Shanghai International Film Festival Announces Competition Line-Up; Jerzy Skolimowski To Head Jury; Mike Leigh Featured In Tribute

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese drama feature “Yoko” won the Golden Goblet best picture award at the Shanghai International Film Festival. The jury Grand Prix was awarded to Spain’s “Muyeres” with China’s Liu Jin winning the best director prize.The trio also collected additional prizes making them the only multiple winners in a ceremony that sprinkled its awards widely. “Yoko,” directed by Kumakiri Kazuyoshi, who earlier this year saw melodramatic “#Manhole” play in Berlin, takes the structure of a road-movie and is a journey of self-discovery of a woman who had been socially isolated in her apartment for many years. Portrayed by global star Rinko Kikuchi (”Babel,” “47 Ronin”), the woman is forced to confront the real world, and herself, when she takes a 658 kilometre cross-country journey to her father’s funeral. Without a cell phone or the money for public transport, she finds herself having to hitch hike. Kikuchi also earned the best actress award.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Eastern Grace Film, a new production company that teased its debut production “The Sand Murmurs” earlier this month, has gone one step further. It used the Shanghai International Film Festival to unveil a slate of nine new film productions. The company is an indirect subsidiary of Baination Pictures, a Beijing-based film and TV group that is listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange. Eastern Grace is headed by president Wilson Jiang, a veteran film distributor in China.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Sunday,” by Uzbekistan-based director Shokir Kholikov, was Thursday named best film in the Asian New Talent section of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival. The Asian New Talent Awards are called Golden Goblet Awards, but are separate from the festival’s official competition section, and favor new and emerging talent. The main competition jury will hand out its Golden Goblets on Sunday. The best director prize in the Asian New Talent section was shared by two helmers: China’s Luo Dong won for “May.” So too did Kazakhstan’s Aisultan Seit for “Qash.” Luo previously attended the Shanghai festival’s project market ten years ago and has since completed one other film.

Naman Ramachandran The world premiere of Scottish writer-director Johnny Barrington‘s debut feature “Silent Roar” will open the 2023 Edinburgh International Film Festival on Aug. 18. Billed as a “teenage tale of surfing, sex and hellfire” set in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, the film stars emerging actor Louis McCartney as Dondo, a young surfer struggling to accept his father’s recent disappearance at sea. Caught up in grief, he is brought to his senses by rebellious crush Sas (Ella Lily Hyland), a high achiever who dreams of escaping the island. When an oddly-behaved new minister arrives on the island, Dondo begins to have cosmic visions. The film is produced by Scottish producer Chris Young (“The Inbetweeners Movie”) and was made with the participation of Screen Scotland, BBC Films and BFI. MK2 Films is handling sales.

Naman Ramachandran International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has appointed former BFI London Film Festival director Clare Stewart to the position of managing director, taking over from Marjan van der Haar. Stewart was most recently interim CEO at Sheffield DocFest and commences in the role at IFFR on June 21. IFFR has a dual leadership structure where the managing director and festival director oversee the commercial and creative elements of the organization respectively, working in partnership. Stewart previously consulted with the IFFR board of directors in 2021 in its first phase of re-evaluation prior to her joining DocFest, with a focus on the IFFR program structure and content strategy.

wearing flip-flops on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival last month, Jennifer Lawrence is setting the record straight about the fashion statement that had the internet abuzz.«Ok, thank you for bringing this up. I would really like to straighten this out,» Lawrence told ET's Nischelle Turner while promoting her new film,  alongside co-star, Andrew Barth Feldman.

Tribeca Film Festival — an event that he founded in 2002 — with a three-day celebration.While the 79-year-old’s birthday is actually on Aug. 17, the festivities will go down from Sept.

Robert De Niro and girlfriend Tiffany Chen enjoyed a night out at the annual Tribeca Film Festival on Wednesday.The pair walked the carpet for the premiere screening of  during the opening night of the festival, at OKX Theater in New York City.The stars rocked much less formal fare than when they hit up the Cannes Film Festival last month, with the two-time Oscar winner wearing a black blazer and a charcoal grey polo shirt.Meanwhile, Chen — who gave birth to the couple's daughter, Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro, on Apr. 6 — wore a long, light brown cardigan sweater over a black dress.De Niro recently sat down with ET's Rachel Smith and opened up about making his red carpet debut with Chen at the Cannes Film Fest, at the premiere of his new movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, and said, «It was great.»«Yeah.

The winners of the 2023 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival Awards were announced this weekend in Toronto where $32,000 in prizes were handed out to various 2SLGBTQ+ filmmakers. Top honours went to Juan Sebastián Torales’ Almamula (Best First Feature), Lulu Wei’s Supporting Our Selves (Best Canadian Feature), Beth Warrian’s Adore (Best Canadian Short), and Karimah Zakia Issa with Scaring Women At Night (Emerging Canadian Artist). 

EXCLUSIVE: Leo Leigh’s directorial debut Sweet Sue and Vincent Perez’s fencing film The Edge Of The Blade are among six international films set to get their world premiere at the upcoming Filmfest München (June 23 – July 1), which this year celebrates its 40th edition. Scroll down for full list and details.

Eva Longoria was joined by actor and founder of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival Edward James Olmos at the premiere of her new movie Flamin’ Hot at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on Wednesday (May 31) in Los Angeles.

While it doesn’t have the star power of Cannes, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious European film events of the year. And this year is no different, with a selection lineup that includes some of the best films making the festival rounds.

Jane Fonda took matters into her own hands over the weekend at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The 85-year-old veteran actress introduced the Palme d'Or Award to French director Justine Triet.Fonda introduced the historic moment, noting that seven female directors were nominated for the prestigious award for the first time and applauding the festival for its progress.She then gave Triet the award for her film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 25th Shanghai International Film Festival, June 9 to 18, has unveiled the titles in contention for awards in its four main feature-length sections: main competition, Asian New Talent, Animation film and documentary. These are eligible for the festival’s prestigious Golden Goblet Awards, winners of which will be announced at the Shanghai Grand Theater on the evening of June 17. While SIFF remains the only mainland China festival to be accredited as a so-called A-list event by the International Federation of Film Producers (FIAPF), its selections are largely separate and distinct from those at other major international festivals.

Heidi Klum inadvertently became part of the "free the nipple" movement, when her titillating gown couldn't hold her together. The 49-year-old judge attended the  premiere Wednesday at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival and, while walking the red carpet at Palais des Festivals, all eyes were on Klum, who looked stunning in an aurora yellow Zuhair Murad gown with a hip-high leg slit, crossed neckline and bejeweled sleeves.With her trademark blonde locks flowing, Klum smiled as she raised her arms, and therein lay the problem — when she raised her arms to extend her long cape she suffered a bit of a wardrobe malfunction with a nip slip. Not that she's ever been shy about nudity.Back in February, Klum and her husband, Tom Kaulitz, appeared to have stripped down to their birthday suit to celebrate their four-year wedding anniversary.«Love of my life ❤️,» Klum wrote in her celebratory post.A post shared by Heidi Klum (@heidiklum)The model's dedication to her husband led with a video of her and Kaulitz sharing a kiss in bed.

Irina Shayk donned a daring look at the Cannes Film Festival. The 37-year-old model stepped out wearing only lingerie and diamonds at a party hosted by  and Chopard.Shayk wowed in a black bra and panty set, which she paired with gloves, a sheer slip, thigh-high stockings and heels.

every year, and 2023 is no different. Among all the diamonds and show-stopping gowns are the beauty looks, both classic and experimental, that are just as much of a spectacle as the outfits.Take Helen Mirren, who switched up her signature silver strands for a very modern .

Jennifer Lawrence made sure to keep things comfortable on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.The 32-year-old Oscar winner attended a special screening of the film and walked the carpet in Cannes, France, while wearing a stunning Christian Dior couture cherry red gown.But when Lawrence lifted her gown to walk down the steps, she revealed that she was rocking some black flip flops underneath the elegant look.Lawrence attended the screening with Sahra Mani, the director of the new documentary she produced,, and fellow producer Justine Ciarrocchi.Earlier on Sunday, Lawrence attended the photocall for while wearing a silver mesh look and heels. is a documentary following Afghan women under the control of the Taliban.

Christopher Vourlias The anticipation surrounding Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” was building long before it was tapped to compete at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Details about the Auschwitz-set film, which is loosely based on the novel by Martin Amis, have been kept under wraps, although no less a Cannes personage than festival director Thierry Fremaux described it as “quite a challenging film.” Glazer’s first movie since 2013 sci-fi fantasy “Under the Skin” is sure to be among the more talked-about films bowing on the Croisette. Filmed entirely in Poland and lensed by two-time Oscar nominee Łukasz Żal (“Ida,” “Cold War”), “Zone of Interest” is also a triumph for the Polish film industry. “The character, the genes of the film, they were here in Poland,” says Academy Award-winning producer Ewa Puszczyńska (“Ida,” “Cold War”), whose shingle Extreme Emotions shares producing credits with British producer James Wilson’s JW Films. “There is a lot of Polish soul…in this film.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Returning as an in-person event after cancelation last year, the Shanghai International Film Festival has set out an agenda with a clear focus on China. The festival (June 9-16) will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s economic outreach and development program. With a series of press conferences and film culture roundtables, the SIFF’s Belt and Road Film Week will “bring together old friends of the alliance from previous years and new friends made this year [..] and announce an action plan for the future.”