International Disruptors: ‘Holy Spider’ Producer Sol Bondy On The Challenges Of Bringing Ali Abbasi’s Iran-Set Oscar Contender To Light & Why They Hope It Will “Serve” The Revolution

Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi led a demonstration in support of the people of Iran and the artists who have been detained by the country’s political regime at the Göteborg Film Festival Tuesday evening.

Refresh for latest…: The global and international box office had a wild weekend this session amid the continued advancement of Avatar: The Way of Water and a mega-comeback for Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan, while China’s Lunar New Year period concluded as the market’s second-best ever.

Jafar Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi issued a fresh appeal for her imprisoned husband to be released as his period of captivity entered 200 days, in an Instagram post on Thursday.

A few weeks after Zar Amir-Ebrahimi won the Best Actress Award in Cannes for her performance as journalist Arezoo Rahimi in crime thriller Holy Spider, the Iranian-French actor flew to Melbourne, Australia, to take part in what was set to be another urgent story from an Iranian filmmaker: Noora Niasari’s debut feature Shayda. 

EXCLUSIVE: Moviebill, the US-based augmented reality platform, has rebranded as ‘Really’ and will expand Augmented Reality (AR) distribution and Web3 content offerings to moviegoers internationally and through its partnership with Regal. 

Vue International, the largest privately owned cinema operator in Europe, has appointed Stella David as its non-executive chair.

The Oscar nominations revealed Tuesday lay out a Best Picture race that encompasses a broad range of films, from box office blockbusters like Avatar: The Way of Water and Top Gun: Maverick to a movie that made its debut at a non-traditional awards-launching festival (Everything Everywhere All at Once, at SXSW), a Cannes Palme d’Or winner (Triangle of Sadness) and from fall festival faves like Venice (The Banshees of Inisherin, Tár), Toronto (The Fabelmans, All Quiet on the Western Front) and Telluride (Women Talking). The king has also entered the building with Elvis.

It looks like it’s a forward march into Oscars season with the heavily accoladed war-drama All Quiet on the Western Front. Following its impressive 14 nomination count at the BAFTAs in almost all major categories, the film’s director Edward Berger and producer Malte Grunert now sound off to the tune of nine total Oscar nominations for: Best Picture, International Feature Film, Cinematography, Music (Original Score), Production Design and Make-up and Hairstyling.

also include some history-making firsts worthy of celebration. While Michelle Yeoh and Angela Bassett are breaking ground in the acting categories, RRR is bringing Indian representation to a stacked list of contenders for best original song.Michelle Yeoh is the first Asian-identifying woman to be nominated in the best actress category for her starring role in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

With the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences having expanded its shortlist for the Best International Feature Film Oscar to 15 in recent years, it’s inevitable that some deserving titles miss the nominations cut. However, several of the perceived frontrunners are in the mix after today’s announcement, including Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front which has nine nominations in total, including Best Picture, and is yet another sign of how foreign-language films are crossing over into other main categories. 

Refresh for latest…: It’s now official, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has become the sixth movie ever to cross the $2B mark worldwide. It is also the filmmaker’s third to hit the milestone, alongside Titanic and the original Avatar.

Maryam Keshavarz, Noora Niasari and Sierra Urich have films at Sundance this year, two narrative features and a doc, wrenching and joyful family stories of the Iranian diaspora threaded with longing, regret and rebellion. None deal with ongoing civil unrest there, but it colors the filmmakers’ work and life.  

Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian and executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeck reveal the festival’s main Competition and Encounters selections at a press conference on Monday, January 23, as they gear up for their first fully in-person edition since 2020 from February 16 to 26.

The Berlinale staunchly condemns Russia’s ongoing war of aggression, which violates international law, and expresses its solidarity with the people in Ukraine and all those who are campaigning against this war. The festival also stands with the courageous protesters in Iran as they defend themselves against a violent, undemocratic regime.In expressing this solidarity, the festival will not exclude filmmakers, artists, industry representatives or journalists because of their Russian or Iranian nationality.

More than 100 key figures from the UK film and TV industry have signed a letter urging the UK government to take “immediate action” against Iranian authorities for “gross violations of human rights and women’s rights” in their response to the wave of public protests that erupted last year.

Refresh for latest…: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water continues to outdo itself having crossed $1.8B globally and reaching nearly $1.9B at the worldwide box office through this weekend.

J. Ralph has debuted the music video for “Dust & Ash” — his original tune penned for the documentary The Voice of Dust and Ash, which has been shortlisted for the Best Original Song Oscar in 2023.

Tony Award nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (Slave Play) will take on the title role of Hamlet this summer, starring in the Public Theater’s extended, nine-week Free Shakespeare in the Park production at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Kenny Leon will direct.

In theory, international films can earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in any given year. But in reality, only a handful have ever attained that distinction, and a single one — Parasite — has claimed the prize.

Big outlets like HBO Documentary Films, Neon, and National Geographic dominate the Oscar documentary feature shortlist this year. But a few films without major backers managed to make it through, including one film with no American distributor at all – Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made of Splinters.