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Cinema is a profound language of emotion and storytelling; few understand this as deeply as Denis Villeneuve. His curated selections for the Criterion Collection reveal a director’s intimate connection with transformative filmmaking. These choices span decades and continents, showcasing films that challenge narrative conventions, explore human complexity, and push artistic boundaries. Villeneuve’s picks are not mere recommendations but a masterclass in cinematic appreciation—each film is a testament to storytelling’s power to illuminate the human experience.

1. Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieślowski)

Kieślowski’s masterpiece represents cinematic poetry in motion. Denis Villeneuve is captivated by its meticulous artistic synthesis—the delicate interplay between visual composition, emotional narrative, and musical score. The film explores grief through a devastatingly intimate lens, tracking a woman’s journey of loss and eventual emotional reconstruction. Its visual language transcends traditional storytelling, creating a symphonic experience that moves viewers at a profound, almost cellular level.

France’s “Emilia Pérez,” Germany’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and Brazil’s “I’m Still Here” have been named to the shortlist in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category, retaining their frontrunner status in a race that had fewer high-profile contenders than usual this year.

Other films on the list are Canada’s “Universal Language,” the Czech Republic’s “Waves,” Denmark’s “The Girl With the Needle,” Iceland’s “Touch,” Ireland’s “Kneecap,” Italy’s “Vermiglio,” Latvia’s “Flow,” Norway’s “Armand,” Palestine’s “From Ground Zero,” Senegal’s “Dahomey,” Thailand’s “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” and the United Kingdom’s “Santosh.”

“Flow” is the only animated film on the list, while “Dahomey” is the only documentary. The Palestinian selection, “From Ground Zero,” is the most unusual of the shortlisted films, consisting of 22 separate short films made over the last year by directors living in Gaza.

Hereditary, Old, and A Quiet Place: Day One star Alex Wolff is preparing to helm his sophomore feature, the dark psychological thriller If She Burns, in which he’ll also star. The multi-hyphenate talent recently provided Deadline with an update on the film, teasing a “dark, emotional” ride ahead.

If She Burns will also star Victoria Pedretti (“You,” “The Haunting of Hill House”), Asa Butterfield (All Fun and Games, Flux Gourmet, Choose ofDie) and Justice Smith (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Quarry).

The film “follows a fiery young woman (Victoria Pedretti) who travels to Europe with her dysfunctional family after a traumatic incident. She finds refuge and danger in a turbulent affair with her enigmatic neighbor (Wolff), which along with increasing family tensions and mysterious wildfires, threaten to push her to breaking point.”

“It’s a dark but also warm and emotional thriller,” Wolff told Deadline.

Sweden has selected The Last Journey as its candidate for the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards.

The documentary by popular Swedish TV hosts and journalists Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson, known at home as Filip och Fredrik, sees the duo take Hammar’s father Lars on a road trip to France.

Lars has recently retired after 40 years as a French teacher but instead of a “third age” of travel, wine and experiences with his wife, he becomes passive and tired. By making the same road trip that the family used to make when Filip was a child, and staging some of life’s most beautiful moments, they hope to rekindle Lars’ spark.

The doc is produced by Nexiko in co-production with Nordisk Film Distribution, Rmv Film and collaboration with Svt.

The work has proven a hit at the Swedish box office this year, drawing more...

Through a Glass Darkly: Keltek Finds Divinity Through Insanity

Sanism might be the term best used to define the trials and travails faced by the protagonist of Turkish director Gürcan Keltek‘s sophomore film New Dawn Fades (Yeni șafak solarken). Like the Joy Division song it shares a title with, a mentally unstable young man drifts in and out of hallucination in a film which also feels “Directionless, so plain to see.” Since the narrative is from the perspective of its spiraling principal, it takes a while to mull over Keltek’s languorous pacing to decipher if it’s merely an affliction or if something more sinister and supernatural is indeed afoot.…...

Ingmar Bergman is the Oscar-winning Swedish auteur who helped bring international cinema into the American art houses with his stark, brooding dramas. But how many of his titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden, Bergman started off as a screenwriter before moving into directing. His early hits “Summer with Monika” (1953), “Sawdust and Tinsel” (1953) and “Smiles of a Summer Night” (1955) helped make him a favorite amongst American audiences hungry for world cinema.

