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Toni Hipwell’s micro short The Lure is a mordantly packaged, sublimely macabre dark comedy teasing in fine horror elements and ripe with lush visuals despite the dark foreboding night setting. After being inspired by fellow filmmakers who found success with the format and wanting to challenge their own technical skill, Hipwell translated a 100 word writing sprint into a script, set about bringing together a team who were able to complete the shoot over one night and brought their love of horror to life in a svelte 92 seconds runtime. Ahead of The Lure’s premiere on Dn today, we spoke to Hipwell about building an exacting shotlist that was essential for the short’s concise runtime, using a lot of practicals for their lighting needs and shooting open gate.

What exactly is it about micro shorts which appeal to you as a filmmaker and made you want to take on...

Reteaming once again after collaborating on the 2022 biographical drama “The Silent Twins,” Focus Features has recently acquired a new sci-fi thriller from Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczyńska (“The Lure”) called “Hot Spot.” It marks the second English-language film from the director with Focus picking it up for global distribution, excluding Poland, Greece, and France.

Shot in Greece and featuring an original script from Robert Bolesto, the official synopsis for “Hot Spot” reads, “Set in a near future society ruled by sentient A.I., a private eye investigates a murder case only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord.”

Of Smoczyńska, Focus Features President of Production and Acquisitions Kiska Higgs said “Agnieszka is a singular visionary whose work — be it about vampire mermaids, silent twins or a tech-ruled society — is both visually astounding and thematically prophetic, and we can’t wait to share her latest with the world.

Edgy retellings of classic fairytales have been all the rage lately. These movies usually find a home under the horror umbrella, playing up all the sex and violence Disney cut out. Agnieszka Smoczyskas 2015, The Lure is one such film, turning Hans Christian Andersens The Little Mermaid into a musical creature feature! Mermaids Golden (Michalina Olszaska) and Silver (Marta Mazurek) have been captured and put to work in a strip club. The musical nature of the mermaids and the nightclub performances give The Lure the perfect excuse to frequently break into song throughout the film. Despite the almost absurd whimsy of the exuberant singing, The Lure leans heavily into horror with the creature design of the mermaids and the uglier themes of sexual exploitation and abuse. Even when compared to other dark fairytale reimaginings, The Lure feels unique for its genre mash-up and its willingness to go there with gritty subject matter.

Today marks the launch of No Sleep October, a month-long celebration for Halloween and horror fans alike. Max’s brand new exclusive films, horror library, imaginative curations, designs, and specially designed art featuring iconic stars from fans’ favorite scary movies will haunt viewers and keep them up all night with fear.

No Sleep October brings horror fans three films only available to stream on Max, including Salem’s Lot on October 3. In the film, author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.

The new Max Original film Caddo Lake debuts on October 10. When an eight-year-old girl mysteriously vanishes, a series of past deaths and disappearances start to link together, forever altering a broken family’s history. And in Trap, debuting October 25, a father and teen daughter attend a pop concert,...

October is here! Which means peak Halloween season is now underway, and that includes the launch of “No Sleep October,” a month-long celebration for Halloween and horror fans alike at Max. Max’s brand new exclusive films, a best-in-class horror library, imaginative curations, and specially designed art featuring iconic stars will keep you busy all month long.

Look for new Max Original Film, Salem’s Lot on October 3. In the film, “Author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.”

Max Original Film Caddo Lake arrives on October 10. “When an eight-year-old girl mysteriously vanishes, a series of past deaths and disappearances start to link together, forever altering a broken family’s history.” Celine Held & Logan George (Topside) wrote and directed for New Line Cinema, and the film...

Ready for Halloween? So is Max. The streamer just debuted their month-long Halloween and horror movie celebration, dubbed “No Sleep October,” and we’ve got the full list for your perusal.

There’s a batch of A24 horror movies that includes favorites like “Bodies Bodies Bodies” and “Midsommar” alongside new releases “MaXXXine” and “I Saw the TV Glow.”

Timed to the release of Max’s “Salem’s Lot” adaptation from “Anabelle Comes Home” director Gary Dauberman, which debuts on Oct. 3, Max also has a collection of Stephen King movies, including Tobe Hooper’s 1979 mini-series adaptation, “It” and “It: Chapter Two,” “The Shining” and “Doctor Sleep.”

And with the streaming debut of “Trap” landing on Max on Oct. 25, M. Night Shyamalan is also getting the spotlight with a collection that includes “Unbreakable,” “The Sixth Sense” and “The Visit.”

Finally, there are of course plenty of horror and Halloween classics, including “A Nightmare on Elm Street,...

Musicals are something of a unicorn in the horror genre: a rare beast that can be extremely hit or miss (Stage Fright). So when a film from Estonia called Chainsaws Were Singing comes along, it feels like a reason to pay attention.

Director Sander Maran and co-writer Karl Ilves (who also stars) have crafted something extremely silly and fun. Think Cannibal! The Musical meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, albeit with several extraneous side plots and a too-long runtime of ~1 hour 50 minutes.

The film is split in three parts, divided between its central lovers and the aptly named Killer who antagonizes them. The film opens in media res as Maria (Laura Niils) runs up to a man frantically asking for help from a Killer (Martin Ruus) pursuing her with a chainsaw. The man fails to believe Maria because he can’t believe someone would be using a chainsaw (“It’s off-season!

The Polish Netflix hit Colors of Evil: Red features a robust ensemble cast. The leads of the movie are Jakub Gierszal, Maja Ostaszewska, Zofia Jastrzbska. Some of the most prominent English-language projects featuring the cast are Schindler's List, The Pianist, and Dracula Untold.

