News

London- and Paris-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has added new sales for Cannes Critics’ Week supernatural horror “Animale” by Emma Benestan, ahead of its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest later this month.

“Animale” sold to Scandinavia (Edge Entertainment), Cis (Nashe Kino), the Czech and Slovak republics (Film Europe), Brazil (Belas Artes), and Indonesia (Falcon Pt), adding to the previously announced territories which include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy (Plaion), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), and Middle East and North Africa (Falcon).

Wild Bunch Distribution will release the film in French theaters nationwide on Nov. 27, with O’Brother releasing in Belgium on Dec. 18.

After its world premiere as closing film of the Cannes Critics’ Week, the film has been selected in some of the world’s foremost genre festivals including Fantastic Fest, Sitges Film Festival, MOTELx, and Neuchâtel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival to name a few.

Isabella Torre is at Venice with her first feature “Basileia.” The film follows an archaeologist who, while exploring a tomb containing an ancient treasure in Southern Italy’s rugged Aspromonte mountains, unleashes mythical nymphs.

The dark fairytale – which is closing the fest’s independently run Giornate Degli Autori, also known as Venice Days – was developed at the Sundance Lab. It is produced by Torre’s partner, director Jonas Carpignano (“A Chiara”) and sold by Luxbox. “Basileia” is an expansion of Torre’s short “Nymphs,” which premiered at Venice Horizons in 2018. The film’s cast comprises Angela Fontana (“Indivisibili”) and Danish-American actor Elliott Crosset Hove (“Godland”).

Below, Torre and Carpignano speak to Variety about venturing into the non-conventional genre space with a tale that mixes mythology and present-day reality.

How did the story of “Basilea” germinate?

Torre: It’s all because of Aspromonte, which is not just a location — it became...

Spanish director Jonás Trueba’s The Other Way Around (Volveréis) has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

The prize is judged by four members of the Europa Cinema network representing independent exhibitors operating 3,121 screens across Europe. Under the prize, the film will receive the support of these cinemas as it goes on release.

This year’s jury omprised Louise Casey Conneally; Maarja Krass; Rémi Labé and Tamara Visković.

“Jonás Trueba’s well-crafted and nuanced film has an unusual premise – it tells the story of a couple who embrace a novel ritual. Prior to their separation, they elect to celebrate their 15-year relationship with a party,” read their statement.

“Humorous and cleverly written, the film’s circular structure manifests generosity of spirit in its inspiring look at human relationships.

Katrin Pors of Denmark’s Snowglobe and Jussi Rantamaki of Finland’s Aamu Film Company are among the 12 producers selected for Ace Leadership Special, the business workshop hosted by the Ace Producers network.

The 2024 edition will take place in Bergen in the Netherlands in June and Mallorca in Spain in September, with online elements over the summer.

Scroll down for the full Ace Leadership 2024 selection

Danish producer Pors produced Hlynur Palmason’s Cannes 2022 title Godland, which became Iceland’s entry for the best international feature award at the 2024 Oscars. Her other credits include Jonas Carpignano’s A Chiara, Dagur Kari...

Nominated in five categories at the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards, the darkly humorous and ominously cringey psychological drama May December is filmmaker Todd Haynes’ tenth (!) Spirit Award nomination. A pioneer of the New Queer Cinema movement, Haynes previously won Best Director for 2002’s period romantic drama Far from Heaven (starring May December co-lead Julianne Moore), as well as the Robert Altman Award for 2007’s Bob-Dylan-inspired musical fantasia, I’m Not There.

Haynes has talked about how May December is about “the stories we tell ourselves” in order to “survive our lives.” Loosely based on the 1990s-era Irl story of Mary Kay Letourneau, the film follows 59-year-old housewife Gracie (Moore), who seems happily married with children to her 36-year-old husband, Joe Yoo, played by Charles Melton. Melton, too, is nominated for Best Supporting Performance at the 2024 Spirit Awards, streaming Live this Sunday at 2pm Pt.

The narrative tension kicks off when...

Principal photography is set to begin in April on “The Captive” (“El Cautivo”), the period adventure epic from Alejandro Amenábar, whose “The Sea Inside” won an Oscar for best foreign language film. Film Constellation has boarded worldwide sales, and will introduce the project to buyers at the European Film Market.

The film centers on the origin story of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the iconic novel “Don Quixote.” At the age of 28, Cervantes was taken captive by the Moors in Algiers, leading to his creative birth.

The $15 million production will shoot at locations in Spain including Valencia, Alicante and Seville.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures is on board to release the film in Spain next year.

The film is set in Algiers in 1575 when Cervantes, a wounded 28-year-old Spanish Navy soldier, is held prisoner by Ottoman corsairs. Faced with a ticking clock, a cruel death awaits him should his...

Jane Campion, Laura Poitras, Martin McDonagh and Mia Hansen-Løve have joined the main jury of the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

The prominent directors, most of whom are Venice regulars – Poitras last year scored the Golden Lion with documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” – will be joined by fellow jury members including Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri (“Wajib”); Chinese star Shu Qi (“The Assassin”); Italian director Gabriele Mainetti, who was at Venice last year with “Freaks Out”; and Argentinian auteur Santiago Mitre, whose “Argentina, 1985” also launched from the Lido last year.

They will join Damien Chazelle who, as previously announced, will serve as president of the Venice competition jury.

Venice revealed its jury just hours after talks broke down without a deal between actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance for Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). A strike is expected to be called on Thursday morning, Pacific time, which could have...

“Creatura,” the feature debut of Elena Martín, exploring female sexual desire and repression, has won this year’s 20th Europa Cinemas Cannes Label for best European Film at the 2022 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Announced Thursday by Europa Cinemas, ahead of the closing ceremony this afternoon, the prize is one of two at Directors’ Fortnight, and awarded by one of the sidebar’s partners, given the section is non-competitive.

A second partner plaudit, the Sacd Prize, handed out by France’s Writers’ Guild, will be announced simultaneously to the Europa Cinemas Label.

“Creature” hit Cannes will multiple tailwinds. Like last year’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” it’s made by an emerging woman director associated by the so-called Catalan New Wave of helmers and producers making films twinning a strong sense of place and universal issues.

The second feature from 2021 Málaga best director Martín (“Júlia ist”) and a “Veneno” writer and “Perfect Life” director,...

Updated with Sacd prize details: Spanish director Elena Martín Gimeno’s Creatura won the Europa Cinemas prize as Best European Film, while Pierre Caton’s Le Prince scooped the Sacd for best French film at Directors’ Fortnight on Thursday.

The prizes were announced ahead of the evening closing ceremony for the non-competitive parallel Directors Fortnight section.

The Europa Cinema label and Sacd prizes are the key collateral prizes awarded to films world premiering in the section.

Under the Europa Cinema prize, the release of Creatura will receive the support of cinemas belonging to the independent exhibitor network representing 3,060 screens in 38 countries. The jury consists of four exhibitor members of the network.

Creatura revolves around a seemingly perfect couple who no longer manage to have sex, prompting one partner to probe her past and her sexual sexual awakening, from adolescence back to early childhood.

French writers guild Sacd’s prize is...

La La Land, Babylon, and Whiplash director Damien Chazelle will head up the international jury for the 80th Venice International Film Festival, Venice unveiled on Friday.

A regular on the Lido, Chazelle premiered both La La Land and the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man in competition in Venice.

“For 10 days each year this city of the arts, of Tintoretto and Titian and Veronese, becomes a city of cinema, and I am humbled and delighted to be invited to lead this year’s jury,” Chazelle said in a statement. “I can’t wait to discover a new crop of great films at the 80th Venice Film Festival.”

French director Alice Diop (Saint Omer, We) will head up the Luigi De Laurentiis jury judging the best first film at this year’s festival, while Italy’s Jonas Carpignano (A Chiara, A Ciambra), will be president of the jury for Venice’s main sidebar,...

‘La La Land’ director Chazelle will chair the Competition jury.

La La Land director Damien Chazelle will be president of the Competition jury for the 80th Venice Film Festival (August 30-September 9).

Saint Omer director Alice Diop will chair the Luigi De Laurentiis debut film award jury; with A Chiara filmmaker Jonas Carpignano chairing the Horizons jury.

Chazelle has opened the festival on two previous occasions, with La La Land in 2016 and with First Man in 2018, both in Competition. Emma Stone won the Volpi Cup for best actress for La La Land, and went on to take the best actress Oscar...

Damien Chazelle will preside over the competition jury of the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

The U.S. director is a Venice regular, having opened the Lido event on two occasions, in 2016 with “La La Land” and in 2018 with “First Man.”

Damien Chazelle, welcoming Venice’s proposal, stated: “For 10 days each year this city of the arts, of Tintoretto and Titian and Veronese, becomes a city of cinema, and I am humbled and delighted to be invited to lead this year’s jury. I can’t wait to discover a new crop of great films at the 80th Venice Film Festival.”

Venice also also announced that French director Alice Diop will head the jury panel of the fest’s Luigi De Laurentiis Award for best debut film, while Italy’s Jonas Carpignano will be president of the jury of the Horizons section for more cutting-edge works.

Diop with “Saint Omer,” which was her first feature,...

Damien Chazelle has been announced as the international jury president for the main competition of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, running Aug 30 — Sep 9.

“For ten days each year this city of the arts, of Tintoretto and Titian and Veronese, becomes a city of cinema, and I am humbled and delighted to be invited to lead this year’s jury. I can’t wait to discover a new crop of great films at the 80th Venice Film Festival,” Chazelle said.

Chazelle has opened Venice twice. First, with 2016’s La La Land and in 2018 with First Man. La La Land received 14 Academy Awards nominations, winning six including Best Director. Damien Chazelle was the youngest director ever to win the award. First Man, starring Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy, picked up four Academy Awards.

French filmmaker Alice Diop will serve as the President of the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for Debut Features.

Jonas Carpignano's A Chiara is exclusively showing on Mubi in many countries starting August 26, 2022, in the series The New Auteurs and Jonas Carpignano: The Calabrian Trilogy.A Chiara (2021).Her sister’s birthday party is still in full swing when fifteen-year-old Chiara (Swamy Rotolo) sees her dad leave the celebrations, rush to his car, and drive away. There have been other times in Jonas Carpignano’s A Chiara when the teen’s father seemed to know more than he let on, but this is the first he radiates a sinister energy, something Chiara has never sensed before and doesn’t know how to decipher. Stunned, she looks on. The whole scene lasts a handful of seconds, most of which Carpignano spends on the girl’s face as she takes it all in: her dad sneaking out of the restaurant where the whole family’s dancing, his last words to her,...

A round up of stories from Locarno Film Festival.

As the first week of the Locarno Film Festival (August 3-13) comes to an end, here is the latest from the industry side of the event in Switzerland.

Six projects at Locarno Pitching Day

Feature films from Italy, Austria and Switzerland were among the projects pitched at the Ticino Film Commission’s Locarno Pitching Day held yesterday (August 8).

Staged in collaboration with Locarno Pro, the event was aimed at film industry professionals seeking co-production partners, distribution and financing for projects that are in development and could be further developed in the Swiss region.

The mob in Italy, besides being an endemic plague, has always been grist for the film and TV mill, with gritty Naples-set show “Gomorrah,” the country’s top TV export, being one recent example.

But a major change is underway in how Italian producers and talents are tackling organized crime tropes that were once exclusively imbued in patriarchal pathos. Mob stories coming out of Italy are primarily a woman’s thing these days. Or, rather, the perspective is a female one.

Take Amazon’s recently launch­­ed Italian original “Bang Bang Baby,” the 1980s Milan-set tale of 16-year-old Alice Barone (rising star Arianna Becheroni), who while living with her single mom learns by chance that her dad, whom she thought dead, is very much alive and a boss of the Calabrian crime syndicate known as the ’Ndrangheta.

Against her mother’s wishes, she joins the dark side of her family,...

With an estimated 124 million domestic and 151 million international, “Top Gun: Maverick” (Paramount) is a global hit. The foreign interest in the Skydance co-produced sequel that centers on the American military — and one that arrives decades after the original — is a credit to its star as well as top-flight marketing that included its Cannes premiere. This is also Tom Cruise’s biggest opening ever, including adjustments for inflation.

More importantly, Cruise’s return to the character that propelled him into superstardom 36 years ago also represents a significant advancement for theater recovery.

It is the highest initial gross for any non-comic book movie since December 2019. Propelling its success is an audience that’s been slow to return. It is also that rarest of creatures: a standalone film propelled by a star’s draw.

Though not the biggest Memorial Day opening, “Maverick” might have had the highest average per-ticket price of any blockbuster.

“It’s been the great mystery in political history of the past 50 years,” said Slamdance Film Festival founder, writer and director Dan Mirvish of the eighteen-and-a-half minutes famously missing from the Nixon Tapes. His campy political thriller out this weekend takes a stab at what might have happened.

Adventure Entertainment opens 18 1/2 today on four screens in NY, LA, and Fort Lauderdale, expanding next week to about 60 including a special screening Wednesday at the Landmark Theatres E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Watergate. The National Archives is screening CNN documentary series Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal the same night at a dueling event with John Dean, who was President Richard Nixon’s counsel from July, 1970 to April, 1973. The mother of U.S. political scandals exploded in June of 1972 when five men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate hotel and office complex.

