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The Dublin Film Festival came to an end at the weekend after one of its most varied programs yet. Guests visiting the event included deep-dive documentary-maker Alexandre O. Philippe, attending with his Texas Chain Saw Massacre meditation Chain Reactions; director Jason Buxton, there with his acclaimed Ben Foster-starring thriller Sharp Corner, soon to be released by Vertical; Albert Serra, supporting his surprise San Sebastian winner Afternoons of Solitude; Palestinian director Elia Suleiman, honored by a curated retrospective; and British ’60s pop-culture icon Twiggy, subject of Sadie Frost’s film of the same name. From closer to home, director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Thomas Martin brought their cult Cannes hit The Surfer, and the UK’s Polly Steele came with Four Letters of Love starring Helena Bonham Carter and Pierce Brosnan.

Under the always assured stewardship of artistic Gráinne Humphreys, the festival took a big swing by opening with The Return,...

Walter Salles, Johnnie To, Lav Diaz, Darius Khondji and Anna Terrazas will serve as Qumra Masters at the 11th edition of the Doha Film Institute’s annual talent and project incubator.

They follow in the wake of some 50 top cinemas figures who have also taken up the role over the past 10 editions, including Claire Denis, Leos Carax, Tilda Swinton, Gael Garcia Bernal and James Gray.

The event, running from April 4 to 9, will invite the producers and directors of some 40 projects supported by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) for six days of development support and networking.

Brazilian director Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) will be in attendance at the meeting fresh from his buzzy awards season with his Oscar-nominated drama I’m Still Here.

Filipino director Diaz brings his vision of a special brand of slow cinema which includes films such as The Woman Who Left and Evolution of a Filipino Family.

Iranian-French...

The Doha Film Institute has recruited Oscar nominee Walter Salles (“I’m Still Here”), iconic Hong Kong director Johnnie To, prominent Filipino auteur Lav Diaz, ace cinematographer Darius Khondji and master Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas to hold onstage conversations and act as mentors during its upcoming Qumra Arab industry incubator.

The event, now celebrating its 11th edition, will run April 4-9 in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Qumra, which means “camera” in Arabic, blends together a creative workshop, co-production market and festival elements. It was established by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) to help foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors, and to create curated networking opportunities between the Arab and international film communities.

The Dfi is a major indie Arab film industry driver and has also been providing funding for Arab TV series for the past few years. Qumra 2025 will feature a selection of top notch Arab films in various stages,...

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Oscilloscope releases the film Friday, February 14, 2025.

Despite being set in a parallel-universe Winnipeg where the people talk in Farsi and the world around them seems as if it’s been frozen in time since the mid-1980s, the haunted but hopeful “Universal Language” is an unmistakably modern film at heart.

Described by writer-director Matthew Rankin as a piece of “autobiographical hallucination,” this wonderfully deadpan whatsit is the work of a white 43-year-old Canadian man who fell in love with the movies a time when “foreign” cinema was becoming more available to people outside major cultural hubs. He found that Kanoon-style fables like “Where Is the Friend’s House?” and “The White Balloon” spoke to him in a way that few English-language films ever had. That discovery sparked a cross-cultural dialogue that eventually compelled Rankin to visit Tehran...

The Cannes Film Festival has paid tribute to director David Lynch who was a long-time habitué, winning it Palme d’Or prize for Wild at Heart in 1990 and serving as jury president in 2002.

“It is with infinite sadness that we learn of the passing of David Lynch, a unique and visionary artist whose work has influenced cinema like few others,” the festival said in a statement following the announcement of the director’s death on Thursday at the age of 78.

“Winner of the Palme d’Or at the Festival de Cannes in 1990 for Sailor and Lula (Wild At Heart), then the Prix de la mise en scène (Best Director) in 2001 for Mulholland Drive, he elegantly presided over the Jury in 2002,” it continued. “He leaves behind a rare and timeless body of work, whose films will continue to nourish our imagination and inspire all those who see cinema as an art capable of revealing the unspeakable.

Governments and agencies across Asia are taking steps to expand and extend the cross-border film coproduction movement.

A seminar called ‘From Eurasia to Global Collaboration’ on Thursday, the third day of the Taiwan Creative Content Fest, represented a handy recap of funding and structural developments from four countries: The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey.

Alex Sihar, from Indonesia’s directorate of culture, part of the ministry of education, described an ongoing process intended to put the industry on a more professional footing.

