News

Art house streamer and distributor Mubi has acquired The Secret Agent, from writer and director Kleber Mendonça Filho (Ghost Portrait, Bacurau, Aquarius), for the U.K., Ireland, India and Latin America, except for Brazil. The political thriller has been a standout in the Cannes Film Festival competition.

The Portuguese-language movie, about a technology expert returning to his hometown in 1977 to reunite with his young son and flee the country, premiered at Cannes on Sunday. The Secret Agent stars Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leon, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho and Hermila Guedes.

Mubi will unveil release plans for the various territories in the near future. It struck the deal with MK2, which is handling international sales on the movie. Neon has acquired the film for North America.

The Secret Agent is set in Brazil in 1977. “Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run,” reads a synopsis.

Neon has acquired the North American rights to the political thriller The Secret Agent from writer and director Kleber Mendonça Filho.

The Portuguese language pic — about a technology expert returning to his hometown in 1977 to reunite with his young son and flee the country — premiered in competition in Cannes on Sunday, May 18. Neon is planning a North American theatrical release later this year.

The Secret Agent stars Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leon, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho and Hermila Guedes.

Set in Recife, Brazil in 1977, the thriller follows Marcelo (Moura), a technology expert, as he is on the run from contract killers and federal officials. He arrives in Recife during carnival week, hoping to reunite with his son, only to find the city is unlikely to offer the refuge he seeks.

The Secret Agent is the Brazilian filmmaker’s third film to premiere In competition at Cannes, after Aquarius in 2016 and Bacurau,...

Filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian movie The Secret Agent, which has been rumored to be a finalist for the Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or, is having its stateside rights scooped up by Neon. A theatrical release is in the works for this year.

If the 1977-set political thriller takes home Cannes’ big prize, it will give Neon a sixth consecutive Palme d’Or win following last year’s Anora, Justine Triet’s 2023 winner Anatomy of a Fall, 2022’s Triangle of Sadness, 2021’s Titane and 2019’s Parasite. Out of that bunch, Anora and Parasite won Best Picture Oscars.

The Secret Agent premiered in competition at Cannes on Sunday to 100% fresh reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. The pic stars Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leone, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho and Hermila Guedes.

Set in Recife, Brazil in 1977, The Secret Agent follows Marcelo (Moura), a technology expert in his early 40s,...

Neon has acquired the North American rights to Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent.”

The film premiered in competition at Cannes on Sunday. Wagner Moura, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Gabriel Leone, Carlos Francisco, Alice Carvalho, and Hermila Guedes star.

Neon plans for a North American theatrical release later this year.

“The Secret Agent” is set in Recife, Brazil, in 1977 and follows Marcelo (Moura), a technology expert in his early 40s, who is on the run. He arrives in Recife during carnival week, hoping to reunite with his son but soon realizes that the city is far from being the non-violent refuge he seeks.

Variety chief film critic Peter Debruge said, “Mendonça began his career as a reporter and critic, and that sensibility infuses every frame, striking an enticing balance between originality and homage.”

The film was produced by Emilie Lesclaux. Co-producers include Nathanaël Karmitz, Elisha Karmitz, Fionnuala Jamison, Olivier Barbier,...

With the 2025 Cannes Film Festival kicking off on Tuesday, one key question is what movies not to miss on the Croisette.

From competition veterans like the Dardenne brothers, Kelly Reichardt and Joachim Trier to newly promoted auteurs like Ari Aster, Oliver Hermanus, Carla Simón and Oliver Laxe, THR’s chief film critic rounds up 10 essential premieres

Die, My Love

Lynne Ramsey first turned heads in Cannes with her stunning 1999 feature debut Ratcatcher, about a 12-year-old boy growing up in poverty in the Glasgow housing projects. The Scottish director returned to the Croisette three years later with Morvern Callar, graduating to the official competition with We Need to Talk About Kevin in 2011 and You Were Never Really Here in 2017. Admirers have had a long wait for Ramsey’s fifth feature, a thriller with a vein of comedy she describes as “dark and fucked-up,” starring Jennifer Lawrence as a new mother walloped by postpartum depression,...

Looking for a way to stay dry during the rainy month of April? What better place to cozy up than your local repertory cinema. For those based in New York and Los Angeles, the offerings over the next few weeks are some of the best of the year thus far, with multiple series being held on both coasts that put a light on some of cinema’s unsung heroes. Starting in the east, Film at Lincoln Center will be paying homage to UCLA’s L.A. Rebellion movement of the 1970s and ’80s. Revitalizing Black cinema after the market for Blaxploitation began to dwindle, this collective included filmmakers such as Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Larry Clark, Zeinabu irene Davis, and many more.

