Filmax has nabbed sales rights to “May I Speak With the Enemy,” a biopic focusing on the Spanish Civil War years of Miguel Gila, who went on to pioneer stand-up in Spain. Gila developed a comedy of the absurd informed by his experiences in the conflict.
“May I Speak With the Enemy” is produced by Pecado Films, a producer on Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” and Arcadia Motion Pictures, behind Oscar-nominated “Robot Dreams” and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts.”
Co-written by Alexis Morante from an original idea by Pecado producer José Alba, “May I Speak” stars newcomer Oscar Lasarte, a comedian and magician, as a young Gila, just 17 when he heads for the trenches, to suffer through battles, hunger and a botched execution by a drunken firing squad.
The experiences inspired one of his most famous sketches, where he phones up the enemy to ask them to stop the war and,...
“May I Speak With the Enemy” is produced by Pecado Films, a producer on Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” and Arcadia Motion Pictures, behind Oscar-nominated “Robot Dreams” and Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts.”
Co-written by Alexis Morante from an original idea by Pecado producer José Alba, “May I Speak” stars newcomer Oscar Lasarte, a comedian and magician, as a young Gila, just 17 when he heads for the trenches, to suffer through battles, hunger and a botched execution by a drunken firing squad.
The experiences inspired one of his most famous sketches, where he phones up the enemy to ask them to stop the war and,...
- 5/15/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The latest film from Spanish auteur Víctor Erice - co-written with Michel Gaztambide - may have been more than three decades in waiting but it is brimful with ideas. While hingeing on a mystery mechanism that eventually proves satisfying in its own right, this is a meditation on both memory and movies as well as ageing and a hankering for the past that is informed by the melancholic knowledge that nostalgia is inevitably rose-tinted. Ideas of memory also inevitably evoke, as a background note, the Franco era and collective/selective forgetfulness, although this is a tale rooted in the personal rather than the political.
The “magic of the movies” is emphasised from the start as what we think will be the beginning of a tale of a man’s hunt for another elderly man’s daughter who is missing in Shanghai turns out to be a fragment of a film within this film.
The “magic of the movies” is emphasised from the start as what we think will be the beginning of a tale of a man’s hunt for another elderly man’s daughter who is missing in Shanghai turns out to be a fragment of a film within this film.
- 4/23/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (Apr 12-14) Total gross to date Week 1. Back To Black (Studiocanal) £2.7m £2.7m 1 2. Kung Fu Panda 4 (Universal) £1.8m £17.3m 3 3. Civil War (Entertainment Film) £1.6m £1.8m 2 4. Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (Warner Bros) £1.2m £11.9m 3 5. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Sony) £787,034 £14.1m 4
Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.26
Studiocanal’s Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black led the UK and Ireland box office this weekend with a £2.7m debut.
Sam Taylor-Johnson’s feature, starring Marisa Abela as the late singer, opened in 719 cinemas – the widest of the year so far – making for a £3,853 location average.
It is...
Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.26
Studiocanal’s Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black led the UK and Ireland box office this weekend with a £2.7m debut.
Sam Taylor-Johnson’s feature, starring Marisa Abela as the late singer, opened in 719 cinemas – the widest of the year so far – making for a £3,853 location average.
It is...
- 4/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
Amy Winehouse biopic Back To Black sets a new widest UK-Ireland opening record for Studiocanal, starting its run in 719 sites.
The film beats the distributor’s previous record – February release Wicked Little Letters – by 33 venues. It is also the widest opening of the year, beating Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two by two sites.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson from a script by Matt Greenhalgh, Back To Black depicts the life of music icon Winehouse, from her early career through her turbulent relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, and her creation of seminal 2006 album Back To Black.
The film stars 2023 Screen Star of Tomorrow Marisa Abela as Winehouse,...
The film beats the distributor’s previous record – February release Wicked Little Letters – by 33 venues. It is also the widest opening of the year, beating Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two by two sites.
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson from a script by Matt Greenhalgh, Back To Black depicts the life of music icon Winehouse, from her early career through her turbulent relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, and her creation of seminal 2006 album Back To Black.
The film stars 2023 Screen Star of Tomorrow Marisa Abela as Winehouse,...
- 4/12/2024
- ScreenDaily
Universal’s “Kung Fu Panda 4” topped the U.K. and Ireland box office with £2.8 million ($3.6 million), according to numbers from Comscore. The film now has a total of £12.7 million after two weekends.
Also in its second weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” collected £1.9 million in second place for a total of £9.1 million.
In third place, in its third weekend, Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” added £1.3 million for a total of £12.1 million. In fourth position, in its sixth weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part II” collected £1.1 million for a total of £36.8 million. Universal’s “Monkey Man,” directed by and starring Dev Patel, debuted in fifth place with £810,253.
There were three more top 10 debuts – Disney’s “The First Omen” in sixth place with £521,573, Entertainment Film Distributors’ “Seize Them!” in eighth with £132,207 and Disney’s “Luca” in 10th with £110,964.
There are three mid-week releases on Wednesday, April 10. To coincide with the Eid festival,...
Also in its second weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” collected £1.9 million in second place for a total of £9.1 million.
In third place, in its third weekend, Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” added £1.3 million for a total of £12.1 million. In fourth position, in its sixth weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part II” collected £1.1 million for a total of £36.8 million. Universal’s “Monkey Man,” directed by and starring Dev Patel, debuted in fifth place with £810,253.
There were three more top 10 debuts – Disney’s “The First Omen” in sixth place with £521,573, Entertainment Film Distributors’ “Seize Them!” in eighth with £132,207 and Disney’s “Luca” in 10th with £110,964.
There are three mid-week releases on Wednesday, April 10. To coincide with the Eid festival,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Harpooned by Thierry Frémaux and unceremoniously relegated to the Cannes Premiere section, the critically acclaimed Close Your Eyes will see the light of day in the U.S. After landing the #2 film on that same list in Lisandro Alonso’s Eureka, The Film Movement folks continue their shopping of Spanish-language cinema with Víctor Erice’s fourth solo feature (and perhaps last outing). This was a comeback film for the The Spirit of the Beehive – his first time behind the camera in three decades.…...
- 4/2/2024
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
‘I have not been living in the Himalayas!’ The return of Spirit of the Beehive director Víctor Erice
It is seen as one of the greatest films ever, with the most hypnotic child performance in history. So what has Víctor Erice been doing in the half century since Beehive? As his new film Close Your Eyes hits screens, the Spanish legend reveals all
In 1972, when Ana Torrent was six years old, a man came to her school and asked her to be in his film. “He had a beard,” she recalls now, from her home in Madrid. “And I told him I didn’t like men with beards.” The director said his film was about Frankenstein’s monster and asked if she was familiar with that character. “I replied, ‘I’ve heard about him but I haven’t yet been introduced.’ That’s when he thought, ‘She’s the one.’”
The director was Víctor Erice and the film was The Spirit of the Beehive. Made at the end...
In 1972, when Ana Torrent was six years old, a man came to her school and asked her to be in his film. “He had a beard,” she recalls now, from her home in Madrid. “And I told him I didn’t like men with beards.” The director said his film was about Frankenstein’s monster and asked if she was familiar with that character. “I replied, ‘I’ve heard about him but I haven’t yet been introduced.’ That’s when he thought, ‘She’s the one.’”
The director was Víctor Erice and the film was The Spirit of the Beehive. Made at the end...
- 4/1/2024
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
The question of who will continue the legacy of the 4Ks and particularly their successes on the international movie scene is one of the most dominant in the discussions among critics and scholars of Japanese cinema. Following the 2016 Un Certain Regard Jury Prize for “Harmonium”, one of the names that provides an answer to the aforementioned question is that of Koji Fukada. In the following text, we will take a closer and more thorough look at all the elements that make the 1980 born filmmaker a worthy successor of the aforementioned masters, starting from the very beginning of his life.
Born in Tokyo in Tokyo on January 5, 1980, Koji Fukada had a father who was a film buff, which resulted in him growing up in an environment surrounded with hundreds of VHS tapes, and subsequently, to become a cineaste, just like his old man. He watched the movies that inspired him to...
Born in Tokyo in Tokyo on January 5, 1980, Koji Fukada had a father who was a film buff, which resulted in him growing up in an environment surrounded with hundreds of VHS tapes, and subsequently, to become a cineaste, just like his old man. He watched the movies that inspired him to...
- 3/30/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres.
Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.
The closing film is the Asian premiere of “All the Long Nights,” directed by Miyake Sho and starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which also premiered in Berlin. Variety’s review of “Nights” called it “gently luminous.”
Chinese-language films selected for the Firebird competition include: “Borrowed Time,” “Brief History of a Family,” “Carefree Days,” Fresh off Markham,” “A Journey in Spring,” “Snow in Midsummer,” “Some Rain Must Fall” and “A Song Sung Blue.”
Foreign films for the Firebird competition’s other section include: “Arcadia,” “Arni,” “Ivo,” “Pepe,” “Sons,” “Sujo,” “The Tenants” and “Who Do I Belong to.
Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.
The closing film is the Asian premiere of “All the Long Nights,” directed by Miyake Sho and starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which also premiered in Berlin. Variety’s review of “Nights” called it “gently luminous.”
Chinese-language films selected for the Firebird competition include: “Borrowed Time,” “Brief History of a Family,” “Carefree Days,” Fresh off Markham,” “A Journey in Spring,” “Snow in Midsummer,” “Some Rain Must Fall” and “A Song Sung Blue.”
Foreign films for the Firebird competition’s other section include: “Arcadia,” “Arni,” “Ivo,” “Pepe,” “Sons,” “Sujo,” “The Tenants” and “Who Do I Belong to.
- 3/8/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.
Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.
Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.
Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...
Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.
Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.
Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...
- 3/8/2024
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Ray Yeung’s All Shall Be Well has been set as the opening film of the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival, which has unveiled its full lineup today.
It will mark the Asian premiere of the Hong Kong feature, which debuted in the Panorama strand of the Berlinale last month and won the Teddy Award. Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, it centres on a lesbian couple in their twilight years. After one of them dies, the other struggles to retain both her dignity and the home they shared for more than 30 years.
Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights,...
It will mark the Asian premiere of the Hong Kong feature, which debuted in the Panorama strand of the Berlinale last month and won the Teddy Award. Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, it centres on a lesbian couple in their twilight years. After one of them dies, the other struggles to retain both her dignity and the home they shared for more than 30 years.
Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights,...
- 3/8/2024
- ScreenDaily
Prior to making headlines the next day after a short-lived health scare that required a brief stay in hospital, Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins arrived at Dublin’s Complex arts center last Wednesday to present the Dublin film festival’s highest honor to Steve McQueen. Introduced in 2007 and named the Volta Award, after the first commercial cinema set up in Dublin in 1909 by writer James Joyce, its previous recipients include Daniel Day Lewis, Claudia Cardinale and Al Pacino. The famously serious director was in high spirits, enthusing that “festivals are about passion, a passion for film.” “There’s always a buzz, isn’t there?” he continued. “[As you] go to the next picture, the next film, you tend to give people tips and say, ‘Oh, you’ve got to see this, you’ve got to see that…’”
McQueen was in and out of the festival, flying home the same night, fueling...
McQueen was in and out of the festival, flying home the same night, fueling...
- 3/4/2024
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
The world premere of Irish director Ross Killeen’s Don’t Forget To Remember scooped the audience award as the 22nd Dublin International Film Festival (Diff) drew to a close on Saturday (March 2).
The Irish documentary is a collaboration with artist Asbestos, and explores the lived experience of Alzheimer’s, and the fragility and fortitude of memory.
Scroll down for the full list of Diff winners
“Although it’s a very personal film, Don’t Forget To Remember holds universal themes of love and loss, but most importantly, it’s about how we remember and shows how fragile those memories can be,...
The Irish documentary is a collaboration with artist Asbestos, and explores the lived experience of Alzheimer’s, and the fragility and fortitude of memory.
Scroll down for the full list of Diff winners
“Although it’s a very personal film, Don’t Forget To Remember holds universal themes of love and loss, but most importantly, it’s about how we remember and shows how fragile those memories can be,...
- 3/4/2024
- ScreenDaily
Víctor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers” and Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” dominated this year’s 21st Ics Awards, winning the top prizes.
“Close Your Eyes,” which picked up best picture and best director, revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a Spanish actor during the filming of a movie. Although his body is never found, the police concludes that he has suffered an accident on the edge of a cliff. Many years later, the cold case resurfaces.
Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won three awards, including best actress for Sandra Hüller, original screenplay for Triet and Arthur Harari, and editing for Laurent Sénéchal. The movie is nominated for five Oscars, seven BAFTA’s and 11 Cesar Awards.
The romantic fantasy “All of Us Strangers,” meanwhile, won four prizes, including best actor for Andrew Scott, supporting actor for Jamie Bell, adapted screenplay for Haigh,...
“Close Your Eyes,” which picked up best picture and best director, revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a Spanish actor during the filming of a movie. Although his body is never found, the police concludes that he has suffered an accident on the edge of a cliff. Many years later, the cold case resurfaces.
Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” won three awards, including best actress for Sandra Hüller, original screenplay for Triet and Arthur Harari, and editing for Laurent Sénéchal. The movie is nominated for five Oscars, seven BAFTA’s and 11 Cesar Awards.
The romantic fantasy “All of Us Strangers,” meanwhile, won four prizes, including best actor for Andrew Scott, supporting actor for Jamie Bell, adapted screenplay for Haigh,...
- 2/14/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Ja Bayona’s Society Of The Snow was the big winner at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday night (February 10), scooping 12 prizes including best film and director to become the third-most garlanded film in Goya history.
Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall, was named best European film, and Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams won the prizes for best adapted screenplay and feature animation.
20,000 Species Of Bees, the feature debut of Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, received three Goyas for best new director and original screenplay for Solaguren, and best supporting actress for Ane Gabarain. The 15 nominations for Bees were the...
Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall, was named best European film, and Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams won the prizes for best adapted screenplay and feature animation.
20,000 Species Of Bees, the feature debut of Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, received three Goyas for best new director and original screenplay for Solaguren, and best supporting actress for Ane Gabarain. The 15 nominations for Bees were the...
- 2/11/2024
- ScreenDaily
Netflix Original “The Society of the Snow” won best picture and director for J.A. Bayona at Saturday night’s 38th Spanish Academy Goya Awards.
Those plaudits were two of a total 12 prizes, the third-highest kudos count for any title in the Goyas’ near 40-year history.
The lineup of best picture nominees was, however, a reminder in itself of the high quality and diversity of Spain’s current film production output. These took in Estibaliz’s Urresola Berlin triple winner “20,000 Species of Bees,” David Trueba’s real-life tender love story “Jokes & Cigarettes,” Isabel Coixet’s probing “Un Amor” and Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” an “aching ode to film, time and memory,” Variety wrote in its review.
Even after Bayona took best director there was still genuine suspense whether he would also win best picture, after best adapted screenplay went to “Robot Dreams” and “Jokes & Cigarettes” took best actor for David Verdaguer.
Those plaudits were two of a total 12 prizes, the third-highest kudos count for any title in the Goyas’ near 40-year history.
The lineup of best picture nominees was, however, a reminder in itself of the high quality and diversity of Spain’s current film production output. These took in Estibaliz’s Urresola Berlin triple winner “20,000 Species of Bees,” David Trueba’s real-life tender love story “Jokes & Cigarettes,” Isabel Coixet’s probing “Un Amor” and Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” an “aching ode to film, time and memory,” Variety wrote in its review.
Even after Bayona took best director there was still genuine suspense whether he would also win best picture, after best adapted screenplay went to “Robot Dreams” and “Jokes & Cigarettes” took best actor for David Verdaguer.
- 2/11/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The National Society of Film Critics’ 58th annual awards has honored Celine Song’s directorial debut Past Lives for its top prize, beating out runners-up Oppenheimer and The Zone of Interest for Best Picture.
Critics convened Saturday in New York and Los Angeles to vote on the year’s best movies and performances.
Andrew Scott won Best Actor for his performance in All of Us Strangers, while the Best Actress was Sandra Hüller for her roles in both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest.
Charles Melton took home Best Supporting Actor for May December, with Ryan Gosling and Robert Downey Jr. named runners-up.
The complete awards list is below.
Best Picture: “Past Lives”
Runners-up:
“The Zone of Interest”
“Oppenheimer”
Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
Runners-up:
Todd Haynes, “May December”
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
Best Film Not in the English Language: “Fallen Leaves”
Runners-up:
“The Zone of Interest...
Critics convened Saturday in New York and Los Angeles to vote on the year’s best movies and performances.
Andrew Scott won Best Actor for his performance in All of Us Strangers, while the Best Actress was Sandra Hüller for her roles in both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest.
Charles Melton took home Best Supporting Actor for May December, with Ryan Gosling and Robert Downey Jr. named runners-up.
The complete awards list is below.
Best Picture: “Past Lives”
Runners-up:
“The Zone of Interest”
“Oppenheimer”
Best Director: Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest”
Runners-up:
Todd Haynes, “May December”
Christopher Nolan, “Oppenheimer”
Best Film Not in the English Language: “Fallen Leaves”
Runners-up:
“The Zone of Interest...
- 1/6/2024
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
The National Society of Film Critics gave out on its annual film awards on Saturday, with critics convening in New York and Los Angeles to vote on the years best movies and performances.
The 58th annual awards honored a diverse mix of small independent films and major studio projects. Celine Song’s directorial debut “Past Lives” won the top prize, beating out heavyweight runners-up “Oppenheimer” and “The Zone of Interest” for the honor of Best Picture.
Andrew Scott won Best Actor for his performance in “All of Us Strangers,” while the Best Actress prize was bestowed upon Sandra Hüller for her roles in both “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest.” In one of the season’s most stacked categories, Charles Melton took home Best Supporting Actor for “May December,” though Oscar favorites Ryan Gosling and Robert Downey Jr. were both named runners-up.
Even the late Jean-Luc Godard...
The 58th annual awards honored a diverse mix of small independent films and major studio projects. Celine Song’s directorial debut “Past Lives” won the top prize, beating out heavyweight runners-up “Oppenheimer” and “The Zone of Interest” for the honor of Best Picture.
Andrew Scott won Best Actor for his performance in “All of Us Strangers,” while the Best Actress prize was bestowed upon Sandra Hüller for her roles in both “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest.” In one of the season’s most stacked categories, Charles Melton took home Best Supporting Actor for “May December,” though Oscar favorites Ryan Gosling and Robert Downey Jr. were both named runners-up.
Even the late Jean-Luc Godard...
- 1/6/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The National Society of Film Critics has announced its awardees for 2023’s best achievements in film. This year marks the 58th annual awards, which are voted upon by the prestigious organization’s slate of film critics, including Variety‘s chief film critics Owen Gleiberman and Peter Debruge.
Celine Song’s “Past Lives” — the romantic drama about childhood sweethearts, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), who reunite years later — took home the coveted award for best picture. “Past Lives” and Song were also nominated in the category for best screenplay.
Andrew Scott scored the best actor prize for his performance in “All of Us Strangers,” while Charles Melton was named best supporting actor for “May December.”
In the best actress race, the Nsfc awarded Sandra Hüller the top prize for her performances in “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest.” Da’Vine Joy Randolph took home best supporting...
Celine Song’s “Past Lives” — the romantic drama about childhood sweethearts, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), who reunite years later — took home the coveted award for best picture. “Past Lives” and Song were also nominated in the category for best screenplay.
Andrew Scott scored the best actor prize for his performance in “All of Us Strangers,” while Charles Melton was named best supporting actor for “May December.”
In the best actress race, the Nsfc awarded Sandra Hüller the top prize for her performances in “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest.” Da’Vine Joy Randolph took home best supporting...
- 1/6/2024
- by Valerie Wu
- Variety Film + TV
No reasonably intelligent person imagines an artist’s statement about the horrors in Gaza would, in fact, end those horrors, but there are always limits to what one can take and hopes for what one could do. It might even be said that, as observers of the world and human behavior, filmmakers are especially inclined to recoil. When I interviewed Pedro Costa last month he spoke, unprompted, of a situation that’s only grown worse: “It’s very clear that we cannot stand images anymore. I can’t. I can’t. The images of the world for me [Exhales] I can’t. I turn my eyes, and I’m sure you do the same. It’s unbearable.” When I spoke with Anthony Dod Mantle a couple of weeks later it, again, emerged––vis-a-vis The Zone of Interest, whose own cinematographer alluded to it the next day. It’s difficult being a person in the world,...
- 12/29/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.
