Exclusive: Wscripted has unveiled the projects and talents selected for its fourth Cannes Screenplay List supporting scripts by women and non-binary writers.
This year’s list, which is presented in collaboration with long-standing partner Mubi, was curated by an international jury featuring Bafta-winning and Oscar-nominated actress Vanessa Kirby, Costa Rican-Swedish director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén (Clara Sola) and writer and filmmaker Nathalie Marchak.
Marchak was a nominee on the inaugural Cannes Screenplay List of 2021 with her second feature A Beautiful Journey, which is produced by Anonymous Federation and Gabman Films.
The 2024 list features 10 female filmmakers and screenwriters looking for producing and financing partners from the U.S., Canada, Australia and India.
They include Nominees include Cuban-American filmmaker Marissa Chibás, a 2022 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow who received the inaugural Sundance/Gold House Accelerator Grant, for her immigrant family drama 1972; Indigenous Australian filmmaker...
This year’s list, which is presented in collaboration with long-standing partner Mubi, was curated by an international jury featuring Bafta-winning and Oscar-nominated actress Vanessa Kirby, Costa Rican-Swedish director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén (Clara Sola) and writer and filmmaker Nathalie Marchak.
Marchak was a nominee on the inaugural Cannes Screenplay List of 2021 with her second feature A Beautiful Journey, which is produced by Anonymous Federation and Gabman Films.
The 2024 list features 10 female filmmakers and screenwriters looking for producing and financing partners from the U.S., Canada, Australia and India.
They include Nominees include Cuban-American filmmaker Marissa Chibás, a 2022 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow who received the inaugural Sundance/Gold House Accelerator Grant, for her immigrant family drama 1972; Indigenous Australian filmmaker...
- 5/21/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: 3Point0 Labs has followed up recent strategic moves by signing In the Summers co-producer Luz Films.
Headed by Sergio Lira, Lynette Coll and Cristobal Güell, Luz was created with a mission to make Latino-focused prestige and elevated-genre content from diverse creatives and producers in the film and TV space. Its debut film, In the Summers, was a prize winner at Sundance earlier this year.
“Sergio, Lynette, and Cristobal bring such an authentic desire to foster family and community in everything they do,” said Andrew Cutrow, Chief Business Officer and Head of the Entertainment division of 3Point0 Labs. “They bring a vision that is so core to 3Point0’s mission to build communities and infrastructure globally. Luz is a rocket ship and we are so humbled to be a part of their growth as they take off.”
As we revealed at the time, Luz Films launched in January with former...
Headed by Sergio Lira, Lynette Coll and Cristobal Güell, Luz was created with a mission to make Latino-focused prestige and elevated-genre content from diverse creatives and producers in the film and TV space. Its debut film, In the Summers, was a prize winner at Sundance earlier this year.
“Sergio, Lynette, and Cristobal bring such an authentic desire to foster family and community in everything they do,” said Andrew Cutrow, Chief Business Officer and Head of the Entertainment division of 3Point0 Labs. “They bring a vision that is so core to 3Point0’s mission to build communities and infrastructure globally. Luz is a rocket ship and we are so humbled to be a part of their growth as they take off.”
As we revealed at the time, Luz Films launched in January with former...
- 4/2/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
The Swedish Film Institute (Sfi) has appointed Svt executive Anna Croneman as its new CEO.
Croneman will start in the role in mid-April. She is a permanent replacement for temporary CEO Asa Sjoberg.
Sjoberg had been in the role since the departure of Anette Novak, who left the role abruptly in September 2023.
”I have worked as a commissioner of tv-drama and feature films at Svt for seven wonderful years and I guess I am ready for the next big challenge,” said Croneman. ”The film industry is in a troubled state, from the pandemic, with new players entering and changing viewer habits.
Croneman will start in the role in mid-April. She is a permanent replacement for temporary CEO Asa Sjoberg.
Sjoberg had been in the role since the departure of Anette Novak, who left the role abruptly in September 2023.
”I have worked as a commissioner of tv-drama and feature films at Svt for seven wonderful years and I guess I am ready for the next big challenge,” said Croneman. ”The film industry is in a troubled state, from the pandemic, with new players entering and changing viewer habits.
- 2/13/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Sergio Lira, Lynette Coll and Cristobal Güell are launching Luz Films, a newly formed entertainment company founded with the mission of making Latino-focused prestige and elevated-genre content from diverse visionary creatives and producers in the film and TV space.
Lira and Coll will serve as co-CEOs while Guell will serve as CFO.
Through a collaborative community spirit, Luz Films will produce and co-finance projects from the Latino perspective for U.S. and global audiences. The company believes in mentoring and supporting projects from debut filmmakers and connecting them with veteran Latino creatives who can collaborate with these new voices behind the camera and on-screen.
‘While Latinos are one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States, representation for storytellers in the community lags behind other demographics,” the trio shared in an exclusive statement to Deadline. “Luz Films, named with purpose, embodies ‘light.’ Our mission is to illuminate opportunities. We...
Lira and Coll will serve as co-CEOs while Guell will serve as CFO.
Through a collaborative community spirit, Luz Films will produce and co-finance projects from the Latino perspective for U.S. and global audiences. The company believes in mentoring and supporting projects from debut filmmakers and connecting them with veteran Latino creatives who can collaborate with these new voices behind the camera and on-screen.
‘While Latinos are one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States, representation for storytellers in the community lags behind other demographics,” the trio shared in an exclusive statement to Deadline. “Luz Films, named with purpose, embodies ‘light.’ Our mission is to illuminate opportunities. We...
- 1/12/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
The Marrakech Film Festival’s sixth Atlas Workshops kicks off today under the fresh curation of former indie film sales agent and publicist Hédi Zardi.
Running November 27 to 30 in a rambling riad on the outskirts of Marrakech, the project and talent incubator is showcasing 25 projects hailing from Mena and Africa, 16 in development and another nine in production or post-production.
Zardi is best known on the market and festival circuit as the former co-founding head of Paris-based sales banner Luxbox, which he created in 2015 with Fiorella Moretti who continues to run the company.
Together, the pair launched a raft of buzzy festival titles on the market, brokering deals to Ava DuVernay‘s Array for Isabel Sandoval’s trans migrant drama Lingua Franca, Oscilloscope Laboratories for Costa Rican Oscar entry Clara Sola by Nathalie Alvarez Mesen, and KimStim for Suzanne Lindon’s coming-of-age debut feature Spring Blossom.
After eight years on the sales circuit,...
Running November 27 to 30 in a rambling riad on the outskirts of Marrakech, the project and talent incubator is showcasing 25 projects hailing from Mena and Africa, 16 in development and another nine in production or post-production.
Zardi is best known on the market and festival circuit as the former co-founding head of Paris-based sales banner Luxbox, which he created in 2015 with Fiorella Moretti who continues to run the company.
Together, the pair launched a raft of buzzy festival titles on the market, brokering deals to Ava DuVernay‘s Array for Isabel Sandoval’s trans migrant drama Lingua Franca, Oscilloscope Laboratories for Costa Rican Oscar entry Clara Sola by Nathalie Alvarez Mesen, and KimStim for Suzanne Lindon’s coming-of-age debut feature Spring Blossom.
After eight years on the sales circuit,...
- 11/27/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
To celebrate the release of Clara Sola coming to blu-ray with limited edition poster, illustrated by Andrew Bannister on August 7th, we have 2 blu-rays to give away!
A Film by Nathalie ÁLVAREZ MESÉN. Starring: Wendy Chinchilla Araya, Daniel CASTAÑEDA RINCÓN, Ana Julia Porras Espinoza, Flor MARÍA Vargas Chaves.
The sheltered life of a woman believed to be possessed of divine, mystical powers is thrown into chaos when she experiences a sexual awakening.
Nathalie Álavarez Mesén’s mystical, intimate, and richly atmospheric film tells the story of Clara, an introverted woman believed to possess divine healing powers. But a powerful and unexpected sexual awakening tear the delicate order of her life apart, setting Clara on a tumultuous path to emancipation from the religious strictures dominating her life.
Special Features:
• Limited edition fold-out A3 poster featuring exclusive artwork by Andrew Bannister
• Interview with writer/director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
• 2 short films by Nathalie...
A Film by Nathalie ÁLVAREZ MESÉN. Starring: Wendy Chinchilla Araya, Daniel CASTAÑEDA RINCÓN, Ana Julia Porras Espinoza, Flor MARÍA Vargas Chaves.
The sheltered life of a woman believed to be possessed of divine, mystical powers is thrown into chaos when she experiences a sexual awakening.
Nathalie Álavarez Mesén’s mystical, intimate, and richly atmospheric film tells the story of Clara, an introverted woman believed to possess divine healing powers. But a powerful and unexpected sexual awakening tear the delicate order of her life apart, setting Clara on a tumultuous path to emancipation from the religious strictures dominating her life.
Special Features:
• Limited edition fold-out A3 poster featuring exclusive artwork by Andrew Bannister
• Interview with writer/director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
• 2 short films by Nathalie...
- 8/5/2023
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Natacha Kaganski has joined Luxbox as festivals and acquisitions manager and Solène Colomer has been named sales & marketing coordinator.
Previously, Kaganski spent four years as acquisitions manager at Wild Bunch, where she handled deals for the French and international market as well as coordination for multi-territories deals with the Wild Bunch group, such as Germany, Spain and Italy.
She was involved in films likeVenice winner “Happening” by Audrey Diwan, Gaspar Noé’s “Vortex” or “Leila’s Brothers,” also taking part in first Wild Bunch productions.
Solène Colomer has one year of experience assisting the sales and production teams at Urban Group under her belt. She was involved in “Plan 75” by Chie Hayakawa and “If Only I Could Hibernate” by Zoljargal Purevdash which, as reported by Variety, has already made history in Cannes.
They complete the already existing team with president Fiorella Moretti and Jennyfer Gautier, head of international sales.
“Personally,...
Previously, Kaganski spent four years as acquisitions manager at Wild Bunch, where she handled deals for the French and international market as well as coordination for multi-territories deals with the Wild Bunch group, such as Germany, Spain and Italy.
She was involved in films likeVenice winner “Happening” by Audrey Diwan, Gaspar Noé’s “Vortex” or “Leila’s Brothers,” also taking part in first Wild Bunch productions.
Solène Colomer has one year of experience assisting the sales and production teams at Urban Group under her belt. She was involved in “Plan 75” by Chie Hayakawa and “If Only I Could Hibernate” by Zoljargal Purevdash which, as reported by Variety, has already made history in Cannes.
They complete the already existing team with president Fiorella Moretti and Jennyfer Gautier, head of international sales.
“Personally,...
- 5/24/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Rome-based Intramovies has picked up sales rights to Swedish up-and-coming filmmaker Mika Gustafson’s “Sisters,” ahead of the film’s pitch as a work in progress at Göteborg’s Nordic Film Market, which runs Feb. 2-5.
The film is being produced by Nima Yousefi for Stockholm-based Hobab, behind the multi-awarded “Clara Sola” by Nathalie Álvarez Mesen.
European co-producers on board “Sisters” take in Italy s’ Intramovies, Denmark’s Toolbox Film and Finland’s Tuffi Films.
Intramovies’ head of acquisitions and production Marco Valerio Fusco said “being the Italian co-producers, we loved the project since its inception, and were very excited by the film’s potential, the impressive script and all talents involved.
“For the good of the film, we didn’t put any pre-emption on the title, leaving the door open to any other possible sales agent. Then when Nima offered us to come on board, we immediately accepted,” said...
The film is being produced by Nima Yousefi for Stockholm-based Hobab, behind the multi-awarded “Clara Sola” by Nathalie Álvarez Mesen.
European co-producers on board “Sisters” take in Italy s’ Intramovies, Denmark’s Toolbox Film and Finland’s Tuffi Films.
Intramovies’ head of acquisitions and production Marco Valerio Fusco said “being the Italian co-producers, we loved the project since its inception, and were very excited by the film’s potential, the impressive script and all talents involved.
“For the good of the film, we didn’t put any pre-emption on the title, leaving the door open to any other possible sales agent. Then when Nima offered us to come on board, we immediately accepted,” said...
- 1/19/2023
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based Luxbox has pounced on international rights to “20,000 Species of Bees,” one of Spain’s most anticipated feature debuts in 2023.
Distributor of “Holy Spider” and San Sebastian winner “The Kings of the World,” BTeam Pictures will handle the film’s release in Spain.
The latest movie in a growing canon of titles from young Spanish directors that have a grounded sense of place while dealing in large universal issues – think Carla Simon’s “Summer 1993” and Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby” and Elena López Riera “The Water” – “20,000 Species of Bees” marks the first feature by Basque Country-based Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren whose short, “Cuerdas,” won a Cannes Critics’ Week Rails d’Or plaudit in May and was a Forqué Award best short winner this December in Spain.
It turns on an eight-year-old girl who battles with the fact that people keep addressing her in confusing ways.
Distributor of “Holy Spider” and San Sebastian winner “The Kings of the World,” BTeam Pictures will handle the film’s release in Spain.
The latest movie in a growing canon of titles from young Spanish directors that have a grounded sense of place while dealing in large universal issues – think Carla Simon’s “Summer 1993” and Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby” and Elena López Riera “The Water” – “20,000 Species of Bees” marks the first feature by Basque Country-based Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren whose short, “Cuerdas,” won a Cannes Critics’ Week Rails d’Or plaudit in May and was a Forqué Award best short winner this December in Spain.
It turns on an eight-year-old girl who battles with the fact that people keep addressing her in confusing ways.
- 1/12/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)
Martin McDonagh’s fourth film marks an In Bruges reunion between the writer-director, Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson. It again finds the two leads as another mismatched, in-a-rut couple of men serving up heaping portions of existential despair and black comedy. But this rut is of a very different ilk—much smaller in scope, lacking villainy, almost cute… until it isn’t. Banshees is McDonagh’s A Straight Story, but he doesn’t go full monty. He works in a few comically violent McDonagh beats that rip us out of the ordinary. But it’s the permeating sense of normality, routine, and unremarkableness that gives them their punch. To note the simplicity, he opens on a white...
The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)
Martin McDonagh’s fourth film marks an In Bruges reunion between the writer-director, Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson. It again finds the two leads as another mismatched, in-a-rut couple of men serving up heaping portions of existential despair and black comedy. But this rut is of a very different ilk—much smaller in scope, lacking villainy, almost cute… until it isn’t. Banshees is McDonagh’s A Straight Story, but he doesn’t go full monty. He works in a few comically violent McDonagh beats that rip us out of the ordinary. But it’s the permeating sense of normality, routine, and unremarkableness that gives them their punch. To note the simplicity, he opens on a white...
- 12/16/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Holidays loom, but don’t fear TBS marathons of A Christmas Story. If, like me, you once enacted some good and let studio classics stream on Criterion during family Christmas, you know the trip home will be easier with December’s additions. (People at Criterion: please don’t report me for logging into multiple devices.) As family arrives, drinks are downed, and questions about what you’ve been up to are stumbled through it’ll be nice to stream their “Screwball Comedy Classics” series—25 titles meeting some deep cuts (10 via Venmo if you’ve recently watched It Happens Every Spring).
Personally I’m most excited about the 11 movies in “Snow Westerns,” going as far back as The Secret of Convict Lake, as recently as Ravenous, with the likes of Wellman, Peckinpah, and Corbucci in-between. I personally cannot stand soccer but I appreciate the World Cup giving occasion for a series...
Personally I’m most excited about the 11 movies in “Snow Westerns,” going as far back as The Secret of Convict Lake, as recently as Ravenous, with the likes of Wellman, Peckinpah, and Corbucci in-between. I personally cannot stand soccer but I appreciate the World Cup giving occasion for a series...
- 11/22/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
The big winner at the Stockholm International Film Festival 2022 was Holy Spider, directed by Swedish-Danish-Iranian Ali Abbasi.
Complete list of winners below
The film won the Bronze Horse for Best Film, while lead actor Mehdi Bajestani was named Best Male Actor for his role as serial killer Saeed Hanaei. The film was based on the true story of the so-called ‘Spider-Killer’ who targeted sex workers and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran. The film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating the crimes.
In presenting Abbasi with his award, the jury said of Holy Spider:
“A groundbreaking film that is done not only with enormous courage but with mastery that leaves us breathless; our insides both speechless and wanting to cream. A punch in the gut for systematic belief systems that oppress rather than support. An eye opener and a most emotional cinematic experience that awakens internal revolutions in us.
