Chinese Film ‘Black Dog’ Takes Top Cannes Un Certain Regard Prize

Tributes have been paid to the Indian media baron Ramoji Rao, who has died at the age of 87.

Lexi Carson “Baby Reindeer” was among the winners at the first-ever Gotham TV Awards on Tuesday evening, taking home the prize for breakthrough limited series. “I never thought in a million years that this dark, weird, messed up show would have brought in this universal love that it’s received,” said Richard Gadd, the show’s creator and star, in his acceptance speech. He also thanked Netflix, his team and his mom and dad for “messing [him] up enough to make [him] an artist.” Gadd went on to say, “It’s kind of weird also that a show as messed up as this has gone on to strike a chord with so many people.

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.

Naman Ramachandran Cannes 2024 was a life-changing journey for Indian production designer-turned actor Anasuya Sengupta who won best actress at the festival’s Un Certain Regard strand for “The Shameless.” Sengupta made her acting debut alongside several of her friends in Anjan Dutt’s music-themed “Madly Bangali” (2009) and served as director’s assistant to Claire McCarthy in Australian production “The Waiting City” the same year. Kolkata native, Sengupta then moved to Mumbai, home to the vast Bollywood industry. She wasn’t impressed by Bollywood and became a noted production designer and artist instead.

Guy Lodge Film Critic With the Cannes Competition jury set to announce their awards tomorrow, tonight the spotlight falls on the festival’s second-most prestigious strand, Un Certain Regard. Chinese director Guan Hu’s “Black Dog” has taken the top prize in the section from Xavier Dolan‘s jury, with big wins also going to Boris Lojkine’s “The Story of Souleymane,” Rungano Nyoni’s “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” and Roberto Minervini’s “The Damned.” This page will be updated with a full report.

French producer Dimitri Rassam is enjoying a high-profile Cannes Film Festival as producer of Competition title Limonov: The Ballad and The Count Of Monte Cristo, which scored a rousing 12-minute ovation at its Out of Competition debut.

Jamie Lang “The Other Way Around” from Spanish director Jonás Trueba has won the Europa Cinemas Label for best European film in the Directors’ Fortnight section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film turns on Ale (Itsaso Arana – who co-wrote the screenplay with Trueba) and Alex (Vito Sanz), who have been together for 15 years. Now, though, the duo is ready to split, but not without throwing a hell of a fiesta to celebrate their time together.

Argentinian director Federico Luis’s first film Simon of the Mountain has won the Grand Prize at the 63rd edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.

EXCLUSIVE: Goodfellas and Utopia have announced a slew of sales for Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl following its launch at the Cannes market.

Lise Pedersen Danish-Spanish co-production “Only On Earth,” by award-winning Danish filmmaker Robin Petré (“Pulse,” “From the Wild Sea”), has picked up the top IEFTA Docs-in-Progress Award at Cannes Docs, the Cannes Film Market sidebar dedicated to documentary film. The film forms part of the Five Nordics Showcase, one of eight showcases presenting a total of 34 docs-in-progress this year. The others include Chile, Scotland, Palestine Circle Women Accelerator, Docs By The Sea, the East Doc Platform, and newcomer Switzerland.

Christopher Vourlias RAI Cinema International Distribution (RCID) has taken international sales rights for “Of Dogs and Men,” an upcoming drama directed by Dani Rosenberg (“The Death of Cinema and My Father Too,” “The Vanishing Soldier”) and produced by AR Content. RCID is introducing the film to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival‘s market, where Variety has been given exclusive access to a first-look image. Written by Rosenberg, Ori Avinoam and Itai Tamir (“To Take a Wife,” “Love Life”), “Of Dogs and Men” is produced by two-time Academy Award nominee Alexander Rodnyansky (“Loveless,” “Leviathan,” “Beanpole”) of AR Content and Itai Tamir (“Under a Blue Sun”) of Laila Films.

Jessica Kiang You might not get the dog you want, but you always get the dog you need. That old dog-lover’s adage applies peculiarly well to Chinese director Guan Hu‘s “Black Dog.” A far smaller-scale project than his recent blockbusters “The Eight Hundred” and “The Sacrifice,” Guan’s latest — an Un Certain Regard standout at Cannes this year — nonetheless has the grandly cinematic vision to lend an intimate tale a gloriously epic, allegorical edge.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Metrograph Pictures has acquired North American rights to Sandhya Suri’s Cannes standout “Santosh” following its world premiere in Un Certain Regard. Metrograph Pictures will distribute the film theatrically, with additional release details to be announced at a later date. MK2 Films represents the movie in international markets.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off its buzzy world premiere at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, Oscar-nominated Icelandic filmmaker Rúnar Rúnarsson’s poignant drama “When The Light Breaks” has sold to a raft of territories. Represented in international markets by The Party Film Sales, the movie has been picked up for Italy (Movies Inspired), Switzerland (Xenix), Norway (Arthaus), Denmark (Ost for Paradis), Finland (Cinemanse), Hungary (Vertigo), Greece (Cinobo), Israel (New Cinema), Poland (Aurora), Turkey (Bir Film) and Baltics (Estofilm).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 27-member European Film Agency Directors Association and the Asian Film Alliance Network, which was established this time last year and currently has seven members, have agreed to work together on topics of common interest and to jointly develop a better world film ecosystem. At a meeting this week held on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, EFAD and AFAN promised to enhance understanding and collaboration between Asian and European national film agencies. Topics included: dialog on policy and regulations; the development of the film industry in both regions; and addressing new media and challenges ahead. Separately, the founding AFAN members convened for a closed-door roundtable discussion on May 16.

Christopher Vourlias After making waves on the festival circuit with a pair of heralded short films, Somali filmmaker Mo Harawe makes his auspicious feature debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with “The Village Next to Paradise,” which premieres May 21 in the French fest’s Un Certain Regard section — the first feature from the African nation ever to screen on the Croisette. An intimate family drama set in a windswept Somali fishing village, “Paradise” follows Mamargade (Ahmed Ali Farah), a single father working odd jobs to provide a better life for his son, Cigaal (Ahmed Mohamud Saleban). They’re joined by his sister, Araweelo (Anab Ahmed Ibrahim), who comes back to live with the duo after her divorce.

Naman Ramachandran Bulgarian-American filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov‘s Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard selection “The Shameless” has taken 14 years to come to fruition. Bojanov previously directed the documentary “Invisible” (2005), followed by his Cannes-debuting fiction feature debut “Avé” (2011).

The stars are stepping out for the night during the 2024 Cannes Film Festival!

Since their beginnings in 1979, George Miller‘s hyper-jacked Mad Max movies with Mel Gibson had not received a single Oscar nomination, not even for Tina Turner’s great signature song “We Don’t Need Another Hero” in 1985’s Beyond Thunderdome. But then, 30 years later, when finally the fourth and Gibson-less edition appeared, the snooty Academy got on board and gave the newly regenerated Mad Max: Fury Road 10 nominations including for Best Picture and Director. It won six of them, virtually sweeping the crafts categories.

Sundance may be moving out of Utah, Hot Docs may be going away, and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival has dissolved. It’s a challenging time for film festivals in North America, but into this space comes a new cinematic event: the Round Top Film Festival in Texas.