News

Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa is set to preside over this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival jury while Berlinale head Tricia Tuttle, actor Dragan Mićanović, writer-actor-director Emanuel Pârvu and writer-director Ena Sendijarević are all set as jury members.

Loznitsa has directed 28 documentaries and five feature films, including his Cannes competition debut title My Joy and Donbass, the latter of which earned him the Best Director Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand. In addition to presiding over the jury, Loznitsa will present a retrospective of his work at Sarajevo.

Tuttle is currently director of the Berlin International Film Festival, which she has headed up since 2024. Prior to that, she was festival director of the BFI London Film Festival and BFI Flare: London Lgbtqia+ Film Festival. She also led the Directing Fiction program at Nfts.

Serbian actor Mićanović has credits that include Barking at the Stars, Coriolanus and Rocknrolla. He’s been...

Spain’s Bendita Films (“The Clash”) has scooped international sales rights to twisted and suspenseful production “The Uncle” (“Stric”) ahead of its market screening at the Toronto Festival.

“We’re thrilled to represent the brilliant debut feature from David Kapac and Andrija Mardešić, a captivating, oppressive thriller with humorous notes that will surely surprise international audiences with its unsettling atmosphere and inventive narrative structure,” stated Luis Renart, CEO-sales & acquisitions at Bendita Films.

Written and directed in tandem by Kapac and Mardešić, the project garnered a special jury mention in July at the Proxima strand which has replaced East of the West at the Karlovy Vary Festival. It marks the first feature effort for the Croatian duo who’ve previously paired to create several festival-showcased short films, including post-war noir comedy “Iris.”

“The Uncle” is a near-claustrophobic depiction of a Yugoslavian family in the late ‘80s as they hastily prepare to gather for Christmas Eve dinner.

Indican Pictures has released an official US trailer for an indie, light-hearted comedy titled The Bra, from German filmmaker Veit Helmer. The film is already out to watch now, but we're just catching up with it at this point. Set in the country of Azerbaijan (nestled between Iran and Georgia) the film tells the story of an aging train driver named Nurlan. To escape from his lonely existence, he embarks on the most adventurous journey of his life: to find the owner of a perky piece of blue underwear that his train snagged off a washing line. He rents a small room in Baku and begins his quest. Starring Predrag 'Miki' Manojlovic as Nurlan, with Paz Vega, Denis Levant, Chulpan Khamatova, Maia Morgenstern, and Frankie Wallac. This has the look and feel of an old classic B&w film, something from a time long ago, a comedic quest for love.

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has unveiled its 2015 line-up which includes films representing 54 countries, 23 world premieres and 53 U.S. premieres. The U.S. premiere of Niki Caro’s McFarland USA will close out the 30th fest. Based on the 1987 true story and starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, the film follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Costner), a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school. The unlikely band of runners overcomes the odds to forge not only a championship cross-country team but an enduring legacy as well.

The festival runs from January 27-February 7.

Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.

World Premieres

A Better You, USA

Directed by Matt Walsh

Cast: Brian Huskey,...

A self-acknowledged "showcase for Academy Award frontrunners," the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is often overlooked for the actual films that earn it festival status. An amalgamation of international discoveries and ’merica’s circuit highlights, the Sbiff curates a week of best-of-the-best to pair with their star-praising. The 2015 edition offers another expansive selection, bookended by two films that aren’t on any radars just yet. Sbiff will open with "Desert Dancer," producer Richard Raymond’s directorial debut. Starring Reece Ritchie and Frieda Pinto, the drama follows a group of friends who wave off the harsh political climate of Iran’s 2009 presidential election in favor of forming a dance team, picking up moves from Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev thanks to the magic of YouTube. The festival will close with "McFarland, USA," starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello. Telling the 1987 true story of a Latino high school’s underdog cross-country team,...

New films by Mira Fornay, Radu Jude and Stephan Komandarev are among the projects to be pitched at this year’s Sofia Meetings (March 13-16).

The Plus Minus One line-up of eight projects includes the third feature from Slovakian filmmaker Mira Fornay. Cook, F—k, Kill (Frogs With No-Tongues) is an absurdist drama about domestic violence.

