Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk coming-of-age comedy “Head South” will open the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam on Jan. 25, with the festival running until Feb. 4.
06.11.2023 - 11:09 / variety.com
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Pia Lundberg, a Swedish film industry veteran, is set to succeed Jonas Holmberg as the new artistic director of Göteborg Film Festival, Scandinavia’s leading film-TV event. Lundberg most recently served as counsellor for cultural affairs at the Embassy of Sweden in London for the last five years.
A former journalist, Lundberg also served as head of international at the Swedish Film Institute between 2007 and 2018. She will take up the position as artistic director of the Goteborg Film Festival on March 1.
“I have attended hundreds of film festivals and now finally have the opportunity to help create one,” said Lundberg. “Sometimes, I wish that significant cinematic experiences could be prescribed by doctors.
In a time when more and more people in power view art as an instrumental tool, it is more important than ever to elevate film as an independent artistic expression,” she continued. Carina Lindberg Glavå, president of the board of the Göteborg Film Festival, said Lundberg was tapped as artistic director “following an extensive recruitment process with many highly qualified applicants.” “Pia Lundberg has broad and varied experience in the film industry, where she has held multiple roles and developed a vast network that will contribute to strengthening the film festival,” Lindberg Glavå continued.
Mirja Wester, the CEO of the Göteborg Film Festival, said “there are few individuals in Sweden with such vast experience in international film festivals and a deep connection to the Nordic film world.” “I look forward to working together with Lundberg to further develop the Göteborg Film Festival as the hub of Nordic film culture,” said Wester. Lundberg began her career as a writer
.Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk coming-of-age comedy “Head South” will open the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam on Jan. 25, with the festival running until Feb. 4.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Producer and screenwriter, Darren Dale has been named as the new board chair of the Sydney Film Festival, following the retirement of Dianne Weir. He is a leading advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content and has been director of Blackfella Films since 2000.
IDFA – the largest documentary film festival in the world — has just wrapped its 36th edition, and it was a memorable one by every definition. Two hundred and fifty films screened in Amsterdam, representing work from across the globe –the Middle East to Africa, Asia, North and South America, and Europe.
Martin Dale Contributor Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes” won best film at the 17th edition of Leffest Lisboa Film Festival, which announced awards Saturday night. Marking Erice’s first feature film since his 1992 docudrama “The Quince Tree Sun” and garnering almost universal positive reviews – Variety called it “an aching ode to film, time and memory” – following its world premiere at Cannes, “Close Your Eyes” has screened at Toronto, Busan, BFI London and New York.
Paul Ridd, a long-term acquisitions exec at Picturehouse Cinemas, has been named director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).
Naman Ramachandran The Edinburgh International Film Festival has tapped Picturehouse Entertainment head of acquisitions Paul Ridd as its new director. Ridd will join in December. His first festival, the event’s 77th anniversary, will take place in August 2024, with specific dates to be announced.
Sweden’s Stockholm International Film Festival has denied reports that it disinvited U.S.-Israeli filmmaker and actress Aleeza Chanowitz as an in-person guest at its ongoing edition, running from November 8 to 19.
Hussain Currimbhoy is the new Artistic Director at Toronto’s Hot Docs.
U.S-Israeli director and actress Aleeza Chanowitz has abandoned plans to attend the Stockholm Film Festival with her TV show Chanshi following a series of email exchanges in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict in which the event attempted to rescind an invite it made earlier this fall.
Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Toronto’s Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary film festival, has appointed Hussain Currimbhoy as its artistic director. He replaces Shane Smith, who left the organization in June, and will assume his role immediately. Currimbhoy has worked as a film producer, director and film curator since 2002.
a Q&A with the actor on Sunday.“What do you think about [the] crash scenes?” Driver was asked by the audience following the screening. “They looked pretty harsh, drastic and, I must say, cheesy for me.
Christopher Vourlias Sofia Exarchou’s “Animal” won the Golden Alexander at the 64th Thessaloniki Film Festival on Sunday, marking the first time in 30 years that a Greek film took home the top honors at the country’s longest-running film event. Exarchou’s sophomore feature, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, was praised by Variety’s Jessica Kiang as “a poignant portrait of life amid the sequins and the seediness of a Greek resort.” The film follows a group of entertainers at an all-inclusive island resort preparing for the busy tourist season who are forced to wrestle with the dark reality that the show must go on as the sultry Mediterranean nights turn violent.
Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Ninety-seven times out of 100, a movie makes its moral judgments for us. Yes, there’s a haunting ambiguity to films like “The Conformist” or “Taxi Driver” or “Tár.” But when was the last time you saw moral ambiguity in a genre movie? Even the “Mad Max” films, in their visionary savagery, draw a clean line between nobility and treachery, speed-demon heroism and outlaw selfishness. But “Concrete Utopia” is a dystopian disaster movie with a difference.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has issued an apology after three activists burst on stage during the opening ceremony on Nov. 8 with a banner that read “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free.” The slogan, which calls for the destruction of Israel, has been used by Hamas, the terrorist group behind the Oct.
Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor For the second year in a row, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) launches against the backdrop of a major war. Last year, the festival took place at the height of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, this year it runs as the Israel-Hamas War rages.
EXCLUSIVE: Stars Collective, a Los Angeles-based film finance and mentorship arm, has announced the launch of Stars Asian International Film Festival – a new capsule film showcase to take place in Los Angeles November 12-16.
The Göteborg Film Festival has found a new Artistic Director.
Agora, the industry section of Greece’s Thessaloniki International Film Festival, kicks into gear this weekend with an eye on expansion as industry head Angeliki Vergou and her team introduce a series of changes to the established event.
Greece’s Thessaloniki International Film Festival returns this evening for its 64th edition with a screening of The Pot-au-Feu (The Taste of Things), the latest film by French-Vietnamese director Trần Anh Hùng.
John Bleasdale Guest Contributor As the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, prepares for its 27th edition, Variety spoke with artistic director Tiina Lokk about its ambitions and coming highlights. “If you see the festival like a big building, then all the walls are in and the building is ready, but some rooms are not furnished yet,” Lokk says, before adding philosophically.