‘Passing’ and ‘Miquel’s War’ Win Top Prizes at LGBTQ Film Festival NewFest

Guy Lodge Film CriticFilm festivals have been the primary hatching-ground for Oscar contenders ever since the Academy’s tastes shifted predominantly from studio to independent cinema earlier this century — though in the international feature category, this has been the case for far longer.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorPenélope Cruz will be honored at the Museum of Modern Art’s 2021 Film Benefit.The event, presented by Chanel, will return as an in-person gala on Dec. 14 at the New York City museum.“Penélope Cruz has mesmerized cinema audiences since 1992 as an artist who is as compelling in action-adventures as she is in auteur-driven pictures,” Rajendra Roy, the Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at MoMA, said in a statement Tuesday.

The European Film Academy has announced nominations for the 34th European Film Awards which will be handed out in Berlin on December 11. Julia Ducournau’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, Titane; Florian Zeller’s 2020 drama and double Oscar winner The Father; and Jasmila Zbanic’s Quo Vadis Aida?, which was nominated for an Oscar at the 93rd edition, are tied with four mentions each.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Middle East premiere of British director Joe Wright’s dazzling romantic drama “Cyrano” will open the Red Sea Film Festival, which is Saudi Arabia’s first full-fledged film festival and market with international ambitions.The ambitious event, which is a key plank of the kingdom’s plans to diversify its oil-based economy and become a prominent Middle East moviemaking hub – following the 2017 removal of its religion-related ban on cinema – is set to

Dylan Penn stuns in a red hot dress for the 2021 SCAD Savannah Film Festival on Friday night (October 29) in Savannah, Ga.

When it comes to the Irish on our screens, it doesn’t get much more beloved than Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal.

Kodi Smit-McPhee suits up in a sharp red ensemble for the 2021 SCAD Savannah Film Festival on Tuesday night (October 26) in Savannah, Ga.

Naman Ramachandran Teemu Nikki’s Venice and Antalya winner “The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic” won the Golden star for best film at the 5th El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt, which wrapped Friday. The award carries a cash prize of $50,000.The film’s lead Petri Poikolainen won best actor, while Maya Vanderbeque, the young star of “Playground,” won best actress.

Naman Ramachandran Yomna Khattab’s “Fifty Meters” (Egypt) was the big winner at the CineGouna Platform, the El Gouna Film Festival’s industry arm created to support and empower Egyptian and Arab filmmakers and help them find artistic and financial support. This year, the CineGouna Platform disbursed awards worth $300,000 across 13 projects in development and seven films in post-production.

Oscars.org.Students from those schools were among the 17 filmmakers who won medals in seven different categories, and in doing so qualified for Academy Award consideration in the short-film categories. Gold medalists also received $5,000 cash prizes, while silver medals received $3,000 and bronze medalists $2,000.

Rebecca Davis editorDeadly flooding did not divert this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival from running its full course, with the event drawing to a close Monday with an award ceremony honoring Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy, India’s Natesh Hegde, and China’s Kong Dashan and Wei Shujun with top prizes.Many anticipated that this fifth edition of the festival would be different, given the shifting role of its co-founder and leading light, director Jia Zhangke.

Naman Ramachandran Palestinian filmmaker Said Zagha was turned away by Egyptian authorities in Cairo on his way to the El Gouna Film Festival to pitch his new project.The U.K. permanent resident has a Jordanian passport that indicates he is of Palestinian origin.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorCurrent best picture frontrunner “Belfast” has scooped the top prize at the Middleburg Film Festival.Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical “Belfast,” a black-and-white family drama about the Northern Ireland city in the late ’60s, was awarded best narrative film.Branagh also appeared at the festival to receive the director spotlight award.

Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya and Jason Momoa are ready for their big movie debut!

The IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award in association with the BFI returned for its sixth year, with lead judges Phoebe Waller-Bridge and BFI Chief Exec Ben Roberts awarding Harry Wootliff the £50,000 bursary. The bursary is the most significant of its kind in the UK film industry and is establishing itself as an indicator of future filmmaking talent with previous winners including Rose Glass and Daniel Kokotajlo.

The stars are stepping out for the latest screening of The Lost Daughter!

K.J. Yossman When a friend told director, writer and actor Missy Malek about a real-life group of disabled drug dealers operating in London, Malek instantly knew she had the makings of a film.“The second I heard it, I was like, ‘Yes, yes, amazing.

Naman Ramachandran Actor, writer, director and trans icon Isabel Sandoval wants trans characters in film and TV to be layered, complex and multidimensional.Speaking to Variety during the BFI London Film Festival, where she is the president of the first features jury, the Philippines-born, New York-based Sandoval said that a lot of studios and producers relegate trans characters to the periphery.“It’s important that when you do have trans characters and trans narratives in your films or TV