Locarno Film Festival Launches Contest Offering Free Restoration Service to Winning Vintage Classic

Producer Of Disney+’s ‘A Thousand Blows’ Staffs Up

In 1982, the same year Sir Ben Kingsley won his Best Actor Oscar for Gandhi, the year’s other big movie was Steven Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. Now, 40 years later, Kingsley has found his own E.T., a sort of combination of that classic with a bit of Cocoon, and perhaps The Father. But Jules, the new dramedy having its World Premiere as opening night of the Sonoma Film Festival, marches to its own sweet beat, and represents yet another game attempt to bring that older adult audience back to theaters. A smart distributor should take a close look.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Like & Share” from Indonesia’s Gina S. Noer was named the best picture and collected the Grand Prix on Sunday at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. “All of us on the jury were struck by the film’s clear and powerful message, which affirms young women’s sexual curiosity and desire while clearly saying no to sexual violence. The style of the film is also original. The sweet, poppy feeling that fascinates the audience in the first half of the film becomes darker as the story progresses, making us shudder. “Like & Share,” with its strong message and brilliant direction, is a film that needs to be seen now more than ever,” said the jury in a statement.

Charna Flam Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” (Spain), Lilo and Camilo Vilaplana’s “Plantadas” (U.S.), Hansel Porras Garcia’s “Febrero” (U.S., Cuba), Chandler Levack’s “I Like Movies” (Canada) and Pavel Giroud’s “The Padilla Affair” (Cuba, Spain) were among the winners at the 40th edition of Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival, which ran March 3-12. “The Beasts,” won the festival’s top awards, including the top jury prize, the $25,000 Knight Marimbas trophy and the Rene Rodriguez Critics nod. In addition to the two awards, “The Beasts” composer, Oliver Arson was recognized for his soundtrack and awarded the Alacran Music in Film Award, he was selected by Art of Light (Composer) Award honoree Nicholas Britell.

A big feature of the TCM Classic Film Festival is providing world premieres of major restorations of some of those classics. This year’s 14th annual fest is no different as Turner Classic Movies has announced its opening night, April 13, will feature the premiere of a 4K restoration of Howard Hawk’s 1959 Western Rio Bravo, in partnership with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, as part of the yearlong celebration of Warner Bros’ 100th anniversary.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The American French Film Festival, formerly known as COLCOA, has set the dates of its 2023 edition to Oct. 18-22. Organized by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, the festival will host its 27th edition at the Directors Guild of America Theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. “Created by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, this event is the largest French film festival in North America and the largest festival dedicated to French Films and TV programs in the world,” said Cécile Rap-Veber, CEO of Sacem (the guild for authors, composers and publishers of music) who presides over the Franco-American Cultural Fund.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has announced a dozen projects from young filmmakers from Saudi, and the wider Arab and African region, selected for its development program, the Red Sea Lodge, in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab and sponsored by the Film AlUla film commission. The Lodge is a 10-month mentorship program that has now opened up to African works along with Saudi and Arab projects. Winners will take home a portion of the total $200,000 pot in prizes that will be awarded during the fest’s 2023 edition in December.  The selected projects from Saudi Arabia are:

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Asian premiere of Soi Cheang’s “Mad Fate” is just one of three locally-produced movies that have been set as the opening and closing titles of the upcoming Hong Kong International Film Festival. “Mad Fate” is joined in the festival opening slot on March 30 by “Elegies,” Ann Hui’s documentary portrayal of the topography of contemporary local poetry, which will have its world premiere. The closing film, another world premiere, is “Vital Sign,” an affecting drama directed by Cheuk Wan-chi and starring Louis Koo, Yau Hawk-sau, and Angela Yuen, which will wrap up proceedings on 10 April. In total, the festival has programmed some 200 films from 64 countries and territories. These include nine world premieres, six international premieres, and 67 Asian premieres.

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) will open with two local films – Soi Cheang’s noir thriller Mad Fate and the world premiere of Ann Hui’s Elegies, a documentary about contemporary local poetry.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Kuwaiti-born writer-director Zeyad (also known as “Z”) Alhusaini, whose action movie with comedic undertones “How I Got There” recently won the audience award at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival, has joined United Talent Agency for representation in all areas. The groundbreaking film about two best buddies from childhood, named Salem and Asad, who stumble upon a gun shipment and try to seize this opportunity to get rich quick is set entirely in the Persian Gulf. “How I Got There” provides a relatively realistic glimpse of Kuwait’s present-day melting-pot of cultures, and its underworld of gun-running mercenaries, gangs, and terrorists, plus the local rap scene.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival marks its 40th edition, running March 3-12, with a full-blown return to the in-person festival experience with a sidebar of only 10 titles available online.  “We’re celebrating the human connection and getting back into cinemas again,” says programming head Lauren Cohen who in her first year flying solo at the helm, is putting her personal stamp on the festival with female-centric topics dominating the Master Classes.  “It’s our 40th anniversary, which is such a milestone for us, we want it to be bigger and better than ever,” she continues. 

EXCLUSIVE: The British Film Institute is close to appointing a new Festivals Director, with an announcement expected imminently, Deadline understands.

Killers Of The Flower Moon, Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, and Asteroid City are among the high-profile movies in contention for a Cannes splash this year.

Organizers of the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival said Wednesday that they are canceling their opening ceremony and “all festive events and concerts” related to the event following a tragic train crash in Greece late Tuesday that killed at least 38 people and injured more than 60.

EXCLUSIVE: Clock, a timely horror feature from 20th Digital Studio and Hulu Originals has dropped new images.

Clock, a timely horror feature from 20th Digital Studio and Hulu Originals will have its World Premiere at the Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana before debuting exclusively on Hulu on April 28. The film will be available on Disney+ internationally at a later date.

The Overlook Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its 2023 edition, taking place in New Orleans from March 30-April 2, naming the world premiering Universal horror-comedy Renfield as its opening night film, and Warner Bros’ Evil Dead Rise as its closer.

EXCLUSIVE: Kino Lorber has struck a deal with Paris-based sales firm Wide for North American distribution rights to Carlos Conceição’s Locarno Film Festival war drama Tommy Guns.

The 76th Cannes Film Festival is less than 12 weeks away and while rumors are flying about what films will screen and which films won’t, an important step in the process has officially taken place. The 2023 edition of the festival now has its Jury President.

Carmen,” a musical starring Paul Mescal, will have its West Coast premiere March 25 at the 2023 Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF). Another debut set to take place during the five-day festival is the world premiere of “Jules,” with director Marc Turtletaub and stars Ben Kingsley and Jane Curtin planning to make an appearance for the occasion. The screening will kick off the opening night of the festival on March 22. Capping off the event are closing night films “The Eight Mountains,” which received a grand jury prize after its Cannes premiere, and Stephen Williams’ “Chevalier.”