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The films of the Kurdish Panorama and World Vision sections were introduced at the 11th edition of the Duhok International Film Festival in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

According to the report of Mansour Jahani, an independent and international cinema journalist, Duhok International Film Festival in memoriam of Yılmaz Güney, the 1982 Palme d’Or winner in Cannes, Presided by Amir Ali Mohammed Tahir and artistic management by the Kurdish director, Shawkat Amin Korki, the 11th edition of Duhok International Film Festival is set to be held on 9-16 December, 2024, at Duhok University’s congregation hall and the Duhok Mall Cineplex in Duhok, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Heralding the motto of Sports, this edition of Duhok will showcase 107 films by directors of different geographical backgrounds, in a variety of formats such as feature films, shorts, and documentaries in the two categories of competition and out-of-competition.

Feature Films in World Vision

Bangin Ali,...

The 45th edition of the Cairo Film Festival concluded with the top prize, the Golden Pyramid Award, going to Bogdan Mureșanu’s “The New Year That Never Came.” The black comedy, which previously won the Horizons sidebar at the Venice Film Festival, is set in 1989 during the festive season that immediately precedes the downfall of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu.

The Special Jury Award for best director, the Silver Pyramid, went to Russian director Natalia Nazarova for “Postmarks,” which also picked up a best actor award for Maxim Stoyanov and a special mention for the female lead, Alina Khojevanova. The other male lead award went to Lee Kang-Sheng for his performance in “Blue Sun Palace.”

The International Jury led by Danis Tanović (“No Man’s Land”) also awarded the Bronze Pyramid for best debut or second feature award to Pedro Freire’s “Malu.” The Rio-set film was inspired by his...

Bogdan Mureșanu’s The New Year That Never Came, a tragicomedy set on the brink of revolution in 1989 Romania, has won the Golden Pyramid for best film at the 45th Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff).

The international competition jury was unanimous in selecting the film, which premiered at Venice in September where it won best film in the Horizons strand as well as the Fipresci prize.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Ciff handed out an expanded set of awards at a glitzy closing cermony of this year’s edition, which marked a return for the longest-running film festival...

Walter Salles’s Brazilian Oscar submission I’m Still Here will open the 16th Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival later this month with the filmmaker and star Fernanda Torres in attendance.

I’m Still Here tells the true story of Eunice Jovem, a wife and mother who must reinvent herself and protect her family in the early 1970s when her husband, a former politician, disappears under the military dictatorship.

Torres has earned acclaim for her role and will take part in a post-screening Q&a at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The festival runs October 29 to November 2.

Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega...

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – South America’s largest festival, the Rio International Film Festival, wrapped Sunday, Oct. 13, consolidating its position as the main venue for Brazilian pics’ premieres and an important gathering of filmmakers from around the world.

Following a combination of an unsupportive government, a recession and the pandemic, Rio Fest resurged last year and expanded this year, screening about 270 pics.

“For the first time in years, we were able to invite this year international guests to attend our festival, some 50 filmmakers from different countries”, Rio Fest’s director Ilda Santiago told Variety. “We back on track.

Rio Fest’s Premiere Brasil, which included 90 features and short films, was once again the main showcase of local pics. Two features shared Redentor kudos for fiction film.

Marcelo Caetano’s “Baby,” a co-production between Brazil, France and the Netherlands, is centered on male prostitution in Sao Paulo. Joao Pedro Mariano received...

Two Brazilian films with a successful career on the international festival circuit shared the main prize at the 26th edition of Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival (Festival do Rio) on Sunday night (October 13).

In a tie, Marcelo Caetano’s Baby and Pedro Freire’s Malu have won the best fiction feature award from Premiere Brazil, the main competition section which screened more than 50 local films this year.

In addition to the biggest prize, Baby won in two more categories at the Redentor awards ceremony at the historic Cine Odeon Cclsr in downtown Rio de Janeiro. The queer drama about...

Like so many daughters throughout history, especially the ones that still live at home, Malu Rocha (Yara de Novaes) exists in a state of constant rebellion against her mother. A volatile, weed-loving, Rio-born actress who dreams of turning the family house into a community theater for the kids who live in the local favela, Malu relishes every opportunity to cause a scene in her own living room, even — or especially — if that opportunity comes at the expense of good taste.

When she comes home one day to find her mom, Lili (Juliana Carneiro da Cunha), sharing a cup of tea with a mild-mannered priest, Malu begins lecturing the guest about how Jesus Christ was a communist who “started a religion full of pedophiles.” Lili tries to excuse this behavior by insisting that her daughter is a drug addict, but that isn’t enough to stop the priest from making a hasty exit stage right.

The New Directors/New Films lineup boasts a slew of 2024 festival breakout features.

The annual festival, presented by Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art, will take place from April 3 to April 14 at Film at Lincoln Center. Sundance premiere “A Different Man,” Berlinale best first feature winner “Cu Li Never Cries,” and Locarno Film Festival winner “A Good Place” are among this year’s standout titles.

The 53rd annual festival celebrates rising filmmakers who redefine the state of cinema. The 2024 lineup includes 25 features and 10 short films, including one world premiere. “A Different Man,” directed by Aaron Schimberg and co-starring Berlinale best actor winner Sebastian Stan, will open the festival April 3. Theda Hammel’s “Stress Positions,” which also premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, will close New Directors/New Films April 14. Both features were directed by New York City-based filmmakers.

“It just feels right for us to bookend...

Top Brazilian titles at the Berlin Festival and EFM:

“Betânia,” (Marcelo Botta)

Botta’s feature debut, produced by Salvatore Filmes, associate produced by Ventre Studio, selected for Berlin’s Panorama. Set in stunning but barren Brazilian sand dunes, Betânia, 65, rebuilds amid global collapse. After losing her husband to a salty diet common in electricity-deprived areas, she seeks solace in a new village, cherishing its traditions. Sales: MPM Premium

“The Best Friend,” (Allan Deberton)

By Deberton, director of award-winning “Pacarrete,” co-produced by Ceara-based Deberton Filmes and Telecine. During a quiet beach trip to Canoa Quebrada, Lucas reunites with his old college friend Felipe, whose free-spirited nature sparks feelings of nostalgia. Sales: Deberton Filmes

“Carnival is Over,” (Fernando Coimbra)

A much awaited title from helmer-scribe, now in post. Winner of a Sundance Institute global filmmaking award, the thriller centers on Regina and Valerio who live an opulent lifestyle in Rio as heirs...

Smoking weed and telling off Catholic priests are just two of the ways Malu Rocha (Yara de Novaes) asserts her rebellious spirit. The eccentric, indomitable and idiosyncratic actress at that center of Pedro Freire’s feature debut “Malu” is the embodiment of a highly flammable substance. Her volatile personality, capable of consuming everything in her way, ignites a Rio de Janeiro-set intergenerational drama inspired by the life story of the director’s mother.

Malu doesn’t live in the present. Most of the time, she’s either retelling stories from her youth about getting into trouble with the law during the dictatorship years, or else rambling about a hypothetical future. Malu dreams of turning her home into a cultural center where kids from the nearby favela can come for recreational activities and theater productions. But the property needs as many repairs as do her relationships with both her elderly mother...

Pedro Freire’s feature debut, Malu is a multigenerational family drama about an actress whose relationship with both mother and daughter are strained. Set in Rio de Janeiro, the film depicts the frayed familial fabric that sees the women at once caring for and offending one another. Mauro Pinheiro Jr. served as the film’s cinematographer. Below, he explains how he fended off problems posed by inclement weather and why he favored a sparse setup that allowed the film’s performers maximum freedom. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why […]

The post “It Was Essential to Offer the Cast Complete Freedom of Movement”: Dp Mauro Pinheiro Jr. on Malu first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Pedro Freire’s feature debut, Malu is a multigenerational family drama about an actress whose relationship with both mother and daughter are strained. Set in Rio de Janeiro, the film depicts the frayed familial fabric that sees the women at once caring for and offending one another. Mauro Pinheiro Jr. served as the film’s cinematographer. Below, he explains how he fended off problems posed by inclement weather and why he favored a sparse setup that allowed the film’s performers maximum freedom. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why […]

The post “It Was Essential to Offer the Cast Complete Freedom of Movement”: Dp Mauro Pinheiro Jr. on Malu first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Malu is a mercurial actress living with her conservative mother in a Rio de Janeiro slum while trying to navigate her strained relationship with her own daughter in Pedro Freire’s multigenerational family drama, Malu. The film is the feature debut of director Pedro Freire. Serving as editor is Marilia Moraes, whose credits include the recent Medusa and Petra Costa’s Elena. Below, Moraes dives deep into her process and what the particularities of the film required in the editing room, including the need to construct its rhythms around the performers. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]

The post “It Was Necessary to Make Non-Obvious Cuts”: Editor Marilia Moraes on Malu first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Malu is a mercurial actress living with her conservative mother in a Rio de Janeiro slum while trying to navigate her strained relationship with her own daughter in Pedro Freire’s multigenerational family drama, Malu. The film is the feature debut of director Pedro Freire. Serving as editor is Marilia Moraes, whose credits include the recent Medusa and Petra Costa’s Elena. Below, Moraes dives deep into her process and what the particularities of the film required in the editing room, including the need to construct its rhythms around the performers. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor questionnaire here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]

The post “It Was Necessary to Make Non-Obvious Cuts”: Editor Marilia Moraes on Malu first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.