Berlin Film Festival Unveils First Panorama Titles Featuring Sydney Sweeney, Willem Dafoe, Alicia Silverstone

After two truncated years of pandemic-related disruptions, film festivals around the world returned with full-flowing in-person events this year.

Hainan Island International Film Festival (HIIFF) in China’s Sanya has returned as an in-person event, following a relatively short Covid-related postponement, with separate competition sections for features, documentaries and shorts. 

Deadline reports that the Berlin Film Festival has its titles for its Panorama section this February. And while not the Festival’s main titles in competition, it’s a stellar crop of films annually.

The Les Arcs Film Festival in the French Alps kicked off its 14th edition last weekend amid sub-zero temperatures and freshly laid snow, to run from December 10 to 17  

Alaric McAusland Tapped For MD Role At DNEG’s New Sydney HubTop Australian film exec Alaric McAusland has joined VFX and animation company DNEG’s new Sydney hub as managing director and will take up the role in January 2023. McAusland has held a number of significant entertainment industry leadership roles in both Australia and the U.S. across his 25-year career. Most recently, he served as Executive Director for the Australian Directors’ Guild and was previously Chief Operating Officer at the Emmy award-winning, Los Angeles-based production house, Grace: A Storytelling Company. He also served as Managing Director of Deluxe Entertainment Service Group Australia and is a past Chair of Ausfilm. Recently opened DNEG Sydney’s first project is leading the visual effects work for George Miller’s highly anticipated Mad Max prequel, Furiosa.  “I am delighted to welcome Alaric onboard to lead our new DNEG Sydney team,” said Merzin Tavaria, President Global Production and Operations, DNEG.

European Film Promotion Unveils 2023 European Shooting StarsBelgian actress Joely Mbundu, co-star of  Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Cannes 2022 feature Tori And Lokita, is among the eight rising talents selected for the 2023 edition of European Film Promotion’s European Shooting Stars initiative. The selection also includes Italy’s Benedetta Porcaroli, seen recently in Venice Horizons 2022 title Amanda, and Norway’s Kristine Kujath Thorp, who previously made her mark in Fanny, The Burning Sea and Ninjababy, and also won praise for her performance in Cannes Certain Regard 2022 selection Sick of Myself. The other spotlighted titles comprise Alina Tomnikov (Finland), Leonie Benesch (Germany),  Yannick Jozefzoon (The Netherlands), Judith State(Romania), Gizem Erdogan (Sweden) and Kayije Kagame (Switzerland) Thorvaldur Kristjansson (Iceland). This year’s talents were selected by an eight-person jury featuring Polish director Jan Komasa, Dutch casting director Rebecca van Unen and Norwegian producer Maria Ekerhovd. The eight talents will participate in a four-day program during the upcoming Berlin Film Festival (February 16-26), during which they will meet journalists, casting directors, producers and filmmakers.

The 2023 Sundance Film Festival is almost a month away and this morning the Sundance Institute revealed the Indie Episodic and Short Film slates for the festival. 64 shorts were selected from 10,981 submissions, the highest on record.

Former enfant terrible of British rock Peter Doherty and keyboard playing producer-filmmaker wife Katia de Vidas gave a surprise private concert at the Les Arcs Film Festival in the French Alps on Monday evening.

Actress, screenwriter and director Kristen Stewart has been named president of the International Jury at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.“We’re excited about Kristen Stewart taking on this distinguished task. She’s one of the most talented and multi-faceted actors of her generation,” festival directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian said in a statement. “From Bella Swan to the Princess of Wales she has given life to everlasting characters.

Iraqi filmmaker Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji picked up the Golden Yusr for Best Feature Film at the Red Sea Film Festival with his debut feature Hanging Gardens.

Jackie Chan made a rare on-stage appearance at the Red Sea Film Festival Thursday, where he told fans that he is currently in talks to make a fourth Rush Hour movie.

Antonio Banderas’s latest film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, screened at the Red Sea Film Festival this week, and the actor told the festival audience that he believes his animated feline is likely to return to the big screen in a fifth Shrek movie.

Generation,” “Radical,” “Shayda,” and “Run Rabbit Run,” as well as a Shorts program, to be announced at a later date. “Blueback,” an Australian film featured in the Kids program, is set to screen at the Opening Night Gala, where Sundance alum Ryan Coogler, Nikyatu Jusu, W. Kamau Bell and others will be honored.

Three years after “Minari,” “Zola” and “Promising Young Woman” rocked Sundance, America’s greatest Film Festival is finally returning to live audiences in Park City. This morning, the Sundance Institute revealed a majority of the lineup for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival which features new works from notable filmmakers such as Nicole Holofcener (“You Hurt My Feelings”), Ira Sachs (“Passages”), Sebastian Silva (“Rotting in the Sun”), Brandon Cronenberg (“Infinity Pool”), Nida Manzoor (“Polite Society”), Susanna Fogel (“Cat Person”), Davis Guggenheim (“Still: A Michael J.

Focus Features has dated Wes Anderson’s next movie Asteroid City for June 16, 2023. Do we smell a Cannes selection? Pic will go even wider on June 23. Universal, as previously reported, has overseas.

The Palm Springs Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 34th annual edition, announcing that Paramount Pictures’ 80 for Brady will world premiere as its opening night film on January 6, with IFC Films’ The Lost King closing it out on January 15.