Toronto International Film Festival to Host World Premiere of Ladj Ly’s ‘Les Indésirables’

Diljit Dosanjh and Arjun Rampal film, which is now titled “Punjab ’95,” will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Toronto International Film Festival is back for another big year.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Family Portrait,” written and directed by Lucy Kerr, has debuted its trailer ahead of its world premiere in Locarno Film Festival’s Cineasti Del Presente section. World sales are being handled by Flavio Armone at Lights On. “Family Portrait” follows a sprawling family on a morning when they have planned a group picture. After the mother disappears and one of the daughters becomes increasingly anxious to find her and take the picture, the rest of the family appears to resist any attempt to gather. “Initially presenting itself as a realistic portrayal of a family on an idle but hectic summer day, the film progressively descends into a realm where time and space lose their grip, transforming the family portrait into a solemn and enigmatic ritual of transition,” according to a press statement.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The 80th Venice Film Festival has revealed its selection of projects for Venice Immersive, the XR-Extended Reality section of the festival, which runs Aug. 30 – Sept. 9. The program will include VR experience “Wallace & Gromit in the Grand Getaway” and a Fatboy Slim project. Venice Immersive is devoted to immersive media and includes all XR means of creative expression: 360° videos and XR works of any length, including installations and virtual worlds. The program, which will take place on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio, will present 44 projects from 25 countries, and 24 works in the Worlds Gallery section. It will comprise:

Atom Egoyan will be returning to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to premiere his latest movie, “Seven Veils”.

Atom Egoyan’s “Seven Veils” will have its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Wednesday. The Canadian filmmaker of “Exotica,” “The Sweet Hereafter” and “Chloe” will present his film at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in a special Sept. 8 “Avant-premiere” screening held in partnership with the Canadian Opera Company.“Seven Veils” stars Amanda Seyfried and was inspired by Egoyan’s recent experience with a revival of his 1996 version of the opera “Salome,” which he directed for the first time in 1996 for the Canadian Opera Company.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Venice Film Festival will pay tribute to late Italian icon Gina Lollobrigida, who died in January, with a pre-opening event featuring a double bill of freshly restored works in which she stars. The Lido’s annual pre-opening event on Aug. 29 will feature a 27-minute short by Orson Welles titled “Portrait of Gina.” In 1968, Welles interviewed Lollobrigida in her villa on the Appian Way as the pilot for an ABC TV series — a U.S. version of “Around the World With Orson Welles”– that ABC rejected. Welles’ portrait of the diva remained in the vaults until 1986, when it was screened at the Venice Film Festival one year after Orson Welles’ death. This piece has been defined by Welles as a “personal essay” on Lollobrigida. Interestingly, when Lollobrigida saw “Portrait of Gina” in Venice in 1986, she reportedly tried to have it banned. The short’s restoration was done by the Munich Film Museum and Italy’s Cinecittà.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Seven films have been selected for the 11th edition of Final Cut in Venice, the works-in-progress section of the 80th Venice Film Festival. Final Cut in Venice, which runs Sept. 3-5, provides support for the completion of films from Africa and five Middle Eastern countries: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. It is one of the programs run by the festival’s industry section, Venice Production Bridge. Over three days, the working copies of the selected films will be presented to producers, buyers, distributors, post-production companies and film festival programmers. The first two days are devoted to screenings, and then one-to-one meetings between the producers of the projects and the professionals attending the Venice Production Bridge will take place on the third day. The program will conclude with the awarding of prizes in kind or in cash, the purpose of which is to provide support for the films’ post-production.

With the much expected SAG-AFTRA strike announced Thursday, fall film festivals are in wait-and-see mode as to whether it’s a season sans stars.

#Oppenheimer left the premiere to ‘go and write their pickets’ and join the strike pic.twitter.com/rc2SaSxcfkSAG-AFTRA formally announced its first film and television strike since 1980 at a press conference at its Los Angeles headquarters on Thursday.“From the time negotiations began on June 7, SAG-AFTRA staff and the members of our negotiating committee have worked overtime devoting their evenings, weekends and holidays to achieving a deal that would ensure a sustainable future for the acting profession,” chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said.

Helen Mirren dedicated a Jerusalem Film Festival life-time achievement award to actors around the world on Thursday, just an hour before a looming SAG-AFTRA strike was made official.

The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the names who will join Damien Chazelle on the main Competition jury of its 80th edition, running Aug 30 — Sep 9.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Jane Campion, Laura Poitras, Mia Hansen-Løve and Martin McDonagh are among high-caliber members of the Venice Film Festival’s main jury. The prominent directors, most of whom are Venice regulars – Poitras last year scored the Golden Lion with documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” – will be joined on the Venice jury panel by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri (“Wajib”); Chinese star Shu Qi (“The Assassin”); Italian director Gabriele Mainetti, who was at Venice last year with “Freaks Out”; and Argentinian auteur Santiago Mitre whose “Argentina, 1985” also launched from the Lido last year. They will join Damien Chazelle who – as previously announced – will serve as president of the Venice competition jury. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While Hollywood braces for an actors strike, the key cast of Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” — Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr. and Matt Damon — walked the red carpet at the Paris world premiere on Tuesday, but didn’t talk politics. Nolan, receiving rapturous applause as he walked into the theater, spoke onstage about his special bond with France and the 90-year old Grand Rex Theater, dating back to his 2000 film “Memento.” “When we made our first film ‘Memento,’ no one in the world would show this film,” Nolan said, until the Grand Rex Theater booked it. “Looking at the size of it I have no idea why, but people came and our lives changed and we love this theater,” added Nolan, who was surrounded by his cast and producers, including his wife Emma Thomas.

Angelique Jackson The pink carpet at the “Barbie” premiere in Los Angeles on Sunday night was riddled with self-proclaimed Barbie Girls, but there was only one run-in that could be described as “When Barbie Met Barbie.” Just minutes before the Greta Gerwig-directed movie debuted before a packed house in the Shrine Auditorium, “Barbie” lead Margot Robbie met the OG Barbie, rapper Nicki Minaj. It’s the latest in a line of meta moments in and around the WB film, with Robbie posing — in a custom Schiaparelli gown that paid homage to 1960’s “Solo in the Spotlight Barbie” — alongside Minaj, who has proclaimed herself a Barbie since the early days of her career. Minaj’s latest track “Barbie World” — a collab with Ice Spice that remixes Aqua’s 1997 hit “Barbie Girl” — serves as the film’s end title song.

America Ferrera stepped out on the pink carpet in a stunning two piece look for the premiere of Barbie in Los Angeles on Sunday (July 9).

Margot Robbie channeled old Hollywood glamour, while hitting the pink carpet at the world premiere of “Barbie” in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jul. 9.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer In a display of pink visible from outer space, Greta Gerwig’s  “Barbie” held its lush world premiere on Sunday in Los Angeles. The Shrine Auditorum, located smack in the middle of the USC campus, was hosed down in colors of blush and bashful for the anticipated Warner Bros. release (as in, the security guards wore pink polo shirts), which drew the film’s stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.  One notable absence was Noah Baumbach, the film’s co-writer and Gerwig’s partner. “My co-writer and co-creator, my partner in love and art, Noah Baumbach is not here. He is passionately supporting the fight of the Writers Guild of America,” Gerwig said. “He is a Barbie girl. Nothing in ‘Barbie’ happened without him, and nothing in Hollywood happens without writers.”

TIFF 2023.“We are honored to showcase Ladj Ly’s remarkable talent once again with the World Premiere of his latest work, ‘Les Indésirables,’” Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, said. “This deeply personal film beautifully captures the struggles and aspirations of a community, reflecting Ly’s unparalleled storytelling skills.”The film – whose title is a nod to the Victor Hugo novel – is set in the suburbs of Paris and follows a young doctor (Alexis Manenti) who is appointed to replace the mayor after the politican’s sudden death.

After delivering a blisteringly saucy trailer, Luca Guadagnino’s latest film “Challengers” will set the Venice Film Festival ablaze as their opening night film, screening out of competition, TheWrap has confirmed. The film follows Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a successful tennis champ drawn to two men, played by Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor.