News

Netflix has confirmed its acquisition of worldwide rights to Sundance prize-winning documentary The Perfect Neighbor, from director-producer Geeta Gandbhir.

Gandbhir won the directing award for US documentary at Sundance, where Netflix was reported to be in talks Cinetic Media to acquire the film for $5m. The film is also set to screen at this month’s SXSW and Cph:dox festivals and will get a Netflix premiere later this year.

Using police bodycam footage and investigative interviews, The Perfect Neighbor exposes the consequences of Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law in a minor neighbourhood dispute that escalates into deadly violence.

Gandbhir...

San Sebastian Golden Shell winner Afternoons Of Solitude has landed a North American deal with Grasshopper Film.

‘Afternoons Of Solitude’: San Sebastian Review

Albert Serra’s documentary profiles the Peruvian-born celebrity bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey and blends the visceral thrill of the man versus bull encounter with a meditative filmmaking style.

The film received its US premiere at the New York Film Festival last autumn and will open June 27 at Film at Lincoln Center in New York, followed by other cities.

Ryan Krivoshey of Grasshopper Film negotiated the acquisition with Jean-Christophe Simon and Julien Razafindranaly of Films Boutique.

Afternoons Of Solitude...

The Dublin Film Festival came to an end at the weekend after one of its most varied programs yet. Guests visiting the event included deep-dive documentary-maker Alexandre O. Philippe, attending with his Texas Chain Saw Massacre meditation Chain Reactions; director Jason Buxton, there with his acclaimed Ben Foster-starring thriller Sharp Corner, soon to be released by Vertical; Albert Serra, supporting his surprise San Sebastian winner Afternoons of Solitude; Palestinian director Elia Suleiman, honored by a curated retrospective; and British ’60s pop-culture icon Twiggy, subject of Sadie Frost’s film of the same name. From closer to home, director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Thomas Martin brought their cult Cannes hit The Surfer, and the UK’s Polly Steele came with Four Letters of Love starring Helena Bonham Carter and Pierce Brosnan.

Under the always assured stewardship of artistic Gráinne Humphreys, the festival took a big swing by opening with The Return,...

Bernhard Wenger’sPeacockwill screen as part of a special focus on Austria taking place at the Glasgow Film Festival (Gff), running from February 26 to March 9, 2025 in Scotland.

It will be the final edition for festival director Allison Gardner after 30 years with the organisation.

Peacock,which screened first at the Venice Film Festival, is Wenger’s debut feature. It starsAll Quiet On The Western Frontactor Albrecht Schuch as a man working at a friend-for-hire scheme who grows to realise he can pretend to be anyone but himself.

Gff’s ’From The Heart of Europe: Austria on Screen’ programme will also showcase...

Silvia Pinal, an actress in Mexico’s Golden Age of cinema, has died. She was 93.

Pinal had been hospitalized earlier this month for a urinary tract infection. Mexico’s Secretary of Culture confirmed Pinal’s death.

“The Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico regrets the passing of leading actress Silvia Pinal,” read the statement posted on X. “With a career spanning more than six decades, she participated in more than 60 films and plays. Her legacy lives on as a fundamental pillar of cinema, theater and television in Mexico. May she rest in peace.”

Pinal was born in Guaymas, Sonora, México on September 12, 1931. She studied acting at the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature. Pinal’s acting debut was in 1949 with the comedy Dos pesos la dejada.

Making her debut during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, Pinal got to star opposite legendary actor Pedro Infante in La...

Silvia Pinal, the revered film and television actress who left an indelible mark on Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema, has died. She was 93.

Mexico’s culture secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, as well as the Asociación Nacional de Intérpretes announced Pinal’s passing on social media. The Associated Press reported that Pinal had been hospitalized for a urinary infection several days ago.

During a prolific acting and producing career that spanned seven decades, Pinal gained international fame for toplining three 1960s classics written and directed by Luis Buñuel: the Palme d’Or co-winner Viridiana (1961), The Exterminating Angel (1962) and Simon of the Desert (1965).

Pinal got her start in the theater in the late 1940s working with Cuban-born director Rafael Banquells, who would become the first of her four husbands. Her breakthrough in cinema came in 1950 when at 18 she landed back-to-back leading roles opposite two of Mexico’s biggest film stars,...

Spanish producers Batiak Films and Elora Posthouse have boarded Maria Paz Barragán’s immigration horror feature “Tenants” as co-producers. The Madrid-set feature will be pitched at this year’s Ventana Sur Proyecta sidebar by its Peruvian lead producer, Final Abierto.

