Locarno Honoree Tsai Ming-Liang Talks About the Decline of Cinema: ‘Audiences Are Being Collectively Hypnotized’

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Tunisian auteur Mohamed Ben Attia’s new work “Behind the Mountains,” which will soon launch from the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section, sees the director add a supernatural element to the social dramas for which he is known. Attia’s third feature reunites the director with Majd Mastoura, star of his breakout drama “Hedi” — about a repressed young man ignited by a free-spirited woman — which won best debut and actor honors at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline can reveal the international trailer for Roman Polanski’s ensemble dark comedy The Palace ahead of its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September.

Jared Leto and Thet Thinn have been spotted together again!

Kenneth Branagh is opening up about his upcoming movie, A Haunting In Venice, and revealed that he wanted to keep the movie as scary as possible – even for the cast.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Argentina’s Tarea Fina, a producer on Cannes Camera d’Or winner “Las Acacias,” International Oscar entry “The Sleepwalkers” and Ventana Sur hit “Sublime,” has boarded “A Loose End,” the third feature as a director from Uruguay’s Daniel Hendler, a Berlin Silver Bear winner for Best Actor in Daniel Burman’s 2004 international breakout “The Lost Embrace.” Set up at Montevideo’s Cordon Films, founded in 2007 by producer-TV director Micaela Solé and Hendler, “A Loose End” (“Un cabo suelto”) is one of the highest-profile projects announced on Monday by the San Sebastián Festival as part of its Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, its industry centerpiece. Written by Hendler, his third directorial outing returns to a central theme in his first two features as a writer-director: Identity.

Thirty Seconds To Mars have shared their new single ‘Seasons’ – you can listen to it below.The song is the fourth to be lifted from their forthcoming sixth studio album ‘It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day’.It follows on from previous singles ‘Get Up Kid’, ‘Stuck’ and ‘Life Is Beautiful’.The forthcoming LP, which is out on September 15, will be the band’s first new music in five years, and the follow-up to their 2018 album ‘AMERICA’. Visit here to pre-order the album.Speaking to NME in 2021, frontman Jared Leto confirmed that the band had penned around 200 tracks for their upcoming sixth studio album.

Ellise Shafer Sovereign has acquired the U.K. and Ireland rights to Radu Jude’s latest feature, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” which won the special jury prize at Locarno Film Festival.

Can a relationship be art? “Maestro” offers a bold look at the complicated and compelling story of Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein; the new film delves into the legendary conductor’s life, focusing on his unique connection to Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. Through it all, they found a way to support one another in a world judgemental of anything that didn’t fit the period’s societal norms.

Eduardo Williams’ latest Locarno main competition title “The Human Surge 3.” Ever since he broke into the festival scene with 2011’s “I Could See a Puma,” and later solidified his festival standing with Golden Leopard – Filmmakers of the Present winner “The Human Surge” (2016), Eduardo Williams’ oeuvre has stood out by embracing the formal possibilities of new media, and rethinking our relationship with images through its insightful inquiries on human connectivity and digital textures. These thematic concerns are also integral to “The Human Surge 3,” in which he continues his ever-present forage for novel cinematic avenues.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Picture Tree Intl. has picked up “Woodland” (“Wald”), written and directed by Elisabeth Scharang, which has its world premiere in the Centrepiece section at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film’s trailer has also just been launched.

Queens Of The Stone Age have added a new UK show to their upcoming tour of the UK and Ireland.The update follows the announcement that their ‘The End Is Nero’ tour will arrive in the UK and Europe later this year – kicking off with a now-sold-out show at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam on November 4.After making stops across Luxembourg, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Dusseldorf and Antwerp, Josh Homme and co. will play a series of live sets in the UK, including a spot at the O2 Arena in London on November 15.Now, it has been announced that an extra UK date has been added to the scheduled tour for the end of 2023 – a gig at the International Centre in Bournemouth on November 16.The show will take place just after the rock veterans play in the UK capital, and two days before they head over to Glasgow for a slot at the OVO Hydro arena.

D. Smith Filmmaker D. Smith’s debut documentary “Kokomo City” presents a raw depiction of the lives of four Black trans women — Daniella Carter, Koko Da Doll, Liyah Mitchell and Dominique Silver.

Marta Balaga FilmSharks has picked up world sales rights to Finnish children’s film “Snot & Splash: The Mystery of Disappearing Holes.” “It was a bidding war. They got offers from everybody,” said FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud. “Snot & Splash” (“Räkä ja Roiskis”) is produced by It’s Alive Films – founded by director Teemu Nikki and Jani Pösö – and set for distribution in its native Finland (Scanbox), Scandinavian sub distribution by Sweden (Folkets Bio) and Norway (Norsk Filmdistribusjon), and Italy in the spring (I Wonder Pictures).

“Fast X” and the upcoming “The Old Guard 2.” She met her new husband, Justin Howell, 34, filming the Paramount+ series “Halo.”Justin was the stunt double for Hemsworth in “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Extraction 2,” per IMDb. “It’s not easy to be with [a] stunt person, but as we are both in the same line of work, we both know the challenges,” Aurélia told SWNS.

EXCLUSIVE: Outgoing Berlinale co-director Mariette Rissenbeek shared a surprising statement during an industry keynote this week at Locarno. 

Match Me! Shepherding them are 30 producers hailing from the length and breadth of Europe, plus Taiwan and the Dominican Republic, in town for the three-day event, kicking off Friday. Set up at mainly young-ish production houses, they underscore major trends now coursing through European cinema: the rise of genre and animation – such as Christophe Reveille’s “To Live and Die with Che Guevara” an animated doc feature about three guerrillas who pledged allegiance to Che Guevara – as well as films of large artistic ambition made on contained budgets, such as Taiwan’s “Goodbye North, Goodbye.” Above all, there’s a gathering shift from straight-arrow arthouse drama to genre-bending thrillers that nevertheless maintain art pics’ traditional social issue focus.

Christopher Vourlias Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude, whose latest feature, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” premieres Aug. 4 in competition at the Locarno Film Festival, is in post-production on his next film, Variety can reveal.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Cinema has boarded international sales on “Not a Word,” which will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in the competitive Platform section. The cast is led by Maren Eggert, who won the best acting award at the Berlin Film Festival for “I’m Your Man.” The film is written and directed by Hanna Slak, whose credits include the Slovenian Oscar entry “The Miner,” and was lensed by Claire Mathon, the cinematographer of “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” “Saint-Omer,” “Stranger by the Lake” and “Spencer.” Eggert plays ambitious musician and conductor Nina.

We’re no strangers to the world of over-the-top, impractical fashion, and it seems designers are pulling out all the stops when it comes to making mind-bending clothes right now. From Christian Cowen’s Teletubbies boots, to the bizarre yellow Crocs boots spotted on Victoria Beckham recently, we definitely seem to be entering into the era of larger than life fashion.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Matteo Garrone, who is a two-time Cannes jury prizewinner with “Gomorrah” in 2008 and “Reality” in 2012, is set to be in competition in Venice for the first time with his immigration-themed drama “Io Capitano.” Shot over 13 weeks in Senegal, Italy and Morocco with a cast of non-professional actors, the Italian auteur’s new film – the title for which translates to “I Captain” – narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe. It depicts their plight through the pitfalls of the desert, the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea.