News

Agnieszka Holland’s biopic has won the Best Film Award, while the period drama flick Shadow Country was honoured with the most trophies. On the heels of the Czech Film Critics’ Awards comes the annual Czech Lion ceremony, which sees members of the Czech Film and Television Academy casting their votes to celebrate the domestic cinema of 2020. The Czech Film Critics’ Awards (see the news) had already singled out Agnieszka Holland’s period biopic Charlatan and Bohdan Sláma’s period drama Shadow Country as two of the strongest hopefuls, and indeed, Shadow Country had been leading the nominations here. Sláma’s first foray into period film, a collective portrait of a Czech village near the German border during the events of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, won a total of six awards, including Best Actress (for both the leading and supporting roles), Best Screenplay and Best Editing. Producers Šárka Cimbalová and Kevan Van.

Princ Films has taken international rights to Slávek Horák’s “Havel,” a biopic about the Czech playwright, dissident and his country’s president Vaclav Havel, and will launch sales at the European Film Market.

The film recently received 14 nominations for the Czech Lion Awards, the leading Czech film awards, across all major categories including film, director, screenplay, and all acting categories. It also received two nominations for the Czech Film Critics’ Awards, best actor and actress.

“Havel” premiered at the Visegrad Cinema Days, run by the Kyiv Film Festival in the Ukraine, and went onto play a slew of festivals including Heartland (Indiana), where it was a finalist for best narrative feature, Montreal Independent, where Horák won best director, Rome Independent, where it won best feature, Warsaw, Tallinn Black Nights, São Paulo, Cottbus and Zagreb.

“Havel” stars Viktor Dvorák (“Three Brothers”) as Havel and follows the accomplished playwright and Czechoslovakia’s last President,...

Agnieszka Holland has been hailed as Best Director for the biopic drama Charlatan, the Czech submission for the Oscars race. Czech film critics have been celebrating domestic cinema and audiovisual production from 2020 at the annual ceremony of the Czech Film Critics’ Awards. The critics voted the black-and-white period drama Shadow Country by Bohdan Sláma as the top domestic movie. The story, penned by Ivan Arsenjev, is based on actual events during a massacre in a Czech village, Tušť, shortly after the end of World War II. Magdaléna Borová received the Award for Best Actress for her role as Marie Veberová in Shadow Country, a strong female character who suffers a harsh fate. Another period film based on true events, the biopic Charlatan – the Czech submission for the Oscars race – netted two prizes: Agnieszka Holland received the Award for Best Director, while Ivan Trojan won in the Best...

Contenders revealed for Spain’s Goyas

Nominees have been announced for the 35th Goya Awards, Spain’s primary award ceremony. Salvador Calvo’s Netflix drama Adu leads the way with 13 nominations, the movie stars Luis Tosar. Manuel Giménez de Llano’s The Girls and Pablo Agüero’ Akelarre follow with nine nominations apiece, while Icíar Bollaín’s Rosa’s Wedding has eight. The Best European Film category has four contenders: Corpus Christi, The Father, Falling and Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy. The winners will be unveiled at a ceremony in Malaga on March 6, hosted by Antonio Banderas and María Casado. Click here to see the full list of nominations (in Spanish).

Czech Lion nominations

Shadow Country, Havel and Charlatan were the most-nominated film and TV projects for the 28th annual Czech Lion awards voted on by the Czech Film and Television Academy (Cfta). This was the first year the...

The 30th anniversary edition of the German festival ran online.

Russian filmmaker Ivan I. Tverdovsky’s Conference won the main prize for best film at Germany’s FilmFestival Cottbus on Sunday December 13.

It is the story that incorporates the tragedy of the Dubrovka Theatre attack in Moscow in 2002 with the fate of one woman and her family. The film, which is handled internationally by Reason8 Films, had been pitched at project stage at the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus during the FilmFestival Cottbus in 2019. It made its world premiere earlier this year at Venice’s Giornate degli Autori.

It is...

Black-and-white drama was showcased at the BFI London Film Festival.

US sales and distribution company Princ Films has acquired worldwide rights, excluding the US and Canada, to Czech director Bohdan Sláma’s drama Shadow Country, which it is introducing to buyers at AFM.

The black-and-white drama is set in a fictional village on the Czech-Austrian border and spans the 1930s to 1950s, inspired by true events of a genocide that occurred due to fallout between German citizens and Czechs who collaborated with the Nazi regime during the war.

It stars an ensemble cast of top acting Czech talent including Stanislav Majer,...

The creep of division that can overcome even a generally cohesive community is exposed in Czech director Bohdan Sláma's Shadow Country, no doubt shot in black and white to emphasise the all-pervading shades of grey that are involved. The setting is the area of Vitoraszko. Once part of Bohemia, it moved while staying put, as it was declared part of Austria for 600 years before becoming part of Czechoslovakia in 1920, before, in 1938, Hitler occupied Austria, bringing upheaval again. Director Bohdan Sláma and writer Ivan Arsenyev economically set the scene for all this via intertitles that pose the question that echoes through generations in the fictional village of Schwarzwald - "Who are we and where do we belong?"

Inevitably there are no easy answers and the filmmakers draw on the real-life experiences of the residents of Tuš?, focusing on the daily and the domestic, which allows the film's considerations of division.

This year’s BFI London Film Festival, taking place as a hybrid of online and physical activities due to ongoing pandemic disruption, has unveiled a program of 58 titles.

A selection of screenings will take place at cinemas and others will take place in a virtual form for audiences across the UK. The films come from 40 countries. All screenings are geo-blocked to the UK, though festival talks will be available to experience for free around the world.

As previously announced, Steve McQueen’s Mangrove will open this year’s fest and Francis Lee’s Ammonite will close.

Titles include Pixar’s new movie Soul, which would’ve been at Cannes, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which is set to premiere in Venice, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, which was part of this year’s Cannes Label, Miranda July’s Kajillionaire, which debuted at Sundance, Bassam Tariq’s Mogul Mowgli, which was at Berlinale,...

Krajina ve stínu

Czech Republic’s Bohdan Sláma makes his first period piece with his sixth film, the black and white Country in the Shadow, a WWII drama which reunites him with his Ice Mother stars Zuzana Kronerova and Pavel Novy. The title is produced by Jindrich Motyl and lensed by Marek Divis (who has worked with Slama on every feature since his 2005 sophomore film Something Like Happiness). Sláma’s 2001 debut The Wild Bees went to Rotterdam and he competed in San Sebastian with Something Like Happiness. 2008’s The Country Teacher premiered out of Venice Days and then he competed in the World Dramatic lineup at Sundance in 2012 with Four Suns.…...

The Czech director has finished shooting his first historical drama on celluloid. Experienced Czech filmmaker Bohdan Sláma has finished shooting the World War II drama Shadow Country, a project that has been eight years in the making. The historical drama marks a radical departure for Sláma, who has mostly made contemporary dramedies, the latest being the romantic drama Ice Mother, which won the Best Screenplay Award at the 16th Tribeca Film Festival (see the news), was the Czech Republic’s nomination for the Best Foreign-language Film category at the 90th edition of the Academy Awards (see the news) and netted six domestic awards at the annual Czech Lions ceremony (see the news). Shadow Country focuses on “a conflict between German fellow citizens after a war with the Czechs, who collaborated with the German regime during World War II, and on the greater need they had to take revenge after the war.

Bohdan Sláma’s later-life romance takes home six awards including Best Film.

Ice Mother, written and directed by Bohdan Sláma (The Country Teacher), won big at the 25th Czech Lion Awards on March 10 in Prague.

The film, which tells the story of a widow’s second chance at romance, took home six awards: best film, best director, best screenplay, best actress, best actor and best supporting actress.

It opened in the Czech Republic in February 2017, sustained a long theatrical run and was the country’s submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2018 Oscars.

Jan Svěrák’s Barefoot, about a...

European Film Promotion highlights 28 European films for the 90th Academy AwardsPutting a spotlight on a record number of 28 European Oscar® entries, Efp (European Film Promotion) offers additional screenings of the films in L.A. for Academy members, journalists, U.S. distributors and international buyers. With the special support of the Efp member organizations, the event helps the productions to stand out among a record number of 92 submissions for the 90th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

This year the Efp Screenings Of Oscar® Entries From Europe were held from November 2–15 at the state of the art Dick Clark Screening Room. The campaign is financially supported by the Creative Europe — Media Programme of the European Union and the participating Efp member organizations.

Many of the European Oscar submissions feature European Shooting Stars or were made by Efp-related filmmakers. Notably four films were realized by participants of this year’s edition...

Icy cold but so heart-warming, this funny study of three generations of a family brings out our best feelings as we partake in the liberation of a sixty-seven-year-old widow as she finally manages to shake off the influence of her selfish sons in order to begin a new life.

When Hana, played by the well-loved actress, Zuzana Kronerova, finds a group of eccentric ice swimmers, a new world opens to her and her grandson who is facing bullying at school and self-occupied parents at home.

Is there an age limit to changing your life? Are you ever too old or too young?And once you decide to go ahead with it, your nearest and dearests’ reactions, especially their efforts dissuade in order to protect their own fragile balance in life become apparent in Bohdan Sláma’s new tragicomedy in which a sixty-seven-year-old widow finally manages to shake off the influence...

The final deadline for submitting each country’s film for consideration for the foreign-language Oscar was October 2. Last year 85 were finally deemed eligible by the Academy; this year the number is a record 92. Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. These films are vying for the initial shortlist of 9, and final five nominations to be announced on January 23. See the final list below.

Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)

The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.

Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.

The final deadline for submitting each country’s film for consideration for the foreign-language Oscar was October 2. Last year 85 were finally deemed eligible by the Academy; this year the number is a record 92. Haiti, Honduras, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Mozambique, Senegal and Syria are first-time entrants. These films are vying for the initial shortlist of 9, and final five nominations to be announced on January 23. See the final list below.

Read More:Oscar Announces Changes for Foreign-Film Voting: Now Simpler! (Sort Of.)

The frontrunners include Sweden selected Ruben Östlund’s hilarious Palme d’Or-winner “The Square” (October 27, Magnolia Pictures), an art-world satire shot in majority Swedish with some English from stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, and Dominic West, thus giving Östlund another shot after “Force Majeure” was a surprise 2015 Oscar omission.

Germany’s choice, Fatih Akin’s “In the Fade” (December 27, Magnolia Pictures), won Best Actress for Diane Kruger at Cannes.

Elvira Lind with her and Oscar Isaac's newborn child - Bobbi Jene won three Tribeca Film Festival Awards - Best Documentary Feature, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing for Adam Nielsen. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The Tribeca Film Festival juried award-winning films - Elvira Lind's Bobbi Jene, Rachel Israel's Keep The Change, Elina Psykou's Son Of Sofia, Petra Volpe's The Divine Order, Sarita Khurana and Smriti Mundhra's A Suitable Girl, Angus MacLachlan's Abundant Acreage Available, Liz W Garcia's One Percent More Humid, Quinn Shephard's Blame, Russell Harbaugh's Love After Love, Julia Solomonoff's Nobody's Watching, Bohdan Sláma's Ice Mother, and Rainer Sarnet's November - will have additional screenings starting on Sunday afternoon, April 30.

Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather and The Godfather: Part ll with Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and the director participating in a...

Chicago – The 16th Edition of the Tribeca Film Festival continues through April 30th, 2017, but the main jury awards were announced yesterday at Awards Night ceremonies. “Keep the Change,” directed by Rachel Israel, was award Best U.S. Narrative Feature. All of the 2017 winners represented a wide range of topics, from inspirational to entertaining, and featured veteran as well as up-and-coming creators and talents from around the world. Worth noting, and a first for Tribeca, all five feature categories winners are from women-directed films.