On the west coast, not only will the Eagle at Vidiots be celebrating the late Gene Hackman with showings of two of his films, but American Cinematheque will...

The International Jury for this year’s Venice International Film Festival has been finalized after the previous confirmation of French actress Isabelle Huppert as its chair.

Now, American director and screenwriter James Gray, British director and screenwriter Andrew Haigh, Polish director, screenwriter, and producer Agnieszka Holland, and Brazilian director-screenwriter Kleber Mendonça Filho are the latest additions to the jury. They will join Mauritanian director, screenwriter and producer Abderrahmane Sissako, Italian director-screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore, German director-screenwriter Julia von Heinz and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

The prestigious Golden Lion for best film and other awards will be revealed during the festival’s closing ceremony on Sept. 7.

Gray made his directorial debut in 1994 with Little Odessa, which received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. His other projects include The Yards (2000), starring Joaquin Phoenix, Two Lovers (2008) and The Immigrant (2013). The Lost City of Z had its world premiere at the New York...

“Baby,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week where it won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for joint acting lead Ricardo Teodoro, has closed further sales.

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal have sold the distribution rights to Ama Films for Greece, Mezipatra z.s for Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Falcon for Indonesia.

“Baby,” directed by Brazilian Marcelo Caetano and based on a screenplay by Caetano and Gabriel Domingues, follows 18-year-old Wellington, who finds himself alone and adrift on the streets of São Paulo, without any contact from his parents and lacking the resources to rebuild his life. He encounters Ronaldo, a mature man, who teaches him new ways of surviving. Gradually, their relationship turns into a conflicting passion.

Ama Films, whose recent releases include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist” (also handled by M-Appeal) and Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero,” plans to release “Baby” in cinemas at the end of the year.

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “Rivers of Dust,” Anna Muyleart’s “Geni and the Zeppelin” and “Pearl Motel,” fromJorge Furtado, feature among potential nine brand new projects announced at the Cannes Festival by Globo Filmes, the theatrical film co-production arm of Brazilian TV giant Globo.

With Mendonça Filho deep in pre-production on political thriller “The Secret Agent,” co-produced by France’s Mk Productions, details on “Rivers of Dust,” save that he will re-team on it with Juliano Dornelles after their 2019 Cannes Jury Prize winner “Bacurau.”

Elsewhere, the new projects speak volumes of Globo Filmes’ current content focus. There’s the broad spectrum. . Titles straddle commercial plays – gay espionage operatives comedy “Special Agents” from Pedro Antônio – “A” list festival plays such as “Rivers” and Geni” and cross-over titles such as sex-laced situation comedy “Pearl Motel.”

Above all, additions to Globo Filmes’ development slate underscore two of its biggest investment priorities.

One is diversity.

Berlin-based M-Appeal has taken on world sales rights to Brazilian director Marcelo Caetano’s Cannes Critics’ Week title Baby.

The film, scripted by Caetano and Gabriel Domingues, follows an 18-year-old boy who is released from a juvenile detention centre and finds himself adrift on the streets of São Paulo.

The Brazil-France-Netherlands co-production is made through Cup Filmes, Caetano’s Desbun Filmes, Plateau Produções, Still Moving, Circe Films and Kaap Holland Film. The cast is led by João Pedro Mariano, Ricardo Teodoro and Ana Flavia Cavalcanti.

M-Appeal also handled the director’s 2017 debut feature Body Electric. Vitrine Filmes will distribute Caetano’s second film in Brazil.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Anatomy of a Fall (Justin Triet)

The ensuing days after a romantic breakup, even if it isn’t a cataclysmic one, are an uncanny time. Perhaps once the spell of verbal conflict and sparring’s ceased, suddenly your sole companion for the most intimate thoughts is yourself once again, but it’s an opportune moment for contemplation: how did it really go wrong? Or, can I be honest with myself and acknowledge my own partial responsibility for its demise? For Sandra (Sandra Hüller) and Samuel (Samuel Theis), the key onscreen and offscreen players in Anatomy of a Fall, are enduring this quagmire, although their inevitable breakup was enforced––the latter has just tragically died. – David K. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD...

Film geeks, rejoice. Leading indie label Kino Lorber is entering the world of streaming. The company has launched Kino Film Collection, a new subscription video service available in the U.S. via’s Amazon’s Prime Video Channels. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, many now streaming for the first time. It will cost users $5.99 per month.

Films available at launch include award-winning theatrical releases and critically acclaimed festival favorites and classics from around the globe, such as The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci), Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos), Taxi (Jafar Panahi), Poison (Todd Haynes), Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn), The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran Anh Hung), A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour), Computer Chess (Andrew Bujalski), Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke), and A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke).

Joining them are entries...

Pictures Of Ghosts director Kleber Mendonça Filho with Anne-Katrin Titze on the impact of Agnès Varda’s Along The Coast, Manoel de Oliveira’s The Porto Of My Childhood, and Martin Scorsese’s Italianamerican: “It happens in every film. Sometimes just an imaginary friend comes along to help you.”

The first time I spoke with Kleber Mendonça Filho was when I was introduced to him and producer Emilie Lesclaux by Jytte Jensen at the Museum of Modern Art in 2012 after he presented Neighbouring Sounds (O Som Ao Redor) during New Directors/New Films. Over the years we continued to stay in touch, meeting up for conversations on Aquarius (a highlight in the Main Slate of the 54th New York Film Festival), starring Sônia Braga and in 2019 for Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize winner Bacurau, co-directed with Juliano Dornelles (a highlight in the Main Slate of the 57th New York Film...

A few weeks back, Mubi Podcast host Rico Gagliano traveled to the Cannes Film Festival, camera crew in tow, to chat it up with a cross-section of filmmakers debuting their movies there. Our Cannes Conversations mini-season continues this week with two new episodes.Episode Two: Kleber Mendonça FilhoIn 2019, Brazil's Kleber Mendonça Filho won the Jury Prize at Cannes with Bacurau, which he co-directed with Juliano Dornelles. This year he returned to the fest to premiere a documentary about movies … or more specifically, about the places we watch them.In this second conversation taped on location at Cannes '23, Filho tells host Rico Gagliano about Pictures of Ghosts. It's his look back at the movie palaces in his hometown of Recife, and how he's come to terms with the way that they—and lots of beloved city spaces—inevitably vanished.Episode Three: Monia ChokriQuebecois actor and director Monia Chokri is a Cannes regular.

Frédéric Corvez’s Paris-based Urban Sales has boarded “Pictures of Ghosts”, the latest film of renowned Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho.

The movie, which marks Mendonça Filho’s fifth feature film, will world premiere at Cannes in the Special Screenings section.

“Pictures of Ghosts” will mark the director’s third film to bow at Cannes, following two competition entries, “Bacurau” (co-directed by Juliano Dornelles) which won the Jury Prize n 2019, and “Aquarius” in 2016.

“Pictures of Ghosts” combines archive documentary, mystery, film clips and personal memories. The film is produced by Emilie Lesclaux at CinemaScópio Produções and co-produced by Silvia Cruz and Felipe Lopes’ Vitrine Filmes.

Described as a multidimensional journey through time, sound, architecture and filmmaking, “Pictures of Ghosts” is set in the urban landscape of Recife, located in the Brazilian coastal capital of Pernambuco. Having hosted dreams and progress, these places have also embodied a major transformation on social practices.

On Thursday evening, the Brazilian Cinematheque was engulfed in flames in western Sao Paulo, where the 6,500-square meter building has housed much of the country’s filmmaking legacy for decades. The organization was founded in 1940 and serves as the largest film archive in South America, with 250,000 rolls of film, 90,000 titles, one million documents and historical materials like early projectors.

Early reports suggest that the fire, the second to strike the complex in six years, was caused by a short-circuit in the air conditioning system. However, many in the Brazilian community have been quick to denounce the blaze as the fault of the government, which eliminated funding for the Cinematheque in early 2020 and caused it to remain abandoned since then.

While it remains too early to ascertain the full extent of the damage, early reports from the ground show that while there were no victims in the blaze, the fire has...

The 74th Cannes Film Festival has unveiled its jury which includes five women; a majority in the nine-person group including President Spike Lee.

The jury includes French-Senegalese actor-director Mati Diop whose 2019 movie Atlantics took home the Grand Prix from the festival; Crazy Heart Oscar nominated actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, French Inglorious Basterds actress Mélanie Laurent, Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner and French singer Mylène Farmer.

Rounding out the jury are French actor and recent Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated The Mauritanian actor Tahar Rahim, Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho and South Korean actor Song Kang-Ho who starred in the 2019 Cannes Palme d’Or winner and ultimate Oscar Best Picture winner, Parasite. Song has been a frequent star in Bong Joon Ho’s canon including The Host and Memories of Murder.

Diop’s Atlantics was shortlisted as one of the ten best international films at the Oscars. She has also directed several short-films...

The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the jury for the competition, which will be powered by a majority of women, including American actor-filmmaker Maggie Gyllenhaal, French actor-helmer Mélanie Laurent, French-Senegalese actor-director Mati Diop, Austrian director Jessica Hausner and cult French singer Mylene Farmer.

Spike Lee will presider over the jury which will also include French actor Tahar Rahim, Brazilian helmer Kleber Mendonça Filho and South Korean actor Song Kang-ho. It’s a history-making jury, with a first-time Black president and a ratio of five women to three men.

Gyllenhaal, who just made her directorial feature debut with “The Lost Daughter,” is best known for her roles in “Donnie Darko,” “Secretary,” and Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.” She earned her first Oscar nomination with “Crazy Heart” and won a Golden Globe for her performance in the miniseries “The Honourable Woman.” She went on to produce and star in the HBO...

Virtual cinema platforms that sprung up in response to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 lockdowns are set to remain a part of the landscape after theaters and film festivals reopen.

That was the consensus of participants taking part at an IFFR Pro conference on the growing possibilities for film distribution at the Rotterdam Film Festival on Tuesday.

Wendy Lidell, senior VP at Kino Lorber, joined Eve Gabereau, founder of London-based distrib Modern Films, producer Mynette Louie (“Swallow”) and Jovan Marjanović, the Sarajevo Film Festival’s head of industry, for the talk.

Lidell said exhibs would continue the practice in view of the fact that so many theaters had already launched their own platforms.

Kino Lorber launched its Kino Marquee digital service last year in an effort to ensure the continuity of its own distribution business and provide a means of support for shuttered arthouse cinemas.

Describing it as a “duplex” or hybrid model,...

The award-winning sensational Brazilian thriller currently nominated for ‘Best International Film’ Film Independent Spirit Awards! Bacurau Directed & Written by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles Starring Sônia Braga, Udo Kier, Bárbara Colen, Thomas Aquino, Silvero Pereira Winner: Jury Prize – Cannes Film Festival 2019 Winner, Best International Film – Boston Online Film Critics Association Runner-up, Foreign Language Film …

The post Indie Spirit Nom & Obama top pick: Bacurau, sensational award-winning Brazilian thriller appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

“First Cow,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Minari,” “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” and “Nomadland” scored Best Feature Film nominations for the 2021 Independent Spirit Awards, with “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” leading the pack with seven nominations. “Minari” had six film nominations, and “Nomandland” wound up with five.

And for the first time Film Independent recognized the best in TV. “A Teacher,” “I May Destroy You,” “Little America,” “Small Axe” and “Unorthodox” all landed nominations for Best New Scripted Series. “Unorthodox” and “Little America” each scored three nominations.

Nominations for the 36th annual ceremony were announced Tuesday via Film Independent’s website and YouTube channel by Laverne Cox, Barry Jenkins and Olivia Wilde.

Though the awards are generally held the Saturday afternoon before the Oscars ceremony, the show has been moved up to a primetime slot on Thursday, April 22 and will air on IFC that will also be simulcast on AMC+ and...

The Gotham Awards for the best in independent film kicked off this unusual awards season on Monday night, January 11. Presented by the Independent Filmmaker Project, these kudos are usually handed out in early December but were pushed back (as were many awards events) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So who won? Scroll down for the complete list of winners, updated live as they were announced.

SEEGotham nominee John Magaro (‘First Cow’) on how Cookie and King-Lu are ‘almost soulmates’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

These awards are limited to American films (apart from Best International Feature ) made with an economy of means, which means no budgets higher than $35 million. Nominees and winners were decided by juries of film experts and insiders. And for the first time in the awards’ history, all five of the nominees for Best Feature were directed by women: “The Assistant” by Kitty Green, “First Cow” by Kelly Reichardt, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” by Eliza Hittman,...

Brazilian horror adventure Bacurau named best foreign language film.

First Cow and Bacurau have been named best picture and best foreign-language film respectively by the New York Film Critics Circle (Nyfcc).

In the 2020 awards, Chloe Zhao was named best director for Nomadland, Sidney Flanigan best actress for Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Delroy Lindo best actor for Da 5 Bloods.

The Nyfcc picked Wolfwalkers as the year’s best animated film and Time as its best documentary.

Kelly Reichardt’s drama First Cow has been nominated for four of the upcoming Gotham Awards and is expected to be a contender...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSThe death of the great John le Carré reminds us of the power of secrets—the oldest of narrative devices. Thankfully, there’s a brand new festival launching, focused entirely on secrets. Spyflix will showcase stories from classic espionage and hacking adventures to thrillers, investigative documentaries, true crime, and detective stories. Spyflix is accepting submissions (for awards with cash prizes) now through February 28th, 2021, and will start screenings April 18th, 2021.The Sundance Film Festival has announced its 2021 lineup, which includes the latest Sion Sono, Theo Anthony, Christopher Makoto Yogi, and Ana Vatz.The country submissions for International Feature Film at the 2021 Academy Awards—currently scheduled for April next year—are keeping us on our toes. Beginning, which will be coming to Mubi next year, is Georgia's submission, and Jallikattu, a bold genre favorite from our Toronto coverage last year,...

One of the most esteemed film journalism outlets, BFI’s Sight & Sound, have delivered their list of the 50 best films of 2020. Topping the chart is Steve McQueen’s euphoric Lovers Rock, marking his second #1 ranking after Hunger.

As for the rest of the top 10, it’s dominated by female filmmakers, with 7 entries directed by women, including their #2 entry, and my personal favorite film of the year: Garrett Bradley’s Time. New films by Kelly Reichardt, Charlie Kaufman, Kirsten Johnson, Eliza Hittman, Tsai Ming-liang, and more round out the rest of the top 10.

Check out the top 20 below, followed by a link to the full top 50.

1. Lovers Rock (Dir. Steve McQueen)

2. Time (Dir. Garrett Bradley)

3. First Cow (Dir. Kelly Reichardt)

4. I’M Thinking Of Ending Things (Dir. Charlie Kaufman)

5. Saint Maud (Dir. Rose Glass)

6. Dick Johnson Is Dead (Dir. Kirsten Johnson)

7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Dir. Eliza Hittman)

8. Nomadland (Dir. Chloe Zhao)

9. Rocks (Dir.

“We’ve built up a track record by meeting challenges.”

Kino Lorber has picked up US rights to Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Venice Silver Lion winner Wife Of A Spy, the latest in a long line of festival gems and prestige titles that has helped the New York distributor further distinguish itself this year.

Richard Lorber and his team plan a spring 2021 release on the pre-Second World War Hitchcockian thriller about a Japanese actress and her wealthy merchant husband who try to smuggle evidence to the US of a human experimentation programme in Japan-controlled Manchuria.

Kurosawa reunites with Japanese actress Yu...

As the anxiety-ridden year of 2020 winds down, much will be said about how the pandemic has forever changed the film industry: crippling the arena of theatrical exhibition, yet also making films available for a wider-than-ever audience. Like most cinephiles, we’re looking to get our hands on the titles that may have slipped under the radar or simply gone unseen, so—as we do each year—we’re sharing a rundown of the best titles available to watch at home.

Curated from the Best Films of 2020 So Far list we published for the first half of the year, it also includes films we’ve enjoyed the past few months and some we’ve recently caught up with. This is far from a be-all, end-all year-end feature (that will come in December), but rather something that’s hopefully a helpful tool for readers to have a chance to seek out notable,...

‘Nomadland’ and ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ secure two nominations each.

Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow leads the nominations for the 30th IFP Gotham Awards, in which the nods for best feature are all directed by women.

Period drama First Cow, first seen at Telluride 2019 and released by A24, secured four nominations for best feature, screenplay and actor, for John Magaro, as well as breakthrough actor, for Orion Lee.

Scroll down for full list of nominations

Titles that scored two nominations included Chloe Zhao’s Venice Golden Lion winner Nomadland, for best feature and actress Frances McDormand; and Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always,...

This year’s awards season, delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, finally got underway with the announcement of the 2021 Gotham Awards nominations on November 12 (last year’s big reveal was on Oct. 24). These awards are presented by the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) and honor the best of the year as determined by small committees of film journalists and festival programmers. The five Best Feature nominees, which were all directed by women, are: “The Assistant,” “First Cow,” “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” “Nomadland” and “Relic.” Scroll down to see the complete list of contenders.

Will these awards preview the Oscars? Perhaps. Last year’s Best Feature award went to “Marriage Story,” which did go on to reap a Best Picture bid. However, that was the exception rather than the rule. Indeed, its rival Gotham Awards nominees — “The Farewell,” “Hustlers,” “Uncut Gems” and “Waves” — were all snubbed by the Academy Awards.

Why is this?...

The starting pistol of awards season has been officially fired with the 30th annual IFP Gotham Awards announcing its nominations and making history. For the first time, women direct all the nominees for best feature. Among them are “The Assistant” from Kitty Green, “First Cow” from Kelly Reichardt, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” from Eliza Hittman, “Nomadland” from Chloé Zhao and “Relic” from Natalie Erika James.

In the best actor category, Chadwick Boseman received a posthumous nomination for his work in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” a performance likely to be shortlisted by many awards bodies over the next few months. The other nominees included Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Jude Law (“The Nest”), John Magaro (“First Cow”) and Jesse Plemons (“I’m Thinking of Ending Things”).

