Arab Filmmakers Tackle Taboo Subjects in Venice, Toronto Festival Films

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Super, the boutique distribution label from Neon, has acquired U.S. rights to Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer” after it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury prize in Venice along with the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future award. “Saint Omer” was recently shortlisted for France’s submission to the Academy Awards and will premiere at the New York Film Festival and play the BFI London Festival. Neon plans a theatrical release. “Saint Omer” is Diop’s debut fiction feature, which she co-wrote with Amrita David and Marie NDiaye, and it stars Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville and Aurélia Petit. Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral of Srab Films produced alongside Arte France Cinéma and Pictanovo Hauts-de-France.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Neon has acquired the North American rights to the thriller “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” out of the Toronto International Film Festival, where it world premiered in the auteur-driven Platform section. Based on Andreas Malm’s manifesto tackling the climate crisis, the film is directed by Daniel Goldhaber (“CAM”); produced, co-written and stars Ariela Barer (“Runaways”, “Atypical”); co-written by Jordan Sjol and edited by Daniel Garber (“CAM,” “Some Kind of Heaven”). “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” follows a group of young environmental activists who set out to sabotage an oil pipeline in a timely thriller that’s described as “part high-stakes heist, part radical exploration of direct action as climate activism.”

Jennie Punter Tucked in a corner of the Catskills, Casa Susanna was a modest private resort where cross-dressing heterosexual men and transgender women gathered on summer weekends through the 1950s and ‘60s to live as their true selves, dressed in the ladies’ fashion of the day and engaging in bourgeois social activities such as taking snapshots.   Over the past 15 years, a handful of articles, academic research, and photography exhibitions (and let’s not forget the 2014 Tony-nominated play by Harvey Fierstein) have gradually opened the door to this secret subculture of Cold War America. Now “Casa Susanna,” a new documentary by French filmmaker Sébastien Lifshitz (“Wild Side,” “Little Girl”), flings it open.

The Toronto Film Festival ushered in the fall awards season on Sunday evening with the first in-person edition of its Tribute Awards in three years at the city’s historic Fairmount Royal York Hotel.

The Ukrainian cast and crew of Luxembourg, Luxembourg — premiering in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival — today used their Lido photo call as a powerful call for support of Ukraine’s families.

Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (October 5-14) has announced its full line-up, including opening film Scent Of Wind, directed by Iran’s Hadi Mohaghegh, while Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai will be honoured as Asian Filmmaker Of The Year.

Brendan Fraser gives a cheeky smile while arriving at JFK airport in New York City on Tuesday afternoon (September 6).

Chris Pine's rep is denying a fan theory. In a statement to ET, the 42-year-old actor's rep shuts down claims that Harry Styles spit on Pine at the premiere of their flick, at the Venice Film Festival. «This is a ridiculous story… a complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation,» Pine's rep tells ET.

Marta Balaga Venice Film Festival’s Final Cut, dedicated to films in post-production from African and Arab countries, wrapped its anniversary 10th edition on Sept. 5. As fest director Alberto Barbera welcomed the audience to “the final stage of the Final Cut,” La Biennale di Venezia Prize – and cash award of € 5,000 – went to “Inshallah a Boy,” directed by Amjad Al Rasheed. Jurors Claire Diao, Rasha Salti and Gaetano Maiorino praised it for “brilliant direction and performances, tackling a really dramatic social issue and for honoring the resilience of women in a conservative context.” The film, a co-production between Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is overseen by Rula Nasser for The Imaginarium Films.

As the 49th Annual Telluride Film Festival comes to a close on this Labor Day holiday, it once again could be a fest that ignites the Oscar chances of a number of films that have either had their World Premieres or North American Premieres this weekend. As part of the so-called Fall Festival Trifecta of Venice/Telluride/Toronto (the latter beginning this Thursday), this is where the six month+ awards season officially starts, even if the even longer Emmy season doesn’t conclude until a week from today.

If you thought Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde were set to be the hottest couple at the Venice Film Festival, you've got the wrong person!!! During the standing ovation for the couple's forthcoming film,  Styles planted a kiss on none other than his co-star Nick Kroll.  In video from the event, you can see Styles and Kroll finding each other in the crowd after the film's premiere. The two actors, both looking dapper in blue suits, kiss each other on the lips and embrace as onlookers cheer. Harry Styles kisses Nick Kroll during the standing ovation for #DontWorryDarling.

Florence Pugh made a sparkling statement on the 79th Venice International Film Festival red carpet on Monday. The actress is in Italy for the premiere of Olivia Wilde's forthcoming film  where Pugh stars opposite Harry Styles. Pugh brought her grandmother as her date for the premiere, and the two walked the red carpet in perfect style.

Olivia Wilde arrived on the Lido Monday morning for the hotly-anticipated press conference for her latest film Don’t Worry Darling. Wilde was joined by her principal cast, including Harry Styles, Gemma Chan, and Chris Pine. As previously reported, Florence Pugh, the film’s lead, was not in attendance because her flight from the Budapest set of the Dune sequel didn’t land in Venice until after the presser began. Pugh is expected to attend the film’s evening premiere.

Olivia Wilde declined to speak in detail about those Florence Pugh feud rumours as she appeared at a Venice Film Festival press conference to discuss her new movie “Don’t Worry Darling”.

“Don’t Worry Darling,” as the actress will not be in attendance at the press conference for the movie at the Venice Film Festival, where it’s having its world premiere, TheWrap has learnedPugh will still appear on the red carpet for the film’s premiere and will be in attendance at the screening. She will be flying in from the set of “Dune: Part Two.”Director Olivia Wilde and co-star Harry Styles both arrived in Venice on Sunday and will be present for the press conference.TheWrap exclusively broke the news a couple of weeks ago that Pugh, who is the star of the psychological thriller, would have a severely limited promotional presence for the film.

Brendan Fraser’s return to Hollywood at the 79th Venice Film Festival was met with many tears.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Cairo-based film marketing and distribution outfit MAD Solutions has acquired rights for Arab territories to Venice competition entry “Les Miens” (“Our Ties”), directed by French actor and filmmaker of Moroccan descent Roschdy Zem. “Our Ties” is co-written by Zem with actor/director Maïwenn (“Polisse,” “Mon Roi”), who co-stars. Zem is a French cinema fixture, having starred in pics including “Other People’s Children” and directed several films including 2019’s “Persona Non Grata.” “Ties” is a drama about family dynamics centered around a man played by Sami Bouajila whose personality changes radically after he suffers a head injury. Zem plays his TV presenter brother.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Frederick Wiseman, a voracious reader, doesn’t watch television. In fact, he’d never really gotten through a whole series until recently, when he watched HBO’s “The Wire.” “I don’t know why, but it was interesting,” he tells Variety drily. Every couple of years, the 92-year-old master documentarian behind such seminal films as “Titicut Follies” and “Juvenile Court” has churned out a sprawling documentary fixated on a microcosm of society or some sort of social issue, but when the pandemic paused those efforts for two and a half years, it’s Wiseman’s literary proclivities that drew him to Sofia Tolstoy’s writing for his new fiction film “Un Couple,” which premiered Friday in Venice’s Competition section.