Outfest Announces Lineup for Film Festival’s 40th Anniversary

Marta Balaga Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival has revealed the lineup for its 75th edition, sticking to its promise of discovering new talent.A slew of debuting filmmakers will showcase their works, from Italy’s Nicola Prosatore with “Piano Piano” to Caterina Mona, focusing in “Semret” on an Eritrean single mother working at a Zurich hospital and dreaming of becoming a midwife.Thomas Hardiman’s U.K.’s proposition “Medusa Deluxe,” a murder mystery set in a competitive hairdressing competition — boarded by New Europe Film Sales — is also bound to generate some excitement.“‘Medusa Deluxe’ is one of the coolest debuts of the year,” the company’s CEO Jan Naszewski enthused to Variety. “I’m sure it will rock the Piazza Grande and give the festival a great spark.”But Locarno will also bring in heavyweights, starting with a screening of the much-anticipated Brad Pitt vehicle “Bullet Train,” directed by “Atomic Blond” helmer David Leitch, and Olivia Newman’s “Where the Crawdads Sing” with Daisy Edgar-Jones and David Strathairn.Anna Gutto’s “Paradise Highway” packs star power as well, starring the likes of Morgan Freeman, “Captain America’s” Frank Grillo and Juliette Binoche, cast as a truck driver forced to smuggle illicit cargo to save her brother from a prison gang.In an interview with Variety earlier this year, the French actor described the role as a “worthwhile challenge.”“I never imagined I’d play a truck driver! I was drawn to incongruity and the prospect of embarking on a new adventure.

The Locarno Film Festival has announced the full line-up and juries for its 75th edition, which is due to unfold August 3-13.

While Covid cases begin to surge again in Hollywood, it’s a different story nearly 6,000 miles away as the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival kicked off with a bang on Friday night. The prominent Central European festival showed no sign that the pandemic was going to mar yet another edition of the much-loved event as delegates packed into the Hotel Thermal’s Grand Hall for its opening night ceremony and opening night film Superheroes, from Italian director Paolo Genovese.

Will Tizard ContributorThe Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival roared back to life Friday following the disruption of the pandemic years.And the opening ceremony kicked off with a bit of digital disruption: the audience was invited to pull out their mobile phones and follow festival dancers online before they burst onto the stage with a real-life fire show.The Czech Republic’s main event in the art film world, the festival this year screens some 132 narrative and doc films and has become a hub for filmmakers, producers and regional orgs.But even as enthusiastic, unmasked crowds cheered on the launch of the nine-day event at the iconic 70s-tastic Hotel Thermal, a sense of loss pervaded the proceedings.

Courtney Barnett and Animal Collective are among the leading names in the first wave of acts to be announced for Pitchfork Music Festival London 2022.The event will return for its second London edition from November 9-13 and will take places in a number of London venues, including The Roundhouse and EartH.Over 50 artists will perform during the five days of Pitchfork Music Festival London 2022, including the aforementioned Barnett and Animal Collective.Faye Webster, Jenny Hval, Cate Le Bon, Desire, William Basinski, Injury Reserve, KOKOKO!, Dehd, Anjimile, Big Joanie, Club Intl, Billy Woods, Girlpool, Lyra Pramuk, Sister Ray, Léa Sen, They Hate Change, Jordana, Marina Herlop, Lido Pimienta, Fake Fruit, Guerilla Toss and Johanna Warren will also perform during this year’s event series.More acts will be announced for Pitchfork Music Festival London 2022 in the coming weeks and months.Tickets for each Pitchfork Music Festival London event will be sold separately, with general sale beginning tomorrow (July 1) at 10am from here.“We’re thrilled to be today announcing our first incredible artists for the second Pitchfork Festival London – and to be part of a growing family of events now in Paris and Berlin in the same period,” Dan Monsell, Co-Managing Director at the festival’s promoters FORM Concerts, said in a statement.“We were blown away by the reception to the launch of Pitchfork Festival in the UK last year, and we can’t wait to develop the event into its second year.

R.E.M. are set to reissue their 1982 debut EP ‘Chronic Town’ in August to celebrate its 40th anniversary.The band’s first EP featured five songs – ‘Wolves, Lower’, ‘Gardening At Night’, ‘Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcars)’, ‘1,000,000’ and ‘Stumble’ – and was originally released on August 24, 1982 as the follow-up to their 1981 debut single ‘Radio Free Europe’.R.E.M.

As the 56th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) is about to kick off on Friday, there will be plenty to discuss at this year’s event in the picturesque Czech spa town. The prominent Central European festival, which is returning to its usual early July slot after last year’s edition was delayed to August because of the pandemic, will see 33 films from five continents screen across its three sections – the Crystal Globe Competition, the Special Screenings section and its new competition, Proxima, which replaces the former East of the West section.

The 2022 American Black Film Festival (ABFF) today announced the Best of the ABFF Award winners.

Wilson Chapman editorThe Maui Film Festival has announced the slate of films and honorees for its 22nd annual edition.The 2022 festival will feature the Maui premieres of 13 feature films, including “McCurry: The Pursuit of Color,” “Gratitude Revealed,” “Facing Monsters,” “The Story of Everything,” “Pretty Problems,” “Kapo,” “Tango Shalom” and “Pe’Ahi.” The festival opener will be a special surprise, with the film remaining a secret until the screening on July 6.The in-person festival will take place at the outdoors Stardust Cinema, featuring live music, Kahiko style hula and other activities. In addition, 80 short and feature films will be available to stream online through the festival’s Speed-of-Light Virtual Cinema from July 6-31.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, Features“You have to put it in the script. If you put in the script – it will happen.”This is Geena Davis’ sage advice to filmmakers when crafting stories aiming to incorporate inclusive storylines and characters.“Nobody is going to second guess if it says the scene takes place at, say, ‘a police station which is 40% women,’ or if there’s a scene where ‘a crowd gathers, which is half female,’” continues the Oscar-winning actor and founder of the eponymous Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.“Specify what it is.

Outfest has announced the complete lineup for its 40th-anniversary Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, which will take place from July 14-24 at multiple locations throughout Los Angeles.

EXCLUSIVE: Next month’s Micheaux Film Festival in LA will honor Bron co-founder and President Brenda Gilbert with the Oscar Micheaux Trailblazer of Excellence Award and filmmaker and Spike Lee collaborator Ernest Dickerson with the Michael Ajakwe Pioneer of Influence Award.

Christopher Vourlias Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, whose feature debut “Pamfir” premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section, and director and former political prisoner Oleh Sentsov (“Rhino”) are among the Ukrainian filmmakers who say they’re “distraught” by the inclusion of a Russian film in the main competition at the Transilvania Film Festival.In a statement posted on Monday to the Facebook page for “Pamfir,” the filmmakers spoke out against the selection of Russian director Lado Kvataniya’s “The Execution” as one of 12 features competing for the Transilvania Trophy, criticizing the “illusion of cultural reconciliation” created by the festival’s decision and insisting that “art does not exist outside of politics.” The filmmakers noted that Kvataniya’s psychological thriller was produced with the support of the state-backed Russian Film Fund as well as Kinoprime, the $100 million film fund bankrolled by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who has been sanctioned by the U.K.

Christopher Vourlias For the first edition of the Evia Film Project, a new initiative launched by the organizers of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the festival’s industry arm, Agora, hosted a series of events looking to bring both environmentally focused films and sustainable film production to the fore. The program was designed to help revitalize Greece’s second-largest island, which was hit by a devastating series of wildfires last summer.Speaking to Variety ahead of the festival, Agora head Yianna Sarri stressed the importance of getting the global film community to rethink its ways of doing business in order to make the industry more environmentally friendly.

The future of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is looking uncertain following the unexpected cancellation of its previously announced sixth edition, which had been due to run October 13-22.

A memorial service for the 40 th anniversary of the Falklands War is to take place in Trafford. Veterans of the 1982 conflict, will be joined by members of the armed forces, cadets and civic dignitaries – including Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham – to pay their respects to those who lost their lives fighting to take back the islands on behalf of its residents.

Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas have reunited on the red carpet!

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorKarlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s industry section, Eastern Promises, has unveiled its lineup of 35 film projects, which will be showcased during the Works in Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch, First Cut+ Works in Progress and Odesa International Film Festival Works in Progress presentations.

The stars of Vengeance are stepping out for the premiere of their new movie!