Agnieszka Holland, Wim Wenders, Aki Kaurismaki, Hamaguchi Ryusuke Feature in Toronto Centrepiece Program

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The 50th Telluride Film Festival official lineup has been announced, revealing multiple world premieres including Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin,” Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” and Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.” In addition, the festival will pay tribute to Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos, whose film “Poor Things” will debut Stateside after premiering at the Venice Film Festival.

Naman Ramachandran Anurag Kashyap, Sunny Leone, Taapsee Pannu, Rahul Bhat, Ranjan Singh, Anup Singh, Don Palathara, and Sami Khan are among the guest list at the 12th edition of BMO International Film Festival of South Asia (IFFSA), Toronto (Oct. 12-22).

Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-based Cannes Competition title Perfect Days has been set as the opening film of this year’s Tokyo Film Festival while Godzilla Minus One, written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki, will close proceedings.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wim Wenders’ acclaimed “Perfect Days” will open the Tokyo International Film Festival in October. The event will close with “Godzilla Minus One,” the latest addition to Toho’s iconic monster movie franchise on Nov. 1. “Perfect Days” follows the routine and revelatory chance encounters of a simple toilet cleaner in Tokyo.

Naman Ramachandran The 67th BFI London Film Festival has unveiled the titles that will compete in its official, first feature, documentary and short film competitions. Festival director Kristy Matheson said: “The films represented in each of these competitive strands offer audiences an exciting array of U.K. and global filmmaking voices and cinematic forms.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Triple Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border,” which will premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, before going onto Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival, has sold to multiple territories. Variety has been granted access to an exclusive clip from the film, and Holland’s notes on the production, which we quote from below, again exclusively.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Evil Does Not Exist,” the new film by the Oscar-winning auteur Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, has sold to several additional territories. The film will world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, will have its North America premiere as a special presentation at Toronto, and will go on to screen at New York and San Sebastian. Hamaguchi received Oscar nominations last year for directing and adapted screenplay, shared with Takamasa Ôe, for “Drive My Car.” The film was also nominated in the best picture category and won the international feature film Oscar.

Naman Ramachandran As South Asians increasingly make their mark on the world film and TV stage, an initiative to find emerging talent from the region and propel them globally is being launched. Alongside talent from the region who are already entrenched in Hollywood, including Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Freida Pinto, in recent years several South Asian actors have appeared in international projects.

McKinley Franklin editor Rotten Tomatoes is expanding its critics outreach and grant program after five years, the company announced Tuesday, adding three new beneficiary organizations, scholarships and mentorship for aspiring critics from underrepresented groups. Over its first half-decade, Rotten Tomatoes estimates it has added more than 1,000 critics as part of the initiative.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Aki Kaurismäki’s Cannes Jury Prize winner “Fallen Leaves” has snagged the 2023 Intl. Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) Grand Prix for best film of the past year.

Naman Ramachandran A galaxy of stars popular across Pakistan, South Asia and beyond headline Netflix’s first Pakistan-themed original “Jo Bachay Hain Sang Samait Lo.” The series is an official adaptation of Farhat Ishtiaq’s bestselling 2013 Urdu-language novel of the same name. It revolves around Sikandar, a Harvard law student who experiences a life-changing incident that makes him keep others at bay, and Liza, a talented artist who is bursting with life but has had a troubled past. They meet in Italy.

EXCLUSIVE: Akiva Goldsman won an Oscar for A Beautiful Mind, his screenplay detoured from Sylvia Nasar’s biography to the story of her genius mathematician husband John Nash. Depicted deciphering Soviet-planted hidden media messages for the Defense Department, the duty turned out to be a symptom of schizophrenia. That was a mild foray into the human mind compared to The Crowded Room, the 10-part Apple TV+ series Goldsman created and was showrunner on. Tom Holland stars as a young man whose erratic behavior was the result of a false reality triggered by a mind that fractured into multiple alter egos. Inspired by the Daniel Keyes book The Minds of Billy Milligan, Goldsman changed facts to create a fictionalized story that would be hard to believe had it not happened. What Goldsman hasn’t discussed until now is how much of the narrative was informed by his own memories of being molested as a child by a family friend, through his formative childhood and teenage years. There is truth among fiction that has sparked strong reactions from fellow trauma sufferers. Buckle up.   

A daring rescue mission is underway in Pakistan, where eight people are trapped in a cable car hanging 240 meters above a ravine.

Pakistani-American documentary filmmaker and political activist Mohammad Ali Naqvi’s Primetime Emmy-nominated film The Accused: Damned or Devoted? has been called a “scarily acute portrait of how religion and politics intersect” by the U.K.’s Telegraph. 

Christian Petzold’s Afire and Wim Wenders’ Anselm are among movies on Germany’s longlist for the Best International Film Oscar.

were each other’s lobsters! Jennifer Aniston reminded fans Thursday in a resurfaced clip that she and her “Friends” co-star David Schwimmer had crushes on each other while filming the hit ’90s sitcom. Aniston’s confession, which she first shared with Kelly Ripa and then-co-host Ryan Seacrest on “Live with Kelly and Ryan” back in March, aired again this week on ABC.“You and David in the early years had a crush on each other,” Ripa said to Aniston in the revisited moment.

TIFF today revealed their Centerpiece programme lineup which includes the Cannes Film Festival-winning Wim Wenders movie, Perfect Days. The festival also revealed another couple of star-driven world premieres that being Paramount’s Finestkind starring Jenna Ortega, Ben Foster and Tommy Lee Jones as well as 20th Century Studios/Hulu’s Awkwafina, Sandra Oh and Will Ferrell comedy, Quiz Lady.

Despite the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Fall film festivals like Venice, TIFF, and NYFF forge ahead with their lineups. And today, TIFF announced the star-studded roster for its Gala and Special Presentation lineups for the 48th edition of the festival.

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all North American rights to Academy Award-winning Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist ahead of its world premiere in Competition at the Venice Film Festival next month.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Evil Does Not Exist,” the new drama film by “Drive My Car” director Hamaguchi Ryusuke, has been picked up for North American release by Sideshow and Janus Films. The title will have its world premiere in competition at the Venice festival before playing as a special presentation in Toronto and the main slate of the New York Film Festival. Sideshow and Janus Films, which acquired all North American rights, expect to release the film in theaters after a run of top festivals.