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European Film Promotion has selected 20 rising European producers for the 26th edition of its Producers on the Move networking program, which runs during the Cannes Film Festival. Variety is the program’s main media partner.

The following producers are taking part: Blerina Hankollari (Albania), Andi G. Hess (Austria), Géraldine Sprimont (Belgium), Magdelena Ilieva (Bulgaria), Tamara Babun Zovko (Croatia), Daniel Mühlendorph (Denmark), Lionel Massol (France), Fred Burle (Germany), Claudia Sümeghy (Hungary), Deirdre Levins (Ireland), Francesca Andreoli (Italy), Kristele Pudane (Latvia), Klementina Remeikaitė (Lithuania), Vincent Quénault (Luxembourg), Bojana Radulović (Montenegro), Janne Hjeltnes (Norway), Agnieszka Wasiak (Poland), Carla Fotea (Romania), Eliza Jones (Sweden) and Thomas Reichlin (Switzerland).

They will take part in sessions designed to foster international co-productions, boost the exchange of experiences and help create new professional networks. Pre-festival kick-off online gatherings, which already started yesterday and are going to run until April 30, offer one-to-one speed meetings, roundtables and pitching sessions. All...

French film finance, production and distribution group Logical Pictures is out in force in Cannes this year with connections to 11 films, including Competition titles Emilia Perez, Limonov and Parthenope.

The company helped bankroll the Palme d’Or contenders through its three-year co-production and co-financing deal with French major Pathé, which was announced in early 2023 and involves its Logical Content Ventures fund.

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patellière’s The Count of Monte Cristo, which world premieres Out of Competition later this week, was also partly financed under the deal.

Logical Pictures President Frédéric Fiore and COO Yannick Bossenmeyer co-founded Logical Pictures in 2016 with a focus on film finance as well as digital innovation around blockchain and rights management.

Early investments included Coralie Fargeat’s first feature Revenge, Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure as well as Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s The Deep House.

Less than a decade later, the...

The heart of “Wild Diamond,” the only debut to play in competition at Cannes this year, is a story we’ve seen before. A young woman living in grim-to-disappointing circumstances has dreams of stardom, and her journey toward fame takes her to dark places, physically and emotionally. You can find versions of this scenario in Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank” to Ninja Thyberg’s “Pleasure.” Director Agathe Riedinger’s debut feature has little new to say about the pursuit of fame and the toll it takes despite a truly unique heroine in Liane, played with a strange and alluring distance by Malou Khebizi. It’s only a shame that the film does her a disservice in leaving the world around her underdeveloped.

The 19-year-old Liane has mastered the art of making herself up for the internet. In one sequence, we watch as she gets ready. She contours her face with precision.

“We are not there to be the sex police. We actually want it to look really good and we’re very highly trained in how to do that” –Rebecca Johannsen, on the role of an intimacy coordinator

As the film community continues to process the fallout of the #MeToo movement and keeps growing in its awareness of the trauma caused by the mishandling of actors on set, a critical new production role has emerged: the intimacy coordinator (Ic). But while the role has been largely welcomed by the industry since it started appearing on call sheets in 2017 the job is still widely misunderstood.

To teach our community more about the value a skilled Ic can bring to a project, Film Independent Education’s Filmmaker Tuesdays invited intimacy coordinator Rebecca Johannsen–of Intimacy Professionals Association (Ipa)–to hold a group workshop around the topic on April 23 at Film Independent’s Wilshire Boulevard HQ.

Denis Lavant, the iconic French actor of Claire Denis’ “Beau Travail” and Leos Carax’ “Holy Motors,” stars in “Redoubt,” the feature debut of rising contemporary artist-turned-director John Skoog.

Currently in post, the black-and-white film is produced by Plattform Produktion, the Goteborg-based banner run by two-time Palme d’Or winning director Ruben Ostlund (“Triangle of Sadness”) and Erik Hemmendorff. Skoog previously directed the California-set documentary short “Shadowland” which completed for a Golden Bear at the Berlinale.

“Redoubt” (“Reduit”) is a narrative film that expands on Skoog’s video installation by the same name which won the prestigious Baloise Art Prize in 2014, and is also part of the artist’s exhibition “Walls.”

Lavant’s reclusive character in “Redoubt” is inspired by Karl-Göran Persson, a farmer known as a good samaritan on the verge of madness, who lived near Skoog’s home town Kvidinge during WWII. After receiving a warning by the Swedish...

