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Italian director Stefano Mordini manages an admirably tasteful dramatisation of a carmaker contest that defined a decade – but it never quite gets the pulse racing

Cast your minds back, if you will, to 1983. The year of Return of the Jedi and The A-Team. It was also the year of a showdown in the sometimes dangerous and always hotly contested world of rally racing. The 1983 World Rally Championship saw the German Audi Quattro A2 team, led by Hannu Mikkola, fighting it out against Walter Röhrl and the Italian Lancia 037; it’s a rivalry that this dramatisation depicts as a David v Goliath battle, pitting the technologically advanced Germans against the scrappier and more strategic Italian underdogs.

Liberties have been taken, but probably not too many that people outside rallying diehards will mind. Certain real-world factors here do not lend themselves particularly to the dynamics of thrilling fiction: the season playing out over a full calendar year,...

Exclusive: Signature Entertainment has acquired UK & Ireland and Australia & New Zealand rights to Daniel Brühl (Rush) and Riccardo Scamarcio (John Wick: Chapter 2) rally racing film Race For Glory: Audi vs. Lancia from HanWay Films.

The film follows the true story of the fierce rivalry between Roland Gumpert and Cesare Fiorio, the two respective heads of Audi and Lancia’s motor racing teams, during the 1983 Rally World Championships.

Pic is produced by Scamarcio and Oscar winner Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor) and is directed by Stefano Mordini (The Invisible Witness) from a script written by Mordini, Scamarcio and Filippo Bologna (Perfect Strangers).

Also starring are Volker Bruch (The Reader), Haley Bennett (Cyrano) and Katie Clarkson-Hill (Hanna).

The deal was negotiated between Signature Entertainment’s Director of Acquisitions and TV Elizabeth Williams and HanWay Films’ Head of Sales Nicole Mackey.

Signature will release the film in the UK next month from February...

You would expect fireworks from a racing film based on true events that has Daniel Brühl in the cast, right? Sure, every single film is different, but expecting good things from Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia is understandable enough, with a very compelling story of David triumphing over Goliath and, of course, Brühl’s association with it. Given the actor’s most popular role till date is playing the legendary Austrian F1 driver Niki Lauda in Ron Howard’s Rush, easily one of the greatest racing films ever made.

Sadly though, Brühl is pretty much wasted in Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia, where he bats for the Goliaths by playing Ronald Gumpert, the engineer and manager of the Audi racing team who revolutionized sports car-making by inventing four-wheel-drive vehicles. As big as Gumpert was in real life, his role in this film is pretty much that of a minor supporting character.

As mentioned in last week’s preview, the month of January is probably going to be a bit quieter with not that many big movies, as theatergoers mainly will be catching up on holiday and Oscar fare. We do have one new wide release this weekend, though. Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview.

Jason Blum‘s Blumhouse and James Wan‘s Atomic Monster had such a huge hit when Universal released their horror film “M3GAN” the first week of January in 2023, that the same team has reunited for this weekend’s new high-concept entry, “Night Swim.”

Starring Wyatt Russell (“Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”) and Oscar nominee Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), the film involves a family buying a new suburban home with a swimming pool that seems to have healing properties, but only at first. After a few days, the family realizes that there’s something...

Daniel Brühl stars in Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia, a historical racing drama based on the 1983 World Rally Championship. Brühl reflects on his time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but states he won't be revisiting that territory anytime soon. He mentions his current project, a series called The Franchise, and hints that he would be open to returning as Baron Zemo if the right opportunity arises.

Daniel Brühl talks about playing Roland Gumpert in Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia and what is coming up for him next in Screen Rant's interview. While his fame grew through his role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Brühl is not revisiting that familiar territory anytime soon. 2024 will see a new adventure for Brühl as his next film is Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia, directed by Stefano Mordini.

Based on the 1983 World Rally Championship, Race for Glory: Audi vs. Lancia follows Cesare Fiorio and Roland Gumpert,...

Netflix on Tuesday unveiled four new Italian originals – two feature films and two series – that confirm its continued investment in Italy as local subscribers grow. The new projects also bolster the fact that the bulk of the streamer’s Italian productions are not high end and have a primarily local focus.

During a Rome presentation Eleonora Andreatta – affectionately known as Tinny – who is Netflix’s VP of Italian originals, said that Netflix remains “committed to our investment in Italy and Italian stories with conviction, continuing our long-term commitment to the country and its creative community.”

Andreatta, who owing to having caught Covid-19 was speaking remotely to the packed room, described Netflix’s lineup as being characterised by “Authentic stories, able to speak to the present [and] about the present and [which can] emotionally touch the audience on issues closest to the lives they live.”

According to data released last month by Italy’s...

Comencini’s feature credits include Venice competition titles ’Don’t Tell’ (2005) and ’When The Night’ (2011).

Netflix has added two original features and two scripted series to its Italian slate.

The slate includes the latest film from Italian director and screenwriter Cristina Comencini, whose feature credits include Venice competition titles Don’t Tell (2005) and When The Night (2011). Produced by Palomar, Il Treno Dei Bambini, is based on the book by Viola Ardone and is billed as a journey through the misery but also the generosity witnessed in postwar Italy, as seen through the eyes of a child torn between two mothers.

The feature is written by Furio Andreotti,...

Netflix unveiled a new lineup of Italian fiction series and feature films at the streamer’s “See What’s Next” event in Rome on Tuesday.

Alongside previously announced shows and returning series, the upcoming slate includes two new feature films and a pair of drama series.

The new films are Il treno dei bambini (The Children’s Train) from director Cristina Comencini (Latin Lover, Don’t Tell) and Fabbricante di lacrime (Maker of Tears) by Alessandro Genovesi (My Big Gay Italian Wedding). The first is an adaptation of the epic bestseller of the same name by Viola Ardone, a based-on-a-true-events tale of the children in post-World War II Italy who were sent from deprivation in the south to live with their families in the north of the country. The second is inspired by Erin Doom’s novel about two very different orphans with similarly traumatic pasts who are adopted together by the same new family.

Netflix’s next Italian originals will be pairs of series and feature films from the likes of Stefano Mordini, Alessandro Genovesi and Cristina Comencini.

The projects were unveiled at a See What’s Next event in Rome today, in front of several stars, directors and stars.

Tinny Andreatta, Vice President of Italian Content at Netflix, said the orders showed the streamer remains “committed to our investment in Italy and Italian stories with conviction, continuing our long-term commitment to the country and its creative community.” Netflix opened an Italian office in May last year.

Namely, pics are Cristina Comencini’s Il Treno dei Bambini and Fabbricante di Lacrime from director Alessandro Genovesi. TV shows comprise Storia della mia Famiglia and Adorazione.

Il Treno dei Bambini is based on Viola Ardone’s bestselling novel pf the same name and is billed as as an “epic and poignant film” set in post-war Italy...

Exclusive: Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds) has signed on to star alongside Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope in the upcoming Warhol-Basquiat film The Collaboration, based on the acclaimed play by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten, which heads into production in Boston in September.

The Collaboration revolves around the relationship between the two iconic artists, starting in the summer of 1984. International superstar Andy Warhol (Bettany) and the art scene’s newest wunderkind, Jean-Michel Basquiat (Pope), agree to work together on what may be the most talked about exhibition in the history of modern art. But can these two creative giants co-exist with such opposing views of life and art?

Brühl has been tapped for the role of Bruno Bischofberger, the legendary art impresario who first suggested a series of collaborations between Basquiat and Warhol,...

Daniel Brühl, Macaulay Culkin and Rosamund Pike have joined the cast of the pandemic thriller “Rich Flu.”

The film will be directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia from a script written by Pedro Rivero, Gaztelu-Urrutia. and David Desola, with revisions by Sam Steiner.

The synopsis for “Rich Flu” is as follows: a strange disease is killing off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively…. Now it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune, and no one knows where it might end. With the whole world panicking and our very way of life headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants. How far would you go to save your skin when the wealth that made the world go round suddenly becomes its most dangerous commodity?

Also...

Daniel Brühl and Macaulay Culkin have joined the cast of Spanish director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s pandemic themed thriller “Rich Flu.”

They will be starring opposite Rosamund Pike, who had previously been announced as the lead.

Cameras are now set to roll this fall on the high-concept social thriller in which a deadly disease starts killing off the richest people on the planet. At first it strikes the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires, and so on.

With the whole world panicking and headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets they no longer want, in hopes of saving their skin.

“Rich Flu” will be the second feature for Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, whose 2019 directorial debut “The Platform” was awarded best film, and best F/X at the Sitges’ Intl. Fantastic Film Festival.

“The Platform” was first released theatrically in Spain in 2019 and subsequently dropped on Netflix globally in early 2020 and...

Daniel Brühl and Macaulay Culkin have joined the cast of the Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia directed thriller, Rich Flu, which we told you about back at EFM with Rosamund Pike attached to star. Production is expected to start in the fall.

In the film, a strange disease is killing off some of the richest and most influential people on the planet. First it was the billionaires, then the multi-millionaires and so on progressively. Now it threatens to strike anyone with any sort of fortune, and no one knows where it might end. With the whole world panicking and our very way of life headed for collapse, people are trying to flood the market with assets the world no longer wants.

Pedro Rivero, Gaztelu-Urrutia, and David Desola wrote the screenplay with revisions by Sam Steiner. Sierra/Affinity is handling foreign sales and has the project available to buyers at this year’s Cannes Film Market.

Exclusive: French distributor Arp Selection has just acquired Cannes Competition movie Eo by Polish veteran Jerzy Skolimowski.

The film is a vision of modern Europe as seen through the eyes of a donkey. HanWay Films is handling worldwide sales and the deal was negotiated by Gabrielle Stewart and Arp’s Michèle Halberstadt.

Eo is presented by Skopia Film and Jeremy Thomas and stars Sandra Drzymalska, Isabelle Huppert, Lorenzo Zurzolo and Mateusz Kosciukiewicz. Pic was produced by Ewa Piaskowska, Jerzy Skolimowski and Eileen Tasca.

Jeremy Thomas is the executive producer. Screenplay was written by Ewa Piaskowska and Jerzy Skolimowski.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis: “The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. Eo, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into...