Something you often hear cinephiles proclaim is that “Every year is a good year in film.” Well, that’s obviously true––if one pays attention and knows where to look––but then there are also years that are simply better. To me, 2023 has turned out to be one of those.
It’s a year where the top festivals like Cannes, Berlin, and Venice all overperformed with stellar lineups. Geographically speaking, American/UK cinema can be proud of its output while productions from the rest of the world, especially France, Japan, Latin America, didn’t disappoint either. It’s also a year where not only indie/arthouse films delivered, but (some) blockbusters dared to get smart too. Even the presumed Oscar contenders this season include legitimate masterpieces in the mix.
Something you often hear cinephiles proclaim is that “Every year is a good year in film.” Well, that’s obviously true––if one pays attention and knows where to look––but then there are also years that are simply better. To me, 2023 has turned out to be one of those.
It’s a year where the top festivals like Cannes, Berlin, and Venice all overperformed with stellar lineups. Geographically speaking, American/UK cinema can be proud of its output while productions from the rest of the world, especially France, Japan, Latin America, didn’t disappoint either. It’s also a year where not only indie/arthouse films delivered, but (some) blockbusters dared to get smart too. Even the presumed Oscar contenders this season include legitimate masterpieces in the mix.
- 12/29/2023
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.
The greatest year in cinema since the monumental offerings of 2007––a transformative year that set the seeds for this very site to come into existence––2023 offered a resounding affirmative that indeed the medium is alive and well: auteurs flexing what they do best, newcomers providing a hopeful voice for the future of filmmaking, along with a plethora of worthwhile offers. Along with my personal favorites when it came to U.S. releases, two films also premiered that would’ve topped this list had they come out in 2023: Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast and Víctor Erice’s still-shockingly-undistributed Close Your Eyes.
While they didn’t make the top 15 cut below, I must make mention for the most essential, one-and-done viewing of the year with De Humani Corporis...
The greatest year in cinema since the monumental offerings of 2007––a transformative year that set the seeds for this very site to come into existence––2023 offered a resounding affirmative that indeed the medium is alive and well: auteurs flexing what they do best, newcomers providing a hopeful voice for the future of filmmaking, along with a plethora of worthwhile offers. Along with my personal favorites when it came to U.S. releases, two films also premiered that would’ve topped this list had they come out in 2023: Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast and Víctor Erice’s still-shockingly-undistributed Close Your Eyes.
While they didn’t make the top 15 cut below, I must make mention for the most essential, one-and-done viewing of the year with De Humani Corporis...
- 12/25/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
What do some of the directors of the best movies of 2023 think about the year in cinema? Films in Frame polled Christian Petzold, Justine Triet, Pedro Costa, Victor Erice, Aki Kaurismäki, Bas Devos, Pham Thien An, Joanna Arnow, Radu Jude, Pedro Costa, Rodrigo Moreno, Lisandro Alonso, and more––and we’ll spotlight one of the best lists, from the Afire director, here.
While he admits he wasn’t able to check out the latest from Albert Serra, Jonathan Glazer, Radu Jude, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kelly Reichardt, Aki Kaurismäki, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, he did find time for this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Mexico’s 2023 Oscar entry, Ireland’s 2022 Oscar entry, and of course, the latest from one of his favorite actors on the planet, Gerard Butler.
Check out Petzold’s picks below and visit Films in Frame to see more lists.
The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairead)
Anatomy of a Fall...
While he admits he wasn’t able to check out the latest from Albert Serra, Jonathan Glazer, Radu Jude, Yorgos Lanthimos, Kelly Reichardt, Aki Kaurismäki, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, he did find time for this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Mexico’s 2023 Oscar entry, Ireland’s 2022 Oscar entry, and of course, the latest from one of his favorite actors on the planet, Gerard Butler.
Check out Petzold’s picks below and visit Films in Frame to see more lists.
The Quiet Girl (Colm Bairead)
Anatomy of a Fall...
- 12/20/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
After highlighting the 50 best films you may have missed this year and our overall top 50 films of 2023, today we put our spotlight on those that need a home in the first place: movies we loved on the festival circuit––from Berlinale, Sundance, Cannes, TIFF, NYFF, Rotterdam, and beyond—still seeking U.S. distribution.
We hope that highlighting these titles spurs some distributor interest and a forthcoming release; we’ll be sharing any updates in this regard on Twitter, so make sure to follow us there. As we move into 2024, one can also track our upcoming festival coverage here.
Borrowed Time (Choy Ji)
Everything in Mak Yuen-Ting’s life is about to change. She will soon join her fiancé’s well-to-do family. She wants her newly and unhappily retired mother, Chau-Kuen, to sell her apartment and move to the Luogang suburbs. Yuen-Ting (played by Lin Dongping) has to figure out how...
We hope that highlighting these titles spurs some distributor interest and a forthcoming release; we’ll be sharing any updates in this regard on Twitter, so make sure to follow us there. As we move into 2024, one can also track our upcoming festival coverage here.
Borrowed Time (Choy Ji)
Everything in Mak Yuen-Ting’s life is about to change. She will soon join her fiancé’s well-to-do family. She wants her newly and unhappily retired mother, Chau-Kuen, to sell her apartment and move to the Luogang suburbs. Yuen-Ting (played by Lin Dongping) has to figure out how...
- 12/18/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
As various critics groups and awards bodies dole out their top films of the year, it can be hard to parse which ones are actually worth paying attention to. Following our top 50 films of 2023, one such list has arrived today with Film Comment’s annual end-of-year survey. Revealed at a special live talk last night, Todd Haynes’s May December, Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up, and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon grabbed the top three spots, while Eduardo Williams’s The Human Surge 3, Lisandro Alonso’s Eureka, and Víctor Erice’s Close Your Eyes topped the best undistributed films.
“It speaks to the ongoing vitality of cinema as an art form, as well as the discernment of our critics in the year of ‘Barbenheimer,’ that this year’s top films represent some of the most boundary-pushing, complex movies of recent times—three new classics from contemporary masters,...
“It speaks to the ongoing vitality of cinema as an art form, as well as the discernment of our critics in the year of ‘Barbenheimer,’ that this year’s top films represent some of the most boundary-pushing, complex movies of recent times—three new classics from contemporary masters,...
- 12/15/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Updated: Just hours after this article was first posted, MGM+ announced it had acquired Alex Gibney’s “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” and will air as a two-part docuseries on March 17 and March 24, 2024 at 9 p.m. Edt/Pdt.
It’s not too late to pick up a thoughtful gift for the people in your life, and that includes film distributors. While much of Hollywood is shutting down in advance of the holidays, plenty of cinema-loving elves are still toiling away in hopes of seeing their (very deserving) films land underneath the metaphorical tree.
And there are plenty of gifts to share, because even as the distribution landscape continues to shift and shape with startling regularity, some of the year’s most interesting and unique cinematic efforts are still looking for a home. In fact, we’ve got 18 of them wrapped and ready to go.
This holiday season,...