On July 19, the MPA ratings board handed an Nc-17 rating to “Passages,” Ira Sachs’s acclaimed drama about a very unusual love triangle. The film was set to be released just two weeks later; Sachs and his distributor, Mubi, were understandably upset. The scene that triggered the Nc-17 rating, as is often the case in situations like this one, was an extended sex scene (the MPA does not like things that are long). As almost always happens, the filmmaker and the distributor immediately committed themselves to releasing the movie unrated. “There’s no untangling the film from what it is,” Sachs told the Los Angeles Times. “It is a film that is very open about the place of sexual experience in our lives. And to shift that now would be to create a very different movie.”

He’s totally right, of course. Yet in the days that followed, as I...

Pleasure Review Video — Pleasure (2021) Video Movie Review, a movie directed by Ninja Thyberg, written by Ninja Thyberg and Peter Modestij, and starring Sofia Kappel, Zelda Morrison, Evelyn Claire, Dana DeArmond, Kendra Spade, Jason Toler, John Strong, Aiden Starr, Axel Braun, Bill Bailey, and Chris Cock. Plot Synopsis Pleasure‘s plot synopsis: “19-year-old [...]

Continue reading: Video Movie Review: Pleasure (2021): It’s a Brave Picture, a Flawed one, but One that Should be Seen...

While I can confidently say for all of us who make up the team here at Directors Notes that the daily mix of watching and curating films is a constant joy, what really makes the work that we do each and every day at Dn special is getting to speak to the filmmakers behind our favourite pieces of cinema. 2022 was a bumper year for those conversations, with filmmakers generously taking us deep into their processes; from new filmmakers who have appeared as exciting fresh voices on the scene, to regular Dn alums whose project-to-project development as artists we’ve tracked closely on our pages, to filmmakers we haven’t seen for over a decade making triumphant returns with some of their most vital work to date. Last year we continued to scout out new gems from film festivals around the globe with the continuation of our popular Best of Fest collections,...

Click here to read the full article.

The Alice Initiative, backed by a group of anonymous female film executives, has released its annual survey of up-and-coming female directing talent, ready for their first studio feature.

The Alice Initiative’s 2022 List of Emerging Female Directors is voted on every two years by executives and producers and is made up of 10 directors who have directed at least one, non-studio feature and another 10 directors that have yet to direct a feature but have garnered attention for their work on TV or in short films.

Past list honorees have included The Farewell’s Lulu Wang and Portrait of a Lady on Fire‘s Céline Sciamma. Feature film directors from The Alice Initiative’s 2020 list included Laure de Clermont-Tonnere, who helmed Netflix’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Where the Crawdads Sing directors Olivia Newman.

The Alice Initiative is continuing its partnership with Women Wednesdays. Started by Carly Kleinbart,...

Ti West’s phenomenal slasher X has really rocked the horror scene this year, with its back-to-back prequel Pearl recently grabbing rave reviews, and thoroughly satisfying the fan community with its imagination, style and undying love for the greats of the genre. The duology also marks a recent spike in movies looking at the adult film industry, with pictures like Pleasure by Swedish director Ninja Thyberg being talking points on the film festival circuits over the last year or two. There have been plenty of similarly creative and evocative movies on the subject since the dawn of the Porno Chic era in the early 1970s that offer deep personal insights into the world of adult cinema. Here are some top titles to check out.

Italy’s theatrical box office is finally showing some encouraging signs after long lagging behind other European countries in terms of post-pandemic returns.

“Don’t Worry Darling,” segueing from its Venice launch, opened better in Italy than in France and Germany last weekend when the Harry Styles and Florence Pugh-starrer scored €965,000 from Italian screens in the frame ending September 25, landing in the number two spot.

The “Avatar” re-release weighed in at number one in Italian theaters with €1.65 million (1.61 million), a better opening than Germany.

The same frame saw three Italian films – all Venice launches – among the top ten. Most notable of these is Gianni Amelio’s “Lord of the Ants,” a biopic of Italian poet and playwright Aldo Braibanti, who was jailed in 1968 due to a Fascist-era anti-gay law. “Ants” has now scored a decent more than €1.4 million (1.36 million) since bowing on Sept. 8 and briefly reaching the numero uno slot.

[Editor’s note: The following story contains light spoilers for “Sharp Stick.”]

There’s been a lot of panic lately about whether or not Gen Z is having enough sex. Based on a few studies that first appeared in 2016, the handwringing headlines include BuzzFeed declaring Gen Z Is Having Less Sex Than Previous Generations, Newsweek asking What’s Driving Gen Z’s Aversion to Sex?, and The Guardian dubbing it Gen Z’s Sex Recession.