“While we have a long history of filmmaking and a very diverse culture, our films until recently have had very little international exposure, there has been little knowledge transfer and no incentives for location shooting or co-production.”

Film policy was previously stretched across multiple ministries, but is now to be overseen by a film department under the education ministry, which is newly separated from educational matters.

Co-productions are...

An upsurge in directors starring in their own movies has seen mixed results. Lake Bell, Elia Suleiman and Viggo Mortensen explain the perks and pitfalls of being on both sides of the camera

Since the very first directorial cameos – George Méliès’ sorcerer-like appearances in The Vanishing Lady and Playing Cards in the 1890s – directors have often been unable to resist being in front of, as well as behind, the camera.” M Night Shyamalan, a film-maker notoriously eager to appear in his own work speaks for all these frustrated thespians: “It’s important for me to be a part of the film in some way […] I would love to play the lead role, but it’s physically impossible.”

An ever-growing league of multi-hyphenate actor-directors have, however, been proving Shyamalan wrong. Aside from the obvious heavyweights in 20th-century cinema who juggled on and off-camera personae, the past decade has seen a staggering...

Netflix has denied suggestions that it deleted an entire library of Palestinian films, saying the titles are being removed because a three-year licensing period expires in October.

“We launched this licensed collection of films in 2021 for three years. Those licenses have now expired. As always, we continue to invest in a wide variety of quality films and TV shows to meet our members’ needs, and celebrate voices from around the world,” said the platform in response to a query by Deadline.

San Francisco-based human rights organization Freedom Forward has been circulating an open letter and petition calling on Netflix to explain why it had started posting “leaving soon” notifications on at least 19 films by or about Palestinians in recent days.

The films, which were licensed to the platform by Dubai-based Front Row Filmed Entertainment, include Elia Suleiman’s Divine Intervention (2002), Annemarie Jacir’s Salt of this Sea (2008) and Mai Masri...

Meg Ryan is not here for Dennis Quaid riding the wave of their son Jack Quaid’s success, and it seems she’s had enough. The When Harry Met Sally star reportedly feels like Quaid is trying to steal the credit for Jack’s big break, but Ryan’s the one who actually made the key call to launch his career. Rumor has it she’s furious, reminding everyone that she was the one hustling behind the scenes, pitching Jack for roles while Quaid was more of a bystander.

Meg Ryan in a still from When Harry Met Sally | Nelson Entertainment

With Jack Quaid now climbing the Hollywood ladder, mom Meg isn’t letting anyone forget who was really in the driver’s seat. It’s a Hollywood family feud no one saw coming, but we’re here for the drama!

Meg Ryan Calls Out Dennis Quaid for Claiming Credit...

Saleh Bakri commands the screen as a teacher promoting nonviolence, who falls for British volunteer Imogen Poots while trying to protect a student looking for revenge

Here is a drama-thriller from British-Palestinian film-maker Farah Nabulsi, set in the West Bank: a geopolitical vale of angry tears. There is some pretty broad-brush storytelling here, but it is really well acted, particularly by its male lead, Saleh Bakri, who might be remembered from his performance in Elia Suleiman’s autobiographical film The Time That Remains, playing the director’s father Fuad. (I also remember him in the 2013 Sicilian mob thriller Salvo.)

Here Bakri plays Basem, a hardworking, idealistic and careworn Palestinian teacher of English, estranged from his wife (who is now living in Hebron) and troubled by his past. Basem has evolved away from his former life of radical resistance, now espousing nonviolent action; he is therefore deeply worried by a neighbouring...

Angelina Jolie got her flowers. Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson got it on. And studios and streamers got busy playing “let’s make a deal.”

The Venice Film Festival, which kicked off on Aug. 28, hasn’t been short on drama, even as it’s been unexpectedly heavy on TV. As befits a glamorous celebration of movies that’s all about excess, this year’s edition has seen more major sales, on-screen sex, politics (on and off the red carpet), and movie-star moments than ever. In addition to Jolie and Kidman, A-listers like Jude Law of “The Order” and the “Wolfs” duo of George Clooney and Brad Pitt flashed their megawatt smiles at the splashy premieres of their films. There promises to be plenty more headline-grabbing events, but as the festival reaches its midpoint, it’s already shaping up to be one of the most consequential in recent memory.

TV Crashes...

Dozens of figures including Elia Suleiman and Farah Nabulsi are responding to attempts to remove Bisan Owda’s documentary from the Emmys

Dozens of Palestinian film-makers have signed an open letter protesting against Hollywood’s “inhumanity and racism” toward Palestinians and calling on “international colleagues in the film industry” to speak out.

