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The second edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival under the aegis of festival director and CEO Paul Ridd and producer Emma Boa closed this week, with attendees welcoming a decent selection of world premieres and improved screening venues, including the return of the Edinburgh Filmhouse.

Abdolreza Kahani’s Canada-set Mortician won the main £50,000 Sean Connery Prize for feature filmmaking excellence, and further competition titles generating interest on the ground included UK filmmaker Helen Walsh’s sophomore feature On The Sea and Elliot Tuttle’s camboy drama Blue Film.

The general feeling, as a source told Screen, was the competition...

Paul Ridd defines success in his role as Edinburgh International Film Festival chief using a two-pronged test.

“50% is the seven days of the festival, and how effectively we can deliver an amazing experience for our audiences and industry,” he explains. “And then 50% of it is about what happens to the films after our festival.”

Last year’s Eiff, his first in charge, he explains, was a model year.

“60% of the programme has either been picked up for distribution in the UK or has been distributed,” he says proudly. The key to supporting Eiff titles, he says, has been to engage “industry on a grassroots level”, highlighting films that are seeking distribution.

“We want to keep those stats up,” he says, adding that this year’s expanded industry section has been shaped to meet this goal. Changes include a new dedicated space for industry delegates at Tollcross Central Hall. The festival...

Screen celebrated the launch of the UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow 2024 with a party at the Mondrian hotel, in Shoreditch, London on Thursday, July 4.

Most of the 2024 Stars were in attendance, including Richard Gadd, Alison Oliver, Jay Lycurgo, Tosin Cole, Jess Kohl, Spike Fearn, Mica Ricketts and Jess Bray.

Further industry guests included producers Andrea Cornwell, Sarah Brocklehurst. Tolu Stedford and Alex Boden, as well as Searchlight’s Kate Gardiner, Screen Scotland’s Isabel Davis, Film4’s David Kimbangi, True Brit’s Nick Manzi, Hanway Films’ Nicole Mackey, Protagonist Pictures’ Mounia Wissinger, Anton’s Karina Gechtman, Film Constellation’s Chloe Tai,...

The shortlist will be announced the week beginning October 10.

The final round of judges for Screen’s revamped The Big Screen Awards has been unveiled.

Featured in the final batch of judges are producer, consultant and former president of international marketing at 20th Century Fox Kieran Breen; Netflix’s director of distribution for Emea Hamish Moseley; and Anton’s vice president for international marketing and publicity, Karina Gechtman.

Also joining the judging panel are Warp Films’ joint CEO Mark Herbert, and distribution and marketing consultant at IHeartCinema, Deborah Sheppard.

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The full list of judges for the...

The awards will be held on November 24 at The Brewery, London.

The second group of judges for The Big Screen Awards 2022, the relaunched version of the Screen Awards, has been announced with just over 24 hours left before the entry deadline closes end of play on Friday, September 23.

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Among the new batch of judges are Lionsgate UK’s head of theatrical Matt Smith; Film Distributors’ Association CEO Andy Leyshon; Republic Films founder Zak Brilliant; Mubi’s director of distribution for Europe, Natalie Ralph; and director of marketing and external relations at the National Film & Television School (Nfts), Ijeoma Akigwe.

Chloe Tai, Edward Parodi, Anisha Kasozi and Léo Teste take on new roles.

Film Constellation has promoted four staff to executive level, in a change to the leadership structure at the UK-based production, finance and sales firm.

Chloe Tai becomes director of marketing, general manager, with broadened management responsibilities and a focus on team leadership and corporate impact work. Based in London, Tai will report directly to Film Constellation founder and CEO Fabien Westerhoff, who is based in Amsterdam.

Tai joined Film Constellation in 2017 following a career in marketing at L’Oreal, and has since worked on international distribution campaigns for...

The fifth edition of the Locarno Industry Academy will kick off this Aug. 7 and run through to Aug. 13 during the 72nd Locarno Film Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-summer movie event.

It’s been four years since the Locarno Academy added an industry section to its curriculum, and in that time the event has not only grown in its native Switzerland, but spread out across Europe, the Americas and the Middle East.

Designed as a training program for young professionals in the fields of production, programming, sales, distribution and exhibition, the Locarno Industry Academy provides participants with an opportunity to network and pick the brains of industry big hitters from around the world in related fields as well as discuss best practice with their fellow students.

This year’s participants are: Samira Asgarova, distributor at Cinema Distribution in Azerbaijan; Nuno Gonçcalves, from Alambique Filmes, a distribution company from Portugal; Jean-Benoit Henry,...