It is Italian Mordini’s first English-language feature.

Italian filmmaker Stefano Mordini is to direct 2 Win, inspired by true life events around the 1983 Rally World Championships, with UK-based HanWay Films launching worldwide sales at Cannes.

The title is Mordini’s first English-language feature.

Riccardo Scamarcio, Daniel Brühl and Volker Bruch will star in the title, which is produced by Lebowski with Recorded Picture Company and Metropolitan Films co-producing. Jeremy Thomas (Recorded Picture Company) and Scamarcio (Lebowski) are producers on the title. Rai is the Italian distributor.

Filippo Bologna wrote the screenplay together with Mordini and Scamarcio.

Mordini and Scamarcio are...

Riccardo Scamarcio, Daniel Brühl and Volker Bruch are set to star in Italian director Stefano Mordini’s 2 Win, inspired by the events surrounding the 1983 Rally World Championships and the intense rivalry between Germany and Italy.

The story is written by Perfect Strangers scribe Filippo Bologna, Mordini and Scamarcio, who frequently collaborate together and have worked on titles such as 2016 Un Certain Regard title Pericle and, most recently, The Catholic School. 2 Win marks their first English-language feature together.

Up against formidable rival Roland Gumpert (Brühl) and his superior Audi team, Italy’s team manager Cesare Fiorio (Scamarcio) faces certain defeat in the 1983 Rally World Championships. But Fiorio’s sets to steal victory and, like any good heist, he puts together an unusual team, including a team doctor and nutritionist who becomes a necessary foil against Cesare’s bravado. Cesare’s stroke of luck comes when he coaxes the zen-like Walter Rohl...

Daniel Brühl (“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”), Riccardo Scamarcio (“John Wick 2”) and Volker Bruch (“Babylon Berlin”) are set to star in motorsport thriller “2 Win.”

Directed by Stefano Mordini (“The Players”), the film is inspired by true events that occurred during the fierce rivalry between Germany (Audi) and Italy (Lancia) at the 1983 Rally World Championships.

HanWay Films is handling worldwide sales, which will kick off at Cannes.

“It’s a real David vs. Goliath story where Italian flare, cheek and imagination battle against the engineering prowess and perfection of the Germans in a race to the finish,” reads the logline.

In the film, Brühl will play Roland Gumpert who is competing with Cesare Fiorio (Scamarcio) to win the 1983 Rally World Championships. Fiorio is almost certain to lose but thanks to ingenuity and cunning he rises to the challenge, partly thanks to his unusual team including a team doctor and...

On Friday 22 April the awaited world premiere of “The Italian Recipe”, directed by director Hou Zuxin and shot in Rome, will officially open the Far East Film Festival 24th edition. An irresistible Chinese romantic comedy that, after the Feff, will be released at home in thousands of cinemas, bringing with it a lot of Italy: the locations, the crew and, the co-production. In fact, alongside China we find Cristiano Bortone’s Orisa Produzioni and Roberta Manfredi and Alberto Simone’s Dauphine Film Company, with Rai Cinema and with the support of the Lazio Region, Fondo Lazio Cinema International and the support of Roma Lazio Film Commission (and Lightburst Pictures in Berlin). Liu Xun and Huang Yao (applauded at Feff 19 for “The Crossing”) give life to a brilliant pair game and give us a very contemporary variation on the theme of Roman Holidays!

The chosen title for the Closing Night on...

“After that summer, nothing would be the same,” says Edo (Emanuele Maria Di Stefano), the narrator of “The Catholic School,” Stefano Mordini’s worryingly watchable, stylistically polished account of the lead-up to the tawdry and brutal real-life incident known to Italians as the Circeo Massacre. It is a curiously light beginning for a film that will end in an upsettingly extended sequence of torture and sexual violence, and it points to the queasy contradiction Mordini never resolves, between the painstakingly re-created, rueful coming-of-ager his film mostly is, and the unflinchingly ghoulish true-crime sadism-horror it suddenly becomes.

It is Rome in 1975, and Edo, along with the sons of half of Rome’s wealthy, untouchable elite, attends a private Catholic school in the suburbs. The boys are introduced to us, rather confusingly en masse, but eventually the unwieldy screenplay, co-written by Mordini and Massimo Gaudioso, Luca Infascelli, and based on the sprawling,...

The country’s box office is still sputtering but Italian cinema is instead “in a state of grace,” as Venice chief Alberto Barbera put it recently as he announced the five features from Italy that are competing for the fest’s Golden Lion. It’s the most he’s ever selected from Italy.

And Barbera is adamant that he didn’t allocate almost one-fourth of Venice’s 21 competition slots to Cinema Italiano “to support our colors at a difficult time.”

“Some years he selects very little from Italy,” notes Barbara Salabè, who is the top Warner Bros. exec in Italy. “But this year Alberto told me: ‘the [Italian] films are good.’”

The Italian contingent on the Lido spans a wide range of cinematic styles, from “Il Buco,” an eclectic film with no dialogue or music about a group of speleologists who, in 1961, discover the world’s second-deepest cave — directed by underground helmer Michelangelo Frammartino,...

The programme for the 2021 Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Pedro Almodóvar, Jane Campion, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michelangelo Frammartino, Pablo Larraín, Paul Schrader, Ridley Scott, and more.Parallel MothersCOMPETITIONParallel Mothers (Pedro Almodóvar)Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (Ana Lily Amirpour)Un Autre Monde (Stephane Brize)The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion)America LatinaL’Evenement (Audrey Diwan)Official CompetitionThe Hole (Michelangelo Frammartino)Sundown (Michel Franco)Lost Illusions (Xavier Giannoli)The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal)Spencer (Pablo Larrain)Freaks Out (Gabriele Mainetti)Qui Rido Io (Mario Martone)On The Job: The Missing 8 (Erik Matti)Leave No Traces (Jan P. Matuszyński)Captain Volkonogov EscapedThe Card Counter (Paul Schrader)The Hand of God (Paolo Sorrentino)Reflection (Valentyn Vasyanovych)The Box (Lorenzo Vigas)Out Of COMPETITIONFeaturesDune (Denis Villeneuve)Il Bambino Nascosto (Roberto Andò)Les Choses Humaines (Yvan Attal)Ariaferma (Leonardo Di Costanzo)Halloween Kills (David Gordon Green...

Taking place September 1 through 11, the Venice Film Festival has now unveiled its lineup, after a few teases of what it contains (the opening night selection of Madres Paralelas by Pedro Almodovar and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune). Among the selections are Jane Campion’s The Power of a Dog, Paul Schrader’s The Card Counter, Pablo Larrain’s Spencer, Ana Lily Amirpour’s Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon.

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel, Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, and Edgar Wright’s The Last Night in Soho will premiere there, along with new shorts by Radu Jude and Tsai Ming-liang.

Check out the line below for the festival that will feature 50% capacity at screenings.

Venezia 78 – Competition

Madres Paralelas, dir: Pedro Almodovar

Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon, dir: Ana Lily Amirpour

Un Autre Monde, dir: Stéphane Brizé

The Power Of The Dog,...

The 2021 Cannes Film Festival brought the international film circuit back to life in roaring fashion earlier this month (French filmmaker Julia Ducournau became the second woman director to win the Palme d’Or thanks to Neon release “Titane”), and next up are the trio of major fall film festivals in September: the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Toronto International Film Festival. Venice is first out of the gate by launching its 78th edition Wednesday, September 1. The lineup for Venice 2021 has now been revealed.

As previously announced, Pedro Almodóvar will kick off the 2021 Venice Film Festival with the world premiere of his new drama “Parallel Mothers.” The film will debut in competition and vie for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion. “Parallel Mothers” is written and directed by Almodóvar, and stars both regular and new collaborators, including Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Julieta Serrano,...

Updated, with more detail: The Venice Film Festival unveiled the lineup for its 78th edition Monday morning with a notably strong studio presence after last year’s near dearth of Hollywood titles and muted star attendance. Universal (with Blumhouse’s previously announced Halloween Kills and Focus’ Last Night In Soho and The Card Counter), Warner Bros (with Legendary’s also previously confirmed Dune) and Disney (with 20th Century’s The Last Duel) will all be represented in town and each was thanked by Venice chief Alberto Barbera for supporting the event. “There is a strong comeback of the Americans,” he said. Scroll down for a full list of titles announced today.

Also showing up is Netflix, which has a cozy relationship with Venice. On the streamer’s roster are Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God and Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog, both in competition.

Venice has...

This year’s line-up includes five female directors in competition.

The line-up of the 78th Venice Film Festival (September 1-11) has been announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Scroll down for the full line-up

This year’s selection saw the festival take a backward step for gender balance, with five female directors selected in the main competition, down from last year’s eight. 26% of films in the overall line-up are directed by women, down from 28% in 2020.

The high-profile titles picked for competition this year include Pablo Larrain’s Spencer; Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God...

The event featuring films from the festival's latest edition, including Padrenostro and The Macaluso Sisters, will take place from 3 to 10 February at the Cinemathèque Seoul Art Cinema. Seven Italian films from the 77th Venice International Film Festival 2020 compose the programme for the 9th edition of Venice in Seoul. The film series will run starting tomorrow 3 February through 10 February at the Cinemathèque Seoul Art Cinema, organized by La Biennale di Venezia in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture in Seoul. The line-up of the 9th edition of Venice in Seoul, from the Venezia 77 Competition, will also feature Padrenostro by Claudio Noce, for which Pierfrancesco Favino won the Coppa Volpi, and The Macaluso Sister by Emma Dante. The series will also include both the opening film of the Venice Film Festival, Ties by Daniele Luchetti, and the closing film, Lasciami andare by Stefano Mordini, both...

Since True Colours launched in 2015, it has rapidly doubled the size of its lineups to roughly 20 titles per year, while continuing to carefully curate distribution strategies for each film and made lots of global inroads.