The letter, published in Variety, was signed by notables including Elia Suleiman, director of Divine Intervention and It Must Be Heaven, Hany Abu-Assad (Paradise Now), and Farah Nabulsi, director of forthcoming feature film The Teacher.

A group of almost 70 Palestinian filmmakers — including two-time Oscar nominee Hany Abu Assad, acclaimed director Elia Suleiman and recent BAFTA winner Farah Nabulsi — have signed a strongly-worded letter in which they accuse Hollywood of “dehumanising” Palestinians on screen over decades, a factor they assert has helped enable the ongoing devastation in Gaza.

The letter — also signed by the likes of multiple-award winners including Michel Khleifi, Mai Masri, Najwa Najjar and the 22-strong list of directors behind the compilation of shorts “From Ground Zero,” Palestine’s current submission to the Oscars — also expresses outrage and what it described as the “inhumanity and racism shown by some in the Western entertainment industry towards our people, even during this most difficult of times.”

The letter marks the first collaborative initiative by Palestinian filmmakers since the horrific events of Oct. 7, in which terror group Hamas — which rules Gaza — killed more than 1,200 Israelis and took more than 250 hostage,...

Emanuel Parvu’s Three Kilometers To The End Of The World took the Best Feature Film prize at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival, which gave out its awards yesterday.

The Romanian film, which debuted in Competition in Cannes earlier this year, received the €16,000 prize, co-funded by the Tourism Association of Canton Sarajevo.

Scroll down for the full list of feature winners

Set in a conservative Danube Delta community, it follows a gay teenager’s journey of self-discovery, which clashes with the traditional values of his parents and neighbours.

Yorgos Zois won Best Director for Greece-Bulgaria-us co-production Arcadia, which is made...

Romanian film Three Kilometers to the End of the World, from director Emanuel Pârvu, won the Heart of Sarajevo prize on Friday for Best Feature Film at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival. The film focuses on the violent attack on a 17-year-old boy and and the aftermath in his home village in the Danube Delta wetlands region in Romania.

“I can honestly say that I really want people, when they are leaving the cinema, to think about themselves,” Pârvu said. “I think that was my goal when I was shooting it. I wanted to make a movie where, at the end, I wanted you not to be happy, not to be sad, but to think very, very much about yourself and your decisions regarding the ones you love.”

Yorgos Zois was named Best Director for Arcadia, a Greek/Bulgarian/U.S. production. Anab Ahmed Ibrahim was tapped for Best Actress for Village Next to Paradise,...

Over the past three decades, the Sarajevo Film Festival has established itself as an important cultural event that promotes unity across Bosnia and Herzegovina’s diverse regions. Now in its 30th year, the festival is dedicating its 2024 edition, running from August 16th to 23rd, to reflecting on its impact and staying committed to its mission of using film to build bridges.

Since the early days of the devastating Bosnian War, the festival has made efforts to transcend political divides through inclusive programming. Festival director Jovan Marjanović notes they have always tried to “open up dialogue, not censor or boycott” by screening films from all sides even during the conflict. This approach saw them debut Serbian films shortly after the war ended, a move that was controversial but demonstrated their dedication to regional cooperation.

Today, the festival’s focus on Southeast European cinema has taken on more significance as filmmakers grapple...

As the Sarajevo Film Festival prepares to launch its 30th edition, which runs August 16-23, the event stands as a testament to the resilience and creativity of Southeast European cinema in the face of social and political upheaval.

Few cities bear the scars and burden of history as does Sarajevo. The festival itself was born out of conflict, launched during the nearly four-year siege of the city by Bosnian Serb forces in the early ’90s. While the fest has never avoided this history — it runs a “Dealing With the Past” section of films that look at “the many and unresolved issues that date back to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia” — from the start, the focus has been on the power of cinema to unite.

“The festival screen films from Serbia just a few years after the war, which was not a popular choice at the time,” says fest director Jovan Marjanović,...

Alexander Payne teased post-The Holdovers projects to an audience at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Sunday (August 18), providing an update on the Election sequel and saying he wants to make “a car chase movie.”

“Jim Taylor and I are conceiving what the sequel would look like now,” said Payne of the Election sequel, which is in the works at Paramount+. Taylor is a regular collaborator with Payne, including as co-writer on Downsizing and Sideways.

The film will be based on the 2022 sequel novel Tracy Flick Can’t Win by Tom Perrotta, who wrote the first book Election on which...

US filmmaker Paul Schrader will be president of the jury for the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival (August 16-23).

Schrader will preside over a five-person jury, consisting of Swedish actress and producer Noomi Rapace, Finnish filmmaker Juho Kuosmanen, Bosnian filmmaker Una Gunjak and Slovenian actor Sebastian Cavazza.

The jury will award the Heart of Sarajevo awards in the Competition Programme – Feature Film, with the winners announced on Friday, August 23. Prizes include best feature film, director, actress and actor.

Previous Sarajevo jury presidents have included Mike Leigh, Jasmila Zbanic, Asghar Farhadi, Ruben Ostlund and last year’s president Mia Wasikowska.

Schrader’s...

French director Laurent Cantet, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2008 for The Class, has died at the age of 63.

Based on the semi-autobiographical book by writer François Bégaudeau about his experiences working as a literature teacher in an inner city school in Paris, The Class featured a mainly unprofessional cast including the author.

Cantet had been due to shoot his next film Enzo, with Elodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino in the cast, this August

His second collaboration with Anatomy of a Fall producer Marie-Angle Luciani, after 2021 film Arthur Rambo, it revolved around a teenager who embarks on a mason apprenticeship in the South of France to escape a controlling father.

Cantet studied film at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (Idhec) in Paris in the mid-1980s, where his contemporaries were Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand and Robin Campillo.

They would continue to collaborate on one another’s projects throughout their careers,...

US composer Elliot Goldenthal will receive a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming 24th World Soundtrack Awards (Wsa), Film Fest Gent’s annual film music awards ceremony.

Goldenthal is most renowned for his Oscar, Golden Globe and Wsa-winning score for Frida, as well as scoring Interview With The Vampire, Heat, Batman Forever, Michael Collins, Titus and Across The Universe across his accomplished career.

He will be presented with his award on October 16 at the Wsa ceremony and concert in Ghent, in which a selection of Goldenthal’s work will be performed by the Brussels Philharmonic conducted by Dirk Brossé.

Goldenthal,...

Sarajevo Film Festival will honour Palestinian director Elia Suleiman with its Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award, and will screen a retrospective of selected works by the filmmaker.

The award will be presented to Suleiman at the 30th edition of the festival, which takes place from August 16-23.

Suleiman was a guest at the festival in 2019, where his film It Must Be Heaven was screened in the Open Air programme. He also served as the president of the jury at the festival in 2016.

Suleiman’s first feature Chronicle of a Disappearance won the Best First Film Prize at Venice in 1996. In...

The 30th Sarajevo Film Festival will pay tribute to Palestinian director Elia Suleiman in recognition of his “outstanding contribution to the art of film.” The filmmaker will be presented with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award and honored with a retrospective of his selected works in the festival’s “Tribute to” program.

Suleiman was a guest at Sarajevo in 2019, where his film “It Must Be Heaven” was screened in the Open Air program. The film had received the special jury mention at Cannes the same year. He also served as the president of the jury at Sarajevo in 2016, and was a guest at the festival in 2013.

Jovan Marjanović, the festival’s director, said Suleiman’s “universal language of cinema speaks to fundamental human values and emotions: fear and hope, home and homeland.”

He added, “With his trademark wit, humor and profound insight, he navigates the complexities of our existence, shedding...

Anthony Scaramucci To Host U.S. Edition Of ‘The Rest Is Politics’

Anthony Scaramucci is getting into podcasting. The former White House Director of Communications will host an American edition of British podcast The Rest is Politics alongside Katty Kay, U.S. Special Correspondent for BBC Studios. Starting Friday (April 26) The pair will look to uncover secrets from inside Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s inner circles, and take a wider look at the intricacies of U.S. society and how they shape the world’s most important economy. New episodes will be released every Friday. Produced by football veteran Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger Films, The Rest is Politics launched in the UK in 2022, with former Downing Street Director of Communications and Strategy Alastair Campbell and former Cabinet Minister Rory Stewart at the helm. This week, hosts Campbell and Stewart were announced to be presenting UK network Channel 4’s...

Oscar-nominated Mexican sound designer Martin Hernandez has given new details about his latest project, Netflix documentary series The Master Of Monarchs [working title], which will launch on the platform later this year.

The series takes flight with the story of the Monarch butterfly and its journey from Canada to El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve, a nature reserve in Mexico. The keeper of the reserve, environmental activist Homero Gomez, was murdered in 2020. It is believed he was killed because he stood up against organised crime groups.

The Master Of Monarchs will feature interviews with Gomez’s wife and children.

“It’s a great documentary.

The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) kicked off its 10th Qumra talent and project incubator meeting on a somber note on Friday as its organizers spoke out about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Some 200 international industry professionals are due to attend the Qatari event, running from March 1 to 6, to nurture 40 projects by emerging filmmakers. The event is a cornerstone of the Dfi’s activities.

“While we celebrate the progress that we have made in nurturing new voices in cinema, we are also confronted with the genocide in Gaza and the ongoing attempts to silence the voices crying out against it,” said Dfi CEO Fatma Hassan Al Remaihi.

“This cultural genocide is a profound reminder of our responsibility as a global community to ensure that all voices are heard, and all lives are treated with dignity and respect.”

Hassan Al Remaihi was speaking the day after Gaza authorities accused Israeli soldiers...

Fatma Al-Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute (Dfi), has today called for a ceasefire to bring an end to the “genocide in Gaza”, in her speech to open Qumra, the Dfi’s project and talent lab.

Addressing the 200 Qumra attendees at Doha’s Museum of Islamic Art, Al-Remaihi said, “While we celebrate the progress we have made, we are also confronted with a genocide in Gaza; and the ongoing attempts in silencing the voices crying out against it.

“It’s extremely frustrating and disappointing to see creative spaces, once considered safe havens for free expression, become oppressive. This cultural...

Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) kicks off the 10th edition of its Qumra project and talent incubator event meeting this Friday.

Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.

Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...

The Doha Film Institute has recruited Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan, French auteurs Claire Denis and Leos Carax, Canada’s Atom Egoyan and Oscar-nominated Mexican sound editor Martín Hernández to hold master classes and act as mentors during its upcoming Qumra Arab industry incubator.

The event, now celebrating its 10th edition, will run March 1-6 in the Qatari capital of Doha.

Qumra, which means “camera” in Arabic, blends together a creative workshop, co-production market and festival elements. It was established by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) to help foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors, and to create curated networking opportunities between the Arab and international film communities.

Egoyan will be making the trek to Doha segueing from Berlin, where he is internationally launching drama “Seven Veils” with Amanda Seyfried in tow. Sheridan is currently working on the docu-drama “Re-creation” about the murder of French film and TV producer...

Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has announced that Leos Carax, Claire Denis, Atom Egoyan, Martín Hernández and Jim Sheridan will serve as Qumra Masters at the 10th edition of its respected talent incubator event, running from March 1 to 6.

They join a long list of top professionals to have participated in the Qumra meeting since its launch in 2014, which has included James Schamus, Naomi Kawase, Asghar Farhadi, Gael Garcia Bernal and Tilda Swinton.

Under the Qumra format, a select group of Mena and international filmmakers and producers of projects supported by the Dfi’s grants program attend the six-day talent and project incubator meeting in Doha.

The Qumra Masters give a masterclass and then provide one-on-one mentorship to the partipants alongside a host of other industry professionals in attendance.

French director Carax is currently working on post-production for his personal work It’s Not Me, which follows his award-winning pop-rock melodrama Annette,...

Claire Denis, Leox Carax, Jim Sheridan, Atom Egoyan and Martin Hernandez will be the Masters for the 10th edition of Qumra, the Doha Film Institute’s annual incubator event.

The four directors plus sound designer and editor Hernandez will discuss their careers in individual talks with the Qumra delegates.

This year’s Qumra will run from March 1-6, with the 10th edition a key milestone for a Middle Eastern film event.

“As the Arab world’s first-of-its-kind talent incubator, Qumra has served as the preeminent platform for emerging talents to give their projects a distinct advantage through invaluable networking sessions with leading industry professionals,...

Rotterdam Film Festival Sets ‘Head South’ As Opening Film

Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk, coming-of-age comedy Head South has been announced as the opening picture of the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), running from January 25 to February 4. The festival has also teased a handful of early selections. They include Indian filmmaker Ishan Shukla’s dystopian, sci-fi animation Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust and U.S. director Billy Woodberry’s biodoc Mário, about African independence activist Mário de Andrade, which will both world premiere. Further confirmations include European premieres for Amanda Kramer’s So Unreal and Ann Hui’s Elegies as well as Omar Hilal’s Voy! Voy! Voy!, which is Egypt’s Oscar entry this year. The festival will unveil its full line-up on December 18.

