Mill Valley Film Festival Steers Toward Drive-In Screening Experience

If you have Netflix, you’re well aware that Aaron Sorkin’s latest feature, “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” is now available to stream globally on the platform. The new drama tells the true story of a group of people in the late-‘60s that were accused of conspiracy after protesting the Democratic National Convention.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterProminent Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke has announced he is departing the Pingyao International Film Festival, which he co-founded four years ago.The fest has not yet made an official statement but the director made the surprise announcement yesterday during the closing day of the fourth edition, telling local media he was looking for the event to “get rid of Ji Zhangke’s shadow and let it gain independent vitality” and that he was opting to “leave when it

Another Round has scooped the Best Film prize at this year’s BFI London Film Festival.The annual festival took place largely online this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the usual jury-selected prizes replaced by the Virtual LFF Audience Awards, which selected films only available virtually throughout the festival.Another Round, which was also selected for this year’s Cannes Label and is directed by Thomas Vinterberg, stars Mikkelsen as an underappreciated middle-aged teacher who turns

Ellise Shafer editorThomas Vinterberg’s film “Another Round,” starring Mads Mikkelsen, has taken home the top prize at this year’s BFI London Film Festival.“Another Round” won the Audience Award for best film, while “The Painter and the Thief,” directed by Benjamin Ree won best documentary; Tommy Gillard’s “Shuttlecock” was the best short film and “To Miss the Ending,” directed by Anna West and David Callanan, was awarded best XR/immersive art.“Another Round” tells the story of Martin, played

Tom Grater International Film ReporterThe 2020 BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its virtual audience award winners, with Thomas Vinterberg’s Mads Mikkelsen-starring Danish comedy Another Round scooping Best Film.The awards replaced the typical jury-voted prizes, which didn’t happen this year due to the pandemic forcing the majority of the fest online.Also awarded tonight was the IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary, with Wildfire filmmaker Cathy Brady receiving the £50,000 grant, which goes

Justin Kroll Senior Film ReporterEXCLUSIVE: MTV Studios has acquired the worldwide rights to Stampede Ventures’ coming-of-age film Pink Skies Ahead from writer/director Kelly Oxford. The film will make its worldwide premiere at the AFI Film Festival tomorrow.Set in Los Angeles in 1998, the film follows Winona, who after dropping out of college and moving back home to live with her parents, is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

Iain Blair Since its inception in 2013, the Middleburg Film Festival has become a major fixture on the crowded festival circuit, offering four days of films in Northern Virginia’s historic wine country, one hour from Washington, D.C. The festival will run Oct.

Michael B. Jordan and Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi have unveiled the line-up for their virtual Social Justice Now Film Festival (SJNFF).The new initiative is set to launch with the Black Panther star and the activist as co-ambassadors and on Monday (October 12, 2020), organizers for the event announced the socially conscious productions they plan to screen.The documentaries 40 Years a Prisoner and Freedia Got a Gun will be featured while original films Us Kids, Reefa, and SNCC,

Dave McNary Film ReporterThe 43rd Denver Film Festival will open on Oct. 22 with a drive-in showing of Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland,” starring Frances McDormand, at the Red Rocks Park.The festival will be mostly virtual but will also hold drive-in showings of “Nine Days” as its Centerpiece title on Oct.

Angelique Jackson Michael B. Jordan’s award-winning films “Just Mercy,” and “Fruitvale Station” will serve as opening night screenings for the inaugural Social Justice Now Film Festival (SJNFF).Both films will play on Wednesday, Oct.

Dino-Ray Ramos editorThe Film Life Foundation’s inaugural Social Justice Now Film Festival (SJNFF) has unveiled its robust program including its spotlight screenings including the documentaries 40 Years A Prisoner from HBO, Us Kids, and SNCC executive produced by Pharell Williams as well as I Am Other. and the narrative feature REEFA.

Will Tizard ContributorThe debut of Russian rock ’n’ roll saga “Tsoi,” based on the life of the iconic rebel singer-songwriter Viktor Tsoi, who died in 1990, has triggered a rights dispute with the performer’s heirs over the use of his name and image.The Warsaw Film Festival is scheduled to screen “Tsoi” in its international competition on Oct.

Sundance title in the mix, too.)For the 2021 Oscars, however, the enthusiasm is muted — COVID, election — and that 7/9 proportion will likely skew lower. After Sundance, the last carefree, business-as-usual festival, big titles a la “Joker” and “1917” have been in relatively short supply because studios want traditional theatrical releases after premieres.

Steve McQueen helped raise the curtain on the 2020 BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday night, with his feature Mangrove — one of his five films in the BBC/Amazon Small Axe anthology — getting its European premiere in London and simultaneously across select cinemas around the U.K.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentDavid Bowie origin story “Stardust,” starring Johnny Flynn as the musician, has secured distribution in Italy with a deal inked with I Wonder Pictures ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Rome Film Festival this month.Flynn and director Gabriel Range will be in Rome for the red carpet event on Oct.

Patrick Hipes Executive Managing EditorNewFest is hosting a reading of Ang Lee’s groundbreaking Brokeback Mountain at its New York LGBTQ Film Festival on October 18, employing an all-trans cast for the event that commemorates the film’s 15th anniversary.The cast features Leo Sheng (The L Word) as Ennis, Brian Michael Smith (911: Lone Star) as Jack, Jen Richards (Tales of the City) as Alma, Alexandra Grey (Empire) as Lurleen and Disclosure director Sam Feder as the narrator.The original film

George Clooney has joined the line-up of the BFI London Film Festival.

Alexandra Del Rosario Associate Editor/Nights & WeekendsEXCLUSIVE: The annual Slamdance film festival has revealed the dates for its 2021 iteration. Running February 12-25, 2021, it will tout not only a physical screening experience, but also an online one free of charge as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.“Slamdance ‘21 isn’t about compromise because of the pandemic.

Ed Meza @edmezavarCelebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the Film Festival Cologne will be one of the first major festivals in Europe to take place entirely physically as the coronavirus continues to wane in Germany. It runs Oct.

according to the Hollywood Reporter.The Berlinale festival released the findings of an independent study of Bauer’s past this week, commissioned with the Leibniz Institute for Contemporary History after local media reports in February questioned his legacy.“The new and now scientifically researched findings about Alfred Bauer’s responsibilities in the Reichsfilmintendanz and his behavior in the denazification process are startling,” festival executive director Mariette Rissenbeek said of the