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Since its launch in 2004 in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, the Skip City International D‑Cinema Festival has served as a gateway for emerging talent, discovering and supporting new voices in cinema. It has helped launch the careers of notable filmmakers such as Kei Ishikawa (A Pale View of Hills), Kazuya Shiraishi (Lesson in Murder), Ryota Nakano (The Asadas), Shinichiro Ueda (One Cut of the Dead), and Shinzo Katayama (Missing).

For its 22nd edition in 2025, the festival will be held over nine days from Friday, July 18 to Saturday, July 26 at Skip City in Kawaguchi, Saitama, and will return fully to theatrical screenings—online screenings will not be available. Starting this year, the Competition will focus exclusively on Japanese films, spotlighting the next generation of visual creators. From 271 submissions, 13 films were selected. Director Kei Ishikawa, a leading figure in Japanese cinema, will serve as Jury President. As part of the special feature Pathways to Directing Commercial Films,...

Lithuanian filmmaker and editor Gabrielė Urbonaitė explores the pressures on young women in her feature directorial debut Renovation, which will world premiere in the Proxima Competition lineup of the 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

The movie stars Žygimante Elena Jakštaitė (European Shooting Star 2021), Šarūnas Zenkevičius (European Shooting Star 2025) and up-and-coming Ukrainian talent Roman Lutskyi (Under the Volcano by Damian Kocur, 2024). The film’s cinematographer Vytautas Katkus will also be in Karlovy Vary, premiering his directorial debut feature The Visitor in the festival’s main competition.

Now, THR can exclusively reveal the first trailer for the movie about a young woman feeling the pressure to be settled and successful by the time she turns 30.

Ilona, a perfectionist 29-year-old, lives in present-day Vilnius, Lithuania. “At this turning point in her life, she begins to question how she truly wants to live. She moves into a seemingly perfect apartment with her boyfriend Matas,...

Polish filmmaker Damian Kocur is still relatively new to the film scene, but has quickly established himself as a provocative new auteur to watch out for. After premiering Bread and Salt at the Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti section (it claimed the Special Jury Prize) he quickly followed this with a short (As It Was) that competed for the Palme d’Or in Cannes and Under the Volcano – a sophomore feature film that was presented Toronto International Film Festival (Centerpiece programme). His latest film is about a family (quartet) from Kyiv who learn that war has broke out back at home while they’re away on vacation in Spain.…...

Exclusive: The Kinoteka Polish Film Festival has set the lineup for its 23rd edition, running from March 6 to April 26 at venues across London.

The festival will open at the BFI Southbank with a screening of Under the Volcano (Pod wulkanem) from filmmaker Damian Kocur. The pic is Kocur’s second feature following Bread and Salt, which opened Kinoteka in 2023. Arriving at the festival following screenings at Toronto and Lff, the film follows a Ukrainian family on holiday in Tenerife who struggles to reconcile their new status as refugees following the Russian invasion.

Following past retrospectives on celebrated Polish directors such as Andrzej Wajda and Jerzy Skolimowski, Kinoteka will once again host a widescale retrospective, this year focused on the work of Wojciech Has in collaboration with BFI Southbank and the Ica. As part of the retrospective, the festival’s closing gala on April 26 at the Ica will be a screening...

Deadline on Monday launched the streaming site for Contenders Film: International, its daylong showcase of movies in the conversation for this year’s International Feature Oscar race.

The casts, directors, writers and producers behind 13 movies joined Deadline’s reporters and editors at the virtual awards-season event Saturday for panel discussions about their films’ journeys to being submitted by their respective countries for the Academy Awards.

Click here to launch the livestream.

This year’s list of films includes 815 Pictures’ Old Fox (representing Taiwan), Dawson Films’ Waves (Czech Republic), FAMart Association’s Three Kilometers to the End of the World (Romania), Leyth Production and Hamzeh Mystique Films’ Take My Breath (Tunisia), Lizart Film’s Under the Volcano (Poland), Mavi Film’s Life (Turkey), Nexiko’s The Last Journey (Sweden), Outsider Pictures’ Queens (Switzerland), Sony Pictures Classics’ I’m Still Here (Brazil) and Kneecap (Ireland), Tanweer Productions’ Murderess (Greece), La Terraza Films’ Saturn Return...

Scandar Copti’s Palestinian drama Happy Holidays took the Étoile d’Or main award at the 21st Marrakech International Film Festival.

The film, a Haifa-set drama in which a minor car accident sets off a chain of events that sow division in a patriarchal society, also received the best performance by an actress prize, shared between Wafaa Aoun and Manar Shehab.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Happy Holidays is a co-production between Palestine’s Fresco Films, Germany’s Red Balloon Film, France’s Tessalit Productions and Italy’s Intramovies. It debuted in Venice’s Biennale Cinema section in September,...

Scandar Copti’s “Happy Holidays” won top honors at the Marrakech Film Festival on Saturday, capping an emotional and politically resonant ceremony, while adding Marrakech’s Étoile d’Or to a list of accolades for the film that also includes best screenplay from Venice’s Orizzonti and best in show from the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

The acclaimed title also claimed a shared best actress prize for leads Manar Shehab and Wafaa Aoun.

Split into four chapters, the Palestinian film follows an ensemble of characters – Arab and Jewish alike – living in contemporary Haifa. Family secrets and domestic tensions underscore scenes from everyday life as the film traces out an expansive social circle with a novelistic attention to cultural and interpersonal dynamics.

This year’s jury – led by Luca Guadagnino alongside Andrew Garfield, Jacob Elordi, Virginie Efira, Patricia Arquette, Zoya Akhtar, Ali Abbasi, Nadia Kounda and Santiago Mitre – together awarded the winning title with a unanimous vote.

Scandar Copti’s Happy Holidays, Damian Kocur’s Under The Volcano, Silvina Schnicer’s The Cottage and Mo Harawe’s The Village Next to Paradise shared the awards handed out at the 21st edition of the Marrakech Intl. Film Festival. Happy Holidays grabbed the top prize in the Étoile d’Or and the jury led by Luca Guadagnino who also decided to award both actresses (Wafaa Aoun and Manar Shehab) with the Best Actress Award. The Palestinian film was selected for the Orizzonti section in Venice.

Under The Volcano first landed Best Performance by an Actor (Roman Lutskyi) and Kocur also doubled up winning the Best Director Award.…...

Palestinian director Scandar Copti’s drama Happy Holidays has clinched the Étoile d’Or for Best Film at the Marrakech Film Festival.

The Jury Prize was awarded ex aequo to Argentinian director Silvina Schnicer’s The Cottage and Somali and Austrian filmmaker Mo Harawe’s The Village Next to Paradise. Damian Kocur won the Best Directing Prize for his drama Under the Volcano, which is Poland’s Oscar entry this year.

The prize for Best Performance by an Actress was shared by Wafaa Aoun and Manar Shehab for their performances in Happy Holidays, while Roman Lutskyi won the award for Best Performance by an Actor for his work in Under the Volcano.

Happy Holidays is a contemporary Haifa-set drama in which a minor car accident sets off a chain of events, unraveling lies and unspoken truths that sow division within a multifaceted patriarchal society.

The film world premiered in the...

Although it has been the subject of many acclaimed documentaries, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has yielded very little in the way of fiction. Damian Kocur’s Under the Volcano, which has been chosen as Poland’s official submission for this year’s Best International Feature Oscar, is unusual in that it takes place entirely on the Spanish island of Tenerife. In defiance of the impending war, the Kovalenko family have decided to take their vacation anyway. But even without the events that are about to unfold, the trip is awkward for all concerned, as father Roman (Roman Lutsky) has brought his new wife Anastasiia (Anastasiia Karpenko), much to the disgust of his teenage daughter Sofiia (Sofiia Berezovska), who is forced to babysit her little brother Fedir (Fedir Pugachov).

Flanked by producers Mikołaj Lizut and Agnieszka Jastrzębska at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International award-season event, Kocur spoke about the film’s evolution.

Just as the Oscar Best Picture race remains wide open as 2024 comes to an end, there’s a similar sense of excitement mounting about the breadth and range of films competing for Best International Feature Film. The submissions process found 85 of the 89 films presented eligible, but the real work starts now, in terms of whittling those down first to a shortlist of 15 and then to the final five.

Perhaps more so than in recent years, the diversity is eye-popping, ranging from action thrillers and personal dramas to intimate documentaries. The cross-section is well represented at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International showcase, which kicks off today beginning at 9 a.m. Pt.

Click here to launch the livestream.

As ever, this year’s lineup offers a snapshot of film festival highlights, taking us on a whistle-stop tour of the big five — Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Toronto — with titles that made an impact at events in Warsaw,...

The Marrakech Film Festival, which opened Friday with Justin Kurzel’s timely thriller “The Order,” has more than 70 films in its lineup, which, as is customary, mixes known titles and fresh fare.

“The Order” is part of the event’s gala screenings that also comprise French-Moroccan auteur Nabil Ayouch’s feminist musical drama “Everybody Loves Touda,” Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” and Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” all of which will be accompanied by their directors.

The 14-title competition dedicated to first and second works includes Moroccan director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s melodrama “Across the Sea,” about North African exiles in Marseilles, and Hind Meddeb’s doc “Sudan, Remember Us,” which pays homage to Sudanese people and culture by chronicling their 2019 revolution. “Sudan, Remember Us” is among films supported by the fest’s Atlas Workshops industry initiative, aimed at fostering and supporting the emergence of a new generation of Moroccan,...

One of the more important recently new development labs on the film circuit have just unveiled their 2024 line-up. Les Arcs Film Festival’s Co-Production Village have eighteen European projects and in contention we find the likes of Sofia Alaoui, Claire Fowler and Anastasiia Solonevych. Alaoui is currently developing her sophomore feature film in Tarfaya – it finds her re-teaming with Margaux Lorier for a third time out after netting world premieres at Sundance. And speaking of Sundance, Claire Flower will be presenting her Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab workshopped Toad in France as well. Ukrainainen filmmaker Anastasiia Solonevych who worked with Under the Volcano filmmaker Damian Kocur on the Palme d’Or comp short “As it Was” is mounting what will be her feature debut film.…...

The Marrakech Film Festival unveiled its 2024 lineup on Thursday and set that Luca Guadagnino would replace Thomas Vinterberg as its jury president. The other jury members will be Andrew Garfield, Jacob Elordi, Virginie Efira, and Ali Abbasi. Vinterberg “had to excuse himself for family reasons,” festival organizers said.

The Marrakech fest on Thursday also unveiled the lineup for its competition, 11th Continent, and Moroccan Panorama sections, as well as gala and special screenings. In the competition, 14 films will compete for the Étoile d’Or, or Golden Star.

The 21st edition of the fest in Morocco will also honor Sean Penn, David Cronenberg and, posthumously, pay homage to Moroccan star Naïma Elmcherqui. The Marrakech fest takes place Nov. 29-Dec. 7.

Check out the full lineup for the 2024 edition below.

Competition

Across The Sea (LA Mer Au Loin)

by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi / France, Morocco, Belgium

with Ayoub Gretaa, Anna Mouglalis, Grégoire Colin, Omar Boulakirba,...

Justin Kurzel’s political thriller The Order starring Jude Law will open the 21st Marrakech International Film Festival in the presence of the director and producer Stuart Ford later this month.

The film is among seven films that will be showcased as gala screenings at the Moroccan film festival, which unveiled its line-up on Thursday.

The galas also feature a trio of Best International Feature Film Oscar entries, Nabil Ayouch’s Everybody Loves Touda (Morocco), Walter Salles’s I’m Still Here (Brazil) and Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany), all of which will screen in the presence of their directors.

The festival will screen 70 features from 32 countries across sections spanning the Official Competition, Gala Screenings, Special Screenings, the 11th Continent, the Moroccan Panorama, Cinema for Young Audiences & Families, and films shown as part of the Tributes program.

The 14 first and second films in competition include French...

Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 21st edition which will open with Justin Kurzel’s crime thriller The Order onNovember 29 and run to December 7.

Kurzel’s debut featureSnowtownwon thefestival’s jury prize in 2011, and the filmmaker returned in 2022 to serve on the jury.

This year’s jury will be presided over by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, replacing Thomas Vinterberg, and will award the Étoile d’Or for best film to one of 14 first- and second-time features in the international competition.

In total, the festival will screen 70 films from 32 countries, including 14 documentaries, 12 Moroccan titles, nine world...

Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light and Zhanna Ozirna’s Honeymoon were among the winners at the 53rd Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival in Ukraine.

Kapadia’s film won the Scythian Deer – the festival trophy - for Best Full-Length Film in the International Competition, with a $2,000 cash prize from the Yuliia Ihnatchenko Charitable Fund.