It follows her 2009 feature debut Little Foxes and 2013’s My Dog Killer, which won a Tiger Award at last year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam and was Slovakia’s submission for for the Best Foreign-Language Oscar.

Romanian Radu Jude’s Scarred Hearts, inspired by author Max Blecher’s eponymous novel and other writings, will be produced by his regular collaborator Ada Solomon of HiFilm Productions.

Greek director Rinio Dragassaki’s coming of age film Cosmic Candy is also in the line-up. Her short, Schoolyard, screened in the Generation 14plus at this year’s Berlinale.

In addition...

The reliable and gifted director of fluid, sometimes baroque films, known here mostly for his Oscar-winning opera prima No Man’s Land (2001), Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanovic deftly addresses two subjects others flirt with but rarely grasp, and certainly not when broached in a single film: family and war. With a relatively conventional but appropriate style, Tanovic skillfully weaves together the two topics in his most recent film, the powerful Cirkus Columbia, highlighting their reciprocal impact.

He co-wrote the script with the source novel’s Croatian author, Ivica Djikic. Tanovic examines kinship up front, with the impending war between Croats and Serbs (in Croatia and in Herzegovina, a gorgeous region of mixed ethnic population that is part of Bosnia) coloring the intimate links between family members.

Set in 1991, when the various regions of Yugoslavia were seceding, and with trouble brewing in places like Bosnia and Croatia where Serbs constituted a substantial minority,...

A decade after No Man’s Land, Bosnian director Danis Tanovic returns to his home turf with Cirkus Columbia, set in a Yugoslavian village on the eve of the war that split the country. The coming strife, however, is mere backdrop to the story of a man returning home after decades abroad with repatriation and revenge on his mind. Miki Manojlovic, the star of Emir Kusturica’s great Underground, has not-so-patiently spent 22 years waiting for the end of Communist rule, and now that the old guard is out and his cousin is the mayor, he can’t wait to ...

Rating: 2.5/5.0

Chicago – From what I understand, the name Largo Winch is a household one in Europe. While it may mean nothing here, a French spy thriller with a name like “The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch,” based on a European comic book, might sound like the perfect alternative for arthouse movie goers looking for something different this holiday weekend. Sadly, from the very beginning, “Largo Winch” feels like nothing different at all. It’s surprisingly generic, clichéd, and often dull, with only a few set pieces and dashes of French style to separate it. Far from a complete disaster, but forgettable in nearly every way.

“The Heir Apparent” opens as a number of thrillers have – with the death of a very rich man. One minute, Mr. Nerio Winch (Miki Manojlovic) is lounging in his bathrobe on a boat, the next he’s being pulled underwater and drowned by a silent assassin.

"You're a Winch, Largo. What matters is your future." Today's indie trailer, the first in a little while, is for another awesome Belgian graphic novel adaptation other than Tintin, this one titled The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch, based on the Largo Winch series. Tomer Sisley, who also stars in our French favorite Sleepless Night, plays Largo Winch. The cast also includes Miki Manojlovic, Kristin Scott Thomas and Mélanie Thierry. This looks somewhat like if a corporate CEO's heir was an action movie superstar, with a tinge of Michael Bay. One thing is for sure - this confirms that Tomer Sisley is truly badass. Check this out! Watch the official Us trailer for Jérôme Salle's The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch, in HD via Apple: When billionaire financier Nerio Winch (Manojlovic) and head of the W Group is murdered, his second in command (Scott Thomas) must locate his only heir -...

When billionaire financier Nerio Winch (Miki Manojlovic) and head of the W Group is murdered, his second in command (Kristin Scott Thomas) must locate his only heir: A heretofore unknown adopted son, Largo (Tomer Sisley). But first the heir, a twentysomething adventurer, must overcome an onslaught of drug traffickers, assassins, corporate raiders and double-dealing insiders to fulfill his destiny in this twisty, fast-paced corporate thriller. We have a look at The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch with a new clip. Check it out below. The film is in select theaters and available on VOD today!

Click to watch Invincible!

The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch was released November 18th, 2011 and stars Tomer Sisley, Kristin Scott Thomas, Miki Manojlovic, Mélanie Thierry, Gilbert Melki, Karel Roden, Steven Waddington, Anne Consigny. The film is directed by Jérôme Salle.

ComingSoon.net has received a clip from Jerome Salle's The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch , opening in theaters and available on VOD today, November 18th. In the film, when billionaire financier Nerio Winch (Miki Manojlovic) and head of the W Group is murdered, his second in command (Kristin Scott Thomas) must locate his only heir . a heretofore unknown adopted son, Largo (Tomer Sisley). But first the heir . a twentysomething adventurer . must overcome an onslaught of drug traffickers, assassins, corporate raiders and double-dealing insiders to fulfill his destiny in this twisty, fast-paced corporate thriller.

Title: The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch Directed by: Jerome Salle Starring: Tomer Sisley, Kristin Scott Thomas and Miki Manojlovic It’s always a tricky business with trying to adapt a comic properly onto the big screen. You have to deal not only with aiming to please the fans of the comic but also being able to gain mass appeal from the general audience. And here you have “Largo Winch,” a Belgian comic book hero that is basically the combination of Bruce Wayne and James Bond rolled into one, minus the secret spy and superhero aspects of those two. When billionaire financier Nerio Winch (Miki Manojlovic) and head of the W Group...

Cirkus Columbia

Directed by Danis Tanovic

Written and Directed by Danis Tanovic and Ivica Djikic

Bosnia & Herzegovina, 2010

The situation is a familiar one; a middle-aged man returns to his former hometown with a beautiful young girlfriend and shows off his good fortune to his old friends. When Divko Buntic (Miki Manojlovic) pulls up in a luxury car into the small Bosnian town, the onlookers’ response is the expected mix of jealousy and hatred. After making it big in Germany, he returns triumphantly to showcase his power in the newly capitalist Bosnia region. His next step is to kick his estranged wife and young adult son out of their house and move right inside. This premise appears to set up an obvious family drama, but the actual result provides an interesting shift on our expectations.

Set in 1991 just prior to the Yugoslav Wars, Cirkus Columbia offers an intimate look at the...

[With an upcoming sequel, and its North American Premiere at ActionFest, it's high time we revisit James Marsh's review.] Who would have thought there was a Belgian comic book hero out there to rival Tintin? I will come clean on this one right away and admit that I had never heard of Largo Winch before watching this film. However, a quick trip to Wikipedia exposes him as having a legacy spanning several decades, including numerous chronicled adventures, in both novel and comic book form, as well as a previous film incarnation and even a TV series to his name. Largo Winch is the secret, adopted son of business mogul Nerio Winch (Miki Manojlovic), who heads his empire out of the impressive W Group tower in...

63 countries have now announced their Oscar submissions. Last year we had 65 films and the most ever, if my data is correct, was 2008 in which 67 countries competed for the coveted 5 slots. (If 10 is the number for Best Picture, shouldn't the corresponding prize for subtitled features, also be 10? ) In other words, numbers-wise, we're just about finished. The deadline has already passed but some countries are quiet about their submissions. The "official" official list will arrive any minute now... or next week depending on the speed with which AMPAS does their paperwork. Soon is the point.

A naked blue moment from Puerto Rico's Miente a.k.a. Lie. Spanish is the

language to know in this category. 11 of the 63 entries are in Spanish!

I've updated all the pages so you can see the info. The major contending countries, those frequently in the hunt, have all announced their representative films.

Afghanistan to France

(23 films.

Ok, here we are to continue our little chat about this year’s Venice Film Festival and some interesting titles that we’ll have a chance to see on its traditional home on the Venice Lido.

Mira Furlan and Miki Manojlovic in Cirkus Columbia

Danis Tanovic (No Man’s Land, Triage) and his project Cirkus Columbia is definitely one of them, which is already being described as a “romantic saga” which “covers the end of a century that tragically announced the arrival of a new era in the Balkans”.

Here’s the Cirkus Columbia synopsis: “A small town in south Herzegovina, in the wake of the war. After years of communist rule, a new democratic government is elected, and this means that all the sinners of the ex-system are suddenly forgiven.

