Sydney Film Festival: Italian Box Office Hit ‘There’s Still Tomorrow’ Wins Top Prize

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The Palm Springs International ShortFest has announced the juried and audience award winners for its 2024 edition, which took place June 18-24. Over $25,000 in cash prizes and five Academy Award-qualifying honors were presented to the winning films, which included Esteban Pedraza’s “Bogotá Story” and Jadwiga Kowalska’s animated film “The Car That Came Back from the Sea.” See a full list of winners below.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Ken Burns attended the 29th annual Nantucket Film Festival, which concludes Sunday, to give audiences a glimpse of his latest PBS documentary “Leonardo da Vinci.” The two-part, four-hour doc — directed by Burns, his daughter Sarah Burns and his son-in-law David McMahon — explores the life and work of the 15th-century polymath. “Leonardo da Vinci,” which begins airing in November, marks the first project Burns has directed that unfolds entirely outside the continental United States.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor The Mediterrane Film Festival kickstarted its second edition with the international premiere of Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo.” The film, shown at the heart of Malta’s capital of Valletta on Saturday night, was followed by a reception at the historic Mdina Ditch Gardens, in which Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech highlighted the importance of the festival as an event to “unite the nations of the Mediterranean through film.” The sentiment echoes this year’s festival theme of Unity Through Film, with Grech adding that he hopes the festival will bring nations together to “share stories that celebrate not only our diversity but also our shared outlook.” The film commissioner emphasised the success of the festival’s first edition, claiming the return to the local economy “far exceeded our investment, showing once again what a force for good film is in our country.” Several members of the local film industry were present at the gathering as well as international attendees in this year’s jury president Jon S. Baird (“Tetris,” “Stan and Ollie”) and “Triangle of Sadness” actor Zlatko Burić, who was part of last year’s jury.

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

Ben Croll Matt Dillon, Alice Diop and Karla Sofia Gascon will bring their springtime spirit to this month’s Nouvelles Vagues Film Festival, now running from June 18 – 23 in Biarritz. Launched last year, the nascent festival invites both established and emerging talents to share an expansive vision of youth, hosting a competition dedicated to young adult stories overseen by a jury all under the age of 35.

The Munich International Film Festival will screen 152 films from 53 countries during its 41st edition, which runs from June 28 to July 6. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Coralie Fargeat’s Demi Moore-starring feminist body horror film “The Substance” has been set as the closing night title for the New Zealand International Film Festival. The picture is one of 16 which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month selected for the NZIFF which is now under the artistic leadership of Paolo Bertolin.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese animation film “Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle” took a clear lead at the mainland China weekend box office – despite only being available for two of three days. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed the film scoring $9.8 million (RMB69.4 million) in China, more than double that of second placed film “Be My Friend.” The win came despite “Haikyu!!” only being released on Saturday and measuring up against other tiles available throughout the whole of the Friday-Sunday period. “Haikyu!!” is the third Japanese film so far this year to lead the mainland Chinese box office, following “The Boy and the Heron” and “Doraemon the Movie: Nobita’s Earth Symphony.” It was produced by Production IG, Toho Animation and Sony Music Entertainment Japan and released by Crunchyroll in multiple territories.

Katcy Stephan The Bentonville Film Foundation, in collaboration with founding partner Walmart and presenting sponsor Coca-Cola, have announced the winners of their narrative, documentary, short film and episodic categories from this year’s competition program. The festival, which ran from June 10-16 in Bentonville, Ark., aims to amplify female, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment.

Selena Kuznikov Sulayman Tahir’s “Peripheral” and Coke Daniels’ “The Waterboyz” were among the winners of this year’s Best of ABFF Awards, presented Saturday at the American Black Film Festival. Hosted by Dondré Whitfield, the festival presented winners in the official film selection categories: narrative and documentary features, series and the HBO Short Film Award showcase. This year’s festival takes place June 12-16 in Miami Beach, Fla., followed by a virtual segment June 17-24 on ABFF PLAY.

Tribeca Film Festival‘s ode to its 2x Oscar winning co-founder Robert De Niro –De Niro Con– continued Friday night with a screening of Silver Linings Playbook with that pic’s filmmaker David O. Russell and Ben Stiller sharing their candid experiences working with the Stella Adler trained actor. Or as Stiller, who worked with De Niro in the Meet the Parents franchise coined ‘De Niro-isms.’

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Along with a red-carpet opening ceremony, a press conference with the members of the main competition jury is a staple event of major film festivals and the 26th edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival kicked off in traditional form on Friday. Along with Vietnam-French director Tran Anh Hung, previously revealed as jury president, the other members of the decisive committee this year are: Australian director and screenwriter Rolf de Heer; German director Matthias Glasner; Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka Fai; Argentinian director Santiago Mitre; Chinese director Sonthar Gyal; and, the jury’s only woman, star actor Zhou Xun. A packed audience lobbed familiar questions about the criteria they jurors would employ to decide the Golden Goblet prize winners, and what informs those views.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed further deals for Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,”following the North American deal with Strand Releasing and the first international sales previously announced by Variety.The film has been acquired by Nour Films in France, One From the Heart in Greece, Mezipatra in Czech Republic and Slovakia, HBO Europe in Eastern Europe, Beta Film in Bulgaria and Falcon in Indonesia, in addition to the already announced deals with Vedette in the Benelux, Karma in Spain, Trigon in Switzerland and Lev in Israel.Films Boutique is in negotiations with potential buyers in the U.K., Latin America, Germany and Japan.Additionally, New Voice Film Productions Ltd. secured distribution deals with Golden Scene for Hong Kong and Macau and Flash Forward Entertainment in Taiwan.“All Shall Be Well” is written and directed by Yeung and was produced by Yeung’s frequent collaborator Michael J.

Brent Lang Executive Editor It’s been a tough time for the movie business. The 2023 actors and writers strikes brought production to a standstill, leaving studios with fewer films to release in theaters. That’s bad news for cinemas, which are struggling to dig out from the financial hole left by COVID shutdowns and laboring to get audiences to visit the multiplexes at the numbers they were before the pandemic.

Before Marvel movies would fill slots on a schedule, Jerry Bruckheimer productions did, and still do.

Will Smith’s latest movie Bad Boys: Ride Or Die has been a box office success in its opening weekend.The fourth instalment in the buddy cop action franchise Bad Boys, and sequel to 2020’s Bad Boys For Life, arrived in US theatres on June 6.Reuniting Smith and Martin Lawrence, and marking Smith’s second return to the silver screen following the infamous Oscars slap incident in 2022, the film was positively received.Alongside generally favourable reviews, the film amassed $56million at the domestic box office, and $104.6million globally. However, in a two-star review, NME criticised the film’s subplots, writing: “As the film’s title hints, Marcus also has a bizarre thing where he believes he can’t die … Needless to say, this irritating idea resurfaces time and again, to diminishing returns.”Compared with other major releases this summer, the film, which also stars Eric Dane and Vanessa Hudgens, was a close second to Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes in its domestic launch, which garnered an impressive $58million.Ride Or Die, which had a budget of $100million also had a successful opening weekend globally, collecting $19.3million in Europe, and reportedly setting franchise records in the Middle East and Latin America, according to The Hollywood Reporter.The first film in the Bad Boys franchise was released in 1995, and featured Lawrence and Smith as Miami narcotics detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett.

Elizabeth Banks has one of her best roles to date in A Mistake, the New Zealand-set medical drama that had its world premiere Friday night at the Tribeca Festival.

Lexi Carson Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its second wave of titles, which includes Ant Timpson’s “Bookworm” as the opening night film. This year’s edition, the 28th for the festival, will run from July 18 to August 4.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Memoir of a Snail,” directed by locally-born, Oscar-winning director Adam Elliot, has been set as the opening title of the Melbourne International Film Festival. The festival runs Aug.

the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival is back with a trove of diverse and innovative fare. There are character-driven indies with Hollywood stars, a documentary about one of the world’s greatest sports figures of all time and an entire mini-festival celebrating Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro.