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Summer Screenings

Vue Entertainment is banking on anime’s growing U.K. fanbase with a quartet of theatrical releases anchored by the highly anticipated “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle,” set to bow Sept. 12.

The exhibition chain will roll out two newly remastered 4K classics from acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda alongside a fresh Hatsune Miku feature. “Summer Wars” launched Aug. 3, and will be followed by “Wolf Children” on Aug. 17 and “Colorful Stage! The Movie: A Miku Who Can’t Sing” on Aug. 31.

“Summer Wars” follows a shy math prodigy who accidentally unleashes a rogue AI threatening global digital infrastructure. “Wolf Children” centers on a young mother raising two half-human, half-wolf offspring across a decade-spanning narrative exploring themes of identity and acceptance. The Miku film introduces a twist on the virtual idol phenomenon, featuring a version of the character who has lost her singing ability.

September’s “Demon Slayer” sequel,...

Netflix has announced one of its next Korean movies, and it will see a major director return after several years. Ever since Squid Game drove up interest in Korean-language content back in 2021, the streamer has been leaning in to projects from the country. Earlier this year, they announced plans for 29 such projects to come out in 2025.

So far, this has taken the form of Netflix K-dramas such as Weak Hero Class 2, When Life Gives You Tangerines, and Squid Game season 3. More recently, Netflix also released the film Wall to Wall. While it got mixed reviews, the movie has become one of Netflix's most popular non-English titles.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has now announced another major Korean-language project. This will be a movie called Possible Love, set to be directed by Lee Chang-dong. The story will follow “the intertwined lives of two married couples leading completely opposite lives. As their worlds collide,...

After an 8-year-long hiatus, Lee Chang-dong is all set to make a comeback with Possible Love. The movie is said to be a Korean French production backed by Netflix. It also features a stellar ensemble with the likes of Jeon Do-yeong, Seol Kyung-gu, Jo In-Sung, and Cho Yeon-jeong (as per Variety). These are some of the most famous faces of Korean cinema, all set to present their acting chops in Possible Love.

If we talk about the plot, while major details are tightly under wraps, what we do know is that it will follow two very different married couples whose lives collide unexpectedly. This then leads to emotional conflicts and personal revelations. This movie would also mark Lee Chang-dong’s first-ever Netflix debut. With this, he will join the slew of Korean hits already dominating the platform.

Biggest Korean Hits on Netflix to Stream Before ‘Possible Love’ Arrives Lee Chang-Dong...

Exclusive: Arab co-production platform Aflamuna Connection has unveiled 18 feature projects from emerging filmmakers that will be showcased at its ninth edition.

The projects span fiction, documentary, docu-fiction and animation and comprise 13 titles in development and five in post-production, hailing from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia.

Titles include My Name Is Khalil, a documentary by Palestinian filmmaker Bilal Al Khatib, which follows Khalil Albatran, a Palestinian theatre director exploring social issues through artistic expression. Al Khatib’s short Palestine 87 played at Clermont-Ferrand in 2023 and won Carthage’s Golden Tanit for best short film.

Iraqi documentary Childhood...

It’s an improbable pairing yet nonetheless exciting news for film buffs: Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong is returning to filmmaking to direct a feature project backed by Netflix. Titled Possible Love, the drama is Lee’s first movie in eight years since his critically acclaimed Haruki Murakami adaptation, Burning.

The new film reunites Lee with the stars of his most critically revered earlier work. Possible Love‘s story is said to follow “the intertwined lives of two married couples leading completely opposite lives. As their worlds collide, fractures begin to appear in their daily existence.”

Korean screen royalty Jeon Do-yeon and Sul Kyung-gu will play the lead couple, Mi-ok and Ho-seok. Jeon previously won the Cannes Film Festival’s best actress honor for her performance as the indelible lead of Lee’s searing 2007 drama Secret Sunshine, and Sul was unforgettable in the lead roles of the director’s early masterpieces...

South Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong, whose last three features played in Competition at Cannes, has set his next film at Netflix.

Possible Love (working title) will mark Lee’s first feature since 2018 psychological drama Burning, which won the Fipresci prize at Cannes and made the international feature film shortlist at the Oscars.

The story will follow the intertwined lives of two married couples who lead completely opposite lives. As their worlds collide, fractures begin to appear in their daily existence. The two central couples will be played by Jeon Do-yeon, Sul Kyung-gu, Zo In-sung and Cho Yeo-jeong.