Colors of Evil: Red features a Polish cast that includes up-and-comers as well as faces that may be familiar from some English-language projects. The crime thriller movie, which is a hit on Netflix, was directed by Werewolf's Adrian Panek from a screenplay that Panek co-wrote with The Getaway King's ukasz M. Maciejewski. While it bears elements reminiscent of true crime, it is based on the fictional 2019 novel of the same name (originally published in Polish as Kolory Za: Czerwie) by Magorzata Oliwia Sobczak.

The novels seem to be inspired by the Three Colours trilogy, movies from the mid-1990s made by director Krzysztof Kielowski. The trio,...

New Europe Film Sales has sold US rights to Ulaa Salim’s sci-fi romance Eternal to Dark Star Pictures and has boarded Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s next feature Hot Spot.

Eternal recently world premiered in the Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Dark Star is planning a theatrical release in the US.

The film centres on an obsessive, young climate change scientist who leaves behind his girlfriend to participate in a multi-year research mission exploring a fissure on the ocean floor that threatens the world. Years later, during his mission, he experiences a vision of what his life...

Hanway Films will represent worldwide sales at next month’s EFM on Winter Of The Crow, a Cold War thriller starring Oscar-nominated actress Lesley Manville. The film is currently shooting in Warsaw.

Based on a short story by Nobel Prize and International Booker-winning Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, the feature is set in what is described as “the surreal and cinematic world of 1981 Warsaw.” The full synopsis reads: Warsaw, Poland – December 13th, 1981 – martial law is imposed and overnight shuts down the country just as British psychiatry professor Dr. Joan Andrews (Manville) arrives in Warsaw as a guest lecturer at the University. Taxis have been replaced by tanks; citizens are treated like criminals. But as chaos engulfs the city, armed with her camera she witnesses a brutal murder by the secret police.

In mortal danger and trapped as Poland is closed down, Joan becomes a hunted fugitive running for her life. Using...

Lesley Manville, most recently seen as Princess Margaret in the final seasons of “The Crown,” is to lead “Winter of the Crow,” now shooting in Warsaw, Poland.

Ahead of the European Film Market in Berlin, HanWay is launching worldwide sales on the feature, based on the short story by Olga Tokarczuk, a Nobel Literature Prize and International Booker Prize winner and one of the most critically acclaimed and successful authors of her generation in Poland.

Alongside Manville, soon to be seen in “Back to Black,” the sporting cast includes Tom Burke, Zofia Wichłacz (“World on Fire” and a European Shooting Star winner at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017) and Andrzej Konopka.

From award-winning director and storyboard artist Kasia Adamik (winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017 for “Spoor”), “Winter of the Crow” is a Cold War thriller set in the surreal and cinematic world of 1981 Warsaw.

With her debut feature “Tiger Stripes,” Malaysian writer-director Amanda Nell Eu joins an exciting group of directors who provide subversive takes on genre and body horror. Julia Ducournau and “Raw” comes to mind, as do Agnieszka Smoczynska and “The Lure” and John Fawcett and “Ginger Snaps” — like David Cronenberg before them.

Eu, an Ma graduate of the London Film School, blends Malaysian folklore with heightened realism and a large dollop of “Mean Girls” in the story of a tween going through changes wrought by puberty and alterations in her friendship group. World premiering at the Cannes Critics Week, it came away with the Grand Jury Prize for best feature and has been collecting additional kudos ever since. It represents Malaysia in the Oscar international feature competition.

Bold 12-year-old Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) is the natural leader among her group of gal pals, all currently seniors at their religious primary school. She...

Unleash your inner scream queen and buckle up for a spine-tingling adventure where horror gets a fabulously feminine makeover! As audiences everywhere gear up for the release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie, we’ve conjured up a killer list of 10 ‘Barbiecore’ horror movies that will have you shrieking with delight.

We’ve had Barbie on the brain for a while, just last week we released an article highlighting the best pink hued horror movies. Our list of Barbiecore horror movies is dripping with girly glamour and bursting with major girlboss energy, blending the spookiness of horror with the charm, allure, and unapologetic strength of femininity. So, slip into your most bewitching pink ensemble, get Ken to make you some popcorn, and pinky swear to scream your lungs out.

United Artists Carrie (1976)

Carrie White, a shy and introverted high school student with telekinetic powers, becomes the target of cruel classmates and her religiously fanatic mother.

Hedge Funds into Festivals: Future Frames — Generation Next of European Cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2023Can U.S. companies be viewing international film festivals in a new light that foretells a new source of financing for the festivals which are facing the same cutbacks as all other cultural initiatives as post-Covid inflation and arming big wars take the lion’s share of capital?

Sydney Levine

Published in

SydneysBuzz The Blog

·5 min read·4 days ago

Three important new players are eyeing ten emerging European film directors as they launch their careers in the film industry at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the 8th edition of Future Frames — Generation Next of European Cinema organized by the European Film Promotion and Kviff. The selected participants, chosen among film students and graduates, will showcase their films to the festival audience and engage in an intensive program that will introduce them to the film industry and media in a way that goes beyond the borders of Europe.

The final 10, chosen by Kviff’s artistic director Karel Och and his team of programmers follow a two-part schedule, starting with an online pre-program of pitching training and industry meetings. During the festival, Efp introduces the young directors and their films to the public, film industry and press. The three-day on-site event running from 2 July is rounded off by this year’s mentor, the acclaimed Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska who will provide an exclusive private master class for the young filmmakers.

*** click here for more information about you might be selected ***

The new financing infusion comes from future-seeing U.S.- and U.K.-based bigtime cultural business for this year’s Future Frames program

A new partnership with leading multi-national lottery operator Allwyn as well as U.S.-based talent agency UTA and management company Range Media Partners will provide feedback and guidance to the filmmakers. One participant will ultimately be selected who will receive a special scholarship sponsored by Allwyn to go to Los Angeles and learn from the best in the film industry.

UTA’s partnership with the Karlovy Vary Film Festival may be explained in part by the agency’s partner Rena Ronson. The first woman to run an independent financing, packaging and sales department at an agency as sole head, she now co-heads UTA Independent Film Group. In reading her in-depth interview with Screen International, readers will learn what gives Rena her special international view of film, something sorely lacking in most U.S. major players.

U.S. based venture capital as invested in Range Media Partners is also aiming outward from the U.S. The largest startup in Hollywood’s talent representation sector in years, Rmp was launched in late summer 2020 during the Covid pandemic. Its founders and partners, two former agents from CAA, Peter Micelli and Jack Whigham, have an ambitious vision for the management, production and business development side of the industry. With financial backing coming former Wall Street hedge funder Steven A. Cohen’ who reached a $1.2 billion settlement of insider trading charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2013, his private equity firm, Point72, has been a valued advisor but has no day-to-day role in running the agency. Their combined vision sees going beyond classic booking roles in TV shows and movies into the empire-building of business development and venture capital investments. Range Media now has nearly 150 staffers thanks to the financial backing from Point72 and it has expanded quickly through another partnership with A+E Networks that gives it a boost in content production and distribution.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska

In an exclusive master class entitled “How to make your first movie“, Agnieszka Smoczyńska will talk about her experiences and encourage the young directors to follow their ideas and go their own ways. Smoczyńska will present her highly-acclaimed first feature film, The Lure, a mixture of musical and horror film.

Agnieszka Smoczyńska debuted in 2015 with The Lure– genre-bending, horror-musical mashup which won awards around the world, at dozens of international festivals, including Sundance Film Festival Porto, Sofia, Montreal, Vilnius. The Lure is a part of the prestigious Criterion Collection and was theatrically released in US via Janus Film. Her second feature film Fugue premiered at the Cannes Critics’ Week. In 2023, it was released in US theaters. In 2022, her English-language debut, The Silent Twins starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance, premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival. Smoczyńska took part in the European Cinema: Ten Women Filmmakers to Watch program. She was also a winner of the Global Filmmaking Award sponsored by the Sundance Institute. In 2022 she was among five directors to watch at Cannes Film Festival.

About Allwyn

Announced as a main partner of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in April 2023, Allwyn, a leading multi-national lottery operator, will support the Future Frames initiative for three years. As a main partner of Kviff, Allwyn will host the Allwyn Future Frames Lounge on site and bring the ten emerging European talents together with industry leaders, including overseas talent agency UTA and management company Range Media Partners.

“We look forward to welcoming all the talented directors to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this year, selected as part of the Future Frames initiative. We are also very much looking forward to welcoming one of the ten directors on the newly established scholarship to Hollywood, introduced this year in partnership with UTA and Range Media. Changing lives is core to our mission and we are very pleased to be affording talented directors the opportunity to work with the very best in the film industry,” said Pavel Turek, Allwyn’s Chief Officer of Global Brand, Corporate Communication, and Csr.

This year’s group not only has experience in festivals, but the 10 also includes two award winners such as Germany’s Sophia Mocorrea who won the Short Film Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival and received a Special Mention at this year’s Berlinale with her film The Kidnapping of the Bride in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. The Netherlands’ Joris Tobé’s Frantic Attempts won the Knf Award for Best Graduation Project at the Netherlands Film Festival in 2022. Other films from this year’s Berlinale include The Shift by Denmark’s Amalie Maria Nielsen (Generation Kplus) and Spain’s Christian Avilés’ Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays(Berlinale Shorts). Heart Fruit by Kim Allamand celebrated its world premiere in the Pardi Di Domani section at the Locarno Film Festival last year.

For more details of the selected 10, click here.

Also chosen are Czech Republic’s Anna Izabela Wowra for Stuck Together, Italy’s Giulia Regini for Cut From the Same Cow, Lithuania’s Rinaldas Tomaševičius for 15, Portugal’s Inês Pedrosa e Melo for Home, Revised, Slovak Republic’s Monika Mahútová for Standing Still and Switzerland’s Kim Allamand for Heart Fruit.

MoviesInternational FilmFilm FestivalsWomen In FilmFilm Financing...

Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczyńska‘s feature debut, the horror mermaid musical The Lure, dazzled upon release in 2017. While her English-language debut Silent Twins starring Letitia Wright is set to debut this Fall, the filmmaker’s current project, Hot Spot, has our attention.

The filmmaker spoke with Variety today about her work, teasing Hot Spot‘s premise “about a disillusioned private eye Djonny, investigating a murder at a refugee camp and confronting a cyber witch who takes control of his life.”

Smoczyńska had us at “cyber witch.”

“In Europe, it’s good to have co-productions. It’s better for arthouse films, especially nowadays. On this sci-fi film, based somewhere in the future, we will have Greece, France and Poland on board,” the filmmaker said of Hot Spot‘s production. In other words, don’t expect a fully English-language feature in Hot Spot.

Hot Spot will also reunite Smoczyńska with screenwriter Robert Bolesto,...

Polish helmer Agnieszka Smoczyńska fought for Tamara Lawrance to be a part of “The Silent Twins,” she said at Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

“We had two options: [hire] one actress who plays both characters, but there is no chemistry, or find actual twins, which was not possible. We had Letitia Wright, who was this amazing actress and ‘Black Panther’ star, and then we found Tamara,” she said.

The story was inspired by real-life identical twins June and Jennifer Gibbons, who only communicated with each other.

“They are not that similar, so what do you do? You make a decision. And I knew she was the one, because it was all about this tension between them.”

Smoczyńska opened up about difficult choices and her career during an exclusive masterclass for 10 young filmmakers selected for Efp’s Future Frames – Generation Next of European Cinema.

“I really wanted to make my movie. Not somebody else’s movie,...

Once again, 10 promising directors are making their way to Karlovy Vary Film Festival thanks to European Film Promotion’s Future Frames – Generation Next of European Cinema initiative, ready to burst onto the international film scene.

“Over the past few years, we have established a reliable label with Future Frames,” says Sonja Heinen, Efp’s managing director, adding that the goals have remained the same: spotlighting talent, creating visibility for the emerging directors, and helping them access the market.

“Being selected gives them a certain stamp of approval. They get a platform to exchange and experience, and are equipped with coaching which they can use later in their career,” adds Nora Goldstein, project director.

Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska, behind Sundance award-winner “The Lure” and Cannes title “Silent Twins,” is this year’s mentor.

Getting access to the Efp network also means being welcomed into a “family from all parts of Europe,...

“The Idol” has been the TV season’s spite-watch de rigueur – a mess of untenably dated misogyny, homophobia, angry interpersonal sexual violence and traumatic hair styles, all of it justified in the service of reminding the world: Never trust a dude with a rat tail.

Despite that, the show’s icily epic music — made by its creators and actors, in and out of character — has been mesmerizing… thrillingly so, even. The music was initially broken down as a series of EPs released between June 9-30, and now those weekly teasers are captured in full on “The Idol (Music from the HBO Original Series),” a soundtrack that stands as a far more rewarding and cohesive document than its televised counterpart.

The collection kicks off with “The Lure (Main Theme)” from the Weeknd and Mike Dean — aka “muthafucking” Mike Dean, the self-proclaimed stoner, vintage-synth-heavy producer-composer who played a heightened version of himself...

New Project

Update: The title of Vannuccini’s sequel to “Commedia” has been changed to “Things and Other Things.”

Riccardo Vannuccini has set a sequel to his feature “Commedia.” Titled “Tarzan,” the project will see him again team up with “This England” star Greta Bellamacina, with whom he starred in “Commedia.”

The duo will reprise their roles as Rocco and Irene, this time in a post-industrial landscape. Manolo Cinti is on board as Dp. “Tarzan,” which begins shooting in Italy this November, is co-produced by Artestudio in Rome and Sulk Youth in the U.K.

“Commedia” is set to be released on Prime Video in the U.K. and U.S. this month.

“Our heroes have managed to mysteriously escape from where they were – but where were they?” says Vannuccini. “They are busy doing nothing, making small acts, to leave imaginative traces of their passage, imagined signs of being in the world.

Despite the controversy, “The Idol” is still providing the bops.

The Weeknd, who stars in the series and helps co-create it with “Euphoria” director Sam Levinson, dropped the sexually-charged track “World Class Sinner/I’m A Freak” featuring Lily-Rose Depp and the hauntingly captivating “The Lure” on Friday.

“The Idol” delves into the story of a world-famous pop star, portrayed by Depp, who finds herself entangled in a provocative relationship with Tedros (The Weeknd), a self-help guru and cult leader.

Read More: ‘The Idol’ Viewers Slam Controversial New Show After The Weeknd Admits ‘It’s Not Going To Be For Everybody’

“World Class Sinner/I’m A Freak” already aired in last week’s episode of the glamorously dark series, which was the series’ first episode. The track served as the comeback track for Depp’s character Jocelyn.

The second single, “The Lure”, takes a different approach from its counterpart,...

Ahead of the second episode of HBO’s The Idol, two new songs from the show have been released. The divisive new show from Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and Euphoria creator Sam Levinson tells a twisted tale about a pop star, played by Lily-Rose Depp.

First up are “World Class Sinner/I’m a Freak” as performed by the fictional singer at the heart of the show Jocelyn (played and sung by Depp) and “The Lure (Theme Score).” Both were featured in the series premiere, which followed Jocelyn and her...

One bonus of a Max subscription is access to part of the Criterion Collection, which amasses classic films from both the U.S. and abroad. While the Criterion Channel houses a much larger inventory of films, the Criterion Collection available on Max is seriously impressive.

It includes some of the finest foreign films by directors Fellini, Truffaut, and Kurosawa. Various Hitchcock films are also available, as is the work of two renowned British directors: Michael Powell’s beautiful “The Red Shoes” and David Lean’s romantic heartbreaker “Brief Encounters.”

Many of Chaplin’s most famous silent films are here, including one of his masterpieces, “The Gold Rush” (1925) and the 1942 version, which includes a musical score and new narration.

The streamer’s subscription starts at $9.99 — and for film buffs, the Criterion library is a cinematic education.

7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com

Get 20% Off Your Next Year of Max When...

The idea of retelling placid and gentle children's fairy tales in a bloody, horror milieu is hardly new. Think of a fairy tale or beloved children's classic, and odds are good that someone has already transformed it into a horror movie. Off the top of my head: Neil Jordan made a horror movie out of Little Red Riding Hood with "The Company of Wolves" in 1984. Later, in 1996, filmmaker Matthew Bright brought the same story into a scuzzy modern setting with "Freeway." 1997 saw the release of "Snow White: A Tale of Terror" with Sigourney Weaver as the evil queen.