Complete list of winners below
The film won the Bronze Horse for Best Film, while lead actor Mehdi Bajestani was named Best Male Actor for his role as serial killer Saeed Hanaei. The film was based on the true story of the so-called ‘Spider-Killer’ who targeted sex workers and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran. The film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating the crimes.
In presenting Abbasi with his award, the jury said of Holy Spider:
“A groundbreaking film that is done not only with enormous courage but with mastery that leaves us breathless; our insides both speechless and wanting to cream. A punch in the gut for systematic belief systems that oppress rather than support. An eye opener and a most emotional cinematic experience that awakens internal revolutions in us.
- 11/19/2022
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
Wendy Chinchilla Araya makes a tremendous debut as a neglected woman with learning difficulties who is believed to have spiritual powers – and who falls for a handsome local boy
A luminous lead performance – captured almost entirely in closeup – is at the heart of this mysterious drama of sexuality and divine grace. It’s an outstanding first feature from 34-year-old Costa Rican film-maker Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, and her lead performer Wendy Chinchilla Araya is making her own deeply impressive movie debut, having worked before this in dance and mime.
Araya plays Clara, a woman of early middle age who lives in a Costa Rican village with her elderly mother Fresia (Flor María Vargas Chavez) and teen niece Maria (Ana Julia Porras Espinoza). Clara has learning difficulties and a spine malformation, but Fresia will not hear of Clara having this corrected surgically despite the hospital assuring her there is no cost involved.
A luminous lead performance – captured almost entirely in closeup – is at the heart of this mysterious drama of sexuality and divine grace. It’s an outstanding first feature from 34-year-old Costa Rican film-maker Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, and her lead performer Wendy Chinchilla Araya is making her own deeply impressive movie debut, having worked before this in dance and mime.
Araya plays Clara, a woman of early middle age who lives in a Costa Rican village with her elderly mother Fresia (Flor María Vargas Chavez) and teen niece Maria (Ana Julia Porras Espinoza). Clara has learning difficulties and a spine malformation, but Fresia will not hear of Clara having this corrected surgically despite the hospital assuring her there is no cost involved.
- 11/15/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Valdimar Jóhannsson’s Icelandic project stars Noomi Rapace.
The 2022 Nordic Council Film Prize has been awarded to Iceland’s Lamb, directed Valdimar Jóhannsson, who co-wrote with Sjón; and produced by Hrönn Kristinsdóttir and Sara Nassim.
The award was presented on Tuesday evening (November 2) during the Nordic Council’s autumn session in Helsinki.
The lucrative Nordic Council Film Prize comes with a cash award of 39,800, which is shared between the director, writers, and producers in honour of the collaborative nature of filmmaking.
Lamb, which premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2021 and won the ‘prize of originality’, is a supernatural drama...
The 2022 Nordic Council Film Prize has been awarded to Iceland’s Lamb, directed Valdimar Jóhannsson, who co-wrote with Sjón; and produced by Hrönn Kristinsdóttir and Sara Nassim.
The award was presented on Tuesday evening (November 2) during the Nordic Council’s autumn session in Helsinki.
The lucrative Nordic Council Film Prize comes with a cash award of 39,800, which is shared between the director, writers, and producers in honour of the collaborative nature of filmmaking.
Lamb, which premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2021 and won the ‘prize of originality’, is a supernatural drama...
- 11/2/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Valdimar Jóhannsson’s Lamb has won the 2022 Nordic Council Film Prize.
The award was announced Tuesday evening during the Nordic Council’s Autumn Session in Helsinki, Finland. Lamb beat out four other shortlisted films, including Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, Teemu Nikki’s The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, and Clara Sola, directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén.
The Nordic Council Film Prize, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, is awarded annually to “an artistically significant, Nordic-produced full-length feature film with cinema distribution”. The prize also comes with a Dkk 300,000 cash prize, which is shared between the director, writers, and producers.
Discussing their decision to pick Lamb, the Nordic council jury described the film as “unique and darkly menacing.”
“Lamb combines Iceland‘s tradition of pastoral cinema and the literary heritage of the folk tale,” the jury said in a statement.
The award was announced Tuesday evening during the Nordic Council’s Autumn Session in Helsinki, Finland. Lamb beat out four other shortlisted films, including Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, Teemu Nikki’s The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, and Clara Sola, directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén.
The Nordic Council Film Prize, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, is awarded annually to “an artistically significant, Nordic-produced full-length feature film with cinema distribution”. The prize also comes with a Dkk 300,000 cash prize, which is shared between the director, writers, and producers.
Discussing their decision to pick Lamb, the Nordic council jury described the film as “unique and darkly menacing.”
“Lamb combines Iceland‘s tradition of pastoral cinema and the literary heritage of the folk tale,” the jury said in a statement.
- 11/1/2022
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Swedish helmer Mika Gustafson, one of a roster of promising Swedish voices with “Clara Sola”’s Natalie Álvarez-Mesén at Stockholm-based Hobab, has finalised the cast for her directorial debut “Sisters.”
The feature is in final stages of filming, and co-produced by Italy’s Intramovies, Denmark’s Toobox and Finland’s Tuffi Films.
Ida Engvoll, who broke out in Netflix romcom “Love & Anarchy,” plays Hanna, a young woman drawn into an unexpected adventure when she encounters Laura (16), eldest of a trio of socially-deprived sisters.
Laura asks Hanna to “play” their mum when social services come knocking at the sisters’ doors, threatening to separate them and place them in a foster home. But when Hanna shows her affection, Laura loses control and starts spiralling downwards.
Gustafson who was trained at Ruben Östlund’s auteur-driven Valand film school in Götenborg, said in a statement that she was inspired “by the playfulness of the French New Wave,...
The feature is in final stages of filming, and co-produced by Italy’s Intramovies, Denmark’s Toobox and Finland’s Tuffi Films.
Ida Engvoll, who broke out in Netflix romcom “Love & Anarchy,” plays Hanna, a young woman drawn into an unexpected adventure when she encounters Laura (16), eldest of a trio of socially-deprived sisters.
Laura asks Hanna to “play” their mum when social services come knocking at the sisters’ doors, threatening to separate them and place them in a foster home. But when Hanna shows her affection, Laura loses control and starts spiralling downwards.
Gustafson who was trained at Ruben Östlund’s auteur-driven Valand film school in Götenborg, said in a statement that she was inspired “by the playfulness of the French New Wave,...
- 8/24/2022
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
The 2022 Nordic Council Film Prize Nominees Announced
The five nominees for the prestigious Nordic Council Film Prize have been announced. The list of nominees includes Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated The Worst Person in the World, Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, Teemu Nikki’s The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, Lamb by Valdimar Jóhannson, and Clara Sola, directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén. The Nordic Council Film Prize, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, is awarded to “an artistically significant, Nordic-produced full-length feature film with cinema distribution”. The award comes with a €41,000 cash prize shared equally between the winning film’s director, screenwriter and producer. The winner will be announced on November 1 at a ceremony in Helsinki, Finland. Last year’s winner was Flee directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen.
All3Media-backed ‘Embarrassing Bodies’ Producer Maverick Joins With Omg Scotland To Form 141
All3Media-backed Embarrassing Bodies and 10 Years Younger in 10 Days...
The five nominees for the prestigious Nordic Council Film Prize have been announced. The list of nominees includes Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated The Worst Person in the World, Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, Teemu Nikki’s The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic, Lamb by Valdimar Jóhannson, and Clara Sola, directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén. The Nordic Council Film Prize, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, is awarded to “an artistically significant, Nordic-produced full-length feature film with cinema distribution”. The award comes with a €41,000 cash prize shared equally between the winning film’s director, screenwriter and producer. The winner will be announced on November 1 at a ceremony in Helsinki, Finland. Last year’s winner was Flee directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen.
All3Media-backed ‘Embarrassing Bodies’ Producer Maverick Joins With Omg Scotland To Form 141
All3Media-backed Embarrassing Bodies and 10 Years Younger in 10 Days...
- 8/23/2022
- by Zac Ntim and Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Five Nordic features are nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize. The prestigious recognition, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, was first awarded to Aki Kaurismäki’s “The Man Without a Past.”
Hlynur Pálmason’s “Godland,” Teemu Nikki’s “The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic,” “Lamb” by Valdimar Jóhannson, Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World” and “Clara Sola,” directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, will all vie for the award.
It is billed as a prize that celebrates “a unique filmmaking vision, deeply rooted in Nordic culture” and comes with a sum of Dkk 300,000, shared equally between the director, screenwriter and producer.
Trier, fresh off his win at Saturday’sAmanda Awards, already won the prize in 2016 for “Louder Than Bombs.” It’s also not the first nomination for Finland’s Nikki, previously noticed for darkly comedic “Euthanizer.” His new film, featuring Petri Poikolainen who suffers from Ms,...
Hlynur Pálmason’s “Godland,” Teemu Nikki’s “The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic,” “Lamb” by Valdimar Jóhannson, Joachim Trier’s Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World” and “Clara Sola,” directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, will all vie for the award.
It is billed as a prize that celebrates “a unique filmmaking vision, deeply rooted in Nordic culture” and comes with a sum of Dkk 300,000, shared equally between the director, screenwriter and producer.
Trier, fresh off his win at Saturday’sAmanda Awards, already won the prize in 2016 for “Louder Than Bombs.” It’s also not the first nomination for Finland’s Nikki, previously noticed for darkly comedic “Euthanizer.” His new film, featuring Petri Poikolainen who suffers from Ms,...
- 8/23/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Three of the nominees premiered at Cannes 2021.
The five nominees for the lucrative Nordic Council Film Prize have been unveiled at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund today (August 23).
Three of the nominees premiered at Cannes 2021: Iceland’s Lamb, directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson; Norway’s The Worst Person In The World from Joachim Trier; and Sweden’s Clara Sola directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén.
Denmark’s entry is Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, which debuted at Cannes this year.
Finnish entry The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic, directed by Teemu Nikki, premiered in the Orizzonti...
The five nominees for the lucrative Nordic Council Film Prize have been unveiled at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund today (August 23).
Three of the nominees premiered at Cannes 2021: Iceland’s Lamb, directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson; Norway’s The Worst Person In The World from Joachim Trier; and Sweden’s Clara Sola directed by Nathalie Álvarez Mesén.
Denmark’s entry is Hlynur Pálmason’s Godland, which debuted at Cannes this year.
Finnish entry The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic, directed by Teemu Nikki, premiered in the Orizzonti...
- 8/23/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
More than 300 industry delegates from top shingles including Warner Bros Discovery, Viaplay, Germany’s Constantin Film, The Match Factory and France’s TF1 Studio are expected on the shores of Haugesund, Norway, over Aug. 23-26, for Scandinavia’s major film showcase, New Nordic Films.
Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness” will both open the film confab festivities and screen alongside 18 new Nordic finished films at the market. But for the avid buyers and programmers of Nordic content, the biggest draw will be the 18 works in progress – half of them looking for sales and distribution – and 23 pics in development available for co-production and financing.
“We’ve noticed a shift in recent years, with buyers and sellers favouring the Works in Progress and Nordic Coproduction Market over the market screenings. These seem to be more valuable for the industry,” said Gyda Velvin Myklebust, head of New Nordic Films.
Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness” will both open the film confab festivities and screen alongside 18 new Nordic finished films at the market. But for the avid buyers and programmers of Nordic content, the biggest draw will be the 18 works in progress – half of them looking for sales and distribution – and 23 pics in development available for co-production and financing.
“We’ve noticed a shift in recent years, with buyers and sellers favouring the Works in Progress and Nordic Coproduction Market over the market screenings. These seem to be more valuable for the industry,” said Gyda Velvin Myklebust, head of New Nordic Films.
- 8/12/2022
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
The summer box office season is typically filled with milestones of the blockbuster variety but this July, Columbia University’s film program is toasting one of its own. Four international female filmmakers (and Mfa grads) have their first features hitting theaters this month.
The roster includes Nathalie Alvarez Mesen’s Clara Sola, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s Murina, Mounia Akl’s Costa Brava, Lebanon, and Anna Gutto’s Paradise Highway. The latter film, about a truck driver who reluctantly agrees to smuggle illicit cargo (a little girl), is the most star-studded, with Juliette Binoche, Morgan Freeman, Cameron Monaghan and Frank Grillo. Also of note: Columbia grad Ellie Foumbi’s debut feature Our Father, the Devil, picked up an audience award last month during the Tribeca Festival in New York.
Jack Lechner, chair of film at Columbia University School of the Arts, says that every...
The summer box office season is typically filled with milestones of the blockbuster variety but this July, Columbia University’s film program is toasting one of its own. Four international female filmmakers (and Mfa grads) have their first features hitting theaters this month.
The roster includes Nathalie Alvarez Mesen’s Clara Sola, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s Murina, Mounia Akl’s Costa Brava, Lebanon, and Anna Gutto’s Paradise Highway. The latter film, about a truck driver who reluctantly agrees to smuggle illicit cargo (a little girl), is the most star-studded, with Juliette Binoche, Morgan Freeman, Cameron Monaghan and Frank Grillo. Also of note: Columbia grad Ellie Foumbi’s debut feature Our Father, the Devil, picked up an audience award last month during the Tribeca Festival in New York.
Jack Lechner, chair of film at Columbia University School of the Arts, says that every...
- 7/17/2022
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A version of this review of “Clara Solo” first ran when the film premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.
A quiet character study that somewhere along the line morphs into a Costa Rican version of “Carrie,” “Clara Sola” mixes religion, mysticism and sexuality in a way that feels simultaneously odd, disquieting and richly rewarding. It starts out beautifully restrained and ends up somewhere else entirely, but it’s all the more interesting for its split personality.
“Clara Solo” is the first feature from Costa Rican-Swedish director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, and also the feature debut of film’s star, Wendy Chinchilla. She’s a Costa Rican dancer with no experience in film but a powerful presence that speaks volumes through stillness.
Chinchilla plays Clara, a 40-year-old woman with a spinal condition that keeps her in pain. She spends her life, it seems, communing with her horse, Yuca, and bowing to the demands of her mother,...
A quiet character study that somewhere along the line morphs into a Costa Rican version of “Carrie,” “Clara Sola” mixes religion, mysticism and sexuality in a way that feels simultaneously odd, disquieting and richly rewarding. It starts out beautifully restrained and ends up somewhere else entirely, but it’s all the more interesting for its split personality.
“Clara Solo” is the first feature from Costa Rican-Swedish director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, and also the feature debut of film’s star, Wendy Chinchilla. She’s a Costa Rican dancer with no experience in film but a powerful presence that speaks volumes through stillness.
Chinchilla plays Clara, a 40-year-old woman with a spinal condition that keeps her in pain. She spends her life, it seems, communing with her horse, Yuca, and bowing to the demands of her mother,...
- 7/7/2022
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Earlier this year, in Goran Stolevski’s You Won’t Be Alone, a young witch becomes enamored with the life of humans. She starts to interact in a world where she is forbidden, giving up her relation to the witch mother keeping her under her control. Throughout that movie there are inklings of discovery, almost like a child first learning to walk and speak, to eventually realizing what love is. If there is a similar dynamic in Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s Clara Sola, this is also a movie that finds its central character escaping religious suppression and contending with her burgeoning sexuality. It recalls Stolevski’s film in the treatment of “breaking out of the shell” as a sort of “growing up” but grounds itself in cultural tradition rather than historical fantasy.
A 40-year-old woman named Clara (Wendy Chinchilla Araya) has a spinal disability to which her religiously devout mother proudly...
A 40-year-old woman named Clara (Wendy Chinchilla Araya) has a spinal disability to which her religiously devout mother proudly...
- 7/5/2022
- by Soham Gadre
- The Film Stage
The Forgiven with Jessica Chastain opens in 122 theaters this weekend as the flow of indie films continues to build with well-reviewed, festival-pedigreed product including Mr. Malcolm’s List and Clara Sola. Meanwhile, producers and most other U.S. businesses are hoping economic storm clouds won’t ding their industry’s nascent revival.
“I think we have seen a slow recovery. We are feeling bullish,” said Howard Cohen, co-president of The Forgiven distributor Roadside Attractions. He cited a helpful “knockoff effect” from popular wide releases Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick, where a significant chunk of the audience is an arthouse-friendly 55 and over. He’s talking about moviegoing, a great value for people during economic slowdowns when box office grosses have tended to rise. But down the chain, higher inflation, “while it doesn’t mean movies won’t get made, will affect decision making and things may be more complicated,” said Cohen.