This is a sign for Divko Buntic to return home and start a series of little revenges after years of exile.

Richard Lormand does it again. This time for Venice. Greetings! I've been all work and no play this summer. Yet I'm strangely not too grumpy. Well, not more than usual. But I'm sure that the Lido will take care of that!... Once again I'm proud to share some info on a group of very fine films (in order of appearance): Cirkus Columbia marks Oscar-winning Bosnian director Danis Tanovic's return home. This is a charming summer's end film, full of bittersweet nostalgia and wise notions about human nature. A wonderful cast featuring Miki Manojlovic and Mira Furlan. Produced by Razors Edge.…...

Chicago – We have now reached the fourth and final week of the 13th Annual European Union Film Festival at the Siskel Film Center, and what a fantastic festival it has been. From international sensations to critically acclaimed gems rarely available in the Us, the EU annual line-up is consistently one of the finest offered by any festival in the Windy City.

The first three weeks were loaded with highlights that just seemed to get better as the days progressed. Some of the selections, such as Austria’s diabolical delight “The Bone Man” and the Netherlands’ beguiling documentary “Rembrandt’s J’Accuse,” were more entertaining than the majority of mainstream Hollywood releases. Both France and Italy had several exceptional entries this year, including Amos Gitai’s spellbinding “Disengagement” and Luca Guadagnino’s ravishing “I Am Love.” Read more here, here and here.

The final week is somewhat of a letdown in comparison,...

Jose here with a take on the Foreign Language Film Oscar race.

The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (read my review here) not only has the coolest name in AMPAS' foreign film shortlist, it might also go ahead and get Bulgaria its very first Oscar win.

First we must consider that this whole post might be irrelevant come Tuesday, but for now indulge me while I explain why I think this movie might make it to the final five and snatch the damn thing.

The movie doesn't have even have a Stateside release date yet (except for a film festival in Florida) but I've read many articles that proclaim they'd nominate the film merely because of its awesome title. AMPAS of course can't do that, because the people who vote for this category need to have seen all the movies.

Fortunately for them, they won't have to do that much thinking,...

The Third International Kustendorf Film and Music Festival opened on Wednesday in Serbia with Johnny Depp present as guest of honour.

Johnny Depp and Emir Kusturica | Kustendorf

The festival is organized by film director Emir Kusturica, in his Drvengrad (wood town), the village which was created by Kusturica for his film, “Life is a Miracle“.

The festival started in an unusual manner- without saying a word, Kusturica removed flags covering Johnny’s nearly life-sized bust, which was followed by impressive fireworks.

In addition to the statue, Johnny also received the “Award for Future Movies.”

Johnny Depp and his statue | Kustendorf

“I am completely shocked because I could not have imagined that such a magical and beautiful place could be home to a movie festival, of the kind I’ve never been to before. Unlike other festivals, people can communicate and get to know each other here. I’m impressed with this place,...

Guess what? Hollywood doesn't own the monopoly for cinematographic adaptations of comic books. In fact, Largo Winch, a French film adapted from a comic book penned by Jean Van Hamme and drawn by Philippe Francq, came out in France in 2008. Now, depending of where you live in Canada (preferably in Quebec?), the film will hit theatres on January 15, 2010.

Synopsis:

Nerio Winch (Miki Manojlovic), a billionaire, is found drowned. His death seems suspect given that he's the founder and the majority shareholder of the W Group, an economic empire. Although the other shareholders haven't got wind of any inheritors designated by Nerio, he has a secret: he has a son, Largo (Tomer Sisley), who was taken from an Eastern European orphanage. However, despite being innocent, Largo is thrown in a jail located in the Amazonian jungle for drug trafficking. Therefore comes this question: do the assassination of Nerio Winch and the...

CANNES -- Although Emir Kusturica's seventh feature, Promise Me This, can best be described as a boisterous adventure comedy, it doesn't really satisfy in terms of thrills or laughs. The Bosnian-born director runs through his usual box of magic tricks in this In Competition feature, but inspiration is missing and the movie will trade, if it trades at all, on Kusturica's name. Its prospects outside Europe and the festival circuit are slim indeed.

In a tiny hamlet high in the hills of Serbia, the young orphan Tsane (Uros Milovanovic) is made to promise by his grandfather (Aleksandar Bercek) that he will take their cow Cvetka to the nearest town and sell her, buy a religious icon with the proceeds, then find a bride in order that he can marry before his grandfather dies. The third inhabitant of the hamlet, buxom schoolteacher Bosa (Ljiljana Blagojevic), meanwhile, is receiving the unwelcome amorous attentions of a government inspector.

Cvetka is promptly stolen from Tsane by local hoodlum Bajo (Miki Manojlovic) and his goons, but Tsane succeeds in recovering her with the aid of Topuz (Stribor Kusturica) and Runjo (Vladan Milojevic), the little-and-large grandsons of Grandpa's old shoemaker chum Trifun. Having fulfilled the first two parts of his promise, Tsane sets his sights on the shapely Jasna (Marija Petronijevic) and immediately strikes up a rapport. But there are further un-pleasant surprises in store.

Bajo, who has grandiose plans to rebuild the World Trade Center in the Serbian countryside, also runs a brothel/strip joint in which Jasna's mother, Gica (Kosanka Djekic), works part time. Bajo inducts Jasna into this club and prepares to sell her into the white slave trade (with Gica's consent, since she owes him money).

Tsane and his resourceful friends come to the rescue in a series of raids, stratagems and cartoon gunfights in which no one is really hurt let alone dies. The action makes its way back to the village where, far from being at the point of death, Grandpa prepares to marry Bosa. Further mayhem ensues, rounded off by an inevitable happy ending.

With a relentlessly jaunty score and visual gags and pratfalls occurring at a rate of one a minute, the movie is presumably intended as a lighthearted, life-affirming romp. The characters are unfailingly colorful, and there are numerous Heath Robinson contraptions involving levers, mirrors, trapdoors, ropes and pulleys, one of the latter being an alarm-clock device that hurtles Grandpa through a window. As ever with Kusturica, people tend to defy gravity: A man is pumped full of air and floats to the ceiling. A human cannonball makes periodic appearances for no obvious reason.

While much of the comedy may be acceptable to young children, it's not at all clear to whom the movie is directed. The decision to make Tsane a 12-year-old suggests a pitch for youthful audiences. On the other hand, the language used by Bajo and his henchmen is reminiscent of a Scorsese movie. (A sequence from Taxi Driver is briefly glimpsed on television.) An apparent sex romp between Tsane and Jasna in the trunk of the car taking them back to the village will be seen by many as a serious failure of judgment.

The picture-postcard setting is faultlessly captured in Milorad Glusica's cinematography, and the action never flags. The overall impression left by Promise Me This is that of a director functioning on autopilot while waiting for a more challenging project to come along.

PROMISE ME THIS

Rasta International, Fidelite Films, France 2 Cinema

Credits:

Director: Emir Kusturica

Screenwriters: Emir Kusturica, Ranko Bozic

Based on a story by: Rade Markovic

Producers: Emir Kusturica, Maja Kusturica, Olivier Delbosc, Marc Missonnier

Director of photography: Milorad Glusica

Production designer: Radovan Markovic

Music: Stribor Kusturica

Editor: Svetolic Mica Zajc

Cast:

Jasna: Marija Petronijevic

Tsane: Uros Milovanovic

Bosa: Ljiljana Blagojevic

Grandpa: Aleksandar Bercek

Jasna's Mother: Kosanka Djekic

Bajo: Miki Manojlovic

Topuz: Stribor Kusturica

Runjo: Vladan Milojevic

Running time -- 126 minutes

No MPAA rating...

BERLIN -- Marianne Faithfull is unforgettable as a middle-class, middle-aged frump who takes a job at a sex club in order to raise enough money for her grandson's life-saving operation in Sam Garbarski's crowd-pleasing comedy-drama "Irina Palm".

Cheers and applause erupted following the Berlinale press screening Tuesday, and that reaction should accompany this competition film on the way to awards and audiences everywhere.

Mixing pathos and comedy expertly, with many funny lines, the screenplay by Martin Herron and Philippe Blasband, based on an original script by Blasband, shows a knowing hand in scenes involving stuffy Little England villagers and the cynical operators of the sex business in London's Soho.