Awards were distributed in the following feature film competition categories – U.S. Narrative, International Narrative, Documentary, New Narrative Director, The Albert Maysles New Documentary Director, and the Nora Ephron Prize, honoring a woman writer or director. Awards were also given in the short film categories – Narrative, Documentary, Student Visionary and Animation. For the fifth year, Tribeca awarded innovation in storytelling through its Storyscapes Award for immersive (Vr) storytelling.

The Tribeca Film Festival has announced the winners of its 16th edition, with “Keep the Change” (U.S. Narrative), “Son of Sofia” (International Narrative) and “Bobbi Jene” (Documentary) taking home the top prizes. 97 features and 57 shorts comprised the main lineup of this year’s fest, which began on April 19 and ends on April 30.

“It is more important than ever to celebrate artists both in front of and behind the camera who have the unique ability to share different viewpoints to inspire, challenge and entertain us,” said Jane Rosenthal, Tribeca’s executive chair and co-founder. “The winning creators from across the Festival program shared stories that did exactly that, and we are honored to recognize them tonight. And how wonderful is it that the top awards in all five feature film categories were directed by women.”

Full list of winners below.

The 2017 IndieWire Tribeca Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During the Festival

U.

April 29 Update: Hondros, The Divine Order win audience awards.

Rachel Israel’s Keep The Change was named best U.S. narrative and Elina Psykou’s Son Of Sofia best international narrative as the Tribeca Film Festival handed out juried awards on Thursday evening.

Bobbi Jene directed by Elvira Lind won the best documentary award. Israel also won the Best new Narrative Director award.

For the fifth year, Tribeca recognised innovation in storytelling through its Storyscapes Award for immersive storytelling, which this year went to Treehugger: Wawona.

Alessandro Nivola won the Best Actor in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film award for One Percent More Humid, while Nadia Alexander received Best Actress in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film for Blame.

Best Screenplay in a U.S. Narrative Feature Film went to Angus MacLachlan for Abundant Acreage Available.

Best Actor in an International Narrative Feature Film went to Guillermo Pfening for Nobody’s Watching (Colombia, Argentina, Brazil...

Family can sometimes drive us up a wall. At holiday dinners, families like to poke their noses in others business with questions about the future or current romantic partners or career choices, and the answers they are given are typically met with slight condescension. With every intention of defending ourselves, we bite our tongues to preserve the only time of week, month, or year we see our families. This tense familial setting is the foundation of the film “Ice Mother,” directed by Bohdan Sláma (“Something Like Happiness” “Country Teacher”).

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

The film tells a story of Hana, an older woman who lives alone, aside from her weekly visits with her two sons and their families. These passive-aggressive dinners are central to the family dynamic that no one intends to break. One day, while...

Festival receives record number of submissions as top brass trim roster by 20%.

World premieres of Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip To Spain (pictured), Nick Broomfield and Rudi Dolezal’s Whitney. “can I be me,”, and Hell On Earth: The Fall Of Syria And The Rise Of Isis by Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested are among the line-up at the 16th annual Tribeca Film Festival (April 19-30).

Festival top brass led by new director of programming Cara Cusumano and artistic director Frédéric Boyer unveiled on Thursday 82 of the 98 features that will screen at this year’s edition.

Trimmed down by 20%, the festival received a record number 8,700 submissions, of which 3,362 were features – and includes 32 films in competition comprising 12 documentaries, 10 Us narratives and 10 international narratives. Films in competition will compete for cash prizes totalling $160,000.

Spotlight Narrative section features 15 fiction films, while Spotlight Documentary includes 16 non-fiction films. Five fiction and one documentary film play in Midnight.

The 2017 roster...

Retrospective to include films from Danis Tanovic, Cristi Puiu, Mira Fornay and more.

A total of 50 films are to make up the retrospective Eastern Promises: Autobiography of Eastern Europe at the 62nd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 19-27).

The line-up includes movies produced since 2000 in the countries that lived under Soviet influence after the Second World War and include some that were never released theatrically in Spain.