It’s not too late to pick up a thoughtful gift for the people in your life, and that includes film distributors. While much of Hollywood is shutting down in advance of the holidays, plenty of cinema-loving elves are still toiling away in hopes of seeing their (very deserving) films land underneath the metaphorical tree.
And there are plenty of gifts to share, because even as the distribution landscape continues to shift and shape with startling regularity, some of the year’s most interesting and unique cinematic efforts are still looking for a home. In fact, we’ve got 18 of them wrapped and ready to go.
This holiday season,...
- 12/6/2023
- by Kate Erbland and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
“20.000 especies de abejas”, “La sociedad de la nieve”, “Saben Aquell” y “Cerrar los Ojos” encabezan las nominaciones a los premios Goya 2024.
El pasado jueves se anunciaron los nominados de la próxima edición de los prestigiosos Premios Goya, el destacado evento anual que celebra lo mejor del cine español. La gala de los Goya 2024 se celebrará el 10 de febrero en Valladolid, con la actriz y cantante Ana Belén y por Los Javis como presentadores. Aquí os dejamos con la lista de los nominados de esta edición:
Mejor PELÍCULA
20.000 especies de abejas
Cerrar los ojos
La sociedad de la nieve
Saben aquell
Un amor
Mejor DIRECCIÓN
Víctor Erice, Cerrar los ojos
Elena Martín, Creatura
J.A. Bayona, La sociedad de la nieve
David Trueba, Saben aquell
Isabel Coixet, Un amor
Mejor PELÍCULA Europea
Aftersun (Reino Unido)
Anatomía de una caída (Francia)
Las ocho montañas (Italia)
Safe Place (Croacia)
Sala de profesores...
El pasado jueves se anunciaron los nominados de la próxima edición de los prestigiosos Premios Goya, el destacado evento anual que celebra lo mejor del cine español. La gala de los Goya 2024 se celebrará el 10 de febrero en Valladolid, con la actriz y cantante Ana Belén y por Los Javis como presentadores. Aquí os dejamos con la lista de los nominados de esta edición:
Mejor PELÍCULA
20.000 especies de abejas
Cerrar los ojos
La sociedad de la nieve
Saben aquell
Un amor
Mejor DIRECCIÓN
Víctor Erice, Cerrar los ojos
Elena Martín, Creatura
J.A. Bayona, La sociedad de la nieve
David Trueba, Saben aquell
Isabel Coixet, Un amor
Mejor PELÍCULA Europea
Aftersun (Reino Unido)
Anatomía de una caída (Francia)
Las ocho montañas (Italia)
Safe Place (Croacia)
Sala de profesores...
- 12/2/2023
- by Marta Medina
- mundoCine
As 2023 draws to a close and the Oscar race begins to heat up, film publications around the world continue to roll out their lists of the year’s top films. IndieWire recently named Celine Song’s “Past Lives” the best film of the year, topping a list that also included “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Asteroid City,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Now Cahiers du Cinema has gotten in on the action, selecting Laura Citarella’s “Trenque Lauquen” as its top pick.
The legendary French film publication, which served as an intellectual hub for the French New Wave after launching the careers of Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, and famously named “Twin Peaks: The Return” the best film of the 2010s, revealed its top 10 films of 2023 on Friday, December 1. The list only includes movies that opened theatrically in France in 2023, so many films that had American theatrical runs or festival premieres in past years made the cut.
The legendary French film publication, which served as an intellectual hub for the French New Wave after launching the careers of Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, and famously named “Twin Peaks: The Return” the best film of the 2010s, revealed its top 10 films of 2023 on Friday, December 1. The list only includes movies that opened theatrically in France in 2023, so many films that had American theatrical runs or festival premieres in past years made the cut.
- 12/1/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Established in the 1950s by André Bazin, Joseph-Marie Lo Duca, and Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, France’s Cahiers du cinéma has been a bastion for international film criticism for decades, even amidst recent changes. They’ve now unveiled their predictably stellar top 10 films of 2023 list.
Topping the list is Laura Citeralla’s four-hour epic Trenque Lauquen, while Víctor Erice’s long-awaited return Close Your Eyes and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall round out the top three. The list also features Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves, Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer, and Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World.
Cyril Schäublin’s overlooked drama Unrest also got a mention while Pierre Creton’s Un prince and Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up tied for tenth place. They also have room for one major surprise, this year being Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche’s Berlinale...
Topping the list is Laura Citeralla’s four-hour epic Trenque Lauquen, while Víctor Erice’s long-awaited return Close Your Eyes and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall round out the top three. The list also features Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves, Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer, and Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World.
Cyril Schäublin’s overlooked drama Unrest also got a mention while Pierre Creton’s Un prince and Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up tied for tenth place. They also have room for one major surprise, this year being Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche’s Berlinale...
- 12/1/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Society Of The Snow has garnered 13 nominations, followed by Close Your Eyes and Jokes & Cigarettes with 11.
Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species Of Bees leads the nominations for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, which will be presented on February 10, 2024.
20,000 Species Of Bees premiered in competition at Berlin, going on to win the Silver Bear for best performance for Sofía Otero, playing an eight-year-old girl who spends a summer working in the Basque Country’s beehives while exploring her identity.
The film scored 15 nominations, including best film, best director and four nods in the acting categories.
Ja Bayona’s...
Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species Of Bees leads the nominations for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, which will be presented on February 10, 2024.
20,000 Species Of Bees premiered in competition at Berlin, going on to win the Silver Bear for best performance for Sofía Otero, playing an eight-year-old girl who spends a summer working in the Basque Country’s beehives while exploring her identity.
The film scored 15 nominations, including best film, best director and four nods in the acting categories.
Ja Bayona’s...
- 11/30/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
20,000 Species Of Bees, the debut film by Basque filmmaker Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, and Society Of The Snow, J. A. Bayona’s survival drama for Netflix, have dominated the nominations at this year’s Goya Film Awards.
The nominations for Spain’s premiere film awards event were released this morning. 20,000 species of bees clocked 15 noms, including best film, screenplay, and best new director. Bayona’s Society Of The Snow clocked 13 noms, also landing in best film. Veteran Spanish filmmaker Víctor Erice trails behind with 11 nominations for his comeback feature Close Your Eyes, starring Ana Torrent.
20,000 Species Of Bees debuted at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where lead actor Sofía Otero took the silver bear for best leading performance. The film is set during a summer in a village house linked to beekeeping and follows an eight-year-old and her mother experiencing revelations that will change their lives forever.
Bayona...
The nominations for Spain’s premiere film awards event were released this morning. 20,000 species of bees clocked 15 noms, including best film, screenplay, and best new director. Bayona’s Society Of The Snow clocked 13 noms, also landing in best film. Veteran Spanish filmmaker Víctor Erice trails behind with 11 nominations for his comeback feature Close Your Eyes, starring Ana Torrent.
20,000 Species Of Bees debuted at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where lead actor Sofía Otero took the silver bear for best leading performance. The film is set during a summer in a village house linked to beekeeping and follows an eight-year-old and her mother experiencing revelations that will change their lives forever.
Bayona...
- 11/30/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Spanish director Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s debut feature, 20,000 Species of Bees, a touching and tender drama about an 8-year-old transgender child who begins to transition, is the front-runner for the 2024 Goya Awards, the Spanish film academy’s equivalent to the Oscars.
The film, which won its young star Sofía Otero the Silver Bear for best performance in Berlin in February, picked up 15 nominations for the 2024 Goyas, including for best film and best director. Otero was oddly snubbed in the acting categories, though co-stars Ane Gabarain and Itziar Lazkano were nominated in the best supporting actress category, Martxelo Rubio received a best supporting actor nom, and Patricia López Arnaiz a Goya nomination for best actress.
In its review of the film, The Hollywood Reporter called 20,000 Species of Bees a “moving chronicle of an 8-year-old’s gradual transitioning, and the effect it has on a family over their summer vacation...
The film, which won its young star Sofía Otero the Silver Bear for best performance in Berlin in February, picked up 15 nominations for the 2024 Goyas, including for best film and best director. Otero was oddly snubbed in the acting categories, though co-stars Ane Gabarain and Itziar Lazkano were nominated in the best supporting actress category, Martxelo Rubio received a best supporting actor nom, and Patricia López Arnaiz a Goya nomination for best actress.
In its review of the film, The Hollywood Reporter called 20,000 Species of Bees a “moving chronicle of an 8-year-old’s gradual transitioning, and the effect it has on a family over their summer vacation...
- 11/30/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes” won best film at the 17th edition of Leffest Lisboa Film Festival, which announced awards Saturday night.
Marking Erice’s first feature film since his 1992 docudrama “The Quince Tree Sun” and garnering almost universal positive reviews – Variety called it “an aching ode to film, time and memory” – following its world premiere at Cannes, “Close Your Eyes” has screened at Toronto, Busan, BFI London and New York.
During Leffest, in a session moderated by Paulo Branco, 83-year old Erice took part in a conversation with preeminent 64-year old Portuguese helmer, Pedro Costa, whose short “The Daughters of Fire,” was a Cannes Special Screening and also had its Portuguese premiere at the fest.
Erice remarked during the event, one fest highlight, that both he and Costa are working in the shadow of two great filmmakers – “Don Luis Buñuel” and “Don Manoel de Oliveira” – and he added...
Marking Erice’s first feature film since his 1992 docudrama “The Quince Tree Sun” and garnering almost universal positive reviews – Variety called it “an aching ode to film, time and memory” – following its world premiere at Cannes, “Close Your Eyes” has screened at Toronto, Busan, BFI London and New York.
During Leffest, in a session moderated by Paulo Branco, 83-year old Erice took part in a conversation with preeminent 64-year old Portuguese helmer, Pedro Costa, whose short “The Daughters of Fire,” was a Cannes Special Screening and also had its Portuguese premiere at the fest.
Erice remarked during the event, one fest highlight, that both he and Costa are working in the shadow of two great filmmakers – “Don Luis Buñuel” and “Don Manoel de Oliveira” – and he added...
- 11/19/2023
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
The 49th edition of Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival, Spain’s largest confab for films from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, will honor Mexican star Cecilia Suárez with its City of Huelva Award.
With leading roles in Netflix’s “The House of Flowers” and HBO Latin America’s “Capadocia,” Suárez has also be seen in ABC’s drama “The Promised Land” and has worked on films by as Tommy Lee Jones (“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”), James L. Brooks (“Spanglish”), Ernesto Contreras (“Párpados azules”), Antonio Serrano and Fernando Colomo (“Cuidado con lo que deseas”).
The new edition of Huelva runs Nov. 10-18.
Andalusia’s oldest film festival, Huelva will also grant a Light Award to Spanish actress Natalia de Molina, a two-time Goya winner, delivering acclaimed performance in films such as David Trueba’s “Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed” and Juan Miguel del Castillo’s “Food and Shelter.”
Another...
With leading roles in Netflix’s “The House of Flowers” and HBO Latin America’s “Capadocia,” Suárez has also be seen in ABC’s drama “The Promised Land” and has worked on films by as Tommy Lee Jones (“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”), James L. Brooks (“Spanglish”), Ernesto Contreras (“Párpados azules”), Antonio Serrano and Fernando Colomo (“Cuidado con lo que deseas”).
The new edition of Huelva runs Nov. 10-18.
Andalusia’s oldest film festival, Huelva will also grant a Light Award to Spanish actress Natalia de Molina, a two-time Goya winner, delivering acclaimed performance in films such as David Trueba’s “Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed” and Juan Miguel del Castillo’s “Food and Shelter.”
Another...
- 11/10/2023
- by Emiliano De Pablos
- Variety Film + TV
Updated: While the fall festival season often plays home to the kind of films we’ve been buzzing about for quite some time (here are 36 of those very titles), the kind of features long set for “awards season potential” before they roll so much as a trailer, the sort of heavy-hitters we’re eager to keep chatting about for months and months (here are 18 in particular that we loved), there are always a wide variety of gems that arrive on the circuit still looking for homes (read: a way to reach the wider movie-going public).
This year’s season is no exception, and while the Hollywood strikes have thrown more than a few wrenches into business-as-usual, the rise of interim agreements and the need for many non-amptp distributors to bulk up their slates mean that sales should still be cooking. While Netflix has already done the bulk of this season’s buying,...
This year’s season is no exception, and while the Hollywood strikes have thrown more than a few wrenches into business-as-usual, the rise of interim agreements and the need for many non-amptp distributors to bulk up their slates mean that sales should still be cooking. While Netflix has already done the bulk of this season’s buying,...
- 10/18/2023
- by Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich, Anne Thompson and Marcus Jones
- Indiewire
A pack of wolves howls at a massive iPhone that’s propped up in the snow like a monolith, an image from George Méliès “A Trip to the Moon” frozen on its screen. A steampunk Trojan horse — or is it an ark? — delivers a fleet of small children into the future, where they’re greeted by a marionette wearing a mask of Greta Thunberg’s face. Mike Tyson, dressed in the most fantastic Afrofuturist chic, pumps up the youngest survivors of a nuclear and/or robot-induced apocalypse in the middle of a boxing ring that’s held together with actual ropes.
These are just some of the surreal but stiflingly hyper-legibible sights on display in Godfrey Reggio’s “Once Within a Time,” a 43-minute curio that would seem to find the “Koyaanisqatsi” director venturing beyond the time-lapse technophobia that made his documentary work so iconic. And to a degree, it does,...
These are just some of the surreal but stiflingly hyper-legibible sights on display in Godfrey Reggio’s “Once Within a Time,” a 43-minute curio that would seem to find the “Koyaanisqatsi” director venturing beyond the time-lapse technophobia that made his documentary work so iconic. And to a degree, it does,...