The company is known among Italian producers for transparency and providing rapid sales reports, while foreign buyers like working with execs “because they always make things easy,” says Nicolas Zumaglini, head of content at prominent Latin American distributor Telefilms, who notes that “they have definitely helped spread Italian cinema in the region.” As for True Colours giving cinema Italiano more global reach, the most poignant recent example is “Il Testimone Invisibile” (“The Invisible Witness”), a remake of Spanish thriller (“Contratiempo”), directed by Italy’s Stefano Mordini. “Invisible Witness” is the European title that’s scored the highest gross at the Chinese box office, roughly $5 million, since movie theaters re-opened in China post-pandemic.

The True Colours...

Read about all the leading titles coming to cinemas.

France, opening Wednesday October 7

Mainstream French comedies and dramas topped the release schedule in France once again this week, in the absence of US studio titles.

The biggest release of the week was romantic comedy The ABCs Of Love for Ugc Distribution on some 480 prints. Rising star Vincent Dedienne plays a thirtysomething babysitter, who unwittingly gets entangled in the parent teacher association of the school that his nine-year-old charge attends but finds love along the way.

Other local features included long triangle drama Dreamchild, starring Jalil Lespert, Louise Bourgoin and Mélanie Doutey...

A Warner Bros. and Picomedia production, the latest film by the Italian director is based upon Edoardo Albinati’s eponymous novel which won the 2016 Strega Prize. After closing the 77th Venice Film Festival last month with Lasciami andare - having landed on Netflix just before with his remake of the French film The Players - Stefano Mordini is already back on set with his new feature film La scuola cattolica, a work based upon Edoardo Albinati’s best-selling novel of the same name (published by Rizzoli) which scooped the prestigious Premio Strega in 2016. Produced by Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia and Picomedia (Roberto Sessa), the film boasts several big names from the world of Italian cinema, as well as a new, promising generation of young actors: Valeria Golino, Riccardo Scamarcio and Jasmine Trinca will share the stage with Benedetta Porcaroli (star of the TV series Baby) and Ludovico Tersigni (Skam Italia...

Disney’s “Mulan” made only $6.47 million over its second weekend in China, allowing it to be handily defeated once again by the local war epic “The Eight Hundred,” according to data from industry tracker Maoyan.

As of Sunday evening, the Disney title has earned a cumulative $36.5 million (Rmb 247 million) in the key territory. But “The Eight Hundred” led the Chinese box office by more than tripling those earnings, despite already being a month into its theatrical run.

“The Eight Hundred” has now earned a total of $425 million (Rmb 2.88 billion) since is Aug. 21 debut, making it China’s highest grossing film of the year so far. It is projected to continue on to a total box office of $446 million (Rmb 3.02 billion), according to Maoyan estimates.

In contrast, “Mulan” is currently projected to earn just $41 million (Rmb 278 million) — less than a tenth of that tally. The film accounted for about 1 in 5 screenings...

Wife of a SpyThe programme for the 2020 edition of the Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Gia Coppola, Lav Diaz, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Alice Rohrwacher, Gianfranco Rosi, Frederick Wiseman, Chloé Zhao, and more.COMPETITIONIn Between Dying (Hilal Baydarov)Le sorelle Macluso (Emma Dante)The World to Come (Mona Fastvold)Nuevo Orden (Michel Franco)Lovers (Nicole Garcia)Laila in Haifa (Amos Gitai)Dear Comrades (Andrei Konchalovsky)Wife of a Spy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)Sun Children (Majid Majidi)Pieces of a Woman (Kornél Mundruczó)Miss Marx (Susanna Nicchiarelli)Padrenostro (Claudio Noce)Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)Never Gonna Snow AgainThe Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane)And Tomorrow The Entire World (Julia Von Heinz)Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Zbanic)Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)Out Of COMPETITIONFeaturesThe Ties (Daniele Luchetti)Lasciami Andare (Stefano Mordini)Mandibules (Quentin Dupieux)Love After Love (Ann Hui)Assandria (Salvatore Mereu)The Duke (Roger Michell)Night in Paradise (Park Hoon-jung)Mosquito...

This year’s pandemic-altered Venice Film Festival will include a record number of competition films directed by women, festival organizers announced on Tuesday. And two of those are also the only Hollywood studio films to make the competition lineup — Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come” and Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland.”

In all, eight of the 18 competition features have a female director — an improvement from last year, when just two made the cut.

“Nomadland,” a drama starring Frances McDormand released by Searchlight Pictures, will simultaneously premiere through the Toronto Film Festival as well as through the New York Film Festival and the now-canceled Telluride fest (at a special drive-in screening in Southern California). Sony’s “The World to Come” stars Casey Affleck, Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston.

Also Read: Frances McDormand's 'Nomadland' to Get Joint World Premiere From Venice and Toronto Film Festivals

Other top titles screening out...

Lasciami andare by Stefano Mordini will be Venice’s closing film; the special events include the series 30 Coins, directed by Álex de la Iglesia. Eight fiction films and 11 non-fiction titles, plus three special screenings, comprise the jam-packed Out of Competition programme of the 77th Venice Film Festival (2-12 September), as announced by artistic director Alberto Barbera this morning during a live-streamed press conference (see the news on the Venice 77 and Orizzonti competitions). Among the works of fiction on this list, besides the previously announced opening film (The Ties by Daniele Luchetti – see the news), is also the movie that will have the honour of closing this year’s Mostra: it will be another Italian title, Lasciami andare by Stefano Mordini, a psychological thriller filmed during the period of high water levels in Venice, starring Valeria Golino, Stefano Accorsi, Maya Sansa and Serena Rossi. In the same section is...

With Telluride Film Festival forced to cancel their yearly event, what is now the first of the major fall festivals, Venice, has announced their complete lineup. Along with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which was revealed yesterday, the lineup includes more of our most-anticipated films of the year, including Frederick Wiseman’s City Hall, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, Gia Coppola’s Mainstream, Abel Ferrara’s Sportin’ Life, Lav Diaz’s Genus Pan, Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come, Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman, Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno, and more.

There were also a few surprises in the lineup. Luca Guadagnino has directed a new documentary titled Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, while Alice Rohrwacher and Jr have teamed for the new short film, Omelia Contadina. Quentin Dupieux’s Mandibules will also premiere out of competition.

In perhaps the best surprise of all, a new, recently uncovered film by Orson Welles,...

While the coronavirus pandemic has canceled major festivals such as Cannes and Telluride, the 2020 Venice Film Festival is moving ahead as planned and will be the world’s first major film festival since Sundance and Berlin at the start of the year. Venice 2020’s main selection will be split into three sections: Venezia 77 (aka the main competition), Out of Competition, and Horizons. The titles selected for the main competition will compete for the Golden Lion, which was awarded last year to Todd Phillips’ “Joker.”

As previously announced, Daniele Luchetti’s drama “Lacci” will open the 77th Venice Film Festival on September 2. The movie is the first Italian title to open Venice in 11 years. The last Italian opener was Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baarìa” at the 2009 festival. “Lacci” is included in this year’s Out of Competition section. Chloe Zhao’s “The Rider” follow-up “Nomadland” was also confirmed for a world premiere...

The Venice Film Festival is unveiling the lineup of its 77th edition, which, barring complications, will be the first major international film event to hold a physical edition following the coronavirus crisis.

Previously announced titles include Chloé Zhao’s road drama “Nomadland,” starring Frances McDormand, which will screen at Venice and Toronto simultaneously on Sept. 11, in both cases preceded by virtual introductions.

The out-of-competition opener will be Italian director Daniele Luchetti’s anatomy of a marriage drama “Lacci” (“The Ties”) (pictured) starring Alba Rohrwacher (“Happy as Lazzaro”) and Luigi Lo Cascio (“The Traitor”) as the couple at the film’s center.

The virtual press conference is scheduled to begin at 11am Cet. This post will be updated live as films are revealed.

Venice Film Festival Lineup

In Competition

“In Between Dying,” Hilal Baydarov

“Le Sorelle Macaluso,” Emma Dante (Italy)

“The World to Come,” Mona Fastvold (U.S.)

“Nuevo Orden,” Michel Franco

“Lovers,...

French distributor Destiny Films has acquired rights for France to Italian soccer dramedy “The Champion” from Italy’s True Colours in the runup to the De Rome a Paris festival and confab, which kicks off Friday.

Produced by Matteo Rovere’s Groenlandia (“Romulus”), “The Champion” turns on the uneasy relationship between a young male soccer star and a shy academic, also male, who becomes his tutor. This rare representation of the soccer world’s money-crazed star system recently won several Silver Ribbon prizes from Italy’s film journalists’ union, including best producer and best feature debut for director Leonardo D’Agostini.

Destiny Film’s David Chhouy said he hopes “The Champion” will resonate in France, where the plan is for a summer 2020 release in local multiplexes. “We need French audiences to perceive it not as an Italian arthouse movie, but something more mainstream,” he noted.

That said, two Italian arthouse titles,...

The Italian director puts his name to a remake of French comedy The Players, this time starring Valerio Mastandrea and Riccardo Scamarcio, who is also producing the movie. Filming has wrapped on Gli infedeli, the new film by Stefano Mordini and a remake of the homonymous French film (The Players), which took the box office by storm in 2014, earning itself a grand total of 2.3 million euros. Starring Valerio Mastandrea, Riccardo Scamarcio, Laura Chiatti, Valentina Cervi, Marina Foïs, Massimiliano Gallo and Euridice Axen, Gli Infedeli is an episodic film in the tradition of the Italian-style comedies popularised between the 1950s and the 80s. Through five short stories, we are told of the amorous misadventures of five men, each of them grappling with wives, girlfriends and lovers. It’s an irreverent and amusing though somewhat bitter look at love. Based upon an idea put forward by the actor-director Jean Dujardin, the...

Psychological thriller grossed $2.5m in Italy.

Italian sales company True Colours has sealed a trio of deals on Stefano Mordini’s The Invisible Witness, including a sale to Wild Side for France.

The psychological thriller, which recently grossed $2.5m at the Italian box office, has also been sold to Stars Media for Yugoslavia and 6A Media for Bulgaria.

Starring Riccardo Scamarcio (Euforia), the film was produced by Pico Media and Warner Bros Entertainment Italia, with the Warner Bros also handling the Italian release. Scamarcio plays a man accused of murdering his lover.

True Colours has also sold Alessandro Genovesi’s...

