Filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger to Receive Avant-Garde Achievements in Film Award at Camerimage

Alissa Simon Film CriticSci-fi and fantasy fans can soon rejoice in another intrepid YA heroine as “Vesper,” the Lithuania-France-Belgium co-production from directors-writers Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper, makes its world premiere in competition at Karlovy Vary Film Festival on Saturday. The Czech debut marks a busy start to the month for the filmmakers. They will also present the film at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in Korea and the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland.The sci-fi-fantasy thriller, which takes place after the collapse of the earth’s eco-system and centers on a 13-year-old girl caring for her paralyzed father, who must use her wits and bio-hacking abilities to fight for survival and the possibility of a future, has proved a popular item for sales agent Anton.

Manchester United youngster Hannibal Mejbri is among the nominees for the 2022 CAF Young Player of the Year award.

The classic TV game show “Password” is headed back to the small screen.

Lewis Hamilton has received a message of support from Manchester United defender Raphael Varane after three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet used a racist term to describe the Mercedes ace during an interview. Piquet made his comments last November as he spoke about Hamilton's clash with Max Verstappen at the Silverstone Grand Prix. And they were broadcast by Brazilian media on Monday night.

Angelique Jackson The American Black Film Festival has announced this year’s Best of ABFF award winners, with “Our Father, the Devil” and “Feel Like Ghosts” among the top honorees.After two years of virtual programing, ABFF returned to Miami Beach for its 26th edition, with live events held June 15-19. The 2022 winners were announced by Emmy nominee Dondré Whitfield, who hosted the ceremony on the final day of ABFF’s in-person program, with a virtual presentation of the event now available to view on its custom-designed online platform, ABFF PLAY, where the festival continues until June 30.The Best of ABFF Awards includes winners in the official film selection categories — narrative and documentary features, web series and the 25th HBO Short Film Award Showcase, decided by a jury led by Michael Quigley, Warner Bros.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorCameroon’s Cyrielle Raingou has won the Kirch Foundation Award, which comes with a €5,000 cash prize, for her film project “I’m Coming for You.”The award comes at the conclusion of the first edition of Munich Film Up!, an eight-month mentoring and residency program for film school graduates that started in November.The program was created by the Pop Up Film Residency, in partnership with the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF München) and the Munich Film Festival.The six filmmakers who took part in the program were:Lana Bregar, Slovenia (Film school: AGFRT Ljubljana) with “Dark Head” Erec Brehmer, Germany (Film school: HFF München) with “Lightness and Weight” Anastasiya Gruba, Ukraine (Film school: Kyiv University) with “Women Suicide Season” Loïc Hobi, Switzerland/France (Film school: Ecole de la Cité) with “Crypto Lover” Cyrielle Raingou, Cameroon (Film school: Doc Nomads Master) with “I’m Coming for You” Pratik Thakare, India (Film school: Satyajit Ray Institute Kolkata) with “A Midnight Meal” “I’m Coming for You,” which is still at an early stage of development, centers on Karthoumi, a young mother. Always wearing a hijab, she rides a Bobber motorcycle across Africa’s Sahel region to trade with Boko Haram terrorists.

The San Sebastian Film Festival will fete Canadian director and screenwriter David Cronenberg with its prestigious Donostia Award at the 70th edition, running 16-24 September.

Berlinale Calls For Acquittal Of Filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga Following Protest Arrest

Christopher Vourlias It had been nearly three decades since a film was last screened in Ciné Apollon, an open-air theater in the resort town of Edipsos on the north shore of the Greek island of Evia. But the arrival of several hundred moviegoers on June 15 for a screening of French filmmaker Coline Serreau’s “La Belle Verte” (The Green Planet) offered a much-needed sense of rebirth: for the cinema, and for an island that was devastated by catastrophic wildfires last summer.As part of wide-ranging efforts to revitalize struggling communities and give a boost to the local economy, the organizers of the Thessaloniki Film Festival this year launched the Evia Film Project, a five-day event that underscores the perils of climate change and offers the film industry a chance to explore the possibilities of green film production.

Another month, another bunch of new releases from everyone’s favorite boutique home video label, Criterion Collection. In the latest batch of releases, out this September, see Henri-Georges Clouzot’s fable of suspicion in a Nazi-occupied French town “Le Corbeau,” get a Blu-ray upgrade.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNatalia Sinelnikova, a rising writer-director who emigrated from St. Petersburg to Germany as a child, is exploring the disrupting force of fear through her critically acclaimed feature debut “We Might as Well Be Dead.”The film, which world premiered at the Berlinale and is having its North American premiere at Tribeca, is both a dystopian and tragicomic satire taking place in a high-rise, secluded building which harbors a carefully-curated community in a world that has fallen apart. The movie follows Anna, who works as a security officer for the building and lives there with her daughter.

The new provost of Perth and Kinross, Xander McDade, visited Aberfeldy on Saturday, June 11 to present the trophies to winners at the Perthshire and Angus Provincial Mòd.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Locarno Film Festival will pay tribute to Greek-French director Costa-Gavras with its Pardo alla carriera lifetime achievement award.The longtime Paris-based master of politically engaged cinema will be on hand at the prominent Swiss fest dedicated to indie filmmaking to receive the prize during a ceremony on its Piazza Grande square on Aug. 11 followed by an audience-led conversation the next day.Locarno will also host screenings of two of Costa Gravras’ lesser known films: “Un homme de trop” (“Shock Troops”) from 1967, and “Compartiment tueurs” (“The Sleeping Car Murders”), which is his 1965 debut feature.In a career spanning nearly 60 years, Costa-Gavras — which is short for Konstantinos Gavras — has become known for highly political works, such as 1969’s “Z,” about the military’s coup d’etat in Greece, which won the foreign film Oscar in 1969; and 1982’s “Missing,” which starred Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek in a story inspired by the military overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende.

Carson Burton The new half-hour anthology series “Spotlights: A Showtime Short Film Series” features work from various emerging filmmakers, Showtime has announced. All five epidodes of the series will premiere Sunday, June 12 on streaming and on demand for Showtime subscribers.Each episode of “Spotlights” will showcase two to three short films that vary in timely subject matter, tone and perspective.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Venice Film Festival is honoring French screen icon Catherine Deneuve with its Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.Through her career, Deneuve has worked with some of Europe’s greatest directors, such as Luis Buñuel, Francois Truffaut, Manoel De Oliveira, Roman Polanski, and Lars von Trier, to name a few.Deneuve’s long rapport with the Lido harks back to 1967 when Buñuel’s “Belle de Jour” in which she played a bourgeoise Paris housewife who seeks erotic liberation through part-time work in a brothel, won the Golden Lion. Deneuve then won the Venice Volpi Cup for best actress for her role in Nicole Garcia’s “Place Vendôme” in 1998, and presided over the fest’s jury in 2006.

Iconic French actress Catherine Deneuve will be presented with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 79th Venice Film Festival which runs August 31–September 10 on the Lido.