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The European Film Academy has revealed the nominations for Lux – The European Audience Film Award. The award is presented by the European Parliament and the European Film Academy in partnership with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas.

The nominated films are: “20,000 Species of Bees” by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain); “The Teacher’s Lounge” by İlker Çatak (Germany); “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki; “On the Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert; and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” by Anna Hints.

The five nominated films will now be subtitled in all 24 EU languages. The winner will be determined by the general public and the members of the European Parliament (each holding 50% of the vote) and announced during an awards ceremony in March 2024.

European Film Academy chair and president of the Lux jury Mike Downey said: “We know that cinema not only enhances the imagination but also shows our entire world in multiple perspectives and...

‘Codename: Annika’: SkyShowtime Unveils Cast & Trailer

SkyShowtime has unveiled cast and trailer for Codename: Annika, one of the fledgling Paramount/Comcast Jv’s biggest originals to date. The series follows a Finnish detective, Emma Haka, played by Sannah Nedergård (Yellow Sulphur Sky), who is still completing her undercover training when she gets sent on a mission into Stockholm’s corrupt world of fine art trade. Unveiled at the Stockholm International Film Festival, Codename from Mia Ylönen and Aleksi Bardy will star the likes of Ardalan Esmaili (Easy Money) as Rasmus Ståhlgren, Eva Melander (Border) as Rina Olander and Helena Bergström (House of Angels) as Agatha Torstensson, along with Pekka Strang (Tom of Finland) as Raimo Korpi, Clarisse Lhoni-Botte (Rolling to You) as Béatrice Joly and Charles Martins (Emily in Paris) as Denver Carpentier. Show will launch next month on the streaming service that is available in territories in which...

SkyShowtime, the European streaming joint venture of Comcast and Paramount Global has unveiled a teaser trailer for six-part original crime drama series Codename: Annika at the Stockholm International Film Festival outdoor cinema, Sommarbio.

The Finnish-Swedish production, which originally had the working title ID, was part of a deal that the streamer struck early this year with Warner Bros. Discovery for exclusive rights across all of Europe to 21 HBO Max European originals. Codename: Annika will launch on SkyShowtime in September.

Created by Mia Ylönen and Aleksi Bardy of production company Helsinki-Filmi (Tove, Ladies of Steel, Tom of Finland, Heart of a Lion, Lapland Odyssey) and directed by Finnish director Aj Annila (Peacemaker), the show promises to take audiences behind the scenes of the world of high-class art fraud, while also exploring “the reality of navigating a double identity.”

The series stars Sannah Nedergård (Yellow Sulphur Sky) as Finnish art fraud investigator Emma/Annika.

The upshot of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” becoming an internationally franchised pop phenomenon is that drag performance has firmly moved from the LGBTQ fringes into the mainstream: As an artform with an audience that now spans all demographics, it follows that it will become more inclusive on stage too. That’s the driving moral, at least, of “Dancing Queens,” a chipper, youth-targeted Swedish comedy that, in more ways than one, encapsulates the cultural broadening of drag in the post-RuPaul era.

Actor-turned-filmmaker Helena Bergström brings sequined cheer and free-to-be-you-and-me spirit to this story of a young, cisgender female dancer who gets an unlikely break by concealing her gender identity to perform in an ailing Gothenburg drag club, and it should duly find a sizable global audience when it premieres on Netflix at the outset of Pride month. In its eagerness to please, however, the film winds up pushing its own queer characters...

“People: repent ” intones Lee “Scratch” Perry to begin what might be his gazillionth LP, Rainford — and his signature spacey West Indian storefront-preacher steez feels perfectly-suited to a cultural moment defined both by widespread institutional criminality and high-grade legal weed. As a founding father of dub reggae and arguably its greatest first-gen practitioner, Perry is by definition an architect of modern pop, rock, r&b, Edm and hip-hop sonics. His most legendary productions date to the ‘70s, and remain timeless: the Congos’ Heart of the Congos, Junior Murvin’s Police and Thieves,...

William Shatner will be the guest of honor at a private charity party in Studio City next week to help relieve the pain and suffering of earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.

The invitation-only event will see the former Star Trek star auction artworks from his wife, Elizabeth Shatner, and Italian-born artist Giorgio Tuscani. Money raised will go to severely injured and disabled survivors of the two earthquakes, and will provide shelters, food, water and medical care.

The event will take place at Tuscani’s antique-filled Italianate mansion, House of Angels, on Saturday, April 17. Tuscani has also generously put the mansion under the hammer for earthquake victims.

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