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Filmmaker Oren Moverman has never shied away from tackling difficult, seemingly impossible material to adapt to film with some of his writing work including the screenplays for Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There and the equally intriguing Brian Wilson biopic, Love and Mercy.

As a director and producer he’s followed suit with his 2nd film Rampart starring Woody Harrelson as an L.A. police officer with questionable motives, followed by a meditative look at homelessness with Richard Gere in Time Out of Mind.

For his latest movie, The Dinner, Moverman adapts Dutch author Herman Koch’s novel, which on the surface is about a dinner between two related couples with all the requisite food porn. As it progresses, it explores a variety of topics including mental illness and the battle of Gettysburg.

At the core of the film is Steve Coogan and Richard Gere playing brothers, the former a history professor,...

The week after the Oscars, most of the contenders are moving on to home viewing. It was a terrific season, but the market needs strong new entries to stem the box-office slide.

Neither of this week’s two most prominent releases — “Table 19” with a national Fox Searchlight break and “The Last Word” (Bleecker Street) — will bolster box office. It also doesn’t help that two highly-touted and well-reviewed wide release studio films, Fox’s “Logan” and Universal’s “Get Out,” are competing for many of the same viewers.

A series of smaller niche audience releases remain. And four this weekend are either Israeli or aimed at audiences interested in Jewish topics. Led by “Women in the Balcony” (Menemsha) they could see further life over the next several weeks.

Opening

Table 19 (Fox Searchlight) – Metacritic: 38

$1,575,000 in 868 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $1,815

Fox Searchlight opted to take this poorly-reviewed wedding...

[Editor’s Note: This post is presented in partnership with Movies on Demand.]

Movies on Demand is a cinephile’s delight in March, as there are plenty of awards-friendly titles to catch up on after the most explosive Oscars ever. Check out three of our favorite films below, as well as the full list of great movies available.

1) “Jackie” (Available March 7)

Pablo Larraín’s brilliant film is so much more than a run-of-the-mill biopic, elevated by Oscar-nominated turns including Natalie Portman’s complex portrayal of Jackie Kennedy, and Mica Levi’s haunting score. One of the year’s best surprises from a director as the height of his powers.

2) “Fences” (Available March 14)

This Oscar nominee for Best Picture is a wonderful interpretation of August Wilson’s play, anchored by acting powerhouses Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. Get the tissues ready for one of 2016’s most immediate and gut-wrenching films.

3) “Moana” (Available March 7)

Need a great movie to keep the whole family entertained? Try “Moana,...

53rd Antalya International Film Festival in Turkey Announces Winners of its Golden Orange Award“Clair-Obscur” by Turkish director Yeşim Ustaoğlu wins International Competition for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. In the National Competition, it wins Best Actress while “Blue Bicycle” wins for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay. “My Father’s Wings” Wins Audience Award for Best Film and National Competition Awards for Best First Feature, Best Actor and the Dr. Avni Tolunay Special Jury Award for Sound Design.

The 53rd International Antalya Film Festival, co-hosted by the Mayor of Antalya Metropolitan Municipality and Festival President, Menderes Türel, and Elif Dağdeviren, the Festival’s Director, is a festival which is weathering the storms hitting Turkey. Just months after an attempted government coup, Turkey is a country increasingly involved in the long war in neighboring Syria; it has been the target of several recent terrorist attacks which scare...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Full Lineup Announcements

– “3-D Auteurs,” a 19-day, 34-film festival spotlighting stereoscopic movies by some of history’s most distinguished directors, will run at Film Forum November 11 – 29. The festival spans 3-D’s earliest days (including some turn-of-the-century films by pioneer Georges Méliès) to the present, and represents virtually every genre, including Westerns, Film Noir, and Science Fiction. Hollywood’s first big 3-D craze (sometimes called 3-D’s “golden era”), intended to offset the threat of television, came in the early 1950s, with such movies as Hitchcock’s “Dial M For Murder,” André De Toth’s “House of Wax” and Jack Arnold’s “Creature From the Black Lagoon” (all included in the series).

Hollywood produced roughly 50 movies in the process from 1952 to 1954, before fizzling out and being overtaken by...

The Chicago International Film Festival 2016 announced its full lineup, and it includes Julia Ducournau's Raw, the previously announced 4K restoration of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Eyes of My Mother, and The Autopsy of Jane Doe, starring Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch.

Press Release: Chicago (September 13, 2016) ­ The Chicago International Film Festival today announces Opening and Closing Night selections, as well as the full slate of films included in the Festival’s U.S. Indies, Spotlight: Musicals and After Dark categories. Chicago will play host to gala screenings of Damien Chazelle’s La La Land and Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival as respective bookends to the 52nd Festival, opening on October 13th and closing on October 27th. A full list of these newly announced programs is below and at www.chicagofilmfestival.com. Tickets for these events and all film screenings go on sale September 21st for Cinema/Chicago members...

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to Justin Kelly’s “King Cobra.” The film, written and directed by Kelly, stars James Franco, Christian Slater, Garrett Clayton, Keegan Allen, Alicia Silverstone and Molly Ringwald. It had its world premiere in the Midnight section of the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.

The film “centers on Sean Lockhart – seventeen and boyishly handsome – who dreams of fame and success even though he’s broke and without direction. When he meets the seemingly conservative Stephen, founder of Cobra Video, he starts to perform in gay porn under the moniker ‘Brent Corrigan,’ creating a slew of wildly successful videos during which he blossoms from a naïve young man into a confident sex symbol. When rival porn producers Joe,...

The Orchard has acquired all North American rights to Junction 48, director Udi Aloni's film inspired by Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar, who stars as Kareem, a rapper who leads an aimless life between odd jobs and hanging out with his buddies in a crime-ridden Arab ghetto of the mixed city of Lyd. Junction 48 won the Panorama Audience Award at the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival and Best International Narrative Feature at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. The film…...

Claudia Pedraza’s debut feature scooped the $20,000 top prize at the Bogotá Audiovisual Market.

The seventh edition of the Bogotá Audiovisual Market closed on Friday (July 15) with this year’s award-winners illustrating the energy and diversity of the Colombian film industry.

La Sed (The Thirst) won the Efd (Equipment and Film Design Colombia) Prize, which comes with $20,000 (€18,000) worth of Efd shooting equipment. The film marks director Claudia Pedraza’s [pictured] debut feature after working as first assistant director on Ciro Guerra’s Embrace Of The Serpent.

La Sed, a Marejada Films production, is a drama set in a world where the lack of water has made living conditions extreme. With a budget of $490,000 (€443,000), the film will be shot next year in La Guajira desert in Colombia, the same location where Ciro Guerra is planning to shoot Pájaros De Verano, his next feature following the success of Embrace Of The Serpent, which won at Director’s Fortnight in Cannes...

We of the liberal West like our stories of foreign conflict clean and straightforward, with discernible messages that reinforce ideals. We look at the relationship between Israel and Palestine in chiaroscuro lighting, content to view the Palestinians as either a repressed and battered minority, or a cadre of terrorists and thugs. Udi Aloni’s latest film, Junction 48 puts us all to shame.

The movie, which won the Best International Narrative Feature Award at the Tribeca Film Festival last week, cuts down Western notions of the good and the bad, cleaving its way through concepts of villainous Israelis, repressed Palestinians, violent Arabs, or wronged Jews. It tells a story about a multifaceted, complex culture coming out of the wastelands of violence, intolerance, and confused conflict.

Junction 48 is set in the town of Lyd (or Lod, or Lydda), a small city not far from the Tel Aviv International Airport. It...

Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSDirector Guy Hamilton, Sean Connery, and Honor Blackman on the set of Goldfinger.We're still stunned from the sudden death of music legend Prince, at a time when Bowie is still on our minds and in our hearts.Last week we also lost director Guy Hamilton, an action director who began as an Ad for Carol Reed (on The Fallen Idol and The Third Man, among others), and best known for leading several James Bond entries, starting with Goldfinger in 1964.The Tribeca Film Festival wrapped in New York over the weekend, and the winners have been announced, including best international feature to Junction 48 and best documentary feature to Do Not Resist.There is no other cinematic project we're more looking forward to than 2017's continuation of David Lynch and Mark Frost's Twin Peaks.

One of the final films that I got to see last week at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival was also ironically the best of the bunch. That film was Dean, the cinematic writing and directorial debut of actor/comedian Demetri Martin. Not only was it absolutely fantastic, it was also declared an award winner at the festival, taking home the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature. That’s a big feather in this one’s cap as it begins to plan for a release in theaters, presumably later on this year. I know I can’t wait for you to see it, though I’ll have more on it later. For the moment, this will also be a piece highlighting all of the award winners, so let’s do that now! Quickly though, a bit on the film itself. As mentioned, Martin writes, directs, and stars in this dramedy about grief.

David Byrne is all smiles as Bill Ross lV and Turner Ross' Contemporary Color captures two awards Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Contemporary Color, under Dp Jarred Alterman and with the Beastie Boys' Adam Horovitz, Devonté Hynes, Nelly Furtado, Nico Muhly, Ira Glass, St. Vincent, Money Mark, Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe, providing some of the music to David Byrne's color guard extravaganza, has scored twice at this year's Tribeca Film Festival awards.

Us Narrative Competition winners

Dean, directed by Demteri Martin; Actor Dominic Rains in Ian Olds' The Fixer; Actress Mackenzie Davis in Sophia Takal's Always Shine; Cinematography - Michael Ragen for Justin Tipping's Kicks; Screenplay - Ingrid Jungermann for her Women Who Kill. The Nora Ephron Prize - Rachel Tunnard for Adult Life Skills; Albert Maysles Award - David Feige for Untouchable. Best New Narrative Director - Priscilla Anany for Children Of The Mountain.

Additional award winners include a documentary about police culture, and a film set against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

With the 2015 Tribeca film festival entering its final stretch, concluding over the weekend with the world premiere of The Bomb, an installation about today’s nuclear threat, the event gave out its awards on Thursday night.

The big winners were comedian Demetri Martin’s directorial debut Dean, Craig Atkinson’s documentary look at police culture Do Not Resist and Junction 48, a film set against the backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All three won the top awards in their respective categories, which each come with $20,000 in prizes.

Continue reading...

Dean, Demetri Martin’s gently comic picture about a Brooklyn illustrator unable to move on with his life following the death of his mother, won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature today at the 15th Annual Tribeca Film Festival. Udi Aloni’s Junction 48 — a drama about a Palestinian rapper in the mixed-city of Lyd that won the Audience Prize at this year’s Berlin Festival — took home the Best International Narrative Feature Award, while Craig Atkinson’s Do Not Resist, about the increasing militarization of United States’ police forces, won the Best Feature in the World Documentary Competition. About Martin’s […]...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced the winners of its competition categories this afternoon, with top honors in this 15th edition of the event going to Dean, Junction 48 and Do Not Resist. For the first time, there were separate U.S. and International narrative competition categories. In addition, the Festival announced the recipients of the Storyscapes Award, for immersive storytelling, and the inaugural Tribeca X Award, a new juried award for branded storytelling…...

Demteri Martin’s “Dean” claimed the Best U.S. Narrative Feature prize at the 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival. At the awards ceremony in New York City on Thursday, Udi Aloni’s “Junction 48” took the prize for Best International Narrative Feature while Craig Atkinson’s “Do Not Resist” won the award for Best Documentary Feature. For the first time in the festival’s history, there were separate U.S. and international narrative competition categories. This year’s festival included 102 features, 74 short films and 38 immersive storytelling projects from 42 countries. Also Read: 'Elvis & Nixon' Tribeca Review: Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey...