Turkish casting director one of 16 nominated for prize.

Turkish casting director Harika Uygur [pictured] has won the Locarno Film Festival’s European Casting award for her work on Cannes 2015 hit Mustang.

The Oscar-nominated drama charts the coming-of-age of five carefree girls whose conservative guardians confine them while forced marriages are arranged.

Uygur was one of 16 European casting directors nominated for the award, which was decided on by the 83 members of the International Casting Directors Network (Icdn), which represents casting directors in 24 countries.

“This casting director created an organic family that was totally believable; the match of characters and actresses was perfect,” the Icdn told Screen in a statement.

The inexperienced young actresses in lauded drama Mustang - Elit Iscan, Gunes Nezihe Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Ilayda Akdogan, and Tugba Sunguroglu - were widely praised for their performances.

Uygur’s recent credits include The Ottoman Lieutenant and Lady Winsley. She is also a member of the Academy of Motion...

Paolo Virzi’s Italian buddy movie starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Micaela Ramazzotti will open the roster of 47 films from the 28 EU member states at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The Us premiere of Henrik Ruben Genz’s Danish caper Satisfaction 1720 will close the 29th annual edition of the showcase, running from December 1-18.

The selection includes 14 foreign language Oscar submissions such as Maren Ade’s German comedy Toni Erdmann, Juho Kuosmanen’s Finnish biopic The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki and Italian documentarian Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea.

Nine Us premieres include On The Other Side (Zrinko Ogresta, Croatia), Pericle (Stefano Mordini, Italy), Together For Ever (Lithuania), and Upstream (Marion Hänsel, Belgium).

The EU is represented in the United States by the Washington DC Delegation of the European Union, which works with the diplomatic missions of the 28 EU member states.

The...

Exclusive: Copenhagen’s festival, in new autumn dates, will show a record 226 features kicking off with Doctor Strange.

Copenhagen’s Cph Pix festival, now in its new autumn dates, has revealed a record 226 feature films in its lineup.

The 14-day festival (Oct 27 - Nov 9), which now also includes kids and family festival Buster, will show 46 features for young people in its daytime programmes and 180 films for teenagers and adults in the evenings.

As previously reported, the eighth edition of festival will open with a gala premiere of Marvel’s Doctor Strange (Mads Mikkelsen will attend).

There will be four main awards at Pix: the New Talent Grand Pix for a debut feature (with $11,200 (€10,000)); the Politiken Audience Award that comes with Danish distribution support, and the Nordisk Film Fond prizes for best children’s feature and best children’s short.

Terence Davies [pictured] will be given a full retrospective as well as showing his latest film A Quiet Passion and participating...

Juries revealed for Un Certain Regard, Short Films & Cinéfondation and Caméra d’or.

Swiss actress Marthe Keller is to preside over the Un Certain Regard jury at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22). Keller is still perhaps best known for her role opposite Dustin Hoffman in Marathon Man (1976) and will next be seen in Joachim Lafosse’s After Love, which will play in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes.

The jury, which will consider 18 films in competition, includes: Mexican filmmaker Diego Luno, who stars in the upcoming Star Wars spin-off Rogue One; Ruben Ostlund, the Swedish director of Un Certain Regard jury prize winner Force Majeure (2014); and French actress Céline Sallette, perhaps best known for roles in Rust And Bone (2012) and TV series The Returned.

The winners will be announced on May 21.

Un Certain RegardInversion, Behnam Behzadi (Iran)Apprentice, Boo Junfeng (Singapore)The Stopover, Delphine Coulin & Muriel Coulin (France)The Dancer, Stéphanie Di Giusto (France...

Mafia story Pericle Il Nero, co-produced by the Dardenne brothers, plays in Un Certain Regard while Fiore is in Directors’ Fortnight.

Italian sales outfit Rai Com has added two titles from the Cannes line-up to its slate.

The first title Pericle Il Nero, playing in Un Certain Regard, is a mafia thriller from director Stefano Mordini (Steel).

The Italian-Belgian-French co-production stars Riccardo Scamarcio (Burnt) who also produces the project alongside Valeria Golino, Viola Prestieri. It is co-produced by Alain Attal and the Dardenne brothers.

Production companies were Buena Onda, Les Films du Fleuve, Les Production du Trésor with Rai Cinema

Based on Giuseppe Ferrandino’s 1995 novel the story follows a failed porn actor who works as an enforcer for a mafia kingpin. One day, he finds himself confronted with an all-out turf war after an errand goes drastically wrong, leading him to flee across Europe.

The second title is Fiore, which screens...

Mafia story Pericle Il Nero, co-produced by the Dardenne brothers, plays in Un Certain Regard while Fiore is in Directors’ Fortnight.

Italian sales outfit Rai Com has added two titles from the Cannes line-up to its slate.

The first title Pericle Il Nero, playing in Un Certain Regard, is a mafia thriller from director Stefano Mordini (Steel).

The Italian-Belgian-French co-production stars Riccardo Scamarcio (Burnt) who also produces the project alongside Valeria Golino, Viola Prestieri. It is co-produced by Alain Attal and the Dardenne brothers.