Jeon previously worked with Lee on Secret Sunshine,...

Burning and Secret Sunshine director Lee Chang-dong is returning to directing after eight years. He’ll reunite with Secret Sunshine star Jeon Do-yeon on Possible Love, the working title of a new feature film for Netflix.

The film will follows the intertwined lives of two married couples leading completely opposite lives. As their worlds collide, fractures begin to appear in their daily existence.

Jeon, who won the Best Actress award at Cannes in 2007 for Secret Sunshine, will play Mi-ok, and Sul Kyung-gu is her husband, Ho-seok. The second couple is played by Zo In-sung as Sang-woo and Cho Yeo-jeong as Ye-ji. Jeon and Sul have appeared on screen together three times: in I Wish I Had a Wife, Birthday and Kill Boksoon. Sul and Lee also worked together on Peppermint Candy and Oasis.

Oh Jung-mi, Lee’s collaborator on Burning,...

Before Bong Joon‑ho’s Parasite swept the world with 2019 Oscar domination, another masterpiece, Lee Chang‑dong’s Burning (2018), adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story ‘Barn Burning,’ set a high bar for contemporary cinema. A psychological thriller and critically acclaimed, the film was a hit at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, winning the Fipresci International Critics’ Prize.

Widely hailed as one of the best South Korean films ever made as well as one of the best movies of the 2000s, it also became the first South Korean film to make the final nine-film shortlist for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Yet despite that honor, it ultimately went un‑nominated, an omission that continues to be seen as a glaring oversight given its global impact and artistry.

Steven Yeun Starrer Burning: A Murakami Masterpiece Left Off Oscars Final List Burning | Credits: Pinehouse Film

Based on Haruki Murakami’s subtle and surreal short story called Barn Burning,...

By Jean-Marc Thérouanne

This year, Korea was the guest of honor. A retrospective of fourteen key films in the history of Korean cinema — from The Housemaid (1960) by Kim Ki-young to The Land of Morning Calm (2024) by Park Ri-woong, winner of the Golden Cyclo at the 31st Fica Vesoul in 2025 — was presented in the presence of many prominent Korean cinema figures.

Jang Joon Hwan, Kim Dong Hi, Moon So Ri, Jean-Marc Thérouanne, Mo Chul Min (photo crédit Jmt)

Among them were Kim Dong-ho, founder of the prestigious Busan International Film Festival and co-founder of Netpac (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema); Park Kwang-su, current president of Biff and director of Black Republic; Jang Joon-hwan, director of the cult film Save the Green Planet!; and actress Moon So-ri. Also present were academics and officials, including His Excellency Choi Youngsam, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Vietnam.

June 30 was the key day dedicated to Korean cinema,...

While it’s been an interminably long seven years since 2018’s Burning premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Lee Chang-dong has kept busy. A quartet of restorations of his early works recently debuted, while a collection of short stories was released in English just a few months ago. The filmmaker has also been dropping breadcrumbs that he’s planning a new feature, and now a few more details have arrived.

With a title of 가능한 사랑 (translated as Possible Love), Lee Chang-dong is planning a shoot as early as this fall with the hope to be completed by the first half of next year in time for a hopeful Cannes 2026 premiere, as reported by Naver. While no plot details have been unveiled yet, the cast would include Jeon Do-yeon (Secret Sunshine), Seol Kyung-gu (Peppermint Candy), and Jo In-sung (Moving). The project is reportedly a Korean-French co-production; expect more details to be unveiled soon.

Screen Internationalcan reveal the critics participating in this year’s jury grid at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24).

JoiningScreen’s reviewing team will be critics from 11 international outlets to give their verdict on the 21 films in Competition this year for the Palme d’Or.

This year’s critics are all returners to the jury grid.

The results of the jury grid will be published inScreen’s Cannes daily magazines as well as live updates on screendaily.com.

The 2025 Cannes jury grid critics are: Nt Binh -Positif, France Robbie Collin / Tim Robey –The Telegraph, UK Katja Nicodemus –Die Zeit, Germany Ben Kenigsberg –Rogertebert.

Time distorts in unsettling ways in our exclusive new clip from Gazer, the dark neo-noir thriller in the vein of Memento centered around a potentially unreliable narrator.

Metrograph Pictures releases the film in theaters on Friday, April 4, 2025.

The neo-noir thriller follows “a young mother (co-writer Ariella Mastroianni) who, due to a unique condition that progressively affects her perception of time, is trying to save money for her daughter’s future before it’s too late. She takes a risky job from a mysterious woman with a dark past, which leads her to become entangled in a tense web of revenge, deceit, and murder.”