“I think we have seen a slow recovery. We are feeling bullish,” said Howard Cohen, co-president of The Forgiven distributor Roadside Attractions. He cited a helpful “knockoff effect” from popular wide releases Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick, where a significant chunk of the audience is an arthouse-friendly 55 and over. He’s talking about moviegoing, a great value for people during economic slowdowns when box office grosses have tended to rise. But down the chain, higher inflation, “while it doesn’t mean movies won’t get made, will affect decision making and things may be more complicated,” said Cohen.
- 7/1/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
In some ways, Clara (Wendy Chinchilla Araya) is the most liberated woman in the verdant, remote, and deceptively matriarchal Costa Rican village where she works for God. A semi-feral 40-year-old who — legend has it — was once visited by the Virgin Mary, Clara has been molded into a faith healer by her ultra-religious mother (Flor María Vargas Chaves as Fresia), who’s successfully rebranded her daughter’s curved spine and childlike intellect as symptoms of divinity.
Aside from miracles on demand, little is expected of her. Clara is free to spend her days wandering through the forest, brushing her beloved white horse Yuca, and making adorable homes for the beetles she finds in the wild. She’s activated whenever someone with a few dollars to spare needs a leg healed or a cancer cured, but for the most part Clara is left to do as she pleases.
That is, as long...
Aside from miracles on demand, little is expected of her. Clara is free to spend her days wandering through the forest, brushing her beloved white horse Yuca, and making adorable homes for the beetles she finds in the wild. She’s activated whenever someone with a few dollars to spare needs a leg healed or a cancer cured, but for the most part Clara is left to do as she pleases.
That is, as long...
- 6/29/2022
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
What does it mean to leave a life of quiet desperation? The quote's originator might have been referring to people's values, but we could take our own interpretation, of how too many people are unable to find happiness and contentment. Much to do with the pressures of existence, increasing immesurably in recent years, but it can also come from family, tradition, and attending expectations. And sometimes, perhaps inevitably, that desperation will leak, or explode. Clara Sola tells the story of just such an explosion. Costa Rican-Swedish director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén's feature debut simmers with anger, longing, and lust; the story of a woman repressed her entire life by tradition, who discovers the pwoer that others thought to use for themselves, might be far more powerful...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 6/29/2022
- Screen Anarchy
"Abracadabra, alakazoo... Clara transform!" Oscope Labs has revealed the full US trailer for a Costa Rican indie film titled Clara Sola, arriving in very limited US theaters this July. This iniitally premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar, playing to great reviews before it went on to play at tons of other film festivals. In a remote village in Costa Rica, Clara, a withdrawn 40-year-old woman, experiences a sexual and mystical awakening as she begins a journey to free herself from the repressive religious and social conventions which have dominated her life. Wendy Chinchilla Araya stars as Clara, with Flor María Vargas Chavez, Ana Julia Porras Espinoza, and Daniel Castañeda Rincón. The critics describe it as a film mixing "religion, mysticism and sexuality in a way that feels simultaneously odd, disquieting and richly rewarding." This looks seriously mesmerizing, with some gorgeous cinematography. Here's the official US...
- 6/9/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
How can women overcome negative perceptions about them disguised as societal ideals? Filmmaker Nathalie Álvarez Mesén presents her own examination of feminine reinvention with “Clara Sola.” The 2021 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight selection sees a 40-year-old woman facing what she’s accepted as the norm, and how wrong it can be to give in to those notions.
Read More: Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight 2021 Lineup Includes ‘The Souvenir Part II,’ The Latest From Clio Barnard, Miguel Gomes & More
Álvarez Mesén — a participant in Berlinale Talents, TIFF Filmmaker Lab, and NYFF Artist Academy — was intent on showcasing patriarchal concepts that move from generation to generation.
Continue reading ‘Clara Sola’ Trailer: A Woman Awakens To Herself In Cannes ’21 Fortnight Selection On July 1 at The Playlist.
Read More: Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight 2021 Lineup Includes ‘The Souvenir Part II,’ The Latest From Clio Barnard, Miguel Gomes & More
Álvarez Mesén — a participant in Berlinale Talents, TIFF Filmmaker Lab, and NYFF Artist Academy — was intent on showcasing patriarchal concepts that move from generation to generation.
Continue reading ‘Clara Sola’ Trailer: A Woman Awakens To Herself In Cannes ’21 Fortnight Selection On July 1 at The Playlist.
- 6/9/2022
- by Valerie Thompson
- The Playlist
Costa Rican Swedish filmmaker Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s feature debut “Clara Sola” won over the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2021 before becoming Costa Rica’s Oscar entry for the 2022 Academy Awards. While the film didn’t make the Best International Feature final five, this magical-realist drama is finally making its way to U.S. theaters courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories on July 1. Watch the trailer, exclusive to IndieWire, below.
“Clara Sola” is set in a remote village in Costa Rica, where 40-year-old Clara endures a repressively religious and withdrawn life under the domineering eye of her mother. Her uncanny affinity for creatures large and small allows Clara to take solace in the natural world around her. But tension builds within the family as Clara’s younger niece approaches her quinceañera, stirring up a sexual and mystical awakening in Clara, and a journey to unfetter herself from the patriarchal structures and social conventions that have commanded her life.
“Clara Sola” is set in a remote village in Costa Rica, where 40-year-old Clara endures a repressively religious and withdrawn life under the domineering eye of her mother. Her uncanny affinity for creatures large and small allows Clara to take solace in the natural world around her. But tension builds within the family as Clara’s younger niece approaches her quinceañera, stirring up a sexual and mystical awakening in Clara, and a journey to unfetter herself from the patriarchal structures and social conventions that have commanded her life.
- 6/8/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s Clara Sola was the big winner at the 2022 Swedish Film Awards, known as the Guldbagges, scooping Best Film and Best Director. Scroll down for the full list of winners.
Mesén also picked up Best Screenplay, shared with co-writer Maria Camila Arias, for the Spanish-language movie set in Costa Rica, which follow a 36-year-old woman who takes off on a journey to break free from social and religious conventions and become the master of her sexuality.
Below the line, Clara Sola also picked up Cinematography and Sound Design, taking its total wins on the night to five.
Further winners included A Christmas Tale, Hannes Holm’s live-action adaptation of the popular Swedish novel, which was previously made into an animated pic that has become a holiday classic in Sweden. Holm’s version won Best Actor for Jonas Karlsson and Best Supporting Actress for Jennie Silfverhjelm.
The Best...
Mesén also picked up Best Screenplay, shared with co-writer Maria Camila Arias, for the Spanish-language movie set in Costa Rica, which follow a 36-year-old woman who takes off on a journey to break free from social and religious conventions and become the master of her sexuality.
Below the line, Clara Sola also picked up Cinematography and Sound Design, taking its total wins on the night to five.
Further winners included A Christmas Tale, Hannes Holm’s live-action adaptation of the popular Swedish novel, which was previously made into an animated pic that has become a holiday classic in Sweden. Holm’s version won Best Actor for Jonas Karlsson and Best Supporting Actress for Jennie Silfverhjelm.
The Best...
- 1/25/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The shortened in-person Berlin Film Festival (Feb. 10-16) has revealed a raft of high profile shows that will participate in keenly anticipated annual fixture Berlinale Series.
The strand opens with Amazon Prime Video Argentinian spy series “Yosi, the Regretful Spy” and also includes HBO Max Swedish friendship comedy series “Lust”; Lone Scherfig’s TV2 Danish maternity ward-set “The Shift”; Czech Television, Arte drama “Suspicion” from Czech Republic and France; British Sky supernatural thriller “The Rising”; Channel 2 Iceland police drama “Black Sand”; and from France’s Club illico, comedy-drama “Last Summers of the Raspberries.”
Films selected for the youth-focused Generation Kplus strand include “The Hill of Secrets” (South Korea); “Waters of Pastaza” (Portugal); “Moja Vesna” (Slovenia/Australia); “My Small Land” (Japan); “The Realm of God” (Mexico); “The Apple Day” (Iran); “Shabu” (Netherlands) and “Boney Piles” (Ukraine).
Films selected for the Generation 14plus strand include “Alis” (Colombia/Chile/Romania); “Bubble” (Japan...
