Sofia Exarchou’s Locarno Prize Winner ‘Animal’ Takes Top Award, Acting Honors at Thessaloniki Film Festival

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival launched its third edition on Thursday with a characteristically starry red carpet featuring the likes of Michelle Williams, Johnny Depp, Sharon Stone and Will Smith.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Though the Red Sea Film Festival will feature a slew of films from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region – including 11 feature films from Saudi Arabia – there is a rich roster of international fare set to launch locally from Jeddah. Kaleem Aftab, the festival’s director of international programming, says they received lots more submissions for this year’s third edition.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor AGC Intl., the international sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s fast-growing independent content studio AGC Studios, has picked up world rights from Image Nation Abu Dhabi, MBC Studios and VOX Studios on Yasir Al Yasiri‘s “HWJN,” and from O3 Medya and Dhafer L’Abidine’s Double A Productions on L’Abidine’s “To My Son.” Saudi fantasy romance ‘HWJN’ will open the Red Sea Film Festival on Nov. 30, while the emotional family drama “To My Son” will premiere in Red Sea’s Arab Spectacular section.

Stuart Ford’s AGC International has picked up world rights to two Arab-produced titles, HWJN by Yasir Al-Yasiri and To My Son byDhafer L’abidine, ahead of their debuts at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. 

Henry Kissinger, one of the key diplomats of the Cold War and a controversial National Security Advisor and Secretary of State for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, died tonight in his home in Connecticut at the age of 100.

It’s interesting to think of how cinema fans are often forced to pick sides. You’re either pro-cinema and on the side of folks like Christopher Nolan, or you’re maybe someone who likes major franchises and *gasp* comic book movies, so you’re on the side of Zack Snyder.

There’s a whole debate in Hollywood about how much the industry relies on established franchises like superhero movies and how many original films get commissioned. Director Christopher Nolan is weighing in on the matter explaining that there needs to be a balance between all types of movies.

It was a big night for Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards as they both took the most trophies.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Italian writer-director Emma Dante’s “Misericordia” has won the top prize at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. Adapted from her own play, her third feature tells the story of a young man (Simone Zambelli) with learning difficulties, cared for by a group of sex workers on an island, protecting him from the cruelty of his abusive father. It’s a raw portrait of a marginalized group of people, mixing natural beauty of the locations with the grime of everyday existence.

The nonprofit Sundance Institute today revealed an additional honoree of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival’s fundraiser, Opening Night Gala: Celebrating 40 Years,whichwill take place on January 18, 2024, at the DeJoria Center in Utah. 

Paul Ridd, a long-term acquisitions exec at Picturehouse Cinemas, has been named director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF).

th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the highest accolade given out by the festival. He will be honored at a ceremony scheduled for Feb. 9.

EXCLUSIVE: Riz Ahmed and his Left Handed Films have come aboard the 2023 SXSW Audience Award winner Mustache, marking the feature directorial and screenwriting debut of Imran J. Khan, as executive producers.

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.

When you look at a filmmaker who is able to take a story like “Oppenheimer” and have it earn more than Marvel films over the past couple of years (seriously, “Oppenheimer” has earned $950 million globally), there’s no denying Christopher Nolan has an unending supply of director’s golden tickets. He can make anything he wants and studios will fight each other for the opportunity to pay for it.

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. 

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.

Christopher Vourlias When Roma actress-turned-director Alina Șerban reflects on her life, rising from an impoverished background in Bucharest to become an acclaimed and groundbreaking force on stage and screen, she describes it as “an urban Cinderella story.” A review from one of her first stage shows, she says, sums it up best: “Roma actress beats the odds.” As a multi-faceted artist, Șerban has dedicated her life and career to reframing the narrative about her marginalized community. Now she’s developing her feature-length directorial debut, “I Matter,” a deeply personal story about a young Roma woman studying to be an actor who, faced with the threat of being kicked out of her orphanage, must suddenly confront the reality of making it through life on her own.

Seven years after her skillful debut Park, which played Toronto and San Sebastian, where it won the New Directors Award, Greek filmmaker Sofia Exarchou has returned with her sophomore outing. 

Sarvnik Kaur’s documentary Against The Tide won the Golden Gateway Award at this year’s Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, while the Silver Gateway Award went to Bahadur – The Brave, directed by Diwa Shah. The Special Jury Award went to Kanu Behl’s Agra.