Karlovy Vary Film Festival Launches New Talent Platform, Hosts Odesa Industry Screenings

Alexander Gabelia Veteran Georgian director/writer Lana Gogoberidze is editing documentary feature “Returning to Life.” The film is about her mother, Nutsa Gogoberidze, who was the Republic of Georgia’s first female film director, according to Film New Europe.Born into a rural teacher’s family in Saingilo, she studied philosophy in Germany, before becaming a film director. But her career ended abruptly in the years of the Stalinist terror.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentVersatile British actor Ben Whishaw, best known globally for playing Q in five James Bond films, has been cast in what’s bound to be the one of the most complex roles of his career.The actor will play the titular character in “Limonov, The Ballad of Eddie,” a new English-language film by revered Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov (“Petrov’s Flu,” “Leto”), about radical Russian poet and political dissident Eduard Limonov.The film, which will be presented as a promo reel to buyers in Cannes on May 17, is inspired by the best-selling novel “Limonov” by French writer and director Emmanuelle Carrère, which was translated in 35 countries.“Limonov” delves into the story of Eduard Limonov, who lived many lives. He was an underground writer in the Soviet Union who escaped to the U.S.

As the world has been hit by a heavy crisis in which a part of Europe finds itself in a state of war, the Festival de Cannes wishes to extend all its support to the people of Ukraine and all those who are in its territory.However modest as it is, we join our voices with those who oppose this unacceptable situation and denounce the attitude of Russia and its leaders.Our thoughts go out in particular to the Ukrainian artists and film industry professionals, as well as their families whose lives are now in danger. There are those whom we’ve never met, and those whom we’ve come to know and welcomed to Cannes, who came with works that say much about Ukraine’s history and the present.During this winter of 2022, the Festival de Cannes and the Marché du Film have entered their preparation phase.

Downton Abbey: A New Era released in cinemas last week to praise from fans and critics, with the ending leaving some viewers particularly devastated. The film sees Dame Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern reprise their roles, as the Crawleys attempt to solve the mystery of why the Dowager Countess (Smith) has suddenly inherited a French villa.

Christopher Vourlias Progress Film, the historic distributor established in 1950 to handle the release of films produced by communist East Germany’s state-owned film studio, has announced plans to relaunch theatrical distribution and international sales.The company has also acquired Sergei Loznitsa’s “The Natural History of Destruction,” which will have its world premiere as a special screening at the Cannes Film Festival. Progress is handling world sales as well as distribution in Germany, where it’s planning a theatrical release.Based on WWII archive footage, “The Natural History of Destruction” puts forward the questions: Is it morally acceptable to use civilian populations as a means of war, and is it possible to justify mass destruction for the sake of higher “moral” ideals? Those questions remain as relevant today as they were 80 years ago, becoming ever more urgent amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

Naman Ramachandran The Cannes Film Market has added to its previously announced Ukraine in Focus program, which will provide Ukrainian filmmakers and producers with networking, pitching and co-financing opportunities over two days during the Cannes Film Festival, on May 21 and 22. A panel discussion titled “Ukrainian Cinema: From Surviving to Thriving Again: How the Global Film Community Can Come Together to Support the Country’s War-Torn Industry” will take place on May 21.In addition the market has confirmed the full endorsement and patronage of Ukrainian Films Now, an initiative promoted by EAVE, First Cut Lab, and When East Meets West, which aims at gathering a pool of European regional and national film funds to support Ukrainian films at a late post-production stage to complete the final financial gap.

Marvel's Harry Styles and Florence Pugh are in the middle of a conspiracy in the first trailer for Don't Worry Darling. The duo, who are in the MCU in Eternals and Black Widow respectively, star in the science fiction thriller as a couple whose idyllic 1950s marriage is a facade for a dark reality.

Italian actor and director Valeria Golino has been set as jury president for the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival this year.

The 2022 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has announced that it will host the films in the Works-in-Progress section of the Odessa International Film Festival, which cannot be held this year because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.    “Broad solidarity with war-afflicted Ukraine must also include support for the country’s cultural life, which at this moment has come almost to a halt,” Hugo Rosák, head of KVIFF’s Industry Department, said in a statement.

Stevie Nicks has announced a string of solo shows for this summer – tickets will be available from here.The Fleetwood Mac singer was already due to play various US festivals in 2022, including Bonnaroo, Sound On Sound, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Eddie Vedder‘s Ohana Festival.Nicks has now confirmed four new headline concerts, which will take place throughout June. She’ll play in Ridgefield, Washington (June 10), Mountain View, California (12), Salt Lake City, Utah (16) and Noblesville, Indiana (21).Tickets go on general sale at 10am local time this Friday (April 29).

The Cannes Film Festival said Monday that it backs the decision by French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius to change the name of his film, which originally carried the title Z (Comme Z) and will open the 75th edition of the festival next month.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentParis-based company Indie Sales has acquired Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk’s debut feature “Pamfir” which will world premiere at Directors’ Fortnight. The banner is handling international sales on the movie. Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk previously directed the short film “Weighlifter,” a European Film Award contender and winner of the Best Short Film Award in Angers.“Pamfir” takes place in Western Ukraine, on the eve of a traditional carnival.

J. Kim Murphy The Seattle International Film Festival closed its 48th edition on Sunday by announcing its top honors, presenting awards at a ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Seattle.“Klondike,” a film following a family that lives on the tumultuous border of Russia and Ukraine in 2014, was awarded the grand jury prize within the festival’s official competition.“For a work both tragically prophetic and universal in its impact, a ferocious and formalist vision of war that fuses humanism, black comedy and horror into a searing and original vision, we award the Grand Jury Prize to Maryna Er Gorbach’s ‘Klondike,'” said the jury, composed of Angel An, senior director of acquisitions at Roadside Attraction; David Ansen, lead programmer at the Palm Spring International Film Festival; and Matthew Campbell, artistic director of the Denver Film Society and the Denver Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has an exclusive track recorded for Netflix’s Russian Doll, which is set for digital release on a Seasons 1 & 2 soundtrack tomorrow via Gardener Recordings, as the show returns for its second season.

The WGA West will host a panel discussion on April 30 with film and TV writers from Ukraine, whose lives and careers have been upended by the Russian invasion.

Better late than never!