For the actresses, the group gave a very diverse field of cultures and experience. Nicole Beharie’s turn in “Miss Juneteenth” is a riveting portrait, and...

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (Hkiffs) today announces a series of special in-theatre screenings to mark the reopening of cinemas in Hong Kong.

The CineFest series will feature films from the previously cancelled 44th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF44) and Cine Fan programmes, including this year’s Firebird Award winners.

Supported by Create Hong Kong and the Film Development Fund, all screenings will take place daily for five weeks from 30 September at K11 Art House in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Hkiffs Executive Director Albert Lee said Hkiffs would announce weekly line-ups and screening schedules starting today.

“Despite this year’s cancellations and disruptions, we have not stopped anticipating ways to re-engage Hong Kong’s film-lovers and to share our choices and discoveries with them once the situation returns to normal,” Mr Lee said.

To ensure public safety, Hkiffs will continue to comply with every in-theatre health measure mandated...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Afterschool, Christine, and Simon Killer (Antonio Campos)

Before his star-studded gothic drama The Devil All the Time lands on Netflix in a few weeks, Antonio Campos’ first three features arrive on the streaming platform this week. Each a fascinating career study in isolation and loneliness, captured with a formally controlled eye, it’ll be curious in comparison to see how Campos tackles his first true ensemble film. For now, it’s the perfect time to revisit this trio of impressive indies. – Jordan R.

Where to Stream: Netflix

The August Virgin (Jonás Trueba)

In the new movie The August Virgin, a young woman named Eva wanders the sidewalks and watering...

If you’re looking to dive into the best of independent and foreign filmmaking, The Criterion Channel has announced their August 2020 lineup. The impressive slate includes retrospectives dedicated to Mia Hansen-Løve, Bill Gunn, Stephen Cone, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders, Alain Delon, Bill Plympton, Les Blank, and more.

In terms of new releases, they also have Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau, the fascinating documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, the Kenyan LGBTQ drama Rafiki, and more. There’s also a series on Australian New Wave with films by Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, David Gulpilil, and Peter Weir, as well as one on bad vacations with Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, and more.

See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.

25 Ways to Quit Smoking, Bill Plympton, 1989

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Roy Rowland,...

Bacurau, the third feature from Kleber Mendonca Filho, co-directed by Juliano Dornelles (who served as production designer on Filho’s Neighboring Sounds in 2012 and on 2016’s Aquarius), premiered in competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and picked up the Jury Prize. Kino Lorber edged it into theaters at the beginning of March 2020 and resumed streaming online when theaters closed down.

From our review at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival:

“A heady melding of local cultural motifs, morbid politically-minded histories and exploitation slasher vibes, Bacurau, the latest from Brazilian auteur Kleber Mendonça Filho, joined in the director’s seat by Juliano Dornelles, is a hard nut to crack, to say the least.…...

I read Ira Deutchman’s recent article about virtual cinema with great interest. As the first to market with a virtual cinema title – Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’s “Bacurau” on Thursday, March 19 – we at Kino Marquee have thought a great deal about this phenomenon.

I am gratified that Ira is prophesying what we at Kino Lorber also believe to be the case — that virtual cinema is here to stay for the foreseeable future. As someone in the business almost as long as Ira, I share his commitment to the theatrical experience. I had a hard enough time accepting DCPs into my 35mm world, let alone digital delivery to the home. But when theaters shut down in mid-March as a result of the pandemic, it took me about two beats to realize we had to find a work around, and that work around was digital delivery to audiences in partnership with movie theaters.

A year like no other in film history, 2020 has seen numerous releases and productions delayed, along with worlds of exhibition and distribution needing to rethink their business models. As we near the halfway mark of this tumultuous year, the Oscars and other awards ceremonies have decided to move the marker of eligibility windows to allow more films to be considered but as we look back at the first six months and round up our favorite titles thus far, there’s already plenty of worthwhile films to consider.

While the end of this year will bring personal favorites from all of our writers, think of the below 20 entries (and honorable mentions) as a comprehensive rundown of what should be seen before heading into the back half of the year. As a note, this feature is based solely on U.S. theatrical and digital releases from 2020, with the majority widely available, as noted.

Discussing the challenges and opportunities in a landscape radically altered by the Covid-19 lockdown, Richard Lorber of U.S. distrib Kino Lorber said Monday that his company was quickly transforming into a media and technology company due to the focus on its Kino Marquee virtual theatrical exhibition initiative.

