‘Holy Spider’ Leads Prize List At Stockholm International FF; Other Wins Include Frances O’Connor And Laura Poitras

“I always had a very specific sense of urgency with this idea,” said Holy Spider director Ali Abbasi of wanting to make a film noir based on the true story of the “Spider Killer” Saeed Hanaei, who saw himself as on a mission from God as he killed 16 women between 2000 and 2001.

Since it debuted at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury prize, Alice Diop’s first feature Saint Omer has had a robust life on the fall festival circuit. An austere, tightly scripted and subtly acted drama, in which a novelist (Kayije Kagame) becomes fascinated by the trial of an immigrant mother for the murder of her own daughter, the film nevertheless draws deeply on the director’s previous experience as a documentary filmmaker.

Israeli director Nadav Lapid surprised audiences during his speech at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa by criticizing the festival for including controversial Hindi-language movie The Kashmir Files in competition. 

In its third weekend, Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever continued to reign at the global and international box office. With a $32.1M offshore frame (-53%), the sequel has an overseas total of $308M for $675.6M worldwide through Sunday.

Katie Price has had to say goodbye to another pet following the death of her dog Sharon.

France’s César Academy has withdrawn actor Sofiane Bennacer from its recently announced annual Revelations list, following his indictment on allegations of rape and violence by four women.

The United Kingdom swept the two marquee categories at the 50th anniversary International Emmy Awards, which here handed out Monday night in New York. Vigil took Best Drama Series, and Sex Education took the Comedy Series prizes.

Refresh for latest…: In its sophomore frame, Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever sent its worldwide cume well past the $500M mark, with an estimated $546.3M through Sunday.  The split is $288M domestic and $258.3M from the international box office.

Iranian director Emad Aleebrahim-Dehkordi’s feature directorial debut A Tale Of Shemroon won the top Étoile d’Or—the Festival Grand Prize – at the Marrakech International Film Festival on Saturday.

Jim Jarmusch was a hot ticket at the Marrakech International Film Festival this week as seasoned cinema professionals, film students and high school kids packed out a rare on-stage conversation with the U.S. director.

Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman for three decades of animated TV, specials and video games, died Thursday at the age of 66.

Disney/Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever got out to a $10.1M start in  17 international box office markets on Wednesday. This is ahead of continued offshore rollout through Friday and the sequel’s domestic debut on Friday (domestic previews start Thursday). 

Rupert Friend To Star In New Podcast Series From QCODEContent studio QCODE today announced a new science fiction thriller podcast series titled The Mysterious Master M, starring Rupert Friend (Anatomy of a Scandal). Friend will also act as an executive producer on the six-episode podcast series, which will debut in Spring 2023. Mike Lesslie (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds) and his Storyteller Productions banner will produce with Laure Eve (Blackheart Knights) attached to write and executive produce. Tomer and Asaf Hanuka, Sammy Kattan, Automatik, and QCODE will also serve as Executive Producers on the series. “This is a gripping story that shows how messy yet beautiful it is to be human, and I truly can’t wait to share it with all of you,” Friend said of the show.

EXCLUSIVE: Creature feature Elevation, starring Anthony Mackie (Captain America), Morena Baccarin (Deadpool) and Maddie Hasson (Malignant), has pre-sold out of the AFM to 25+ markets for Mossbank.

Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont’s Close, Danish director Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider and Swedish director Ruben Ôstlund’s Triangle Of Sadness lead the nominations for the 35th European Film Awards, which were unveiled today.