Paul Schrader To Be Feted At Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Avellino Festival

U.S. director and screenwriter Paul Schrader will be honored with a Lifetime...

Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes” won best film at the 17th edition of Leffest Lisboa Film Festival, which announced awards Saturday night.

Marking Erice’s first feature film since his 1992 docudrama “The Quince Tree Sun” and garnering almost universal positive reviews – Variety called it “an aching ode to film, time and memory” – following its world premiere at Cannes, “Close Your Eyes” has screened at Toronto, Busan, BFI London and New York.

During Leffest, in a session moderated by Paulo Branco, 83-year old Erice took part in a conversation with preeminent 64-year old Portuguese helmer, Pedro Costa, whose short “The Daughters of Fire,” was a Cannes Special Screening and also had its Portuguese premiere at the fest.

Erice remarked during the event, one fest highlight, that both he and Costa are working in the shadow of two great filmmakers – “Don Luis Buñuel” and “Don Manoel de Oliveira” – and he added...

The Spanish director will receive the European achievement to world cinema award.

The European Film Academy will honour Spanish director Isabel Coixet with the award in European achievement to world cinema at the European Film Awards.

The director will be the guest of honour at the ceremony on December 9 in Berlin.

Coixet made her debut in 1989 with Demasiado Viejo Para Morir Joven, which was nominated for best new director at Spain’s Goya awards.

She went on to become the most decorated female filmmaker at the Goyas with nine wins for films including 2003’s My Life Without Me, 2017’s The Bookshop...

Updated with Carthage Cinema Days cancellation… Tunisia’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs has cancelled the upcoming 34th Carthage Film Days (Carthage Film Festival), which was due to run from October 28 to November 4.

It is the fourth Middle East and North African film festival to be cancelled in the last 48 hours, after Cairo, El Gouna and Qatar’s Ajyal.

The cancellations come amid growing turmoil in the region sparked by deadly Hamas terror attacks on Israel on October 7, which in turn unleashed a retaliatory Israeli blockade and bombing campaign on Gaza. Tunisia said the decision to shelve Carthage had been made out of solidarity for the Palestinian people.

The fall is traditionally a busy period for film festivals across Mena. These events may not enjoy the same fame as Cannes or Venice, but they are the life blood of the region’s indie film industry, showcasing its latest work as well...

The Middle East and North Africa region’s cinema star is rising across every aspect of the chain from production to exhibition to streaming.

Fresh energy has been injected into the sector by the arrival of Saudi Arabia on the scene following the lifting of its cinema ban in 2017 as part of its 2030 Vision diversifying the country’s economy away from oil.

Neighboring Qatar, one of the only stable major sources of funding for film in the region for more than a decade, also continues to play a vital role via the Doha Film Institute.

Its grants program, year-round training initiatives and springtime talent incubator Qumra have supported more than 750 short, features and series projects from 78 countries over the past decade.

The body was out in force at Cannes this year having supported films across Official Selection and the parallel sections, including Palme d’Or contenders About Dry Grasses, Club Zero...

The Doha Film Institute’s Qumra talent and project incubator event returned as a 100% in-person event last week, bringing participants together face-to-face in Doha for the first time since it was forced online in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s been great to have everyone back gain. I keep pinching myself that it’s still happening. I could not be happier with how it has gone,” said Dfi CEO Fatma Hassan Alremaihi.

The ninth edition, running from March 10 to 15, gathered 44 Dfi grantee projects across all formats and in various stages of development and production, accompanied by their first, second and third-time directors and producers.

The Dfi is one of the main sources of funding for independent cinema in the Middle East and North Africa, a region with very little state support for independent film.

“We have between 400 to 500 submissions per cycle, and we have two cycles a year. It...

Three months ago, Doha’s new Downtown Msheireb district was the throbbing heart of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar as one of its main fan zones.

Quiz any local on the street or in its cafes and shops about what it was like, and their faces light up as they recount how packed it was and the magical atmosphere.

Billed as the world’s first sustainable downtown regeneration project, the pedestrianized neighborhood is now acting as the backdrop to the Doha Film Institute’s annual Qumra talent incubator, alongside the I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art (Mia).

The event, which kicked off on Friday, aims to hothouse 44 film and series projects in various formats and stages of production. All the projects are recipients of the Dfi’s generous grant program

The focus is on Middle East and North African filmmakers but there are also projects from further afield...

Christopher Hampton, Michael Winterbottom also among speakers at the Doha incubator.