Production companies were Buena Onda, Les Films du Fleuve, Les Production du Trésor with Rai Cinema

Based on Giuseppe Ferrandino’s 1995 novel the story follows a failed porn actor who works as an enforcer for a mafia kingpin. One day, he finds himself confronted with an all-out turf war after an errand goes drastically wrong, leading him to flee across Europe.

The second title is Fiore, which screens...

Mafia story Pericle Il Nero, co-produced by the Dardenne brothers, plays in Un Certain Regard while Fiore is in Directors’ Fortnight.

Italian sales outfit Rai Com has added two titles from the Cannes line-up to its slate.

The first title Pericle Il Nero [pictured top], playing in Un Certain Regard, is a mafia thriller from director Stefano Mordini (Steel).

The Italian-Belgian-French co-production stars Riccardo Scamarcio (Burnt) who also produces the project alongside Valeria Golino, Viola Prestieri. It is co-produced by Alain Attal and the Dardenne brothers.

Production companies were Buena Onda, Les Films du Fleuve, Les Production du Trésor with Rai Cinema

Based on Giuseppe Ferrandino’s 1995 novel the story follows a failed porn actor who works as an enforcer for a mafia kingpin. One day, he finds himself confronted with an all-out turf war after an errand goes drastically wrong, leading him to flee across Europe.

The second title is Fiore, which screens...

The Festival de Cannes has announced the lineup for the official selection, including the Competition and Un Certain Regard sections, as well as special screenings, for the 69th edition of the festival:COMPETITIONOpening Night: Café Society (Woody Allen) [Out of Competition]Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade)Julieta (Pedro Almodóvar)American Honey (Andrea Arnold)Personal Shopper (Olivier Assayas)La Fille Inconnue (Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne)Juste La Fin du Monde (Xavier Dolan)Ma Loute (Bruno Dumont)Paterson (Jim Jarmusch)Rester Vertical (Alain Guiraudie)Aquarius (Kleber Mendonça Filho)Mal de Pierres (Nicole Garcia)I, Daniel Blake (Ken Loach)Ma' Rosa (Brillante Mendoza)Bacalaureat (Cristian Mungiu)Loving (Jeff Nichols)Agassi (Park Chan-Wook)The Last Face (Sean Penn)Sieranevada (Cristi Puiu)Elle (Paul Verhoeven)The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding-Refn)The Salesman (Asgha Farhadi)Un Certain REGARDOpening Film: Clash (Mohamed Diab)Varoonegi (Behnam Behzadi)Apprentice (Boo Junfeng)Voir du Pays (Delphine Coulin & Muriel Coulin)La Danseuse (Stéphanie Di Giusto)La...

Kieran, here. The Cannes film festival is a peculiar animal. Its relation to the Oscar race (it's April, so I'm allowed to mention it again) is nebulous. While the festival raerly fails to deliver at least a few titles that will net multiple nominations, it's hardly the launching pad into awards season in a way similar to Toronto or (in more recent years) Telluride. And truthfully, that's one of the things that makes it so compelling to follow. Regardless of whatever criticisms one can levy against Cannes, it's hard to deny that it clearly has its own rich history and identity with different motives on its mind compared to many high profile festivals.

The lineup for the festival is replete with interesting cinematic offerings. There are certain directors who can always garner a slot on the roster (*uses quiet voice* regardles of the quality of the actual film). Even still,...

The competition line-up for our most-anticipated cinema-related event of the year has arrived. With a jury headed up by George Miller, early this morning, the 2016 Cannes Film Festival announced their slate. The competition line-up includes some of our most-anticipated films of the year, including the Dardennes‘ The Unknown Girl, Olivier Assayas‘ Personal Shopper, Andrea Arnold‘s American Honey, Jim Jarmusch‘s Paterson, Paul Verhoeven‘s Elle, Park Chan-wook‘s The Handmaiden, and many more.

Playing out of competition is the previously announced Cafe Society from Woody Allen, as well as Steven Spielberg‘s The Bfg, Jodie Foster‘s Money Monster, Shane Black‘s The Nice Guys, and Na Hong-jin‘s mystery thriller Goksung. Some notable titles in the Un Certain Regard section include the Studio Ghibli-backed Red Turtle and Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s After the Storm.

Check out the full line-up below, along with new stills at the end of the post.

The line-up of the 69th Cannes Film Festival in full.

At a press conference this morning, Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux and president Pierre Lescure revealed 49 films selected for inclusion in this year’s festival, set to run May 11-22.

The annoncement was delayed by a peaceful protest at the Ugc Normandie movie theatre on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. A tweet from the festival said: “Due to an intervention of Entertaintement workers, the announcement of the Selection is slightly delayed. Stay with us!”

As previously announced, Woody Allen’s Café Society will open the festival on May 11.

Also previously announced, the competition jury will be presided over by Australian director George Miller, whose Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road received its world premiere at Cannes last year.

Competition

Jury chair: George Miller

Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade (Germany)Julieta, Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)American Honey, Andrea Arnold (UK)Personal Shopper, Olivier Assayas (France)The Unknown Girl (La Fille Inconnue), Jean-Pierre Dardenne & [link...