Several directors of films in the retrospective will attend the festival to present their works including Sarunas Bartas (Lithuania), Kristina Buožytė (Lithuania), Marian Crisan (Romania), Mira Fornay (Slovakia), Bohdan Sláma (Czech Republic), Malgorzata Szumowska (Poland) and Anna Viduleja (Latvia).

A book will be published to accompany the retrospective with contributions from journalists and critics across Europe.

The titles are:

Kruh In Mleko / Bread And Milk

Jan Cvitkovic (Slovenia) 2001

A modern classic of Slovenian cinema, the tale of a man who went out for bread and milk and lost himself to alcohol...

The 17th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) has announced its lineup. The festival will run from 7th to 14th December, 2012 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Some of the highlights of the lineup are festival favourites of the year Amour, Chitrangada, Samhita, The Sapphires, Drapchi, Miss Lovely, Me and You, Celluloid Man, and Baandhon.

Fourteen films will screen in the Competition section while seven contemporary films will be screened in “Indian Cinema Now” section.

Complete list of films:

Competition Films

Fourteen feature films from Asia, Africa and Latin America will compete for the coveted “Suvarna Chakoram” (Golden Crow Pheasant) and other awards.

Always Brando by Ridha Behi (Tunisia)

Inheritors of the Earth by T V Chandran (India)

A Terminal Trust by by Masayuki Suo (Japan)

Shutter by Joy Mathew (India)

Today by Alain Gomis (Senegal-France)

The Repentant by Merzak Allouache (Algeria)

Sta. Niña by Manny Palo (Philippines)

Present Tense...

The German sales company based out of Berlin nabbed a pair of spots in this year’s Critics’ Week for David Lambert’s Hors Les Murs and one of our most anticipated films of the fest, Sofia’s Last Ambulance – the documentary first film from Ilian Metev. They don’t have anything listed for their future slate, but they’ve managed to rep Sundance/Berlin items in Keep the Lights On and Four Suns.

Hors Les Murs by David Lambert

Kuma by Umut DAĞ

Sofia’S Last Ambulance by Ilian Metev

Come As You Are (Hasta La Vista) by Geoffrey Enthoven

Everybody In Our Family by Radu Jude

Four Suns (Ctyri Slunce) by Bohdan SLÁMA

Holidays By The Sea by Pascal RABATÉ

Home (Dom) by Oleg Pogodin

Keep The Lights On by Ira

King Curling (Kong Curling) by Ole Endresen

Unfair World by Filippos Tsitos...

I’ll just fess up: Despite the fact that it’s in its 41st year, the International Film Festival Rotterdam is something I’ve kind of never heard about until today. (Let’s blame it on a slip in my geography skills.) This ignorance on my part notwithstanding, taking a look at their initial lineup for this year — when the event runs from January 25th to February 5th — has left me mightily impressed.

The biggest world premieres come from two directors on opposite ends of at least a few spectrum: Takashi Miike and James Franco. (Discounting the fact that they’ve both depicted amputations onscreen, in one way or the other.) The former is debuting his adaptation of the popular Nintendo DS game, Ace Attorney, while the latter will be exhibiting Francophrenia (Or: Don’t Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is). A movie based on a kid’s...

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the lineup for its main section, Spectrum: 72 features and documentaries from 32 countries, with descriptions from the Festival, running January 25 through February 5:

World premieres

Cornelia frente al espejo (Cornelia at Her Mirror) - Daniel Rosenfeld, Argentina, Hubert Bals Fund-supported film. A "meticulous and stylish film based on the story by Silvina Ocampo (1903-1993)." Roman Diary - Michael Pilz, Austria. A "meditative film featuring images of a park in Rome." Rua Aperana 52 - Júlio Bressane, Brazil. A "musical film about a street corner in Rio, edited together from old photos and the maker’s own films from the period 1957-2005." Lacan Palestine - Mike Hoolboom, Canada. A "found-footage essay on a complex country and its love-struck inhabitants." 38 témoins (38 Witnesses) - Lucas Belvaux, France, Belgium. Opening Film Iffr 2012. Le reste du monde (The Rest of the World) - Damien Odoul, France. A "family considers issues of identity and relationships.

Joel Edgerton, Wish You Were Here World Cinema Dramatic Competition 4 Suns / Czech Republic (Director/screenwriter: Bohdan Sláma) — Immature Fogi attempts to straighten up and accept his responsibilities as a new husband and father, as well as role model to his troubled son from a previous relationship, but finds himself unable to change his nature, leaving him to watch haplessly as his family begins to crumble. Cast: Jaroslav Plesl, Ana Geislerová, Karel Roden, Klára Melíšková. World Premiere About the Pink Sky / Japan (Director/screenwriter: Keiichi Kobayashi) — A high school girl finds a wallet full of money and tracks down its owner, leading to unexpected consequences for the girl and her friends. Cast: Ai Ikeda, Ena Koshino, Reiko Fujiwara, Tsubasa Takayama. International Premiere Can / Turkey (Director/screenwriter: Rasit Celikezer) — A young married couple live happily in Istanbul, but their decision to illegally procure a child threatens their future together. Cast: Selen Ucer,...

The Sundance Film Festival has unveiled its 2012 competition lineup, announcing that "110 feature-length films were selected, representing 31 countries and 44 first-time filmmakers, including 26 in competition. These films were selected from 4,042 feature-length film submissions composed of 2,059 Us and 1,983 international feature-length films. 88 films at the Festival will be world premieres…. On Day One, the Festival will screen one narrative film and one documentary from both the Us and World Cinema competitions, as well as one shorts program."

And those four films are Todd Louiso's Hello I Must Be Going (Us Dramatic Competition), Lauren Greenfield's The Queen of Versailles (Us Documentary Competition), Kieran Darcy-Smith's Wish You Were Here (World Cinema Dramatic Competition — image above) and Malik Bendjelloul's Searching for Sugar Man (World Cinema Documentary Competition). Click here to see titles and synopses for all four programs.

The festival runs from January 19 through 29.

Updates: Ioncinema's Eric Lavallee on the highlights of the World...

Of all the fourteen films/filmmakers mentioned we see Quentin Dupieux return to screen fairly quick after his debut film Rubber, we have Blue Tongue Films team member (Animal Kingdom, Hesher and tons of awesome short films) Kieran Darcy-Smith who gets behind the camera for Wish You Were Here with (see pic) Joel Edgerton topling. We have Dogtooth writer contributing to helmer Babis Makridis' debut film "L" and finally Czech director Bohdan Sláma (The Country Teacher (2009) and Something Like Happiness (2005)) coming to the festival with 4 Suns. Here's the complete selected items for this often overlooked World Dramatic Comp section. 4 Suns / Czech Republic (Director and screenwriter: Bohdan Sláma) — Immature Fogi attempts to straighten up and accept his responsibilities as a new husband and father, as well as role model to his troubled son from a previous relationship, but finds himself unable to change his nature, leaving him to watch haplessly...

Geraldine Chaplin in Agustí Vila‘s The Mosquito Net (top); Jan Sverac‘s Kooky (bottom) Karlovy Vary Film Festival 2010: The Mosquito Net Wins Top Prize Competition Of Full-length Feature Films Grand Jury Ron Yerxa – President of the Jury, USA Mirjana Karanovi?, Serbia Lee Chang-dong, South Korea Lola Mayo, Spain Alexei Popogrebsky, Russia Bohdan Sláma, Czech Republic David Stratton, Australia Grand Prix – Crystal Globe (30,000 Usd) The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film. The Mosquito Net (La mosquitera), Spain, 2010 Director: Agustí Vila Special Jury Prize (20,000 Usd) The financial award is shared equally by the director and producer of the award-winning film. Kooky (Kuky se vrací), Czech Republic, Denmark, 2010 Director: Jan Sv?rák Best Director Award Just Between Us (Neka ostane medju nama), Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, 2010 Director: Rajko Grli? Best Actress Award Anaïs Demoustier for her role in the film Sweet Evil [...]...