He hit his stride in 1957 with a pair of noteworthy titles: “Wild Strawberries” and “The Seventh Seal.” Both films dealt with the absence of God and the inevitability of mortality — the former concerning an aging professor (Victor Sjostrom) coming to terms with his life, the latter focusing on a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) playing a game of chess with Death (Bengt Ekerot...

Ingmar Bergman is often considered one of the greatest filmmakers of our time. Bergman began his directing career with moderately successful romantic comedies in the mid-1940s before diving into existential crises ten years later. With films like "Persona," "Wild Strawberries," and "Through A Glass Darkly," Bergman's most popular films explore the complex nature and experiences of humanity by focusing on themes of self-discovery, religious faith, mental illness, and heartbreak. Today, many of his films are considered masterpieces.

One of the director's most celebrated films is "The Seventh Seal." Based on Bergman's 1954 stage play, "Wood Painting," the film is about a Knight (Max von Sydow) who plays a game of chess with Death. During this game, the soldier struggles with religious faith and his own mortality during the time of the Crusades and The Black Death. The play and the movie explore the same themes and include a lot of the same characters,...

Everything old is new again. Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed remake of “West Side Story” has garnered seven Oscar nominations. That haul is impressive but pales next to that of the 1961 original which reaped a whopping 11 bids. Not surprisingly, it was the big winner at the 34th annual Oscars. These took place at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on April 9, 1962 with Bob Hope hosting.

The Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins adaptation of the Leonard Bernstein–Stephen Sondheim landmark Broadway musical waltzed away with 10 wins including Best Picture, Director (shared for the first time) and for supporting players Rita Moreno and George Chakiris.

Robbins also received an honorary Oscar that night for his “brilliant achievement in the art of choreography on film.” Ironically, Robbins had received his walking papers from his directing duties 45 days into production. Wise told me in a 2002 L.A. Times interview that the production was behind schedule and over-budget.

Entering the “likely a money-laundering scheme for Spanish businessmen” part of his European travelogue era, Woody Allen turns uniquely narrow-minded and bitter with Rifkin’s Festival, which takes aim at the film culture that’s both alienated and abandoned him this past decade. Exciting though it is to see the proverbial gloves come off, the hands, sadly, don’t get very dirty.

Beginning on the therapist couch, film critic, professor, and failed novelist Mort Rifkin recounts the story of how he accompanied his wife Sue (Gina Gershon) to the prestigious San Sebastián International Film Festival, where she was handling publicity for Philippe (Louis Garrel), a socially conscious, classic-American-cinema-loving filmmaker diametrically opposed to Mort’s own cinephilic principles. It’s hard to pinpoint what straw man Allen’s exactly going after here—perhaps Phillippe is just a stand-in for all the millennial A24 directors who’ve pissed him off in recent years—but regardless,...

by Cláudio Alves

Did you know that Juan Carlos Ojano hosts one of the best film podcasts around? The One-Inch Barrier started last year, examining the Best International Film race, going backward in time. As its penultima season is drawing to an end, I was honored enough to return for my third stint as a guest.

The subject, this time, was Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly, which won the Oscar in 1961, beating Denmark's Harry and the Butler, Japan's Immortal Love, Mexico's The Important Man, and Spain's Plácido. Though the Swedish flick about God's silence and Harriet Andersson's general awesomeness isn't an especially joyous piece, this was a fun, thoroughly entertaining conversation. Topics ranged from faith to class warfare, from ironic movie titles to Toshiro Mifune's hotness. There was even time to throw shade at some 2021 Oscar contenders, though I refuse to name the mediocrity in question. Take...

While the majority of 2020’s film festivals opted for virtual or hybrid affairs — and some were even cancelled, as was the case for both Cannes and Telluride — this year sees the world creeping, quite cautiously, back into seeming normalcy. Cannes went off without a hitch (albeit in an un-traditional July slot), while both Venice and Telluride are gearing up for in-person editions in the coming days. The Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival are both going ahead with hybrid events that will likely offer less virtual options for audiences than they did last year, with NYFF even announcing that it would not screen any films on a virtual platform, though some other events will be available that way.