- 10/11/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
First released 50 years ago, after Francoist censors convinced themselves that its anti-authoritarian messaging would have little social impact if buried under such a “boring” art film, Victor Erice’s “The Spirit of the Beehive” follows a gullible six-year-old girl named Ana (Ana Torrent), who sees a screening of “Frankenstein” when a mobile cinema arrives in the small Castilian village where she lives with her family in the Spanish Civil War’s immediate aftermath. Confused and horrified by the sight of Frankenstein’s monster accidentally killing a child, and the townspeople then killing Frankenstein’s monster in return, Ana’s elder sister tells her that neither of those things actually happened — that everything you see in films is fake. Later, with the memories of James Whale’s movie still fresh in her mind, Ana discovers a wounded republican soldier hiding in a sheepfold and decides to treat him with kindness instead of fear.
- 10/10/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
There’s something fittingly appropriate about the way that The Spirit Of The Beehive director Victor Erice became the first Basque director to receive a lifetime achievement Donostia Award at the 71st San Sebastian Festival, while the Golden Shell for Best Film also went to San Sebastian-born Jaione Camborda for The Rye Horn, which is scripted in Galician and Portuguese. It encapsulates not just the way that the old meets the new at the festival but how, under José Luis Rebordinos’s directorship since 2011, it has continued to champion home-grown voices and non-hegemonic languages. Erice brought Close Your Eyes, his first film […]
The post The Public Experience: San Sebastian International Film Festival 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post The Public Experience: San Sebastian International Film Festival 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 10/3/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
There’s something fittingly appropriate about the way that The Spirit Of The Beehive director Victor Erice became the first Basque director to receive a lifetime achievement Donostia Award at the 71st San Sebastian Festival, while the Golden Shell for Best Film also went to San Sebastian-born Jaione Camborda for The Rye Horn, which is scripted in Galician and Portuguese. It encapsulates not just the way that the old meets the new at the festival but how, under José Luis Rebordinos’s directorship since 2011, it has continued to champion home-grown voices and non-hegemonic languages. Erice brought Close Your Eyes, his first film […]
The post The Public Experience: San Sebastian International Film Festival 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post The Public Experience: San Sebastian International Film Festival 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 10/3/2023
- by Amber Wilkinson
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Studio Ghibli co-founder, Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron, his most autobiographical work to date, connects the dots between much of his previous work. From why My Neighbour Totoro resonates so deeply with so many children and adults to why The Wind Rises (2013) had to come before this story of life and death, before and after.
Sirens and wartime and sparks that resemble fireflies start the film. The hero’s mother will die in a hospital in the blaze and the boy Mahito and his father move to the countryside with his stepmother/aunt, the dead mother’s younger sister, pregnant with his sibling to be. This is a lot to come...
Sirens and wartime and sparks that resemble fireflies start the film. The hero’s mother will die in a hospital in the blaze and the boy Mahito and his father move to the countryside with his stepmother/aunt, the dead mother’s younger sister, pregnant with his sibling to be. This is a lot to come...
- 10/1/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
“Long-awaited” isn’t quite the term for Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” a film that dedicated admirers of the Spanish master may have hoped for, but didn’t dare expect. Instead, Erice’s first feature in 31 years — and only his fourth overall — arrives as something between a desert oasis and a mirage: a shimmery, nourishing culmination of ideas and ellipses in a career so elusive as to have taken on a mythic quality, to the point that his latest feels almost dreamed into being. But “Close Your Eyes” proves a disarmingly simple, emotionally direct film once its out-of-time aura settles. A story itself of disappearance and reemergence, and the potential of cinema to bridge past and present as if decades were days, it’s potent and poignant enough to reach newcomers to Erice’s work, even as fans pore over its self-reflexive details.
Having premiered at Cannes, “Close Your Eyes...
Having premiered at Cannes, “Close Your Eyes...
- 10/1/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
A predictably spectacular sunset spreads streaks of pink and orange across a northern Spanish late September sky, heralding the end of another packed edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival, where at the closing gala, “The Rye Horn” the second feature from Spanish director Jaione Camborda has just been handed the Golden Shell, the festival’s top award.
It is perhaps a surprising win, but does now mark the fourth consecutive year that the festival’s most prestigious prize has gone to a female director. But in another way it has to be a first: the international jury, comprising French director Claire Denis, alongside Chinese actor and producer Fan Bingbing, Colombian producer-director Cristina Gallego, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, Spanish actor Vicky Luengo, Canadian producer and distributor Robert Lantos and German director Christian Petzold, has chosen to award not just a Spanish film, but one from a female director who was...
It is perhaps a surprising win, but does now mark the fourth consecutive year that the festival’s most prestigious prize has gone to a female director. But in another way it has to be a first: the international jury, comprising French director Claire Denis, alongside Chinese actor and producer Fan Bingbing, Colombian producer-director Cristina Gallego, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, Spanish actor Vicky Luengo, Canadian producer and distributor Robert Lantos and German director Christian Petzold, has chosen to award not just a Spanish film, but one from a female director who was...
- 9/30/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
San Sebastian — Legendary Spanish writer-director Victor Erice received a standing ovation from a packed press conference on Friday, ahead of receiving the festival’s Donostia Award tonight.
The award ceremony for San Sebastian’s accolade for career achievement follows on from the San Sebastian screening this morning of his first feature film in 30 years, “Close Your Eyes,” which, already pre-sold to France’s Haut et Court, world premiered in Cannes Premiere in May with the Basque director notably absent.
“Close Your Eyes” sparked highly positive reviews. 30 years ago, Erice won the Cannes Jury Prize for his film “Dream of Light.”
Erice fielded questions from the press on Friday before the “Close Your Eyes” team joined him on stage.
“What I achieve in my work is trying to give the best of myself,” Erice told reporters. “Fate is key in an industrial art like cinema. Fate intervenes in filmmaking, but I...
The award ceremony for San Sebastian’s accolade for career achievement follows on from the San Sebastian screening this morning of his first feature film in 30 years, “Close Your Eyes,” which, already pre-sold to France’s Haut et Court, world premiered in Cannes Premiere in May with the Basque director notably absent.
“Close Your Eyes” sparked highly positive reviews. 30 years ago, Erice won the Cannes Jury Prize for his film “Dream of Light.”
Erice fielded questions from the press on Friday before the “Close Your Eyes” team joined him on stage.
“What I achieve in my work is trying to give the best of myself,” Erice told reporters. “Fate is key in an industrial art like cinema. Fate intervenes in filmmaking, but I...
- 9/29/2023
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
The American Film Institute’s 2023 AFI Fest has officially unveiled its lineup, marking the respective world premieres of Rob Reiner’s “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” documentary and Matthew Brown’s “Freud’s Last Session,” starring Anthony Hopkins as the titular psychiatrist.
This year’s AFI Fest takes place October 25 through 29, with Sam Esmail’s “Leave the World Behind” dystopian drama opening the festival. Tyler Perry documentary “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story” will debut as a centerpiece screening; Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein film “Maestro” is slated to close out the festival.
The full AFI lineup boasts 141 total titles, including 18 Best International Feature Oscar submissions. The expanded selection of features and shorts includes three red carpet premieres, 10 Special Screenings, 15 Luminaries, 12 Discovery, 16 World Cinema, 13 Documentary, 42 Short Film Competition, and 30 films in the AFI Conservatory Showcase presented by AMC Networks.
The lineup has 44 percent of films directed by women, with 37 percent helmed...
This year’s AFI Fest takes place October 25 through 29, with Sam Esmail’s “Leave the World Behind” dystopian drama opening the festival. Tyler Perry documentary “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story” will debut as a centerpiece screening; Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein film “Maestro” is slated to close out the festival.
The full AFI lineup boasts 141 total titles, including 18 Best International Feature Oscar submissions. The expanded selection of features and shorts includes three red carpet premieres, 10 Special Screenings, 15 Luminaries, 12 Discovery, 16 World Cinema, 13 Documentary, 42 Short Film Competition, and 30 films in the AFI Conservatory Showcase presented by AMC Networks.
The lineup has 44 percent of films directed by women, with 37 percent helmed...
- 9/28/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
“The unsettled state of the industry is an unavoidable talking point these days, but my hope is that our festival, as it has done through its 61-year history, will serve as a reminder that the art of cinema is in robust health,” said Dennis Lim, the New York Film Festival’s director of programing and chair of the main slate selection committee, in a statement last month accompanying the announcement of the titles that will screen as part of the 61st edition of the esteemed festival. From Hollywood’s double strike chaos, to worries about artificial intelligence, to the ongoing threat that streaming poses to the theatrical model—if there was ever a time when we needed that reminder, it’s now.
While all the features in the main slate this year enjoyed their world premiere earlier in the year at Sundance, Berlinale, Cannes, Toronto, and beyond, many will have...
While all the features in the main slate this year enjoyed their world premiere earlier in the year at Sundance, Berlinale, Cannes, Toronto, and beyond, many will have...
- 9/27/2023
- by Slant Staff
- Slant Magazine
While it’s understandable that many’s most-anticipated films at a festival are also some of the biggest titles of the season––evidenced by the instant sell-outs of the latest from Hayao Miyazaki, Yorgos Lanthimos, Sofia Coppola, Andrew Haigh, Jonathan Glazer, and more at the 61st New York Film Festival––one of the true joys of the experience is seeing work one may never find again. For this year’s edition of Film at Lincoln Center’s annual celebration of world cinema, we’ve gathered eight recommendations that currently don’t have U.S. distribution. While we imagine news will be announced soon for some of these selections, a release might not occur until next year, so be sure to catch them if you can.
We should also make a special note for Revivals, NYFF’s lineup of restorations, which features Paul Vecchiali’s haunting, captivating portrait of alienation The Strangler...
We should also make a special note for Revivals, NYFF’s lineup of restorations, which features Paul Vecchiali’s haunting, captivating portrait of alienation The Strangler...
- 9/26/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
”I adore his cinema,” said festival director José Luis Rebordinos of Hayao Miyazaki. ”He is in my list of all-time favourite directors.”
The 71st edition of the San Sebastián Film Festival opened September 22 with the Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature: The Boy And The Heron. The film screened in the official section out of competition at the Spanish festival, which has registered a 10% increase in industry professionals in its growing market activities.
At the ceremony, conducted mainly in Spanish and Basque, festival director José Luis Rebordinos paid homage to Miyazaki, recipient of one of the two Donostia...
The 71st edition of the San Sebastián Film Festival opened September 22 with the Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature: The Boy And The Heron. The film screened in the official section out of competition at the Spanish festival, which has registered a 10% increase in industry professionals in its growing market activities.
At the ceremony, conducted mainly in Spanish and Basque, festival director José Luis Rebordinos paid homage to Miyazaki, recipient of one of the two Donostia...
- 9/23/2023
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
It's not a stretch to understand why films are often conflated with dreams (or nightmares); as with how our brains operate when we're asleep, films allow the creator to piece together images and sounds in a way that they hope will make sense. It allows them create something that feels the most contiguous to imagination. For a filmmaker such as Victor Erice, the great Spanish auteur who might have made very few features films, but nonetheless have made some of the most significant in Spain's (and world) film history, such as El Sur and especially The Spirit of the Beehive, it's a rare but incredible joy to see what dreams he brings to the screen. Close Your Eyes is perhaps a fitting story for someone...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/19/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Themes of aging have always undergirded Victor Erice’s work. His feature debut, 1973’s Spirit of the Beehive, is one of the finest of all coming-of-age films, capturing a few days in the life of young girl as she struggles to understand, through nascent eyes, the evils and contradictions of life in Francoist Spain. Ten years later came El Sur, Erice’s famously incomplete adaptation of Adelaida García Morales’s novella, another story about a child who grows gradually aware of her country’s—and family’s—troubled past. And 1992’s The Quince Tree Sun saw Erice turn his attention more explicitly to art as a means of physical and spiritual preservation: the act of ossifying a moment in time in an attempt to stave off the inevitable.
Now, after three decades and a smattering of shorts (including a multipart collaboration with Abbas Kiarostami), Close Your Eyes marks the 83-year-old...
Now, after three decades and a smattering of shorts (including a multipart collaboration with Abbas Kiarostami), Close Your Eyes marks the 83-year-old...
- 9/13/2023
- by Cole Kronman
- Slant Magazine
Javier Bardem, winner of a San Sebastian 2023 Donostia Award for career achievement, is putting back his on-stage acceptance of the distinction until the 2024 San Sebastian Film Festival.
The postponement is due to the “limits imposed under the strike called by the U.S. Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA),” the San Sebastian Festival announced Friday.
It deprives this year’s Festival of its biggest on-stage major star moment this year.
The fest will, however, enjoy its customary bullish presence of world-class auteurs, led this year by Claire Denis, main competition jury chair, and Victor Erice, will accept his Donostia Award on Sept. 29. San Sebastian announced Friday that Hayao Miyazaki will also accept a Donostia Award online.
Gabriel Byrne, François Cluzet, Emmanuelle Devos, Griffin Dunne, Aidan Gillen, Mads Mikkelsen, James Norton and Dominic West have confirmed their attendance, Byrne and Gillen for one of the festival’s biggest tickets, James Marsh’s official selection closing film “Dance First.
The postponement is due to the “limits imposed under the strike called by the U.S. Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA),” the San Sebastian Festival announced Friday.
It deprives this year’s Festival of its biggest on-stage major star moment this year.
The fest will, however, enjoy its customary bullish presence of world-class auteurs, led this year by Claire Denis, main competition jury chair, and Victor Erice, will accept his Donostia Award on Sept. 29. San Sebastian announced Friday that Hayao Miyazaki will also accept a Donostia Award online.
Gabriel Byrne, François Cluzet, Emmanuelle Devos, Griffin Dunne, Aidan Gillen, Mads Mikkelsen, James Norton and Dominic West have confirmed their attendance, Byrne and Gillen for one of the festival’s biggest tickets, James Marsh’s official selection closing film “Dance First.
- 9/8/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
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