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Stars: Sharon Duce, Sarah-Jane Potts, David Ganly, Helen Grady, Jessica Millson, Ben Redman, Oliver Jackson | Written and Directed by Joseph Millson

Signs of Life is the feature directorial debut of prolific British actor-turned-filmmaker Joseph Millson. A movie that is an ambitious blend of heart-stopping drama and uplifting optimism. A story that seeks to explore the fragile interplay between grief, human connection, and the redemptive power of kindness. A project that, while very entertaining,g is also absolutely needed out in the world right now, cinema is often a reflection of not where we are, but where we should be or should be heading towards. Produced under MillPotts Productions, the film builds on the thematic groundwork laid by Millson’s award-winning short films The Magician and Care, completing a loose trilogy that grapples with heartache and the beauty of life. While the film has a modest budget and indie ethos, this never limits its polish.

Werner Herzog will receive the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival this August.

“I feel deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale. I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work. Thank you,” the director said in a Tuesday statement. “However, I have not gone into retirement. I work as always. A few weeks ago, I just finished a documentary in Africa, ‘Ghost Elephants,’ and at this moment, I am shooting my next feature film, ‘Bucking Fastard,’ in Ireland. I am developing an animated film, based on my novel, ‘The Twilight World,’ and I am acting the voice of a creature in Bong Joon-ho’s upcoming animated film. I am not done yet.”

The La Biennale board of directors selected Herzog upon the recommendation from Vff artistic director Alberto Barbera.

German director Werner Herzog will be honored with a Golden Lion lifetime achievement award at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The Fitzcarraldo and Grizzly Man director will be honored at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, which runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6.

“I feel deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale. I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work,” Herzog stated. “However, I have not gone into retirement. I work as always.”

The director, whose long list of credits as a director includes Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Signs of Life, Bad Lieutenant, Port of Call: New Orleans, Nosferatu the Vampyre, and Cave of Forgotten Dreams, and as an actor turns in Jack Reacher and Disney+’s The Mandalorian, recently completed a new documentary, Ghost Elephants, is currently shooting a feature, Bucking Fastard,...

The Venice Film Festival will fete German filmmaker Werner Herzog with its honorary Golden Lion at its forthcoming 82nd edition.

Accepting the honor, Herzog said: “I feel deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale. I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work. Thank you.”

The filmmaker, often known for his biting humor, added: “However, I have not gone into retirement. I work as always. A few weeks ago, I just finished a documentary in Africa, Ghost Elephants, and at this moment, I am shooting my next feature film, Bucking Fastard, in Ireland. I am developing an animated film, based on my novel, The Twilight World, and I am acting the voice of a creature in Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming animated film. I am not done yet.”

Born in Munich in...

The Venice Film Festival will honor iconoclastic German director Werner Herzog — whose body of work comprises “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” “Fitzcarraldo” and Nosferatu the Vampyre” — with its 2025 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

“I feel deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale,” Herzog said in a statement. “I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work: Thank you.”

“However,” Herzog went on to note, “I have not gone into retirement.”

“I work as always. A few weeks ago, I just finished a documentary in Africa, ‘Ghost Elephants,’ and at this moment, I am shooting my next feature film, ‘Bucking Fastard,’ in Ireland. I am developing an animated film, based on my novel, ‘The Twilight World,’ and I am acting the voice of a creature in Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming animated film.

Since rising to prominence in the 1960s & '70s, Werner Herzog is known for his thought-provoking and unconventional films that challenge traditional storytelling. With masterpieces like Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, and Grizzly Man, Herzog is a filmmaker who enjoys delving into themes of obsession, isolation, and man against nature. His first film, Signs of Life, is no different.

With very little action or conflict, the film focuses on a German soldier’s descent into madness. While the film received mixed reception at the time of its release for its unconventional themes of war, it has since become one of the most recognized films in Herzog’s career. And, as with most Herzog films, it demands attention for its introspective look at the psychological effects of war and isolation.

Signs of Life Follows One Man’s Descent into Madness

Signs of Life follows Stroszek (Peter Brogle), a German soldier...