Jonas Carpignano’s third feature film, “A Chiara,” the third film in his loosely networked Calabrian trilogy, is an ambitious genre-melter rendered in his observational, lyrical style.

At once a coming-of-age story and a mafia thriller, “A Chiara” takes a look at organized crime in Southern Italy from the unique perspective of a teenage girl, Chiara (Swamy Rotolo). Her world is turned upside down after her father disappears and she tumbles down the rabbit hole after him, discovering he’s a member of the ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate.

Carpignano’s previous two films in the trilogy are 2015’s “Mediterranea,” which followed the experiences of African immigrants in Calabria, and 2017’s “A Ciambra,” executive produced by Martin Scorsese, about a Romani boy growing up too fast. All three films in the trilogy debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and have raked in a slew of awards and nominations for the filmmaker, including...

‘One Fine Morning’ stars Léa Seydoux as a woman caring for her beloved ailing father.

Mia Hansen-Løve’s Directors’ Fortnight title One Fine Morning has won the Europa Cinemas’ award for best European film in Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannnes film festival.

Europa Cinemas Network will now support the film with promotion and incentivise exhibitiors to extend its programme run.

One Fine Morning stars Léa Seydoux as a young mother who gets caught up in a passionate affair with an old friend while trying to sort out the care of her father, who is suffering from a neurodegenerative disease.

Read Screen’s review here.

‘One Fine Morning’ is screening in Diretors’ Fortnight.

Mia Hansen-Løve’s Directors’ Fortnight title One Fine Morning has won the Europa Cinemas’ award for best European film at the Cannnes film festival.

Europa Cinemas Network will now support the film with promotion and incentivise exhibitiors to extend its programme run.

The award is open to all films in Cannes’ Official Selection and the parallel strands.

One Fine Morning stars Léa Seydoux as a young mother who gets caught up in a passionate affair with an old friend while trying to sort out the care of her father, who is suffering from a neurodegenerative disease.

Starring Léa Seydoux, Mia Hansen-Løve’s “One Fine Morning” won this year’s Europa Cinemas Cannes Label for best European film at the 2022 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Announced Thursday by Europa Cinemas, ahead of the closing ceremony this evening, the prize is one of two at Directors Fortnight, and awarded by one of the sidebar’s partners given the section is non-competitive.

A second partner plaudit, the Sacd Prize, handed out by France’s Writers’ Guild, will be announced later today at an awards ceremony.

“One Fine Morning” was always a frontrunner for a prize at Directors’ Fortnight, though never a shoo-in. The award comes just three days after Sony Pictures Classics announced it had acquired North American, Latin American and Middle East rights to the film.

Marking Hansen-Løve’s return to Directors’ Fortnight after Cannes competition player “Bergman Island,” “One Fine Morning” stars Séydoux as a woman stretched between long-time single motherhood,...

Film Constellation, the London-based company behind Cannes’ Un Certain Regard highlights “Joyland” and “Harka,” is set to ramp up its production pipeline with the launch of a dedicated banner in Paris and a raft of ambitious new projects.

Named Constellation Productions, the new outfit is on board to co-produce Oscar-nominated Quebecois director Jeremy Comte’s debut “Paradise” and Carmen Chaplin’s documentary feature “Charlie Chaplin: A Man of the World.”

Created by Fabien Westerhoff in 2016, Film Constellation kicked off its production activities two years ago and is now taking it to the next level to invest on more promising talents, as well as develop original projects. Edward Parodi, head of acquisitions at Film Constellation, will be working across acquisition and development for the sales and production outfits.

“The new production house is another step in that direction to develop original projects with historical talent relationships, and take an active part in international co-productions,...

Exclusive: Italian actress Margherita Mazzucco, best known for her starring role as Elena in HBO and Rai’s My Brilliant Friend, has signed with ICM Partners for representation.

Mazzuco landed the lead role of Elena Greco in My Brilliant Friend in a school and city-wide audition when she was 16. Created by Saverio Costanzo, the Neapolitan drama based on Elena Ferrante’s bestselling series of books, takes place in the 1950s and beyond. The series wrapped its third season last month and has been renewed for a fourth and final season, which will be based on Ferrante’s The Story of the Lost Child, the fourth book in her quadrilogy.

Mazzucco can next be seen starring in the film Chiara, directed by Susanna Nicchiarelli for Vivi film and Rai 101.