"The Little Mermaid" was transformed into an awesome 2015 horror musical called "The Lure." Pinocchio starred in "Pinocchio's Revenge." The Gingerbread Man was transformed into "The Gingerdead Man". A quick stroll through the spider-webbed hallways of Tubi might reveal titles like "The Curse of Sleeping Beauty," 1995's "Rumplestiltskin," and multiple films called "The Tooth Fairy.

Most of the well-known mermaid films are romantic and upbeat, from the tween fantasy "Aquamarine" to Disney's revolutionary animated feature "The Little Mermaid" (which will be reimagined as a live-action movie in May), and the sex comedy "Splash" where Tom Hanks meets a beautiful mermaid who also happens to be the girl of his dreams. But mermaids can also be a nightmare.

In Greek mythology, mermaids — also known as sirens — are half-human, half-sea creatures who are mysterious and inquisitive, but also deceitful. According to folklore from around the world, female mermaids are harborers of doom. They use their bewitching singing voices to hypnotize male sailors and lure them to a watery death. In Homer's "Odyssey," Odysseus forces his men to fill their ears with wax so that they are not tempted by a mermaid's enchanting song.

Their liminal existence between the sea and shore often brings violence and conflict,...

Agnieszka Smoczynska‘s 2015 The Lure was quite the sensation, having made a splash at Sundance and having enjoyed a growing reputation in the years since. Smoczynska premiered her second film Fugue at Critics’ Week in Cannes, and while the reception has been equally strong, the film couldn’t be more different. At the Polish premiere at the Nowe Horyzonty Film Festival, I witnessed a sober, hyper-controlled look at a woman who disappears and is forced to go back to a family she doesn’t remember having.

Gabriela Muskała came up with the initial idea and portrays Alicja (who’s now being told her name is Kinga) with a fiercely defiant stare, soldering contempt, pain and disinterest on her face when she is confronted with what’s left of her past relationships.…...

Staring into the Known: Smoczyńska Offers Low-key, Uncompromising Sophomore Feature

Surely not the follow up effort audiences might have had in mind from the creator of 2015’s mermaid horror musical The Lure, perhaps – and yet Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s Fugue is striking in its understated and discomforting in its elegance. The story of a woman resurfacing from the darkness of a Warsaw underground tunnel with no memory of her previous life as a wife and mother in the Lower Silesia region of Poland, Fugue will surely frustrate those looking for the same extravagance that made with her Sundance hit debut The Lure (read review).…...

Paris-based Petit Film has boarded “Hot Spot” by Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska.

The story, set in the near future, follows a disillusioned private eye Djonny, called to investigate a murder at a refugee camp. But he becomes increasingly unstable as he confronts a cyber witch who gradually takes control of his life.

Smoczyńska’s previous film, Cannes premiere “The Silent Twins” – based on the lives of June and Jennifer Gibbons – earned Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance a BIFA [British Independent Film Award] for Best Joint Lead Performance.

“Agnieszka’s work does not derive from, or resemble, any existing films. That’s the first and foremost reason why I would not miss the chance to participate in one of them,” says producer Jean des Forêts, also behind Julia Ducournau’s “Raw” and Lucile Hadžihalilović’s English-language debut “Earwig.”

“Last year the opportunity arose and I seized it immediately. The project brings together a nice band...

Magna Cum Laude Pussy.

We’re still recovering from the fact that we got to talk to Chucky creator Don Mancini for 90 minutes last week, so between that, The Lure, the Og Hellraiser and Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria remake, this Halloween season has been pretty wild!

So where are the Horror Queers headed next? Just in time for Spooky Season, we’re checking out a quintessential Erotic Thriller of the 90s: Paul Verhoeven and Joe Eszterhas‘ sexy, sultry, sleazy Basic Instinct (1992).

In the film, Detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) – a recovering addict and womanizer – is tasked with investigating a grisly ice pick murder. What he doesn’t realize is that he’s entered into a deadly game of cat and mouse with provocative bisexual crime author Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone in a career defining role).

Despite the warnings of his therapist and on-again, off-again lover Dr. Beth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and possibly queer partner,...

Bitch, it’s Don Mancini!

September has been a very busy month for us Horror Queers! First, we took a trip to Poland to analyze the trans allegory in the mermaid horror musical The Lure before heading back into the twisted mind of Clive Barker to discuss his infamous directorial debut, Hellraiser. Last week, we’re doing a deep dive into Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 classic Suspiria but now we’ve got the episode to end all episodes as we do a deep dive into the Chucky franchise with the creator himself: Don Mancini!

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS.

Episode 197: A Chucky Extravaganza! feat. Don Mancini

Sorry, Jack…Chucky’s back! With the second season of Chucky premiering on SyFy next week,...

Frank, ya basic!

After looking at two very different types of queer-coded bromances in Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse and Rob Underwood’s Tremors, we took a trip to Poland to analyze the trans allegory in the mermaid horror musical The Lure. This week, we’re heading back into the twisted mind of Clive Barker to discuss his infamous directorial debut, Hellraiser, on the week of its 35th anniversary!

In the film, hedonist Frank (Sean Chapman) inadvertently opens a portal to hell when he tinkers with a box he bought while abroad. The act unleashes gruesome beings called Cenobites, who tear Frank’s body apart. When Frank’s brother Larry (Andrew Robinson) and his wife Julia (Clare Higgins) move into Frank’s old house, they accidentally bring what is left of Frank back to life. Frank then convinces Julia, his one-time lover, to lure men back to the house so he...

