese navigator with a haunted restraint, his beard and bearing betraying the toll of obsession.
Opposite him, Ângela Azevedo’s Beatriz drifts through the periphery—her silent resilience a counterpoint to Magellan’s fevered purpose. Set against the humid jungles and windswept coasts of early 16th-century Southeast Asia, the film charts two great voyages: Magellan’s campaign in Malacca and his Spanish-backed quest for the Spice Islands, ending in the Philippines.
Diaz’s pacing is deliberate, each long take lingering on aftermath rather than spectacle, while bursts of tighter editing snap us from ritual chants to the washed-up bodies of a nameless battle. This is a film about ambition’s hunger—and the human toll left in its wake.
Currents of Time
Time...
Opposite him, Ângela Azevedo’s Beatriz drifts through the periphery—her silent resilience a counterpoint to Magellan’s fevered purpose. Set against the humid jungles and windswept coasts of early 16th-century Southeast Asia, the film charts two great voyages: Magellan’s campaign in Malacca and his Spanish-backed quest for the Spice Islands, ending in the Philippines.
Diaz’s pacing is deliberate, each long take lingering on aftermath rather than spectacle, while bursts of tighter editing snap us from ritual chants to the washed-up bodies of a nameless battle. This is a film about ambition’s hunger—and the human toll left in its wake.
Currents of Time
Time...
- 5/19/2025
- by Naser Nahandian
- Gazettely
Despite our best efforts to go into a film completely blind, sometimes we’ll catch online chatter or a snippet of a promotional interview that inevitably colors something about our first viewing of an anticipated movie. It could be gossip about stars not getting along that might affect your perception of their onscreen rapport, or the knowledge that a director was replaced by someone else partway into production due to creative differences.
In the arthouse world, a perhaps surprising example of game-changing pre-release context has emerged with Filipino independent filmmaker Lav Diaz and his latest movie, “Magellan.” But befitting the man behind several of the longest narrative films on record (e.g. “Evolution of a Filipino Family”), the bombshell in question is that “Magellan” — one of his shortest features of late at 160-ish minutes — was apparently intended to be nine hours in length. And that a nine-hour version may still be on the way,...
In the arthouse world, a perhaps surprising example of game-changing pre-release context has emerged with Filipino independent filmmaker Lav Diaz and his latest movie, “Magellan.” But befitting the man behind several of the longest narrative films on record (e.g. “Evolution of a Filipino Family”), the bombshell in question is that “Magellan” — one of his shortest features of late at 160-ish minutes — was apparently intended to be nine hours in length. And that a nine-hour version may still be on the way,...
- 5/18/2025
- by Josh Slater-Williams
- Indiewire
Ferdinand Magellan was never regarded as a great man of history, and Lav Diaz’s surprisingly conventional––if still hypnotically paced––biopic uses genre structure to act as a further repudiation of his legacy. Born out of a long-in-the-works project focused on Magellan’s wife Beatriz, Magellan now functions as an unusual companion-of-sorts: a work you couldn’t mistake for that of any other filmmaker, but one that feels incomplete by definition, frequently making big temporal leaps in a manner that feels at odds with the more cautiously paced work we’ve come to expect from Diaz. At my pre-Cannes screening, the film’s PR representative remarked that every time they showed a work-in-progress cut, it wildly fluctuated in length compared to the last, and the film’s final, Croisette-bound form still has a shadow cast over it by the reported nine-hour, black-and-white film from Beatriz’s perspective which was shot in tandem.
- 5/18/2025
- by Alistair Ryder
- The Film Stage
The first official image has been unveiled of acclaimed Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz in “The Sacrifice,” a psychological horror film currently in production in the Philippines.
The award-winning director has intermittently stepped in front of the camera before. The newly released still offers a glimpse of Diaz as Pilo, a quiet and enigmatic jungle guide who leads a group of vloggers deep into remote terrain steeped in ritual and folklore.
Known for directing international festival favorites like “Norte, the End of History” and “The Woman Who Left” — which won the Golden Lion at Venice in 2016 — Diaz now opens up about his character in the upcoming thriller.
“I love the character. He’s a conflicted person — he paints a picture of the type of person we see every day. The greatest struggle in life is how to be a good human being, and I think Pilo embodies that conflict,” Diaz says.
The award-winning director has intermittently stepped in front of the camera before. The newly released still offers a glimpse of Diaz as Pilo, a quiet and enigmatic jungle guide who leads a group of vloggers deep into remote terrain steeped in ritual and folklore.
Known for directing international festival favorites like “Norte, the End of History” and “The Woman Who Left” — which won the Golden Lion at Venice in 2016 — Diaz now opens up about his character in the upcoming thriller.
“I love the character. He’s a conflicted person — he paints a picture of the type of person we see every day. The greatest struggle in life is how to be a good human being, and I think Pilo embodies that conflict,” Diaz says.
- 5/18/2025
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Catalonia will cast a large shadow over this year’s Cannes. Here’s a look at its titles in the festival and accompanying Marché du Film.
Cannes Festival
“Magellan,” Lav Díaz
Screening in Cannes Premiere, Gael Garcia Bernal-starrer “Magalhães” is a historical epic about the life and voyages of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The film is a collaboration among multiple production companies, including the Catalan-based Andergraun Films, and showcases Lav Díaz’s distinct, slow-cinema style in tackling historical material.
Sales: Luxbox
“Romería,” Carla Simón (Spain)
Part of Berlin Golden Bear-winner Simón’s autobiographical trilogy, “Romería” follows Marina, a young woman adopted at a young age, who travels to Vigo to meet her biological father’s family for the first time. The film continues the deeply personal storytelling tradition that won Simón international acclaim with “Alcarràs” and “Summer 1993.”