Gen Z encompasses those born between 1996 and 2012, making the youngest Zoomers 10 and the oldest 26 years old, which also means that the evolving reasons for this supposed downturn are mostly still conjecture. The Guardian suggests it’s a good thing, with a growing awareness around consent leading to a “quality over quantity” attitude. One study found a correlation between reduced alcohol consumption and reduced casual sex. Others have blamed helicopter parents.

As the unofficial documentarian of Millennial sexuality, especially as it pertained to young women with her hit HBO show “Girls,...

Stars: Sofia Kappel, Revika Anne Reustle, Evelyn Claire, Chris Cock, Dana Dearmond, Kendra Spade, Jason Toler, Lance Hart, Mark Spiegler | Written by Ninja Thyberg, Peter Modestij | Directed by Ninja Thyberg

A great feature debut for Ninja Thyberg. An honest, and often brutal look at the porn industry. Pleasure is shown through the eyes of a woman torn between her ambition and the reality of the harsh and cutthroat lifestyle of being a porn star.

A young woman from Sweden arrives in LA with ambitions to be the next big star in the adult film industry, it sounds like the plot from one of the porn films this girl will end up staring in, but the film is so much more than that. The woman is Bella Cherry, played by the new and brilliant Sofia Kappel who makes her debut in this complex role. It’s through her eyes we get to discover this world,...

Complex, candid porn drama Pleasure and pitch-black sex-business satire Red Rocket follow in the writhing wake of Boogie Nights et al

Pornography is a tricky subject for mainstream or even respectable arthouse cinema, forcing film-makers to walk a fine line: veil or sanitise the subject too much and you lose any sense of authenticity; lean too far into its taboo realities and you risk running afoul of the censors yourself. Two new-to-streaming films take differing (and differently gendered) approaches to the American porn industry’s consumption of its performers.

Swedish director Ninja Thyberg’s striking debut, Pleasure, challenges viewers with frank imagery and endurance-testing scenes of sexual exploitation – though rather than feeling like a leering provocation, there’s a clinical ring of truth to it. Out now on Mubi (after a one-night-only cinema stint last week), it’s a tough, de-glittered spin on an oft-told story: young ingenue arrives in...

Further new releases include ’Good Luck To You Leo Grande’ and ‘Pleasure’.

Lightyear will be hoping to blast to the top of the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, with Disney releasing the animation at 654 locations.

Pixar’s Buzz Lightyear origin story has had a lukewarm reception from critics, but the Angus MacLane-directed title will hope to capitalise on the enduring influence of the Toy Story franchise. When Toy Story 4 was released in 2019, it broke a record for the highest ever three-day opening for an animated title in the UK, opening in 668 venues, and taking £13.3m.

Chris Evans takes...

Whatever your opinions on the subject, pornography is an industry worth an estimated 15bn a year and is very much a mainstay of our world. Whilst there are undoubtedly dark seams which permeate all facets of the adult entertainment industry, Swedish Writer-Director Ninja Thyberg has worked tirelessly over a decade to offer a revelatory and intimate snapshot of the industry which doesn’t pander to preconceived prejudices about those for whom porn is a job. Her debut feature Pleasure (which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival) is both shocking and captivating, taking audiences inside the mechanics of the extraordinarily explicit scenes available for all to stream at the click of a button, yet at its heart, tells the story of a young woman trying to succeed in her chosen career and the day to day struggles which embody any climb up the proverbial ladder.

Thyberg’s 2013 Cannes-winning short film of...

Sofia Kappel is striking as a young Swedish actor taking her first steps into the adult film industry, where power relations are the same as they ever were

No fictional movie about porn is as revealing on the subject as actual porn, and however ironic or tragicomic or poignantly insightful, dramas like this are always suspect on the have-your-cake-and-eat-it issue of hitching a free ride on the dark fascination of porn itself. The greatest porn drama of our time is probably still Emma Stone’s classic SNL sketch about the serious actress who applies her method training to a brief role she gets in a porn film.

But Ninja Thyberg’s explicit movie (developed from an earlier short of the same title) is an interesting and even pioneering film on this issue because it is explicitly about consent: about the elaborate failsafe discussions that female performers in the adult industry...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Sylvia Kristel in Emmanuelle (1974). Audrey Diwan, whose film Happening won last year's Golden Lion at Venice, will be directing an English-language adaptation of the erotic novel Emmanuelle. The film will star Léa Seydoux in the titular role, which was first played by the great Sylvia Kristel. Ahead of this new iteration of Emmanuelle, we also recommend reading Abbey Bender's reappraisal of the subversive softcore series.Lynne Ramsay has announced her next feature: an adaptation of Margaret Atwood's short story Stone Mattress, starring Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh. The story takes place on a cruise into the Arctic Passage, where protagonist Verna (to be played by Moore) encounters a man from her past.Recommended VIEWINGThe trailer for Three Thousand Years of Longing, George Miller's first film since 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road.

