News

“The Blue Trail,” one of the big highlights of the Berlin Film Festival that’s competing for a Golden Bear, has been acquired by a raft of international distributors.

Paris-based sales banner Lucky Number launched the politically minded movie at the EFM, which runs alongside the festival and sold it to major territories, including Germany (Alamode), France (Paname), Benelux (Imagine), Spain (Karma), Switzerland (Xenix), Portugal (Nitrato), Sweden (Triart), Denmark (Camera), Norway (Arthaus), Baltics (A-One), Poland (Aurora), Czech Republic & Slovakia (Film Europe), Former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), Bulgaria (Beta), Hungary (Mozinet), Israel (Lev) , Australia and New Zealand (Palace), Indonesia (Falcon).

Lucky Number is currently in discussions to close the U.S., U.K. and Italy and offers in the Middle East, Turkey, Greece and Asia. Vitrine in Brazil and Pimienta, whose deals were made directly by the producers, will distribute the movie in in Brazil and in Mexico, respectively.

“The Blue Trail...

“The Blue Trail,” Gabriel Mascaro’s dystopian Brazilian movie which is slated to compete at the Berlin Film Festival, has landed on the inaugural slate of newly-launched Paris-based sales banner Lucky Number.

The selection marks Brazil’s return to the Berlinale Competition following “All the Dead Ones” by Caetano Godardo in 2020. Mascaro previously attended the Berlin Film Festival with “Divine Love” which opened at Sundance and went on to play in the Panorama section in Berlin in 2019. Lucky Number has unveiled a first still of the film and will kick off sales at the EFM in Berlin next month.

The politically minded film unfolds on the banks of the Amazon, and is set in a near future, in a society in which the elderly are invited to exile themselves once their expiration date has passed. The story revolves around Tereza, 77, who has lived her whole life in a small, industrialized town in the Amazon,...

This piece was originally posted in 2022. We have updated the “Where to Watch” section for each film.

***

Each year, Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15 to October 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. To celebrate, we got to thinking about some of our favorite Indies from the Hispanic world. These stories are narrative and documentary, drama and comedy, and are both harrowing and heartfelt. A little of everything, and plenty to add to your watchlist.

Prayers For The Stolen (2021)

Writer/Director: Tatiana Huezo

Producers: Nicolás Celis, Jim Stark

Starring: Guillermo Villegas, Mayra Batalla, Eileen Yañez, Alejandra Camacho

Synopsis: In a solitary town nestled in the Mexican mountains, the girls wear boyish haircuts and have hiding places underground. Ana and her two best friends take over the houses of those who have fled,...

Mexico has picked Sundance Film Festival winner Sujo to represent the country at the 2025 Oscars in the Best International Feature category. The drama from Identifying Features directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez premiered at Sundance this year, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema. It is currently doing the festival tour and will screen in San Sebastian and the London Film Festival this fall.

The coming-of-age story focuses on the titular Sujo, the son of a small-town cartel sicario who is orphaned when his father is murdered as a traitor. Under constant threat of death — the cartels traditionally kill male heirs of assassinated members lest they grow up to avenge their fathers — Sujo goes into hiding in the mountains, living in isolation with only his aunts and two young cousins for company. But as a young man, Sujo, played by Identifying Features actor Juan Jesús Varela, drifts...

Mexico has selected the drama film “Sujo” as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2025 Academy Awards. The movie tells the story of a young man growing up in a small Mexican town threatened by cartel violence.

“Sujo” follows the life of its title character after his cartel member father is murdered. Sujo is raised by his aunt in the countryside but grows up surrounded by poverty and danger. As a teen, Sujo gets drawn into the local drug gang. He later tries to escape his violent past. The film explores how destiny and the cycle of cartel activity impact Mexico.

The movie from directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Juan Jesús Varela plays the adult Sujo, supported by Yadira Pérez, Alexis Varela and others. Rondero, Valadez, and producers Diana Casarreal, Jewerl Keats Ross,...

Sujo, which won the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema following its world premiere there earlier this year, has been selected to represent Mexico in the 2025 Oscar race for Best International Feature Film.

Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s drama centers on Sujo, the beloved son of a small-town cartel gunman who narrowly escapes death when his father is murdered. His aunt takes him in and raises him in the isolated countryside amidst hardship, poverty and the constant peril associated with his identity.

When Sujo enters his teens a rebelliousness awakens in him and he joins the local cartel. As a young man (Juan Jesús Varela), he attempts to make his life anew, away from the violence of his hometown. But when his father’s legacy catches up with him, he will come face-to-face with what seems to be his destiny.

Yadira Pérez, Alexis Varela, Sandra Lorenzano,...

Non Negotiable is a unique Netflix movie that mixes action, comedy, romance, and drama in a compelling storyline. Despite mixed reviews, Non Negotiable climbed the Netflix charts thanks to its charming cast and relatable dynamics. The success of Non Negotiable can be attributed to its approachable nature, solid storyline, and the support of a strong fan base.

The top 10 charts on Netflix can be an interesting gauge of what audiences are watching, and sometimes movies and TV series that flew under the radar or were met with initial mixed reactions manage to flourish on the popular streaming platform. International cinema, in particular, has found a welcome home on Netflix. From the recent success of the French shark/disaster flick Under Paris to the early Netflix Spanish hit The Platform, streaming gives movies otherwise overlooked a chance to shine.

Recently popping into the top 10 charts is a Spanish comedy called Non Negotiable,...

Disney’s latest blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine headlines this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, aiming to revive the recent fortunes of the once-mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

A sequel to Deadpool and Deadpool 2 as well as a follow-up to Logan, the film sees Deadpool pulled from his quiet life by the Time Variance Authority and set on a mission to save his universe – during which he collides with Wolverine from another universe. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman reprise their roles as the titular superheroes, with Matthew Macfadyen, Morena Baccarin and Screen Stars of Tomorrow Emma Corrin and Dafne Keen also among the cast.

The Echo

Salvadoran Mexican filmmaker Tatiana Huezo's The Echo (El Eco), a documentary that leans into the language of fiction, centres on three rural families. As in her previous film, Prayers For The Stolen (Noche De Fuego), the focus is on children. However, the image of young people caught up in the violence of the Mexican cartels contrasts with The Echo's gentle and rhythmic tapestry of emotions and day-to-day experiences in the Mexican countryside.

The Echo represents a departure for Huezo, from the dark subjects that have defined her feature documentaries. Alongside Prayers For The Stolen, she has documented the victimisation of women in Tempestad and the impact of a civil war on a small town in El Lugar Más Pequeño.

In conversation with Eye For Film, Huezo discussed her fascination with childhood, bringing the urban playground to the countryside and playing the role of provocateur.

The Echo...

Tatiana Huezo’s film about a teenage runaway has the look of a drama, and yet it’s a documentary – one that showcases her distinctive, immersive style

Salvadoran-Mexican director Tatiana Huezo is a documentary film-maker who received great acclaim for her non-fiction work before pivoting triumphantly to drama in 2021 with Prayers for the Stolen – a heart-wrenching film, with something docu-realist in its gentleness and urgency, about children caught up in Mexican cartel violence. Now Huezo has returned to documentary with a film set in the remote village of El Eco in the central Mexican highlands. While Prayers for the Stolen was fiction with the texture of documentary, this – fascinatingly – is documentary with the look of fiction.

After a shooting period of a year and a half, Huezo and co-editor Lucrecia Gutierrez have shaped a family story so that it looks like exactly like realist drama, perhaps even drama adapted from a novel.

Located within the Mexican municipality of Chignahuapan in the state of Puebla, the rural village of El Eco acts as a microcosm for various stages of life and the oft-small moments that herald them in filmmaker Tatiana Huezo’s documentary of the same name. The Salvadoran-Mexican filmmaker weaves together intimate scenes among three local families, exploring themes of gender, labor and generational shifts in attitude amid a sprawling and bucolic—yet unpredictably volatile—stretch of Mexico’s highlands. The Echo is Huezo’s fifth feature, marking her return to nonfiction storytelling after helming her 2021 debut narrative film Prayers for the Stolen. With this transition, […]

The post “I Don’t Feel Comfortable Making Cinema That Gazes From Afar”: Tatiana Huezo on The Echo first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Located within the Mexican municipality of Chignahuapan in the state of Puebla, the rural village of El Eco acts as a microcosm for various stages of life and the oft-small moments that herald them in filmmaker Tatiana Huezo’s documentary of the same name. The Salvadoran-Mexican filmmaker weaves together intimate scenes among three local families, exploring themes of gender, labor and generational shifts in attitude amid a sprawling and bucolic—yet unpredictably volatile—stretch of Mexico’s highlands. The Echo is Huezo’s fifth feature, marking her return to nonfiction storytelling after helming her 2021 debut narrative film Prayers for the Stolen. With this transition, […]

The post “I Don’t Feel Comfortable Making Cinema That Gazes From Afar”: Tatiana Huezo on The Echo first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

A yearly highlight of New York (or American) programming, the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look will return on March 13 with an opening-night screening of Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s Sujo, close on March 17 with Bill and Turner Ross’ Gasoline Rainbow, and in the intervening days combine programming of recent cutting-edge highlights with in-person talks and seminars.

First Look’s fixture “Working on It” will run between March 13 and 15, offering “a laboratory for works in progress and dialogues about process, bringing together festival guests, filmmakers, students, writers, and the general public.” Meanwhile, writers and editors from Reverse Shot “will continue discussions begun in last year’s Emerging Critics Workshop throughout the festival.”

So says MoMI’s Curator of Film Eric Hynes:

“Now in its 13th year, First Look has carved out a unique, and we think essential, place in New York’s film and cultural landscape.

Netflix is toasting Mexico’s National Day of Cinema on Aug. 15 with a slew of projects, many of them tapping the country’s wealth of literary classics and original storytellers. Working with some of the most prominent local filmmakers, the streaming giant is also reaffirming its $300 million commitment to Mexican cinema and series and its #QueMéxicoSeVea (“Let Mexico Be Seen”) initiative.

A teaser of its upcoming film “No voy a pedirle a nadie que me crea” (“I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me”) by Fernando Frías De La Parra (“I’m No Longer Here”) debuts exclusively on Variety.

An adaptation of what award-winning author Juan Pablo Villalobos describes as an ‘autobiographical fiction,’ Frias’ latest film follows the writer as he prepares to go to Barcelona with his girlfriend to study for a doctorate in literature. But he gets caught up in a criminal network that spurs him to write the...

Argentine director Paula Hernández’s “The Ravaging Wind,” toplined by Latin American star Alfredo Castro, will be the opening night film of Horizontes Latinos sidebar at the 71st edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival, which runs Sept. 22-30.

Carolina Markowicz’s “Toll,” whose producers include Brazilian giant Globo Filmes, will close the section, one of the biggest examples of San Sebastian’s long-term commitment to Latin American cinema.

In total, Horizontes will present this year 12 stories, set in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Brazil.

Traditionally, the sidebar showcases feature films not yet released in Spain, either totally or partially produced in Latin America directed by Latino filmmakers or which are set against the backdrop or subject of Latino communities in the rest of the world.

The contenders list of the 2023 edition takes in two films who walked off with prizes at San Sebastian’s Latin American Work In Progress initiative...

Twelve stories set in Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Brazil make up Horizontes Latinos, a selection of the year’s feature films, not yet released in Spain, from among all those totally or partially produced in Latin America, directed by moviemakers of Latino origin, or which are set against the backdrop or subject of Latino communities in the rest of the world. In the selection of titles competing for the Horizontes Award at San Sebastian’s 71st edition are two films to have carried off awards at the last Wip Latam –El castillo / The Castle and Estranho caminho / A Strange Path– and at the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum –Alemania–.

Having shown one of her previous movies in Horizontes Latinos, Los sonámbulos / The Sleepwalkers (2019), Paula Hernández returns to the section she will open with El viento que arrasa / A Ravaging Wind, a cinematic adaptation of Selva Almada’s homonymous novel. Alfredo Castro,...

The San Sebastian Film Festival is shining the light on female filmmakers from across Latin America with the lineup for its Horizontes Latinos sidebar section. Eight of the 12 features in this year’s program, which San Sebastian unveiled on Thursday, are from female directors, including A Ravaging Wind from Argentine filmmaker Paula Hernández, which will open the section. All 12 films come from directors of Latino origin and were entirely or partially produced in Latin America but have not yet been released in Spain.

A Ravaging Wind is Hernández’s adaptation of Selva Almada’s novel of the same name and follows the story of a preacher and his daughter whose car breaks down during their latest mission to spread the gospel. Hernández’s 2019 feature The Sleepwalkers also screened in San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos sidebar.

Also returning to Horizontes Latinos are Tatiana Huezo (2021’s Prayers for the Stolen), who will...

With an admirable cohesiveness, Mexican-Salvadoran director Tatiana Huezo (“Prayers for the Stolen”) has curated a body of work that often returns to familiar questions, subjects, and even precise images of evolving girlhood and untarnished nature. The filmmaker’s most fixed preoccupation is the spaces women carve for themselves and each other in communities where their safety, needs, and aspirations often suffer the tacitly violent tactics of patriarchal social norms.

Back to her documentary roots, Huezo follows her acclaimed fiction debut, “Prayers for the Stolen” (“Noche de Fuego”), with another multigenerational saga of mothers and daughters in a remote locale.

Continue reading ‘The Echo’ Review: Tatiana Huezo Returns to Her Non-Fiction Roots with Another Striking, Multigenerational Story of Women and Nature [Berlin] at The Playlist.

"Work is work, it's not easy." The Match Factory has released the festival promo trailer for a documentary film titled The Echo, originally known as El Eco. It is premiering this weekend at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival, hence this first trailer out now. The Echo is the latest film from award-winning filmmaker Tatiana Huezo, whose previous film Prayers for the Stolen earned a number of accolades after first premiering at Cannes in 2021. In the remote village of "El Echo" that exists outside of time, the children care for the sheep and their elders. While the frost and drought punish the land, they learn to understand death, illness and love with each act, word and silence of their parents. A story about the echo of what clings to the soul, about the certainty of shelter provided by those around us, about rebellion and vertigo in the face of life. About growing up.

“The Echo” — or rather, El Eco — is the name of a tiny rural village in Mexico’s Puebla state that sufficiently captivated Mexican-Salvadorean filmmaker Tatiana Huezo into filming it over the course of 18 months, observing its changes in weather, fortune and the temperament of its few, tightly bonded residents in fine, fraught degrees. But there’s more to the title of Huezo’s return to documentary filmmaking — following the major success of her 2021 fiction debut “Prayers for the Stolen” — than a mere marker of place: Examining the unique ties that bind farming families, where everyone’s welfare hangs on the same unkind elements, this exquisitely textured film observes how children’s lives echo those of their parents, repeating for generations on the same constantly inconstant land, until somebody breaks the pattern.

There’s something of an echo, too, between Huezo’s last film and this one, even as they nominally...

For the residents of El Eco, the rural hamlet that gives Tatiana Huezo’s new film its name, life and death are inseparable — not in an abstract sense, but in the here and now, the day-to-day. Animals must be herded and cared for and sometimes slaughtered, crops planted and harvested, and schoolchildren are often right on the frontline with their parents, watching, learning, doing. Taking it all in, they’re smart and inquisitive, kids at their most unself-conscious and open, and with Ernesto Pardo’s extraordinary camerawork holding them close, you might find it hard to let them go. You might wish that Huezo would perhaps return for a follow-up, a Mexico-set spin on Michael Apted’s indelible Seven Up films.

After delving into narrative for the first time with Prayers for the Stolen, the Mexican-Salvadoran filmmaker returns to her nonfiction roots with this intimately observed exploration of tough and tender realities.

To return to documentary filmmaking after her lauded debut fiction feature “Prayers for the Stolen” (“Noche de Fuego”), Tatiana Huezo laid down a set of parameters to follow.

“I didn’t want to include any interviews, any narration or any voice-over,” she told Variety. “The Echo” (“El Eco”), world premiering at Berlinale’s Encounters sidebar, sometimes feels like a fictional story as a result.

“After ‘Prayers..,’ I felt like returning to the language of the documentary, but most importantly, to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, in the smallest details in everyday life,” she mused. Its trailer bows exclusively in Variety.

Research on the docu took some four years. The Mexican-Salvadoran filmmaker found the titular village of El Eco in the state of Puebla, a four-hour drive from Mexico City. After visiting several rural schools, she zeroed in on the village, captivated by its name and even more so after...

Just one year after Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Lost Daughter”) became the second woman to win the Directors Guild of America’s First-Time Film Director award, Charlotte Wells (“Aftersun”) is set to follow her as the category’s third female champ. The 35-year-old Scottish filmmaker, who helmed three narrative shorts between 2015 and 2017, has already been heavily feted for her feature directing (and writing) debut with accolades such as the Cannes French Touch Prize and the Gotham Award for Best Breakthrough Director. Now, the fact that a whopping 96 of Gold Derby’s 2023 DGA Awards predictions odds-makers have her as their top choice in the rookie race should translate to a decisive win.

This category’s current lineup is the only one in its eight-year history to include just one male nominee. Last year’s unprecedented field of six consisted of two men and four women, including Gyllenhaal. Our odds show Wells far outpacing female contenders Alice Diop,...

The Berlin International Film Festival unveiled the competition lineup for its 2023 edition on Monday morning, naming the 18 movies that will compete for the coveted Gold and Silver Bears at the 73rd Berlinale.

Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian presented a very international and arthouse-heavy lineup, with a strong focus on politically-charged cinema.

In a late addition, Superpower, Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman’s documentary on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian invasion of the country and the ongoing war, will have its world premiere in Berlin’s out-of-competition Berlinale Special section. The doc, made for Vice Studios, Aldamisa Entertainment and Fifth Season, is being sold internationally by Fifth Season.

Berlin 2023, taking place a year after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, will have a major focus on Ukraine. Even the festival’s official pin will be in the Ukraine colors of blue and yellow.

In competition, German auteur...

This review originally ran in conjunction with the world premiere of “Dos Estaciones” at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

Globalization can easily obscure the fact that a beautiful place with a rich history, hardworking people and a precious resource is as much someone’s home as it is an outsider’s opportunity.

What Mexican filmmaker Juan Pablo González would like viewers to think about after seeing his melancholically picturesque “Dos Estaciones” is that the next time you bolt down some multinational conglomerate’s new celebrity-marketed, substandard tequila, there’s a local — like González’ factory-owning protagonist — in an ever-deepening despondency about the slipping away of a long-cherished culture.

This is González’s first narrative feature after establishing his meditative style in a handful of documentaries (including “Caballerango”), and it’s a hybrid of story, regional verisimilitude and personal knowledge. (The director comes from a family of tequila makers.) But while “Dos Estaciones...

Click here to read the full article.

There are few filmmakers in the world more talented and exciting than Alejandro G. Iñárritu, whose prior features — Amores Perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006), Biutiful (2010), Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015) — were each tremendously well-reviewed and, at the very least, Oscar-nominated. As you will probably recall, the Mexican filmmaker won the best director Oscar in back-to-back years, for Birdman and The Revenant, the former of which also won best picture and the latter of which probably came damn close, solidifying his place in cinema’s pantheon.

But the reality is that nobody who has ever directed films on a consistent basis — from Griffith to Hitchcock to Spielberg — has batted 1.000 in the eyes of critics or the Academy. It seems all but certain that Iñárritu’s latest film, Bardo — which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, its North American premiere at the Telluride Film...

#QueMéxicoSeVea designed to showcase work of local industry.

Netflix has announced the latest film from Fernando Frias and the feature directorial debut of cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto as it launches an initiative to raise the profile of local filmmakers in the run-up to Mexico’s national cinema day on Monday (August 15).

Under #QueMéxicoSeVea, which translates as Let Mexico Be Seen, Netflix will present the latest from Frias – I Don’t Expect Anyone To Believe Me (No Voy A Pedirle A Nadie Que Me Crea) – whose I’m No Longer Here was acquired by the streamer and represented Mexico in the international feature...

Click here to read the full article.

Australian Film, Television and Radio School

Australia’s preeminent screen arts and broadcast school benefits from a beautiful setting in one of the most pleasant parts of Sydney, as well as a wealth of industry lecturers and connections to the country’s working film and TV world. Notable alumni include last year’s Oscar best director nominee Jane Campion (Power of the Dog) and Black Widow filmmaker Cate Shortland, in addition to a slew of past Oscar nominees and winners in technical categories, like David White (sound editing for Mad Max: Fury Road), Andrew Lesnie (cinematography for The Lord of the Rings) and Tony McNamara (best original screenplay with The Favourite).

Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica (Mexico)

Mexico’s most prestigious film school prides itself on the gender parity of its student body (a goal it first achieved in 2020) and its track record in turning out world-class professionals,...

Manborg: The Novelization Blasts Onto Bookshelves From Author Bret Nelson And Encyclopocalypse Publications: "Encyclopocalypse Publications, founded by Saturn and Rondo Award-winning writer/producer Mark Alan Miller is proud to add Manborg to its wildly addicting novelization series.

Manborg is penned by Bret Nelson (author of Lumber and Other Tales) from the original script by Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie.

“Whenever I read about the movie, Manborg, it is noted early and often that the team at Astron 6 managed to make it for 1,000 Cad. I’d rather note, early and often, that the budget limitations were overcome by the talent and tenacity of the filmmakers.” Nelson says. “Yes, it has a garage-band feel and it’s rough around the edges. But look deeper. The wide shots of Meganet City feature vehicles and people in the backgrounds, you’d expect a pan across a still image. In dialogue, the usual low-budget,...

XYZ Films has acquired writer-director Michelle Garza Cervera’s hotly anticipated breakout feature “Huesera” for theatrical release in North America and has released the first teaser and poster for the film.

“Huesera” is one of the first slate of titles under its new distribution arm and an early pick-up ahead of the Tribeca Film Festival, where the film will world premiere.

The film follows Valeria, whose joy with becoming pregnant dissolves as she is cursed by a dark power. As danger surrounds her, she’s forced deeper into the occult, and a pact with a coven of witches may be her only hope. Valeria is played by Natalia Solián (“500 Millions of Red Shoes”), alongside Alfonso Dosal (“Narcos: Mexico”), Mayra Batalla (“Prayers for the Stolen”), Mercedes Hernández (“Identifying Features”), Aída López (“Capadocia”), and Martha Claudia Moreno.

The film is produced by Machete, Disruptiva Films, and Señor Z and is co-written by Garza Cervera and Abia Castillo.

Tatiana Huezo's Prayers for the Stolen is showing exclusively on Mubi starting April 29 in many countries in the series The New Auteurs.Prayers for the Stolen (2021).Tatiana Huezo gets survival in a violent world. She joins many young Latin American filmmakers who were raised with the specter of escalating gun and human trafficking and drug-lord warfare against the backdrop of decades of ineffective drug policies and systemic corruption. But in Huezo’s relatively brief career—she has one feature documentary and now one fiction under her belt—this Mexican-Salvadoran has established herself as a director who uniquely understands survival as a pulse, a pause, between breaths, and, ultimately, a lifetime partiture, in which pauses bracketed by fear and ruptured by violence shape and color one’s life. Huezo translates this syncopated tempo, and the extended breathless pause, the suspension in brief moments of grace, into a filmic language that...

Indie film sales, financing, and distribution shop WME Independent has bolstered its ranks with several new hires, Variety has learned exclusively.

Division co-heads Deborah McIntosh and Alex Walton announced on Monday the arrival of Julia Harris as senior vice president of business affairs, Melissa Martinez as vice president of marketing, and Victoria Romley as an agent focused on international distribution. All appointments are effective immediately.

“Julia, Melissa and Victoria each bring unique perspective to the team, and we’re excited to continue the growth of this team with these hires” said McIntosh and Walton. “As we continue to evolve, each of these talented executives will ensure we are best positioned to serve our clients and their projects.”

WME Independent was formed in September 2021 when McIntosh and Walton joined the agency from Endeavor Content.

Harris joins the company from Tubi, where she served as associate general counsel. Prior to that, she...

After years of on-screen successes led by the likes of Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón, female directors are making their mark with urgent, disquieting cinema

When young Ana is forced to have her hair cut in Tatiana Huezo’s film Prayers for the Stolen, her tears indicate the heartbreak of lost youth. It’s a protective measure taken by her mother who is desperate to prevent Ana from being kidnapped, like so many other young girls in their town have been, by the drug cartels who patrol the surrounding area. Prayers for the Stolen, the first fiction feature from Mexican-Salvadorian documentary-maker Huezo, captures the brutality and fear of growing up in such circumstances.

The facts are grim. An Amnesty International report released in September 2021 found that 10 women and girls are killed every day in Mexico. More broadly, the Congressional Research Service estimates that since 2006, 150,000 people have been killed in...

Festival titles ‘The Outfit’, ‘Murina’, ‘Compartment No. 6’ all debut.

Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore will try to invoke some of the Harry Potter franchise’s past magic as the major title opening at UK-Ireland cinemas this weekend.

The Secrets Of Dumbledore – the third film in the Fantastic Beasts spin-off series – will open in 716 locations, the widest-ever opening for Warner Bros, topping the 709 of The Batman from last month.

It is the eighth-widest opening of all time, just behind the 718 sites of Disney’s Death On The Nile from February.

The previous two Fantastic Beasts films opened in...

The school half-term holidays saw the release of family-friendly fare at the U.K. and Ireland box office and consequently Paramount’s animated sequel “Sonic The Hedgehog 2” claimed the box office crown. The film debuted with £4.9 million (6.5 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.

The other big family targeted release, Universal’s “The Bad Guys,” debuted in third place with 2.2 million. Debuting in second place was considerably darker fare, Sony’s “Morbius,’ which collected £3.2 million.

After four weeks at the top, Warner Bros.’ “The Batman” dropped down to fourth position in its fifth weekend with £1.2 million and now has a total of £37.8 million.

Rounding off the top five was Universal’s “Ambulance,” which collected £273,015 in its second weekend for a total of £1.1 million.

The big release for the upcoming weekend is the latest film in J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts franchise, “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” which Warner Bros....

’Costa, Brava Lebanon’, ’El Gran Movimiento’, ’Prayers For The Stolen’ and ’Les Enfants Terribles’ have been widely lauded.

Of the 175 feature projects to have been showcased at Qumra between 2015 and 2021, 83 have been released to date, many with high-profile premieres at festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Locarno, IDFA and Hot Docs.

Screen turns the spotlight on four Qumra titles that launched at festivals in 2021.

Costa Brava, Lebanon

The debut feature of Lebanese director Mounia Akl debuted in Venice’s Horizons Extra sidebar and went on to play in the Contemporary World Cinema section. Nadine Labaki and Saleh Bakri play former political...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Fatal Attraction (1987)The next season of Karina Longsworth's podcast You Must Remember This will focus on the thorny and sumptuous erotic films of the 1980s and 1990s, including films by Adrian Lyne, Brian De Palma, and Stanley Kubrick. The two-part season will start on April 5. Ahead of its theatrical release, the long-delayed Top Gun: Maverick will play at a special screening in Cannes for the 75th edition of the festival in May. This year's Cannes Film Festival also has a new official partner: TikTok. The partnership will include exclusive festival-related content for users and an in-app competition called #TikTokShortFilm. James Morosini's I Love My Dad and Rosa Ruth Boesten's documentary Master of Light lead this year's SXSW Film Festival awards. Actor William Hurt has died at the age of 71. Hurt was known...

Maggie Gyllenhaal won the DGA Award for Best First-Time Feature on Saturday night.

Taking home the gold for Netflix’s The Lost Daughter, for which she is also Oscar-nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, she wrote the script from a book by Elena Ferrante and shot the majority of the film on the Greek island of Spetses during Covid quarantine.

DGA Awards 2022: Deadline’s Full Coverage

The story follows Leda (Olivia Colman), a middle-aged woman whose past comes back to haunt her when she meets a young mother (Dakota Johnson) on vacation.