If you're a fan of road movies, then you better call in sick with a case of swine flu, as this weeks sees a lot of them arriving in theaters. For everyone else, there are docs on art and music, some European sunshine and a little smattering of domestic darkness.

Download this in audio form (MP3: 10:56 minutes, 15 Mb) Subscribe to the In Theaters podcast: [Xml] [iTunes]

"24 City"

Festival favorite Jia Zhang-ke ("Still Life") delivers a portrait of a culture in flux and a meditation on the ethereal nature of history with yet another of his patented hybrids of documentary aesthetic and name actors. Once a virtually self-contained community with its own accommodations and amenities, the massive 50-year-old munitions factory in Chengdu is undergoing demolition to make way for high-rise apartments. Through the testimony of former inhabitants both real and fictional, Jia offers a take on the growing pains of...

• As usual, Wild Bunch comes to Cannes this year loaded up in film offerings with most notably three antcipated titles in post production status: Aronofsky's The Wrestler,  Belge helmer Jaco Van Dormael's Mr Nobody and Claire Denis' White Material. The Paris-based company has a heavy slate which is comprised of Cannes selected films and market projects. A Complete History Of My Sexual Failure  by Chris Waitt - Completed      Afterwards  by Gilles Bourdos - Post-Production  Buddhas Collapsed Out Of Shame   by Hana Makhmalbaf - Completed     Camino  by Javier Fesser - Post-Production     Che - Part 1  by Steven Soderbergh - Completed     Che - Part 2  by Steven Soderbergh - Completed     Chelsea On The Rocks  by Abel Ferrara - Completed     Don't Look Back  by Marina De Van - Post-Production     Dorothy Mills  by Agnès Merlet - Completed     Downloading Nancy  by Johan Renck - Completed     Hollywood : I'm Sleeping Over Tonight  by Antoine De Maximy

...

MOSCOW -- Czech director Bohdan Slama's poignant tale of love and friendship in a crumbling post-industrial town, Something Like Happiness, swept the board at the Czech Film and Television Academy awards held Saturday in Prague. The film -- called Stesti in Czech -- took seven of 13 Czech Lions, including best film for producer Pavel Strnad of Prague's Negativ Film, best director and screenplay for Slama and best cinematography for Divis Marek, the Czech Film Center said in a statement Monday. Three other awards went to the cast -- best actor for Pavel Liska, best actress for Tatiana Vilhelmova and best supporting actress for Ana Geislerova.

TORONTO -- Bohdan Slama's German/Czech drama Something Like Happiness picked up the Louve d'Or award Sunday as the Montreal Festival of New Cinema and New Media wrapped its 34th edition. Slama received the grand prize for his third film after the award-winning Wild Bees capped off a successful 10-day run for Montreal's third summer film festival. The festival also gave the Radio-Canada Screenplay Award to Mohammad Rasoulof's Iranian film Iron Island. The dark comedy about a group of homeless people attempting to survive atop a sinking oil tanker in the Persian Gulf also received an honorable mention from Quebec critics, who gave their AQCC Award to U.S. director Lodge Kerrigan for Keane.

MOSCOW -- The Czech Film and Television Academy has chosen Bohdan Slama's Something Like Happiness as the country's Oscar entry for best foreign-language film, the Czech Film Center said Tuesday. Slama's film -- which won the San Sebastian film festival's Golden Shell for best film and Silver Shell for Ana Geislerova as best actress -- is the Czech director-screenwriter's third feature film. "A moving story about a fragile relationship between two young people which gradually grows into true love, the cast and atmosphere are reminiscent of Slama's successful debut 'Wild Bees' which brought the filmmaker several awards at international festivals," the Czech Film Center's Jana Cernik said. Nine Czech films have won a place at the Oscars since 1965 with three taking the prize -- The Shop on Main Street (directors Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos, 1965); Closely Watched Trains (Jiri Menzel, 1967); and Kolya (Jan Sverak, 1996).