Joseph Millson is teaming up with Grammy and Oscar-winning composer Anne Dudley for Signs Of Life. More on that project below.

Joseph Millson, an actor known for his roles in Angel Has Fallen, Casino Royale and I Give It A Year, is set to make his directorial debut with Signs Of Life, a third part in a trilogy of films.

The two previous films, The Magician and Care and both were produced by Millson and his wife Sarah-Jane Potts under their production company MillPotts Productions. Talk about relationship goals!

Unlike The Magician and Care, which were both shorts, Signs Of Life will be a feature film.

“The lead characters from Care and The Magician were the inspiration for the protagonists in Signs Of Life,” Millson said in a press release. “I felt there was still a lot to be said about the current epidemic of heartache and depression, the sheer...

In his latest interview, Kevin sits down to talk with prolific actor turned writer/director Joseph Millson to talk about his upcoming feature Signs of Life.

Anne attempts to shift her outlook by taking herself on holiday. But on arrival she is met with danger. A chance encounter with another traveller offers an unexpected solution, which could heal or crumble their lives completely.

Joseph is currently running a Kickstarter to raise the last of the budget which you can donate to right here: http://kck.st/3sP2MiQ...

Track by Track is our recurring feature series in which artists guide readers through each song on their latest release. Today, New York City rocker Des Rocs give us insight into his sophomore album, Dream Machine.

Des Rocs, aka Danny Rocco, sports the silhouette of a young Elvis Presley, and his brand of self-described “bedroom arena rock” tugs at the rock ‘n’ roll of the past with the intent of making the present a bit more tolerable.

Fused with the wit of an artist forging his path in the competitive New York City circuit, his music transcends pastiche and is frankly refreshing. There’s tangible joy: bombastic chords, anthemic Queen-esque choruses, glam-metal swagger. In a gloomy world where many musicians are making gloomy music, Des Rocs sounds like the damn antidote.

“It’s 2:10 in the morning / I’m on the Bqe … Come on take a joy ride / In my dream machine.

Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Werner Herzog's Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin is exclusively showing in the United States starting February 7, 2021.When Werner Herzog met Bruce Chatwin, legend has it the two spent forty-eight hours telling stories to each other. “For every one I told him,” Herzog remembers, “he would tell me three. We would sleep for a couple of hours, then wake up and carry on.” The year was 1984, the place Melbourne. Hot on the heels of Fitzcarraldo (1982), Herzog had travelled to Australia to shoot Where the Green Ants Dream (1984), while Chatwin, by then already a literary icon, was working on his fourth book, The Songlines (1987). His first, In Patagonia (1977) had sent the Englishman on a journey to the ends of the world to uncover the mystery behind a piece of “brontosaurs skin.” It had changed travel writing forever, concocting...

Pink Floyd will re-release Delicate Sound of Thunder — a document of their blockbuster tour supporting 1987’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason — this fall in a variety of formats.

The concert film, which has been restored and re-edited from the original 35mm film and remixed into 5.1 surround sound, will be available on Blu-ray and DVD, while the live album, which was certified three times platinum in its original release, will be available in sets of two CDs, three LPs or a deluxe, four-disc set with bonus tracks. All of the versions...

The Notebook Primer introduces readers to some of the most important figures, films, genres, and movements in film history.Above: Werner Herzog in Burden of Dreams.In the perpetual pursuit for what he terms an “ecstatic truth,” Werner Herzog has, for nearly six decades and over the course of more than 70 features, shorts, and documentaries, taken audiences on an astonishingly variable journey of cinematic revelation. Born Werner Stipetić, Sept. 5, 1942, Herzog was raised in a remote Bavarian village and later traveled extensively throughout the world, studying multiple artistic and historical disciplines and eventually integrating his accumulated interests into an enduring, endlessly fascinating filmmaking career. Although his humble origins prevented him from even seeing a movie until he was almost a teenager, Herzog nevertheless became enamored with the medium and its enlightening potential. “I always, from a very young age, had the feeling I had to invent cinema,” Herzog once stated. “Even...

After putting their own spin on many a fairy tale, Once Upon a Time creators Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis are now ready to tell some Amazing Stories, in Apple TV+’s revival of the 1980s anthology created by Steven Spielberg.

Debuting Friday, March 6, the new anthology kicks off with “The Cellar,” which stars Dylan O’Brien (Teen Wolf), Victoria Pedretti (Haunting of Hill House) and Sasha Alexander (Rizzoli & Isles), followed by weekly releases. Subsequent episodes include, in no particular order, “The Heat,” “The Rift,” “Signs of Life” and “Dynoman and the Volt,” which features the late Robert Forster (Karen...

Winner of Locarno’s Signs of Life section, Benjamin Crotty’s “The Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas Chauvin” has enjoyed more than 12 months of festival success and critical acclaim as it reaches the end of its festival run at UniFrance’s MyFrenchFilmFestival.

A modern take on one of France’s most influential yet widely unknown characters, the film headlines Nicolas Chauvin, a farmer-turned-soldier in Napoleon’s First Army of the French Republic. Although some sources claim the 17-times injured in defense of France Chauvin was a real person, it’s now commonly accepted that he was an invention meant to represent nationalistic values prominent among soldiers at the time. Today he is best recognized as the namesake of chauvinism, and seen as a cautionary character regarding the dangers of nationalism, sexism, racism and other extreme points of view.

In just over a decade of filmmaking, Crotty has twice been awarded at...

Unifrance’s MyFrenchFilmFestival (Mfff) is back this year, giving thousands of fans of French-speaking cinema from around the world an opportunity to see films reaching the end of their festival runs. This year’s competition received a late boost when Delphine Girard’s “A Sister,” one of the 10 shorts in competition, was nominated for the best live-action short Oscar on Monday.

This year’s Mfff competition has placed a special emphasis on genre films and animation.

In the case of the former, Axel Scoffier and Antoine Cordier, coordinators of the selection, explained in a joint statement that “this is the result of a growing taste among contemporary French filmmakers for blurring lines of genres and playing with fantasy codes. We wanted this selection to reflect that.”

“From the very beginning of the festival, one of the goals has been to highlight animation as a very rich and creative part of the French production,...

Acclaimed German director Werner Herzog will be honored with a lifetime achievement honor by the European Film Academy.

The director of Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Grizzly Man (2005) will receive the lifetime honor at the 32nd European Film Awards on Dec. 7 in Berlin.

Herzog has written, produced and directed more than 70 feature and documentary films and has collected a trophy case of awards, including a Berlinale Silver Bear for his 1968 debut Signs of Life, a best director honor in Cannes for Fitzcarraldo and an Oscar nomination for the 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World.

Surprisingly, he ...

Acclaimed German director Werner Herzog will be honored with a lifetime achievement honor by the European Film Academy.

The director of Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Grizzly Man (2005) will receive the lifetime honor at the 32nd European Film Awards on Dec. 7 in Berlin.

Herzog has written, produced and directed more than 70 feature and documentary films and has collected a trophy case of awards, including a Berlinale Silver Bear for his 1968 debut Signs of Life, a best director honor in Cannes for Fitzcarraldo and an Oscar nomination for the 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World.

Surprisingly, he ...

Throughout his career, Werner Herzog has shared a deep connection with his daring explorer subjects, be it with “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” “Fitzcarraldo,” “Little Dieter Needs to Fly,” or “Grizzly Man.” That’s again true with “Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin,” the prolific filmmaker’s heartfelt documentary tribute to his celebrated writer friend, who passed away from AIDS in 1989. Duplicating many of Chatwin’s most notable journeys, Herzog evokes the late English wanderer’s restless soul and curious fascination with profound issues that have long captivated the director. Following its Tribeca Film Festival world premiere, this sincere homage should entice adventurous viewers when it premieres on BBC Two later this year.

Channeling Chatwin, whom he rightfully dubs a “kindred spirit,” Herzog embarks on a “similar erratic quest” for the “nature of human existence” in “Nomad.” He begins with a trip to the Patagonia cave where Chatwin’s...

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...