The situation is established quickly. Maggie's small grandson Olly (Corey Burke) will die unless he gets to Australia for an operation that's only available in Melbourne. The treatment is free, but it will take £6,000 for Maggie's son Tom Kevin Bishop) and his wife Sarah (Siobhan Hewlett) to get him there.

The boy's parents are broke and Maggie, a widow, already has sold her home to pay for Olly's treatment. Turned down by her bank and employment agencies, Maggie spots a job offer for a hostess in a Soho doorway.

Full of trepidation, she enters a world she has never experienced and of which she has not the slightest knowledge. In a very funny scene, the world-weary Eastern European club owner, Miki (Miki Manojlovic), patiently explains that "hostess" is a euphemism for "whore." He examines her smooth hands and says she could make a lot of money by masturbating men that she wouldn't see as they placed their organs through a hole in the wall.

Outraged, Maggie flees. But seeing once again how distraught her family is, she returns and takes the job. Another sex worker, Luisa (Dorka Gryllus), patiently instructs her in the techniques of the job. "The first time is embarrassing, but after that you'll wank for England," Luisa says.

Miki gives Maggie her own booth and the professional name Irina Palm, and soon men are lining up for her exceptional ministrations. She even decorates her little booth with pictures and knickknacks from home. With the promise of making a lot of money, Maggie decides to keep doing it though she is desperate to make sure no one in her family or her village finds out what she's doing.

That, of course, is where the tension lies as both her son and the prissy members of her bridge foursome become ever more curious about her daily activities in the city. The inevitable revelation and the various reactions to it are hilarious, sad and warming. The only discordant note in the picture is in Tom's behavior when learning of his mother's sacrifice, but it does serve to heighten the response of Sarah and the other women.

The film's guitar score by Ghinzu does much to amplify Maggie's path from obeying conventional mores to casting away worries about what people will think. Garbarski does not shrink from the harsh realities of the sex industry, but he also takes time to develop an unlikely romance between Maggie and Miki.

Manojlovic deserves high praise for his handling of the club owner's reluctant corruption, but it is Faithfull's compassionate and knowing performance that will leave audiences smiling.

IRINA PALM

Entre Chien et Loup, Pyramide International

Credits:

Director: Sam Garbarski

Screenwriters: Martin Herron, Philippe Blasband

Based on an original script by: Philippe Blasband

Producer: Sebastien Delloye

Cinematographer: Christophe Beaucarne

Editor: Ludo Troch

Music: Ghinzu

Production designer: Veronique Sacrez

Costume designer: Anushia Nieradzik

Cast:

Maggie: Marianne Faithfull

Miki: Miki Manojlovic

Tom: Kevin Bishop

Sarah: Siobhan Hewlett

Luisa: Dorka Gryllus

Jane: Jenny Agutter

Olly: Corey Burke

Julia: Meg Wynn-Owen

Beth: Susan Hitch

Edith: Flip Webster

Shopkeeper: Tony O'Brien

Art: Jules Werner

Old Women: Ann Queensberry, June Bailer

Dave: Jonathan Coyne

Franck: Tim Plester

Dunia: Malina Ebert

Running time -- 103 minutes

No MPAA rating...

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- A moving coming-of-age story about an orphan girl desperately struggling to avoid a life of prostitution and degradation, "Leidi Zi" (Lady Zee), directed by long-established Bulgarian helmer Georgi Djulgerov, won best feature and a €25,000 cash prize at the 11th Sarajevo Film Festival. The film, one of 11 features from the Balkans and countries of southeast Europe that include the former Yugolsav republics and Hungary, Albania, Macedonia and Romania, was presented with the Heart of Sarajevo grand prix award at a gala closing ceremony Saturday in the city's National Theatre. A special award from an international jury chaired by Serbian actor Miki Manojlovic, worth €10,000, went to "Kukumi" (The Kukum), Kosovo's first full-length feature since gaining independence five years ago. The film was directed by Isa Qosja.

Francois Ozon upholds his reputation as one of France's most provocative new filmmakers with "Criminal Lovers", a voyeuristic, noir fairy tale of a thriller.

A prize winner at the recent Outfest 2000, which also screened the prolific Ozon's upcoming "Water Drops on Burning Rocks", the creepy if uneven picture should still do well by its niche audience.

Natacha Regnier, who took home a slew of acting awards for her performance in "The Dreamlife of Angels", is the coldly manipulative Alice, a jaded teen who successfully persuades her naive, sexually uncertain boyfriend Luc (Jeremie Renier) to help murder the swaggering Said Salim Kechiouche) for reasons that aren't made clear until much later in the film.

For the time being, we're expected to just go with the program as this supposedly amoral twosome also finds time to hold up a jewelry store before turning to the business of disposing of a freshly killed body.

They find an ideal place deep in the woods, but once they complete the burial, they discover they are hopelessly lost. Hungry and tired, Luc and Alice stumble upon a hidden cabin occupied by a hermit (Miki Manojlovic). He doesn't take too kindly to trespassers who also happen to be murderers.

Forced into a rat-infested cellar until their fate may be decided by the woodsman, Luc and Alice occupy their time by flashing back to the events leading up to their crime until their grizzled host reveals his decidedly unpredictable intentions.

It's certainly hard not to be provocative with a film that manages to conjure the likes of "Natural Born Killers", "The Blair Witch Project" and "Hansel and Gretel", with homoerotic overtones. And if it would seem like that grouping might make for very strange bedfellows, the truth is that those thematic elements don't always add up to a satisfyingly integrated mix.

But Ozon manages to keep it all quite intriguing, constantly peeling back the layers of an enigmatic narrative that at times treads a very fine line between sensationalism and camp.

While the two young leads are fairly limited by their one-

dimensional characters, Manojlovic, a favorite of directors Emir Kusturica and Goran Paskaljevic, delivers an ideally weighted performance as the scary but oddly sympathetic hunter. He's an alternative-lifestyle fantasy take on a familiar Brothers Grimm archetype.

Also creating an effectively unsettling vibe is director of photography Pierre Stoeber, whose restless, often hand-held cinematography is accompanied by Philippe Rombi's similarly anxious score.

CRIMINAL LOVERS

Strand Releasing

Fidelite Prods., Studio Canal Plus,

La Sept/ARTE Euro Space (Japan)

with the participation of Canal Plus

and support from CNC (France)

Producers: Marc Missonnier, Olivier Delbosc

Director-screenwriter: Francois Ozon

Director of photography: Pierre Stoeber

Production designer: Arnaud de Moleron

Editor: Dominique Petrot

Costume designer: Pascaline Chavanne

Music: Philippe Rombi

Color/stereo

Cast

Alice: Natacha Regnier

Luc: Jeremie Renier

Woodsman: Miki Manojlovic

Said: Salim Kechiouche

Karim: Yasmine Belmadi

Running time - 90 minutes

No MPAA rating...

One has come to expect it, but "The Powder Keg" is another harsh, disturbing descent into the chaos of the former Yugoslavia, where the population in general and most individuals are primed to explode into hatred and hostility.

A Paramount Classics release and winner at the 1998 European Film Awards, "Powder" has been on the festival circuit since its premiere last year at Venice (where it won the international critics prize), with a recent unspooling at the Freedom Film Festival in Santa Monica. It's screening in competition today at Santa Barbara and is scheduled to open commercially this year.

Set in 1995 in Belgrade during a one night, "Powder" (subtitled in English) is blackly humorous and heavy on violence, based on a play by Macedonian playwright Dejan Dukovski, who co-wrote the screenplay with Serbian director Goran Paskaljevic ("Someone Else's America").

Somewhat reminiscent of John Sayles' "City of Hope" and modeled after "La Ronde" with a great ensemble cast playing loosely connected characters, the film has a sobering agenda that will leave few viewers unfazed and definitely won't help the local tourist industry.

Michael (Miki Manojlovic) is a hopeless romantic who's been out of the country and returns to find his best friend in a hospital, his legs blown off in the fighting. Saddened but fatalistic about the madness he encounters in his further wanderings, Michael's is at first the most hopeful story, including a welcome moment of Fellini-esque whimsy when he spends a small fortune to impress the woman he deserted (Mirjana Karanovic), but then his fate too is unexpectedly grim.

Indeed, from a car crash that starts a bloody chain of events to an attempted rape on a train that results in two people blown to bits by a hand grenade to a horrible hostage scene on a bus -- which one woman (Mirjana Jokovic) survives only to be terrorized later with her boyfriend by gangsters -- there's not much relief from Paskaljevic and Dukovski's bleak view of humanity.

THE POWDER KEG (BURE BARUTA)

Paramount Classics

MACT, Ticket Prods., Stefi S.A. Gradski Kina,

Mine Film, Vans

Director: Goran Paskaljevic

Producers: Antoine de Clermont-Tonnerre, Goran Paskaljevic

Screenwriters: Dejan Dukovski, Goran Paskaljevic, Filip David, Zoran Andric

Director of photography: Milan Spasic

Production designer: Milenko Jeremic

Editor: Petar Putnikovic

Costume designers: Zora Mojsilovic Popovic, Suna Ciftci

Music: Zoran Simjanovic

Color/stereo

Cast:

Michael: Miki Manojlovic

Natalia: Mirjana Karanovic

The Boxer: Lazar Ristovski

Ana: Mirjana Jokovic

The Young Man: Sergej Trifunovic

Boris: Nikolva Ristanovski

Kosta: Dragan Jovanovic

Running time -- 102 minutes

MPAA rating: R...

Agnes Merlet's biographical drama tells the story of the woman credited as history's first important female painter. A fascinating subject to be sure, but like many films of its kind, it doesn't quite work as either biography or drama.

Beginning promisingly but degenerating by the end into legal melodrama (much like Warners' upcoming period drama "Dangerous Beauty"), "Artemisia" registers as a disappointment. Re-cently showcased at the 15th Miami Film Festival, it is due for domestic theatrical release soon, courtesy of Miramax Zoe.

The fetching Valentina Cervi plays Artemisia, the talented daughter of well-known 17th century Italian painter Orazio (Michel Serrault, in a superb performance). Thrown out of the convent after her nude self-portraits are discovered, Artemisia comes under the tutelage of her father, who recognizes his offspring's talent. He encourages her to pursue her dream, despite the fact that women at the time were not allowed to study at the Academy and were certainly not permitted to sketch a male subject in the nude.

Artemisia falls under the artistic and sexual spells of arrogant, well-known painter Agostino Tassi (Miki Manojlovic), who be-comes both her tutor and lover. Tassi is a sexual libertine, but he sees no conflict between his debauched lifestyle and his commission to paint religious paintings for the Church. This appals the dignified Orazio, and when he discovers his daughter's affair, he becomes distraught and accuses Tassi of rape. The resulting trial forms the climax of the film.

"Artemisia" is most successful when depicting its subject's passion for art and the process by which she learns her craft. The milieu is re-created with lush detail and historical verisimilitude, and the beautiful photography, imbued with golden tones, gives many shots the feel of a Renaissance painting.

Still, it could have provided more information; the screenplay often proves frustratingly sketchy about the artistic and social climate of the period. And the love affair, which becomes the main focus, is familiar and not particularly interesting stuff, though Cervi does provide a compelling portrait of a young woman being indoctrinated into her sexual flowering. It's understandable that the filmmakers would want to concentrate on the dramatic trial, but the melodramatic conclusion is far less engrossing than the character herself.

ARTEMISIA

Miramax Zoe

Credits: Director: Agnes Merlet; Screenplay: Agnes Merlet, Christine Mille, Patrick Amos; Producer: Patrice Haddad; Executive producers: Lilian Saly, Patricia Allard, Daniel Wuhrmann; Director of photography: Benoit Delhomme; Editor: Guy Lecorne; Music: Krishna Levy. Cast: Artemisia: Valentina Cervi; Orazio: Michel Serrault; Agostino: Miki Manojlovic; Cosimo: Luca Zingaretti; Costanza: Emmannuelle Devos. No MPAA rating. Running time -- 102 minutes. Color/stereo.