Chile’s International Prize Bonanza Supercharged by Next Generation Women Directors as Trophy Count Soars (EXCLUSIVE)

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic In 2008, the writer-director Azazel Jacobs made a small but vivid splash with “Momma’s Man,” a Sundance comedy about a troubled dweeb hiding out in the cocoon of his parents’ downtown Manhattan apartment. The parents were played by Jacobs’ own (the avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs and his wife Flo), and the movie turned their overstuffed bohemian pack-rat museum of a loft into a tiny city of its own. “Momma’s Man” showed extraordinary promise, and in the 15 years since I’ve been waiting for Azazel Jacobs to make good on it.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has revealed a raft of deals for key territories for Ramata-Toulaye Sy‘s feature film debut, “Banel & Adama,” which played in competition in Cannes and makes its North American premiere in Toronto. Variety reviewed it as “a dreamlike debut” in May. The film just won the Melbourne International Film Festival’s top prize, the Bright Horizons Award.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent British director Luna Carmoon’s first feature “Hoard” has scored three prizes at the Venice Critics’ Week where the other standout title is Chilean documentary “Malqueridas.” In “Hoard,” which is set in 1984 London, 7-year-old Maria and her mother live in their own loving world built on sorting through bins and collecting shiny rubbish. One night, their world falls apart, and the film joins Maria a decade later, living with her foster mother.

Spanish soccer player Alejandro Balde, currently in the running for a prestigious soccer prize called the Golden Boy, has attracted the ire of Taylor Swift fans over comments dismissing the singer's music that he may not have even made. Every year, the Golden Boy is awarded to a young footballer that a panel of experts are tipping to excel in the future. Balde, who plays for Barcelona and the Spanish national team, is among this year's nominees but has seen his chances of winning take a hit after a group of Swifties launched a social media campaign aimed at harming his place in the contest.

Alissa Simon Film Critic As you read this, new titles from filmmakers of Tunisian, Moroccan and Franco-Palestinian-Algerian heritage are making their mark at the Venice Film Festival, while Toronto Film Festival will premiere a trio of first features from Saudi Arabia, along with discoveries from the UAE and Palestine, plus a handful of Arab titles screened at Cannes and Venice. Those in the know say that the annual number of Arab films produced has increased along with the emergence of new filmmakers, and that fall festivals such as El Gouna, Marrakech, Cairo and Red Sea will be chockablock with fresh regional titles.

Though Labor Day is upon us domestically — and its somewhat equivalents in many overseas markets to mark the end of summer — the hits keep coming as holds this session were strong on the season’s leaders while a new entry surprised. To wit, and starting with the latter: Sony/Escape Artists’ The Equalizer 3 blazed to a $60.6M global start this weekend, to clock the franchise’s best opening ever. Of that, the $26.1M debut in 49 international box office markets was also a new record bow for the Denzel Washington-led series.

Wes Anderson has revealed that his next feature film project will be simpler in terms of its production scale and with a more compact cast, after his ensemble works The French Dispatch and Asteroid City.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Stella. A Life.,” which stars Berlinale best actress award-winner Paula Beer, has been sold to France, Scandinavia and Australia. The film will have a market screening at Toronto Film Festival, and will have its world premiere with a Gala Screening at the Zurich Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: The Love and Hope International Film Festival, based in Barcelona and backed by IMDB, Stage 32, FilmFreeway, and Final Draft, will open its upcoming edition with Guillotine by Iranian-American director Ray Izad-Mehr.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Chilean auteur Pablo Larraín is back in Venice – following “Spencer” in 2021 – with scathing satire “El Conde,” in which Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, a symbol of global fascism, resurfaces as a 250-year old vampire living in a rundown rural mansion after faking his death. The allegorical film, beautifully shot in black-and-white by ace cinematographer Ed Lachman, stars revered 87-year-old Chilean actor Jaime Vadell in the role of Pinochet, who in reality died at the age of 91 in 2006, unpunished and rich. During Pinochet’s 17-year regime, which began with a bloody military coup in 1973, more than 3,000 people died or disappeared due to political violence in Chile, which had previously experienced a long history of democracy.

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.

Naman Ramachandran Indian cinema A-lister Allu Arjun is delighting in his best actor win at India’s National Film Awards for “Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1.” Directed by Sukumar and produced by Mythri Movie Makers and Muttamsetty Media, the film traces the rise of Molleti Pushpa Raj (Arjun), a labourer who rises through the ranks of a sandalwood smuggling syndicate and faces off against an egotistic police officer. The Telugu-language film was also dubbed into other Indian languages and went on to become the biggest box office hit of 2021 in the country. It is the first time an actor from the Telugu-language film industry has won the best actor accolade at the National Film Awards in India.

EXCLUSIVE: Karlovy Vary competition pic The Hypnosis, starring Herbert Nordrum (The Worst Person In The World) and Asta August (The Kingdom), has inked a series of international deals for Totem Films. 

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.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Sisterly love ruled at Chile’s 19th Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic), which wrapped on Aug. 27 where female directors and actors clinched the top prizes. Israeli-Ukrainian drama “Valeria is Getting Married” by Michal Vinik and Kattia Zuñiga’s “Sister & Sister” snagged the preeminent Chilean festival’s best film plaudits, adding to their trove of accolades since their respective world premieres.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chilean indie Equeco, led by Pablo Calisto, is a triple threat at the 19th Santiago Int’l Film Festival (Sanfic), with three projects participating in the annual event running August 20-27. Vying for the top prize in the official competition is Equeco’s “Historia y Geografia,” which debuts its teaser trailer exclusively on Variety. Equeco is also embarking on its most ambitious project, “Il Cileno” by Sergio Castro San Martín, a historical drama in co-production with Italy’s Dispàrte, a Rome-based independent production company founded in 2015 by Alessandro Amato and Luigi Chimienti.

Chile on Wednesday named the anti-colonialist Western The Settlers from first-time feature filmmaker Felipe Gálvez as its official entry for Best International Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards.

King Charles, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales, are sharing their support for the English Women's National Football Team after their loss to Spain in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 final.The team's hopes of taking home their first world cup were dashed by a 1-0 loss to Spain, but the king expressed how their accomplishments were monumental nonetheless.«This brings you, your manager and all your support team my heartfelt thoughts and commiserations on the result of the World Cup final,» read a statement from King Charles released by the palace on Sunday. «While I know how sore it must be, let none of you feel defeated, for to have reached the final at all is an immense tribute to your skill, determination and team spirit in the finest sporting tradition.»«More than that, though, it will serve as an inspiration for generations to come,» he continued.

King Charles, as well as the Prince and Princess of Wales, are sharing their support for the English Women’s National Football Team after their loss to Spain in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 final.

Princess Charlotte‘s sending England’s women’s national soccer team all the good vibes.