Mike Downey Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

The European Film Academy, the board that oversees the European Film Awards, has voted to restructure its membership for the 2024 awards cycle.

Cinema professionals from across Europe are gathered in Berlin this evening for the 36th European Film Awards.

Marta Balaga Warsaw Film Festival sets out to spotlight a slew of new local releases, from “Anxiety” by Sławomir Fabicki – Oscar-nominated for his short “A Man Thing” – to this year’s opener “Song of Goats” by Andrzej Jakimowski. The latter, featuring “EO” star Mateusz Kościukiewicz and set in Greece, will show characters living close to an active volcano, exploring the question of how “each of us is responsible for maintaining our fragile heritage,” says the director.

Agnieszka Holland’s migrant crisis drama Green Border has achieved the best opening weekend in Poland for a Polish film in 2023 in spite of a fierce political backlash from the country’s right-wing government.

Christopher Vourlias Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland has remained defiant despite a wave of vicious political attacks and online hate speech as she prepares to release her Venice Special Jury Prize-winning refugee drama “Green Border” in Poland on Sept. 22.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The political backlash surrounding Agnieszka Holland’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winning refugee drama “Green Border” hasn’t kept the movie from being a hot seller. The film explores the injustice and terror perpetrated at the Polish-Belarusian border from the perspective of refugees, Polish activists and border guards.

Naman Ramachandran The European Film Academy has revealed the nominations for Lux – The European Audience Film Award. The nominated films are: “20,000 Species of Bees” by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain); “The Teacher’s Lounge” by İlker Çatak (Germany); “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland, Germany); “On the Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert (France, Japan); and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” by Anna Hints (Estonia, France, Iceland).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The board of the European Film Academy – the organization behind the European Film Awards – has decided to restructure board membership for 2024. The change will ensure an equal voice for different parts of Europe in strategic decisions. From the upcoming elections onwards, representatives on the board will be chosen from 15 regions in Europe. The move is designed to give a more equal distribution of voices from across Europe on the board. The restructuring will take place in two stages, allowing current board members elected in December 2022 for a two-year period to finish their mandate until the end of 2024.

Films Boutique has closed multiple territory deals on Agnieszka Holland’s “The Green Border,” which just completed principal photography in Poland. The film has been sold to Condor (France), September Films (Benelux), Movies Inspired (Italy), Leopardo Filmes (Portugal), MCF Megacom (former Yugoslavia), Kino Swiat (Poland) and AQS (Czech Rep./Slovakia). “The Green Border” tells the story of a family of Syrian refugees, a solitary English teacher from Afghanistan and a young border guard, all of whom meet on the Polish-Belarusian border during the most recent humanitarian crisis triggered by Belarus’ president Alexander Lukashenko, who opened the country’s doors to migrants as a back door to enter the EU.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off a successful collaboration on “Charlatan,” Films Boutique has boarded Agnieszka Holland’s next film “The Green Border,” which just completed principal photography in Poland. Now in post production, “The Green Border” tells the fateful story of a family of Syrian refugees, a solitary English teacher from Afghanistan and a young border guard, all of whom meet on the Polish-Belarusian border during the most recent humanitarian crisis triggered by President Lukaschenko opening doors to migrants in Belarus as a back door to enter the EU.  The screenplay, penned by Holland, Gabriela Łazarkiewicz-Sieczko and Maciej Pisuk, is inspired by real events. Research for the film included hundreds of hours of document analysis, interviews with refugees, border guards, borderland residents, activists and experts.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The European Film Academy is changing the date of its annual award ceremony, the European Film Awards, so that it will be positioned within the awards season at the start of the year. After the 37th edition in December 2024, the 38th edition will take place mid-January 2026 and will celebrate the best European films from the previous year. The date change is a next step in the repositioning and rebranding process of the event and the work of the European Film Academy. With the European Film Awards moving a month later to the beginning of the calendar year, European nominees and winners will be featured much more visibly within the awards season, culminating with the Oscars.

The European Film Awards, Europe’s equivalent of the Oscars, will move from its traditional December slot to mid-January in 2026.

Alissa Simon Film Critic The ninth edition of Iceland’s Stockfish Film & Industry Festival, which runs March 23 to April 2, is innovating under an ambitious new team that includes one of Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch, Hrönn Kristinsdottír (“Lamb”), as artistic director and festival veteran Carolina Salas as managing director. Among the highlights will be a masterclass with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Florian Hoffmeister (“Tár”), who is currently in Iceland shooting the fourth season of HBO’s “True Detective.” The screening program opens with Ukraine’s “Pamfir,” directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk and includes tributes to Oscar-nominated Polish helmer Jerzy Skolimowski and U.K. producer Mike Downey, recipient of the fest’s first “Outstanding Contribution to the Industry” kudos.

Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi has penned an open letter to the Academy of Motion Pictures, requesting the Academy defend the civil rights of his country’s people. 

A panel of international figures joined forces today at the Venice Festival to pledge their support for filmmakers suffering oppression, harassment and imprisonment around the world.

The Venice Film Festival has announced two new initiatives in collaboration with The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk to support and raise awareness about directors, filmmakers, and artists who have been arrested or imprisoned around the world during the past year.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Venice Film Festival is launching two initiatives to support directors, filmmakers and artists who have been arrested or imprisoned around the world during the past year. In tandem with the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR), a panel will be held on Sept. 3 at the Palazzo del Casinò press conference room titled: “Filmmakers Under Attack:Taking Stock, Taking Action.” Panelists will include fest chiefs Alberto Barbera (Venice);  Vanja Kalurdjercic (Rotterdam); Orwa Nyrabia (Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival); Turkish producer Nadir Öperli; European Film Academy president Mike Downey and an unspecified Iranian director. 

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR), the Amsterdam-based body set up in 2019 to support cinema professionals in danger, has posted an open letter addressing the recent crackdown on Iran’s filmmaking community.

The International Coalition For Filmmakers At Risk (ICFR) has demanded “an end to a growing environment of fear and insecurity” in Iran after two documentary creators were arrested then released on bail, preventing them from travelling or working.

Richard E. Grant bags guest role in ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ retelling

Naman Ramachandran The European Film Academy has pledged support to its members in Ukraine and is looking for practical ways to help them. “We need to immediately move beyond ‘thoughts and prayers’ and start to concentrate on what practical help can be given to our membership and community,” European Film Academy chair and board member of the International Coalition for Film makers at Risk, Mike Downey, told Variety.

The European Film Academy (EFA) has contacted its members in Ukraine pledging support amidst today’s assault on the country by Russian forces.

‘Righteous Thieves’ First Look

K.J. Yossman Agnieszka Holland has signed on to direct a biopic of 20th century novelist Franz Kafka.Titled “Kafka,” the film will cover the writer’s life in a series of standalone vignettes, from his birth in 19th century Prague through to his death in Berlin just a few years after the close of World War I.Šárka Cimbalová, Sam Taylor and Mike Downey are set to produce the feature. “‘Kafka’ will be a dazzling kaleidoscopic mosaic of a film that dramatizes the famous writer’s life and imagination in a series of standalone vignettes that span Kafka’s life from his birth in pre-war Prague, up to his tragic death in Berlin in 1924 and into scenes from the future he envisioned,” the trio said in a statement.

Naman Ramachandran Producer and European Film Academy Chair Mike Downey is being honored with the Kristián Lifetime Achievement Award, at the Prague International Film Festival – Febiofest.The award will be presented at the opening of the festival on Friday by Oscar nominated and BAFTA winning British filmmaker Stephen Daldry.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentMatthijs Wouter Knol took over as director of the European Film Academy at the start of the year, having served as director of the European Film Market since 2014.