The 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival juried awards ceremony on Thursday evening rewarded a wide roster of selections as organisers honoured separate Us and international narrative competition categories for the first time.

In the Us Narrative Feature Competition, the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Dean (pictured) by Demteri Martin, who receives $20,000, sponsored by At&T, and the art award Waking Up In The Painted World by Stephen Hannock.

Best actress in a Us Narrative Feature Film went to Mackenzie Davis in Always Shine, while Dominic Rains of The Fixer earned the best actor award.

The best cinematography prize went to Michael Ragen for Kicks along with $50,000 in post-production services donated by Company 3. Screenplay honours and $2,500 sponsored by Freixenet Cava were awarded to Ingrid Jungermann for Women Who Kill.

In the International Narrative Feature Competition categories, Udi Aloni’s Junction 48 earned the best international narrative feature prize along with $20,000 sponsored by Netflix, and the...

Udi Aloni’s Tribeca Film Festival pic Junction 48 has its U.S. premiere Friday night after an industry screening the morning before for buyers and press. The Israeli pic, which won the audience award in the Panorama section at Berlin this year, has serious indie cred: it was co-written by Oren Moverman who exec produced with James Schamus. The movie stars Tamer Nafar, a Palestinian rapper who fronts the group Dam. The film is inspired by his life and he co-wrote the…...

Co-written by Arabic language hip hop star Tamer Nafar and The Messenger writer-director Oren Moverman and loosely based on Nafar's own experiences, Udi Aloni's Junction 48 blew audiences away when it premiered in Berlin - winning the audience award in the process - and with the film now about to have its Us bow in Tribeca we've tracked down the trailer for its impending Israeli theatrical release. Here's how Tribeca describes it: “My songs aren’t political, they just describe the place I come from.” Aspiring rapper Kareem (Tamer Nafar), the central character in Udi Aloni’s Junction 48, infuses his every action with music: from meeting friends and family dinners to video chats with his girlfriend Manar (Samar Qupty). After a car wreck kills his father...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

This year we are seeing many films from Mena, that is an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa. More commonly called “Arab” cinema, (though the term is inaccurate because several countries in the region are not actually “Arab”) the films of this region are winning many awards and garnering much interest worldwide.

More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin.

The Forum focus on Arab cinema, represented with films from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia highlights mostly young directors whose works explore both the past and present of their homelands.

The films included: “A Magical Substance Flows into Me” by artist Jumana Manna (Palestine), “Akher ayam el madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” (Egypt) by Tamer El Said (international sales by Still Moving), documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each” (Lebanon) by Maher Abi Samra (Isa: Docs & Film), “Barakah yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah” (Saudi Arabia) by Mahmoud Sabbagh and Manazil (Isa: Mpm), “Bela abwab”/ “Houses without Doors” by Syrian-Armenian director Avo Kaprealian. Of course the 46th Berlinale Forum also screens films from European, Latin American and Asian directors.

The Tunisian film in Competition “Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia, won the Best First Feature Award and its leading man, Majd Mastoura, received the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role as Hedi. Attia’s debut feature film is a thoughtful love story about identity and independence in Tunisian society. It is being sold internationally by Luxbox.

Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film for “ A Man Returned”, a 30-minute portrayal of a young refugee struggling to make a life for himself in Lebanon’s Ain El-Helweh camp, being sold internationally by 3.14 Collectif. He previously made an award-winning documentary about his own experience as a refugee. The short film was also selected as the Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards.

The Ecumenical Jury awarded the Forum Prize to Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh for his well-received romantic comedy “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah”, a social commentary on the lives of young people in Saudi Arabia. It shared the prize with Danish production “Les Sauteurs”/ “Those Who Jump” – a film that also highlights the plight of Europe-bound refugees.

Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said’s feature film “Akher Ayam El-Madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” won the Caligari Film Prize. The film looks at a young filmmaker’s struggle to complete a film about Cairo. It was the only Egyptian film to participate in the 2016 Berlinale Forum.

Lebanese filmmaker Maher Abi Samra’s documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each”, a look at the legal system that controls the lives of Lebanon’s foreign domestic workers, won the Peace Film Prize.

“Zinzana”/ “Rattle the Cage” director, Majid al Ansari, from the Arab Emirates, was honored with Variety’s Mid-East Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Berlinale. The film is the first genre movie of its kind produced in the UAE. It was financed and produced by Abu Dhabi’s ImageNation. It is repped for Us by Cinetic and international sales are by Im Global.

Projects “Mawlana”, based on Ibrahim Issa’s best-selling novel and shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize and director’s Mohamed Yassein’s “Wedding Song” based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novel, the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature were being promoted at the Arab Cinema Center at the Market. Reflecting a decadent Egypt from the 1970s, “Wedding Song” is one of the largest TV productions in the Arab World in 2016.

“Theeb”, a Jordanian Epic about Bedouins, is the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It played in Venice. International sales agent Fortissimo has licensed it to Film Movement for U.S., ABC for Benelux, New Wave for U.K., As Fidalgo for Norway, Jiff for Australia, trigon-film for Switzerland. Mad Solutions is handling the Middle East. “Ave Maria” a 14-minute Palestine satirical short is the Academy Award nomination for Best Short Fiction and is being sold internationally by Ouat Media. “ The Idol” (Palestine) played Tiff 2015 and other top fests and has sold widely throughout the world through Canada-based international sales agent Seville. Not since Elia Suleiman won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for “Divine Intervention” has a Palestinian film director made as much of an impact as “The Idol” director Hany Abu-Assad whose “Paradise Now” and “Omar” both went to the Academy Awards.

Kudos for much of the success of Arab cinema go to Mad Solutions, the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and New York based marketing and distribution company for its marketing and social media strategies as well as its release of “Theeb”, “Zinzana” and “Ave Maria”. It also helped create the Arab Cinema Center which was launched last year at the Berlinale and Efm.

In all, 20 Mena films played in the Festival and Market this year.

And what of that other small country in the region called Israel (and/ or Palestine) which is not included in the term Mena? While Israeli films that showed in Berlin received international praise, they will never show in any of the Arab countries and are sometimes boycotted by international film festivals who succumb to censorship tactics.

Most of the larger Israeli features go to Cannes, Venice and Toronto; “Afterthought” went to Cannes, “Mountain” to Venice, “Barash” to San Sebastian”, “Wedding Doll” to London and “A.K.A. Nadia” to Talinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Berlin many are screened as German Premieres.

What Israeli films have won acclaim lately? Is it possible that our hero, Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund, whose stand for true art has earned him Israeli government censure at home (A prophet is never honored in his own land) and fame abroad with new countries striving to create national cinema, is being eclipsed by the growth of “Arab” cinema?

“Sandstorm” directed by Elite Zexer (international sales by Beta) made its way to Panorama from its world premiere in Sundance where it won the Best Actress Award for Palestinian actress Lamis Ammar’s portrayal of a young Bedouin woman forced to choose between modern freedom or traditional societal strictures within an arranged marriage.

Panorama also screened “Junction 48” (international sales by The Match Factory) which received international praise and audience acclaim. The Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop movie by Israeli-American filmmaker, Udi Aloni, was supported by the Israel-based Rabinovich Foundation. The story is about Kareem who lives in a mixed Jewish-Arab crime-ridden ghetto outside Tel Aviv. He deals drugs and lives dangerously until he discovers hip-hop and decides to express his life as a Palestinian youth along with young singer Manar. Palestinian and Israeli musicians drive this music movie and for Aloni, just seeing the film made, and then shown at the Berlin Film Festival proves its success.

“Suddenly a group of people just choose to make a film and the film is extremely professional. It’s very important that this bi-national energy can create high quality stuff, the high quality is almost the symbol of the resistance. We should not even have to tell the story about the issue. The fact that we could create it is amazing,” Aloni told Euronews.

Thirty-seven-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar plays the lead role, and has known the 56-year-old Aloni for some time. “We have been on the same demonstrations, in the parties since 2000, so we live in each other’s world. He has been to my concerts many times, he directed a video clip, I was in his movies as a producer a few times. It’s not about an old generation and new generation, it’s just about creating the right generation,” he said. “He has that gift of being a good story teller and director but he gives us the stage, no, he doesn’t give us a stage, we are building a stage together… he has his own perspective but we are all on the same level,” said actress Samar Qupty. The struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel is at its crux.

Panorama Documents screened “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” directed by Tomer Haymann and Barak Heymann co-directed by Alexander Bodin Saphir and being sold by Austria’s Autlook. Forum showed “ Inertia” by Idan Haguel being sold by Oration Films’ Timothy O’Brian of the U.S., and “Between Fences” by Avi Mograbi, being sold by Docs & Film’s Daniela Elstner of France. Culinary Cinema showed “Café Nagler” by Mor Kaplansky and Yariv Barel is being sold internationally by Go2Films.

Teddy 30 (the retrospective of Teddy Award winners over the past 30 years) honored Dan Wolman’s 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim”. Berlinale Shorts screened Rotem Murat’s “Winds Junction” from Sapir College which also holds international rights; Generation 14 Plus screened “Mushkie” by Aleeza Chanowitz from the Jerusalem San Spiegel Film School, being sold by Cinephil. Seven other films were sold in the market by various sales agents.

One of the very special events I attended at the Berlinale this year was the Shabbat Dinner, held the first Friday in the Festival and hosted by Nicola Galliner, Founder and Force of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival. There was a table full of Jews: the new Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Noa Regev, PhD; Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director of San Francisco’sJewish Film Institute and its former Director, Peter Stein, now the Senior Programmer of Frameline, San Francisco’s Lgbtq Film Festival; Judy Ironside, the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film and of the sixth edition of the Geneva and Zurich Jewish Film Festivals, the new young director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Ariana Cohen-Halberstam who recently moved from the New York Jcc to Boston, the prolific Israeli director, filmmaker Dan Wolman whose new film will soon be out and whose 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim” was part of the Teddy 30th Anniversary Retrospective held by the Berlinale Panorama.

Talk was about films, about politics including gender politics, about our concerns, (we Jews are better worriers than warriors) and just plain gossip.

Now if my readers will excuse my interjecting myself into this article:

It is my opinion that the region of the world called the Middle East, and the three major monotheistic religions of the world whose origin is there had better learn to do more than merely co-exist peacefully if we are to see peaceful and fruitful consequences which will set the world back upon its proper axis.

Art breaks down borders; it is subversive rather than observant of the exigencies of ever changing governments. It creates new perspectives and breaks down old ways of seeing. What I call “Cinema” is Art. Other movies may simply entertain and not aspire to more or they may propagate dogmas, but Art serves no master; it is not tethered; it is freedom of expression which should be honored with freedom to travel.

Exclusive: Former Focus Features executive James Schamus is building a busy but bespoke slate at his new company Symbolic Exchange, including a TV project with European partners.

Writer/producer and former Focus Features head James Schamus, who recently directed his first short, That Film About Money, and his first feature, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s Indignation, told Screen that he plans to direct again.

While he figures out what his next directing project will be, Schamus is busy assembling a development and production slate at his New York-based company, Symbolic Exchange.

“I’ve stayed more or less under the radar since I left Focus [in October 2013]. I had the opportunity to build up my own little company, I have a lovely arrangement with a company called Meridian Entertainment in China,” Schamus told Screen while attending this week’s Qumra event in Doha.

“I’ve kept my staff extremely small. In the next few months we’ll have announcements...

