Sundance Film Festival Sets Dates For 2024

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.

Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) has unveiled the major competition selections for its 25th edition (June 9-18), which will be the first to be held in a fully physical format with international guests since before the pandemic. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Leading lights of contemporary Iranian cinema, including ‘Holy Spider’ actor Zar Amir Ebrahimi, ‘The Siren’ director Sepideh Farsi, ‘The Opponent’ helmer Milad Alami and producer Kaveh Farnham, turned up at the Cannes Film Festival to raise the alarm on the repression faced by Iranian cinema during a session hosted by Amazon Prime Video’s Sahar Baghery. Iran has been the centerstage of widespread protests driven by women against the Islamic Regime since Mahsa Amini died in police custody for for wearing her hijab too loosely in September 2022. Although the rebellion has garnered vocal support outside of Iran, it hasn’t succeeded in dethroning the Iranian Regime. A number of dissident Iranian filmmakers and talent have been jailed over the last six months, notably Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof who was recently released from prison. Rasoulof was nevertheless banned from leaving Iran to serve on the jury of Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari‘s “Terrestrial Verses,” the sole Iranian film premiering in Cannes’ Official Selection, has been acquired for distribution in key European territories. Represented by Films Boutique, “Terrestrial Verses” has been acquired for France (ARP Selection), Benelux (September Films) and Germany/Austria (Neue Visionen). All three banners are leading distributors in their respective territories. Those deals were closed following the film’s well-received world premiere. “Terrestrial Verses” marks the first collaboration between Khatami and Asgari, who are both acclaimed directors.

Kandahar is the latest from director Rick Roman Waugh (Angel Has Fallen, Greenland), starring frequent collaborator Gerard Butler, along with Travis Fimmel, Navid Negahban, Ali Fazal, and Bahador Foladi in an action drama that lacks imagination. With the script penned by Mitchell LaFortune, these particular types of stories often suffer from narrative sameness: westerner travels to the Middle East, things go boom, westerner saves the day, the end. 

The CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator today announced the projects that will take part in the sixth edition of the prestigious training program for women-identifying nonfiction filmmakers. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent This year at Cannes Iran being repped by just one film, the timely underground drama “Terrestrial Verses,” co-directed by Canada-based Alireza Khatami and Iran-based Ali Asgari, premiering in Un Certain Regard. Shot in Tehran after the Mahsa Amini movement started, “Verses” consists of 12 tableaus depicting the increasingly absurd and tragic plight that Iranians face in their everyday life with a scathingly ironic deadpan tone. Variety spoke to the directors about how they teamed up and decided to capture the zeitgeist in turbulent Tehran. How did the project germinate?

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent German producer Silvana Santamaria has come on board as a lead producer on “The Witness,” the new Tehran-set project reuniting Jafar Panahi and Nader Saeivar that Arthood entertainment is selling in Cannes. Saeivar will direct “The Witness.” Saeivar wrote “3 Faces,” the Panahi-directed drama that premiered in 2018 in Cannes where it won the award for best screenplay. Panahi, who is one of Iran’s most prominent auteurs, was recently released from Tehran’s Evin prison after being incarcerated for “propaganda against the system.” He is expected to work very closely with Saeivar on “The Witness” shoot and be on set every day, as he did for Saeivar’s previous films “No End” and “Namo,” according to Santamaria. Panahi will also serve as editor on this previously announced film that is expected to start shooting soon.

Gregg Goldstein Weston Razooli is far more than just a writer, producer and director. He’s a world-builder, as evidenced by his feature debut, “Riddle of Fire.” The faux-’70s children’s fantasy adventure, which premieres May 20 in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight program, follows three tweens (Charlie Stover, Skyler Peters and Phoebe Ferro) on a quest for ingredients to bake a blueberry pie, all to coax the boys’ mother into letting them play a stolen video game. Danger arrives when they meet the “Enchanted Blade Gang” led by a witch (Lio Tipton). Its deadpan comedy and surreal feel — somewhere between “Escape to Witch Mountain,” “Scooby-Doo” and “Napoleon Dynamite” — make it equally appealing to kids, Gen Xers, stoners, Adult Swim watchers and fans of cult indie cinema.

The winds of change are sweeping Iran as the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ protests, provoked by the killing of 22-year-old  Mahsa Amini last September, continue. Here, four Iranian disruptors talk about their struggles, their acts of solidarity for the pro-democracy movement, and their hopes for the future of their country.

It’s a spring afternoon, high up in the mountains of Moab, Utah, and Kevin Costner looks up at the sky. Rough weather is starting to roll in and he needs to get back to work and bank some more scenes. After all, it’s coming out of his pocket. The project is called Horizon, the first of four films set in the pre- and post-Civil War expansion of the American West. It is his most sprawling epic since Dances With Wolves, which he also part-funded, and which brought him seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

Ukraine war and the momentous burst of rebellion against the Iranian regime prompted by the death of Mahsa Amini are reverberating profoundly at the Cannes Film Festival. At the festival’s opening ceremony on Tuesday night, legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve paid tribute to the war’s victims by reciting a poem from Ukrainian poet Lessia Oukraïnka, solemnly declaring: “I no longer have either happiness or freedom, only one hope remains to me: to return one day to my beautiful Ukraine.” One year ago, Cannes got off to an emotional start with remarks from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz has been called out for body-shaming musician Lizzo while asserting that beer companies sell more product when they feature bikini-wearing models in their advertisements. Mom of six-year-old boy who shot Virginia teacher breaks silencePossible meteorite strikes house in New Jersey, police sayCourt to livestream Lori Vallow verdictTrump rape trial is wrapping upFriend reveals what Utah man said before dying as wife is facing murder chargesAllen Premium Outlets Shooting: 8 killed, 7 injured by active shooterTrump suggests stars have committed sexual assault for a ‘million years’Oakland A's announcer apologizes after seemingly using racial slur during broadcastMan found dead with winning lottery ticketEx-UC Davis student pleads not guilty in deadly stabbing spreeBoat crew rescues tourists in Hawaii after car drives into harborFox News' Greg Gutfeld blames George Floyd for Jordan Neely's deathFox News host claims 'you can tell' which immigrants are 'illegal'Montana transgender lawmaker barred by GOP from House floorMatt Gaetz explains why he is pressing charges against ‘leftist wino’ who threw drink at himClarence Thomas gifts scandal: US Senate panel to examine Supreme Court ethicsMr Gaetz joined Newsmax host Chris Plante and others on the show The Right Squad on Tuesday night when the group spoke about a new advertisement from Miller Lite.

Pilot in training? Witney Carson shared her newborn son’s name with her fans two days after giving birth.

EXCLUSIVE: Lexi Paloma is a pansexual bachelorette looking for her perfect match in the all-new dating series Love Allways, premiering on Paramount+ with three episodes on June 2, followed by a weekly release on Paramount+ and Awesomeness’ YouTube channel.

A budding romance? Real Housewives of New York City alum Luann de Lesseps has revealed her interest in Kevin Costner amid his divorce.

Iranian academics who were exiled for their interest in history. “I couldn’t partake [in the boot camp] because I had just had hernia surgery,” said Mara. “I was able to jog, but I wasn’t able to do the situps and things that involve your abs.” Although she was unable to participate in all of the physical activities, Mara said that watching her castmates go through it was “very funny.” This was in part because her co-star Brian J. Smith (“Sense8”) got a little overzealous.“Part of what we did was the fit test … you have to run a certain length,” Smith, 41, told The Post.

The Amsterdam-based International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) has called on Iran to lift a travel ban on director Mohammad Rasoulof.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Hot Docs marked the first film festival that “Silent House” director Farnaz Jurabchian has been able to attend in-person since the documentary made its world premiere at IDFA in November. For months Farnaz Jurabchian and her co-director/brother Mohammadreza Jurabchian were banned from leaving Iran, which prevented the duo from attending prestigious fests including IDFA, France’s FIPADOC, Brazil’s It’s All True and the Luxemburg Intl. Film Festival. Iranian authorities considered the international partnerships that both directors formed in order to make “Silent House” a national security risk.

Iranian-American writer Azar Nafisi’s classic memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran has been adapted for the big screen with an ensemble cast led by actors Golshifteh Farahani (Paterson) and Zar Amir-Ebrahimi (Holy Spider).