Locarno Reveals Lineup, With Radu Jude, Lav Diaz, Quentin Dupieux, Newcomer Maryna Vroda, and Awards Riz Ahmed

Some of the biggest names in sports are expected to take home a silver statue at this year’s ESPY Awards.  

Sandra Oh is looking back fondly on her time as Vice Principal Gupta in The Princess Diaries.

The 57th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 30 – July 8) came to a close this evening with an awards ceremony that bestowed two key prizes to contemporary Bulgarian drama Blaga’s Lessons (Urotcite Na Blaga) by director Stephan Komandarev.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kinology has boarded Quentin Dupieux’s (“Rubber”) ferocious comedy “Yannick” which will world premiere in competition at the Locarno Film Festival. The anticipated film is produced by Thomas et Mathieu Verhaeghe at Atelier de production, and Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi Productions. “Yannick” stars Raphaël Quenard, Pio Marmaï, Blanche Gardin and Sébastien Chassagne. Yannick” unfolds during a mediocre stage performance of “Le Cocu” during which an audience member revolts and takes the full reins of the room. “‘Yannick’ is Quentin Dupieux’s most mature film; it’s both melancholic and thoughtful,” said Gregoire Melin, Kinology’s founder and president. “We’re so excited to be reteaming with him after ‘Daaaaaali!’ and ‘Wrong’ on this new film which could become even more cult than his previous movies,” Melin continued. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent For his third edition at the helm, Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro has assembled a wide spectrum of films that “do not resemble each other in terms of tone or form” while reflecting “the world in all its expressions and manifestations,” he tells Variety. This boundless range is best exemplified by the fact that starkly surrealist Filipino arthouse star Lav Díaz’s latest work, “Essential Truths of the Lake,” will be vying for the fest’s Golden Leopard alongside fare that, at least on paper, appears much lighter. This includes U.S. director Bob Byington’s indie comedy “Lousy Carter” and Estonian helmer Rainer Sarnet’s “The Invisible Flight,” which Nazzaro says  “mixes Kung Fu, hard rock and the Orthodox Church.”

Christian Petzold’s Afire and Celine Song’s Past Lives are among the titles set to screen at this year’s scaled-down Edinburgh International Film Festival (Aug 18-23), which is being mounted as part of Edinburgh’s wider cultural Festival.

UK star Riz Ahmed will be feted with a career achievement award at the upcoming 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, running August 2 and 12.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Films Boutique will handle international sales on Filipino master Lav Díaz’s “Essential Truths of The Lake,” one of the highest-profile titles in the just announced main International Competition at this year’s Locarno Festival.  The Berlin and Lyon-based production-sales company’s fifth collaboration with Diaz following, among others, Venice Golden Bear Winner “The Woman Who Left” and Berlin Silver Bear Winner “Lullaby To A Sorrowful Mystery,” “Essential Truths of The Lake” marks a prequel to Diaz’s ‘When The Waves Are Gone’ that premiered out of competition at Venice last year. It reprises the character of the ethically conflicted police lieutenant Hermes Papauran, one of the best investigators of the Philippines. When asked what drives a man to search for the truth, Papauran says dejectedly that maybe he just wants to keep inflicting pain on himself. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Riz Ahmed will be honoured by the Locarno Film Festival where the latest short in which the British actor appears – titled “Dammi” and directed by French auteur Yann Mounir Damage – will world premiere. Ahmed, who earned an Oscar nomination for best actor in 2021 for his performance as a drummer who suddenly goes deaf in Amazon’s “Sound of Metal,” will be feted by the Swiss fest dedicated to indie filmmaking cinema with with its 2021 Excellence Award Davide Campari, which pays tribute to film personalities who have left their personal stamp on contemporary cinema. “Dammi,” which was teased at Cannes, is an experimental work, broadly on the theme of immigration and identity, produced by French fashion brand  AMI, founded by Alexandre Mattiussi, and also starring Isabelle Adjani, Souheila Yacoub, Sandor Funtek and Suzy Bemba. The buzzed-about short will screen at Locarno’s 8,000-seat Piazza Grande, on opening night, Aug. 2, during the ceremony at which Amed will receive the award.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent New Europe Film Sales is set to launch international sales on “Stepne,”the debut feature of Ukraine’s Maryna Vroda, a best short Cannes Palme d’Or winner, which was announced this July 5 morning as part of Locarno’s main International Competition.  Born in Kyiv, Vroda won a Palme d’Or in 2011 for her short “Cross Country” (“Kross”), a seemingly allegorical psychological drama about a boy who is forced to run, then does so willingly, ending up watching his classmates running a senseless cross-country race as a boy rolls in a transparent ball in a river. “Kross” was inspired by Vroda’s memories of physical education lessons. “Stepne” is equally personal, coming to Vroda when her grandparents died. In it, a middle-aged man travels to his family home to care for his dying mother. He meets his brother and a woman he loves and thinks back to his life choices such as leaving to live in a big city. Then, just before dying, her mother tells her about a treasure she’s buried in the shed.

Scarlett Moffatt has left her fans stunned as she looks "amazing" just a week after giving birth to her son.The former Gogglebox star, 32, has shared some sweet photos as she and her partner Scott Dobinson "celebrated the greatest week" of their lives.The pair welcomed their baby boy Jude Xavier Dobinson into the world last week. And it appears that the new family of three are getting on well as they headed out as a family to mark his first week. On Instagram, Scarlett shared a number of snaps from the special occasion including one of her holding her son.

Vanna White is in the middle of contract negotiations for Wheel of Fortune and fans are going to be upset when they learn how she’s allegedly being treated.

Viaplay has unveiled a new operating model as it battles the economic downturn.

It may feel like Scandoval only happened yesterday, but Lala Kent revealed that the Vanderpump Rules cast is already gearing up for season 11.

“First-look deals are a lot of kicking tires,” Idris Elba said today, as he revealed his high-profile partnership with Apple TV+ has run down following the launch of psychological thriller Hijack.

Glastonbury Festival yesterday (June 23), as she joined Sparks to dance on stage during the band’s set.The Australian actor appeared in Sparks’ recent music video for their track ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte‘ from their album of the same name.Russell Mael told the crowd that they had “a super special treat tonight” as he introduced the star of their music video to the stage.Joining the Los Angeles duo for the performance, Blanchett wore the same yellow suit, chunky-framed glasses and headphones from the music video, and performing the same eccentric dance moves.Watch a clip of the performance below.Give Cate Blanchett another Oscar for performing at Glastonbury pic.twitter.com/whMCmB7za6— Liv Marks (@OliviaLilyMarks) June 23, 2023cate blanchett performing sparks' "the girl is crying in her latte" live at gastonbury festival 2023 ✨ pic.twitter.com/D8fYxktZAE— obi wán flynobi (@katehepburns) June 23, 2023Cate Blanchett and the Sparks at GlastonburyThat’s it. That’s the tweet.

The 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival will close with a screening of the Sundance Competiton pic Shayda attended by the film’s star Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Holy Spider) and Exec Producer Cate Blanchett.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Cate Blanchett and Zar Amir Ebrahimi are set to attend the Locarno Film Festival’s closing night to promote the European launch of Iranian-Australian director Noora Niasari’s debut film “Shayda.” Blanchett is an executive producer on the drama, which world premiered at Sundance and scored the Utah festival’s audience award. “Shayda” stars Ebrahimi – who broke out last year as a Cannes prizewinner for her role in “Holy Spider” – as a domestic violence survivor during the ’90s in Australia who demands a free life on her own terms, away from the shadow of her abusive husband. Variety critic Tomris Laffly in her review praised Ebrahimi’s turn in “Shayda” as a “quietly commanding performance” and underlined the film’s “unmistakably feminine spirit of perseverance, one that runs wild and free in this promising debut.”

Earlier this week, Warner Bros. Discovery laid off several execs at Turner Classic Movies, leading many to conclude that the channel’s future may be in crisis.

Kim Petras is opening up about a secret exchange she had with Madonna at the Grammys earlier this year.