Sandra Hüller, Sean Baker, Laura Poitras Call for Solidarity With Mohammad Rasoulof and Iranian Filmmakers in Open Letter (EXCLUSIVE)

A national chain of pub-restaurants, renowned for their unforgettable prawn cocktails, steaks and cheesecakes, was once a common sight across Greater Manchester and beyond.

Gaten Matarazzo recalls an uncomfortable encounter with a Stranger Things fan in her 40s who made a remark that took the young actor aback.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off the Cannes Film Festival where it won several awards, Mohammad Rasoulof‘s “The Seed of The Sacred Fig” has been acquired by a flurry of high profile distributors in major international territories. Films Boutique, which represents the critically acclaimed political drama globally, has sold it to Lionsgate for the U.K.

EXCLUSIVE: Io Capitano, the latest feature from Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone, and Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border have joined the lineup of this year’s Refugee Week arts and culture festival, running June 17 to 23. 

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Recently crowned Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph has joined the cast of A24‘s upcoming romantic comedy “Eternity,” Variety has learned exclusively. Directed by David Freyne, the film also stars Miles Teller (“Top Gun: Maverick”), Elizabeth Olsen (“WandaVision”), and Callum Turner (“Masters of the Air”). This project marks Randolph’s first feature film with A24.

In accepting the Palme d’Or today for his latest movie Anora, Sean Baker gave a shoutout for the survival of cinema.

Sean Baker’s “Anora,” a comic but devastating Brooklyn odyssey about a sex worker who marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, has won the Cannes Film Festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or.Baker accepted the prize with his movie’s star, Mikey Madison, watching in the audience at the Cannes closing ceremony Saturday. The win for “Anora” marks a new high point for Baker, the director of “The Florida Project.” It’s also, remarkably, the fifth straight Palme d’Or won by indie distributor Neon, following “Parasite,” “Titane,” “Triangle of Sadness” and last year’s winner, “Anatomy of a Fall.”“I don’t really know what’s happening right now,” said Baker.While “Anora” was arguably the most acclaimed film of the festival, its win was a slight surprise.

Marta Balaga Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” won the Fipresci award at Cannes. The jury of the International Federation of Film Critics called it “a courageous story set in modern-day Iran that deals with the conflict between tradition and progress, depicted in a very powerful and imaginative way.” Following a rapturous screening and 2024 record 12-minute standing ovation, the film became a Palme d’Or frontrunner, reported Variety.

“If we had to deal with cocaine, it would have been easier,” joked The Seed of the Sacred Fig filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof this AM at a Cannes presser about his entanglement with totalitarian Iranian authorities over his cinema which prompted the filmmaker to flee his homeland from imprisonment.

CANNES – After screening “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” a world premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, one has to breathe a sigh of relief that director and screenwriter Mohammad Rasoulof is safely out of Iran. A victim of a politically motivated jail sentence for supporting the 2022 Masha Amini hijab protests, Rasoulof‘s latest feature will likely anger the Iranian government even more.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic For more than two decades, Iman (Misagh Zare) has functioned as a civil servant, doing work that his kids — who represent Iran’s younger generation — would be ashamed of. Better to keep them in the dark. At last, for his loyalty, Iman has been given a promotion, not to judge (the job he wants) but to inspector (a job no one wants).

This afternoon, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof debuted his latest feature, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, in Competition here at the Cannes Film Festival to a nearly 15-minute standing ovation.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof a few days ago absconded from his country with a heavy heart after being sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court for making his latest film, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.” Ironically, the groundbreaking drama is centered on an investigating judge operating within the same judicial system that has been heavily harassing the film’s producers and actors, and that intended to put Rasoulof behind bars. Having made the tough decision of escaping his beloved homeland, Rasoulof – who is among Iran’s most prominent directors – prepares to attend the film’s world premiere at Cannes on Friday.

The Directors Guild of America is standing in solidarity with Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof who had fled authoritarian Iran, and is currently at the Cannes Film Festival with his competition title The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

Sean Baker is a filmmaker who likes to make films about the fringes of society. And many times, that includes a story about a sex worker, such as in “Tangerine,” “The Florida Project,” or his latest, “Anora.” It’s a world Baker feels is not only ripe with stories, but also serves a purpose in the grander scheme of things.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof will be attending the Cannes world premiere of his latest work, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” having traveled to Europe clandestinely after receiving an eight-year prison sentence from the country’s authorities for making the film. Rasoulof decided to leave Iran illegally and arrived in Europe a few days ago, shortly after being sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court.

Better Things actress Mikey Madison goes the distance in a raw and revealing performance as a high-class stripper who is romanced, and married by, the son of a Russian oligarch in Sean Baker‘s Anora.

Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof will attend Friday’s Cannes screening of his competition movie The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

CANNES – The “Anora” in Sean Baker’s latest creation is actually the birth name of Ani (Mikey Madison), a private dancer who works in a pretty nice strip club in New York City. Sure, the hours ain’t ideal, and there’s that long subway ride back to the rundown duplex she shares with her sister in Brighton Beach, but she’s not complaining.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has died aged 63 after a horror helicopter crash.