Ukraine-Themed Documentary ‘In The Rearview’ Earns Top Prize At 30th Sheffield DocFest

Will Tizard Contributor Bulgarian crime story “Blaga’s Lessons” by Stephan Komandarev scored the top prize and $25,000 at the 57th Karlovy Vary Film Festival on Saturday, capping a week of celebrating art film, stars and bold global work. With sold out screenings ranging from Russell Crowe introducing “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” to rare Japanese masterworks by Yasuzo Masumura and a tribute to actor Daniela Kolarova, Czech audiences proved once again to be hungry for every kind of film they cannot experience at any other venue. The Crystal Globe competition special jury prize, along with $15,000, went to “Empty Nets,” a German-Iranian gritty love story directed by Behrooz Karamizade.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent For his third edition at the helm, Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro has assembled a wide spectrum of films that “do not resemble each other in terms of tone or form” while reflecting “the world in all its expressions and manifestations,” he tells Variety. This boundless range is best exemplified by the fact that starkly surrealist Filipino arthouse star Lav Díaz’s latest work, “Essential Truths of the Lake,” will be vying for the fest’s Golden Leopard alongside fare that, at least on paper, appears much lighter. This includes U.S. director Bob Byington’s indie comedy “Lousy Carter” and Estonian helmer Rainer Sarnet’s “The Invisible Flight,” which Nazzaro says  “mixes Kung Fu, hard rock and the Orthodox Church.”

EXCLUSIVE: As the 57th edition of the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) kicks off Friday, there will be renewed interest in the central European country’s local industry, particularly the curious case surrounding its incentive program for international productions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Pope Francis and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky are sharing the Cinema for Peace Award, an honor recognizing their “contributions to the freedom of Ukraine and humanitarian efforts to protect civilians and children.”

The Prince of Wales has taken the next leap forward in shining a light on the homelessness problem that plagues the UK with the launch of Homewards.The project, which has taken two years to put together, is a five-year locally led programme which will demonstrate that together it is possible to end homelessness: making it 'rare, brief, and unrepeated'.To get Homewards off to a flying start, Prince William embarked on a 48-hour tour of the UK where he visited six flagship locations which will be the first to benefit from the scheme. These areas are Lambeth in South London, Bournemouth, Newport, Belfast, Aberdeen and Sheffield.

Netta is back, and it’s “Everything”!

Pulp have announced the door times, curfew and stage times for their upcoming show at London’s Finsbury Park this weekend (Saturday July 1). Check them out below.The returning Jarvis Cocker-fronted Britpop heroes will be returning to the London venue for the first time since their legendary Hyde Park show back in 1998 – as documented in the concert move The Park Is Mine.After the gates open at 3pm, the first support act on will be Exotic Gardens at 5.05pm before cult indie hero Baxter Dury takes to the stage at 6pm and BRIT Award-winning Isle Of Wight art-pop stars Wet Leg at 7.10pm, before Pulp’s headline set kicks off at 8.40pm with a strict curfew of 10.30pm.

BEST TV DRAMAAnne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (AMC)The Last of Us (HBO)Succession (HBO)The White Lotus (HBO)Yellowjackets (Showtime)BEST TV COMEDYAbbott Elementary (ABC)The Bear (FX on Hulu)The Other Two (HBO Max)Poker Face (Peacock)Somebody Somewhere (HBO)BEST LGBTQ TV SHOWAnne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (AMC)A League of Their Own (Amazon)Somebody Somewhere (HBO)The Last of Us (HBO)The Other Two (HBO Max)BEST TV MOVIE OR MINISERIESBeef (Netflix) Daisy Jones & The Six (Amazon)Dead Ringers (Amazon)Fire Island (Hulu)Rye Lane (Hulu)BEST UNSUNG SHOWA Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)Derry Girls (Netflix)Jury Duty (Amazon Freevee)Los Espookys (HBO)Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu)Somebody Somewhere (HBO)BEST NON-ENGLISH SHOWElite (Netflix)Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Netflix)Los Espookys (HBO)Smiley (Netflix) Young Royals (Netflix)BEST TV PERFORMANCE—DRAMAKieran Culkin, Succession (HBO)Melanie Lynskey, Yellowjackets (Showtime)Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us (HBO)Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us (HBO)Sarah Snook, Succession (HBO)BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE—DRAMAMurray Bartlett, The Last of Us (HBO) Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus (HBO)Meghann Fahy, The White Lotus (HBO)Nick Offerman, The Last of Us (HBO)Aubrey Plaza, The White Lotus (HBO)BEST TV PERFORMANCE—COMEDYRachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary (ABC) Bridget Everett, Somebody Somewhere (HBO)Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face (Peacock)Ali Wong, Beef (Netflix) BEST SUPPORTING TV PERFORMANCE—COMEDYAlex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs.

McKinley Franklin editor The Palm Springs International ShortFest winners were announced on Sunday, with Japan and the U.S.’s “The Old Young Crow” taking the prize for best of the festival. Lithuania’s “Way Better” won best animated short and China’s “Will You Look At Me” landed best documentary short. Additionally, the award for best live-action short over 15 minutes went to France’s “Sèt Lam” and Spain’s “Mystic Tiger” took home the award for the best live-action short 15 minutes and under. The festival handed out cash prizes worth $25,000, as well as five awards to help winners qualify for the Academy Awards. The competition included some 299 short films within the official selection. The annual festival began on June 20 and will conclude Monday, June 26.