Exclusive: Former Focus Features executive James Schamus is building a busy but bespoke slate at his new company Symbolic Exchange, including a TV project with European partners.

Writer/producer and former Focus Features head James Schamus, who recently directed his first short, That Film About Money, and his first feature, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s Indignation, told Screen that he plans to direct again.

While he figures out what his next directing project will be, Schamus is busy assembling a development and production slate at his New York-based company, Symbolic Exchange.

“I’ve stayed more or less under the radar since I left Focus [in October 2013]. I had the opportunity to build up my own little company, I have a lovely arrangement with a company called Meridian Entertainment in China,” Schamus told Screen while attending this week’s Qumra event in Doha.

“I’ve kept my staff extremely small. In the next few months we’ll have announcements...

Top brass at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival presented by At&T have announced selections in the Us Narrative, International Narrative and Documentary Competition strands.

The films comprise 55 out of 110 features that will play during the 15th edition of the New York festival from April 13-24. The festival will present features films in the Spotlight, Midnight, and Special Sections on March 8.

Also included in Wednesday’s announcement are the out-of-competition Viewpoints titles.

The world premiere of Bill Ross and Turner Ross’ Contemporary Color will open the World Documentary competition on April 14, while the world premiere of Kicks by Justin Tipping will open the Us Narrative competition.

The world premiere of Madly directed by Gael García Bernal, Mia Wasikowska, Sebastian Silva, Anurag Kashyap, Sion Sono, and Natasha Khan will open the International Narrative Competition. Viewpoints will open with the world premiere of Nerdland directed by Chris Prynoski.

One third of the festival’s feature films are directed by women...

Robert De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival, originally cobbled together as a way of helping New York City get back on its feet after 9/11, has slowly grown into one of the film world's most diverse and expansive annual events. On Thursday, the fest revealed 51 of the 101 features that will ultimately play at the 2016 edition, and the lineup is already poised to be Tribeca's best to date. 

One-third of the films selected for this year's fest, running from April 13th - 24th, are directed by women, and their contributions represent some...

Israeli directors win both top awards; runners-up include Steve Coogan’s Shepherds And Butchers and Madonna dancer documentary Strike A Pose.Scroll down for full list of winners

At the Berlinale, the 18th Panorama Audience Awards are to be presented to Junction 48 by Udi Aloni for best fiction film and Who’s Gonna Love Me Now? by Tomer and Barak Heymann for best documentary. Both films were made by Israeli directors.

Aloni has presented all of his films at the festival since 2003 and Junction 48 marked his sixth production to premiere in the Panorama section.

It is his first feature since Art/Violence, which premiered at the festival in 2013 and won the Cinema Fairbindet Prize.

Junction 48 follows two young hip-hop artists who use their music to battle the oppression they encounter in Israeli society. Israeli-American director Oren Moverman (Rampart, The Messenger) co-wrote the screenplay with Tamer Nafar. Sales are handled by The Match Factory.

Documentary...

Exclusive: Arthouse kingpin will sell Mani Haghighi’s A Dragon Arrives!.

The Match Factory has picked up international sales rights to Berlin competition entry A Dragon Arrives! (Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad!), the new feature from Iranian writer-director Mani Haghighi.

Based on a true story, the Farsi-language adventure-mystery follows three adventurous young men who are put in danger by their unauthorized investigation into the legend of a seismological phenomenon in an ancient graveyard on a mysterious island.

Haghighi produces under the banner of his Teheran-based production company Dark Precursor Productions in association with Crossfade Films.

The director’s previous feature was black-comedy Modest Reception, which won the Netpac Prize for best Asian film at the 2012 Berlinale.

The film is the fourth in Competition for German indie powerhouse The Match Factory, whose typically robust Berlinale slate also includes Rafi Pitt’s Soy Nero, Letters From War by Ivo M. Ferreira and Death In Sarajevo by Danis Tanović.

Panorama titles...

Exclusive: Indie sales kingpin will sell Mani Haghighi’s Competition title.

The Match Factory has picked up international sales rights to Berlin competition entry A Dragon Arrives! (Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad!), the new feature from Iranian writer-director Mani Haghighi.

Based on a true story, the Farsi-language adventure-mystery follows three adventurous young men who are put in danger by their unauthorized investigation into the legend of a seismological phenomenon in an ancient graveyard on a mysterious island.

Haghighi produces under the banner of his Teheran-based production company Dark Precursor Productions in association with Crossfade Films.

The director’s previous feature was black-comedy Modest Reception, which won the Netpac Prize for best Asian film at the 2012 Berlinale.

The film is the fourth in Competition for German indie powerhouse The Match Factory, whose typically robust Berlinale slate also includes Rafi Pitt’s Soy Nero, Letters From War by Ivo M. Ferreira and Death In Sarajevo by Danis Tanović.

Panorama titles...

Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...

Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...

As if new films from the Coens and Jeff Nichols weren’t enough, the 2016 Berlin Film Festival has further expanded their line-up, adding some of our most-anticipated films of the year. Mia Hansen-Løve, following up her incredible, sadly overlooked drama Eden, will premiere the Isabelle Huppert-led Things to Come, while Thomas Vinterberg, Lav Diaz, André Téchiné, and many more will stop by with their new features. Check out the new additions below, followed by some previously announced films, notably John Michael McDonagh‘s War on Everyone.

Competition

Cartas da guerra (Letters from War)

Portugal

By Ivo M. Ferreira (Na Escama do Dragão)

With Miguel Nunes, Margarida Vila-Nova

World premiere

Ejhdeha Vared Mishavad! (A Dragon Arrives!)

Iran

By Mani Haghighi (Modest Reception, Men at Work)

With Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Ehsan Goudarzi, Kiana Tajammol

International premiere

Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) – documentary

Italy / France

By Gianfranco Rosi (Sacro Gra, El Sicario...

GeniusThe films included in the lineup for the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival, taking place between February 11 - 21, are starting to be announced.Opening FILMHail, Caesar! (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, USA)COMPETITIONBoris without Béatrice (Denis Côté, Canada)Genius (Michael Grandage, UK/USA)Alone in Berlin (Vincent Perez, Germany/France/UK)Midnight Special (Jeff Nichols, USA)Zero Days (Alex Gibney, USA)Berlinale SPECIALThe Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (Morgan Neville, USA)The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (Colin MacCabe, Christopher Roth, bartek Dziadosz, Tilda Swinton, UK)Where to Invade Next (Michael Moore, USA)PANORAMAJá, Olga Hepnarová (Tomáš Weinreb, Petr Kazda, Czech Republic/Poland/Slowak Republic/France)Junction 48 (Udi Aloni, Israel/Germany/USA)Les Premiers, les Derniers (Bouli Lanners, France/Belgium)Maggie's Plan (Rebecca Miller, USA)Nakom (Kelly Daniela Norris, Tw Pittman, Ghana/USA)Remainder (Omer Fast, United Kingdom/Germany)S one strane (Zrinko Ogresta,...

Other titles include Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan, starring Greta Gerwig, and David Farr’s The Ones Below, starring David Morrissey.Scroll down for full lists

The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has announced the first titles in Panorama – its strand that comprises new independent and arthouse films that deal with controversial subjects or unconventional aesthetic styles.

The initial features include three from the UK, with John Michael McDonagh returning to Berlin for the world premiere of War On Everyone.

The film, a satire centred on two corrupt cops in New Mexico, stars Alexander Skarsgård, Michael Peña, Theo James and Tessa Thompson.

McDonagh was previously in Panorama in 2011 with The Guard and 2013 with Calvary.

Also from the UK is David Farr’s The Ones Below, which revolves around a couple expecting their first child who discover an unnerving difference between themselves and the couple living in the flat below. Receiving its European...