The following essay was produced as part of the 2018 Locarno Critics Academy, a workshop for aspiring film critics that took place during the Locarno Film Festival.

Film festivals give one a very particular perspective on world geography. Attendants of this year’s Locarno Film Festival, for instance, have access to delicately rendered portraits of communities in Chile, Lebanon, and Turkey that are remote even to most inhabitants of their native countries. The festival circuit can feel like a microcosmic society unto itself, a loose alliance of city states – Venice, Berlin, Toronto being a few leading names – wholly detached from any particular sense of place. Accordingly, it’s easy to see the passion for the local communities in an increasingly globalized world.

International film culture enacts a tension between the global and the local – one by no means unique to cinema. The punning title of London-born, U.S.-raised experimental filmmaker...

A Room with a Coconut ViewThe so-called ‘desktop movie,’ a film visually told predominantly or entirely through the setup of a computer screen, has had a couple of high-profile examples over the last few years. Among these are Nacho Vigalondo’s Open Windows (2014), Patrick Cederberg and Walter Woodman’s short Noah (2013), and, most notably in terms of mainstream success, Levan Gabriadze’s Unfriended (2014). 2018 would seem to be a major year for the genre, if you can call it a genre just yet, with the wide release of sequel Unfriended: Dark Web, Timur Bekmambetov’s Profile playing festivals, and now the release, through Sony, of Aneesh Chaganty’s Searching. It is worth noting that Bekmambetov also produced the two of those 2018 titles he didn’t direct, so there’s at least one benefactor devoted to making the form catch on. With the exception of something like Kevin B. Lee’s essay...

Locarno — The 71st Locarno Festival kicks off today, Wednesday Aug. 1, its Industry Days on Aug. 3. It commands the biggest industry attendance of any mid-summer film event in Europe. Following are ten industry takes on this edition.

1.Locarno: The Paradox

Locarno frames an industry paradox. ”Sales agents never retire. They just print up new business cards.” Or so the saying goes.

A lot may now also be changing their job descriptions. For the 2018 Locarno Festival frames a paradox: 87% of first-run titles playing the Piazza Grande, a venue for crowd-pleasers, have sales agents. That may be par for the course. But as many as 73% of the far more auteurist, sometimes out-there competition, also have agents on board coming into Locarno, which “could be something of a record,” said Nadia Dresti, Locarno artistic director and head of Locarno Pro, its industry division.

Yet, in many territories in the world, theatrical arthouse audiences are...

After making the festival rounds at Locarno, Toronto, and New Directors/New Films, “Cocote” finally gets a theatrical release. Nelson Carlo De Los Santos’ crime drama won the top prize in Locarno’s experimental Signs of Life program and has won acclaim everywhere else it’s screened, leading to a pickup by arthouse favorite Grasshopper Film. Watch the new trailer below.

Read More: Locarno in Los Angeles 2018 Announces an Award-Winning Second Edition Led by ‘Mrs. Fang,’ ‘Cocote,’ and More

Offering glimpses of a few key scenes, the trailer sets up the film’s mix of revenge, religion, and ritual: A man’s father has died, and no one who knew him has received closure, and unresolved feelings lead to bad situations.

Here’s the synopsis: “A rapturous crime fable set in the Dominican Republic, Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias’ ‘Cocote’ follows Alberto, a kind-hearted gardener returning home to attend his father’s funeral.

Daniel Talbot, a distributor and exhibitor of enormous influence over specialized exhibition and distribution as well as the international film world, died Friday in Manhattan. He was 91. A memorial was held Sunday, December 31 at the Riverside Memorial Chapel with a capacity audience including many leading New York specialized players. Talbot’s wife and business partner, Toby Talbot, as well as daughters Nina, Emily and Sara attended the memorial, where the family spoke fondly about Talbot’s love for the comedian W.C. Fields.

Another more public post-holiday event marking the closing of the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas is scheduled on January 28 in New York. The last few weeks have seen Talbot’s legacy celebrated with reaction to the unexpected announcement that the six-screen Upper West Side theater would close at the end of January, at the expiration of its lease. Milstein Properties, who have been the Talbots’ co-partners in the theater since...