Though “Pleasure” has been (some say wrongfully) hailed as an authentic portrayal of the porn industry, discerning viewers have other options for films made with the full consent of the participating talent. As Ninja Thyberg’s fictional look at a young girl’s ruthless rise to fame in LA’s porn industry was released by Neon last week, two considerably more legitimate documentaries took a bow, playing theaters in New York and Los Angeles.

“Kamikaze Hearts” and “Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life” may be 30 years apart, but these brutally honest portrayals of two charismatic queer porn stars are indelibly linked by blood, sweat, and other fluids.

Through candid portrayals of two mega-stars of their days, both films offer a rough and raw look at the joys and defeats of a life in the adult industry. While they could hardly be deemed positive depictions of sex work and porn, at least...

Pleasure Review — Pleasure (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Ninja Thyberg, written by Ninja Thyberg and Peter Modestij and starring Sofia Kappel, Zelda Morrison, Evelyn Claire, Dana DeArmond, Kendra Spade, Jason Toler, John Strong, Aiden Starr, Axel Braun, Bill Bailey and Chris Cock. Filmmaker Ninja Thyberg doesn’t waste a lot of time in [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Pleasure (2021): Sofia Kappel Stars in a Very Intriguing Drama About the Adult Film Industry...

Roadside Attractions’ faith-based family comedy Family Camp opened to 1.42 million and is no. 9 of the top 10 ten this weekend on 854 screens. One of the strongest specialty openings this year, the film saw a release campaign led by Wta Media lean heavily into the faith-based audience with strong grassroots marketing to churches and ministry organizations, an active digital and social presence and partnerships with the K-love and Air1 faith-based radio networks.

Star Tommy Woodard and Eddie James (The Skit Guys) have promoted the film at their live events for the past six months.

Top performing markets were centered in the Midwest and South and include LA/Orange County, Dallas-Ft. Worth, San Antonio, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Nashville, and Sacramento for the story of two polar-opposite families that find themselves reluctantly sharing a cabin for a week away at church camp. With a highly coveted camp trophy at stake, dads Tommy and Eddie...

This review for “Pleasure” was first published on Feb. 3, 2021, after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

“Pleasure” examines the toll of putting ambition before friendship, and of a career woman who endures the worst of her industry only to perpetrate it herself once she has climbed the ladder. Ninja Thyberg’s film happens to be set in Los Angeles’ adult-film industry, but it’s a tale that could just as easily be set at a law firm, brokerage house, or Hollywood studio.

Granted, Thyberg doesn’t shy away from the specifics of her milieu — the film’s premiere last year at the Sundance Film Festival shocked audiences with its graphic, and sometimes grueling, sexual content — but it’s not an exposé on what pornography does to women as much as a harrowing examination of what the workplace expects and allows from women and men.

The director and co-writer (with...

There’s a lot of talk about authenticity in Hollywood these days. Whether it’s media about the lives of people of color, LGBTQ folks, first-generation immigrants, or another marginalized group, the industry has finally learned that authentic storytelling starts with, though it seems obvious, who is actually telling the story. Perhaps a white creator isn’t the best choice to lead a show about inner-city youth, and a trans film should have trans people working on and in it. Though this is far from prohibitive — plenty of straight white guys have earned praise and success for telling other people’s stories — both audiences and critics are starting to pay closer attention.

Why should the sex industry be any different?

In “Pleasure,” Swedish writer/director Ninja Thyberg dives head-first into the Los Angeles porn industry to tell the story of 19-year-old Bella Cherry (Sofia Kappel), who dreams of becoming the next big porn star.

It’s one of busiest opening weeks in some time for indie releases with Neon (Pleasure), Bleecker Street (Montana Story), IFC Midnight (The Innocents) and Roadside Attractions (Family Camp) in theaters — even as the imminent closure of the Landmark Pico underscores just how arthouses are struggling to win back core demos.

Also out, Grasshopper Films presents Michelangelo Frammartino’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winner Il Buco; Greenwich Entertainment documentary Mau is the first feature-length treatment on design visionary Bruce Mau; and Trafalgar Entertainment offers a remastered version of Lasse Hallstrom’s Abba: The Movie, which follows the group’s hugely successful 1977 Australian tour.

Roadside’s faith-based comedy Family Camp is the widest specialty release on over 850 screens. It’s the first feature from The Skit Guys — Tommy Woodard and Eddie James – targeting “family member from eight to eighty.” Two polar-opposite families find themselves sharing a cabin and vying for a coveted...

Swedish director Ninja Thyberg is the winner of this year’s annual Women in Motion Young Talent Award, bestowed by the Kering Group and the Cannes Film Festival to a standout first-time female director.

Thyberg is being honored for directing several shorts and a feature all centered around the theme of “sexuality as a prism for viewing passion in society,” the award’s organizers said in a statement.

In 2013, Thyberg’s short “Pleasure” was presented in Cannes’ Critics’ Week section. The short was then expanded into her first feature by the same title which was chosen in the Cannes official selection in 2020 and then screened in 2021 at Sundance, and was also awarded the jury prize in 2021 at Deauville.

“‘Pleasure” jerks the skeevy, compulsive porn world out of the closet in a way that few movies have,” wrote Variety critic Owen Gleiberman in his review. “That’s a brave thing to,...

In an explicit and uncompromising new drama, a Swedish woman tries to work her way to the top of LA’s patriarchal porn industry

Swedish film-maker Ninja Thyberg certainly did not take the easy route with her first feature. Pleasure, which arrives in US theaters this weekend, takes on a subject rife for denigration or moralism: ambitious 19-year-old Bella Cherry, played by Swedish newcomer Sofia Kappel, trying to break into the American porn industry in the late 2010s. Based on years of research in the Hollywood-adjacent world of Los Angeles adult film, Thyberg’s debut portrays female friendship, pragmatic striving and power dynamics in an industry as liable for abuse – and professionalism – as any other. Pleasure often lingers on the quotidian aspects of the business – contracts, pre-shoot douches, set lighting, gossip with co-workers. The unrated film, which premiered at the 2021 Sundance festival, opens on Bella’s bare crotch, as she...

This upcoming weekend, Marvel Studios’ latest superhero epic, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” will continue to run rampant at the box office, and it’s likely to be the #1 movie for quite some time, or at least until “Top Gun: Maverick” opens over Memorial Day weekend.

On Friday, Universal Pictures is releasing Blumhouse Pictures’ take on Stephen King’s best-selling thriller “Firestarter,” but it’s not just opening in roughly 3,300 theaters – it will also get a day-and-date release on its Peacock streaming service. The new movie stars Ryan Kiera Armstrong from “American Horror Story” as young Charlie McGee, the titular girl with pyrokinetic powers, while Zac Efron plays her father. It’s directed by Keith Thomas, who helmed the previous Blumhouse movie, “The Vigil.”

The decision for Universal to do day-and-date streaming is an odd one, just because there isn’t much direct competition other than “Doctor Strange.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Fatal Attraction (1987)The next season of Karina Longsworth's podcast You Must Remember This will focus on the thorny and sumptuous erotic films of the 1980s and 1990s, including films by Adrian Lyne, Brian De Palma, and Stanley Kubrick. The two-part season will start on April 5. Ahead of its theatrical release, the long-delayed Top Gun: Maverick will play at a special screening in Cannes for the 75th edition of the festival in May. This year's Cannes Film Festival also has a new official partner: TikTok. The partnership will include exclusive festival-related content for users and an in-app competition called #TikTokShortFilm. James Morosini's I Love My Dad and Rosa Ruth Boesten's documentary Master of Light lead this year's SXSW Film Festival awards. Actor William Hurt has died at the age of 71. Hurt was known...

by Jason Adams

I hope you'll forgive me since I'm the member of Team Tfe that pays the scantest attention possible to Awards Season, but when I watched half of the Independent Spirits this past weekend I was extremely confused to see that Ninja Thyberg's porn industry drama Pleasure had been nominated for a few awards, and it threw me down a rabbit hole of confusion with regards to that movie's release. I saw it at Sundance last year (that is in 2021) and I was blown away by it, and I had been waiting, waiting, waiting, for news of a release...

Movies such as “Boogie Nights” have attempted to depict the porn industry in a feature film, but no film has ever shown just how raw, shocking and disturbing porn can be quite like Ninja Thyberg’s “Pleasure.” The movie is based on Thyberg’s 2013 short film about a young woman from Sweden who moves to Los Angeles and tries to become a porn star. “Pleasure” originally premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, but it’s finally coming to theaters this year courtesy of Neon.

Sofia Kappel stars in the leading role of Linnéa, who works as a porn star under the stage name “Bella Cherry.” Many of the actors in “Pleasure” come from the real porn industry, and Thyberg has said she researched the film by immersing herself in the porn scene. According to the director, most of the shocking incidents viewers see in the movie are based on things she witnessed.

"Are you ready to make a banana happy?" Neon has dropped the first official trailer for Pleasure, an acclaimed, spicy new critical drama about the porn industry in Los Angeles. The film initially premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to a number of rave reviews (ours here). The feature debut of filmmaker Ninja Thyberg, Pleasure is an extremely explicit journey deep in the pornography industry, a story about a young Swedish woman who thinks she can make it big in the industry and heads to Los Angeles. But she learns there's many issues with the porn industry above all the sex and debauchery. Sofia Kappel stars, with a cast including Revika Anne Reustle, Evelyn Claire, Dana DeArmond, Kendra Spade, and Jason Toler. As sultry as it looks, I think this film is a biting criticism of how most industries operate, and how fame and glory is impossible without losing your integrity.

Ninja Thyberg’s in-your-face and unapologetic feature debut “Pleasure” wowed the virtual Sundance Film Festival in 2021 — but thankfully, a new audience gets to finally discover the film (more than a year later) on a big screen.

A raw portrayal of the porn industry and its effects on all participants, the film follows a 20-year-old woman named Linnéa (newcomer Sofia Kappel), who arrives from Sweden to Los Angeles. It’s in the glittering land of Hollywood that she assumes the identity of Bella Cherry, hoping to become an international adult movie star, but that path to fame comes with a slew of compromises and anguishes. As Bella starts to rise up in the industry, the stakes, too, are raised, and some of her shoots become increasingly harrowing, and friends and lines of trust get blurred in the process.

A coolly detached but nevertheless ballsy evisceration of the adult film industry, the...

Premiering at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure––which follows an aspiring porn star’s odyssey through the adult film industry in LA––was initially picked up by A24, who planned to release both an edited, R-rated version and an uncensored version. Those discussions didn’t go as planned and last fall, Neon acquired the rights to the film, which will now only get a release in its uncensored form. “I’m happy and relieved that my debut and life’s work is in the hands of Neon who dare to launch the film with my original vision, raw and uncut, to the American audience,” said Thyberg. Now, ahead of a May release, the first trailer has arrived.

Shayna Warner said in their Sundance review, “Pleasure is, in its bones, a classic tale of the corrupting allure of fame. A young starlet-to-be arrives in Hollywood, becomes...

The 37th Annual Independent Spirit Awards took place on Sunday, returning to an in-person format following last year’s virtual ceremony. Many of the biggest names in the independent film community made the trek out to the beach in Santa Monica with the hopes of taking home the most coveted prizes in indie film. While the Spirit Awards typically take place the week before the Oscars, this year’s unique Covid-influenced awards season calendar meant that they were held nearly a month in advance. Hollywood couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally served as emcees of the proceedings.

This year’s class of nominees draws from films largely shut out from the Oscars, with indie hits like Oscar nominee “The Lost Daughter,” “C’mon C’mon,” and “Zola” racking up the most nominations. “The Lost Daughter” cleaned up, with three wins for Netflix including Best Feature and Best Director Maggie Gyllenhaal. Oscar no-show...

Who were the big winners at the 37th Independent Spirit Awards, presented on Sunday, March 6, at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California? Scroll down for the complete list of results in all categories, updated throughout the ceremony as the awards were handed out.

SEE2022 Oscars guild awards scorecard: ‘King Richard’ reigns over SAG and Ace Eddies to grab early lead

These awards are unique in that they are limited to American films made for under $20 million; films made outside the United States are eligible for Best International Feature. And the awards are decided in two stages. In the first round, committees of film professionals, experts, and critics choose the nominees. In the second round, the entire Film Independent membership gets to vote for the winners. Members include industry insiders, but also anyone in the general public who wish to pay yearly dues starting at $95 per year.

The Oscars...

The 37th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards were handed out Sunday at the Santa Monica Pier, with comedy power couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally serving as hosts.

There weren’t too many surprises throughout the night. Troy Kotsur won the first award of the evening, Best Supporting Male Actor for “Coda,” very much as predicted. Taylour Paige took home Best Female Lead Actor, for “Zola,” while Simon Rex, of “Red Rocket,” walked away with Best Male Lead. Ruth Negga won Best Supporting Female Actor for “Passing,” beating out Jessie Buckley from “The Lost Daughter.”

But Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptation of the Elena Ferrante book won the three other categories in which it was nominated — Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Feature — and was the night’s biggest victor. Gyllenhaal gave three effusive thank you speeches, spreading her appreciation around to her cast, crew, financiers, publicist, husband and mother. “Women in film!

The stars came out in full glam to celebrate the 2022 Independent Film Spirit Awards.

Co-hosted by married comedy duo Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, the latest awards show leading up to the 97th Academy Awards kicked off on Sunday, March 6, marking a return to pre-covid red carpet proceedings in Santa Monica, Calif.

Nominees Maggie Gyllenhaal, Simon Rex, Taylour Paige, Jessie Buckley, Ruth Negga, and Troy Kotsur stunned on the red carpet, as distributor A24 marked its big night with 13 total nominations for films including “C’mon, C’mon,” “Zola,” “The Humans,” and “Red Rocket.” Notably, four women were featured in the Best Director category this year, including Gyllenhaal for “The Lost Daughter,” Janicza Bravo for “Zola,” Lauren Hadaway for “The Novice,” and Ninja Thyberg for “Pleasure.”

Hosts Mullally and Offerman promised to be a “little rowdy” during the ceremony, while assuring “it’ll mainly be legitimate cinematic discourse,” per a press statement.

Three awards ceremonies are taking place the weekend of March 5. On Saturday, a double dose of the Art Directors Guild (Adg) and American Cinema Editors Awards (Ace Eddies), and on Sunday, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, airing on IFC.

Paying special attention to Adg and Ace Eddies since there’s Oscar crossover, we’re expecting a couple of surprises at both. On the Adg side, “Dune” and “Nightmare Alley” should reign triumphant, but “Don’t Look Up” may overcome fellow Netflix property “The Lost Daughter.”

At Ace Eddies, there’s a possible upset on the drama side in the favor of “King Richard’s” Pamela Martin, besting Joe Walker for “Dune.” On the other hand, “Tick, Tick … Boom!” is expected to sneak past “Licorice Pizza.”

What’s most interesting is that there is very little to no presence of the presumed Oscar frontrunners this weekend, including Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,...

Almost 2,000 Gold Derby readers have made their Indie Spirit predictions in advance of Sunday’s ceremony. Scroll down to see our official odds in all 13 movie categories based on those combined predictions. Our projected winners are highlighted in gold.

SEEOscars 2022: 20 movie reunions we would love to see happen on the ceremony, including ‘The Godfather,’ ‘Titanic,’ ‘Harry Potter’ and more

The Indie Spirit Awards winners are voted on by members of Film Independent. Membership is open to any movie fans who pay $95 in yearly dues, which often leads to the highest-profile Oscar contenders winning top prizes against less widely publicized films. But this year Film Independent snubbed many of the Oscar front-runners; this is only the second time in the last 13 years that there are no Best Picture Oscar nominees among the Spirit contenders for Best Feature.

The black comedy “Zola” led the nominations with seven including Best Feature, Best...

Nathalie Alvarez Mesen’s film won best film, director and screenplay.

Nathalie Alvarez Mesen’s magical realist drama Clara Sola dominated the 2021 Swedish Film Awards - known as the Guldbagge Awards - winning five prizes including best picture.

The film, which debuted in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes 2021, also received best director for Mesen and best screenplay for Mesen and Maria Camila Arias. Further prizes came in best cinematography for Sophie Winqvist Loggins, and best sound design for Erick Vargas Williams, Valene Leroy, Charles De Ville and Aline Gavroy.

Ninja Thyberg’s porn industry drama Pleasure won three awards, including best...

A24 is the leading film distributor with 13 nominations, followed by Neon and Netflix on nine.

Janicza Bravo’s Zola led the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations with seven nods, followed by Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice with five and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter on four.

All three are competing for best feature and best director, with Ninja Thyberg for Pleasure and Mike Mills for C’mon C’mon rounding out the latter category. It’s the second year in a row that four women have been nominated for best director.

The other best feature nominees are C’mon C’mon...

The 2022 Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced Tuesday, December 14. So who made the cut at these kudos, which celebrate the best in American independent films? Scroll down to see the full 2022 Indie Spirits nominations list. Remember, only American-made movies with budgets under $20 million were eligible for consideration.

These Spirit contenders were decided by nominating committees that included film critics, film programmers, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers, editors, actors, past nominees and winners, and members of Film Independent’s Board of Directors. Winners will be chosen by all of Film Independent’s eligible members, including industry insiders and any movie fans who sign up for membership starting at $95 per year.

These awards have come to be a significant preview of the Oscars as the motion picture academy embraces more independent films. Six of the last 10 Spirit champs for Best Feature went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture including last year’s double dipper “Nomadland,...

Distributor A24 and Zola led nominations as the Film Independent Spirit Awards revealed their 37th annual nods in a pre-taped presentation hosted by Beanie Feldstein, Regina Hall and Naomi Watts. The Spirit Awards are skedded for Sunday, March 6, 2022 — live and in-person this year back on the beach in Santa Monica, and broadcast on IFC.

A24’s Zola, by Janicza Bravo and based on a Twitter chain from a riotous road trip, was recognized for Best Feature Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Female Lead and Supporting Male. Mike Mills’ C’mon C’mon with Joaquin Phoenix took four nods including feature, director and screenplay. Accolades were rounded out by two nominations for Sean Baker’s Red Rocket, for Best Male Lead, Simon Rex ,and Best Supporting Female, Suzanna Son. The Humans, directed by Stephen Karam based on his one-act play, was nominated in cinematography.

Netflix and Neon took nine nods each, with...

“Zola,” a darkly comic look at a part-time stripper’s Florida trip gone horribly wrong, topped nominations for the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards, picking up a leading seven nods.

But the film, which is based on a Twitter thread that went viral, faces fierce competition in the best feature category. It’s up against “The Novice,” a twisty thriller that scored five nominations, as well as “The Lost Daughter,” an adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel of the same name, which scored four nominations. Rounding out the feature film race are “A Chiara,” an Italian-language family drama, and “C’mon C’mon,” a warm-hearted look at an uncle’s relationship with his young nephew.

The nominations were announced Tuesday by Beanie Feldstein, Regina Hall and Naomi Watts. Returning in-person in 2022 after going virtual due to Covid in 2021, the awards highlight and celebrate movies that are, for the most part, produced and...

‘Pleasure’ director Ninja Thyberg and Black Nights festival director Tiina Lokk also discussed training and Discovery Campus initiative.

The boom in streaming and TV series is creating fresh career paths for rising filmmaking talent, according to Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur.

Watch the session above

Speaking during the latest ScreenDaily Talk, the acclaimed writer/director said: “It’s a very different world because TV is more creative than it used to be. It’s more open to different storytelling… and all this is changing greatly for the talent.”

Kormakur, whose credits include action features 2 Guns, Everest and Adrift, is also behind...

Swedish director Katarina Launing’s ‘You Can Dance’ named the winner of Screen International ’s best pitch award.

The 2021 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has named the winners of its Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event awards.

The industry showcase took place as a hybrid of in-person and virtual events, with the winners announced today (November 26) following a week of presentations and networking with around 700 delegates.

Swedish director Katarina Launing’s feature project You Can Dance was named the winner of Screen International’s best pitch award at the Baltic Event Co-Production Market, which guarantees coverage on Screen throughout the project’s lifecycle.

The fund will make at least 15 film investments over four years.

Tallifornia Film Fund, Estonia’s first private film investment fund, has launched at the country’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, with three initial investments including Estonia-Germany-uk co-production Sentinel.

The fund has been established by Estonian production company Tallifornia, and was announced at the European Film Forum industry event this week.

It will make a minimum of 15 equity investments in both Estonian and international film projects across four years.

The fund, which is financed entirely through private capital with participation from several Estonian investors, is managed by Tallifornia’s Rain Rannu and Tonu Hiielaid.

‘Outlander’ season six is now being filmed at the studios.

Wardpark Film and Television Studios, located in Cumbernauld, Scotland, has been acquired by US investors, Hackman Capital Partners and partner Square Mile Capital Management.

The investors’ portfolio includes studio operating and services affiliate, The Mbs Group.

The largest and only full-service studio in Scotland, Wardpark’s 14-acre campus offers approximately 200,000 sq ft of studio space. Executive director of Screen Scotland, Isabel Davis, has described it as “a phenomenal training ground for scores of new entrants to the valuable and fast-growing Scottish screen sector”.

It is home to TV series Outlander,...

‘Sex Education’ creator Laurie Nunn and ‘Babyteeth’ director Shannon Murphy are also mentors.

Anne Mensah, the vice president of original series at Netflix, and See-Saw’s head of development, film and limited series, Katherine Bridle are among the senior executives taking part in the 2021 BFI Network x Bafta Crew mentoring programme.

This is the third edition of the mentoring scheme, which aims to provide support to 20 filmmakers from across the UK who are from regions and communities underrepresented in the screen industries and are currently working towards debut projects in film and television.

As well as being paired a mentor,...

The installation will be open to the public and run for over two weeks.

UK filmmaker and artist Steve McQueen will attend the 2021 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) with the world premiere of Sunshine State, an art installation playing at the city’s Kunsthal venue.

Details about the installation are still under wraps; the festival says that “the celebrated filmmaker and visual artist will infuse the expansive, central space of Rotterdam’s distinctive Kunsthal with sound and image.”

Commissioned by IFFR, the free installation will be open to the public, and will run from Wednesday, January 26 until Sunday, February 13. It...