The American French Film Festival In L.A. Cancels 2023 Edition Due To Strikes

Cailee Spaeny dazzles while promoting her new film Priscilla at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival on Monday (October 9).

Dear Jassi arrives with echoes of Madonna’s 1989 hit “Dear Jessie” and its sugary promise of pink elephants and lemonade, but none of that turns out to be forthcoming in Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s beautiful and brutal sixth feature. Instead, we have perhaps the most disturbing bait-and-switch since George Sluizer’s original iteration of The Vanishing, a Punjabi Juliet-meets-Romeo story that’s much harsher that any so-far-filmed version of West Side Story and a whole lot funnier. This dissonance takes a while to reveal itself, but when it does, the shock is visceral. The fact that almost everything is true is the killer blow, and the shockwave of that reverberates through the poignant final credits, a static shot that forces the audience, or maybe just simply dares them, to think about what they’ve just seen.  

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is back after a one-year hiatus with a rich mix of Arabic and international titles launching into the Middle East and plenty of promising projects from Arab countries set to be unveiled to prospective partners at its CineGouna industry side. The event launched in 2017 by Egyptian telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris – whose brother Samih built the El Gouna resort in a swathe of desert near the tourist town of Hurghada 250 miles south of Cairo – was put on pause in 2022 ostensibly due to the country’s economic crisis following five editions during which fest co-founder Amr Mansi and chief Intishal Al Timimi had managed to rapidly put El Gouna on the international festival map while also making it a favourite with the local crowd.

Sharareh Drury Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival GEMS has announced the full lineup for its 2023 festival, which will run from Nov. 2-5. The 10th edition of the fest will feature 26 films from 14 countries, all taking place at MDC’s Koubek Center and Silverspot Cinema.

Director Steve McQueen said his unusual four-hour Holocaust documentary shot in Amsterdam is rooted in his strong sense that “the past is present” in physical manifestations all around us, as well as a reminder to stay vigilant.

The San Sebastian Film Festival awarded O Corno (The Rye Horn) with the Golden Shell for Best Film. San Sebastián native Jaione Camborda took the top prize of the night for the feature she directed.

Jessica Kiang A predictably spectacular sunset spreads streaks of pink and orange across a northern Spanish late September sky, heralding the end of another packed edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival, where at the closing gala, “The Rye Horn” the second feature from Spanish director Jaione Camborda has just been handed the Golden Shell, the festival’s top award. It is perhaps a surprising win, but does now mark the fourth consecutive year that the festival’s most prestigious prize has gone to a female director. But in another way it has to be a first: the international jury, comprising French director Claire Denis, alongside Chinese actor and producer Fan Bingbing, Colombian producer-director Cristina Gallego, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, Spanish actor Vicky Luengo, Canadian producer and distributor Robert Lantos and German director Christian Petzold, has chosen to award not just a Spanish film, but one from a director who was born right here in San Sebastián.

International execs from Unifrance, MK2 and TrustNordisk kicked off the annual Zurich Summit on Saturday to discuss the importance of film festivals when promoting a title and if fests are drifting away from what works in cinemas. 

EXCLUSIVE: Robbie Fairchild, a Broadway lead and former New York City Ballet principal dancer, will star in the stage version of Michel Hazanavicius’ 2011 Oscar-winning movie The Artist, set in the 1920s when movies found their voice with the advent of talking pictures.

The 2024 Göteborg Film Festival will show an AI-altered version of Ingmar Bergman’s Persona with a new actor edited in. Another Persona will co-star 42-year-old Finnish actress Alma Pöysti as Elisabet Vogler, a role played in the 1966 arthouse classic by Liv Ullmann (now 84), as Deadline reports.

Netherlands photographer and director Anton Corbijn has been named as president of the main feature film jury for the upcoming Zurich Film Festival.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor The 27th annual American French Film Festival set for October has been canceled in light of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, the Franco American Cultural Fund announced. “The FACF Board of Directors determined this week that it was not possible to continue with business as usual,” the board said in a statement. The Los Angeles festival, formerly known as Colcoa, had been set for Oct.

Maja Hoffmann has been officially confirmed as President of the Locarno Film Festival following a vote at an Extraordinary General Assembly on Wednesday.

A first-time filmmaker has claimed the top prize at the 19th Annual Camden Film Festival in Maine, one of the country’s foremost all-documentary festivals.

Organizers of the Camden International Film Festival in coastal Maine are moving ahead with regular programming today, as Hurricane Lee – downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone – aims further north towards Nova Scotia.

Belgium has selected Omen, the debut feature from rapper-turned-filmmaker Baloji, as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.

Naman Ramachandran The 19th Zurich Film Festival promises to be a star-studded affair with plenty of Hollywood A-list talent attending. Todd Haynes will be honored with the festival’s A Tribute to… Award and will present his film “May December.” Previous recipients include Paolo Sorrentino, Wim Wenders, Olivier Assayas, Claire Denis, Michael Haneke, Oliver Stone, Maïwenn and Luca Guadagnino. “It’s a real honor to celebrate this master of American cinema.

Todd Haynes will be honored with the Zurich Film Festival’s A Tribute To… Award at its upcoming 19th edition.

Sophia Scorziello editor “Oppenheimer” cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema will be honored with Variety’s Creative Impact in Cinematography award at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. In addition to this summer’s Christopher Nolan blockbuster, the Dutch cinematographer has worked as Nolan’s DP on “Tenet,” “Interstellar” and Dunkirk” along with Jordan Peele for “Nope” and Spike Jonze for “Her.” “SCAD is proud to partner with Variety on this year’s Creative Impact Award, which will be presented to cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema,” said SCAD Savannah Film Festival executive director Christina Routhier.

In an unexpected twist, the prison bars have transformed into curtains, drawing back to reveal a compelling story of redemption, humanity, and artistry. Sing Sing, adapted from the Sing Sing Follies by Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin,  and impeccably directed by Greg Kwedar, is more than just a film about prison life. It’s a love letter to the transformative power of performing arts, smartly penned by screenwriters Kwedar and Clint Bentley. This emotional drama stars Colman Domingo, Paul Raci, John “Divine G” Whitfield, Sean San Jose, Jon-Adrian Velazquez, David J. Giraudy, Sean “Dino” Johnson, and  Sean “Divine Eye” Johson.