Sales: MK2
“Sirat,” Oliver Laxe
After his Cannes Un Certain...
Cannes Festival
“Magellan,” Lav Díaz
Screening in Cannes Premiere, Gael Garcia Bernal-starrer “Magalhães” is a historical epic about the life and voyages of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. The film is a collaboration among multiple production companies, including the Catalan-based Andergraun Films, and showcases Lav Díaz’s distinct, slow-cinema style in tackling historical material.
Sales: Luxbox
“Romería,” Carla Simón (Spain)
Part of Berlin Golden Bear-winner Simón’s autobiographical trilogy, “Romería” follows Marina, a young woman adopted at a young age, who travels to Vigo to meet her biological father’s family for the first time. The film continues the deeply personal storytelling tradition that won Simón international acclaim with “Alcarràs” and “Summer 1993.”
Sales: MK2
“Sirat,” Oliver Laxe
After his Cannes Un Certain...
- 5/15/2025
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Triple Palme d’Or nominated French filmmaker Bertrand Bonello whose latest daring work “The Beast” was one of the hottest titles in the 2023 Venice competition, will be the guest of honor at the second Ecam Forum co-production platform, which will unspool over June 10-13 in Madrid.
On the heels of U.S. indie producer Ted Hope who kicked off Ecam Forum’s masterclass sessions with standout industry voices in 2024, Bonello will discuss his visionary work on June 12 at the Cineteca Madrid. Concurrently, the screening of three of his defining works –Cannes official entries “Tiresia” (2003), “House of Tolerance” (2011) and Directors’ Fortnight’s “Zombi Child” (2019) – will serve as entry points to his cinematic journey.
The Bonello tribute is organized by Ecam Forum – the new industry event spearheaded by Madrid’s prestigious film school Ecam – together with Cineteca Madrid and Filmadrid Festival, in conjunction with collection agent Dama and the Institut Français in Spain.
On the heels of U.S. indie producer Ted Hope who kicked off Ecam Forum’s masterclass sessions with standout industry voices in 2024, Bonello will discuss his visionary work on June 12 at the Cineteca Madrid. Concurrently, the screening of three of his defining works –Cannes official entries “Tiresia” (2003), “House of Tolerance” (2011) and Directors’ Fortnight’s “Zombi Child” (2019) – will serve as entry points to his cinematic journey.
The Bonello tribute is organized by Ecam Forum – the new industry event spearheaded by Madrid’s prestigious film school Ecam – together with Cineteca Madrid and Filmadrid Festival, in conjunction with collection agent Dama and the Institut Français in Spain.
- 5/12/2025
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Sales agency Luxbox has closed a distribution deal for France with Nour Films on Lav Diaz’s “Magellan,” starring Gael García Bernal, which has its world premiere in the Cannes Premiere section of the Cannes Film Festival.
The film, set in the 16th century, follows Magellan, a young and ambitious Portuguese navigator. He rebels against the power of the King of Portugal, who doesn’t support his dream of discovering the world, and persuades the Spanish monarchy to fund his bold expedition to the fabled lands of the East.
The voyage is exhausting beyond expectations, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to their limits. Upon reaching the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, Magellan’s mind changes. He becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, which sparks violent uprisings beyond his control.
The Nour Films team said in a joint statement: “With rare evocative power, ‘Magellan’ stands out as a new masterpiece by Lav Diaz.
The film, set in the 16th century, follows Magellan, a young and ambitious Portuguese navigator. He rebels against the power of the King of Portugal, who doesn’t support his dream of discovering the world, and persuades the Spanish monarchy to fund his bold expedition to the fabled lands of the East.
The voyage is exhausting beyond expectations, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to their limits. Upon reaching the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, Magellan’s mind changes. He becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, which sparks violent uprisings beyond his control.
The Nour Films team said in a joint statement: “With rare evocative power, ‘Magellan’ stands out as a new masterpiece by Lav Diaz.
- 5/9/2025
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Sales agency Luxbox has come on board Lav Diaz’s historical drama “Magellan,” which stars Gael García Bernal. The film will have its world premiere in Cannes Film Festival’s Premiere section.
Diaz’s previous films include “The Woman Who Left,” which won Venice’s Golden Lion in 2016, and “From What Is Before,” which won Locarno’s Golden Leopard in 2014.
The film, set in the 16th century, follows Magellan, a young and ambitious Portuguese navigator. He rebels against the power of the King of Portugal, who doesn’t support his dream of discovering the world, and persuades the Spanish monarchy to fund his bold expedition to the fabled lands of the East.
The voyage is exhausting beyond expectations, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to their limits. Upon reaching the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, Magellan’s mind changes. He becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, which sparks violent uprisings beyond his control.
Diaz’s previous films include “The Woman Who Left,” which won Venice’s Golden Lion in 2016, and “From What Is Before,” which won Locarno’s Golden Leopard in 2014.
The film, set in the 16th century, follows Magellan, a young and ambitious Portuguese navigator. He rebels against the power of the King of Portugal, who doesn’t support his dream of discovering the world, and persuades the Spanish monarchy to fund his bold expedition to the fabled lands of the East.
The voyage is exhausting beyond expectations, with hunger and mutiny pushing the crew to their limits. Upon reaching the islands of the Malayan Archipelago, Magellan’s mind changes. He becomes obsessed with conquest and conversion, which sparks violent uprisings beyond his control.
- 4/24/2025
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Gold Derby's top news stories for April 23, 2025.
Die, My Love and The Chronology of Water added to Cannes lineup
The Cannes Film Festival announced several additions to its 2025 lineup, including Lynne Ramsay's psychological thriller Die, My Love starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, which will screen in competition, and Kristen Stewart's feature directorial debut, biographical drama The Chronology of Water, which will premiere as part of Un Certain Regard.
Other additions include Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t in the midnights section; Saeed Roustaee’s Mother and Child in competition; Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Love Me Tender, Simón Mesa Soto’s Un Poeta and Pedro Pinho’s O Riso E A Faca (Le Rire et le Couteau) in Un Certain Regard; Kōji Fukada’s Renai Saiban, Hlynur Pálmason’s Ástin Sem Eftir Er, Lav Diaz’s Magalhães in premiere; and Vincent Maël Cardona’s Le Roi Soleil in midnights.
Die, My Love and The Chronology of Water added to Cannes lineup
The Cannes Film Festival announced several additions to its 2025 lineup, including Lynne Ramsay's psychological thriller Die, My Love starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, which will screen in competition, and Kristen Stewart's feature directorial debut, biographical drama The Chronology of Water, which will premiere as part of Un Certain Regard.
Other additions include Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t in the midnights section; Saeed Roustaee’s Mother and Child in competition; Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Love Me Tender, Simón Mesa Soto’s Un Poeta and Pedro Pinho’s O Riso E A Faca (Le Rire et le Couteau) in Un Certain Regard; Kōji Fukada’s Renai Saiban, Hlynur Pálmason’s Ástin Sem Eftir Er, Lav Diaz’s Magalhães in premiere; and Vincent Maël Cardona’s Le Roi Soleil in midnights.
- 4/23/2025
- by Liam Mathews
- Gold Derby
This year’s Cannes Film Festival lineup just got a little splashier.
Kristen Stewart’s long-awaited directorial debut The Chronology of Water and the Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson-starring Die, My Love from director Lynne Ramsay have been added to the schedule. Stewart’s film, which stars Imogen Poots, will screen in the fest’s Un Certain Regard section while Die, My Love will be in the fest’s competition section.
Also joining the competition section is Woman and Child, the latest title from Iranian director Saeed Roustaee. The filmmaker previously competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2022 fest with his film Leila’s Brothers. Elsewhere, Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t! will premiere in the fest’s Midnight section. The road trip movie stars Aubrey Plaza, Margaret Qualley and Chris Evans.
The latest title joins an already announced line-up that includes films from Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson, Julie Ducournau and Spike Lee.
Kristen Stewart’s long-awaited directorial debut The Chronology of Water and the Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson-starring Die, My Love from director Lynne Ramsay have been added to the schedule. Stewart’s film, which stars Imogen Poots, will screen in the fest’s Un Certain Regard section while Die, My Love will be in the fest’s competition section.
Also joining the competition section is Woman and Child, the latest title from Iranian director Saeed Roustaee. The filmmaker previously competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2022 fest with his film Leila’s Brothers. Elsewhere, Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t! will premiere in the fest’s Midnight section. The road trip movie stars Aubrey Plaza, Margaret Qualley and Chris Evans.
The latest title joins an already announced line-up that includes films from Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson, Julie Ducournau and Spike Lee.
- 4/23/2025
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As is tradition, the Cannes Film Festival has announced late-breaking additions to its 2025 festival lineup, with new films coming from Lynne Ramsay, and Saeed Roustayi.
The 78th edition will now include Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, in the competition. All the Scottish director’s previous films have premiered at Cannes; the dark martial comedy/horror is her first film since 2017’s “You Were Never Really Here” won the Cannes Best Screenplay prize. Here, Jennifer Lawrence plays a wife unraveling in the country, and married to Pattinson’s character. Lakeith Stanfield, Nick Nolte, and Sissy Spacek also star in this adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel. Ramsay wrote the script with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch.
The film made it into Cannes just in time as hoped, and this means we’ll be seeing Lawrence and Pattinson standing in front of glittering flash bulbs on the Palais red carpet.
The 78th edition will now include Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, in the competition. All the Scottish director’s previous films have premiered at Cannes; the dark martial comedy/horror is her first film since 2017’s “You Were Never Really Here” won the Cannes Best Screenplay prize. Here, Jennifer Lawrence plays a wife unraveling in the country, and married to Pattinson’s character. Lakeith Stanfield, Nick Nolte, and Sissy Spacek also star in this adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel. Ramsay wrote the script with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch.
The film made it into Cannes just in time as hoped, and this means we’ll be seeing Lawrence and Pattinson standing in front of glittering flash bulbs on the Palais red carpet.
- 4/23/2025
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
After the initial main announcement and sidebars, the full Cannes Film Festival lineup has now come into focus with 16 additions today. Highlights include Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, in competition, while elsewhere Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut The Chronology of Water, Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t, Hlynur Palmason’s The Love That Remains, Koji Fukada’s Love on Trial, Lav Diaz’s Magellan, and Pedro Pinho’s I Only Rest in the Storm have been added.
See below via Screen Daily.
Competition
Die My Love, dir. Lynne Ramsay
Mother And Child, dir. Saeed Roustaee
Un Certain Regard
Love Me Tender, dir. Anna Cazenave Cambet
A Poet, dir. Simon Mesa Soto
I Only Rest In The Storm, dir. Pedro Pinho
The Chronology Of Water, dir. Kristen Stewart
Cannes Premiere
Love On Trial dir. Koji Fukada
The Love That Remains, dir. Hlynur Palmason
Magellan,...
See below via Screen Daily.
Competition
Die My Love, dir. Lynne Ramsay
Mother And Child, dir. Saeed Roustaee
Un Certain Regard
Love Me Tender, dir. Anna Cazenave Cambet
A Poet, dir. Simon Mesa Soto
I Only Rest In The Storm, dir. Pedro Pinho
The Chronology Of Water, dir. Kristen Stewart
Cannes Premiere
Love On Trial dir. Koji Fukada
The Love That Remains, dir. Hlynur Palmason
Magellan,...
- 4/23/2025
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Cannes Film Festival has added several titles to the official selection, including Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” a thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, as well as Kristen Stewart’s “The Chronology of Water” in Un Certain Regard and Ethan Coen’s “Honey Don’t!” in the midnights section.
Other additions to the official selection are Saeed Roustaee’s “Woman and Child” in competition; Anna Cazenave Cambet’s “Love Me Tender,” Simón Mesa Soto’s “Un Poeta” and Pedro Pinho’s “O Riso E A Faca (Le Rire et le Couteau”) in Un Certain Regard; “Kōji Fukada’s “Renai Saiban,” Hlynur Pálmason’s “Ástin Sem Eftir Er,” Lav Diaz’s “Magalhães” in premiere; and Vincent Maël Cardona’s “Le Roi Soleil” in midnights.
“Die, My Love” was screened for the Cannes committee after the festival’s official press conference on April 10, during which chief Thierry Fremaux unveiled the lineup.
Other additions to the official selection are Saeed Roustaee’s “Woman and Child” in competition; Anna Cazenave Cambet’s “Love Me Tender,” Simón Mesa Soto’s “Un Poeta” and Pedro Pinho’s “O Riso E A Faca (Le Rire et le Couteau”) in Un Certain Regard; “Kōji Fukada’s “Renai Saiban,” Hlynur Pálmason’s “Ástin Sem Eftir Er,” Lav Diaz’s “Magalhães” in premiere; and Vincent Maël Cardona’s “Le Roi Soleil” in midnights.
“Die, My Love” was screened for the Cannes committee after the festival’s official press conference on April 10, during which chief Thierry Fremaux unveiled the lineup.
- 4/23/2025
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The Cannes Film Festival has added a fresh round of titles to its 78th edition, including Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love and Saeed Roustaee’s Woman And Child which will play in the main competition. (scroll down for full list)
Ramsay’s dark comedy thriller Die, My Love transposes Ariana Harwicz’s novel about a woman living in the French countryside who develops severe postpartum depression, to Montana and stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.
Roustaee’s Woman and Child, is the first film from the Iranian director since his 2022 Cannes Palme d’Or contender Leila’s Brothers.
The contemporary family drama of revenge and forgiveness stars Parinaz Izadyar (Law of Tehran) as a widowed nurse struggling with her rebellious son. Tensions reach a peak during the betrothal ceremony with her new boyfriend, but when a tragic accident occurs, she finds herself confronting feelings of betrayal as she seeks justice.
Ramsay’s dark comedy thriller Die, My Love transposes Ariana Harwicz’s novel about a woman living in the French countryside who develops severe postpartum depression, to Montana and stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.
Roustaee’s Woman and Child, is the first film from the Iranian director since his 2022 Cannes Palme d’Or contender Leila’s Brothers.
The contemporary family drama of revenge and forgiveness stars Parinaz Izadyar (Law of Tehran) as a widowed nurse struggling with her rebellious son. Tensions reach a peak during the betrothal ceremony with her new boyfriend, but when a tragic accident occurs, she finds herself confronting feelings of betrayal as she seeks justice.
- 4/23/2025
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Cannes Film Festival has updated its 2025 Official Selection with 16 new films, including two new Competition titles.
Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love and Saeed Roustaee’s WomanAnd Child join the Competition line-up, bringing it to 21 films.
Scroll down for the full list of new titles
The Un Certain Regard line-up adds a further four films, including Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut The Chronology Of Water, and is now at 20 films.
The festival has also added Ethan Coen’s Focus Features title Honey Don’t!starring Margaret Qualley as a Midnight Screening; and Hlynur Palmason’s The Love That Remains and...
Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love and Saeed Roustaee’s WomanAnd Child join the Competition line-up, bringing it to 21 films.
Scroll down for the full list of new titles
The Un Certain Regard line-up adds a further four films, including Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut The Chronology Of Water, and is now at 20 films.
The festival has also added Ethan Coen’s Focus Features title Honey Don’t!starring Margaret Qualley as a Midnight Screening; and Hlynur Palmason’s The Love That Remains and...
- 4/23/2025
- ScreenDaily
Production has commenced on the psychological horror film The Sacrifice in the Philippines, Deadline has learned.
It follows a group of travel vloggers who find themselves in a remote village haunted by ancient rituals and a terrifying legend.
Timothy Granaderos (“13 Reasons Why”) stars along with filmmaker Lav Diaz (The Woman Who Left), Lovi Poe, Enchong Dee, and Marietta Subong.
Supported by the Film Development Council of the Philippines, Prime Cruz directs from a script by Jerrold Tarog.
Poe also serves as producer alongside Montgomery Blencowe (Escape Plan 2: Hades) under the C’est Lovi Productions banner, with Mark Stewart (Escape Plan) producing for Kind Hearts Entertainment.
Lovi Poe in ‘Owe My Love’
The post “13 Reasons Why” Actor Timothy Granaderos Stars in Filipino Horror ‘The Sacrifice’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
It follows a group of travel vloggers who find themselves in a remote village haunted by ancient rituals and a terrifying legend.
Timothy Granaderos (“13 Reasons Why”) stars along with filmmaker Lav Diaz (The Woman Who Left), Lovi Poe, Enchong Dee, and Marietta Subong.
Supported by the Film Development Council of the Philippines, Prime Cruz directs from a script by Jerrold Tarog.