Mazzucco also is repped by Gioia Levi of Carol Levi and Company in Rome.

Even as Netflix stock struggles, the streamer proved that it can still put on a good show. Except for the guy who jumped Dave Chappelle, last weekend’s Netflix is a Joke Festival was a win: Multiple standups satisfied LA audiences over 11 nights, and that catalyzed a promotional cycle that will drive Netflix subscribers to watch those performances nationwide.

As the international film industry prepares for Cannes — which takes place over roughly the same amount of time — the implications are clear: a physical event, one that teases future content more people want to see! Yes, the Netflix Is a Joke Fest hints at a model that could address one of the biggest challenges in the arthouse distribution landscape.

This column seeks big swings and this one hides in plain sight. Festivals have flirted with taking more active roles in film distribution, but few have cracked the potential to leverage the hype they create.

After premiering at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, Rebeca Huntt’s feature directorial debut, the documentary “Beba,” is now bound for a movie theater near you. Acclaimed on the festival circuit and poised for a summer sleeper release as only Neon can mount, this hypnotic portrait takes no prisoners and leaves no casualties in its director’s searching portrait of her own NYC-born, Afro-Latina roots.

The film will next screen at the Tribeca Film Festival before its nationwide opening, and follows Huntt as she undertakes an unflinching exploration of her own identity through the format of a cinematic memoir. Reflecting on her childhood and adolescence in New York City as the daughter of a Dominican father and Venezuelan mother, Huntt investigates the historical, societal, and generational trauma she’s inherited and ponders how those ancient wounds have shaped her, while simultaneously considering the universal truths that connect us all as humans.

Writer, director, and producer Jonas Carpignano cast the lead actress for the conclusion of his Calabrian trilogy when she was just 10 years old. That’s how memorable Swamy Rotolo and her entire real-life family were to Carpignano, and key to rounding out his Calabrian trilogy.

“A Chiara” stars Rotolo as a teenager who soon discovers her father has organized crime ties in their small town of Gioia Tauro. As Chiara (Rotolo) pieces together the depths to which her family is intoxicated by the larger mafia familial ties, her father (Claudio Rotolo) goes missing, forcing her into foster care. Chiara eventually confronts her absent dad for his sins and is forced to reckon with her own. The film concludes Carpignano’s trilogy after 2015’s “Mediterranea” and 2017’s “A Ciambra.”

“A Chiara” premiered in the 2021 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and won the Europa Labels Prize for Best European Film. The film went on...

The Hand Of God won four prizes including best film, best director and best supporting actress.

Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God won four prizes at the 67th David di Donatello awards, including best film (the first Netflix title to do so), best director and best supporting actress for Teresa Saponangelo.

The Oscar-nominated coming-of-age drama also shared the cinematography prize with Gabriele Mainetti’s Venice competition title Freaks Out, which won six awards in total, including prizes for the producers, production design, hairdressing, make-up and VFX.

The two films both had the highest number of nominations with 16.

The in-person...

The David di Donatello Awards were held in Rome on Tuesday evening, the first time Italy’s equivalent to the Oscar has had a fully in-person ceremony in the pandemic era. Taking top honors was Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God which scooped Best Film and Director as well as Best Supporting Actress for Teresa Saponangelo and a tie for Best Cinematography. In the latter category, The Hand Of God shared the win with Freaks Out, a fantasy drama that likewise debuted in Venice.

Sorrentino’s autobiographical drama launched on the Lido last September where it won the Grand Jury Prize. A Netflix title, it went on to myriad festival and critics prizes and was also nominated for an Oscar as Best International Feature.

Freaks Out, directed by Gabriele Mainetti, also picked up prizes for Producer, Production Design, Hair and Makeup. Other titles to figure in the David di...

Paolo Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated autobiographical drama “The Hand of God” took top honors at Italy’s 67th David di Donatello Awards, winning best picture, director, supporting actress and tying for the best cinematography statuette.

Sorrentino’s Naples-set film about the personal tragedy and other vicissitudes that drove him to become a top notch film director had been the frontrunner along with young helmer Gabriele Mainetti’s second feature, the elegant effects-laden historical fantasy “Freaks Out.”

“Freaks Out” won six prizes, including for its producer, Andrea Occhipinti, as well as cinematographer, set design, and effects.

The cinematography prize, which was a tie, was split between “Hand of God” Dp Daria D’Antonio, marking the first time this David goes to a woman, and Michele Attanasio for “Freaks Out.”

The Davids were held as a fully in-person ceremony at Rome’s Cinecittà studios just as the famed facilities undergo a radical renewal being...

"Are we in trouble?" Neon has revealed an official US trailer for an Italian drama titled A Chiara, the third feature from acclaimed filmmaker Jonas Carpignano, following his first two films: Mediterranea and A Ciambra. This one follows the story of 15-year-old Chiara whose close-knit family falls apart after her father abandons them in Calabria. As she gets closer to the difficult truth about her mysteriously missing father—and the crime syndicates that control her region— Chiara is forced to decide what kind of future she wants for herself. They add: "A coming-of-age chronicle like no other, A Chiara is both an intimate and universal family story." Featuring a local cast with Swamy Rotolo as Chiara, plus Claudio Rotolo, Grecia Rotolo, Antonina Fumo, Antonio Rotolo Uno, Carmela Fumo, Concetta Grillo, and Giorgia Rotolo. This won an award at last year's Directors' Fortnight sidebar during the Cannes Film Festival, and opens in the US this May.

Following Mediterranea and A Ciambra, writer-director Jonas Carpignano has completed his Calabrian trilogy with A Chiara, which picked up the Europa Cinema Label at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight last year and follows a teenage girl’s reckoning with her father’s participation in the mafia. Ahead of a May 27 theatrical release via Neon, the new U.S. trailer has now arrived.

Ed Frankl said in his Cannes review, “With a documentary-like authenticity, this is a touching, powerful film with a lyrical visual palette and a superb sense of time and place. As in Mediterranea and A Ciambra, which told stories about immigration and the Roma community, respectively, Carpignano takes us to Gioia Tauro at the southern tip of the Italian mainland. For ten years the director has embedded himself here, a place infamous for the penetration in all walks of life of the ‘Ndrangheta, the secretive mafia clan that by some...

There’s something about trilogies that is continually fascinating with cinematic storytelling. They are often seen on grander scales, like with “Star Wars” or the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. However, what can be most interesting is when independent filmmakers tell stories of theirs in the trilogy format. There, you have instances like the acclaimed “Before Trilogy” by Richard Linklater or the “Three Colours Trilogy” by Krzysztof Kieślowski.

Continue reading ‘A Chiara’ Trailer: Jonas Carpignano’s Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight Award Winner Arrives May 11 at The Playlist.

While our recently published summer movie preview was a fairly comprehensive look at what we’re most anticipating over the next few months, some surprises still await. Case in point: the release date of our #1 pick to see this month was only unveiled a few days ago. Featuring long-awaited festival favorites, genre delights, medium-length work, and even—yes!—a blockbuster, check out our picks below.

13. Men (Alex Garland; May 20 in theaters)

Alex Garland’s Men is a curious creation, oddly misshapen and thematically simplistic, yet this contained psychological horror-thriller has a go-for-broke finale worth the price of admission simply for the confounding glances one will have with fellow moviegoers exiting the theater. Telling the story of Jessie Buckley’s character as she contends with recent trauma and the various shades of misogynistic demons that intend to interrupt her healing, the build-up is an impressive tightrope walk of horror and humor...

Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” and Gabriele Mainetti’s “Freaks Out” lead the pack at the David di Donatello Awards this year with 16 nominations each.

Here’s the complete list of nominees:

Picture

“Ariaferma” (The Inner Cage), Leonardo Di Costanzo

“The Hand of God,” Paolo Sorrentino

“Ennio,” Giuseppe Tornatore

“Freaks Out,” Gabriele Mainetti

“Qui Rido Io” (The King of Laughter), Mario Martone

Director

“Ariaferma” (The Inner Cage), Leonardo Di Costanzo

“The Hand of God,” Paolo Sorrentino

“Ennio,” Giuseppe Tornatore

“Freaks Out,” Gabriele Mainetti

“Qui Rido Io” (The King of Laughter), Mario Martone

Debut Director

“The Bad Poet,” Gianluca Jodice

“Maternal,” Maura Delpero

“Small Body,” Laura Samani

“Re Granchio” (The Legend of King Crab), Alessio Rigo De Righi, Matteo Zoppis

“Una Femmina” (The Code of Silence), Francesco Constabile

Producer

“A Chiara,” Jon Coplon, Paolo Carpignano, Ryan Zacarias, Jonas Carpignano (Stayblack Productions) — Rai Cinema

“Ariaferma” (The Inner Cage), Carlo Cresto...

Last month we learned that the upcoming 2022 edition of Directors’ Fortnight (aka Quinzaine) taking place between May 18th to the 27th will be topper Paolo Moretti’s last mandate and shockingly, the Société des Réalisateurs de Films are currently rethinking the name of the section and their own mandate. Highlights from last year’s edition include A Night of Knowing Nothing, Hit the Road, A Chiara, the Camera d’Or winner Murina and The Souvenir Part II. We’re once again expecting a generous supply of European and French films, solid international title discoveries and a repeat focus on films from the United Kingdom.…...

Updated: Netflix reigned supreme at the Film Independent Spirit Awards in the ceremony’s return to the Santa Monica Beach given the pandemic’s ease, with the streamer collecting three wins for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter including Best Feature.

The Endeavor Content produced movie is up for three Oscar noms, including Gyllenhaal for Best Adapted Screenplay, Olivia Colman for Best Actress, and Jessie Buckley for Best Supporting Actress, who was passed over at the Spirits today for Ruth Negga, star of Neflix’s Passing. Gyllenhaal took home both Best Screenplay and Director at the Spirits. Netflix also saw wins for Passing in Best Cinematography and Lee Jung-jae for Best Male Performance in a New Scripted series, that being for the mega-hit, Squid Game.

Shifting from its traditional immediate pre-Oscars perch, the Film Independent Spirit Awards returned today with a live and in-person ceremony near the Santa Monica pier.

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...

The 37th Annual Indie Spirit Awards were at California’s Santa Monica Pier on Sunday, March 6, honoring the best American films made for less than $20 million (foreign films get their own International Feature category). Nominations were selected by film industry insiders and critics, while winners were voted on by the wider Film Independent membership. The organization includes industry professionals but also any movie aficionados who pay for membership starting at $95 per year. So who won? Scroll down for our live blog breaking down all the winners as they’re announced and their significance in this awards season.

SEEOscars 2022: 1st 6 presenters announced are Lady Gaga, Kevin Costner, Zoe Kravitz, Chris Rock, Rosie Perez, Yuh-Jung Youn

The Spirit Awards have often been a preview of the Oscars in recent years as the Oscars have more regularly honored lower-budget films like “Birdman,” “Spotlight,” “Moonlight,” and “Nomadland,” all of which won top honors at both awards.

The 37th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards were handed out Sunday at the Santa Monica Pier, with comedy power couple Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally serving as hosts.

There weren’t too many surprises throughout the night. Troy Kotsur won the first award of the evening, Best Supporting Male Actor for “Coda,” very much as predicted. Taylour Paige took home Best Female Lead Actor, for “Zola,” while Simon Rex, of “Red Rocket,” walked away with Best Male Lead. Ruth Negga won Best Supporting Female Actor for “Passing,” beating out Jessie Buckley from “The Lost Daughter.”

But Maggie Gyllenhaal’s adaptation of the Elena Ferrante book won the three other categories in which it was nominated — Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Feature — and was the night’s biggest victor. Gyllenhaal gave three effusive thank you speeches, spreading her appreciation around to her cast, crew, financiers, publicist, husband and mother. “Women in film!

The stars came out in full glam to celebrate the 2022 Independent Film Spirit Awards.

Co-hosted by married comedy duo Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, the latest awards show leading up to the 97th Academy Awards kicked off on Sunday, March 6, marking a return to pre-covid red carpet proceedings in Santa Monica, Calif.

Nominees Maggie Gyllenhaal, Simon Rex, Taylour Paige, Jessie Buckley, Ruth Negga, and Troy Kotsur stunned on the red carpet, as distributor A24 marked its big night with 13 total nominations for films including “C’mon, C’mon,” “Zola,” “The Humans,” and “Red Rocket.” Notably, four women were featured in the Best Director category this year, including Gyllenhaal for “The Lost Daughter,” Janicza Bravo for “Zola,” Lauren Hadaway for “The Novice,” and Ninja Thyberg for “Pleasure.”

Hosts Mullally and Offerman promised to be a “little rowdy” during the ceremony, while assuring “it’ll mainly be legitimate cinematic discourse,” per a press statement.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are set to take place Sunday at 5 p.m. Et/2 p.m. Pt at the Baker Hanger in Santa Monica. The annual shindig honoring the best in indie film will air live on IFC and stream for subscribers on AMC+.

This year’s show is also available for the first time at select AMC Theatres via the AMC Stubs program. In Canada, it will stream exclusively at hollywoodsuite.ca. On social media, live updates and content will be available via Film Independent (@filmindependent) and IFC (@ifc).

