Lola Quivoron’s ‘Rodeo’ Takes Top Honors at Reykjavík International Film Festival

The 14th Annual Santa Fe International Film Festival has announced its juried award winners for the event which has run from Oct. 19-23.

Paul Feig, director of such mega-hits as Bridesmaids, Spy, The Heat, Ghostbusters and A Simple Favor, has branched out into the fairytale genre with The School for Good and Evil, which hit Netflix this week.

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age drama The Fabelmans has been announced as the opening film of 44th Cairo International Film Festival, running from November 13 to 22.

Katie Reul editor The 66th annual British Film Institute (BFI) London Film Festival announced winners Saturday evening for a competition group representing a diverse selection of stories ranging from period pieces to eerie thrillers. Writer-director Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage,” was recognized with the festival’s highest honor — the best film award — continuing the historical drama’s festival praise after lead actress Vicky Krieps was awarded the Un Certain Regard best performance prize at Cannes. Set during Christmas in 1877, “Corsage” follows Empress Elizabeth as she attempts to find liberation from the stifling conformity of her stuffy, image-focused lifestyle as a Vienna royal. Though the film is in part based on the historical figure, who reigned for 44 years, artistic deviations are made in the former ruler’s story.

Is there a better way to prove the virtue of the cinematic experience than to get 5,000 people on their feet giving a film a standing ovation?  Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux did just that on the opening night of his 14th Lumière Film Festival in Lyon with Louis Garrel’s romantic comedy “The Innocent.”  The movie played in the jam-packed Halle Tony Garnier before a star-studded crowd, including Garrel and his cast, Noémie Merlant and Roschdy Zem, as well as Sebastián Lelio, Costa Gavras, Leila Bekhti, Marina Fois, Lee Chang-dong, Nicole Garcia, Sabine Azema and Damien Bonnard. 

Michaela Zee editor Andy Garcia, Regina Hall, Tony Hale and Lisa Ann Walter are among the stars being honored at this year’s San Diego International Film Festival. In its 21st year, SDIFF will include the return of the Opening Night Film Premiere, the Night of the Stars Tribute and Culinary Cinema. The festival has also announced new additions to this year’s lineup, including the drama “She Said,” with Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, and “The Inspection,” starring Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union and Bokeem Woodbine. Garcia will receive the Gregory Peck Award, Hall will be presented the Virtuoso Award, Hale with the Fairbanks Award and Walter with the Virtuoso Award. As previously announced, Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) will receive the Spotlight Award following the screening of his upcoming drama film “Good News” on Oct. 23.

While your future planning probably only extends to Thanksgiving, the Sundance Film Festival is already thinking ahead to January, the 2023 edition of their festival. Today,  the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the first two films in the lineup for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and they are the 25th Anniversary and digital restoration screening of “SLAM” and the uncensored director’s cut and restoration of “The Doom Generation.” Directed by Marc Levin and written by Levin, Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, and Richard Stratton, “SLAM” was first introduced to audiences at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered in the U.S.

Hamptons International Film Festival is underway in full swing and has already seen a host of famous faces in attendance.The Long Island-based fest runs from Oct. 7 until Oct.

Japanese director Naomi Kawase will preside over the international jury of the 44th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival, running November 13 to 22.

Manori Ravindran International Editor New York’s South Asian International Film Festival has appointed Chayan Sarkar as its new president. A filmmaker, entrepreneur and festival director, Sarkar is also the founder of the Indian International Film Festival of Queensland in Australia. He takes over from SAIFF founder Shilen Amin, who will step down as president, but will remain a member of the festival’s board of directors. Sarkar joins SAIFF as the festival enters its 19th year as a leading film festival in the U.S. for new cinema from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, and within the Indian diaspora. In recent years, SAIFF has become increasingly influential as a platform for South Asian cinema, both in the U.S. and internationally. Fourteen of India’s submissions for the international feature film Oscar have had their North American premieres at the festival.

A starry group of global talent has been set to join Paolo Sorrentino on the main jury for the 19th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival which runs from November 11-19 in the Moroccan city. 

Naman Ramachandran Oscar and Venice-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras (“Citizenfour,” “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”) and fellow filmmakers Georgia Oakley (“Blue Jean”), Roberto Minervini (“What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?”) and Ondi Timoner (“Last Flight Home”) were among those who protested against the imprisonment of Iranian filmmakers and other incarcerated artists around the world, and to demonstrate support for the tenacious women of Iran who are challenging for their freedom at the BFI London Film Festival on Monday. They joined festival director Tricia Tuttle, producer Madeleine Molyneaux (“Gospel Hill”); actors Aurélia Petit (“Saint Omer”) and Taki Mumladze (“A Room of My Own”); actor and writer Mariam Khundadze (“To Batumi and every single memory”); writer Morgan M. Page (“Framing Agnes”); industry leaders Tabitha Jackson, Clare Binns and Jason Wood; and other festival delegates in a moment of solidarity and reflection.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Marrakech International Film Festival will make a big comeback this year with a star-studded jury, including Oscar Isaac (“Scenes from a Marriage”), Vanessa Kirby (“The Son”), French actor Tahar Rahim (“The Serpent”), Australian director Justin Kurzel (“Nitram”) and Danish director Susanne Bier (“The Undoing”). Lebanese director and actor Nadine Labaki (“Caparnum”), German actor Diane Kruger (“Inglorious Basterds”) and Moroccan director Laïla Marrakchi (“Marock”) complete the high-profile jury. As previously announced, Paolo Sorrentino, the Oscar-winning director of “The Great Beauty” and “The Hand of God,” will preside over the jury, which spans 10 countries from four continents.

Italian producer Lorenzo Mieli gave a spirited and often humorous rundown of his career as a producer working with directors such as Luca Guadagnino and Paolo Sorrentino during a keynote talk at the London Film Festival Monday.

The strengths and possibilities of cinematic language were heavy on Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s mind as he sat down for a keynote ‘screen talk’ at the London Film Festival on Sunday afternoon.

Jennifer Lawrence wears a sheer dress covered in pearls for the 2022 BFI London Film Festival premiere of her new movie Causeway.

K.J. Yossman “White Noise” director Noah Baumbach spoke about his career highlights – and low points – as well as his creative partnership with Greta Gerwig during the BFI London Film Festival on Friday afternoon (Oct. 7). Asked about the eight-year gap between making “Mr. Jealousy” and “The Squid and the Whale,” Baumbach quipped: “I thought, you know what? I really needed about eight years off.” “No, it wasn’t by design, it was by accident,” he quickly clarified. “I sort of had two careers in a way. I had this early career very quickly and I was really figuring it all out as I was doing it. I had never really been on a movie set before I made ‘Kicking and Screaming.’ But I had this sense of how a movie should be and what I wanted a movie to be. And then after ‘Mr. Jealousy’ [the way] I experienced it at the time is that I was having trouble getting things made. I think, also, I didn’t really know what I wanted to make. And I think maybe, in some ways, my ambitions sort of exceeded my ability.”