So, no, this year’s packed fall festival season doesn’t look quite the same as it did even two years ago, but 2021 promises to feel more like old times than 2020 ever did.

A young Parisian filmmaker whose delicately personal work illuminates the unbearable lightness of being with the soft touch of a late summer breeze, Mia Hansen-Løve may not be the first 21st-century auteur who comes to mind when people consider the portentous legacy of Ingmar Bergman, a man whose cinema stared into the void in the hopes of seeing its own reflection, and shouted down God’s silence with such howling rage that even his comedies are probably still echoing in eternity. From a distance, the idea of Hansen-Løve shooting an homage to Bergman feels like the equivalent of, say, Kacey Musgraves recording a covers album devoted to the Swedish doom metal band Candlemass.

And yet, “Bergman Island” — a triple-layered meta-romance about a filmmaker who flies to Sweden with her partner and pitches him a screenplay about her first love — is such . Set on the remote skerry in the Baltic Sea...

“Bergman Island,” the lyrical and absorbing new drama written and directed by Mia Hansen-Løve, tells the story of two filmmakers who are a couple: Tony (Tim Roth), the more famous of the two, and Chris (Vicky Krieps), who has carved out her own independent niche in world cinema. They have a daughter they’re leaving with relatives, and the movie is about what happens when they journey to the island of Fårö, in the Baltic Sea, and settle into a remotely spacious country cottage with a windmill in the backyard. They’ve rented the place as a summer getaway in which to work on their latest screenplays.

It’s no accident, of course, that they’ve sought out this grassy, becalmed, picturesque island just off the southeast coast of Sweden. It’s the place made famous by Ingmar Bergman, who shot a number of his films there, like “Through a Glass Darkly...

Photo: ‘Scenes from a Marriage’/Sveriges Radio Please note that this is a review of the mini-series, not the theatrical version. With the announcement of its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and last week’s trailer drop, anticipation for Mia Hansen-Løve’s newest film ‘Bergman Island’ has grown immensely. The former actress’s third film to compete at the festival tells the story of a filmmaking couple who make a pilgrimage to the Swedish island of Fårö, affectionately known as Bergman Island, where the master of Cinema Ingmar Bergman lived and worked. Among his films shot there: ‘Through a Glass Darkly’, ‘Persona’, ‘Hour of the Wolf’, ‘Shame’, ‘The Passion of Anna’ and of course, ‘Scenes from a Marriage.’ Such sacred ground for cinephiles, nevertheless the vibes from such films are not particularly rainbows and sunshine. In the trailer, Vicky Krieps’ character remarks “you do realize we’re going to...

Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Bergman Island” has been percolating for several years now, which is why many cinephiles were thrilled to hear the drama will have its world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. “Bergman Island” will compete for the Palme d’Or, making Hansen-Løve one of only four women in competition at Cannes 2021. An international trailer for the film has been released, debuting the first footage of cast members Tim Roth, Vicky Krieps, Mia Wasikowska, and Anders Danielsen Lie.

“Bergman Island” centers around a filmmaking couple (Roth and “Phantom Thread” breakout Krieps) who travel to the island of Fårö, which is where Ingmar Bergman lived and died and shot scenes for iconic films such as “Through a Glass Darkly” (1961), “Persona” (1966), “The Passion of Anna” (1969), and “Scenes from a Marriage” (1972). It’s here where the couple’s relationship is tested as the line between reality and fiction starts to blur.

Hansen-Løve...

The Palm Springs International Film Awards will award Carey Mulligan with the International Star Award for her performance in “Promising Young Woman.”

The annual Festival and Film Awards Gala will be holding an in-person event this year, but honoree selections will still be announced to recognize the year’s best performances.

“In ‘Promising Young Woman,’ Carey Mulligan boldly portrays Cassandra Thomas, a young woman, who risks her life to avenge the death of her best friend. This is a thrilling black comedy that tells an entertaining story of female power,” Festival Chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement. “For this daring and outstanding performance, it is our honor to present the International Star Award to Carey Mulligan.”