The ceremony is being hosted this year by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally, who will preside over a show that will see winners announced in 16 competitive film categories and five in TV.

Presenters expected today include honorary chair Kristen Stewart, recenlty nominated for an Oscar for Spencer, who will be joined by Dianna Agron, Javier Bardem, Murray Bartlett, Jennifer Beals,...

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.

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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...

Editor’s note: The Deadline Watchlist is a feature spotlighting small-screen specials, events and can’t-miss episodes of ongoing series each week.

1. The Afterparty Season Finale: Through the first seven episodes of the Christopher Miller created and Phil Lord EP’d murder mystery, Tiffany Haddish’s Detective Danner has been trying to find out who killed the annoying pop hack Xavier (Dave Franco) at the high school reunion shindig. With The Afterparty renewed today for a second season, this case looks to be ending, one way or the other. The thing is the Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, Ilana Glazer, Jamie Demetriou co-staring multi-perspective comedy’s “Maggie” eighth episode could see a true blast from the past provide the damning evidence, one way or the other. – Dominic Patten

March 4, AppleTV+

2. Our Flag Means Death Series Premiere: HBO Max reunites former What We Do In The Shadows collaborators...

The 2022 Film Independent Spirit Awards is returning to an in-person ceremony this year, and now the show has its hosts. Comedy power couple Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman will front the ceremony on March 6 at Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport.

The Spirits will stream live at 5 p.m. Pt via AMC+ and air on IFC.

“The dream team. Why have just one host when you can have two?” Film Independent President Josh Welsh said. “We’re delighted to have Megan and Nick onboard to bring the magic back to the beach. I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us.”

Mullally is an Emmy winner for Will & Grace and has appeared on Party Down and voices characters on Bob’s Burgers and The Great North. She also has played on Broadway. Offerman was a regular for the entire run of NBC’s Parks and Recreation...

Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, the section running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, is set to change its leadership after the 2022 edition. It will be Paolo Moretti’s third and last edition as artistic director of the program.

The Srf (Société des réalisateurs de films) which is the governing body of Directors Fortnight, announced the news on Feb. 9 and said that more changes are being planned. “The administration board of the Srf wishes to rethink thoroughly Directors’ Fortnight, its name, its singularity, and its strategic and political role.”

Moretti joined Directors’ Fortnight in 2019 from the Roche-sur-Yon Festival, where he had been artistic director since 2014. His exit comes as a surprise and industry insiders said Moretti was hoping to stay for one more edition in 2023. Due to the pandemic, the 2020 edition had to be scrapped. In 2021, Directors’ Fortnight returned with a lineup which included Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part II,” Clio Barnard...

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. The eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and is subject to change.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Oscars Collective

Visit each category, per the individual awards show from The Oscars Hub

Revisit the prediction archive of the 2021 season The Archive

Link to television awards is atTHE Emmys Hub

2022 Oscars Predictions:

Best Cinematography

Updated: Jan 30, 2022

Awards Prediction Commentary: The ASC Awards recognized Ari Wegner in the theatrical...

We don’t want to overwhelm you, but while you’re catching up with our top 50 films of 2021, more cinematic greatness awaits in 2022. Ahead of our 100 most-anticipated films (all of which have yet to premiere), we’re highlighting 30 titles we’ve enjoyed on the festival circuit this last year (and beyond) that either have confirmed 2022 release dates or await a debut date from its distributor. There’s also a handful of films seeking distribution that we hope will arrive in the next 12 months, as can be seen here.

As an additional note, a number of 2021 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2022, including A Hero (Jan. 7), Cyrano (Jan. 28), The Worst Person in the World (Feb. 4), Mothering Sunday (Feb. 25), Petite Maman, and A Chiara.

The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs (Pushpendra Singh; Jan. 12)

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Entertainment industry heavyweights from France are sharing thoughts on their successes, the challenges they faced in a year overshadowed by Covid, as well as predicting what’s in store for the movie business in 2022.

Some of the country’s milestones in 2021 include the implementation of the E.U.’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Avms) to get global streamers like Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV Plus to start investing 20% of their annual revenues in French content, which broadcasting authorities (CSA) expect to be from €250 million ($282 million) to €300 million ($330 million) on average annually.

The country’s strict windowing rules are also getting a significant revamp which will allow streamers to have an earlier access — possibly 15 months — to newly released movies, compared with the current 36 months. While the indie film biz and the box office have been weakened by the pandemic, the French industry managed to get local pay TV group Canal Plus...