Scroll down for the festival’s feature winners

It was selected by a jury headed by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, alongside filmmaker Marija Kavtaradze, producer Maksym Asadchiy, actress Anastasiia Karpenko and film scholar Albert Widerspiel.

The film debuted in Competition at Cannes this year,...

Despite blue skies over Greece’s second city ahead of the opening ceremony, the 65th Thessaloniki Film Festival kicks off Oct. 31 under clouds of uncertainty, with the war in Ukraine raging toward its three-year anniversary and the year-old Israel-Hamas conflict spilling into neighboring countries and threatening to engulf the entire Middle East. The U.S., meanwhile, heads to the polls next week for an election that’s been framed as a referendum on the fate of American democracy itself — with the eyes of the world watching.

For Thessaloniki festival director Orestis Andreadakis, a veteran film critic who’s been at the helm of the festival since 2016, global events have only brought a renewed sense of urgency “to find movies that matter,” he tells Variety on the eve of opening night. “Movies that say something about our lives, our situation in the world, with so many changes, so many dangers — wars,...

What a difference a year makes. In the weeks after last year’s edition of the Polish Film Festival, the country batted away a far-right insurgency. Where last year’s festival was conspicuous for its inclusion of films that seemed to exist above all else to express nationalistic pride, the 49th edition was a showcase of more liberal sentiments and artistic styles.

Amid a sea of rising fascism in Central and Eastern Europe, Poland’s relative holding down the fort of nominal liberalism has been surprising. It seemed to translate into a sunnier festival this year, which extended to the vibrant festival logo. Last year’s frequent rain and rippling winds were supplanted by weather more befitting the “Cannes of Poland,” as locals affectionately call the Gdynia-based festival. The festive mood was infectious, with staff frequently and excitedly discussing next year’s 50th jubilee, and the promise of a more progressive country.

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2, 2024.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2, 2024.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2, 2024.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Damian Kocur’s drama Under the Volcano has been selected as Poland’s official Oscar entry for Best International Feature in 2025, the country has announced.

World premiering at this year’s Toronto Film Festival, the timely film watches as a blended Ukrainian family spends the last day of their vacation in Tenerife, Spain. When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine strands them on the island, they must contend with isolation, duty, fear… and each other.

Kocur and Marta Konarzewska wrote the script, with Lizart Film, Hawk Art, MGM and Tvp producing.

Already, over 40 countries have submitted their entries for the Oscars. Most recently, France selected Jacques Audiard’s Cannes prize-winner Emilia Pérez, with Spain selecting Saturn Return by Isaki Lacuesta and Pol Rodríguez, and Israel putting forward Tom Nesher’s Come Closer.

“Why is there snow if it’s a volcano?” Fedir (Fedir Pugachov) throws out a seemingly innocent question to his family while wandering around Mount Teide in Spain. But it’s one of many that has become far more difficult to answer for his father Roman (Roman Lutskyi) and stepmother Nastya as the Ukrainian family’s holiday in the Canary Islands becomes a permanent trips amid the Russian invasion of their home country. Telling their six-year-old what’s falling upon them is burnt ash, and not snow, would be piercing an illusion they’d rather he hold onto — one of many in Damian Kocur’s cleverly conceived drama “Under the Volcano.”

At first, the greatest concern Roman and Nastya have is whether they’ll find a spot for their car near the beach on the last day of their vacation, having no idea that they’re about to be parked there indefinitely.

They always knew a full-scale invasion of Ukraine could happen, but they held onto hope it wouldn’t. How else could they enjoy a vacation abroad in the Canary Islands? This trip is supposed to be about fun. And connection. Roma (Roman Lutskyi) and Nastya (Anastasiya Karpenko) have recently got married and the relationship between her and his children (Sofia Berezovska’s Sofiia and Fedir Pugachov’s Fedir) remains tenuous and new. Add the beach, good food, and warm sun, though, and perhaps their defenses might come down. Maybe this time away can help them learn to trust each other and return to Kyiv stronger than ever. That might have happened, too, if not for Russia’s war.

Damian Kocur’s Under the Volcano (co-written with Marta Konarzewska) turns quickly from the breezy nature of tourists preparing a return to their real lives into a tense powder keg of futility.

Say hello to the Ukrainian family of four, enjoying their Canary Islands holiday. That is, until the invasion begins and they are stuck in their nice hotel, surrounded by others who are still in the party mode.

“The starting point was a newspaper article, just like with my debut ‘Bread and Salt.’ It was about Ukrainians who were surprised by the war in Madagascar,” explained director Damian Kocur, who is premiering “Under the Volcano” at Toronto.

“It was also about my own emotions and this sense of helplessness I felt in the first weeks of the war. That’s when I wrote the script. I felt I had to react to it somehow, and it was the only way I knew how.”

For Kocur’s characters, the world has changed overnight. But not for other hotel guests, who just want to have fun and enjoy the all-you-can-eat buffet.

“[Leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising] Marek Edelman...

Fifteen features will world premiere at the 68th BFI London Film Festival (Lff), including Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s documentary Endurance, and previously announced opening title Steve McQueen’s Blitz.

The festival takes place from October 9-20.

Free Solo and Nyad directing duo Vasarhelyi and Chin direct Endurance alongside Natalie Hewit, which examines the lost ship of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. Further world premieres include Sophie Compton and Daisy-May Hudson’s documentary Holloway, about one of the largest women’s prisons in Europe.

Steven Knight’s Victorian boxing series A Thousand Blows, starring Stephen Graham, will receive its world premiere.

Ahead of the programme release for the 2024 London Film Festival on Wednesday, the BFI have revealed which movies will be competing for the Best Film Award in this year's Official Competition line-up. Among the eleven hopefuls looking to scoop the prize taken last year by Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Evil Does Not Exist, highlights include Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott's feuding farmer feature Bring Them Down, Adam Elliot's (Mary & Max) long-awaited stop-motion movie Memoir Of A Snail with Sarah Snook and Eric Bana, and Geraldine Flower documentary The Extraordinary Miss Flower, the latest from 20,000 Days On Earth directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.

In a banner year for international representation at the London Film Festival (13 countries are represented across the Official Competition line-up), the rest of the buzzy films set to compete in competition are as follows: Rungano Nyoni's Cannes Un Certain Regard-winning Zambian drama On Becoming A Guinea Fowl...

The 68th BFI London Film Festival (Lff) has announced the 11 films selected for its official competition, vying for the best film award at this year’s event. The diverse lineup represents 13 countries and showcases a range of international filmmaking talent.

The selected films include:

“Memoir of a Snail” (Australia) dir. Adam Elliot: A stop-motion animated tale of separated twins in 1970s Australia, blending humor and emotion. Featuring the voices of Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Eric Bana, it won best film at Annecy earlier this year.

“Bring Them Down” (Ireland-u.K.-Belgium) dir. Christopher Andrews: A portrait of two feuding farming families in rural Ireland, starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott. The film travels from Toronto where it is a special presentation.

“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” (Zambia-u.K.-Ireland) dir. Rungano Nyoni: A story of tradition, abuse and strength within a Zambian family. The film debuted...

The 2024 BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its lineup for the films screening in Official Competition and competing for the coveted Best Film Award.

This year, selections include new features from “20,000 Days On Earth” filmmakers Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Mipo O, and Rungano Nyoni. Actors Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott are among the casts in the curated program of 11 films.

The festival takes place from October 9 through October 20, with the winner being chosen by the Lff Awards Jury and announced on October 20. The Best Film Award was established in 2009 and first won by Jacques Audiard for “A Prophet.” Recent winners include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist” in 2023 and Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage” in 2022.

The program includes “inspiring, inventive and distinctive international filmmaking,” with 13 countries represented across the selection, per the press release.

Highlights include “Bring Them Down,” directed by Christopher Andrews and starring Barry Keoghan and...

Thank You For Banking With Us, Four Mothers and The Extraordinary Miss Flower are to world premiere at BFI London Film Festival (October 9-20) as part of the 11-strong competition line-up.

Scroll down for the full list of Lff 2024 competition titles

Palestinian filmmaker Laila Abbas’ feature debut, Thank You For Banking With Us, follows two sisters in a race against time to assure their inheritance as a patriarchal system attempts to get in their way.

Also world premiering is UK biographical film The Extraordinary Miss Flower, directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the team behind Sundance 2014 title 20,000 Days On Earth.

Paris- and Berlin-based sales house Salaud Morisset has picked up international sales for “Under the Volcano,” which is set to world premiere in the Centrepiece section at Toronto Film Festival next month.

“Under the Volcano,” Polish director Damian Kocur’s second feature, tells the story of a Ukrainian family spending the last day of their holiday on the island of Tenerife, Spain. Once at the airport, their flight is canceled: Russia has invaded Ukraine. Trapped on the island, the tourists become refugees.

“The world has never been as close to a ‘volcanic eruption’ as we are now, although we all fall asleep with the certainty that the eruption will not happen in our lifetime,” Kocur said. “Unresolved social conflicts or climate change are left to be dealt with by the next generation. My film is about how apparent our security is, and how quickly, overnight, we can go from being tourists to refugees,...

The 49th edition of the Toronto Film Festival continues to announce more movies, with the festival on Tuesday unveiled its 2024 Centrepiece lineup that features 43 titles from filmmakers representing 41 countries. TIFF runs September 5-15 under its new sponsorship with Rogers.

In total, the list includes 18 world premieres from Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain and the U.S..

The section is a reflection of TIFF’s spirit of providing an elevated platform for international cinema, acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work from influential filmmakers.

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who made it to Cannes this past year with The Seed of the Sacred Fig after fleeing his home country, is at TIFF with not one but two movies. He’ll have The Seed of the Sacred Fig, but also a title he wrote,...

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled the 43 features selection for the Centrepiece programme including world premieres for Algerian director Merzak Allouache’s feuding matriarchs comedy Front Row and Laura Piani’s romantic comedy Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.

Taking their place in the global cinema showcase alongside the latest work from 41 countries are features that have already impressed at festivals, such as Mohammad Rasoulof’s Cannes award winner The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, and Steven Soderbergh’s Sundance selection Presence.

The 18 world premieres include Iranian filmmaker Ali Samadi Ahadi’s human rights drama Seven Days written by Rasoulof,...

The 2024 Toronto International Film Festival has revealed its Centrepiece program lineup, with 43 films from 41 countries. The selections include 18 world premieres plus an array of festival favorites and winners from Cannes (“The Seed of the Sacred Fig“), Sundance (“Presence“), and more recently the 2024 Venice Film Festival (“April”). This year’s festival runs Thursday, September 5 through Sunday, September 15.

Per TIFF, Centrepiece honors “and celebrates global cinematic achievements, inviting audiences to immerse themselves in a dynamic array of contemporary films. The programme is a reflection of TIFF’s commitment to providing an elevated platform for international cinema, acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work of influential filmmaking luminaries.”

The 2024 Centrepiece selection has been programmed by Jason Anderson, Kelly Boutsalis, Diana Cadavid, Robyn Citizen, Giovanna Fulvi, Nataleah Hunter-Young, June Kim, Dorota Lech, Jason Ryle, and Norm Wilner.

Per the festival, “Notable world premieres include ‘Front Row,...

Steven Soderbergh’s spooky ghost story Presence — starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan and newcomer Callina Liang — will receive its international premiere as part of the Centerpiece sidebar at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival.

Soderbergh first screened Presence at Sundance earlier this year, some 35 years after the debut of his breakout film, Sex, Lies and Videotape, in Park City. In all, TIFF’s Centerpiece section, previously known as Contemporary World Cinema, unveiled 43 films from 41 countries on Tuesday.

There’s world premieres for Marcelle Lunam’s rom com Addition, starring Teresa Palmer and Joe Dempsie; Erin Lee Carr’s documentary Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, a Hulu title about the Canadian pop duo falling victim to identity theft; French director Laura Piani’s Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, with a Frederick Wiseman cameo; Sofia Bohdanowicz’s Measures for a Funeral, written by actor Derah Campbell; and Algerian director Merzak Allouache’s Front Row,...

Hungarian director Gábor Reisz’s Explanation For Everything received the Grand Prix and a cash prize of €10,000 at the 24th edition of the New Horizons International Film Festival (18-28 July) in the Polish city of Wroclaw.

Reisz’s third feature film, which is being handled internationally by Films Boutique, premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival where it won the award for best film in the Orizzonti competition.

It also won a Golden and Silver Hugo Award in Chicago as well as prizes at Les Arcs, Febiofest Bratislava and Uruguay Iff, among others.

The International Competition Jury, which included...

Sundance’s Kim Yutani, and Directors’ Fortnight’s Gabriella Trujillo, along with execs from sales companies. including mK2, Coproduction Office, Reel Suspects and Be For Films will be among the industry execs taking part in Polish Days, the industry platform of the New Horizons International Film Festival, taking place in Wroclaw from July 21-23.

The event will showcase new films by Polish directors Aga Woszczyńska, Lukasz Ronduda and Damian Kocur.

Additionally, there will be closed screenings of four completed Polish films.

They are Jan P. Matuszyński’s Minghun, starring Marcin Dorocinski and Daxing Zhang shot in Polish, English and Chinese...

UK director, writer and cinematographer Molly Manning Walker, who won the Cannes Un Certain Regard prize last year for How To Have Sex, has been selected for the festival’s four-and-a-half month La Résidence program in Paris.

She will be joined by Aditya Ahmad (Indonesia), Daria Kashcheeva (Tajikistan), Danech San (Cambodia), Ernst De Geer (Sweden) and Anastasiia Solonevych (Ukraine).

They follow in the wake of Meltse Van Coillie (Belgium), Diana Cam Van Nguyen (Vietnam/Czech Republic), Hao Zhao (China), Gessica Généus (Haiti), Andrea Slaviček (Croatia), Asmae El Moudir (Morocco) who are currently coming to the end of their residency.

Both intakes will be brought together at the Cannes Film Festival’s 77th edition, running May 14 to 25.

Since its launch in 2000, La Résidence has welcomed 250 directors from around 60 countries including Lucrecia Martel, Kornél Mundruczó, Sebastián Lelio, Antonio Campos, Karim Aïnouz and Jonas Carpignano.

Based in a large flat in Paris’ ninth arrondissement,...

Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu and his Bucharest-based company Mobra Films will join forces with Poland’s Kijora Films on “Tales of the Golden Age – The Warsaw Pact,” a follow up to his 2009 sketch comedy referencing urban legends from the Ceausescu regime.

Expanding to accommodate stories from different ex-communist Eastern European countries, including Poland, it will be written by Mungiu and directed by Ioana Uricaru. France’s Les Films du Worso is also on board.

“Perhaps the most important function of comedy is to help us confront negative emotions and terrible events, and give us a way to talk about them that makes them less frightening. The most effective comedies are set in tragic situations,” Mungiu and Uricaru said in a statement.

“The stories presented in the script take place at a dark moment in history and talk about very grim issues in that comical and absurd way – one...

Real-life pianist Tymoteusz Bies and his younger brother Jacek star in Damian Kocur’s extraordinary and intriguing debut

There’s an icy, unforgiving clarity and compositional rigour to this arresting feature debut from Polish film-maker Damian Kocur, made using non-professionals and partly inspired by a violent incident from real life; it won the special jury prize at Venice in 2022.

Real-life Polish pianist Tymoteusz Bies plays Tymek, a high-achieving young man studying piano at Warsaw’s Chopin University of Music. He’s returned for the summer break to his drab home town, perhaps based on Ełk in the north-east, where all the kids he grew up with are heading for useless jobs and humdrum lives. He’s happy to be back with his music teacher mum and his brother Jacek (played by his actual brother Jacek Bies) but is perplexed and irritated by the fact that Jacek, despite his own piano talent,...

The event is an important incubator for European arthouse projects.

Feature debuts from Slovakia, Cyprus and Romania are among the 13 projects selected for the 25th anniversary edition of the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus, taking place from November 8-10 in the German town of Cottbus.

The event brings together producers from eastern and western Europe.

Producer Martina Sakova of Bratislava-based What If Films and writer-director Daniel Rihák will be presenting the coming of age comedy My World Upside Down which won the Orka Co-Production Award at last year’s Kids Kino Industry Forum in Warsaw and the PopUp Residency Visegrad...

The market runs November 16-17 as part of Tallinn Black Nights’ industry platform.

New projects from Afghan director Sahraa Karimi and Polish filmmaker Damian Kocur are among the 15 films to be showcased in the Baltic Event Co-Production Market which runs November 16-17.

Flight From Kabul is Karimi’s second feature after her debut Hava, Maryam, Ayesha premiered in Venice in 2019. The Slovakian co-production is based on Karimi’s own experiences of fleeing the Taliban.

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Kocur presents his newest feature La Manche after winning best director at Venice Horizons last year with his debut Bread And Salt.

Polish Days runs July 23-25.

New films by Jan P. Matuszyński, Jakub Piątek, Agnieszka Zwiefka and the makers of Loving Vincent are among 22 projects being presented at the 2023 edition of Polish Days, the industry event for Polish cinema running during New Horizons International Film Festival (July 20-30) in Wrocław.

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The event runs July 23-25 and is aimed at sales agents, distributors and festival programmers.

The line-up includes four completed Polish films, including Marcin Koszałka’s historical drama White Courage, produced by Warsaw-based Balapolis, and Amp Polska’s production of Edward Porembny’s docudrama The Life...

Berlin- and Paris-based Salaud Morisset, a leading short film production and distribution outfit, has acquired two feature films for world sales – one selected by Karlovy Vary Film Festival and the other by Locarno Film Festival – as the company accelerates into feature film sales and production.

Salaud Morisset has taken world sales rights on Cyril Aris’ feature documentary “Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano,” which premiered in the main competition at Karlovy Vary this week and received a Special Jury Mention, and Una Gunjak’s fiction feature “Excursion,” just announced as the opener of Locarno Film Festival’s Filmmakers of the Present section. Salaud Morisset, which is also a co-producer on “Excursion,” aims to continue fostering synergies between its production and sales operations as it commits to a full slate of feature projects.

“Dancing on the Edge of the Volcano”

Salaud Morisset will also continue handling selected shorts and represents...

Polish Days, the prestigious two-day event held annually in Wrocław, Poland during the New Horizons International Film Festival, is ramping up its global reach.

Polish Days, the prestigious two-day event held annually in Wrocław, Poland during the New Horizons International Film Festival, is ramping up its global reach, extending meetings slots for deal-makers and tastemakers while showcasing a signature mix of projects from Polish filmmaking talent.

Parallel industry strand New Horizons Studio+ (NHS+), four days of workshops and talks on various aspects of project promotion and development, organised by the New Horizons Association and Creative Europe Desk Polska, is also taking on a greater role.

Polish Days, the prestigious two-day event held annually in Wrocław, Poland during the New Horizons International Film Festival, is ramping up its global reach.

Polish Days, the prestigious two-day event held annually in Wrocław, Poland during the New Horizons International Film Festival, is ramping up its global reach, extending meetings slots for deal-makers and tastemakers while showcasing a signature mix of projects from Polish filmmaking talent.

Parallel industry strand New Horizons Studio+ (NHS+), four days of workshops and talks on various aspects of project promotion and development, organised by the New Horizons Association and Creative Europe Desk Polska, is also taking on a greater role.

Stars: Tymoteusz Bies, Jacek Bies | Written by Damian Kocur, Marta Konarzewska | Directed by Damian Kocur

While studying at the Warsaw Academy of Music, Tymoteusz (Tymoteusz Bies) returns to his hometown for a visit. Surrounded by his friends and younger brother Jacek (Jacek Bies), his group makes a beeline for the new kebab shop opened up by two Arabic immigrants. As tensions rise throughout the summer, Tymoteusz assesses where he stands in the gap between a familiar past and an ever-changing present.

It’s possibly fair to say that those rocking up to a mid-month film festival without much idea of what’s on the schedule might not be too au fait with Polish cinema. Classics such as Ida and Interrogation are heralded as worthy watches, yet the visual imagery of Polish culture instead often comes from BBC News clips of homophobic policies and immigrants who are despised by the Brits.

Seven European film festivals have joined forces to launch an alliance called ’Smart7’.

Debut features by Austėja Urbaitė, Telmo Churro and Sebastian Mihailescu are among seven films selected by the ‘Smart7’ network of seven European film festivals for the first edition of its competitive section of films by emerging filmmakers.

The seven titles will be first shown together at the forthcoming Vilnius Iff (March 16-26), before being screened at IndieLisboa (April 27-May 7), Filmmadrid (June 6-11), Transilvania (June 9-18), New Horizons (July 21-31), Reykjavik (September 28 - October 8) and Thessaloniki (November).

A jury of university students from each country will decide on the winner of the €5,000 prize.

The Lgbtqia+ festival takes place March 15-26.

The BFI Flare: London Lgbtqia+ Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 37th edition which takes place March 15 – 26.

The programme features 58 features, six of which are world premieres, spread across three thematic strands – Hearts, Bodies and Minds.

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World premiering at the festival is John Hay’s documentary Willem & Frieda which is presented by Stephen Fry and explores how a gay man and a lesbian woman led the anti-Nazi resistance in Holland.

The other world premieres are Timothy Harris’ documentary Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn about the...