“If I had a hockey jersey, I probably would put Jane Campion’s name on it,” Gyllenhaal said as she collected the award, referencing Dune helmer Denis Villeneuve’s comments earlier.

Jane Campion Responds To Sam Elliott’s Criticism Of ‘The Power Of The Dog’: He’s “Hit The Trifecta Of Misogyny And Xenophobia And Homophobia”

She...

This weekend is a big one for Oscar watchers, with two awards ceremonies that often predict key categories. Sunday marks the biggest night of the year in British film, with the BAFTAs, whose winners often mirror those of the Oscars, taking place. But first, the biggest names in directing came out for the Directors Guild of America Awards. Judd Apatow returned to host the DGAs, which honor outstanding achievement in directing film, television, and commercials.

The feature film nominees at the DGAs were almost identical to the Best Director nominees at the Oscars, with winner Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”) competing against Paul Thomas Anderson (“Licorice Pizza”), Steven Spielberg (“West Side Story”), and Kenneth Branagh (“Belfast”. The only difference is that the DGAs swapped in Denis Villeneuve (“Dune”) for Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”).

On the television side, “Succession” and “Ted Lasso” have absolutely dominated the nominations. “Ted Lasso...

The Directors Guild of America’s 74th annual DGA Awards are under way at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, with Judd Apatow on tap as host. The ceremony returns to an in-person event this year, having gone virtual in 2021, and is part of a busy weekend on the kudos gauntlet that also includes the BAFTA, Annie Awards and Critics Choice events.

This year in the motion pictures category, the group nominated Kenneth Branagh for “Belfast” (Focus Features), Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog” (Netflix), Paul Thomas Anderson for “Licorice Pizza” (MGM/United Artists Releasing), Steven Spielberg for “West Side Story” (20th Century Studios) and Denis Villeneuve for “Dune” (Warner Bros).

Campion has already made history as the second woman ever to receive a second nod from the Directors Guild (following “The Piano” in 1993).

Meanwhile, on the TV side, it’s already a foregone conclusion that “Succession...

Jane Campion has been named the best feature-film director of 2021 by the Directors Guild of America for “The Power of the Dog.” She is the second consecutive female director to win after Chloe Zhao’s victory last year for “Nomadland,” and the third overall after Zhao and Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”), who won in 2010 and was also on hand for the ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

“I’m here because I care about women having voices,” Campion said in her acceptance speech. She had been the prohibitive favorite going into the DGA Awards, just as she is in the Best Director category at the Academy Awards — and the fact that she won even at the end of a marathon DGA ceremony during which one person after another had paid homage to her fellow nominee Steven Spielberg suggests that the rest of awards season will be smooth sailing for her.

The 74th Directors Guild of America Awards took place on Saturday, March 12 at 7:30 p.m. Pt with Judd Apatow hosting the in-person, non-televised ceremony. (Read our minute-by-minute live blog.) These kudos honored the best helmers of the year in movies and television, as voted on by more than 18,000 members of the directing guild. Scroll down for the 2022 DGA Awards winners list in three film and eight TV categories.

The all-important feature film category is one of the most telling bellwethers for the Best Director Oscar. The guild and the academy have only disagreed eight times over the past seven decades, including in 2019 when Sam Mendes (“1917”) won the DGA but Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”) claimed the Oscar. Will this year’s winner follow the path of so many prior champs? Reminder: four of the guild’s nominees also reaped Oscar bids: Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”), Steven Spielberg...

Awards fans, mark your calendars for Saturday, March 12 as that’s when the 74th Directors Guild of America Awards will take place in Hollywood. Judd Apatow hosts the non-televised ceremony, which will honor the best in film and TV for the 2021 calendar year. According to Gold Derby’s DGA Awards predictions, some of the night’s big winners will include Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Lost Daughter”). Scroll down to see the 2022 Directors Guild Awards predictions listed in order of their racetrack odds, with projected winners in gold.

Our DGA Awards odds are based on the combined forecasts of 1,400 Gold Derby readers, including Experts we’ve polled from major media outlets, Editors who cover awards year-round for this website, Top 24 Users who did the best predicting last year’s winners, All-Star Users who had the best prediction scores over the last two years, and...

Nearly three decades after making her film acting debut at age 14, Maggie Gyllenhaal has now added her first feature writing and directing credits to her resume. Since its Venice International Film Festival premiere last September, her “The Lost Daughter” has won her numerous accolades, from the festival’s Golden Osella to the Independent Spirit Awards for Best Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay. Gyllenhaal is also nominated for the Directors Guild of America’s First-Time Film Director award. According to our DGA Awards odds, she is widely expected to prevail and thereby become only the second woman to receive the honor.

This particular glass ceiling was broken by Alma Har’el, who took the 2020 prize for helming “Honey Boy.” Since the category’s establishment in 2015, 11 women and 25 men have vied for the award, making for a 1:2.3 ratio. The first female contender was inaugural nominee Marielle Heller. Aside from her and Har’el,...

The 37th Annual Independent Spirit Awards took place on Sunday, returning to an in-person format following last year’s virtual ceremony. Many of the biggest names in the independent film community made the trek out to the beach in Santa Monica with the hopes of taking home the most coveted prizes in indie film. While the Spirit Awards typically take place the week before the Oscars, this year’s unique Covid-influenced awards season calendar meant that they were held nearly a month in advance. Hollywood couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally served as emcees of the proceedings.

This year’s class of nominees draws from films largely shut out from the Oscars, with indie hits like Oscar nominee “The Lost Daughter,” “C’mon C’mon,” and “Zola” racking up the most nominations. “The Lost Daughter” cleaned up, with three wins for Netflix including Best Feature and Best Director Maggie Gyllenhaal. Oscar no-show...

Who were the big winners at the 37th Independent Spirit Awards, presented on Sunday, March 6, at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California? Scroll down for the complete list of results in all categories, updated throughout the ceremony as the awards were handed out.

SEE2022 Oscars guild awards scorecard: ‘King Richard’ reigns over SAG and Ace Eddies to grab early lead

These awards are unique in that they are limited to American films made for under $20 million; films made outside the United States are eligible for Best International Feature. And the awards are decided in two stages. In the first round, committees of film professionals, experts, and critics choose the nominees. In the second round, the entire Film Independent membership gets to vote for the winners. Members include industry insiders, but also anyone in the general public who wish to pay yearly dues starting at $95 per year.

The Oscars...

Three awards ceremonies are taking place the weekend of March 5. On Saturday, a double dose of the Art Directors Guild (Adg) and American Cinema Editors Awards (Ace Eddies), and on Sunday, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, airing on IFC.

Paying special attention to Adg and Ace Eddies since there’s Oscar crossover, we’re expecting a couple of surprises at both. On the Adg side, “Dune” and “Nightmare Alley” should reign triumphant, but “Don’t Look Up” may overcome fellow Netflix property “The Lost Daughter.”

At Ace Eddies, there’s a possible upset on the drama side in the favor of “King Richard’s” Pamela Martin, besting Joe Walker for “Dune.” On the other hand, “Tick, Tick … Boom!” is expected to sneak past “Licorice Pizza.”

What’s most interesting is that there is very little to no presence of the presumed Oscar frontrunners this weekend, including Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,...

Almost 2,000 Gold Derby readers have made their Indie Spirit predictions in advance of Sunday’s ceremony. Scroll down to see our official odds in all 13 movie categories based on those combined predictions. Our projected winners are highlighted in gold.

SEEOscars 2022: 20 movie reunions we would love to see happen on the ceremony, including ‘The Godfather,’ ‘Titanic,’ ‘Harry Potter’ and more

The Indie Spirit Awards winners are voted on by members of Film Independent. Membership is open to any movie fans who pay $95 in yearly dues, which often leads to the highest-profile Oscar contenders winning top prizes against less widely publicized films. But this year Film Independent snubbed many of the Oscar front-runners; this is only the second time in the last 13 years that there are no Best Picture Oscar nominees among the Spirit contenders for Best Feature.

The black comedy “Zola” led the nominations with seven including Best Feature, Best...

The Latino Entertainment Journalists Association announced its annual nominations where Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” leads the way with 13 nominations, including best picture, director, supporting actor, supporting actress, and adapted screenplay.

Lin-Manuel Miranda received the most individual nominations of any person with seven: best picture for “In the Heights,” best director for “Tick, Tick … Boom!,” voice or motion capture performance for “Vivo” and a trio of song mentions from the animated film “Encanto” including “Dos Oruguitas,” “Surface Pressure” and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” The Leja membership also selected Miranda as the recipient of the Latino Activism Award. Past winners of that award include America Ferrera, Eva Longoria, Rosie Perez.

John Leguizamo is being honored with the 2022 Rita Moreno Lifetime Achievement Award for this year’s special honorees. For decades, the Special Tony and Emmy-winning actor, producer, and comedian have been a tireless force in the Latino community.

In a new series, Variety catches up with the directors of the films shortlisted for the International Feature Film Oscar to discuss their road to the awards, what they’ve learned so far, and what’s taken them off guard.

Here, it’s the turn of Tatiana Huezo, director of Mexico’s shortlisted entry “Prayers for the Stolen” (“Noche de fuego”), “a poetic, profound portrait of growing up a girl in cartel-land,” Variety said in its review.

What does it mean to you to be shortlisted for the best international feature Oscar?

Feeling that my film can touch another person is the greatest value I can aspire to. I think cinema can touch the soul, make us look at each other, bring us closer together. It means a lot that the film has connected with Academy members. Being on the shortlist suggests how strong and vibrant Mexican cinema is.

What...