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If you live or travel somewhere in the Mediterranean, you will probably have stumbled upon some African selling refreshments or any kind of thing actually, on the beach. Probably, though, you will not question how this individual has gotten there or why. Iranian Milad Tangshir has come up with a movie that gives an answer to this rarely asked question, through an Italian film that seems to be heavily inspired by De Sica’s “Bicycle Thieves”.

Anywhere Anytime is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Issa is a young Senegalese undocumented immigrant trying to survive as best he can in Turin, Italy. When he’s fired by his previous employer in the open market for fear of being fined by the police, Issa’s friend helps him get started working as a food-delivery rider for the company “Anywhere Anytime.” This new gig gives him a sense of security and freedom,...

Milad Tangshir’s 2024 film Anywhere Anytime draws inspiration from one of the greatest films ever made, Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 classic Bicycle Thieves. Both works tell poignant stories of ordinary people facing economic hardship and the toll it takes. Though borrowing elements of plot and style, Tangshir ensures his own film has substance as a contemporary tale.

Anywhere Anytimecenters on Issa, a Senegalese immigrant working odd jobs in Turin, Italy. After losing his latest role, Issa earns money through food delivery, just as automated gig work has exploded. But this new livelihood depends entirely on his rusty bicycle—one small obstacle away from ruin. When it’s stolen, Issa embarks on a fraught search, his desperation escalating as barriers like racism and bureaucratic uncaring compound ordinary troubles.

Tehran-born director Tangshir brings unique vision through his Iranian and adopted Italian lenses. He sees how global dynamics impact local communities in flux,...

A new Vietnamese horror-comedy film called “Don’t Cry, Butterfly” earned major recognition at the prestigious Venice Critics’ Week film festival. The movie, directed by Duong Dieu Linh in her feature directorial debut, collected both the grand prize and the award for most innovative feature. These honors mark an important achievement for the emerging Vietnamese film industry.

Set in Hanoi, “Don’t Cry, Butterfly” tells the story of a housewife who uses voodoo magic in a bid to regain her cheating husband’s love. However, her efforts inadvertently invite a mysterious presence into their home. Festival juries praised the film for its unique blending of genres and exploration of themes like womanhood, family, and culture. The main jury highlighted how the film creatively mixes elements of comedy, drama and fantasy. They also commended its portrayal of the complex relationship between a mother and daughter.

Director Duong is no stranger to international festivals.

Vietnamese Director Duong Dieu Linh’s horror-comedy “Don’t Cry, Butterfly” is the big winner of the Venice Critics’ Week where it scooped the grand prize and the award for most innovative feature.

Written and directed by Duong Dieu Linh, the Hanoi-set film follows a housewife who uses voodoo to try and get her cheating husband to fall back into love with her. Instead, she invites a mysterious presence into the house.

“Don’t Cry, Butterfly,” which is being sold by Barunson E&a, marks the directorial debut of Duong Dieu Linh. It’s also a companion piece to her award-winning short film series about middle-aged women that includes “A Trip to Heaven,” “Sweet, Salty” and “Mother, Daughter, Dreams.” Just like the shorts, “Butterfly” explores recurring themes of womanhood, family relations and cultural traditions, and is told through a quirky sense of humor and use of magical realism.

The main jury – comprising producer Kerem Ayan,...

Vietnamese feature Don’t Cry, Butterfly and UK title Paul & Paulette Take A Bath were among the winners at the 39th Venice Critics’ Week, announced on Friday, September 6.

Duong Dieu Linh’s Don’t Cry, Butterfly took the main Grand Prize, awarded by a jury of Kerem Ayan, Yasmine Benkiran and Ariane Labed. The jury selected the film “for its singularity and creativity; because it tests new ideas, mixing comedy, social drama and fantasy; for the way it depicts the complexity [of] ‘mother and daughter’.”

Scroll down for the full list of feature winners

Duong’s feature debut sees a woman turn...

“Anywhere Anytime” is, quite overtly and unapologetically, a re-tread of the beloved classic “Bicycle Thieves.” However, in modernizing Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist landmark, Iranian-born director Milad Tangshir imbues his version with both contemporary cultural nuances and a unique perspective as an immigrant to Italy, resulting in a remake that stands apart.

The film follows Issa (Ibrahima Sambou), an undocumented Senegalese immigrant, who works odd jobs in Turin while evading the watchful eye of the police, just in case. When the pressure of evading the law (or paying mounting fines) becomes too great for Issa’s boss, he lets the diligent youngster go from his low-paying flea-market job, leaving him to the mercy of the gig economy.

Over-the-table work is hard to come by, given his legal status, but friend and fellow immigrant Mario (Moussa Dicko Diango) sets him up with a food delivery app and even lends Issa his smartphone.

Anywhere Anytime, pays homage to Vittorio De Sica’s post-war poverty classic, The Bicycle Thief, but updated to the modern delivery economy. Like the stripped down cinéma vérité of that film, which nearly single-handedly created a new aesthetic of storytelling on film, the key art for Milad Tangshir’s film has a spare, almost Banksy street art feel. On a creamy textured background, there are only two tones at play here: black and yellow. The colours of transportation (think taxis and road lines). The lemony outlined text rhymes with the lead character's branded gig economy' backpack, while the lead character himself is a fuzzy, hazy, charcoal drawn profile. The credit block provides some foundation for the bicycle element, with other small bits of festival text and production credits at...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Fandango Film Sales has taken all rights to Italy-based Iranian director Milad Tangshir’s debut feature film “Anywhere Anytime” ahead of its launch from the Venice Critics’ Week and TIFF’s Centrepiece section.

The film riffs off Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist classic “Bicycle Thieves,” albeit in a contemporary setting, telling the tale of Issa, a young Senegalese illegal immigrant living in Turin who – after being fired by an employer for fear of being fined by the police – starts working as a food-delivery rider, a gig that gives him a sense of security and freedom until his bike gets stolen. “Issa then embarks on a desperate odyssey through the streets of the city to find his bike,” according to the provided synopsis.

Tangshir, who has born in 1983 in Tehran, released three albums with the Iranian rock band

Ahoora, before moving to Italy in 2011. Since then, he has produced and directed...

U.S. journalist and filmmaker Michael Premo’s doc “Homegrown,” which follows a group of Donald Trump supporters from the 2020 campaign trail all the way to the attack on the U.S. Capitol, is among titles set to world premiere at the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week.

Brooklyn-born Premo played a significant role in Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Sandy’s hurricane response effort.

The out-of-competition opener of the section dedicated to first works is French director Aude Léa Rapin’s “Planet B,” a cyberpunk sci-fi film starring Adèle Exarchopoulos (“Blue Is the Warmest Color”) about a group of political activists in 2039 France who, pursued by the state, vanish without a trace only to reawaken “trapped in an entirely unfamiliar world,” according to the provided synopsis.

Besides “Homegrown,” the seven-title competition comprises Italian drama “Anywhere Anytime,” directed by Iran-born helmer Milad Tangshir. The film riffs off Vittorio De Sica’s “Bicycle Thieves,...