The strand opens with Amazon Prime Video Argentinian spy series “Yosi, the Regretful Spy” and also includes HBO Max Swedish friendship comedy series “Lust”; Lone Scherfig’s TV2 Danish maternity ward-set “The Shift”; Czech Television, Arte drama “Suspicion” from Czech Republic and France; British Sky supernatural thriller “The Rising”; Channel 2 Iceland police drama “Black Sand”; and from France’s Club illico, comedy-drama “Last Summers of the Raspberries.”
Films selected for the youth-focused Generation Kplus strand include “The Hill of Secrets” (South Korea); “Waters of Pastaza” (Portugal); “Moja Vesna” (Slovenia/Australia); “My Small Land” (Japan); “The Realm of God” (Mexico); “The Apple Day” (Iran); “Shabu” (Netherlands) and “Boney Piles” (Ukraine).
Films selected for the Generation 14plus strand include “Alis” (Colombia/Chile/Romania); “Bubble” (Japan...
- 1/14/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Latin America has submitted 15 contenders in the Academy Awards’ international feature category this time, not quite as big a haul as last year’s tally of 18.
Leading the hopefuls is Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” the fiction debut of Tatiana Huezo, one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2022. Her tale follows three girls as they come of age in a remote village afflicted by the drug trade and human trafficking. The Cannes Un Certain Regard winner is now streaming on Netflix, which is putting all its promotional heft behind it. The film’s producers are Jim Stark (“Coffee and Cigarettes”) and Nicolas Celis, the latter a key producer of Mexico’s first-ever international feature Oscar winner, “Roma,” by Alfonso Cuarón.
Huezo’s 2016 documentary, “Tempestad,” represented Mexico at the 90th Academy Awards. Since 1957, when Mexico started participating in the Oscars, 10 of its entries have been nominated, culminating in “Roma’s” win in 2019.
Chile,...
Leading the hopefuls is Mexico’s “Prayers for the Stolen,” the fiction debut of Tatiana Huezo, one of Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch in 2022. Her tale follows three girls as they come of age in a remote village afflicted by the drug trade and human trafficking. The Cannes Un Certain Regard winner is now streaming on Netflix, which is putting all its promotional heft behind it. The film’s producers are Jim Stark (“Coffee and Cigarettes”) and Nicolas Celis, the latter a key producer of Mexico’s first-ever international feature Oscar winner, “Roma,” by Alfonso Cuarón.
Huezo’s 2016 documentary, “Tempestad,” represented Mexico at the 90th Academy Awards. Since 1957, when Mexico started participating in the Oscars, 10 of its entries have been nominated, culminating in “Roma’s” win in 2019.
Chile,...
- 12/13/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Throughout the pandemic that has ravaged Central America, the region’s most prominent film event, the Panama International Film Festival (Iff Panama), has forged on virtually in its continued bid to bolster local projects and talent.
To mark its 10th anniversary this year, a smaller hybrid edition kicks off on Dec. 3 with “Plaza Catedral,” Panama’s submission to the Oscars, and wraps Dec. 5 with Michel Franco’s “Sundown,” starring Tim Roth, which competed for the Golden Lion at Venice.
“We couldn’t pass up celebrating our 10th anniversary, even if it were on a smaller scale this year,” said festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron, who cites encouragement from the international and local industry as key reasons to push onward, notwithstanding the setbacks from the pandemic.
“We’re still very much in the mind of the industry, especially Central America,” she asserted, pointing out that two films spawned by the festival’s rough cuts sidebar,...
To mark its 10th anniversary this year, a smaller hybrid edition kicks off on Dec. 3 with “Plaza Catedral,” Panama’s submission to the Oscars, and wraps Dec. 5 with Michel Franco’s “Sundown,” starring Tim Roth, which competed for the Golden Lion at Venice.
“We couldn’t pass up celebrating our 10th anniversary, even if it were on a smaller scale this year,” said festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron, who cites encouragement from the international and local industry as key reasons to push onward, notwithstanding the setbacks from the pandemic.
“We’re still very much in the mind of the industry, especially Central America,” she asserted, pointing out that two films spawned by the festival’s rough cuts sidebar,...
- 12/3/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Italy’s Torino Film Festival, the pre-eminent event for young directors and indie cinema — now being revamped after going virtual due to the pandemic — will somewhat symbolically kick off its upcoming 39th edition with the international premiere of “Sing 2” with director Garth Jennings in tow.
“It’s a hymn to going back into movie theaters,” says Torino artistic director Stefano Francia di Celle on choosing the animated musical comedy, featuring more than 40 rock, rap and pop tunes, as opener for the Nov. 26-Dec. 4 event. It will be Italy’s first festival held in venues with 100% seating capacity since Covid-19 struck.
“Sing 2,” he points out, is also only the second feature helmed by Jennings, who cut his teeth in the indie world making videos for many of the best pop acts of the 1990s such as Blur, Radiohead and Beck, before he was able to get Universal on board for his impressive “Sing” debut.
“It’s a hymn to going back into movie theaters,” says Torino artistic director Stefano Francia di Celle on choosing the animated musical comedy, featuring more than 40 rock, rap and pop tunes, as opener for the Nov. 26-Dec. 4 event. It will be Italy’s first festival held in venues with 100% seating capacity since Covid-19 struck.
“Sing 2,” he points out, is also only the second feature helmed by Jennings, who cut his teeth in the indie world making videos for many of the best pop acts of the 1990s such as Blur, Radiohead and Beck, before he was able to get Universal on board for his impressive “Sing” debut.
- 11/25/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
When the curtain rises Thursday on the 62nd edition of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, it will be a long-awaited return to form for one of the oldest fests on the circuit, after a surge in Covid-19 cases last fall forced the organizers to pivot from a hybrid to a fully online edition.
Attempting to sum up his feelings on the eve of opening night, festival director Orestis Andreadakis was gripped by emotion, using words like “strange,” “happy” and “anxious” in the same breath.
“It’s as if you go out from the hospital, this period of pandemic, and you don’t know how to speak to your friends, you don’t know how to be in love again, you don’t know how to speak with your relatives and parents and children,” Andreadakis tells Variety. “But at the same time, you have a big appetite for life.”
For the veteran film critic,...
Attempting to sum up his feelings on the eve of opening night, festival director Orestis Andreadakis was gripped by emotion, using words like “strange,” “happy” and “anxious” in the same breath.
“It’s as if you go out from the hospital, this period of pandemic, and you don’t know how to speak to your friends, you don’t know how to be in love again, you don’t know how to speak with your relatives and parents and children,” Andreadakis tells Variety. “But at the same time, you have a big appetite for life.”
For the veteran film critic,...
- 11/4/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Costa Rica on Friday selected Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s debut feature Clara Sola to as the country’s submission to the 2022 International Feature Oscar race. The pic, which made its world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, was later scooped up by Oscilloscope Laboratories which will release it in theaters early next year.
Álvarez Mesén and Maria Camila Arias co-penned the script for the pic, which is set in a remote Costa Rican village and centers on 40-year-old Clara, who endures a repressively religious and withdrawn life under the command of her mother. Tension builds within the family as Clara’s younger niece approaches her quinceañera, igniting a sexual and mystical awakening in Clara, and a journey to free herself from the conventions that have dominated her life.
Ana Julia Porras Espinoza, Daniel Castañeda Rincón, Flor María Vargas Chavez and Wendy Chinchilla Araya star.
Álvarez Mesén and Maria Camila Arias co-penned the script for the pic, which is set in a remote Costa Rican village and centers on 40-year-old Clara, who endures a repressively religious and withdrawn life under the command of her mother. Tension builds within the family as Clara’s younger niece approaches her quinceañera, igniting a sexual and mystical awakening in Clara, and a journey to free herself from the conventions that have dominated her life.
Ana Julia Porras Espinoza, Daniel Castañeda Rincón, Flor María Vargas Chavez and Wendy Chinchilla Araya star.
- 10/22/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
San Sebastian-based production-distribution outfit Atera Films has taken Spanish distribution rights to Inés María Barrionuevo’s “Camila Comes out Tonight” –sold by Latido Films – and Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s “Clara Sola,” whose international sales are handled by Luxbox.
With the two new titles, Atera underscores its aim of discovering and making available to Spanish audiences young Ibero-American directors including those who explore Lgtbi+ issues. The buys build on two prior key acquisitions – Jayro Bustamante’s “Tremors” and “La Llorona.” A further Atera acquisition is Andrés Wood’s “Spider.”
“These new acquisitions confirm our main editorial backbone, which is talent, especially if young and feminine, and exploring women’s issues, as is the case here,” Atera’s Miren Aperribay told Variety.
“We’re always eager to bring to Spain films with a strong auteurist voice which premiered at the world’s foremost festivals,” she added.
Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “Clara Sola...
With the two new titles, Atera underscores its aim of discovering and making available to Spanish audiences young Ibero-American directors including those who explore Lgtbi+ issues. The buys build on two prior key acquisitions – Jayro Bustamante’s “Tremors” and “La Llorona.” A further Atera acquisition is Andrés Wood’s “Spider.”
“These new acquisitions confirm our main editorial backbone, which is talent, especially if young and feminine, and exploring women’s issues, as is the case here,” Atera’s Miren Aperribay told Variety.
“We’re always eager to bring to Spain films with a strong auteurist voice which premiered at the world’s foremost festivals,” she added.
Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “Clara Sola...
- 10/22/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
An in-person Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg), which has moved its traditional spring dates to the fall, runs Oct. 1-9 this year. It opens with Dennis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” following its splash in Venice, and closes with the North American premiere of the first two episodes of Netflix’s animated series “Maya and the Three” from Mexico’s Jorge Gutiérrez.
Given the ongoing pandemic that is still hampering some travel, the festival expects fewer participants. Speaking to Variety in mid-September, festival director Estrella Araiza said that at that moment the Festival had about 300 confirmed participants while it normally had as many as 1,500.
Cinemas will be at 50% capacity at the festival even though Mexico has seen most cinemas opening at 100% capacity. “We want to adhere to the strictest protocols to keep our guests safe,” Araiza noted.
Some activities, such as the Masterclasses, will be available online. A novelty this year, the live...
Given the ongoing pandemic that is still hampering some travel, the festival expects fewer participants. Speaking to Variety in mid-September, festival director Estrella Araiza said that at that moment the Festival had about 300 confirmed participants while it normally had as many as 1,500.
Cinemas will be at 50% capacity at the festival even though Mexico has seen most cinemas opening at 100% capacity. “We want to adhere to the strictest protocols to keep our guests safe,” Araiza noted.
Some activities, such as the Masterclasses, will be available online. A novelty this year, the live...
- 9/26/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
The Hamptons Intl. Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Matthew Heineman’s “The First Wave” on Oct. 7 and buzzy titles including Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer” as the Saturday centerpiece film and Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” in the additional spotlight selection. The in-person festival ends Oct. 13 with Wes Anderson’s “French Dispatch.” The festival takes place in the Hamptons on the Eastern End of Long Island, N.Y. from Oct. 7-13. Masks and proof of vaccination are required in theaters.
Spotlight Titles
Newly announced Spotlight titles include the East Coast premiere of Joe Wright’s “Cyrano,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial feature debut of “The Lost Daughter,” Academy Award-winning director Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers,” Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut “Passing” and Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.”
Signature Programs
As part of the Signature Programs, the Conflict and Resolution section will include Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee,...
Spotlight Titles
Newly announced Spotlight titles include the East Coast premiere of Joe Wright’s “Cyrano,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial feature debut of “The Lost Daughter,” Academy Award-winning director Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers,” Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut “Passing” and Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.”
Signature Programs
As part of the Signature Programs, the Conflict and Resolution section will include Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s “Flee,...
- 9/15/2021
- by Jennifer Yuma
- Variety Film + TV
The 65 British Film Institute (BFI) London Film Festival has unveiled its full program and the headline galas include several films that have been gaining fame recently.
Among the galas are Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer,” with Kristen Stewart; Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” with Benedict Cumberbatch; Reinaldo Marcus Green’s “King Richard,” with Will Smith; and Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” featuring a host of stars including Timothée Chalamet, Tilda Swinton and Léa Seydoux.
The galas also include Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast,” Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta,” Eva Husson’s “Mothering Sunday,” Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir: Part II” and Sarah Smith and Jean Philippe-Vine’s “Ron’s Gone Wrong.”
Special presentations include Clio Barnard’s “Ali & Ava,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria,” Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, 13th District,...
Among the galas are Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer,” with Kristen Stewart; Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” with Benedict Cumberbatch; Reinaldo Marcus Green’s “King Richard,” with Will Smith; and Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” featuring a host of stars including Timothée Chalamet, Tilda Swinton and Léa Seydoux.
The galas also include Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast,” Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta,” Eva Husson’s “Mothering Sunday,” Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir: Part II” and Sarah Smith and Jean Philippe-Vine’s “Ron’s Gone Wrong.”
Special presentations include Clio Barnard’s “Ali & Ava,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria,” Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, 13th District,...
- 9/7/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired U.S. rights to “Stanleyville,” starring “Goodnight Mommy’s” Susanne Wuest, ahead of the film’s world premiere at this month’s Fantasia Film Festival.
One of the high-profile Fantasia deal announcements, the pick-up, brokered with Yellow Veil Pictures, will see Oscilloscope open “Stanleyville” in U.S. theaters this Winter.
“Stanleyville” marks the feature film debut of Canadian actor-turned-director Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who has appeared in a slew of movies and TV series, including “Antibirth,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “Tin Star.”
Directed by Bruce McDonald, McCabe-Lokos’ first feature screenplay, “The Husband,” which he starred in, premiered at Toronto 2013. His directorial debut, 2016 short “Ape Sodom,” and 2017 short “Midnight Confession” were also both selected for Toronto.
Written by McCabe-Lokos and Rob Benvie, who also took a co-scribe credit on “Midnight Confession,” “Stanleyville” brings McCabe-Lokos’ satirical vision of the state of the modern world to...
One of the high-profile Fantasia deal announcements, the pick-up, brokered with Yellow Veil Pictures, will see Oscilloscope open “Stanleyville” in U.S. theaters this Winter.
“Stanleyville” marks the feature film debut of Canadian actor-turned-director Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who has appeared in a slew of movies and TV series, including “Antibirth,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “Tin Star.”
Directed by Bruce McDonald, McCabe-Lokos’ first feature screenplay, “The Husband,” which he starred in, premiered at Toronto 2013. His directorial debut, 2016 short “Ape Sodom,” and 2017 short “Midnight Confession” were also both selected for Toronto.
Written by McCabe-Lokos and Rob Benvie, who also took a co-scribe credit on “Midnight Confession,” “Stanleyville” brings McCabe-Lokos’ satirical vision of the state of the modern world to...
- 8/2/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Oscilloscope Laboratories has swooped on North American rights to Costa Rican-Swedish filmmaker Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s debut feature Clara Sola here in Cannes.
The film generated to good buzz after its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight. Set in a remote village in Costa Rica, it follows 40-year-old Clara who endures a repressively religious and withdrawn life under the command of her mother. Her uncanny affinity for creatures large and small allows her to find solace in the natural world around her. Tension builds within the family as Clara’s younger niece approaches her quinceañera, igniting a sexual and mystical awakening in Clara, and a journey to free herself from the conventions that have dominated her life.
Oscilloscope is eyeing an awards corridor theatrical release for the film in late 2021 / early 2022.
Producers on the pic are Swedish boutique production company Hobab in co-production with U.S. outfit Resolve Media,...
The film generated to good buzz after its premiere in Directors’ Fortnight. Set in a remote village in Costa Rica, it follows 40-year-old Clara who endures a repressively religious and withdrawn life under the command of her mother. Her uncanny affinity for creatures large and small allows her to find solace in the natural world around her. Tension builds within the family as Clara’s younger niece approaches her quinceañera, igniting a sexual and mystical awakening in Clara, and a journey to free herself from the conventions that have dominated her life.
Oscilloscope is eyeing an awards corridor theatrical release for the film in late 2021 / early 2022.
Producers on the pic are Swedish boutique production company Hobab in co-production with U.S. outfit Resolve Media,...
- 7/13/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
2019 selection Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s Clara Sola plays in Directors’ Fortnight.
Breaking Through The Lens (Bttl), the year-round programme to promote projects by female and non-binary international filmmakers, has unveiled the 10 finalists in this year’s virtual pitching event at the Marché.
They include: Dina Amer’s Cain And Abel (Egypt-France-us) about two French-born Muslims caught on either side of the 2015 Charlie Hedbo attack; Nihaarika Negi’s horror Feral (US) about the arrival of a shaman on a colonial estate in 1950s India; Tricia Lee’s Idol (US), a musical biopic about the celebrated American Idol contestant William Hung; Celine Cotran...
Breaking Through The Lens (Bttl), the year-round programme to promote projects by female and non-binary international filmmakers, has unveiled the 10 finalists in this year’s virtual pitching event at the Marché.
They include: Dina Amer’s Cain And Abel (Egypt-France-us) about two French-born Muslims caught on either side of the 2015 Charlie Hedbo attack; Nihaarika Negi’s horror Feral (US) about the arrival of a shaman on a colonial estate in 1950s India; Tricia Lee’s Idol (US), a musical biopic about the celebrated American Idol contestant William Hung; Celine Cotran...
- 7/10/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
“Clara Sola,” the debut feature from Swedish-Costa Rican director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, looks set for a French release.
Luxbox has sold the rights in France to Paris-based art-pic distribution outfit Epicentre Films. News of the deal comes the same day that the magical realist is premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
Set in a remote Costa Rican village, “Clara Sola” centers around middle-aged Clara, played by debut actor and award-winning dancer Wendy Chinchilla. In the community, Clara is well-respected as a spiritual healer who brings hope to the rural population. Having been dominated for most of her life by an overbearing mother, she experiences a delayed sexual awakening after meeting her niece’s new boyfriend.
Mesen has described the film as being set in a “visceral world,” and hopes that it offers audiences a “window to a place where a subtle magic is inherent to nature...
Luxbox has sold the rights in France to Paris-based art-pic distribution outfit Epicentre Films. News of the deal comes the same day that the magical realist is premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
Set in a remote Costa Rican village, “Clara Sola” centers around middle-aged Clara, played by debut actor and award-winning dancer Wendy Chinchilla. In the community, Clara is well-respected as a spiritual healer who brings hope to the rural population. Having been dominated for most of her life by an overbearing mother, she experiences a delayed sexual awakening after meeting her niece’s new boyfriend.
Mesen has described the film as being set in a “visceral world,” and hopes that it offers audiences a “window to a place where a subtle magic is inherent to nature...
- 7/8/2021
- by Will Thorne
- Variety Film + TV
Directors’ Fortnight premiere Clara Sola has many aspects in common with a coming-of-age sexual awakening story — and yet the heroine of Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s drama is 40 years old. A sheltered woman living in remote Costa Rica in the shadow of her religious mother, Clara (Wendy Chinchilla) appears to have learning difficulties that are never discussed or named. Clara is just Clara — her family and small group of neighbors accept her differences. But they may be also underestimating her, as well as exploiting her otherworldly quality when she is paraded as a healer in front of visiting tourists. Does Clara have genuine gifts? First-time feature helmer Mesén leaves this and more open to debate in an atmospheric film that blends magical realism with psycho-sexual drama.
Childlike Clara begins to feel sexual stirrings when she spends time with Santiago (Daniel Castañeda Rincón), the boyfriend of her teenage niece, Maria. He is...
Childlike Clara begins to feel sexual stirrings when she spends time with Santiago (Daniel Castañeda Rincón), the boyfriend of her teenage niece, Maria. He is...
- 7/8/2021
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
The title character of the remarkable Clara Sola is a 40-year-old virgin. You might also call her a middle-aged version of Sissy Spacek’s Carrie. But Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s first feature is neither a comedy nor a horror freak-out. Set in a rural village and cast with nonactors, led by a feral performance from dancer Wendy Chinchilla Araya, the drama occupies its own territory, tinged with magic realism and deeply immersed in the sensory world. It’s also a vivid reminder that even a matriarchy can be paternalistic.
Clara lives with her religious mother, Fresia (Flor María Vargas Chaves), and her teenage ...
Clara lives with her religious mother, Fresia (Flor María Vargas Chaves), and her teenage ...
The title character of the remarkable Clara Sola is a 40-year-old virgin. You might also call her a middle-aged version of Sissy Spacek’s Carrie. But Nathalie Álvarez Mesén’s first feature is neither a comedy nor a horror freak-out. Set in a rural village and cast with nonactors, led by a feral performance from dancer Wendy Chinchilla Araya, the drama occupies its own territory, tinged with magic realism and deeply immersed in the sensory world. It’s also a vivid reminder that even a matriarchy can be paternalistic.
Clara lives with her religious mother, Fresia (Flor María Vargas Chaves), and her teenage ...
Clara lives with her religious mother, Fresia (Flor María Vargas Chaves), and her teenage ...
Nathalie Álvarez Mesén is developing The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands.
Swedish director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, whose debut feature, Costa Rica-set Clara Sola is screening in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, is developing her next feature, The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands, as part of the Torino ScriptLab.
She will reunite with Clara Sola’s Stockholm-based producer Nima Yousefi of Hobab for the project. The first script of the film is now written, and Yousefi is meeting with potential partners and co-producers. No sales company is attached yet.
The story is set in the 1790s, following a conservative European...
Swedish director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, whose debut feature, Costa Rica-set Clara Sola is screening in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, is developing her next feature, The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands, as part of the Torino ScriptLab.
She will reunite with Clara Sola’s Stockholm-based producer Nima Yousefi of Hobab for the project. The first script of the film is now written, and Yousefi is meeting with potential partners and co-producers. No sales company is attached yet.
The story is set in the 1790s, following a conservative European...
- 7/8/2021
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Paris-based sales agent Luxbox has dropped a trailer for Swedish-Costa Rican debut feature “Clara Sola” from Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, screening at this year’s Directors’ Fortnight.
Set in a remote Costa Rican village, the magical realist story turns on middle-aged Clara, played by debut actor and award-winning dancer Wendy Chinchilla. In the community, Clara is well-respected as a spiritual healer who brings hope to the rural population. Having been dominated for most of her life by an overbearing mother, she experiences a delayed sexual awakening after meeting her niece’s new boyfriend.
With this new dimension of her personality exposed, Clara explores uncharted territories and crosses physical and mystical boundaries once seemingly unpassable. Through her journey of empowerment and self-discovery, she is able to break the co-dependent bond between herself and the community and start to heal.
In the trailer we are given a brief look at the ceremonies and...
Set in a remote Costa Rican village, the magical realist story turns on middle-aged Clara, played by debut actor and award-winning dancer Wendy Chinchilla. In the community, Clara is well-respected as a spiritual healer who brings hope to the rural population. Having been dominated for most of her life by an overbearing mother, she experiences a delayed sexual awakening after meeting her niece’s new boyfriend.
With this new dimension of her personality exposed, Clara explores uncharted territories and crosses physical and mystical boundaries once seemingly unpassable. Through her journey of empowerment and self-discovery, she is able to break the co-dependent bond between herself and the community and start to heal.
In the trailer we are given a brief look at the ceremonies and...
- 6/30/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
“The Mountain Bride,” a new feature film by Italian director Maura Delpero, whose 2019 drama “Maternal” made a splash on the international arthouse circuit, is among projects selected for the TorinoFilmLab’s ScriptLab development workshop.
Delpero, who is the winner of last year’s annual Women in Motion Young Talent Award bestowed by the Kering Group and the Cannes Film Festival, is following up her debut drama (pictured), which was set in an Argentinian refuge for adolescent single mothers run by nuns, with another female-centric drama.
“The Mountain Bride” will unfold in the tiny Alpine village of Vermiglio in Italy’s Trentino Alto-Adige region between 1944 and 1945. “Lucia, Nanda and Flavia are the three young sisters in the local schoolmaster’s numerous family. Something changes when a group of soldiers finds refuge in the small mountain community,” reads the project’s synopsis.
After Tfl’s ScriptLab in 2020 moved completely online, this year...
Delpero, who is the winner of last year’s annual Women in Motion Young Talent Award bestowed by the Kering Group and the Cannes Film Festival, is following up her debut drama (pictured), which was set in an Argentinian refuge for adolescent single mothers run by nuns, with another female-centric drama.
“The Mountain Bride” will unfold in the tiny Alpine village of Vermiglio in Italy’s Trentino Alto-Adige region between 1944 and 1945. “Lucia, Nanda and Flavia are the three young sisters in the local schoolmaster’s numerous family. Something changes when a group of soldiers finds refuge in the small mountain community,” reads the project’s synopsis.
After Tfl’s ScriptLab in 2020 moved completely online, this year...
- 3/10/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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