Marcia Debonis, Renee Gagner, Jack Alberts, and Tommy Kang also star.

Watch the clip below that introduces Mastroianni’s character, Frankie, as she weighs her options when faced with a dubious proposal for fast cash. Whether to take the risky job is the least of her problems; startling visions signal murder ahead.

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, Chantal Akerman, Theo Angelopoulos, Lynne Ramsay, Tsai Ming-liang, Michael Haneke, Lee Chang-dong, Terence Davies, Shōhei Imamura, Bi Gan, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Jia Zhangke, Wong Kar-wai, Yorgos Lanthimos, Denis Villleneuve, Céline Sciamma, Guillermo del Toro, Kelly Reichardt, and RaMell Ross––those are just a few of the filmmakers introduced to New York audiences at New Directors/New Films over the last half-century.

Now returning for its 54th edition at Film at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art from April 2-13, this year’s lineup features 33 new films, presenting acclaimed titles from Berlinale, Cannes, Locarno, Sundance, Rotterdam, and more. Ahead of the festival kicking off next week, we’ve gathered our recommended films to see, and one can explore the full lineup and schedule here.

Blue Sun Palace (Constance Tsang)

Shot largely on location in Queens, Blue Sun Palace explores a hidden culture and milieu.

Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light was named best film at 18th Asian Film Awards on Sunday evening (March 16).

The Indian filmmaker attended the ceremony in Hong Kong and accepted the award from filmmaker, martial arts star and Afa jury president Sammo Hung.

Scroll down for full list of winners

It marked nearly 10 months since Kapadia became the first Indian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix at Cannes, where the film was the first Indian feature to play in Competition at the festival for 30 years.

“I’m so happy that we could end our journey here in Hong Kong,...

If Steven Yeun had decided to pursue law or medical science rather than acting, the cinematic world would have missed out on a gem of an actor. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Yeun is an American actor who has delivered acclaimed performances in the popular television series The Walking Dead, Bong Joon-ho’s Okja, and Lee Chang-dong’s Burning. He is the first Asian American actor to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 2023, he starred in the dark comedy series Beef (2023), for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Most recently, he reunited with Bong Joon-ho for his latest sci-fi satire Mickey 17.

With such a list of great honors, it’s undoubted that Yeun is one of the best actors in the film industry. Apart from being a great actor, his script choice is also commendable. The actor discussed his Criterion favorites,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Chaos: The Manson Murders (Errol Morris)

Over half a century later, what new information can be gleaned from the nights of August 9 and 10, 1969? Tom O’Neill and Dan Piepenbring’s riveting (if convoluted) book Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties––released in June 2019, between the Cannes premiere and theatrical release of Quentin Tarantino’s cathartic rewrite of that history––argues that while all the evidence of the murders has been gleaned, there’s a complex and knotty web of conspiracies for the motivations, some more plausible than others. To pare down the 528-page book to its most overarching theory, it postulates Manson may have been allowed (and perhaps even directed) by the CIA to concoct a reign...

No streaming service does a director retrospective like the Criterion Channel, and March offers two masters at opposite ends of exposure. On one side is Michael Mann, whose work from Thief through Collateral (minus The Keep) is given a spotlight; on the other is Alain Guiraudie, who (in advance of Misericordia opening on March 21) has five films arriving. (2001’s duet of That Old Dream That Moves and Sunshine for the Scoundrels have perhaps never streamed in the U.S. before.) Meanwhile, three noirs from Douglas Sirk are programmed alongside a Lee Chang-dong retrospective that features three new restorations.

Showcases will be staged for Dogme 95, Best Supporting Actor winners, and French Poetic Relaism. Welles’ The Trial gets a Criterion Edition alongside Demon Pond; Horace Ové’s newly restored Pressure makes a streaming premiere alongside spruced-up copies of Amadeus, Love Is the Devil, Port of Shadows, and Burning an Illusion, as...

Our first roundup of 2025 features some major releases; given the state of things, we should be very thankful for that. Note that our next column will include a lengthy list of new and recent novels and short fiction (one highlight is a short story collection from Burning director Lee Chang-dong) as well as noteworthy Blu-Ray and 4K releases from Criterion and Warner Home Entertainment. In other words, plenty to get lost in––thank goodness for that.

But before then, we have the following terrific texts, starting with an extraordinary biography of one of our greatest living filmmakers.