Speaking at a Cannes Marché du Film Online conference focusing on how independent streamers are responding to the crisis, Lorber said Kino Marquee had in the past two and a half months generated nearly $700,000 in ticket sales from 13 films. Half of that revenue is going to its partner theaters, which currently include 400 screens, all independent and arthouse cinemas as well as small arthouse chains, he added.

Launched in March, Kino Marquee enables movie theaters shuttered by the outbreak to continue to offer films to their audiences and generate revenue while also allowing moviegoers to support their local theaters.

Kino Marquee’s first...

Faced with the prospect of no theatrical releases for the unforeseeable future, independent movie theatres and distributors across the United States have joined forces to release films digitally and keep afloat amid the global health crisis. In a matter of weeks, “virtual cinemas” offerings have skyrocketed, as distribution labels like Kino Lorber, Magnolia, Oscilloscope, and Film Movement—among many others—are offering cinephiles a whole array of unreleased festival darlings to stream from the comforts of home, with the revenue split between cinemas and distributors. It’s an on-demand entertainment model exhibitors have staunchly resisted for years, evidence that unprecedented times require unprecedented measures. But while virtual cinemas are being touted as an extraordinary safety plan, questions remain over the long-term consequences they may have on the industry in the post-covid-19 scenario. Will virtual cinemas only disincentivize viewers from returning to theatres once the pandemic subsides? If so, is the tactic essentially a Trojan horse?...

Fundraising campaign will contribute to the BFI’s Fan Covid-19 Resilience Fund.

Streaming service Mubi has launched a UK Cinema Fund in a bid to support exhibitors impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The fund has been launched with a £10,000 donation from Mubi and the campaign aims to raise £100,000. The total will be donated to the BFI Fan Covid-19 Resilience Fund, which was set up this month to offer relief to exhibitors across the UK.

Funds will be used to support independent cinemas, film festivals and other organisations that have been closed in a bid to stem the spread of the virus.

Film at Lincoln Center has revealed a slate of April and May “openings” in its upcoming Flc Virtual Cinema.

The streaming rentals, a mix of festival titles, commercial releases and catalog fare, range from $10 to $12, some with member discounts. Half of all proceeds will benefit the storied New York film organization.

During the lockdown of Covid-19, with the disease disproportionately affecting New York City, film and the rest of Lincoln Center’s artistic and cultural offerings have taken a significant hit. The Metropolitan Opera, for example, is now reported to be tens of millions of dollars in the hole after canceling its season.

‘Portrait Of A Lady On Fire’ leads Mubi chart.

Safy Nebbou’s Who You Think I Am has topped UK streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema’s (Chc) most-watched films for a second week as audiences continue to seek home entertainment during the lockdown.

A month after all cinemas closed across the UK, in a bid to stem the spread of Covid-19, Curzon’s streaming platform reported a 211% revenue increase on the equivalent weekend in 2019.

However, income from April 17-19 was down 31% on the previous weekend, highlighting the importance of launching strong, new titles on a weekly basis.

Romantic drama Who You Think I Am,...

After considering postponing or running online, the 37th edition will now take place in 2021.

The 37th edition of the Munich Film Festival has been postponed by a year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The film festival, which is Germany’s biggest after the Berlinale, was due to run June 25 to July 4 but will now take place in the summer of 2021. Exact dates have yet to be announced.

Organisers had discussed shortening the festival to just a few days with small gatherings, to take social distancing into consideration. Other suggestions were to postpone it to the autumn or pivot the event online.

Local art house theaters need your support during the coronavirus pandemic just as much as the major theater chains, and now there are several “virtual cinema” options for film lovers to support those movie theaters from the comfort of your own homes.

A number of indie distributors and art house theater chains have launched virtual cinema streaming platforms that are designed to give art house fans access to new titles they can no longer see in theaters, but they’ve done so with the support of the individual theaters that would’ve otherwise screened those films.

VOD streaming rentals for a new title can be made directly through a specific theater in your local community, such as Film at Lincoln Center in New York or the Music Box in Chicago. So far, Kino Lorber, Film Movement, Magnolia and Alamo Drafthouse all have their own similar offerings.

Here’s a quick...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

And Then We Danced (Levan Akin)

To be a Georgian male is to be masculine—especially in dance. Merab’s (Levan Gelbakhiani) teacher Aleko (Kakha Gogidze) demands that he stand straighter and stronger, a monument that can withstand any blow. While his country’s aesthetic had allowed for a softer tone, conservative tradition prevailed a half century ago to move things back to the rigid separation of gendered movement and the complete erasure of sexuality. How Aleko’s dancers perform becomes a visual metaphor for their nation. It will not be defeated. It will not show weakness. And anyone who dares to refuse giving one hundred...

Kino Lorber’s Kino Marquee initiative, which looks to help arthouses at a time when they’ve been shuttered in the coronavirus climate, has mushroomed from 12 theaters last week to 150 including Alamo Drafthouse and Laemmle Theaters.

For the price of $12, Kino Marquee is streaming last year’s Cannes Grand Jury Prize winner, Bacurau, on arthouses’ regional cinema websites. Those who pay to watch the Sonia Braga movie, say on the Laemmle site, the profits are then split between the theater and Kino Lorber. The Kino Marquee was launched to enable movie audiences to continue to support their local theaters by paying to view pics digitally during the nationwide shutdown of theaters.

Each rental of Bacurau lasts fives days, and there’s a virtual Q&a with filmmakers and cast hosted by Bam which will be available for all to watch on Wednesday, April 1 at 8pm Et. Kino Lorber also plans to offer top films from other independent distributors via Kino Marquee.

Alamo Drafthouse, Laemmle Theaters latest participants to sign on.

Kino Lorber’s virtual theatrical exhibition initiative Kino Marquee has expanded to 150 art house theatres to screen Cannes-prize winning Brazilian thriller Bacurau.

Alamo Drafthouse and Laemmle Theaters have become the latest participants to sign on to screen through many of their locations. A virtual Q&a with filmmakers and cast hosted by Bam will be available to watch on April 1 at 8pm Et.

Kino Marquee launched last week amid theatre closures brought on by the coronavirus outbreak and offers virtual releases with participating theaters for currently scheduled and upcoming Kino Lorber...

"Mapping Bacurau" runs March 13–24, 2020 at Film at Lincoln Center in New York. Update: Film at Lincoln Center has suspended all screenings due to public health concerns related to Covid-19. Mubi is showing Bacurau from March 19 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, and Germany.Above: Cabra Marcado Para MorrerIn 1981, Brazil’s greatest documentary director, Eduardo Coutinho, took a long trip down Paraíba’s poor roads, deep into the backcountry, to find a woman who didn’t want to be found. Elizabeth Teixeira had gone underground 17 years earlier, after the military staged a coup, in 1964, and declared a war on leftists. Teixeira’s husband, João Pedro, a leader of a rural league, had been murdered by the military police, on behest of a local landowner. Fearing for her life, her children dispersed, Elizabeth changed her name and disappeared. But then Coutinho wasn’t one to give up. He had once tried to...

Moviegoing Memories is a series of short interviews with filmmakers about going to the movies. Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles's Bacurau is streaming exclusively on Mubi in select territories March 19 – April 18, 2020Kleber MENDONÇA Filho: Where and what is your favorite cinema?Juliano Dornelles: In all of the travel with Bacurau, I’ve had the opportunity to be in many wonderful movie theaters around the world. But the one that stays in my heart is my movie theater—our movie theater—the Cinema São Luiz, in Recife. It’s where we watched a lot of wonderful films from the end of the 80s.MENDONÇA Filho: I have to say São Luiz also. It’s a 1952 movie palace, it’s very well-equipped and it has become a kind of Ground Zero for the local film scene. We could do a film with international guests and people from other cities in Brazil,...

Indie distributor Kino Lorber is partnering with art house theaters across the country in launching an online film exhibition service called Kino Marquee designed to help generate revenue for independent theaters shuttered during the coronavirus crisis.

Kino Marquee will host virtual releases for participating theaters that were previously scheduled to screen the distributor’s latest release, “Bacurau.” And Kino Lorber has sent invitations to all 60 theaters that had previously committed to book “Bacurau” in the hopes of expanding the service.

Films will be booked from Fridays to Thursdays and will be presented on dedicated web pages headed by each theater’s branded marquee and will be available to stream for a rental period. So even though the Marquee service is hosted through Kino Lorber’s Kino Now VOD streaming service, the only way to access the landing page for new films will be through the website of your specific, local art house theater.

Here’s another story of enterprise and innovation among the coronavirus destruction.

U.S. arthouse distributor Kino Lorber is launching a virtual theatrical exhibition initiative called Kino Marquee to enable movie theaters shuttered by the coronavirus outbreak to continue to serve their audiences and generate revenue.

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Virtual holdovers will be determined by performance, and revenue will be split between distributor and exhibitor. The initiative is also designed to let movie audiences support their local theaters.

The initiative has been designed to emulate the moviegoing experience as much as possible. Films will be booked from Fridays to Thursdays and presented on dedicated web pages headed by each theater’s branded marquee.

The first Kino Marquee screenings are with...