I first took notice of Agnieszka Smoczynska when I discovered the film The Lure. It was a strange and beautiful horror tale, one that revolved around the intense relationship between sisters. And yes, they were mermaids. The film was fascinating and unforgettable. And now, the filmmaker takes on another intriguing tale, one that revolves around the true story of sisters June and Jennifer Gibbons called The Silent Twins. What made their story special is that for years, the two would only speak to each other. It’s a unique telling of their tale, and it also features two stunning performances from Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrence.

We recently sat down to speak with both Ms. Wright and Ms. Lawrence. I was so completely mesmerized by their on-screen connection, I asked about how they approached recreating such an incredible sisterly bond. For Letitia, I asked about coming off of a film...

The Silent Twins is a new film based on the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twin sisters born in 1963 to parents of Caribbean descent, and whose family lived mainly in Wales. Persecuted at school from an early age—primarily due to the color of their skin and idiosyncratic behavior—the twins gradually withdrew from the world, speaking only to each other (in a combination of sped-up English and Bajan Creole that made it difficult for others to understand), duplicating each other’s movements and behavior, and generally remaining non-communicative with others around them.

While their behavior seemed bizarre to observers, the Gibbons sisters fostered a creative life together, often in their shared bedroom, in which they made art, staged plays with handmade dolls and toys, and dreamed up stories and songs. While both of them wrote several works of fiction, only June’s full-length novel, The Pepsi-Cola Addict,...

Sistas With(out) Voices: Smoczynska Revisits Case Study of Antisocial Twins

Poland’s Agnieszka Smoczynska makes her English language debut with third feature The Silent Twins, based on British journalist Marjorie Wallace’s 1986 expose on June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical Welsh twin girls whose dysfunctional development led to a spate of crime and eventual indefinite incarceration. In a tale where foreignness plays a key part in lack of understanding, since the Gibbons family were of West Indian descent, Smoczynska doesn’t seem entirely inappropriate as a figure removed from either culture.

Based on her previous two films, there are intersecting similarities, such as the fantastical mermaid sisters of her celebrated debut The Lure (2015) and a woman suffering from memory loss struggling to accept the family who’s reclaimed her in 2018’s Fugue (read review).…...

There is safety and security in make-believe, in playing pretend, where the only things that can hurt are the things let into the mind in the first place. This is where June and Jennifer Gibbons take solace from the real world — a world full of hatred, and misunderstanding, and posturing. In their fiction, and otherwise inventive make-believe, the twins live out a happy life, all under their own control.

Imagination often bucks up against the cold, hard nature of reality, and it’s in this schism that Agnieska Smoczyńska’s “The Silent Twins” grows into something altogether original and meticulously crafted. The Polish director’s latest inventive feature is the story of the Gibbons twins: a true story, more or less, of sisters who struggled with mental health and persevered through writing and storytelling. Though the twins rarely, if ever, intended harm, they were prone to fits of impulsiveness, and in their late adolescence,...

A tale of two sisters and two halves, The Silent Twins, directed by celebrated Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczynska from Andrea Seigel’s adaptation of Marjorie Wallace’s 1986 book of the same name, centers on two real-life identical twins, June and Jennifer Gibbons, their uniquely idiosyncratic, imagination-rich lives, and their life-and personality-altering experiences inside oppressive educational and psychiatric institutions that repeatedly attempted to “rehabilitate” them into fully conforming British citizens. Both a cautionary tale and, in its limited way, a celebration of perseverance against a racist-tinged bureaucratic system that treated Afro-Caribbean immigrants, like the Gibbons family, as lesser than their melanin-challenged peers, The Silent Twins falters, sometimes badly, if not...

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

Ariel Would Never

We’re finally into September after a wild and diverse August filled with professional women, queer Chosen Families, owl-headed slashers, horny lighthouse keepers, and highly controversial homoerotic underground monsters (which begs the reminder: listen to the podcast instead of just commenting on the post).

Trace and I, along with special guest Jessica Scott, are kicking off the new month with Agnieszka Smoczynska’s ‘The Lure’, a feminist parable about two mermaids – Silver (Marta Mazurek) and Golden (Michalina Olszańska) – who become cabaret sensations in Warsaw in the 1980s.

As their power and popularity grow, the sisters are betrayed by their chosen family, night club singer Krysia (Kinga Preis) and her shitty son Mietek (Jakub Gierszał), for whom Silver undergoes a dramatic physical transformation (cue the trans reading of this already very queer film).

Despite the musical numbers and colourful costumes, this sure as hell ain’t Disney! (It...

Ass Blasters

After a month of divergent picks ranging from John Carpenter’s made-for-tv movie Someone’s Watching Me! to Clive Barker’s sprawling Nightbreed to Michele Soavi’s Italian slasher Stage Fright to Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse, Trace and I are ready to wrap up August with an American classic.

It’s time for Tremors, y’all!

Although the film was written and directed by SS. Wilson and Brent Maddock and directed by Ron Underwood, its behind the scenes production was guided by three powerful women, who managed to bring the creature feature together.

The movie is about two men, Kevin Bacon‘s Val and Fred Ward‘s Earl (who may be more than friends) who discover a population of massive creatures burrowing under the surface of their small desert town. With the help of young seismologist Rhonda (Finn Carter) and survivalist couple Burt (Michael Gross) and Heather (Reba McEntire!

At first, it might seem strange that experimental Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska chose for her third film a social justice drama about a pair of Black British twins and amateur novelists locked up for petty crimes. But the filmmaker’s esoteric style — “The Lure” was a bloody, lesbian take on “The Little Mermaid” — makes more sense once we get to meet June Gibbons (Letitia Wright) and her sister Jennifer (Tamara Lawrence). Identical twins born 10 minutes apart, June and Jennifer invent an entire language only for each other — and are despondent when anyone else tries to invade their fun. Smoczyńska illustrates the eccentric stories they tell each other with stop-motion puppets, musical montages and, in one Andy Warhol-inspired set piece, a deep pool of Pepsi washing ’round a living room.

Where “The Silent Twins” fails, however, is in tying that childlike expressionism to the stark grimness of the Gibbons’ real lives.

by Elisa Giudici

Tori & Lokita

Speak up for yourself and change the world. The problem is that sometimes that the most vulnerable people have no voice, enduring violence and betrayal in silence. Sometimes a forgotten language is found again. At other times silence is a radical choice made. Today, an immigrant story from the Dardennes, and a vivid true story from Agnieszka Smoczyńska, the director of The Lure...

Anita Gou’s producing career focuses on helping filmmakers and creatives bring their personal passions and visions to the screen. With Focus Features’ Cannes Un Certain Regard entry “The Silent Twins” from director Agniezska Smoczynska, her streak producing singular visions — such as Lula Wang’s “The Farewell” and “Honeyboy,” the collaboration of writer-actor Shia LeBeouf and Alma Har’el — continues.

She started in the business right out of school getting her feet wet in post-production on bigger studio films.

“I kind of quickly realized through that experience — though very fruitful and eye-opening — that my passion was really about more independently driven films, more idiosyncratic storytelling, storytellers and stories. So I quickly navigated how to find my way to towards the kind of filmmakers I want to be working with.”

“The Silent Twins” tells the story of two Black women, June and Jennifer Gibbons, who, growing up in 1970s Wales, only communicated with each other,...

Polish film in Cannes Official SelectionThe Polish representation at the 75th Cannes International Film Festival is exceptionally strong. Although journalists are mainly wondering whether Palme d’Or will go to Jerzy Skolimowski, the author of the film ‘Eo‘, three other Polish productions — all co-financed by the Polish Film Institute — have a chance for awards in Cannes.

Main competition — Eo

Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski Eo tells a story of a donkey in an increasingly complex reality. Passed from hand to hand, the animal meets both good and bad people on its path full of bends. Skolimowski’s film is a allegory created in a Polish-Italian co-production. The director is also responsible, along with Ewa Piaskowska, for the script.

The cinematography for Eo is by Michał Dymek, Michał Englert and Paweł Edelman, and Agnieszka Glińska was responsible for the editing. Isa: Hanway

Un Certain Regard section — Silent Twins

Un Certain Regard section includes the English-language film by Agnieszka Smoczyńska who did that fabulous mermaid movie that premierd in Sundance called The Lure. Twin sisters (June and Jennifer Gibbons), described in the book The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace, who in their childhood “fell silent to the outside world” are recreated in the eerie story of twin sisters who were entirely silent, communicating only to each other as children. As teenagers, they became obsessed with writing fiction, then with teenage boys, and finally, with crime. The film is based on the true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twins from the only black family in a small town in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s.

Silent Twins is a Polish-British co-production, for which Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Bogna Szewczyk and Ewa Puszczyńska are responsible on the Polish side. The editing, as in the case of Eo, is by Agnieszka Glińska, and the music was composed by Marcin Macuk and Zuzanna Wrońska. Jakub Kijowski is responsible for the cinematography.

‘Silent Twins’ by Agnieszka Smoczyńska

‘Silent Twins’ by Agnieszka Smoczyńska

Section Quinzaine des Réalisateurs — Pamfir

In this section, the Polish-Ukrainian-French-Chilean co-production directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk is worth a look.

This story takes place in the west of Ukraine on the eve of the traditional carnival. This is about a loving father whose child sets fire to the house of prayer. In order to rectify his son’s guilt, Pamfir must stop “earning honestly for bread” and return to places he never wanted to return to. On the Polish side, Bogna Szewczyk Madants and Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska are responsible for the production. The film was edited by Nikodem Chabior. Isa: Indie Sales

‘Pamfir’ by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk

‘Pamfir’ by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk

Section of La Cinef Festival du Cannes — Tomorrow We are not There

In the student section, the animated short film Tomorrow We are not There by Olga Kłyszewicz is a triumph. It is an eight-minute story about a situation many of us have probably experienced: an unexpected encounter with a person who views life in a completely different way and changes our point of view unexpectedly.

Kłyszewicz’s animation was selected from among 1,528 student productions from around the world submitted to the competition and is one of only three animations out of sixteen qualified films. The Film School in Łódź is responsible for the production of the picture, and Joanna Jasińska-Koronkiewicz was its artistic supervisor.

‘Tomorrow We are not There’ by Olga Kłyszewicz

‘Tomorrow We are not There’ by Olga Kłyszewicz...

Cinephiles were drooling early Thursday morning over what was cooking at Cannes. Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux unleashed the competition and out-of-competition slate for 2022, and it is très formidable.

Eighteen movies from across the globe will compete for the Palme D’or. (Don’t be surprised if another title slips in between now and opening night; last-minute additions are common occurrences.) The big guns are as follows:

David Cronenberg will make his return to whacked-out weirdo body horror with “Crimes of the Future.” After last year’s win for “Titane,” don’t count this one out for the top prize. The film stars Cronenberg vet Viggo Mortensen plus Léa Seydoux (a Cannes regular who had to skip last summer’s fest after testing positive for Covid) and Kristen Stewart. Not much is known about the picture, other than it shares a title with a one-hour feature with non-synchronous sound...

Just two feature films in (2015’s The Lure and 2018’s Fugue), Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Smoczyńska has built a rabid fan base – us included. It’s no wonder she has been attached to a handful of projects since cementing her unique voice among filmmakers woith the sophomore film being presented at the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week. Among our most anticipated items for what we thought would be a 2021 drop, her third feature (and first English language project) was picked up by the Focus Features folks back in April for what will be 2022 drop. Starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance, Focus describe Silent Twins as “a luminous, magical world”…exploring “themes of love, longing, identity”.…...

The Fantasia International Film Festival brought its 25th edition to a close on Wednesday, August 25th with the sold-out in-person screening of Takashi Miike’s The Great Yokai War – Guardians, bowing for its International Premiere at the festival, and the unveiling of this year’s esteemed award winners.

Once again responding to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Fantasia took up a hybrid format for the 2021 festival, returning to Festival Scope and Shift72 for our Canadian geo-locked virtual component and holding in-person screenings at Montreal’s historic Cinéma Impérial and the Cinéma du Musée. Across digital and physical screenings, the festival boasts over 100,000 in viewing numbers that include ticket sales, badge purchases, and streamed events. More than a record-breaking 500 journalists from around the world were accredited for Fantasia, which also saw a heightened industry presence with numerous distribution and sales acquisitions being announced out of the fest, including pick-ups by Shudder,...

Korean director Hong Eui-jeong’s debut feature “Voice of Silence” stood out at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival as the year’s best film from its Cheval Noir main competition section. The film, about two men who clean up after an organized crime organization, has enjoyed an impressive international festival run, having built up strong buzz as a project when it was selected to Venice’s Biennale College Cinema program in 2016.

“In a film festival that’s known as a melting pot of genres, ‘Voice of Silence’ feels like an excellent representative for the top prize in the Cheval Noir section. It’s earnest and sincere in tone but also unpredictable and experimental, impossible to pin down, and truly idiosyncratic,” said the jury in a statement accompanying the announcement.

Basque filmmaker Igor Legarreta was honored as the year’s best director for his sophomore effort “All the Moons,” a 19th...

Sirens are an integral part of Greek mythology, largely appearing in epics such as The Odyssey. They were largely antagonistic aquatic beings who sang songs to charm sailors and subsequently kill them. The Medieval Age, however, also equated their physical characteristics to those of mermaids.

Related: 10 Scary Movies That Actually Get Monsters Right

While the modern perception of mermaids places them as benevolent aquatic creatures, sirens have endured as evil beings with a constant lust for blood. Over the years, several fantasy and adventure films have depicted sirens as murderous mermaids or sea nymphs, including blockbusters like Pirates Of The Caribbean, along with internationally-acclaimed horrors like The Lure.

When she was a student at the prestigious Lodz Film School in Poland, Jagoda Szelc was offered the chance to shoot a feature film. It was an unexpected opportunity for the aspiring filmmaker, who was then in her third year. But after it was produced on a shoestring budget, “Tower. A Bright Day” would go on to play the Berlin Film Festival and win a host of awards in Poland, unexpectedly catapulting Szelc into the limelight.

It was not an easy place for a first-time filmmaker to be. “I was very lost,” Szelc admits. Critics compared “Tower” to the works of male directors and seemed flummoxed that a young woman could helm such an auspicious debut. In one TV segment that left a lasting mark, two male presenters argued that Szelc was too young to understand what she was doing behind the camera. “There was a lot of patronizing [behavior toward] me,...

With the horrible specter of Covid still hanging over the world, the folks at the Frontières co-production market were a little concerned that their genre submissions would be heavily virus-centric.

However, they needn’t have worried. The lineup for the 2021 market, organized by the Fantasia International Film Festival in collaboration with Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes, features a wildly creative array of projects, including one about a telepathic serial killer cat, another about deportation and a deadly virus which kills white people, and yet another which puts a horrifying twist on the often harrowing experience of coming out.

“I am very happy that our lineup is not about Covid,” says Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert. “We did have a couple submissions on that theme, but overall people said no, we don’t have to write about this. It’s happening in real life, but we’ll find something else to talk about.

Focus Features has landed rights to “Silent Twins,” a thriller starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance.

Based on the book by Marjorie Wallace, the film marks the English language debut of director Agnieszka Smoczynska (“The Lure”). Andrea Seigel wrote the screenplay.

Set in the 1970s and ’80s, the story follows June and Jennifer Gibbons (portrayed by Wright and Lawrance), twins from the only Black family in a small town in Wales. Feeling isolated from that unwelcoming community, the pair turn inward and reject communication with everyone but each other, retreating into their own fantasy world of artistic inspiration and adolescent desires. After a spree of vandalism inspired by an American boy they both idolize, the girls, now teenagers, are summarily sentenced to Broadmoor, an infamous psychiatric hospital, where they face the choice to separate and survive or die together.

Focus Features will distribute the film in the U.S., with Universal Pictures handling international distribution.

Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to feature Silent Twins, which marks the English language debut of director Agnieszka Smoczynska (The Lure).

Starring Letitia Wright (Black Panther) and Tamara Lawrance (The Long Song) as the title twin sisters, the film is based on the haunting true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twins from the only Black family in a small town in Wales in the 1970s and ’80s. Feeling isolated from that unwelcoming community, the pair turn inward and reject communication with everyone but each other, retreating into their own fantasy world of artistic inspiration and adolescent desires. After a spree of vandalism inspired by an American boy they both idolize, the girls, now teenagers, are summarily sentenced to Broadmoor, the infamous UK psychiatric hospital, where they face the choice to separate and survive or die together.

Pic is written by Andrea Seigel and is based on book The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace.