Anasuya Sengupta on Her Cannes Un Certain Regard Best Actress Triumph: ‘I Went for a Film Festival and Came Back the Darling of the Nation’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Paolo Cortellesi’s “There’s Still Tomorrow,” a box office smash in its native Italy, was Sunday named winner of the Sydney Film Prize at the end of the Sydney Film Festival (June 5-16) A jury headed by Danis Tanovic called the film about an industrious woman in post WWII Rome “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous.” The prize is one of the richest awarded at any festival and is worth A$60,000 ($39,600). The announcement was made at the city’s State Theatre ahead of the Australian premiere screening of the Demi Moore-starring Cannes hit “The Substance.” The A$20,000 ($13,200) Documentary Australia award went to local filmmaker James Bradley, for “Welcome to Babel,” which charts Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen’s plans to create an epic work.

Selena Kuznikov Sulayman Tahir’s “Peripheral” and Coke Daniels’ “The Waterboyz” were among the winners of this year’s Best of ABFF Awards, presented Saturday at the American Black Film Festival. Hosted by Dondré Whitfield, the festival presented winners in the official film selection categories: narrative and documentary features, series and the HBO Short Film Award showcase. This year’s festival takes place June 12-16 in Miami Beach, Fla., followed by a virtual segment June 17-24 on ABFF PLAY.

Naman Ramachandran British writer James Graham will deliver this year’s flagship James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, supported by Screen Scotland. Graham, known for his sharp political insights and popular dramas, has made significant contributions to stage, television and film. His works include the BAFTA-winning “Sherwood,” which returns to BBC later this year, and the acclaimed “Quiz.” On stage, he brought “Dear England” to the West End, adapted “Tammy Faye” for Broadway and reimagined “Boys from the Blackstuff.” Graham’s political narratives include “Brexit: An Uncivil War” and “Coalition.” In his lecture, Graham will discuss TV drama’s role in shaping political discourse and social justice.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent U.S. producer Stacey Sher — whose credits include Quentin Tarantino‘s “Pulp Fiction,” “Django Unchained” and “The Hateful Eight” as well as Steven Soderbergh’s “Erin Brockovich,” “Out of Sight” and “Contagion” — will be honored by the Locarno Film Festival with its Raimondo Rezzonico Prize, which celebrates a producer who epitomizes the indie ethos.

Jamie Lang Former Moonbug managing director Andy Yeatman has been appointed CEO of the newly launched Miraculous Corp USA, a joint venture between Mediawan and the “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir” studio ZAG. Unveiled last month, Miraculous Corp was established to join all facets of the Miraculous franchise under one roof, with Mediawan taking 60% ownership and Zag the other 40%. Zag founder and Miraculous co-creator Jeremy Zag will continue as a major shareholder and board member while overseeing the development and creation of new storylines and characters within the franchise.

Naman Ramachandran India enjoyed a record year at the Cannes Film Festival — winning three major awards and an honor — and this is likely to have a positive impact on the country’s independent cinema scene, according to industry experts. Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light” won the competition grand prix, Anasuya Sengupta was awarded best actress at the festival’s Un Certain Regard strand for “The Shameless” and Chidananda S. Naik’s “Sunflowers Were the First Ones to Know” was crowned the best film at the La Cinef section.

Lee Isaac Chung‘s Twisters sequel will receive its Italian premiere at this year’s Taormina Film Festival, which takes place July 12 to July 19 in southern Italy. 

Addie Morfoot Contributor “La Cocina,” the Rooney Mara-starring drama that premiered at the 2024 Berlinale, is among four feature films that will screen at the inaugural Croatian International Film Festival beginning Aug. 8. The four-day event, set in the coastal city of Sibenik, will also feature 18 documentary and narrative shorts, giving the struggling independent film market an additional international venue to screen movies and launch careers.

Jack Dunn The Newport Beach Film Festival will return to London Feb. 13 2025 for its U.K. Honors, recognizing outstanding work by British and Irish actors across film and television.

Selena Kuznikov The Bentonville Film Festival will host “Shaping the Narrative: A Conversation with Misty Copeland” in partnership with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the African American Film Critics’ Association June 12 at 6 p.m. The evening will feature a conversation with ballerina and New York Times bestselling author Misty Copeland following a screening of her documentary “Flower,” a silent arts activism film using dance to help raise awareness about intergenerational equity.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The imminently upcoming Sydney Film Festival has added eight titles that premiered at Cannes to its lineup. They are: Guan Hu’s “Black Dog”; Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”; Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project “Megalopolis”; Guy Maddin, Evan and Galen Johnson’s “Rumours,” starring Australia’s Cate Blanchett; documentary “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” Jia Zhangke’s “Caught by the Tides”; “The Girl with the Needle”; and revenge thriller “Ghost Trail.” Due to demand, the SFF organizers have also added additional screenings of “The Substance,” the Demi Moore-starring film already set as the festival’s closing night title. The festival runs June 5-16.

Ernest Cole, the first Black freelance photographer in South Africa, is known today for his contribution to documenting the Apartheid in the 1960s and racial attitudes in America in the 1970s. Born in 1940, he grew up in segregated South Africa before moving to the United States in his youth to evade persecution for his work.

A Ukrainian model has said she is getting ready to file a lawsuit against “the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival” over what she described as the aggressive force used against her on the red carpet by the festival’s security.

Thania Garcia Following his detainment in California for fraud and theft, Jamaican-American singer Sean Kingston is now facing 10 charges in Broward County, Florida, according to an arrest warrant issued on May 20. Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Paul Anderson, was arrested on May 23, just hours after a SWAT team raided his South Florida mansion and arrested his mother. Kingston’s mother, Janice Turner, is also named in the arrest warrant for defrauding several businesses, including a jeweler and a car dealer.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Oscar-nominated Swiss animator Claude Barras (“My Life as a Zucchini”) will be honored by the Locarno Film Festival with its Locarno Kids Award given to personalities credited with infusing younger generations with a love for cinema. Barras’ beloved stop-motion film “Life as a Zucchini,” about an orphaned boy who lives in a foster home, played at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes in 2016, and went on to be nominated for best animated feature at the Oscars and secured distribution in over 50 territories.

Sean Baker’s “Anora,” a comic but devastating Brooklyn odyssey about a sex worker who marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, has won the Cannes Film Festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or.Baker accepted the prize with his movie’s star, Mikey Madison, watching in the audience at the Cannes closing ceremony Saturday. The win for “Anora” marks a new high point for Baker, the director of “The Florida Project.” It’s also, remarkably, the fifth straight Palme d’Or won by indie distributor Neon, following “Parasite,” “Titane,” “Triangle of Sadness” and last year’s winner, “Anatomy of a Fall.”“I don’t really know what’s happening right now,” said Baker.While “Anora” was arguably the most acclaimed film of the festival, its win was a slight surprise.

Star Wars creator George Lucas was fêted with an Honorary Palme d’Or at this evening’s Cannes Film Festival closing ceremony.

Weird sisters have been spinning their witchy webs in stories dating back to Greek mythology, which included a macabre trio of sisters who passed a single eye between them. There is something of that sense of a closed circle of unknowable femininity between the two teenage girls in September Says, the first film to be directed by Greek Weird Wave actor Ariane Labed, based on the 2020 novel Sisters by Daisy Johnson and set between England and Ireland.

Paolo Sorrentino embraced the stars of his latest film “Parthenope,” including Gary Oldman, Celeste Della Porta and Stefania Sandrelli, as the film received a 9.5-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night. Tears streamed down the face of Della Porta, who plays the title character, and Sorrentino looked visibly moved as he addressed the crowd. “For me, this movie is a celebration of the journey of my life,” he said.

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