The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick by John Bleasdale (University Press of Kentucky)

John Bleasdale’s Magic Hours is, remarkably, the first in-depth biography of Terrence Malick. This in itself makes the book a crucially important release. Indeed, this is an essential book on cinema, one written with...

Gazer, the dark neo-noir thriller in the vein of Memento, has shifted into a new release date. With it comes a moody new poster.

Metrograph Pictures will now release the film in theaters on April 4, 2025. The film was initially set for February 21, 2025.

Gazer is directed by Ryan J. Sloan.

The neo-noir thriller follows “a young mother (co-writer Ariella Mastroianni) who, due to a unique condition that progressively affects her perception of time, is trying to save money for her daughter’s future before it’s too late. She takes a risky job from a mysterious woman with a dark past, which leads her to become entangled in a tense web of revenge, deceit, and murder.”

Ariella Mastroianni, Marcia Debonis, Renee Gagner, Jack Alberts, and Tommy Kang star.

Daniel Kurland wrote in his review for Bd, “In fact, the film feels like a very post-modern deconstruction of many of Alfred Hitchcock’s films,...

When it comes to how they navigate Hollywood, Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun might be soulmates. They both catapulted to fame thanks to massive, culture-defining genre properties only to eschew a traditional movie star path for something more eclectic. Stewart flocked to the atmospheric worlds of French director Olivier Assayas...

As studios, production houses, and agents return from the holidays and burn off the last energy of this ceaseless, shameless awards season, numerous projects are finding lifeblood. Case in point: at Wednesday’s New York Film Critics Circle dinner I had a brief exchange with Annie Baker, who was present to accept their Best First Film honor and casually mentioned a new project that’s set up at A24, who’d shepherded Janet Planet to such success. She was tight-lipped on further details (like I could help asking), but a couple inquiries confirmed casting is in motion; likely shooting commences before long.

Equally terse, likewise exciting is notice (via The New Yorker) that Lee Chang-dong has been writing his first film since 2018’s Burning with ambitions to shoot this year. That’s about the furthest we’re getting right now, but patience isn’t even necessary: with his earliest films...

As we continue to explore the best in 2024, today we’re taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, features, podcasts, news, and trailers, check out the highlights below and return for more year-end coverage.

Most-Read Reviews

1. The Goldfinger

2. From Darkness to Light

3. The Devil’s Bath

4. Only the River Flows

5. Longlegs

6. The Nature of Love

7. The 2024 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films, Reviewed

8. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2

9. Trap

10. Dune: Part Two

Most-Read Interviews

1. Richard Linklater on Sex, Murder, Hit Man, and the Infantilization of Culture

2. Will Menaker on the Year in Cinema: Oppenheimer, Scorsese, Friedkin & Beyond

3. Lee Daniels on The Deliverance, Shifting Culture, Douglas Sirk, and That Glenn Close Performance

4. “All Great DPs Become Alcoholics”: Rob Tregenza on Shooting Béla Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies

5. In a Violent Nature Director Chris Nash on Creating a New Kind of Slasher,...

South Korean cinema is best known for its grotesque, no-holds-barred, onscreen violence that can easily find some space in the list of the most unsettling movies. The biggest name in Korean cinema continues to be Park Chan-wook. His work not only gained international acclaim but also set the stage for a new wave of filmmakers who specialize in genre films that captivate audiences at both domestic and prominent international festivals, contributing to the rich tapestry of best Korean movies.

Bong Joon-ho and Kim Jee-Woon, contemporaries of the influential Park Chan-wook, have contributed significantly to the rise of Korean cult cinema, a movement that Park spearheaded. Together, these filmmakers have propelled South Korean cinema to international acclaim. Meanwhile, directors like Lee Chang-dong, Kim Ki-Duk, Hong Sang-soo, and Im Kwon-Taek have earned recognition for their artistry in film festivals, creating a unique space for themselves. Balancing mainstream appeal and artistic depth, South Korean cinema has evolved,...

Lee Chang-dong's 2018 thriller Burning is definitely not an easy watch. Don't get us wrong here: it is an amazing movie from start to finish, and one that flows with almost no lulls thanks to its constantly tense atmosphere. However, with a considerable dose of melancholy, the film is also one of those inward journeys in which we are left to ponder about the meaning of our own lives. And, to make matters just a little bit worse, we may not like what we see within ourselves. That's because, with its story about a lower-class aspiring writer and an upper-class bon vivant brought together by a joined romantic interest - though romantic might be a strong word here -, Burning isn't the kind of movie that allows you to watch its plot from the sidelines, witnessing a life that isn't your own. Instead, Lee Chang-dong demands your identification with at least one of its characters,...

Metrograph Pictures has released a new trailer for Gazer, a dark neo-noir thriller with shades of Memento as it centers around a mother afflicted with a condition that causes blackouts and distortions in time.

Gazer releases in theaters on February 21, 2025. The film is directed by Ryan J. Sloan.

The neo-noir thriller follows “a young mother (co-writer Ariella Mastroianni) who, due to a unique condition that progressively affects her perception of time, is trying to save money for her daughter’s future before it’s too late. She takes a risky job from a mysterious woman with a dark past, which leads her to become entangled in a tense web of revenge, deceit, and murder.”

Ariella Mastroianni, Marcia Debonis, Renee Gagner, Jack Alberts, and Tommy Kang star.

Daniel Kurland wrote in his review for Bd, “In fact, the film feels like a very post-modern deconstruction of many of Alfred Hitchcock’s films,...

Lee Chang-dong rose to popularity among the mainstream audience after the release of his psychological thriller “Burning,” but he is not new to the festival circuit. He is a revered filmmaker in International film festivals known for exploring the social and political climate of South Korea in his films.

Lee Chang-dong has written and directed six films so far in his career, which spans over 20 years. His greatest achievement is that at least five different films could top the list, and their fans won’t mind that. Before discussing his films, it is essential to know about his life before his foray into cinema.

He graduated from Kyungpook National University in Korean literature. He was involved in directing and writing theatre plays during his college time. He is a celebrated literary figure in South Korea whose fiction earned him accolades. “There’s a Lot of Shit” won him The Korea...

Director Kim Sung-su’s historical drama “12.12: The Day,” South Korea’s entry for the 2024 international feature Oscar race, chronicles a pivotal moment in the country’s history. The film depicts the military coup of Dec. 12, 1979, which led to an eight-year military junta.

The tense action drama features an ensemble cast including Hwang Jung-min (“Deliver Us from Evil”), Jung Woo-sung (“Asura: The City of Madness”), Lee Sung-min (“The Spy Gone North”), Park Hae-joon (“Believer”), Kang Gil-woo (Netflix’s “The Glory”), and Jung Hae-in (Netflix’s “D.P.”).

For Kim, the events depicted in the film left an indelible mark on his teenage years. “That night left a very clear memory. I was getting ready to apply for colleges that winter night when I saw in my own neighborhood an armored military vehicle passing down the street,” Kim tells Variety. “I climbed to the rooftop of my friend’s house and watched...

The holidays are upon us, so whether you’re looking for film-related gifts or simply want to get for yourself some of the finest this year had to offer, we have a gift guide for you. Including must-have books on filmmaking, the best from the Criterion Collection and other home-video lines, subscriptions, magazines, music, and more, dive in below.

4K & Blu-ray Box Sets

There’s no better gift than an epic film collection, and 2024 was an embarrassment of riches thanks to a number of box sets. The king of them all, especially if you’re looking for a gift for a burgeoning cinephile, is Criterion’s massive CC40, collecting 40 landmark films form their 40-year history. It’s not the only stellar set from the company, of course, as I adored the essential Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968–1978, Éric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons, Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy, Three Revolutionary Films by Ousmane Sembène,...

Bangladesh has experienced an amazing political change as the country’s interim government hired the famous director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki as its cultural advisor. Farooki was sworn in as the new head of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs on Sunday night. He will work under the temporary government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.

Many political changes started with protests in July against a controversial government job quota system. This decision comes after those events. When security forces reacted with deadly force, the protests got worse, and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to step down.

Farooki, whose movies have been nominated for three Academy Awards, initially hesitated to take the job. He told Variety magazine, “I wasn’t sure if I should take this part.” “But seeing Bangladesh in a rebuilding process, I felt compelled to contribute.”

Farooki looks up to South Korean director Lee Chang-dong, who...

Celebrated Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki has been put in charge of his country’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

In August, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was appointed to lead Bangladesh‘s interim government following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina‘s flight from the country amid mass protests. As it is an interim government, Yunus serves as Chief Advisor, rather than as Prime Minister. Farooki, though effectively the Culture Minister, has the formal title of Cultural Advisor.

