News

German sales outfit The Playmaker Munich, formerly Arri Media International, has shared with Variety the international trailer of psychological thriller “Wolka,” produced by leading Icelandic banner Sagafilm with Poland’s Film Produkcja.

The feature will bow as a market premiere at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films, Scandinavia’s major film showcase which runs Aug. 24-27.

The atmospheric trailer follows Anna (Olga Bołądź) as she gets out of a Polish jail on parole after 15 years behind bars. She soon travels from Warsaw to Iceland, on the tail of a mysterious Dorota (Anna Moskal) who has blended into the nation’s largest ethnic minority. Composer Atli Örvarsson and cinematographer Marek Rajca (“South by North”) capture the escalating tension as Anna’s arrival rocks Dorota’s life, established under a false identity.

The images reveal the cultural challenges for the strong community of nearly 10,000 immigrant Poles living in Iceland, tagged by Dorota in...

The Man in the Magic Box is an indie, foregin film. Shot in Warsaw, Poland, this title completed a film festival run in 2017. Now, this sci-fi drama is set to show in the U.S., via Artsploitation Films. The Man with the Magic Box takes place in the future. When the protagonist discovers an old radio from the 1950s, he begins to remember his past life. This film will release next month. And, the film is from director Bodo Kox. Olga Boladz ("Botoks"), Piotr Polak and Sebastian Stankiewicz centrally star. A preview of the film's upcoming release is hosted here. The trailer shows some of the film's time-shifting. The main character is sometimes in 2030 Poland. Then, he is back in the 1950s. These two timelines collide as this part-time janitor, finds love in a tumultuous time. Artsploitation Films will make this film available on April 4th. On this date, The Man with the Magic Box...

A Polish-born Holocaust survivor decides to travel from Buenos Aires to Lodz to fulfill a promise he made nearly 70 years earlier in Argentine writer-director Pablo Solarz’s touching, albeit occasionally heavy-handed, drama “The Last Suit.” Thankfully, this late-life road movie also boasts plenty of poignant and humorous moments that will play well with older viewers and those seeking Jewish-interest content. After reaping numerous audience awards on the festival circuit, the film begins a U.S. theatrical run in New York on Sept. 21, before expanding to Los Angeles on Sept. 28 and later the hinterlands via small but enterprising distribution outfit Outsider Pictures.

Despite a bum right leg that he nicknames “tzuris” because of the aggravation it gives him, stubborn, 88-year-old retired tailor Abraham Bursztein still has plenty of fight and flair left in him. Unfortunately, his family refuses to recognize it. Bursztein, like some latter-day King Lear, has already foolishly divided his property among his daughters,...

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Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story [my review]

Alexandra Dean writes and directs this documentary about 1940s Hollywood superstar Hedy Lamarr.

The Divine Order [IMDb] pictured

Petra Volpe writes and directs this historical dramedy about Swiss women agitating for the right to vote in 1971. Starring Marie Leuenberger, Rachel Braunschweig, Sibylle Brunner, Bettina Stucky, and Marta Zoffoli.

You Were Never Really Here [IMDb]

Lynne Ramsay writes and directs this crime drama about a (male) veteran who finds missing girls for a living.

Mom and Dad [my review]

Selma Blair and Anne Winters costar in this horror movie about what happens when parents turn murderously on their children. (male writer-director)

Kobiety mafii [IMDb]

Olga Boladz and Agnieszka Dygant costars in this drama about women caught up in the Polish criminal underworld. (male writers and director)

Plot 35 [IMDb]

Documentary about a (male) filmmaking exploring the family mystery of the disappearance of his little sister as a child.

Wonder Wheel [IMDb]

Kate Winslet...