Poe also serves as producer alongside Montgomery Blencowe (Escape Plan 2: Hades) under the C’est Lovi Productions banner, with Mark Stewart (Escape Plan) producing for Kind Hearts Entertainment.
Lovi Poe in ‘Owe My Love’
The post “13 Reasons Why” Actor Timothy Granaderos Stars in Filipino Horror ‘The Sacrifice’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
- 4/23/2025
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
Exclusive: The Sacrifice, a psychological horror flick from filmmaker Prime Cruz and led by Filipino actress and singer Lovi Poe (Seasons) has begun production in the Philippines.
Veteran director Lav Diaz also stars in the flick alongside Timothy Granaderos (13 Reasons Why) and Enchong Dee (GomBurZa). Marietta Subong also stars.
The film follows a group of travel vloggers who find themselves in a remote village haunted by ancient rituals and a terrifying legend.
Directed by Cruz from an original screenplay penned by Jerrold Tarog, The Sacrifice is produced by Montgomery Blencowe (Heist) and Poe under the C’est Lovi Productions banner, with Mark Stewart (Escape Plan) serving as producer under Kind Hearts Entertainment. The film has support from the Film Development Council of the Philippines (Fdcp). Casting is by Thomas Sullivan.
The film will be shot entirely on location in the Philippines. Poe stars following her recent turn as Attorney...
Veteran director Lav Diaz also stars in the flick alongside Timothy Granaderos (13 Reasons Why) and Enchong Dee (GomBurZa). Marietta Subong also stars.
The film follows a group of travel vloggers who find themselves in a remote village haunted by ancient rituals and a terrifying legend.
Directed by Cruz from an original screenplay penned by Jerrold Tarog, The Sacrifice is produced by Montgomery Blencowe (Heist) and Poe under the C’est Lovi Productions banner, with Mark Stewart (Escape Plan) serving as producer under Kind Hearts Entertainment. The film has support from the Film Development Council of the Philippines (Fdcp). Casting is by Thomas Sullivan.
The film will be shot entirely on location in the Philippines. Poe stars following her recent turn as Attorney...
- 4/23/2025
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Among the lineup for the Cannes Film Festival’s 78th edition are some big names from Hollywood and global cinema. We already knew that Tom Cruise will light the fuse on Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning on May 14 out of competition, while there was plenty of speculation that Scarlett Johansson would have a pair of movies on the Croisette. The latter has now been confirmed with Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great set for Un Certain Regard, and her acting reteam with Wes Anderson in his latest, The Phoenician Scheme, in Competition. Also confirmed is Ari Aster’s Eddington with Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone.
Many more stars are potentially in store now that the bulk of the official selection has been revealed. Not everyone is confirmed to attend the Riviera shindig, but here’s a look at some of the possibilities.
Cannes...
Many more stars are potentially in store now that the bulk of the official selection has been revealed. Not everyone is confirmed to attend the Riviera shindig, but here’s a look at some of the possibilities.
Cannes...
- 4/10/2025
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Costume designer Anna Terrazas has spent her career working between her native Mexico and the U.S., on films and shows including Roma, The Deuce, Bardo – False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths and most recently Eddington.
Speaking to Deadline at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra project and talent incubator on Tuesday, she revealed her fear as she traveled to the U.S. earlier this year in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency and his attacks on Mexico.
“I went back to New Mexico for Eddington, for a couple of things, and Trump was president. When we shot, he wasn’t there yet,” said Terrazas.
“For the first time, when I crossed, I had a weird feeling. I have a visa, an O1 visa, that I have been having for almost 15 years… But this time when I entered the U.S, I was a tiny bit afraid. I was like,...
Speaking to Deadline at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra project and talent incubator on Tuesday, she revealed her fear as she traveled to the U.S. earlier this year in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency and his attacks on Mexico.
“I went back to New Mexico for Eddington, for a couple of things, and Trump was president. When we shot, he wasn’t there yet,” said Terrazas.
“For the first time, when I crossed, I had a weird feeling. I have a visa, an O1 visa, that I have been having for almost 15 years… But this time when I entered the U.S, I was a tiny bit afraid. I was like,...
- 4/8/2025
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Hong Kong filmmaking stalwart Johnnie To Kei Fung says he is in the middle of making a feature film starring popstar Anson Lo, and has shot 10 days across the last three years.
Speaking to Screen ahead of his masterclass at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra lab, To said the film has been shooting in Hong Kong, and is about “hope”.
Lo was spotted shooting with To in March last year. To told Screen that the cast also includes “an old actress, and a young girl”, that the feature will be ready “as soon as possible” and that he will...
Speaking to Screen ahead of his masterclass at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra lab, To said the film has been shooting in Hong Kong, and is about “hope”.
Lo was spotted shooting with To in March last year. To told Screen that the cast also includes “an old actress, and a young girl”, that the feature will be ready “as soon as possible” and that he will...
- 4/7/2025
- ScreenDaily
The Cannes Film Festival will reveal its 2025 lineup on Thursday morning European time and expectations are high for a typically bountiful lineup of starry fare and arthouse treats. Cannes remains the Super Bowl for indie film lovers.
It’s always a nervous waiting game for those connected to Cannes hopefuls. Multiple festival regulars have told us that selectors are later than ever in giving them notice. The festival has often announced a major movie or two by now, but not this year. The identity of Juliette Binoche‘s fellow jury members are still also under wraps.
In terms of films in the running, much of the reporting we did in February in our Cannes and Venice prediction piece has either come to pass or is shaping up as we forecast. You can read that story here.
Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning remains the most likely big Hollywood studio splash.
It’s always a nervous waiting game for those connected to Cannes hopefuls. Multiple festival regulars have told us that selectors are later than ever in giving them notice. The festival has often announced a major movie or two by now, but not this year. The identity of Juliette Binoche‘s fellow jury members are still also under wraps.
In terms of films in the running, much of the reporting we did in February in our Cannes and Venice prediction piece has either come to pass or is shaping up as we forecast. You can read that story here.
Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning remains the most likely big Hollywood studio splash.
- 4/7/2025
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Filipino director Lav Diaz says he is preparing an adaptation of an obscure Alexandre Dumas work, to shoot later this year.
Without naming the work, Diaz told Screen the film was scheduled to shoot at the start of this year before the director became unwell. Now recovered, he is looking to shoot it towards the end of 2025.
Diaz’s previous films include 2022’s When The Waves Are Gone, a loose adaptation of Dumas’s most famous work The Count of Monte Cristo.
The director also hopes a 165-minute version of Magellan, his feature film starring Gael Garcia Bernal as Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan,...
Without naming the work, Diaz told Screen the film was scheduled to shoot at the start of this year before the director became unwell. Now recovered, he is looking to shoot it towards the end of 2025.
Diaz’s previous films include 2022’s When The Waves Are Gone, a loose adaptation of Dumas’s most famous work The Count of Monte Cristo.
The director also hopes a 165-minute version of Magellan, his feature film starring Gael Garcia Bernal as Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan,...
- 4/6/2025
- ScreenDaily
Filipino director Lav Diaz has revealed that a shortened cut of his long-awaited feature Beatrice, The Wife, starring Gael García Bernal as Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, could premiere in Cannes this May.
Speaking in a masterclass at the Doha Film Festival’s Qumra event on Sunday, Diaz said he had just finished cutting a two hour, 45-minute version of the film, even though his long-term plan is for a nine-hour movie.
Quizzed on whether it might be Venice-bound, where his last film Phantosmia played Out of Competition in 2024, the director replied that rather it was aiming for a debut in “an important festival in France”.
Diaz was last in Cannes Official Selection with Norte, the End of History, which premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2013, while his film Ang Hupa (The Halt) premiered in Directors’ Fortnight in 2019.
Per a synopsis released by the films producers Andergraun Films (Spain), Rosa Filmes...
Speaking in a masterclass at the Doha Film Festival’s Qumra event on Sunday, Diaz said he had just finished cutting a two hour, 45-minute version of the film, even though his long-term plan is for a nine-hour movie.
Quizzed on whether it might be Venice-bound, where his last film Phantosmia played Out of Competition in 2024, the director replied that rather it was aiming for a debut in “an important festival in France”.
Diaz was last in Cannes Official Selection with Norte, the End of History, which premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2013, while his film Ang Hupa (The Halt) premiered in Directors’ Fortnight in 2019.
Per a synopsis released by the films producers Andergraun Films (Spain), Rosa Filmes...
- 4/6/2025
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
It was a bad idea from the start. Of course it was. "Minecraft," first produced by the Swedish company Mojang Studios in 2011, started as a modest sandbox game where idle youths could while away their time mining wood, ore, and other materials to build whatever structures they wanted. There weren't levels to "Minecraft," nor any sort of quest to complete. It was, to borrow another critic's phrase, a faffing-about simulator. The game was very popular, bolstered by its simple, cubic, pixelated aesthetic; it was a 3D version of an 8-Bit, Nes-era game.
A generation became addicted. It swelled and swelled. A tribe of YouTubers appeared, posting hundreds of hours of Minecraft" gameplay video as they explored the fineries of mining, crafting, combining materials, and battling Endermen. As of this writing, "Minecraft" is the single best-selling video game of all time (it's in second place if one combined every iteration of...
A generation became addicted. It swelled and swelled. A tribe of YouTubers appeared, posting hundreds of hours of Minecraft" gameplay video as they explored the fineries of mining, crafting, combining materials, and battling Endermen. As of this writing, "Minecraft" is the single best-selling video game of all time (it's in second place if one combined every iteration of...
- 4/4/2025
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute (Dfi), spoke out against the attack by Israeli settlers on and arrest by Israeli police of Hamdan Ballal, co-director of Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land.
“The recent attack on Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal proves that even winning the most prestigious award, an Oscar, does not offer any safety from violent oppression by the occupation,” said Al Remaihi, speaking at the opening of the 2025 edition of the Dfi’s Qumra lab. Ballal was released the day after his arrest.
Remarking that this year marks the 15th anniversaryof Dfi, Al Remaihi said, “We...
“The recent attack on Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal proves that even winning the most prestigious award, an Oscar, does not offer any safety from violent oppression by the occupation,” said Al Remaihi, speaking at the opening of the 2025 edition of the Dfi’s Qumra lab. Ballal was released the day after his arrest.
Remarking that this year marks the 15th anniversaryof Dfi, Al Remaihi said, “We...
- 4/4/2025
- ScreenDaily
Brazilian director Walter Salles kicks off the 11th Doha Film Institute’s Qumra meeting this Friday, in one of his first international appearances since political drama I’m Still Here won the Best International Feature Film Academy Award on March 2.
Running from April 4 to 9 in Doha, and then online from April 12 to 14, annual talent and project incubator Qumra will host the directors and producers of 49 works supported by Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) in various stages of development and production.
Salles is attending as a “Qumra Master” alongside Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz, Iranian and French cinematographer Darius Khondji, Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas and Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To.
In this role, they will each give a masterclass on their careers and lessons learned for the emerging filmmakers in the room and also mentor a...
Running from April 4 to 9 in Doha, and then online from April 12 to 14, annual talent and project incubator Qumra will host the directors and producers of 49 works supported by Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) in various stages of development and production.
Salles is attending as a “Qumra Master” alongside Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz, Iranian and French cinematographer Darius Khondji, Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas and Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To.
In this role, they will each give a masterclass on their careers and lessons learned for the emerging filmmakers in the room and also mentor a...
- 4/3/2025
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Doha Film Institute’s Qumra workshop kicks off Friday with the cream of the Arab cinema crop on display – including several timely Palestinian projects – and a host of top industry professionals expected to make the trek to the Qatari capital.
Standout titles set to be unveiled in Doha – which played a key role in mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel – comprise sci-fi thriller “In Memory of Times to Come” (see concept still above), a first feature from Danish-Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour, who represented Denmark at the 58th Venice Visual Arts Biennale. The film is set 30 years from now when, following an “eco apocalypse,” a woman and her husband lead a peaceful life in a restored Bethlehem townhouse, according to the synopsis.
“In Memory,” which will start shooting this fall is produced by Anna Köhncke (“The Act of Killing”) and multiple Oscar-nominated Monica Hellström. The film delves into the complexities of memory,...
Standout titles set to be unveiled in Doha – which played a key role in mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel – comprise sci-fi thriller “In Memory of Times to Come” (see concept still above), a first feature from Danish-Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour, who represented Denmark at the 58th Venice Visual Arts Biennale. The film is set 30 years from now when, following an “eco apocalypse,” a woman and her husband lead a peaceful life in a restored Bethlehem townhouse, according to the synopsis.
“In Memory,” which will start shooting this fall is produced by Anna Köhncke (“The Act of Killing”) and multiple Oscar-nominated Monica Hellström. The film delves into the complexities of memory,...
- 4/1/2025
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Inspired by Jose Rizal’s third, unfinished novel, but ultimately a radical deconstruction, “Rizal’s Makamisa: Phantasm of Revenge” is a silent film like no other, that recently won Best Feature Film ln Lausanne. Shot on expired film stock that was later hand-painted and scratched by Khavn, the result is a visual experiment that embraces chaos in every form.
The main story, though intentionally thin, revolves around three central figures. Agaton Damaso is a cruel Spanish priest, Simoun Rizal is a melancholic Filipino poet, and Sisa Bracken is an enigmatic American woman who serves as a source of conflict between the two men. Rizal is determined to write the ultimate Filipino poem, while Sisa searches desperately for her two lost children. Damaso’s oppressive presence looms over them until it vanishes in the most shocking manner. Meanwhile, Rizal’s epic poem unfolds visually on screen, interwoven with an ever-growing cast...
The main story, though intentionally thin, revolves around three central figures. Agaton Damaso is a cruel Spanish priest, Simoun Rizal is a melancholic Filipino poet, and Sisa Bracken is an enigmatic American woman who serves as a source of conflict between the two men. Rizal is determined to write the ultimate Filipino poem, while Sisa searches desperately for her two lost children. Damaso’s oppressive presence looms over them until it vanishes in the most shocking manner. Meanwhile, Rizal’s epic poem unfolds visually on screen, interwoven with an ever-growing cast...
- 3/30/2025
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has unveiled the 49 projects across all formats that will be showcased at the 11th edition of its Qumra development and networking event in April.
They include Quarter to Thursday from Algerian director Sofia Djama, about three friends on a mission to bury a dachshund in a military base, which is in development. Djama’s last feature The Blessed won a slew of awards in Venice Horizons in 2017, and delivered a breakout best actress role for rising French-Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri.
The selection also features Syrian director Anas Khalaf’s Love 45 about an overweight Lebanese man who is caught in a destructive spiral, which is in production. Khalaf’s previous credits include the Syria, Bashar al-Assad-era set thriller The Translator.
The picture lock line-up includes Tunisian director Erige Sehiri’s Marie & Jolie about three Ivorian women from different generations making a life in in the...
They include Quarter to Thursday from Algerian director Sofia Djama, about three friends on a mission to bury a dachshund in a military base, which is in development. Djama’s last feature The Blessed won a slew of awards in Venice Horizons in 2017, and delivered a breakout best actress role for rising French-Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri.
The selection also features Syrian director Anas Khalaf’s Love 45 about an overweight Lebanese man who is caught in a destructive spiral, which is in production. Khalaf’s previous credits include the Syria, Bashar al-Assad-era set thriller The Translator.
The picture lock line-up includes Tunisian director Erige Sehiri’s Marie & Jolie about three Ivorian women from different generations making a life in in the...
- 3/5/2025
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Warner Bros Discovery said on Tuesday that its streaming service Max will launch in Australia on March 31 with premium, standard, and an ad-supported tier.
The company said details on pricing plans would emerge “in the weeks prior to launch”.
Max will launch in Australia with a range of subscription tiers, including premium, standard and an ad-supported tier. Further details about subscription tiers, pricing, content and product features on Max will be shared in the weeks prior to launch.
Warner Bros Discovery president of global streaming and games Jb Perrette said globalisation of Max was a “top priority” and Australia represented...
The company said details on pricing plans would emerge “in the weeks prior to launch”.
Max will launch in Australia with a range of subscription tiers, including premium, standard and an ad-supported tier. Further details about subscription tiers, pricing, content and product features on Max will be shared in the weeks prior to launch.
Warner Bros Discovery president of global streaming and games Jb Perrette said globalisation of Max was a “top priority” and Australia represented...
- 2/25/2025
- ScreenDaily
Walter Salles, Johnnie To, Lav Diaz, Darius Khondji and Anna Terrazas will serve as Qumra Masters at the 11th edition of the Doha Film Institute’s annual talent and project incubator.
They follow in the wake of some 50 top cinemas figures who have also taken up the role over the past 10 editions, including Claire Denis, Leos Carax, Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal and James Gray.
The event, running from April 4 to 9, will invite the producers and directors of some 40 projects supported by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) for six days of development support and networking.
Brazilian director Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) will be in attendance at the meeting fresh from his buzzy awards season with his Oscar-nominated drama I’m Still Here.
Filipino director Diaz brings his vision of a special brand of slow cinema which includes films such as The Woman Who Left and Evolution of a Filipino Family.
Iranian-French...
They follow in the wake of some 50 top cinemas figures who have also taken up the role over the past 10 editions, including Claire Denis, Leos Carax, Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal and James Gray.
The event, running from April 4 to 9, will invite the producers and directors of some 40 projects supported by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) for six days of development support and networking.
Brazilian director Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) will be in attendance at the meeting fresh from his buzzy awards season with his Oscar-nominated drama I’m Still Here.
Filipino director Diaz brings his vision of a special brand of slow cinema which includes films such as The Woman Who Left and Evolution of a Filipino Family.
Iranian-French...
- 2/25/2025
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Doha Film Institute has recruited Oscar nominee Walter Salles (“I’m Still Here”), iconic Hong Kong director Johnnie To, prominent Filipino auteur Lav Diaz, ace cinematographer Darius Khondji and master Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas to hold onstage conversations and act as mentors during its upcoming Qumra Arab industry incubator.
The event, now celebrating its 11th edition, will run April 4-9 in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Qumra, which means “camera” in Arabic, blends together a creative workshop, co-production market and festival elements. It was established by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) to help foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors, and to create curated networking opportunities between the Arab and international film communities.
The Dfi is a major indie Arab film industry driver and has also been providing funding for Arab TV series for the past few years. Qumra 2025 will feature a selection of top notch Arab films in various stages,...
The event, now celebrating its 11th edition, will run April 4-9 in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Qumra, which means “camera” in Arabic, blends together a creative workshop, co-production market and festival elements. It was established by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) to help foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors, and to create curated networking opportunities between the Arab and international film communities.
The Dfi is a major indie Arab film industry driver and has also been providing funding for Arab TV series for the past few years. Qumra 2025 will feature a selection of top notch Arab films in various stages,...
- 2/25/2025
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles and Filipino director Lav Diaz are among the five Masters invited to the 11th edition of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra lab.
Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To, Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas and Iranian-French cinematographer Darius Khondji round out the 2025 Masters.
The 11th edition of Qumra will run from April 4-9 in Doha, Qatar.
The Masters will give one-on-one mentorship to the Qumra lab participants, and will each give a masterclass about their careers.
Salles is nearing the end of an awards campaign for his 10th feature film I’m Still Here. The film debuted in competition at Venice last year,...
Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To, Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas and Iranian-French cinematographer Darius Khondji round out the 2025 Masters.
The 11th edition of Qumra will run from April 4-9 in Doha, Qatar.
The Masters will give one-on-one mentorship to the Qumra lab participants, and will each give a masterclass about their careers.
Salles is nearing the end of an awards campaign for his 10th feature film I’m Still Here. The film debuted in competition at Venice last year,...
- 2/25/2025
- ScreenDaily
Have you ever wondered how would a bastard child between Lav Diaz’ DIY filmmaking and the once-popular “mumblecore” cinema might look like if it were sprinkled with some artistic ambition? Ready or not, the answer is here in the form of Liryc Dela Cruz’s debut feature Where The Night Stands Still, which premiered at the Perspectives section of Berlinale.
Our protagonist Lilia (Tess Magallanes) is a Filipino woman living in Italy. She lives alone in a large and largely unfurnished villa and her daily life consists of routines. When she wakes up, she says a prayer in which she mentions Signora Patrizia, then proceeds to the surrounding garden for a breath of fresh air and some serenity, after which she does some more chores. One would assume that she lives as a maid in someone else’s home, but later we learn she inherited the estate from the late Signora she.
Our protagonist Lilia (Tess Magallanes) is a Filipino woman living in Italy. She lives alone in a large and largely unfurnished villa and her daily life consists of routines. When she wakes up, she says a prayer in which she mentions Signora Patrizia, then proceeds to the surrounding garden for a breath of fresh air and some serenity, after which she does some more chores. One would assume that she lives as a maid in someone else’s home, but later we learn she inherited the estate from the late Signora she.
- 2/16/2025
- by Marko Stojiljkovic
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Set in an Italian villa, “Where the Night Stands Still” is an exercise in minimalist storytelling. Three Filipino migrant siblings gather in a mansion inherited by the oldest of them, Rosa (Jenny Llanto Caringal). The other two are Lilia (Tess Magallanes) and Manny (Benjamin Vasquez Barcellano Jr.). They decide to visit their sister, seemingly just to check up on her. However, their true, poorly veiled intentions, soon come to the fore. Villa is to be sold, so that all three can return to their home country and enjoy an unlikely fortune which Rosa obtained.
Where the Night Stands Still is sceening at Berlin International Film Festival
The opening sequences confusingly set up a different film however. We see the protagonist lying in a bed covered by a mosquito net. She then proceeds to pray and converse with the (as we soon learn) dead Madam Patrizia. The woman was a previous owner of the villa,...
Where the Night Stands Still is sceening at Berlin International Film Festival
The opening sequences confusingly set up a different film however. We see the protagonist lying in a bed covered by a mosquito net. She then proceeds to pray and converse with the (as we soon learn) dead Madam Patrizia. The woman was a previous owner of the villa,...
- 2/15/2025
- by Olek Młyński
- AsianMoviePulse
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