Yunus expanded his cabinet on Sunday. Farooki was among those who were sworn in on Sunday evening. He is Bangladesh’s best-known filmmaker internationally. His films have represented Bangladesh at the Oscars three times.

“I was initially hesitating to say yes to this. However since Bangladesh is going through a rebuilding process, one part of my heart was saying ‘Let’s try and see if some changes can be made.’ I was also...

After his debut feature “Green Fish” (1997) South-Korean director Lee Chang-dong made what is possibly one of his most commercially and critically acclaimed films, “Peppermint Candy”. Especially with the success of his latest film “Burning”, Chang-dong’s body of work has to be regarded as one of the most interesting focusing on topics such as his home country’s history, masculinity, human relations and art. Similar to his work as a novelist previous to his film career, art, as the director explains in an interview with writer Andrew Chan, is a way “to communicate with all those certain somebodies out there […] whose names and faces I didn’t know” and to explore new worlds and environments.

Peppermint Candy is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival

Over the course of 130 minutes, the film accompanies the events which led to the suicide of Kim Yong-ho (Sol Kyung-gu). Starting with him standing on a...

Fresh off his appointment as director of Italy’s National Cinema Museum, former Berlinale chief Carlo Chatrian is in Greece where he has curated an intriguing lineup of titles for the repertory sidebar at this year’s Thessaloniki Film Festival.

Grouped under the theme of ‘monsters,’ flicks handpicked by Chatrian include George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead and Lee Chang-Dong’s Peppermint Candy. The unique mix of titles has been a hit with audiences here in Greece and best exemplifies the unique and staunchly international programming style that Chatrian says has earned him the rep as an industry “outsider.”

“I’m really attempting to expand the vision of cinema,” he says.

From 2012 to 2018, Chatrian was the artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival. He held the same position at the Berlin Film Festival from 2020 until this year when he stepped down after the German government announced plans to...

Gazer, at its core, is a film about voyeurism and humanity’s innate compulsion to not just want to be voyeurs, but to understand and make sense of the people who are being spied on. People, by nature, have an urge to act as a storyteller and connect disparate ideas, even if they don’t naturally go together. There’s a very human desire to do these things and apply logic and reason to a species that can be inherently chaotic, messy, and illogical. There are definitely pangs of Rear Window in Gazer. In fact, the film feels like a very post-modern deconstruction of many of Alfred Hitchcock’s films, albeit with a more horror-centric slant. However, there are also traces of other polarizing character studies like Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, Roman Polanski’s Repulsion, or Chan Wook-park’s Decision to Leave. Gazer is about making sense of madness...

Actress Moon So-ri and Lee Dong-ha, CEO of RedPeter Film Company received the honorary Etoile du Cinema award at the Busan International Film Festival (Biff) on Saturday, October 5, at an event hosted in partnership with Screen International.

The ceremony took place during ‘French Night’ at Biff at the Paradise Hotel in Busan, held by the French Embassy in Korea and Unifrance.

Moon So-ri is an actress, director and screenwriter. She is best known for leading roles in films including Lee Chang-dong’s Oasis and in Im Sang-soo’s A Good Lawyer’s Wife.

Lee Dong-ha founded RedPeter in 2014, going on to...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Babes (Pamela Adlon)

Transitioning the naturalistic comic sensibilities that made Better Things a success, Pamela Adlon’s feature debut Babes manages to co-opt the rhythms of a romantic comedy to explore the relationship between two best friends at opposite points of their lives. – Christian G. (full review)

Where to Stream: Hulu

Dìdi (弟弟) (Sean Wang)

While trying to chat up classmate Madi (Mahaela Park) on Aim, Chris (Izaac Wang) skims her MySpace for an “in”. Then, beneath all the Paramore pictures and low-res GIFs is a list of her favorite movies. Oh, A Walk to Remember is one of them. He fakes loving it; “its helllllla good,” he says. Now he has to maintain that––at least for a few scenes. This...

Samsung TV Plus is going all in on Korean films and TV series.

The free streaming platform added 4,000 hours worth of award-winning Korean movies and shows, ranging from Lee Chang-dong’s critically acclaimed drama “Burning” to K-romance series such as “Doom at Your Service,” and it encompasses projects from Cj Enm and New ID. The Samsung offering makes it one of the largest providers of Korean scripted and unscripted series and films in the U.S.

Also exclusive to Samsung TV Plus will be U.S. distribution rights for several different Korean shows, including “Voice 4,” “Dark Hole,” and “Doom at Your Service,” and psychological thriller “Beyond Evil” arriving soon.