An example of Latin America’s maturing and constantly diversifying genre scene and the region’s increasingly strong industry ties to Spain, “Tenants” tells the 2003-set story of Edwin and Maria, two immigrants from Lima, Peru, who relocated to Madrid in search of a better life. With minimal resources, they move into the only house they can afford, only to discover that it is inhabited by racist spirits who want to subjugate the couple.

A Madrid-based Peruvian immigrant herself, Barragán says: “‘Tenants’ is a horror film with a social theme, specifically focused on the reality of many immigrants. The story is set at the end of the 20th century, when...

Exclusive: Bobby Moresco, who won an Oscar for the screenplay he co-wrote for Crash, has come aboard to script car racing biopic Bugatti, continuing his collaboration with Italian producer Andrea Iervolino (Ferrari).

Bugatti is slated to film late next year in Italy and France for Iervolino’s new banner, The Andrea Iervolino Company, and will feature a U.S. and international cast and be English-language. Moresco is scripting with Amanda Moresco and in collaboration with Soraya Azzabi.

The movie is set to tell the life story of Bugatti, the founder of the iconic automobile company, who was known for transforming the automotive world with his creative genius and relentless dedication to design and technology. The Italian-born French designer and manufacturer also designed aeroplane engines and was no stranger to tragedy: Bugatti’s son, Jean, was killed on August 11 1939 at the age of 30 while testing a Bugatti car near the family’s factory HQ in Germany.

Artist And Filmmaker Peng Tzu-hui Graduated From Taiwan National University Of Arts, she began pursuing a master’s degree in Artistic Production, University Polytechnic Valencia in 2014. She Has Shown Solo Exhibitions In Different Spaces Of Taiwan, Including Independent Land (2012), On The Verge (2019) And Transformation Of The Universe (2023), As Well As The Video Art Piece A Creation Project (2012). Her Debut Feature Film A Journey In Spring (2023) Won Silver Shell Award For Best Director In The 2023 San Sebastian Iff.

Wang Ping-wen Studied Journalism At Chengchi National University And Graduated With An Mfa In Film And Television Production From Loyola Marymount University. She Has Directed The Short Films Between Us (2014), Labyrinth (2016) And Military Dog (2019). She Is An Alumnus Of The Produire Au Sud Taipei Workshop 2018 And Talent Tokyo 2019. Her Debut Feature Film A Journey In Spring (2023) Won Silver Shell Award For Best Director In The 2023 San Sebastian Iff.

On the occasion of Journey...

Firmly established as one of Europe’s biggest dedicated showcases for movies from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival celebrates its 50th edition with a bang, with a high-caliber main Competition, a new showcase on Spain. Following, some highlights and trends at this year’s festival, which runs Nov. 15-23.

Paz Vega: A Director is Born

Paz Vega will accept at Huelva a Premio Luz at this year’s opening ceremony. It comes at an opportune time. Known to date as a performer – star of Adam Sandler comedy “Spanglish” and Julio Medem’s carnal physiological odyssey “Sex and Lucia” – Vega has just bowed her first feature, the heavily autobiographical “Rita,” to upbeat reviews. Major plaudits to not only the central performance of the eponymous Rita, a loveable seven year-old moppet growing up in 1984 working class Seville, but Vega’s helming. “Rita’ is shot with an exquisite taste for light,...

Studiocanal’s romantic dramaBeating Hearts (L’Amour Ouf) topped the French box office in October during a strong month that saw admissions hit 15.53 million (€111.8m based on an average ticket price of €7.20), a 10.8% jump from last year according to figures from the Cnc.

Audiences turned out strongly for Gilles Lellouche’s film which stars Adele Exarchopolous and Francois Civil and premiered in Competition at Cannes in May. The melodrama has sold 2.17 million tickets (approximately €15.6m) after two weeks in cinemas since its October 16 release. Strong word of mouth particularly among younger audiences helped the decades-spanning romantic drama sell more tickets in...

In this episode, we explore the relationship between cinema and memory. José Luis Torres Leiva is a Chilean director with more than two decades of experience and is one of his country's most prolific and singular voices. Between short films, feature films, documentaries, fictions, and hybrid works, he has authored almost twenty pieces that emotionally address themes such as grief, loneliness, and rural life.His melancholic filmography, which almost always features female protagonists, has been part of the main competitions at festivals such as San Sebastian, Rotterdam and Venice. Recently, he premiered Cuando las nubes esconden la sombra in Jeonju and San Sebastian, starring María Alché.On the other hand, María Aparicio is an Argentine director who, in less than a decade, has established a significant place in her country's cinema. Her films, set in precise contexts such as Córdoba or Patagonia, serve as a vehicle to reflect on language,...

There’s much sadness that hangs heavy over Koya Kamura’s Winter in Sokcho. Soo-Ha (Bella Kim) leads an unobtrusive life in the sleepy seaside town of Sokcho. She is a skivvy at a small hotel, Blue House. She’s super-diligent at her job but seems hollowed out by a sustained, numbing grief. She is looking for answers, which her mother is more eager to obscure.

She’s got a partner but her interest in him has dissipated. She proceeds through the motions of the day phantom-like, uncomplaining and deeply sunk in a torpor of soul. It’s when a French traveller lands at the doorstep of the hotel, a renowned comics writer Yan Kerrand that something profound shifts within Soo-Ha.

Kamura tells the story with tenderness and ache. It’s so subdued it’s almost like a whisper. The film demands a gentle immersion. You may get restless and...

Christopher Nolan is reportedly lining up his next film to star Matt Damon at Universal Pictures, the studio which partnered with the British filmmaker on his Oscar-winning global smash Oppenheimer.

A Universal spokesperson had no comment at time of writing, however that will not stop Hollywood tongues wagging about what is certain to become one of the most anticipated tentpoles on the horizon.

According to a report on Deadline Hollywood, Nolan is eyeing a 2025 production start on the film ahead of an Imax release on July 17, 2026.

That would be almost three years to the day after the release of Oppenheimer,...

Madrid’s 4th Iberseries & Platino Industria’s conferences were packed, foot traffic at Madrid’s Matadero, a former slaughterhouse, was heavy. Delegates came as the industry has been facing a well documented perfect storm of rising costs and an invested pull back from streamers and broadcasters, hit respectively by cost-contention and plunging ad sales.

Yet the mood at Iberseries, which wrapped Friday, was “hopeful,” said Fremantle’s Manuel Martí. Takeaways from this year’s edition, which ran Oct. 1-4:

Spain Stands Strong

“The big slow-down hasn’t yet got to Spain,” Banijay Iberia CEO Pilar Blasco commented on an Iberseries & Platino panel. Spain’s shoot incentives are among Europe’s biggest – €10 million-€18 million ($10.9 million-$19.7 million) per TV episode. Spain had more and bigger first-half non-English Netflix hits than any other country in the world. In contrast, through September, first-run scripted series production is down in every major market in Latin America,...

The French box office rose 10.1% in September compared to the same month in 2023, with 9.86 million tickets sold (€71m based on an average ticket price of €7.20) according to estimates from the Cnc.

The rise was driven by Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice and a slew of Cannes releases.

However, the month was 11.3% down on the pre-pandemic 2017-2019 average – and September 2023 had been particularly weak, posting just 8.8 million admissions (€63.2m).

Nevertheless, the overall picture remained upbeat. Admissions for the first nine months of the year reached 127.68 million (€920m), down 4.6% year-on-year after a slow start. This was down to the summer bounceback, driven by...

The French box office rose 10.1% in September compared to the same month in 2023, with 9.86 million tickets sold (€71m based on an average ticket price of €7.20) according to estimates from the Cnc.

The rise was driven by Warner Bros’ Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, a slew of Cannes releases and a robust performance from Francis Ford Coppla’s Megalopolis.

However, the month was 11.3% down on the pre-pandemic 2017-2019 average – and September 2023 had been particularly weak, posting just 8.8 million admissions (€63.2m).

Nevertheless, the overall picture remained upbeat. Admissions for the first nine months of the year reached 127.68 million (€920m), down 4.6% year-on-year after a slow start.

San Sebastian — With its awards ceremony Saturday night, the San Sebastian Festival’s 72nd edition is heading into its final straits. Following, 10 takeaways from what looks like its biggest edition ever in star wattage, the caliber of Spanish filmmaking and the number of deals reported by Variety, set in the context of vertiginous change in international independent film and TV landscape.

San Sebastian 2024: The Stars Align

Johnny Depp visited kids in a San Sebastian hospital dressed as Jack Sparrow; Javier Bardem teared up remembering his mother, the exemplary Pilar Bardem; Pedro Almodóvar remembered back 44 years to his first San Sebastian, performing at disco Ku and ending up on the beach at 8 in the morning. Cate Blanchett, accepting her Donostia Award, praised the “uncertainty which drives me.”

Never before have so many stars descended on San Sebastian. Why? “I think two factors are at play,” San Sebastian Film Festival director José Luis Rebordinos told Variety.

True to its title, François Ozon’s new film “When Fall is Coming” is awash in the aesthetics of what people far younger than its octogenarian protagonist would call autumncore, with a bit of cottagecore for good measure. In the sleepy, picturesque Burgundy valley where it largely unfolds, the leaves are rusting and crisping, chunky knitwear is coming out of hibernation, and through the screen, you can just about feel the air turning cold enough to splinter. Yet as the film progresses, its timeline spanning months and then years, the weather never changes. The life of sweet-natured retiree Michelle (Hélène Vincent) is seemingly fixed in a perennial fall, as is the film’s mood of quiet, almost comforting melancholy — until, amid this appearance of strange, ochre-hued seasonal stasis, the temperature of proceedings takes a drastic turn south.

An elegant, slippery game of tonal bait-and-switch, “When Fall is Coming” finds the ever-unpredictable Ozon in mellow,...

Johnny Depp received an enthusiastic welcome this afternoon as he returned to Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival, where he will debut his latest directorial effort, Modi – Three Days On The Wing Of Madness.

Depp arrived in Spain last night, where he was met with cheering fans outside the city’s Maria Cristina Hotel. This afternoon he appeared in front of a largely starstruck press corps with his Modi cast and collaborators, including Antonia Desplat and Riccardo Scamarcio.

Opening the session, Depp told the journalists in the room that he was first approached about the project by veteran actor Al Pacino.

“I got a very strange phone call from Al Pacino who said ‘Do remember this Modigliani project?’ and he said I should direct it,” Depp said. “For some reason, Al saw me driving this strange machine. And when Pacino speaks, you listen, so I ran with it. But...

Veteran producer Christine Vachon spoke publicly this morning about what she described as the “tragedy” behind Todd Haynes’ now-shelved gay romance flick starring Joaquin Phoenix at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

Vachon — a regular at the Spanish festival — discussed the abandoned project as part of her keynote at the festival’s industry-focused Creative Investors’ Conference.

To start, Vachon shut down the suggestion that there was an elaborate backstory behind the production being halted.

“Pretty much what happened is what’s out there for you to read. I don’t know any more than that. I would gossip if I had anything to gossip about,” Vachon said before adding that “it was tragic” to see the production fall.

“Todd Haynes is 62,” Vachon said. “He’s not old but there’s a finite number of films that he will be able to do in his lifetime. I consider him one of the...

This year, 22 Catalan productions have been selected for the 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival, highlighting just how much the region’s film industry is booming.

Among them is Mamífera, directed by Liliana Torres. The Barcelona-born filmmaker wanted to tackle the subject of “non-maternity” — a woman’s decision not to have children — in response to a stigma she has felt personally.

Torres’ project, screening in San Sebastian this week, follows Lola (played by Maria Rodríguez Soto) and Bruno (Enric Auquer), two 40-something-year-olds in a happy relationship. As Lola watches her friends and family obsess over either their own children or having children, she is shocked to find herself pregnant and unhappy about it. Everyone around her is so connected to the experience of motherhood, it causes Lola to grapple with the idea that something is wrong with her.

The film offers a poignant commentary on the societal pressure placed on women...

Hollywood star Johnny Depp is making his return to directing with a new historical drama focused on famous Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. Titled “Modi – Three Days on the Wings of Madness,” the film will have its world premiere this week at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain. Depp last directed decades ago and is excited to share this creative project chronicling a pivotal time in Modigliani’s life.

The movie tells the story of Modigliani over three chaotic days in 1916 Paris as World War I was raging. As bombing strikes escalated in the city, the struggling bohemian artist tried to escape while also dealing with his art community, muse, and a potential American patron. Al Pacino, who became involved in bringing the original play to cinema, stars alongside Riccardo Scamarcio as Modigliani. The cast also includes Stephen Graham, Antonia Desplat, Bruno Gouery, and Luisa Ranieri.

Known for his...

José Luis Rebordinos, director of the San Sebastian Film Festival, has just over a week until opening night when he sits down for an interview with Deadline, and he is still plagued by one niggling organizational issue.

“It’s always so difficult to close the jury,” Rebordinos explains as he rushes out of the room to take a call about his potential jury head.

When he returns, he explains: “A few weeks ago I was speaking with Thierry Fremaux. He said even for him it’s always a problem because jury members have to be at your festival for 10 days, you don’t pay, and it’s complicated because people are often working and when they aren’t, they want to spend time with their families and friends.”

A few days later, the competition jury is finally confirmed, with Spanish filmmaker Jaione Camborda leading alongside Leila Guerriero, Fran Kranz, Christos Nikou,...

In terms of stars — Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton, Pamela Anderson — and auteur power — Pedro Almodóvar, Sean Baker, Costa Gavras, Edward Berger, Mike Leigh, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Joshua Oppenheimer, François Ozon, Lupita Nyong’o, Mohammad Rasoulof, Walter Salles, Maite Alberdi — this year’s San Sebastián Festival promises one of its biggest editions ever.

Yet it’s the Spanish festival’s wealth of new talent and rising names in its industry competitions sets it apart. Here are 10 things to expect from the fest, which runs Sept. 20-28 at the stunning Basque seaside resort:

Blanchett, Almodóvar, Bardem, Depp, Swinton, Anderson

Blanchett, Almodóvar and Bardem will collect career achievement Donostia Awards, with Blanchett talking up Guy Maddin’s Cannes hit “Rumours,” set for U.S. theatrical release via Bleecker Street on Oct. 18; Almodóvar and Swinton will present Venice success “The Room Next Door.” Depp will unveil “Modi,” his second film as a...

La Termita Films, the production label of double San Sebastian Golden Shell winners Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo, has struck a production alliance with Accidental Films, the newly formed label founded by Sara Gonzalo, managing director over 2011-24 of production powerhouse Bambu Producciones.

The alliance catches Lacuesta and Campo at new career highs, Lacuesta having directed Berlin competition player “One Year, One Night” and “Saturn Return,” a Spanish Film and Direction winner at March’s Malaga Festival; Campo co-wrote Iciar Bollain’s anticipated “I’m Nevenka,” which world premieres in San Sebastian main competition this weekend.

Gonzalo served as general manager at Bambú when it moved into ever larger industrial propositions from 2011-13’s “Grand Hotel” to “Velvet” (2013-15), “Cable Girls” (2017-20) and “Fariña” (2018), driving an acceptance in international of original Spanish series without the need to be dubbed into neutral Spanish in Latin America.

She is joined at Accidental,...

The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) said on Tuesday it will vote for its 2024 awards on December 3 and announce winners live on the group’s X account.

The group said it will hold its annual gala awards dinner on January 8, 2025, at Tao Downtown in New York.

David Sims will serve as the 2024 chair of NYFCC and Stephen Garrett will continue as general manager. The group will mark its 90th anniversary in 2025 with an anniversary programme.

Nycc will continue to award cash prizes and gala tickets to graduate and undergraduate students pursuing film criticism and journalism from schools in the surrounding New York metropolitan area,...

Exclusive: Here’s first-footage of Paris-set chef drama Grande Maison Paris, the standalone feature spinoff from the world of Japanese hit series La Grande Maison: Tokyo.

Set in the high stakes world of Parisian culinary excellence, the film is led by Japanese star Takuya Kimura (Blade of the Immortal) reprising his lead role from the series, and popular Korean actor and rapper from band2PM Ok Taec-yeon (Hansan: Rising Dragon).

Three Michelin star Japanese chef Kei Kobayashi (of Paris restaurant Kei) created the film’s cuisine. Pic gets its world premiere at the upcoming San Sebastián Film Festival.

Toho will release in Japan. Sony Pictures International Productions will release in France, with London and Paris-based finance, production and sales company Film Constellation handling international sales.

The official synopsis reads: “Famous Japanese chef Obana (Takuya Kimura) opens a new restaurant in Paris in the quest for his elusive third Michelin star.

Nara International Film Festival, the biennial event founded by acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase, has revealed the international competition line-up for its 2024 edition.

Titles include Satu - Year of the Rabbit by UK filmmaker Joshua Trigg, which premiered at Raindance in June; Chinese director Choy Ji’s feature debut Borrowed Time, first seen at last year’s Busan; and The Hypnosis by Sweden’s Ernst De Geer, which picked up three prizes at Karlovy Vary in 2023.

Further features are Malika Musaeva’s The Cage Is Looking For A Bird, Laura Ferres’ The Permanent Picture and Heartless by Nara Normande and Tiao,...

Argentine helmer Natalia Smirnoff, director of “Puzzle,” a 2010 Berlin main Competition contender, and “Lock Charmer,” selected for the 2014 Sundance Festival, is attached to direct international co-production project “Mamá (Im)perfecta” (“(Im)perfect Mom.”)

The project teams Colombian production outfits Laberinto Producciones and Ganas Producciones with Argentina’s Tarea Fina and Canada’s Fait Divers Media.

In development and scheduled for a May 2025 shoot, “(Im)perfect Mom” is inspired by Penguin Random House bestseller “Drunk Mom: A Memoir,” by Polish-born writer Jowita Bydlowska.

The story follows Jo, a 42-year-old woman, a successful photographer who gives birth to her first child. In the midst of the trance of motherhood, breastfeeding and the sensing changes in her body, she celebrates with her husband and friends the event, the most important of her life.

But despite the happiness of having become a mother, from that first sip of alcohol, an addiction awakens in her...

The Forge has bulked up its arthouse slate of major festival winners and acquired North American rights to Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Sujo. The company plans to support the film with a full awards campaign.

Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s Mexico-set drama premiered in Park City in January when it won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Drama.

The feature will participate in a number of upcoming festivals including San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos strand spotlighting films from Latin America and AFI Latin American Film Festival, both of which take place later this month.

The Forge will release...

The world premiere of Charlie McDowell’s The Summer Book, starring Glenn Close, has joined the line-up at the BFI London Film Festival, along with six other additional films.

US filmmaker McDowell’s feature is an English-language adaptation of Moomins creator Tove Jansson’s novel Sommarboken, also starring The Worst Person In The World actor Anders Danielsen Lie and newcomer Emily Matthews. In the wake of her mother’s death, a family spend a summer on an island off the Gulf of Finland. It will play as a Special Presentation.

Also joining the line-up is the international premiere of Macbeth...

Argentina will be the country of focus at this year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival (Ssiff), with the festival also organising a day of support for Argentinian cinema on September 24.

The festival unveiled its plans in light of what it described as “the dismantling” of the country’s industry and “paralysis of projects and lack of support from the Argentine government”.

The event is a collaboration with producer Gabriel Hochbaum and Argentinian Academy of Cinematography Arts and Sciences, with a special delegation of producers, moviemakers and journalists from the Latin American country in attendance.

The day of solidarity will...

The European premiere of John Crowley’s romantic drama We Live In Time will close the official selection of San Sebastian, playing out of competition.

Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star as two people whose lives are forever changed when an accident brings them together. Nick Payne has written the screenplay.

We Live In Time is produced and backed by Studiocanal, with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sunnymarch and Film4 among the backers.

Irish filmmaker Crowley made his feature debut with Intermission in 2003, included in San Sebastian’s New Directors section. His further credits include Brooklyn and The Goldfinch.

We Live in Time...

The European premiere of John Crowley’s romantic drama We Live In Time, will close the official selection of San Sebastian, playing out of competition.

Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star as two people whose lives are forever changed when an accident brings them together. Nick Payne has written the screenplay.

We Live In Time is produced and backed by Studiocanal, with Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sunnymarch and Film4 among the backers.

Irish filmmaker Crowley made his feature debut with Intermission in 2003, included in the San Sebastian’s New Directors section. His further credits include Brooklyn and The Goldfinch.

We Live in Time...

Before highlighting 40 films confirmed to be arriving in theaters this fall that you should have on your radar, we turn our attention to the festival-bound films either without distribution nor a confirmed fall release date. Looking over Venice, Toronto, the New York Film Festival, and other selections, we’ve rounded up 20 we can’t wait to see over the next few weeks.

Find our 20 most-anticipated festival premieres below and return for our reviews, as well as news if some of these hit theaters this fall.

2073 (Asif Kapadia; Venice)

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Asif Kapadia returns with what appears to be his most ambitious feature yet. Billed as a documentary thriller set in a dystopia 50 years into the future, 2073 borrows inspiration from Chris Marker’s La Jetée, in which a time-traveler attempted to save humanity after an apocalyptic World War III. The Oscar-winning director, primarily known for capturing intimate portraits of sports...

Un drama de la cineasta de ‘The Eternal Memory’, basado en hechos reales. © Netflix

Netflix ha publicado el primer tráiler de El lugar de la otra, una película dirigida por Maite Alberdi (The Eternal Memory), que tendrá su estreno mundial en el Festival de San Sebastián, donde competirá por la Concha de Oro.

El lugar de la otra es un drama basado en hechos reales ambientado en Chile, 1955. Cuando la popular escritora María Carolina Geel asesina a su amante, el caso cautiva a Mercedes, la tímida secretaria del juez encargado del caso. Tras visitar el apartamento de la escritora, Mercedes empieza a cuestionarse su vida, su identidad y el papel de la mujer en la sociedad al encontrar allí un oasis de libertad.

La película chilena está protagonizada por Elisa Zulueta (Feroz) y Francisca Lewin (Secretos en el jardín).

El lugar de la otra se estrena el 11 de octubre en Netflix.

The San Sebastian film festival (September 20-28) has added four titles to its official selection, including Modi - Three Days On The Wing Of Madness, directed by Johnny Depp.

The film will premiere out of competition, and sees Riccardo Scamarcio play Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. It also stars Stephen Graham, Al Pacino and Antonia Desplat. Depp was given a lifetime achievement award by the festival in 2021.

It marks Depp’s second feature as director after The Brave, which premiered in Competition at Cannes in 1997.

In special screenings, Cannes general delegate Thierry Frémaux will present Lumiere! The Adventure Continues, a sequel to Lumière!

The San Sebastian film festival (September 20-28) has added four titles to its official selection, including Modi - Three Days On The Wing Of Madness, directed by Johnny Depp.

The film will premiere out of competition, and sees Riccardo Scamarcio play artist Amedeo Modigliani. It also stars Stephen Graham, Al Pacino and Antonia Desplat. Depp was given a lifetime achievement award by the festival in 2021.

In special screenings, Cannes general delegate Thierry Frémaux will present Lumiere! The Adventure Continues, a sequel to Lumière! The Adventure Begins, which reveals another hundred restored Lumière films.

Two new titles have also joined the New Directors strand.

The first wave of titles in contention for the 2024 European Film Awards include Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds Of Kindness and Sundance award-winner Kneecap.

Cannes premieres feature predominantly in the 29 titles unveiled today (August 14), including Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez; Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig; Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour; Halfdan Ullmann Tønde’s Armand and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance – all of which picked up prizes on the Croisette.

Other films from Cannes include Andrea Arnold’s Bird; Emanuel Pârvu’s Three Kilometers To The End Of The World; The Count Of Monte-Cristo; and Magnus von Horn’s The Girl With The Needle.

‘The Seed Of The Sacred Fig’ Among 13 German Films Submitted For International Oscar

German Films has said it has received 13 film submissions for this year’s international Oscar race. Those films include Mohammad Rasoulof’s Cannes Competition title The Seed Of The Sacred Fig and The Investigation by Rp Kahl. The Seed of the Sacred Fig follows Iman, a judge in the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, who grapples with mistrust and paranoia as nationwide political protests intensify. Rasoulof presented the film in Cannes after fleeing his home country of Iran. He had been handed an eight-year prison sentence by Iranian authorities for unauthorized filmmaking. The selection of the German entry will take place on August 21 and 22 in Munich. Check out the full list of German movies here.

Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger Signs Development Exec

Gary Lineker’s podcast outfit Goalhanger has signed up an Executive Producer – Development. Nicole Logan joins from Reduced Listening,...

Projects from Iván Fund, Daniel Hendler and Nayra Ilic are among the six titles selected for San Sebastian’s Wip Latam showcase, which supports Latin American films in their post-production stages.

The showcase runs from September 23 to 25, with films competing for the Wip Latam Industry award, which helps with post-production, and the Egeda Platino Industria award, worth €30,000 for the film’s main producer.

Argentinian Fund returns to San Sebastian with The Message which participated in the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum in 2023. The road movie follows a girl who has the ability to talk to animals, on a journey through the Argentinian countryside.

The 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival has rolled out the Latin American features in its Work in Progress (Wip) Latam section. This year’s selection, announced Wednesday, features stories from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, and Costa Rica, with four of the six entries being directorial debuts or sophomore efforts.

Among the notable entries is The Message by Argentinian filmmaker Iván Fund, who returns to San Sebastian after his previous success with Dusk Stone (2021). The film, a road movie set in the Argentinian countryside, stars Marcelo Subiotto, who won the Silver Shell for best lead performance in San Sebastian last year with Puan.

Uruguayan actor-turned-director Daniel Hendler will return to the festival for the fifth time with the border drama A Loose End. Chilean director Nayra Ilic’s coming-of-age story Cuerpo Celeste, and Argentinian Paula Morel Kristof’s debut feature Muña Muña also join the lineup.

Rounding out the selection are...

Four U.K. genre-bending titles from Zu Quirke (“Nocturne”), Corinna Faith (“The Power”), Anna Fredrikke Bjerke (writer of Netflix’s “Midsummer Night”) and Ashley Horner will be teased to potential Nordic partners Aug. 21, at the 19th Nordic Co-production Market in Haugesund, Norway.

The curated pitch slate forms the industry centrepiece of the second U.K. Focus, organised by Haugesund’s industry event New Nordic Films, in partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI).

“We are looking forward to the second U.K. Focus at Haugesund’s Nordic Co- Production Market, sparking co-production conversations for the participating U.K. producer/director teams in meeting potential Nordic partners,” said Denitsa Yordanova, head of the UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf), which is financed via the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms) and administered by the BFI.

“The Nordics offers a very vibrant ecosystem of talents and co-production partners with strong track records.

France’s Cnc has introduced a series of reforms to boost distribution of arthouse cinema in the country that will roll out over the next two years.

Scroll down for the top 10 arthouse releases in France in 2024

The annual budget for what is known in France as “le cinéma art et essai” has been set at €19m for 2024, up €1m from the previous year.

The increased funding is meant to better reward exhibitors who give what they call “fragile arthouse films a chance” and support the marketing of arthouse titles especially to the younger 15-25 age demographic.

The Cnc is...

Six Spanish titles have been selected for Locarno Pro’s work-in-progress section First Look which runs from August 9-11.

Spain is the country in focus for the upcoming 13th edition of First Look. The selected projects, none of which currently have sales representation, were chosen out of over 40 submissions.

Scroll down for full line-up

The pre-selection committee comprised Xavier Garcia Puerto (Tallinn Back Nights Festival/Rec – International Festival of Cinema in Tarragona), Susana Santos Rodriguez (IndieLisboa/IFFR), and Cecilia Barrionuevo (Ecam – Escuela de Cinematografía y Audiovisual de Madrid).

An international jury, comprised of artistic director of Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week Beatrice Fiorentino,...

New films from directors Mike Leigh, François Ozon, Edward Berger, Joshua Oppenheimer, and Costa-Gavras will vie for the Golden Shell at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival. Organizers on Tuesday announced the competition line-up for the 72nd edition of San Sebastian, which runs from September 20-28.

Highlights include Leigh’s hotly-anticipated new film Hard Truths, which will see the iconoclastic British director reunite with his Secrets & Lies star Marianne Jean-Baptiste; and Conclave, Berger’s follow-up to his multiple-Oscar winner All Quiet on the Western Front. The Vatican thriller stars Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal tasked with supervising a conclave following the sudden death of the Pope to choose a successor.

Veteran political filmmaker Costa-Gavras (Missing, Z) returns to San Sebastian with Last Breath, a drama about a palliative care doctor. Ozon will make his sixth appearance in the festival’s official selection with When Fall Is Coming, a French drama starring Hélène Vincent,...

For Chile’s most celebrated documentarian Maite Alberdi, whose debut fiction pic “El lugar de la otra” vies for the Golden Shell at the 72nd San Sebastian Film Festival (Ssif), venturing into fiction filmmaking posed a number of challenges. But it also had its perks: it took her only a month to shoot the drama while it has taken her an average of five years each time to complete a documentary, two of which, “The Eternal Memory” and “The Mole Agent,” have garnered Oscar nominations.

Recreating ‘50s Santiago for her period film was no mean feat for her art department, led by Pamela Chamorro, given the paucity of buildings dating back from that era. “Earthquakes and the lack of government policies to preserve our architectural heritage, has seen few buildings of past eras still standing in Santiago,” Alberdi told Variety.

Working with a host of actors, numbering around 50, was also a new experience.

The San Sebastián Film Festival has revealed a bumper Official Selection for its latest edition, which will unfold from September 20 — 28.

The festival, which is celebrating its 72nd edition, will screen new films from established filmmakers such as Edward Berger, Gia Coppola, Costa-Gavras, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Mike Leigh, Diego Lerman, Joshua Oppenheimer, and François Ozon alongside works from new filmmakers including Laura Carreira and Xin Huo.

Coppola’s The Last Showgirl heads to San Sebastián following a debut in Toronto. The film stars Pamela Anderson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Dave Bautista. The film’s plot follows a seasoned showgirl who must plan for her future when her show closes after a 30-year run. Also heading to Spain from The Six is Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Michele Austin. The British-Spanish production is said to portray the everyday life of a London family, addressing such issues as family relations,...

Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival has unveiled a 10-title lineup of its New Directors competition, the festival’s biggest sidebar, which takes in “Turn Me On,” the new feature from Michael Tyburski, helmer of Sundance hit “The Sound of Silence.”

Starring Bel Powley and Nick Robinson and sold by Film Constellation, “Turn Me On,” a sci-fi romantic comedy, joins buzz titles in the section, such as “In the Name of Blood,” a Nice-set Georgian mafia movie from Georgia’s Akaki Popkhadze, prized at Clermont Ferrand for his latest short, and “Gulizar,” the first feature from Turkish moviemaker Belkis Bayrak, about a young victim of sexual assault in the run-up to her wedding.

Also selected for New Directors are “Winter in Sokcho,” from French-Japanese director Koya Kamura, starring Roschdy Zem and Bella Kim, and “Regretfully at Dawn,” a drama set in a province near Bangkok directed by Thai helmer Sivaroj Kongsakul.