Oscar Qualifying AwardsBest of the Festival Award - Winner received $5,000 cash prize courtesy of Harold Matzner, Palm Springs International Film Society’s Immediate Past ChairmanJury: Angel An (VP of Acquisitions, Roadside Attractions); Kiva Reardon (Vice President of Film, PASTEL); Clay Pruitt (Head of Programming, Impact Distribution, Impact Distribution, Seed&Spark)Winner:  The Old Young Crow (Japan/USA), Directed by Liam LoPintoSpecial Mention:  48 Hours (Iran), Directed by Azadeh MoussaviSpecial Mention:  Away (Hungary/Belgium/Portugal), Directed by Ruslan FedotowBest Animated Short – Winner received a $1,000 cash prize.Jury: Geoff Marslett (Animator/Director/Writer/Producer); Irene Soriano (Writer/Film Curator); Gabe Van Amburgh (Film Programmer and Senior Manager, SXSW)Winner:  Way Better (Lithuania), Directed by Skirmanta JakaitėSpecial Mention:  Ashkaska (Spain/Argentina), Directed by Lara MaltzSpecial Mention:  Eeva (Croatia/Estonia), Directed by Lucija Mrzljak and Morten TšinakovBest Documentary Short – Winner received a $1,000 cash prize.Jury: Eugene Yi (Director/Editor/Writer, Free Chol Soo Lee); Maria Santos (Funds Program Officer, International Documentary Association); Opal H.

Locals who live in the flats famed for featuring on This Is England have spoken out about what it's really like to live there. Blackstock flats and Ironside Road in Sheffield appeared throughout three of the TV drama sequels from 2010 to 2015.

President Vladimir Putin has made a public address to the Russian people, following moves by the mercenary Wagner group to seize and occupy a Russian military headquarters in the town of Rostov-on-Don, on the country’s southern border with Ukraine.

The Hives have announced an upcoming tour of the UK and Ireland, set to kick off in Spring 2024. Find a full list of upcoming dates below.The announcement of the upcoming live shows comes hot on the heels of the band’s ongoing tour with Arctic Monkeys, which has seen them perform at stadiums in Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, London and more.Set to kick off in March with a gig in Leeds, the upcoming tour will feature 12 shows across the UK and Ireland, and run until mid-April.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ superhero film “The Flash” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £4.2 million ($5.4 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. In second place, in its third weekend, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” swung to £2.6 million for a total of £20.3 million. In third position in its fourth weekend, Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” earned £1.3 million and now has a splashy £22 million total. Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts” collected £1.1 million in fourth place in its second weekend for a total of £4.99 million. Elysian’s “Greatest Days” debuted in fifth position with £536,955.

“I love you Hans,” a voice echoed across the AO Arena before the room fell into total darkness.

In the Ukraine-themed documentary In the Rearview, a young girl and her family ride in a van over bumpy roads, on their way – if all goes well – to safety across the Polish border. In her hand the girl grips a piece of paper bearing essential information: her name, age, and a phone number to call in case she falls victim to Russian bombing and her body is discovered in a pile of rubble.

Christopher Vourlias In the fall of 1990, in the dying days of the Soviet Union, fighting broke out in the breakaway republic of Transnistria between Russian-backed separatists and forces loyal to the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, a territory on the cusp of its own successful campaign of independence from Moscow. The Transnistria War hardly registers as more than a footnote in most world history books, but it was nevertheless a formative moment in the making of Moldova, a small nation carved from the flank of Eastern Romania and nestled against the western border of Ukraine. When Moldovan filmmaker Ion Borş was growing up in Chisinau, the capital of the former Soviet republic, he heard stories about the conflict from his father, a veteran of Transnistria. The tales — no doubt embellished for his audience — were “tragic but also comical,” says Borş, driving home the absurdity of a war that likely looks even more confounding to its participants more than 30 years later.

Christopher Vourlias Celebrating its tenth anniversary as part of the industry program of the Transilvania Film Festival, the Transilvania Pitch Stop — one of the leading co-production and co-financing platforms for filmmakers from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the wider Black Sea region — will showcase 10 projects by first- and second-time directors searching for potential European partners on June 15 in the historic medieval city of Cluj. The selection, which includes projects from eight countries, is a diverse crop that ranges from intimate personal dramas to stories casting a wider net, capturing their protagonists in the throes of historical forces.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Inseparables,” Jérémie Degruson’s ambitious animated feature competing this week at Annecy festival, has been sold to a raft of territories by Octopolis and nWave. Based on an original idea by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, the Oscar-nominated writers of “Toy Story,” “The Inseparables” follows the misadventures of Don, a runaway puppet with a boundless imagination and, DJ Doggy Dog, an abandoned stuffed animal toy in need of a friend. Don and DJ Doggy Dog cross paths in Central Park and pair up against all odds for an epic adventure of friendship in New York City. The film was penned by Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker. Budgeted at $25 million, “The Inseparables” was produced by nWave Studios in Belgium, Octopolis in France and A Contracorriente Films in Spain.

Two brothers, who are part of a notorious criminal group referred to as 'The Family', are fighting to hold on to a luxury house years after they were locked up.