Oscars: Palestine Selects Maha Haj’s ‘Mediterranean Fever’ For International Film Category

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent French production powerhouse Studiocanal is moving into the Italian production market by joining forces with Rome-based shingle Elsinore Film with plans to co-develop and coproduce a slate of scripted and unscripted content for the Italian and international market. Elsinore Film is a boutique outfit headed by Annamaria Morelli (pictured, left), a former head of production at Italian streamer TimVision, who is known for her scouting activity. Morelli has had a hand in shepherding “Skam Italia,” the Italian adaptation of the Nordic drama series that’s a hit in Italy. She was more recently among producers of “Amanda,” a quirky teen dramedy about female friendship by newcomer Carolina Cavalli, that launched positively in September from the Venice fest’s Horizons section. 

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. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Rithy Panh, director of “Rice People” and “S21 The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine” is an icon of art-house cinema, at once political, unique, and charming. The iconic image may be another of his confections – a palatable work built on uncomfortable facts. On the incomplete evidence of a 50-minute on-stage dialog at the Busan International Film Festival on Sunday, Panh comes across as simultaneously contrarian and principled. A curmudgeonly veteran and yet a filmmaker still curious to learn. “If there were no Khmer Rouge maybe I would not be a filmmaker,” he said of the Communist insurgents, who won the Cambodian civil war in 1975 and whose brutality and atrocities he has spent a lifetime documenting and exposing.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Grappling with free-falling theatrical admissions and misplaced blame by exhibitors on so-called “auteur” movies, the leading lights of the French film industry sounded the alarm about the state of the country’s cinema sector during a dramatic and emotional conference. The jam-packed event on Thursday, called Appel aux Etats Generaux (Call for General Assemblies), was organized by some of France’s most established producers including Saïd Ben Saïd, Judith Lou Levy and Philippe Carcassone, who work frequently with directors Paul Verhoven, Mati Diop and Florian Zeller, respectively. The conference was held at the Institut du Monde Arabe, a cultural venue headed by Jack Lang, who served as minister of culture throughout the 1980s. More than 400 people attended the event, including members of the independent distributors guild (DIRE) and the directors guild SRF, the governing body of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.

Italy’s International Audiovisual Market MIA is expecting a return to full force this year ahead of its eighth edition in Rome from October 11 to15.

There’s just over three months to go before the 2023 Sundance Film Festival kicks off, but for nearly three dozen films the festivities have already begun.

Last year there were 93 nations that submitted films for the coveted International Film Academy Award. Only five were nominated, but they had a major hurdle to overcome first, the shortlist.

EXCLUSIVE: Alon Schwarz’s hard-hitting documentary Tantura, revisiting the conflicting accounts around an alleged massacre of the residents of a Palestinian village by Israeli fighters in 1948, will open the 16th edition of New York’s Other Israel Film Festival.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “The Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood will be feted at the 10th annual Middleburg Film Festival with the Agnès Varda Award, while “Triangle of Sadness” star Dolly De Leon will receive the festival’s Breakthrough Performance Award. “Empire of Light” actor Micheal Ward is being honored with the Spotlight Actor Award. The Sam Mendes film has also been named as the closing night film of the festival. 2019 Distinguished Composer Award recipient Terence Blanchard and his band, the E-Collective, will return to the festival and close out with a music performance.

Narcos: Mexico has picked up two nominations at the International Emmy Awards 2022 and will battle with Lupin, Vigil and South Africa’s Reyka for the coveted Drama Series prize.

FKA twigs, Denzel Curry, Marianne Faithfull and more have joined the Musicians For Palestine pledge, calling on their peers to add their names in “refusing to perform at Israel’s complicit cultural institutions”.Blonde Redhead, Arca, UB40 and Sean Kuti are also among more than 900 artists who have now signed up to the initiative. See the full list of 2022 signatories here.It was launched last May following last year’s conflict between Israel and Palestine.At the time protests took place around the world, with people taking to the streets to show their support for the Palestinian people.

Denmark has selected Ali Abbasi’s Cannes-winning title Holy Spider as its official submission to this year’s International Feature Oscar race.

Alice Diop’s Saint Omer has been selected as France’s entry to the best international film category.

The Rome Film Festival has unveiled its first line-up under the new management team of former Rai executive Paola Malanga as artistic director and Cineteca di Bologna director Gian Luca Farinelli as president, who were both appointed to their roles last March.

Orit Fouks Rotem’s Cinema Sabaya will be Israel’s entry to the best international film category in this year’s Oscar race, following its best picture win at the country’s Ophir national cinema awards over the weekend.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After “Midnight in Paris,” Woody Allen will return to the French capital for his 50th movie which he’s described as a “poisonous romantic thriller” with a pair of French stars, Valerie Lemercier (“Aline”) and Niels Schneider (“Love Affair(s))”. The untitled film, the plot of which is being kept under wraps, will start filming next month and will be entirely in French with a budget in the $10-million range. Allen has described the film to be similar to “Match Point,” in that it would be “exciting, dramatic and also very sinister.”  Allen sparked headlines earlier this week after Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia ran a story reporting that the New York-based filmmaker had told them he was planning on retiring. Allen’s representative then issued a statement saying that the director had “no intention of retiring.”

EXCLUSIVE: The Icelandic Film and Television Academy has selected Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s Beautiful Beings as Iceland’s official entry in the Best International Feature Film category for the 2023 Academy Awards.

We all know how much Donald Trump loves McDonald’s – but Jimmy Fallon thinks he probably made an exception in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. “Of course everyone’s talking about this today: Leaders, dignitaries and politicians from around the world gathered in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth,” the host of “The Tonight Show” set up in his monologue on Monday.“Meanwhile, Trump showed up at a Burger King and said, ‘Sorry for your loss,'” Fallon joked, leaning in as if ordering at a drive thru window and closing his eyes solemnly.

The 18thCamden International Film Festival on Maine’s mid-coast – an increasingly important destination for documentary filmmakers – wrapped its in-person portion Sunday after announcing a handful of awards.

The Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) has announced its first 15 feature titles. These films are part of the Special Presentation section and will be followed by a full schedule of competition films, short films, panels and events. SFiFF starts October 19 and will run through October 23.