Mulligan was previously honored at the festival with the Breakthrough Performance Award in 2011. Past recipients of the International Star Award include Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Gary Oldman and Saoirse Ronan. Last...

Before the next Smackdown, Nick Taylor will be visiting some "alternates" to the Supporting Actress Ballot.

Existence, am I right? Being alive? Inhabiting a physical form and experiencing things until we inevitably pass from this mortal coil? Few filmmakers have captured the ache of true, unbearable unhappiness with oneself, with love, with God, with time, with humanity itself like Ingmar Bergman did.

Yes, he did more than just contemplative, psychologically precise, wholly accessible dramas, like the fantastical, expansive, occasionally harrowing depiction of childhood in Fanny and Alexander. Still, who would expect the auteur behind Through a Glass Darkly and Cries and Whispers (truly one of the most upsetting films to watch under self-isolated quarantine) to make a bedroom farce as light and entertaining as Smiles of a Summer Night? The sheer fact of Smiles is almost as surprising as the narrative, which artfully succeeds at being funny and sexy while...

There’s never a bad time to be reminded of and introduced to great cinematic works and their authors and filmmakers, but 2020 is turning out to be a particularly necessary time for cultural enrichment and artistic nourishment. At home.

So the timing couldn’t be better for Stephen Farber and Michael McClellan’s new tome, “Cinema ’62,” an examination and celebration of 1962, which they boldly proclaim was “The Greatest Year at the Movies.”

For those cineastes who might challenge that proclamation, and substitute, say, 1939, 1999 or my particular favorite, 1969, for that vaunted honor, the book thankfully opens with an astute and succinct preface by Oscar-winning writer-

director Bill Condon.

“I’ve found that a cineaste’s ‘greatest year’ more often than not lines up with the early years of his or her adolescence,” observes Condon, expressing a theory I’d always assumed was mine alone. So with the question of subjectivity and...

Stage and screen acting legend Max Von Sydow, who starred in The Seventh Seal and appeared in The Exorcist, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Flash Gordon, and Game of Thrones, died on March 8 at the age of 90, according to Variety.

“It is with a broken heart and with infinite sadness that we have the extreme pain of announcing the departure of Max von Sydow,” his wife, the producer Catherine Brelet, said in a statement.

Von Sydow made his Hollywood debut as Jesus in the 1965 Biblical epic The Greatest Story Ever Told. This gave him the authority to observe “if Jesus were alive today and saw what they are saying in his name, he would never stop throwing up” in Woody Allen’s 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters. Von Sydow had the power to compel Satan as Father Merrin in William Friedkin’s 1973 horror classic The Exorcist and Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), directed by John Boorman.

Max von Sydow, the Oscar-nominated actor best known for playing chess with Death in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and battling a demon in The Exorcist, died Sunday. He was 90.

His wife, Catherine Brelet, announced the news without citing a cause of death in Paris Match. “It is with a broken heart and with infinite sadness that we have the extreme pain of announcing the departure of Max von Sydow on 8 March 2020,” she said, according to The Guardian.

The Swedish actor became a breakout star in the late Fifties...

Max von Sydow in The Seventh Seal Photo: Criterion Collection Max von Sydow's French wife has said that the Swedish born star of The Seventh Seal and The Exorcist has died at the age of 90.

Documentarian Catherine Brelet announced that he had died yesterday "with a broken heart and with infinite sadness".

Von Sydow - whose final film Echoes Of The Past is currently in post-production - starred in more than 100 films and TV series. Although he began his career in theatre, he quickly carved out a career onscreen, working 11 times with Ingmar Bergman, including The Seventh Seal, Through A Glass Darkly and Wild Strawberries.

His career saw him span a range of genres and included roles as Jesus (The Greatest Story Ever Told), a priest (The Exorcist), the Devil (Needful Things) and Bond villain Blofeld (Never Say Never Again). He also featured as Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens...

Max von Sydow, the tall, tragic-faced Swedish actor whose name was virtually synonymous with the films of Ingmar Bergman, has died. He was 90.

Variety has confirmed that the actor died on Sunday.

Von Sydow, who became Bergman’s symbol for the modern man in such films as “The Passion of Anna” and “Shame” after making his Bergman debut as the errant knight in “The Seventh Seal,” also had an unusually prolific career in Hollywood and international films.

He made his American debut in the role of Jesus Christ in George Stevens’ turgid 1965 epic “The Greatest Story Ever Told” and went on to make strong impressions with audiences in “The Exorcist,” Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters,” David Lynch’s “Dune,” “Three Days of the Condor,” “Hawaii,” “Conan the Barbarian” and “Awakenings.”

Von Sydow worked for other Scandinavian directors as well, drawing an Oscar nomination for his role in Bille August...

By Darren Allison

On the 31st January, Silva Screen released two excellent BBC vinyl albums from the 1970s. Firstly, Paddy Kingsland was the first Radiophonic composer to see a solo release of his compositions, even though he’s not name-checked on the front of the sleeve. “Fourth Dimension”, first released in 1973, showcased Kingsland’s theme tunes for television and radio while at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The recordings feature a rock-style backing band and synthesisers including the Vcs 3 and “Delaware” Synthi 100, and the track “Reg” from the album was also released as the B side to the 1973 single release of the iconic Doctor Who theme tune. Kingsland remained at the workshop for 21 years, leaving in 1981, during which time he composed music for much loved TV shows The Changes, Doctor Who and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy among others. Paddy Kingsland is now part of the newly-revived independent “Radiophonic Workshop...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Marielle Heller)

It sounds almost too perfect: Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers, the beloved children’s entertainer. Of course, who else could it be, really? It is so seemingly predestined, in fact, that Hanks’s first onscreen appearance as Fred Rogers elicits knowing laughter from the audience. Yes, Tom Hanks playing Mr. Rogers looks and sounds exactly how you would imagine. Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, however, is much more than an obvious biopic. It’s not really a biopic at all. Nor is it a rehash of 2018’s much-heralded documentary profile of Fred Rogers, Won’t You Be MyNeighbor?...

Criterion re-releases restorations of three Ingmar Bergman titles with A Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman, the collection’s first presentation of the Swedish auteurs works originally released on DVD in 2003. Sixteen years later, Criterion has released one of the most comprehensive collections of his filmography last fall and continues to restore its stand alone offerings. While the triptych of Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1962) and The Silence (1963) are collectively known as his Silence of God Trilogy, the collection foregoes the direct religious reference in its packaging.…...

Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.

The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.

The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track, and can include animated and documentary features.

Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.

The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track, and can include animated and documentary features.

Ingmar Bergman would’ve celebrated his 101st birthday on July 14, 2019. The Oscar-winning Swedish auteur helped bring international cinema into the American art houses with his stark, brooding dramas. But how many of his titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden, Bergman started off as a screenwriter before moving into directing. His early hits “Summer with Monika” (1953), “Sawdust and Tinsel” (1953) and “Smiles of a Summer Night” (1955) helped make him a favorite amongst American audiences hungry for world cinema.

SEEOscar Best Director Gallery: Every Winner In Academy Award History

He hit his stride in 1957 with a pair of noteworthy titles: “Wild Strawberries” and “The Seventh Seal.” Both films dealt with the absence of God and the inevitability of mortality — the former concerning an aging professor (Victor Sjostrom) coming to terms with his life,...

In good news for fans of Ingmar Bergman and Bruno Dumont, the Criterion Collection has announced its June titles. Three from the Swedish master are making the upgrade from DVD to Blu-ray, with Dumont’s “La vie de Jésus” and “L’humanité” making their Criterion debut. Also joining the collection are John Cameron Mitchell’s “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” George Stevens’ “Swing Time,” and Sergei Bondarchuk’s epic adaptation of “War and Peace.”

More information below, as well as the ever-alluring cover art:

A Film Trilogy by Ingmar Bergman

In 1960, Swedish director Ingmar Bergman began work on three of his most powerful and representative films, eventually recognized as a trilogy. Already a figure of international acclaim for such masterpieces as The Seventh Seal and The Magician, Bergman turned his back on the expressionism of his fifties work to focus on a series of chamber dramas exploring belief and alienation in the modern age.

For all of the constant talk about “the death of cinema,” 2018 was yet another incredible year at the movies. Some of the most remarkable films could be seen coming a mile away (e.g. “Black Panther”) while others seemingly came out of nowhere (e.g. “Madeline’s Madeline”) to remind us that we’re still scratching at the surface of what this medium has to offer. In that light, it’s hard not to get excited about what 2019 might have in store. We’ve already seen 22 great films that are slated to hit theaters in the next 12 months, and those titles will soon be joined by new efforts from the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Dee Rees, Mia Hansen-Løve, Greta Gerwig, Jordan Peele, and Josephine Decker, in addition to major franchise releases like “Star Wars: Episode IX” and — of course — “Detective Pikachu.” We can’t wait to start watching.

Screen’s regularly updated list of foreign language Oscar submissions.

Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the first submissions for best foreign-language film are now being announced.

Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.

Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.

Submitted films must be released theatrically...

Sweden has selected Ali Abbasi’s Cannes winner “Border” as its entry for best foreign language film at this year’s 91st Academy Awards. The Swedish Film Institute announced the choice Tuesday.

Abbasi said he was “overwhelmed” that his film had been selected. “I thought it was impossible to even get to Cannes, but as the film has grown and now is being screened at festivals all over the world, the Oscars doesn’t seem so far away all of a sudden,” said Abbasi, who was born in Iran and educated in Denmark.

The film was chosen by the seven members of the Swedish Oscar Committee, which was presided over by Anna Serner, CEO of the Swedish Film Institute.

“Border” saw its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard program at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in May, where it went on to win the section’s top prize.

Screen’s regularly updated list of foreign language Oscar submissions.

Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the first submissions for best foreign-language film are now being announced.

Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.

Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.

Submitted films must be released theatrically...

Sweden’s “The Square” is running in second place in our combined odds to win Best Foreign Language Film, but a victory would be very sweet for its country: Sweden would tie Japan and Spain for the third most wins in the category at four.

All three of Sweden’s foreign language wins have been for Ingmar Bergman films: “The Virgin Spring” (1960), “Through a Glass Darkly” (1961) and “Fanny and Alexander” (1983). Palme d’Or winner “The Square,” which stars Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West and follows the installation of a new museum art exhibit, marks the Scandinavian country’s 16th nomination — the fourth most all time behind France (39), Italy (31) and Spain (19). (Japan has 15.)

See ‘A Fantastic Woman’: Groundbreaking transgender love story on track to win Chile its first Oscar for Best Foreign Film

Italy and France are also the category leaders in terms of wins, with the former racking up...

Blame the lack of a box-office hit, or the new Academy rules, but the Oscar frontrunners for the best foreign film of 2018 are as clear as mud.

New Academy president John Bailey has made changes to widen the number of voters participating in the foreign-language Oscar nominating committee, with the final five available to the full membership online. (Links went to voters on January 23, weeks before DVD screeners arrived in the mail.)

More people signed up for the first round of foreign-language voting (many of them previously ineligible publicists and marketers), but the opened-up London, New York, and San Francisco shortlist committee screenings saw minimal increases in attendance. And while there’s a sense that the international voters invited to watch screeners online skewed European, no one knows how many voters watched the shortlisted entries to come up with the final five.

For this year, the changes mean way more...

In this week’s edition of Canon Of Film, we take a look at one of Woody Allen‘s most popular films, ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors’. For the story behind the genesis of the Canon, you can click here.

Crimes And Misdemeanors (1989)

Director/Screenwriter: Woody Allen

Part dark tragedy, part dark comedy, or is it all comedy? It’s certainly all dark to say the least. Considered by almost everybody as one of Woody Allen’s very best films (although I’m not sure Woody would agree), ‘Crimes and Misdemeanors’, wasn’t his first dramatic film, that was the Ingmar Bergman-esque ‘Interiors,’ and it certainly wasn’t his last comedy, yet it clearly represents the moment in Allen’s career when he started to abandon comedy in favor of drama and tragedy. Well, maybe “abandon,” is the wrong word, but he certainly began to lose interest in comedy around here.

Sure, you were planning to get up to speed on Outlander‘s second season ahead of the drama’s Sept. 10 return (Starz, 8/7c), but the entire summer — just like the 200 years that (Spoiler alert!) now separate Jamie and Claire — flew by in an instant.

Dinna fash: You’ve got more than a week until the Season 3 premiere, and TVLine is here to help.

Below is an ultraquick recap of each Season 2 episode. If you’re super busy, keep it handy on Sept. 10 as the new episodes begin. And if you happen to have a little leisure time this holiday weekend,...

Updated: Following a couple of Julie London Westerns*, Turner Classic Movies will return to its July 2017 Star of the Month presentations. On July 27, Ronald Colman can be seen in five films from his later years: A Double Life, Random Harvest (1942), The Talk of the Town (1942), The Late George Apley (1947), and The Story of Mankind (1957). The first three titles are among the most important in Colman's long film career. George Cukor's A Double Life earned him his one and only Best Actor Oscar; Mervyn LeRoy's Random Harvest earned him his second Best Actor Oscar nomination; George Stevens' The Talk of the Town was shortlisted for seven Oscars, including Best Picture. All three feature Ronald Colman at his very best. The early 21st century motto of international trendsetters, from Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and Turkey's Recep Erdogan to Russia's Vladimir Putin and the United States' Donald Trump, seems to be, The world is reality TV and reality TV...

Mubi is showing the retrospective The Inner Demons of Ingmar Bergman from June 8 - August 28, 2017 in the United Kingdom.I've told this brief story of how I fell under the spell of cinema so many times I've become brazen to it. At eighteen years, in February 1993, I found Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers (dubbed) at the video store. As Woody Allen spoke of the Swede in hushed tones, I decided I should try a film. Ninety minutes later I sat stunned and spellbound, not sure what to do or think, but surely sure I must be onto something. Cinematic rapture still has a psychical aspect for me, the torque the sedentary body goes through while coping with the images before it. I can always tell how good a film is if my armpits smell after. The body doesn't lie. Ingmar Bergman is an easy crush—one writer I know...

‘The Salesman’ (Courtesy: Amazon Studios and Cohen Media Group)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

The one chance for the entire world to get involved with the Academy Awards has always been the best foreign language film category. Since any country can submit a film each year, though, that means the competition is intense. Let’s take a look at the countries that have snagged nominations this year and see how they’ve performed in the past in the hopes of shedding some light on what might happen come February 26.

This year the five nominees for best foreign language film are Land of Mine from Denmark, A Man Called Ove from Sweden, The Salesman from Iran, Tanna from Australia, and Toni Erdmann from Germany. The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg lists The Salesman as the frontrunner in this category — obviously due to the film’s merits and also potentially due to its director,...

‘Toni Erdmann’ (Courtesy: Tiff)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

It’s not too often that foreign-language films get recognized for anything at the Oscars beyond the best foreign-language film category — but it does happen. And, believe it or not, it happens more for best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay than many other categories. A prime example of that is Toni Erdmann, Germany’s submission this year that is proving to be a cross-category threat, which could score a nomination — or a win — for its writing.

The story of Toni Erdmann — which has a solid Rotten Tomatoes score of 91% — follows a father who is trying to reconnect with his adult daughter after the death of his dog. It sounds simple enough but, of course, the two couldn’t be more unalike. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 and where it won the Fipresci Prize. Since then, it...

With “Things To Come,” director Mia Hansen-Løve, who is only 35, already has five critically acclaimed feature films under her belt and looks to have a long filmmaking career ahead of her. So which of the great directors’ careers from film history does she look to as being a model for her own? “It’s going to sound pretentious and ridiculous, but I think I should tell you any way: Ingmar Bergman,” Hansen-Løve recently told IndieWire. “I’m obsessed with Ingmar Bergman, I’m so obsessed I’m even writing a film right now that takes place in Fårö, which is the island where he use to live.”

Read More: With ‘Things To Come,’ Mia Hansen-Løve Proves That She’s One Of The Best Filmmakers In The World — Nyff Review

Fårö is a remote, windswept island off the eastern coast of Sweden that has become part of film lore, as it...

Pablo Larraín (Courtesy: Andrew Cowie/Afp)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

There’s one director this year that has a chance at being a major crossover success by having two separate films nominated in both the best picture and best foreign language film categories: Pablo Larraín. This filmmaker has Jackie as well as Neruda and could join an elite group of directors who been able to have films — or even one film — in both of these major categories.

Jackie, which stars Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is considered a frontrunner in the Oscars race this year by this site’s namesake, The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg. Neruda, which follows an inspector who hunts down Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, is Chile’s submission for best foreign language film this year and is considered a major threat in that contest. This would be a great feat — especially for someone who,...

Some actors and directors go together like spaghetti and meatballs. They just gel together in a rare way that makes their collaborations special. Here is a list of the seven best parings of director and actor in film history.

7: Tim Burton & Johnny Depp:

Edward Scissorhands; Ed Wood; Sleepy Hollow; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Corpse Bride; Sweeney Todd; Alice in Wonderland; Dark Shadows

Of all the parings on this list, these two make the oddest films. (In a good way.) Tim Burton is one of the most visually imaginative filmmakers of his generation and Johnny Depp was once the polymorphous master of playing a wide variety of eccentric characters. They were a natural combo. Depp made most of his best films with Burton, before his current ‘Jack Sparrow’ period began. The duo had the knack for telling stories about misfits and freaks, yet making them seem sympathetic and likable.

Hannes Holm’s comedy-drama won three Guldbagges, Sweden’s top local film prize.

Sweden has selected Hannes Holm’s A Man Called Ove as its submission for this year’s foreign-language Oscar race.

The film, adapted from Fredrik Backman’s bestseller, has been a record-breaking box-office success in Sweden.

The heartfelt comedy-drama is about a cantankerous old man, Ove (Rolf Lassgård), whose very ordered world is shaken when he has to interact with his new neighbours.

“That A Man Called Ove would be selected as the Swedish contribution to the Oscars feels like a fairytale that never ends. It’s just fantastic and such an honour,” commented Annica Bellander Rune, who produced alongside Nicklas Wikström Nicastro.

Music Box Films has North American rights and will release on Sept 30.

TrustNordisk handles sales and other key distributors are Paradis for France, September for Benelux, Telemunchen for Germany, Silver Box/Russian Report for Russia, Medallion For Japan...

Outlander‘s Season 2 finale is bearing down on us like (270-year-old Spoiler Alert!) the British at Culloden. And if the approach of “Dragonfly in Amber” causes you a wee bit of angst — because there’s just too much good TV and you’ve slipped behind and where’s a time-twisting circle of stones when you really need one?! — dinna fash. You’ve got a week until the finale airs, and we’ve got you covered like Jamie’s plaid on a blustery Highlands morn.

PhotosOutlander Season 2: The Scottish Costume Details You Might’ve Missed

Below is an ultraquick...

If you’ve had a stressful day, Outlander star Tobias Menzies has a suggestion for breaking the tension… provided you’ve got an old, cluttered shed and years of repressed worry handy.

RelatedOutlander Season 2 Premiere Recap: The Frasers Fight the Future

Because when Frank had a momentary breakdown and busted up the Rev. Wakefield’s outbuilding in the Starz series’ highly emotional Season 2 premiere, the effect was largely cathartic, the actor says. “I can recommend it,” he adds, laughing.

Much of the drama’s return involved Frank’s reaction to his wife’s reappearance in the 1940s after a two-year absence.

Claire, we leave you alone for 11 months and this happens?!

Outlander‘s Season 2 premiere finds our Lady Broch Tuarach stumbling back into her present with a leaden heart and a whopper of a secret that nearly destroys her husband. No, not that husband. The other one, ol’ Sad Fedora Frank.

Claire’s return to the 1940s takes up most of the episode and nearly all of my emotional reserve; by the time both of the Randalls have processed the facts that Claire 1) has returned and 2) is pregnant*, I’m ready for a wee dram and a good lie-down, and Frank...

Joan Crawford Movie Star Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her work, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades after her death, Crawford, the star to end all stars, remains one of the iconic performers of the 20th century. Deservedly so, once you choose to bypass the Mommie Dearest inanity and focus on her film work. From the get-go, she was a capable actress; look for the hard-to-find silents The Understanding Heart (1927) and The Taxi Dancer (1927), and check her out in the more easily accessible The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). By the early '30s, Joan Crawford had become a first-rate film actress, far more naturalistic than...