Melbourne Film Festival Offering Rich $200,000 of Prizes, Adding First Nations Award

Iranian filmmaker Ali Ahmadzadeh clinched the Golden Leopard in the main international competition of the 76th Locarno Film Festival with his latest feature Critical Zone (Mantagheye Bohrani).

Marta Balaga The hype is real: Ali Ahmadzadeh’s “Critical Zone” (“Mantagheye bohrani”) has picked up the top Golden Leopard at Locarno. It has been a bumpy ride for the film, set in Tehran over the course of one lonely night and described by the fest as “a hymn to freedom and resistance.” As reported by Variety, Iranian authorities have been pressuring Ahmadzadeh to pull it from the Swiss festival – arguing it was shot without permission – and with the director himself banned from leaving the country. “Instead of actors, I worked with real people.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The Venice Film Festival is rolling out a juried impact award that will mark the first time a major film festival has awarded a prize focused solely on impact. Impact campaigns are crafted around documentaries and some narrative films that have strong social or political messages that can inspire action among audiences and the industry at large.

EXCLUSIVE: An announcement today from the Points North Institute will provide a major career boost to a diverse group of documentary filmmakers. 

Saltburn, the latest film from Promising Young Woman filmmaker Emerald Fennell, will open this year’s London Film Festival. 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Wes Anderson will be honored at the 80th Venice Film Festival, which runs Aug. 30-Sept. 9.

Naman Ramachandran “Saltburn,” Emerald Fennell’s hotly anticipated sophomore feature after the Oscar and BAFTA-winning “Promising Young Woman,” will open the 67th BFI London Film Festival. The film is produced by Fennell and Margot Robbie, whose “Barbie” has grossed more than $1 billion, as well as Josey McNamara (“Promising Young Woman,” “Barbie”). “Saltburn” reunites Fennell with her “Promising Young Woman” star Carey Mulligan and the cast also includes Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E.

Ellise Shafer Diane Kruger is set to receive the Golden Eye Award at this year’s edition of Zurich Film Festival. Throughout the course of her career, Kruger has worked with high-profile directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Wolfgang Peterson and Robert Zemeckis. She is best known for her roles as Helen of Sparta in “Troy” (2004), Abigail Chase in “National Treasure” (2004) and its sequel “Book of Secrets” (2007), Bridget von Hammersmark in Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” (2009), Anna in “Mr.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Zurich Film Festival will honor the chief executive of German film and TV company Leonine Studios, Fred Kogel, with its Game Changer Award, which is presented to a leading personality from the film industry whose “extraordinary efforts serve to advance the sector.” Kogel set up Leonine four years ago, and it has grown rapidly to become Germany’s leading independent film company, as well as a major TV producer. Its successes as a film distributor have included the release of “The School of Magical Animals,” “Knives Out” and the “John Wick” franchise.

In his first communiqué as Sundance’s Festival Director, Eugene Hernandez has doled out new information as far as the slate and venues for 2024, also addressing the timing of programming and a “challenging moment” for artists, as the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes continue.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australia’s annual celebration of TV this weekend named Sam Neill as the country’s most popular actor for his role in courtroom drama series “The Twelve.” The Foxtel and Binge show was the numerical winner on the evening in a tie with Binge’s “Colin From Accounts.” Both shows picked up a trio of awards.Sonia Kruger was named Australia’s most popular TV personality for her roles on “The Voice,” “Dancing With the Stars” and “The Masked Singer.”Gold Logie for most popular personality on Australian TV: Sonia Kruger, “The Voice,” “Dancing with the Star” and “Big Brother,” Seven Network Bert Newton Award for most popular presenter: Tony Armstrong, “A Dog’s World” with Tony Armstrong, ABC Silver Logie: Most popular Australian actor: Sam Neill, “The Twelve,” Foxtel & Binge Silver Logie: Most popular Australian actress: Kitty Flanagan, “Fisk Season 2,” ABC Graham Kennedy Award for most popular new talent: Amy Shark, “Australian Idol,” Seven Network Most popular drama series, miniseries or telemovie: “Home and Away,” Seven Network Most popular entertainment program: “Gogglebox Australia,” Foxtel & Network 10 Most popular current affairs program: “Australian Story,” ABC Most popular comedy program: “Have You Been Paying Attention?,” Network 10 Most popular reality program: “MasterChef Australia: Fans & Favourites,” Network 10 Most popular lifestyle program: “Travel Guides,” 9Network Most Outstanding AwardsSilver Logie: Most outstanding actor: Patrick Brammall, “Colin from Accounts,” Binge Silver Logie: Most outstanding actress: Harriet Dyer, “Colin from Accounts,” BingeSilver Logie: Most outstanding supporting actor: Thomas Weatherall, “Heartbreak High,” Netflix Silver Logie: Most outstanding

Red Rooms won a leading three awards including Best Feature at the 27th annual Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, with the thriller Femme taking Best Director for Sam H. Freeman & Ng Choon Ping and Outstanding Performance for Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. See the full list of winners below.

Marta Balaga There was no escaping “Red Rooms” at Fantasia. Awarded the Cheval Noir Award for best feature at the 27th edition of the fest, Pascal Plante’s film also took honors for screenplay and Dominique Plante’s haunting score, as well as an outstanding performance award for Juliette Gariépy. “The ultimate effect a film can achieve is to implant a significant and lasting emotional memory.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief New Zealand-based specialty sales firm Black Mandala has picked up global rights to upcoming U.S. supernatural horror film “Cheat.” Written and directed by Kevin Ignatius and Nick Psinakis (“The Long Dark Trail”), the film is set for its world premiere at FrightFest. The picture’s premise is the urban legend that a supernatural being from the afterlife will violently murder anyone who cheats on their partner.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sound of Freedom, the indie action-drama film that has already earned over $125 million at the North American box office, will begin to move into international distribution from next month.Angel Studios, the crowd-funded, Utah-based production and distribution firm behind the picture, says it has set releases in territories including the U.K., Australia and Latin America. The company explained that it has arranged direct-to-theater distribution deals in Latin America, the U.K, and Ireland. In other territories it will take the more conventional route of partnering with distributors.

Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera is refusing to row back on his decision to invite controversial movie-biz bigwigs Roman Polanski, Woody Allen and Luc Besson to the late summer event, which will take place despite the potential disruption by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. “Luc Besson has been recently fully cleared of any accusations. Woody Allen went under legal scrutiny twice at the end of the ’90s and was absolved,” Barbera said in a new interview with Variety.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Switzerland’s preeminent Locarno Film Festival has tapped arts patron Maja Hoffmann, founder of the LUMA Foundation, to be its first female president in its 70-plus years of existence. The festival’s Board of Directors unanimously approved Hoffmann to succeed Marco Solari who has held the position for more than two decades.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera is in a good mood after Tuesday’s lineup announcement managed to stave off the impact of the SAG-AFTRA strike, something which could have been “devastating” to the event, he says. In the end, the only U.S. film that skipped the Lido is Luca Guadagnino’s Zendaya-starrer “Challengers,” which Barbera says was against Guadagnino’s wishes.

The Venice Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 80th edition Tuesday morning, and its Official Competition featured works by five women filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay, who makes history as the first African American woman in selection.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Two labor strikes may be upending Hollywood’s awards season and the film festivals that serve as launching pads for many Oscar contenders, but the Toronto International Film Festival signaled Monday that it still plans to showcase the best in cinema, unveiling its 2023 slate of movies. Alexander Payne, Richard Linklater, Kore-eda Hirokazu and Justine Triet are among the auteurs who will be screening their latest works at the festival. Payne will be on hand with “The Holdovers,” a comedy set in a boarding school that reunites him with “Sideways” star PaulGiamatti, while Linklater is showing “Hitman,” an action-comedy with Glen Powell and Adria Arjona. Kore-eda and Triet will screen “Monster” and “Anatomy of a Fall,” both of which premiered at Cannes, where the latter won the Palme d’Or.