News

Beta Cinema has given a sales update on a trio of titles on its slate as the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film gets into its stride.

Swedish comedy Let It Rain, directed by two-time Oscar-nominee Hannes Holm, has sold to All German speaking territories (Leonine), to Benelux and Singapore (September Film), Czech Republic (Film Europe), Former Yugoslavia (Blitz), Bulgaria (Beta Film) and Israel (Lev Cinemas).

Robert Gustafsson (The 100-year-old Man) stars as a grumpy widower who finds himself at the center of an event that could transform not only his own life but the fate of his entire village, and possibly the world.

The Physician II – sequel to the 2013 hit, with Tom Payne reprising the role of gifted healer Rob Cole – has pre-sold to Spain (Dea Planeta), Portugal (Outsider Pictures), Austria (Orf), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Bonton), Former Yugoslavia (Blitz), Poland (Monolith), Lithuania, Latvia and...

Leading sales agency Beta Cinema has revealed a tranche of sales to major territories for “Let It Rain,” “The Physician II” and “The Light.”

The Swedish comedy “Let It Rain,” directed by two-time Oscar-nominee Hannes Holm, was sold to Leonine (German-speaking territories), Benelux and Singapore (September Film), Czech Republic (Film Europe), Former Yugoslavia (Blitz), Bulgaria (Beta Film) and Israel (Lev Cinemas).

Robert Gustafsson (“The 100-Year-Old Man”), Jonas Karlsson (“The Snowman”) and Karin Lithman (“The Bridge”) star in the tale of a grumpy widower who, by miracle or coincidence, finds himself at the center of an event that could transform not only his own life but the fate of his entire village—and possibly the world. Holm earned two Academy Award nominations for “A Man Called Ove” in 2015. The film became an international box office hit in 2016, grossing over $30 million worldwide, and was later remade as “A Man Called Otto,” starring Tom Hanks.

Beta Cinema has boarded sales on Oscar-nominated director Hannes Holm’s Let It Rain starring Robert Gustafsson, star of box office hit The 100-Year-Old Man, ahead of the AFM.

The Munich-based company will present first images of the film – which wrapped in September – at the newly-located Las Vegas market.

Set in a small town in Southern Sweden, the comedy stars Gustafsson as grumpy widower with a regimented life whose relationship with his daughter has deteriorated since his wife died.

Apart from his daughter, the only other things left in his life are his annoying, divorced neighbor Burman and tending to his late wife’s roses. His life takes an unexpected turn when he finds himself at the center of a miracle in one of the driest summers in living memory.

Holm co-wrote the screenplay with Jonas Karlsson, in an adaptation of the latter’s novel Regnmannen (The Rain Man). John Christian Rosenlund, Shit Happens (2010) and the Andersson Trilogy (2012-2014), all of which set box office records in Sweden.

His new film is produced by Patrick Ryborn, Unlimited Stories in co-production with Nordisk Film, Svt, Film i Skåne, Film i Väst, Nouvago Capital and Dr. The production is supported by the Swedish Film Institute and the Nordic Film & TV Fund.

Nordisk Film is distributing in Scandinavia and will release Let It Rain during the Christmas holidays in 2025.

Beta Cinema has taken international sales rights for “Let It Rain,” the new film by Oscar-nominated director Hannes Holm (“A Man Called Ove”), starring Robert Gustafsson, star of the box office hit “The 100-Year-Old Man.”

Shooting wrapped at the end of September and Beta Cinema will present first materials at next month’s American Film Market.

The story is set in a small town in Southern Sweden, where grumpy widower Ingmar lives a regimented life. Ever since his wife passed away a few years ago, his relationship with his daughter Erika has deteriorated. Apart from his daughter, the only other things left in his life are his annoying, divorced neighbor Burman and his late wife’s roses.

As the hottest and driest summer in living memory stretches on, everyone waits for rain that never seems to come. But through what might be a miracle or sheer coincidence, Ingmar finds himself...

Germany’s Beta Cinema has boarded international sales on Let It Rain, the next eature from A Man Called Ove director Hannes Holm.

Beta will introduce the film to buyers at next month’s American Film Market. It is heading into post-production after it wrapped shooting at the end of September.

Set in a small town in southern Sweden, Let It Rain follows a grumpy widower during the hottest summer in recent memory, who is suddenly thrust into the spotlight of a world-changing event.

Robert Gustafsson, star of Felix Herngren’s The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared,...

Germany’s Beta Cinema has boarded international sales on Let It Rain, the new feature from A Man Called Ove director Hannes Holm.

Beta will introduce the film to buyers at next month’s American Film Market. It is heading into post-production after it wrapped shooting at the end of September.

Set in a small town in southern Sweden, Let It Rain follows a grumpy widower during the hottest summer in recent memory, who is suddenly thrust into the spotlight of a world-changing event.

Robert Gustafsson, star of Felix Herngren’s The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared,...

At long last, Kathryn Bigelow is returning to filmmaking. After 2017’s Detroit, she was developing the David Koepp-scripted thriller Aurora for Netflix but has now moved on to another project for the company. The untitled thriller will unfold in real-time at the White House as a missile attack threatens the United States. THR reports former NBC News president Noah Oppenheim, who also wrote Jackie, scripted the project based on Bigelow’s idea. No additional details were revealed but with Netflix now greenlighting the project, here’s hoping it kicks off before the end of the year.

Juliette Binoche will make her directorial and writing debut in a new anthology film Bike Me Up. Joining directors Sally El Hosaini, Isabel Coixet, Matthias Schweighöfer, Asger Leth, and Frédéric Auburtin, each section will be set in a different European city and explore the locales’ relationship with cycling. Binoche’s film will be...

An Ingmar Bergman movie is in the works from Sf Studios, with Robert Gustafsson (The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared) playing the celebrated Swedish auteur.

The as-yet-untitled movie, revealed on day three of Cannes, is a political thriller set during the Swedish election year of 1976, when Bergman is arrested by the police suspected of serious tax evasion in the midst of the receptions for Strindberg’s The Dance of Death at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. The personal catastrophe quickly becomes a reality for Bergman, as does the mental breakdown, and the director finds himself in a Kafkaesque state, where culture is ultimately pitted against politics, with Bergman on one side and the political establishment on the other.

Bergman, who died in 2007, is one of Sweden’s best known directors, with famous works including The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries and Fanny and Alexander. Gustafsson is...

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Amazon Prime on Thursday rolled out its new slate for the Nordic territories, presenting a batch of localized reality TV formats — including versions of global reality hit Lol — as well as new scripted series and a major film licensing deal.

Alongside Lol, Amazon has commissioned hidden-camera show Pranked, which ITV Studios will produce in four local versions — for Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland — dating format Sweethearts, which Fremantle’s regional subsidiaries Baluba (Sweden), Monster (Norway), Strong Productions (Denmark), and Moskito (Finland) will produce; and island survival show Good Luck Guys, a Banijay Nordic production, with Banijay’s Meter Television in Sweden, Mastiff in Denmark and Norway and Banijay in Finland producing. Good Luck Guys was originally created by Banijay Productions for French channel W9, where it has run for five seasons.

Amazon has also commissioned four local versions of the competition show The Bridge,...

The three-year deal will give streamers exclusive access to Nordisk Film titles

Amazon Prime Video has signed an exclusive multi-territory three-year deal with Scandinavian film studio Nordisk Film.

Starting next year, customers in the Nordic region will be able to stream Nordisk Film titles in addition to the streamer’s international slate.

Upcoming Nordisk Film releases include Billie August’s The Kiss from Denmark; Mikal Hovland’s Skomakergata and Bamse from Norway; and Christian Ryltenius’s animation The World’s Smallest Adventure from Sweden.

The announcement was part of a ‘Prime Video Presents’ event held in Stockholm, Sweden. The streamer...

Prime Video Nordics is pushing heavily into the Scandinavian unscripted originals market, unveiling a handful of reality shows at a splashy event in Sweden today. The streamer has also struck a multi-territory movie output deal with Nordisk Film for the likes of John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Hunger Games prequel, we can reveal.

Last week, Amazon Studios execs were out in force at Mipcom striking deals and today at a star-studded Prime Video Presents event in Stockholm’s Hotel At Six, where it revealed a Swedish version of Prime Video reality format Lol: Last One Standing, along with Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Finnish versions of new commissions Pranked, Good Luck Guys and Sweathearts. This brings its local originals slate to a total of 18, including the previously announced competition series The Bridge and scripted comedy series Toppen.

The Swedish version of Japanese format Lol, in which 10 comedians compete to keep...

Exclusive: Swedish crime drama series The Truth Will Out is getting a U.S. remake from Paradise Lost director Joe Berlinger and Endemol Shine North America.

Berlinger, who has directed a slew of true crime documentaries and rock docs such as Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster, has teamed with the production company to direct and exec produce an English-language adaptation of the series, which is based on an idea from famed Swedish author and criminologist Leif Gw Persson.

Persson is best known in the U.S. as the author of the books that short-lived Fox series Backstrom, starring Rainn Wilson, was based on.

The series, known as Det Som Göms I Snö in Sweden, comes from Endemol Shine North America’s sister Swedish company Yellow Bird, which is similarly owned by Banijay.

The original launched in 2018 and follows a Stockholm police detective with a history of mental instability, and...

"His story doesn't add up." Netflix has revealed an official trailer for a new true crime series called The Unlikely Murderer from Sweden, about the infamous 1986 assassination of the Swedish prime minister. This will be available to watch on Netflix starting in November, including in the US for anyone curious to learn more about this event. The series focuses on a man named Stig Engström, who passed away in the year 2000. Nearly 20 years later, independent investigators and the police eventually named Engström as the lead suspect, but of course they can't do anything else now that he is dead. This series dramatizes how a man claiming to be a witness at the assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme may have gotten away with murder. Engström managed to elude justice right up to his death with a combination of audacity, luck, and a perplexed police force. Starring Robert Gustafsson as Stig Engström,...

Netflix has ordered “The Unlikely Murderer,” a Swedish limited series based on Thomas Pettersson’s eponymous 2018 award-winning book.

The five-part drama series is a fictional interpretation of how Stig Engström, the graphic designer named as the suspected murderer of Sweden’s prime minister Olof Palme, managed to elude justice right up to his death through a combination of audacity, luck and a perplexed police force.

Engström’s murder was not planned well, he did everything wrong from the beginning and almost no one believed his lies about what he actually did during that fateful night in 1986 in Stockholm, Sweden. The series will question how police could have let the suspect get away, despite tracking him.

The series is written by Wilhelm Behrman and Niklas Rockström. Charlotte Brändström (“The Witcher”) is the conceptual director and will helm the first two episodes of the show.

The Swedish-language series will be produced by Flx,...

Netflix has greenlit a five-part Swedish-language series on Stig Engström, the man who was named as the probable murderer of former Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.

The Unlikely Murderer is made by Swedish producer Flx — which is behind Netflix series Quicksand and Love & Anarchy — and stars Robert Gustafsson as Engström. The part-fictionalized story is based on a 2018 book by Thomas Pettersson.

Following the assassination of Palme in 1986, Engström managed to elude justice right up to his death through a combination of audacity, luck, and a perplexed police force.

Other cast includes Eva Melander, Mikael Persbrandt and Peter Andersson. Joel Spira, Emil Almén, Shanti Roney, Torkel Petterson, Henrik Norlén, Lia Boysen, Magnus Krepper, Björn Bengtsson, Peter Viitanen, and Cilla Thorell also feature.

Wilhelm Behrman and Niklas Rockström are the writers, while Charlotte Brändström is the conceptual director. Simon Kaijser also directs. The executive producer is Pontus Edgren, while Fatima Varhos...

Netflix has greenlit a five-part limited series, The Unlikely Murderer, based on the 2018 book by Thomas Pettersson about the infamous, and still unsolved, 1986 murder of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme.

Palme’s murder is Sweden’s version of the JFK assassination, with dozens of competing conspiracy theories as to who killed him and if nefarious forces were behind the murder. Pettersson’s book looks at Stig Engström, a graphic designer who many consider the prime suspect in the killing but who eluded justice up to his death.

Swedish actor and comedian Robert Gustafsson (The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out ...

Netflix has greenlit a five-part limited series, The Unlikely Murderer, based on the 2018 book by Thomas Pettersson about the infamous, and still unsolved, 1986 murder of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme.

Palme’s murder is Sweden’s version of the JFK assassination, with dozens of competing conspiracy theories as to who killed him and if nefarious forces were behind the murder. Pettersson’s book looks at Stig Engström, a graphic designer who many consider the prime suspect in the killing but who eluded justice up to his death.

Swedish actor and comedian Robert Gustafsson (The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out ...

Nent Group’s streaming service Viaplay has ordered a second season of the Swedish crime drama “The Truth Will Out” which will be headlined by Robert Gustafsson, the star of “The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared.”

The story of the second season, which is based on an idea by renowned Swedish criminologist and author Leif G.W. Persson, will follow detective Peter Wendel (Gustafsson) as he continues to struggle to hold together his mind and unravelling a mystery based on one of Sweden’s most notorious real-life criminal cases. Ia Langhammar (“Love Me”) also reprises her role from season one.

“Robert Gustafsson is a hugely gifted actor and his performance in the first season of ‘The Truth Will Out’ represents one of the high points of Nordic drama in recent years,” said Filippa Wallestam, Nent Group’s Cco.

“Viewers and critics alike have embraced this thrilling,...

Oscar Week concluded on Saturday with the final event – the Makeup and Hairstyling symposium.

The Academy celebrated the artists nominated for the Makeup and Hairstyling award in the 10th annual event spotlighting this category, which celebrated its 35th anniversary this year.

The makeup artists and hairstylists nominated for Mad Max: Fury Road, The 100-year-old-man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared and The Revenant joined makeup artist and former Academy governor Leonard Engelman to discuss their work on the three films, and presented photographs and displays to demonstrate their craft.

Watch the entire event below.

The Revenant

While on a danger-laden journey through the American wilderness in the early 1800s, frontiersman Hugh Glass is badly mauled by a grizzly and abandoned by his fellow trappers. Barely surviving his wounds, Glass is driven by thoughts of his family and a desire for revenge as he endures the frigid winter and pursues...

Clearly the underdogs, going up against both "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "The Revenant," makeup designers Love Larson and Eva von Bahr nonetheless brilliantly transformed Swedish star Robert Gustafsson into a believable centenarian with little time and resources. "We wanted the audience to buy that he's 100-years-old without constantly thinking that it's Robert in really heavy makeup," von Bahr offered. "That was a major challenge for us. It's the same thing if you would've done that in America with a really famous actor." In "The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared," Gustafsson runs away from his retirement home just before his birthday celebration, and continues a lifelong series of adventures with famous historical figures, from Joseph Stalin to Ronald Reagan. Fortunately, all of the flashbacks were done first in Budapest, so the makeup was applied in stages and they shot full makeup in...

Picking the best movies that come out in any given year is no easy feat. With over 800 movies released theatrically, there’s plenty to digest. As we reach the halfway point of the year, we decided to publish a list of our favourite movies thus far, in hopes that our readers can catch up on some of the films they might have missed out on. Below, you shall find the list of the top 30 films of 2015 to date, a list that ranges from independent horror films to documentary to foreign films and so much more. Here’s is part two of our three part list.

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20. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

Eccentrically layered yet simple in plot, the Swedish adaptation of Jonas Jonasson’s novel does a fine job in balancing satire with tenderness. Telling the story of Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson), a 100-year-old explosive enthusiast...

Review by Stephen Jones

The 100-year-old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared is the sort of movie that’s difficult to write about. It leaves so little impression that there’s just not much to say. It’s a thoroughly middle of the road movie, with any outright flaws offset by the technical competence of the production. That it is now one of, if not the highest grossing films in its native country is a little perplexing, as it reminds me of one of those movies that someone mentions ten years later and you respond with “ohhhh yeah, I kinda remember that!” Like “Second-Hand Lions.”

“Second-Hand Lions” is actually the movie this reminded me of the most, with the elderly misadventures and things actually happening in the present-day plot. They were obviously going for a “Forrest Gump” feel, and there are definite traces of that as well, but fell far short.

Morbid and droll in the manner of several other recent Scandinavian exports, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared rarely manages to also be funny. Allan Karlsson, the centenarian in question, is played by 49-year-old Robert Gustafsson. Old age has made his character no less of a hellion; Felix Herngren's adaptation of the bestselling Jonas Jonasson novel begins with our hero being shipped off to a nursing home after TNT'ing the fox that killed his beloved cat Molotov, whom he proudly proclaims meant more to him than anyone else in his life. Allan liberates himself from his geriatric confines shortly thereafter, happening upon a briefcase stuffed with cash at a bus station and gaining a much younger enemy in the process. As he go...

The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared was first described to me as “a European Forrest Gump with lots of explosions,” and I was sold! After watching it, I’m pleased to report that this description is dead on. Adapted by director Felix Herngren from Jonas Jonasson’s bestselling book of the same name, The 100 Year Old Man is a loose-limbed, historically sprawling shaggy dog of a movie. Enjoyment is predicated on your acceptance of the ridiculous and, most importantly, of you being able to appreciate the sight of a terrified skinhead being squashed to death by an elephant’s butt.

We open with the titular 100-year-old Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson) mourning the death of his beloved cat at the hands of a fox. Clutching a stick of dynamite in his withered hand, he shuffles through the snow and plants it in the ground. Boom. No more fox.

Shot in the Dark: Herngren’s Tiring Road Comedy Overplays Gimmick

Before you can even wrap your mind around its cumbersome title, you’ll be immediately comparing The 100-Year-Old Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared to the structure of the famed American title it clearly resembles, Forrest Gump. Certainly less schmaltzy and more acerbic than that film, the concept wears thin rather quickly as we struggle through a stilted present day scenario considerably padded with useless flashbacks that extend the running time to a screeching two hours of comic buffoonery apparently going on behind major world events.

On the eve of his one hundredth birthday, spry elder Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson) bails out of his ground level window and takes off into the Swedish countryside. A mix-up at the train station finds him in possession of a large suitcase of money, whose owner, an angry skinhead, alerts his cohorts of the mishap.

Toh! reveals an exclusive clip from "The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared," a Swedish comedy that Music Box Films opens stateside on May 8.  After a long and colorful life working in munitions and getting entangled in the Spanish Civil War, the Manhattan Project, and other definitive events of the 20th century, Allan Karlsson finds himself stuck in a nursing home. Determined to escape on his 100th birthday, he leaps out of a window and onto the nearest bus, kicking off an unexpected journey involving, among other surprises, a suitcase stuffed with cash, some wicked criminals, and an elephant named Sonya. Robert Gustafsson plays Karlsson in this film directed by Felix Herngren, known for TV comedies in Sweden. This was a Euro fest and box office hit back in 2013 and 2014. THR praises the film's "inventive plotting and infectious irreverence for historical details."...

An absurdist mock epic that is hilarious, outrageous, and completely insane. It’s like a bonkers Swedish Forrest Gump. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Rarely has a film’s title been so bold, so bald, so straightforward, so lacking in pretense, pretension, or bullshit as that of The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. To escape the dreadfully cheery imminent celebration of his 100th birthday, Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson, who is actually only half that age) climbs out the window of the retirement home he was sentenced to after an unfortunate mishap with dynamite, and disappears. Not to our eyes, of course, only to those of the horrible busybodies in the home who want to limit his fun. Allan really likes blowing things up,...

The hit book heads to the big screen - Simon checks out The 100 Year Old Man

I hear the book's really good. In fact, Jonas Jonasson's The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared is something of a phenomenon, earning rave reviews and selling lots of copies. And it starts, as the film does, with its title. Allan Karlsson is 100 years old. He's spending his birthday sat in an old people's home, surrounded by fuss that he doesn't really want. So he elects to climb out of the window, and begin a quite incredible life adventure.

In fact, as we learn throughout the story, he's already lived many life adventures, meaning we get to spend time with current Allan and past Allan, with the story jumping between the two. The film casts Robert Gustafsson in the title role, and he captures the mischief and coincidence...

★★★☆☆It was perhaps inevitable that Swedish author Jonas Jonasson's popular 2009 novel, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, would make it to the big screen. A tale which straddles multiple decades and features a host of colourful supporting characters, it's a book which almost seemed primed for cinematic treatment upon conception and now comes to life courtesy of director Felix Herngren. Swedish comedian and actor Robert Gustafsson plays the titular role of Allan Karlsson, once an explosives expert/obsessive with a penchant for vodka, now a dithering old gentleman who escapes from his care home as celebrations are being organised for his centenary.

With the release of The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared impending, we had the pleasure of speaking to the man at the helm, Felix Herngren. We discussed what inspired him to adapt this from the original novel, why he chose Robert Gustafsson for the lead role Allan, and how he balanced the comedy with the more poignant elements of the narrative. He also tells us how Alan Ford (Brick Top from Snatch) came to be involved…

The 100 Year Old Man is of course a novel originally – was it a book you always wanted to bring to the big screen, or were you actively on the lookout for ideas for a screenplay?

My friend Henrik Jansson-Schweizer, who is also a producer on the film, called me up a few years ago and said that I had to read this book it would make a fantastic film.

Based on the popular Jonas Jonasson novel of the same name, you’ll be thrilled to hear that this Felix Herngren production remains wholly faithful to the somewhat descriptive, elongated title. As this offbeat, surrealistic comedy, as promised, tells the wondrous story of The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

The titular protagonist is Allan Karlsson (Robert Gustafsson), a mischievous elderly resident, with an inclination to blow stuff up from time to time. One day, he escapes out of the window at his care facility to go for an adventure, taking the train to the first place that springs to mind. En route, he inadvertently finds himself the owner of a stranger’s bag – which soon transpires to have millions of euros within it. Suddenly he becomes the target of a dangerous gang of criminals who the money belongs to. However this is not the...

Following last week’s first wave of programming announcements, the Fantasia International Film Festival has revealed its second wave of programming, which includes a screening of Ju-On: The Beginning of the End and a 40th anniversary screening of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, where Tobe Hooper will be presented with a lifetime achievement award:

“Official Closing Film – Abel Ferrara’s Welcome To New York

Fantasia will close its 2014 edition with the North American Premiere of Abel Ferrara’s Welcome To New York, the controversial latest from the legendary filmmaker behind such landmarks as Bad Lieutenant, King Of New York, New Rose Hotel and the recently re-released Ms 45.

Welcome To New York is loosely based on the Dsk scandal and stars the iconic Gérard Depardieu in one of the bravest performances of his career. Co-starring is the equally sensational Jacqueline Bisset.

Abel Ferrara will be on hand to host this special evening,...

We're back with more titles heading to the 2014 Fantasia Film Festival as well as a few new images and word on a Lifetime Achievement Award for Tobe Hooper. Read on for all the details!

From the Press Release:

Following last week’s first wave of programming announcements, the Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to unveil additional highlights to rev you up for our July 10th Press Conference, where our full 2014 film lineup will be revealed.

Official Closing Film - Abel Ferrara’s Welcome To New York

Fantasia will close its 2014 edition with the North American Premiere of Abel Ferrara’s Welcome To New York, the controversial latest from the legendary filmmaker behind such landmarks as Bad Lieutenant, King Of New York, New Rose Hotel and the recently re-released Ms 45.

Welcome To New York is loosely based on the Dsk scandal and stars the iconic Gérard Depardieu in one of...

The 18th Fantasia International Film Festival’s second lineup of films was unveiled Thursday, and it features the closing night film on August 5, Welcome to New York directed by Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant, Ms. 45).

Ferrara will be present to talk about his latest film, starring Gérard Depardieu and Jacqueline Bisset. The film was received with warm reviews after appearing out of competition at Cannes and at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

The Fantasia Film Fest runs July 17 to August 5 in Montreal, and the full lineup of films, in addition to the ones already announced, will be released July 10.

View the whole press release of second wave lineup announcements below.

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Fantasia Announces Second Wave

Of 2014 Programming Montreal, Thursday June 26, 2014 – Following last week’s first wave of programming announcements, the Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to unveil additional highlights to rev you up for our July 10th Press Conference, where...

Robert Gustafsson has been called “the funniest man in Sweden.” Meh. Must be an acquired taste. For the uninitiated, the comedian’s mugging in a role that Peter Sellers might have aced in the 1960s is arguably one of the chief reasons that The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared sputters after an enjoyably antic start. Felix Herngren’s adaptation of the bestselling novel by Jonas Jonasson is an absurdist comic fable about an ordinary man who keeps stumbling into extraordinary circumstances. It plays like a broadly farcical Forrest Gump with elements of Zelig – only laced

read more...

World premieres include A Long Way down, starring Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul and Pierce Brosnan, and The Two Faces of January, the directorial debut of Drive screenwriter Hossein Amini starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac.

The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 6-16) has unveiled the 18-strong line-up for its Berlinale Special strand, including nine world premieres.

Stand-outs in the list include the world premiere of A Long Way Down, an adaptation of Nick Hornby’s bestseller about four people who meet on New Year’s Eve and form a surrogate family to help one another weather the difficulties of their lives. It stars Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul, Pierce Brosnan, Toni Collette and Imogen Poots.

Also receiving its world premiere will be con artist thriller The Two Faces of January, the directorial debut of Drive screenwriter Hossein Amini, which stars Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Inside Llewyn Davis’ Oscar Isaac.

Mexican actor Diego Luna...

Mongrel Has Date With ’100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out A Window’ Canada’s Mongrel Media has acquired the Swedish hit The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out A Window And Disappeared. Felix Herngren’s film is an adaption of Jonas Jonasson’s best-selling novel. It’s scored big in Scandinavia so far, earning $11.4M in 12 days of release in Sweden, and has been the top movie from the region at the box office in Norway and Denmark. The film is the lighthearted story of a healthy centenarian who decides it’s not too late to start over. When Allan (Robert Gustafsson) lands in a nursing home, he refuses to celebrate his 100th birthday and instead escapes out a window to embark on a journey that involves a suitcase of cash and a gang of criminals. Flashbacks reveal that Allan also played a key role in 20th century history when he was pals with U.

Mongrel Media has acquired all Canadian rights to The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared.

Felix Herngren’s (pictured) adaptation of Jonas Jonasson’s bsetselling novel opened top in Sweden on December 25 and earned $11.4m in its first 12 days. It ranked as the number three film in Norway and Denmark.

The film tells of a healthy centenarian who decides it not too late to start over. Robert Gustafsson stars.

Mongrel Media – in its 20th anniversary year – negotiated rights with Studiocanal and plans a summer release.

Per Fly’s biopic leads Swedish film award nominations with 11 nods, followed by Shed No Tears, The Reunion and Hotell.Scroll down for full nominations

Waltz With Monica (Monica Z), from Danish director Per Fly, leads the race for the Guldbagge (Golden Beetle) – the Swedish national film awards, now in its 50th year – with 11 nominations.

The story of legendary Swedish singer-actress Monica Zetterlund stars Edda Magnason in her first film role.

The biopic has been nominated for best film, best director, best cinematography and best actress for Magnason. Its other nominations include two of the three slots in the best supporting actor category for Kjell Bergqvist and Sverrir Gudnason.

Shed No Tears (Känn ingen sorg), about a man who dreams of success in the music world, has secured nine nominations. The film is directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein, back from Hollywood after directing action sequel Underworld: Awakening.

The duo have been nominated for best director...

In three weeks a healthy segment of nerd-dom (self included) will witness the closing chapter of an epic five-year saga. The Ronald D. Moore (of Star Trek repute) re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica is set to end, leaving a galactic void (zing!) previously occupied by the humans/cylon struggle for survival in the emptiness of space. Now that we won’t have Commander Adama, Colonel Tigh, or Starbuck for drinking buddies I’m going to have to find new excuses for why I can’t do whatever it is regular people have been doing on Friday nights. Two fans with more foresight than I got a head start on a project perfect for those BSG devotees with a lot of soon-to-be free time. Hoping to keep human/toaster tensions alive in the public mind, Robert Gustafson and Alec McNayr (the creators of the 2006 online hit Flipper Nation) just launched their new web series,...