Other monthly exclusives available through the Samsung partnership from Cj Enm include food entertainment shows “The Genius Paik” and “Three Meals a Day,” along with travel shows “House on Wheels” and “Youn’s Kitchen.”

Film additions range from New ID’s “Burning,...

Available later this week on digital from Magnet Releasing, we have an exclusive preview of Sleep that you can watch right now!

"Sleep follows newlyweds Hyun-su and Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi), whose domestic bliss is disrupted when Hyun-su begins speaking in his sleep, ominously stating, “Someone’s inside.” From that night on, whenever he falls asleep, Hyun-su transforms into someone else, with no recollection of what happened the night before. Overwhelmed with anxiety that he may hurt himself or their young family, Soo-jin can barely sleep because of this irrational fear. Despite treatment, Hyun-su’s sleepwalking only intensifies, and Soo-jin begins to feel that her unborn child may be in danger. A new thriller from director Jason Yu, who worked with Korean legends Bong Joon-ho and Lee Chang-dong before making his debut film, Sleep world-premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week."

Written and Directed by Jason Yu

Starring Lee Sun-kyun, Jung Yu-mi

Magnet...

“Harbin,” the South Korean spy action thriller that debuted this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, has been picked up for North American release.

Well Go USA, a specialty distributor which has a long track record of handling commercial film titles from Asia, has licensed the rights for the U.S. and Cananda. It has confirmed to Variety that it will give the film a theatrical release, but did not confirm a schedule.

Directed by Woo Min-ho, who previously helmed 2015 hit “Inside Men” and “The Man Standing Next,” the film dramatizes pivotal events in the arduous struggle for Korean sovereignty.

In 1905, Japan forced Korea to sign the Eulsa Treaty, stripping the nation of its diplomatic rights and reducing the entire Korean peninsula to a Japanese colony. By 1909, when “Harbin” begins, Korea’s small but tenacious Righteous Army militia is deep into a campaign of armed resistance against the Japanese.

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Crossing (Levan Akin)

There’s no description of Levan Akin’s Crossing that won’t make it sound like the kind of feel-good dramedy which would have taken Sundance by storm in 2006. It has all the key ingredients: an inter-generational friendship forged between a curmudgeonly retired teacher and a young burnout desperate to escape his hometown; an epic road trip where they come to understand each other more; and the older of the two confronting her internal bigotry as they search for her transgender niece. Above all, any description makes this sound like the worst kind of LGBTQ story, which we finally seem to have moved past as a culture––the story of queer people aimed firmly at a straight audience. It...

The feature film debut of South Korean filmmaker Jason Yu, Sleep, comes with big praise from Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho, who calls it “the smartest debut I’ve seen in ten years.” It’s even featured in the brand new trailer, along with an eerie new look at the dangers of sleepwalking.

Magnet Releasing will unlesh Sleep in theaters and on Digital on September 27, 2024.

Sleep follows “newlyweds Hyun-su and Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi), whose domestic bliss is disrupted when Hyun-su begins speaking in his sleep, ominously stating, “Someone’s inside.” From that night on, whenever he falls asleep, Hyun-su transforms into someone else, with no recollection of what happened the night before. Overwhelmed with anxiety that he may hurt himself or their young family, Soo-jin can barely sleep because of this irrational fear. Despite treatment, Hyun-su’s sleepwalking only intensifies, and Soo-jin begins to feel that her unborn child may be in danger.

Among the rare class of truly buzzy thrillers is Sleep, a South Korean feature with a debut director (Jason Yu), international star (Parasite‘s Lee Sun-kyun), narrative hook (more below), and auteur endorsement (Bong Joon-ho). Magnet have acquired it for a September 27 release, and with the date looming there’s a U.S. trailer.

We were a little more mixed out of last year’s TIFF, with Ethan Vestby writing, “Yet it’s all a little too pronounced, as if never quite saying anything too surprising about modern living––instead there’s a slightly self-satisfied feeling, as if as a critic I’m just supposed to applaud it for acknowledging these conditions rather than turning them into truly effective images on their own. To the film’s credit, though, there is an underlying tension and mystery throughout. A ghost? Demonic possession? He’s just a psychopath? Once pregnancy––and furthermore...

South Korean revenge thriller Revolver has secured distribution deals worldwide through Plus M Entertainment ahead of its local release on August 7.

The crime drama, starring Cannes award-winner Jeon Do-yeon and directed by Oh Seung-uk, has been acquired for North America (Well Go USA), Latin America (Impacto Cine), Middle East and North Africa (The Plot Pictures), Hong Kong and Macau (Neofilms), Poland (Media4Fun), Mongolia (The Filmbridge), Saarc (Premiere 9) and Cis (Provzglyad).

It was previously secured for France (Bac Films), Germany (Plaion Pictures), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Vietnam (Runup Vietnam), and Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei (Purple Plan).

The film reunites Jeon, who won...

Ren Sudo is a Japanese actor, director and screenwriter. Since 2017 he has been involved in many projects, ranging from features to TV drama such as “Little Miss Period” or “Kamata Prelude”. In 2022 he directed his first feature “Blacklight”, which also screened at Nippon Connection, just like his second project “Abyss”.

On the occasion of “Abyss” screening at Nippon Connection 2024, we talk with him to talk about the genesis of the project, its characters and about the state of Japanese independent cinema.

Ren Sudo is screening at Nippon Connection

I have to say “Abyss” strikes me as a very romantic story. Do you consider yourself a romantic?

Yes, of course. When I start a new project, I first think about the romantic and erotic scenes. Perhaps that makes me a romantic person.

Since your film portrays both sides of Tokyo, do you prefer Tokyo at night or at daytime?

“Abyss” is some kind of self-portrait because,...

Ryan J. Sloan’s “Gazer” is a classic thriller that will surely have Cannes audiences on the edge of their seats when it world premieres in competition in Directors’ Fortnight at this year’s festival.

Set in New Jersey and starring Sloan’s partner Ariella Mastroianni, “Gazer” is the story of Frankie, a young mother with a rare degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria. The disease causes her to struggle to perceive time, which makes holding down a steady job nearly impossible. So, when a mysterious woman offers her a risky job, she takes it, unaware of the dark consequences of her decision.

While the thematic notes of a classic Hitchcockian thriller are plain to see on screen, one thing that really sets “Gazer” apart from most films – especially American films – that make it to Cannes is that the project was entirely self-financed and produced.

There were no production companies (apart...

Screen International can reveal the critics participating in this year’s jury grid at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25).

Joining Screen’s reviewing team will be critics from 11 international outlets to give their verdict on the 22 films in Competition this year for the Palme d’Or.

This year’s critics are all returners to the jury grid with the exception of Nt Binh who replaces Michel Ciment for France’s Positif. Ciment passed away in November last year at 85 and was a long-time contributor to the jury grid.

The selection also includes Justin Chang for The New Yorker who...

Isabelle Huppert will head up the 2024 Venice Film Festival jury this year. Serving as jury president, Huppert will hand out the Golden Lion and other awards when the festival on the Lido concludes. The dates for this year’s edition are August 28 to September 7.

Huppert has never before served as jury president at Venice, but she did at Cannes in 2009, awarding the Palme d’Or to Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” after deliberations with James Gray, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Asia Argento, Robin Wright, and Lee Chang-dong. Before that she’d served on the jury headed by Dirk Bogarde at Cannes in 1984, which gave the top prize to “Paris, Texas.”

The 71-year-old actress has been a powerhouse force in global cinema for the past 50 years, making her mark in French cinema before quickly appearing in Hollywood productions such as Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate.” Over the past decade Huppert’s...

South Korea’s M-Line Distribution has secured world sales rights to Walking In The Movies, a documentary about Korean film industry pioneer Kim Dong-ho, ahead of its premiere at Cannes.

The film, which will screen as part of the Cannes Classics strand of the upcoming festival, is a portrait of a man often called the godfather of the Korean film industry who has spent his life and career serving cinema.

Kim was a co-founder of Busan International Film Festival and spent 15 years there as festival director, helping it weather periods of political turbulence.

Filmed over a year from February 2023, the...

With exceptional frankness, director Mishima presented “Voice” to the public of Udine Far East Film Festival, revealing that the film – that she wrote as well – is inspired at large, by her own trauma of being sexually abused at the age of 6. Said frankness is something that comes undoubtedly from a long and painful path of recovery and the director has challenged herself navigating self-worth and guilt in her latest work.

Voice is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

The film is in omnibus format, composed by three episodes of different style and far apart location, and a bridging conclusion. In the first episode, in a stylish house near lake Toya, in the North of Japan, a woman, Maki (Maki Carrousel) is preparing Osechi, a traditional New Year's feast that contains several dishes, all highly symbolic of good fortune, safety, good health and longevity. In doing so she follows the...