Lynne Ramsay, David Parfitt and Christopher Hampton are among the Masters for Qumra 2023 – the first in-person edition of the Doha Film Institute’s industry incubator since 2019.

The trio will be joined by director Michael Winterbottom and costume designer Jacqueline West. All five will give individual masterclasses to aspiring filmmakers from the region and around the world, offering creative development and mentorship opportunities.

Qumra 2023 will run on a hybrid format, with in-person events from March 10-15, and virtual sessions from March 19-21.

Four of the five Masters are British, with West,...

The Doha Film Institute has recruited an impressive mix of film directors and talents comprising Christopher Hampton, David Parfitt, Jacqueline West, Lynne Ramsay, and Michael Winterbottom who will hold master classes and act as mentors during its upcoming Qumra Arab industry incubator.

The event, which is back in person after a two-year hiatus, will run physically March 10-15 in the Qatari capital of Doha, followed by an online program March 19-21. Qumra, which means “camera” in Arabic, blends together a creative workshop, co-production market, and festival elements. The event, now at its ninth edition, was established by the Doha Film Institute (Dfi) to help foster first and second works, mostly by Arab directors and to create curated networking opportunities between the Arab and international film communities.

“The latest edition of Qumra will continue its presence as a unique and important platform for important voices and compelling stories in Arab and world cinema,...

Playwright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton, producer David Parfitt, Dune costume designer Jacqueline West and directors Lynne Ramsay and Michael Winterbottom are to set attend the Qatari Doha Film Institute’s ninth talent incubator event Qumra in March.

The meeting, which returns as an in-person event for the first time in four years from March 10-15 after a Covid-19 pandemic hiatus, focuses on nurturing first and second-time filmmakers.

They attend with their projects that have received funding from the Doha Film Institute (Dfi), a major backer of indie cinema in the Middle East and North Africa.

Hampton, Parfitt, West, Ramsay and Winterbottom are participating in the role of the event’s so-called Qumra Masters.

They will give a masterclass and mentor some of the filmmakers in attendance. The full list of attendees and projects will be announced next week.

Oscar-winner Hampton’s participation follows in the wake of The Father, for...

The 35th European Film Awards took place amid the uncanny beauty of Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik. While it was possible to take a boat from the marina to gaze up at the aurora borealis dancing across the sky, the northern light on Saturday, December 10 came from Sweden and was named Ruben Östlund. The EFAs have a habit of decorating the same film across all major categories, so when his broad eat-the-rich satire “Triangle of Sadness” picked up an early award for Best European Director, it was clear which way the weather was going.

Östlund barely flinched when his name was announced as the winner in this early category — perhaps two Palme d’Ors in five years does that to a man. He first thanked the actress Sunnyi Melles (who was present) for her “great vomiting performance” and then had the grace to pay respects to Charlbi Dean, the South...

Ruben Östlund’s latest satire, Triangle of Sadness, dominated the European Film Awards with four wins, including Best Film, the evening’s top prize.

Östlund also picked up the Best Screenplay and Best Director Awards for his work on the film, and Zlatko Burić nabbed Best Actor for his leading role.

The film, which picked up this year’s Palme d’Or, follows Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), a celebrity model couple who are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged boat captain (Woody Harrelson). What first appeared Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting to stay alive.

In other top prizes, Vicky Krieps won the Best Actress award for the well-received period drama Corsage, and the Javier Bardem starrer, The Good Boss, won Best Comedy.

The awards ceremony, overseen by the European Film Academy, took place...

The 35th European Film Awards are underway at the Harpa concert hall in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík. The awards have been voted on by the 4,400 members of the European Film Academy. (Watch the ceremony here.)

“Close,” “Holy Spider” and “Triangle of Sadness” lead the nominations tally, with four apiece, followed by “Corsage” with three.

Icelandic actor, screenwriter and politician Ilmur Kristjánsdóttir and Icelandic artist, author and stand-up comedian Hugleikur Dagsson are the masters of ceremony at the event, which is being attended by around 1,200 guests.

Presenters during the evening include Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Bulgarian actor Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”), Italian actor Lorenzo Zurzolo (“Eo”), Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur, German actor Nina Hoss, French-Algerian actor Dali Benssalah and German actor Albrecht Schuch.

Honorees include directors Marco Bellocchio, who will receive the award for European innovative storytelling, Elia Suleiman, the European achievement in world cinema award-winner, and Margarethe von Trotta,...

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At this year’s FIFA World Cup, all political displays — even ones as innocuous as a rainbow-colored armband showing solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community — have been banned. Host nation Qatar has spent an estimated 200 billion to stage the biggest show in global sports and any on-air references to its questionable human rights record, treatment of women, migrant workers, etc. would just spoil the vibe.

But this Saturday, as fans sit down to watch the sanitized World Cup quarterfinals, another show will be taking place, one where the organizers like to wear their politics on their sleeves. Reykjavik, Iceland, some 5,500 miles, and truly a world, away from Doha, will host the 35th European Film Awards (EFAs).

TV ratings — the show will be broadcast in 10 countries and live-streamed in 24 — are unlikely to match the soccer tournament. But the European Film Academy is determined to use...

Fipresci Jury Award-winning “A Gaza Weekend” made a splash at Toronto International Film Festival last week. Public and press alike flocked towards theaters for this film’s premiere weekend; each screening was packed. The film’s release could not have been more timely. Written during the swine flu and released after the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, British-Palestinian Basil Khalil pokes fun at plague paranoia in his narrative feature debut. In this punchy family-friendly comedy of the Gaza Strip, any and all traditional power hierarchies are out the window for the sake of survival.

A Gaza Weekend is screening at Red Sea International Film Festival

Like many films about Palestine, “A Gaza Weekend” follows the trajectory of a refugee couple – though this time, they’re from Israel. Englishman Michael (Stephen Mangan) and his Israeli partner Keren (Mouna Hawa) are desperate to leave the country after the outbreak...

Ameer Fakher Eldin’s “The Stranger” (Al Garib) will play as one of the last screenings of this year’s Arab Film Festival, the largest of its kind in North America. Though this is only Eldin’s first feature, his movie has reaped international accolades. “The Stranger” premiered at the 78th Venice Film Festival’s Giornate degli Autori last year, where it took home the Edipo Re Award. At the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Dp Niklas Landschau walked away for his Achievement in Cinematography. Now, “The Stranger” is up to bat next year as Palestine’s nomination for Best International Feature for the 94th Academy Awards.

The Stranger is screening at the Arab Film Festival

“The Stranger” revolves around Adnan (Ashraf Barhom), who has been dealt an unlucky hand in life. His father (Mohammad Bakri), for one, despises him. He arbitrarily writes Adnan off his will,...

The 35th European Film Awards have officially unveiled this year’s nominations.

Lukas Dhont’s queer coming-of-age drama “Close,” Ali Abbasi’s serial-killer thriller “Holy Spider,” and Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness” lead the 2022 nominations, with each film garnering nods in top categories: Best European Film, Best Director, and Screenwriter.

Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage” lands three nominations, including Best Actress for Vicky Krieps. “Alcarràs” has two nominations, while Venice Golden Lion winner “Saint Omer” picked up one nod for Best European Director for Alice Diop.

The European Film Academy hosts the award ceremony on December 10 in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík.

German director Margarethe von Trotta will be honored with the European Lifetime Achievement award, and Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman is set to be celebrated with the European Achievement in World Cinema Award. Italian director Marco Bellocchio will receive the Award for European Innovative Storytelling for the limited series “Exterior Night.

Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont’s Close, Danish director Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider and Swedish director Ruben Ôstlund’s Triangle Of Sadness lead the nominations for the 35th European Film Awards, which were unveiled today.

The films have each made it into four categories including best European Film, Best Director and Screenwriter.

All three films debuted at Cannes this year, where Triangle Of Sadness clinched the Palme d’Or; Close, the Grand Prize (in ex-aequo with Claire Denis’s Stars At Noon); and Holy Spider, best actress for Zar Amir-Ebrahimi.

Close and Holy Spider are also the entries for their respective countries of Belgium and Denmark in the Academy Awards Best International Film category this year.

Further hot contenders include Austrian director Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage, with three nominations, including best actress for Vicky Krieps, and Berlinale Berlinale Golden Lion Alcarràs with two nominations. Venice 2022 Grand Jury and best first...

Fipresci Jury Award-winning “A Gaza Weekend” made a splash at Toronto International Film Festival last week. Public and press alike flocked towards theaters for this film’s premiere weekend; each screening was packed. The film’s release could not have been more timely. Written during the swine flu and released after the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, British-Palestinian Basil Khalil pokes fun at plague paranoia in his narrative feature debut. In this punchy family-friendly comedy of the Gaza Strip, any and all traditional power hierarchies are out the window for the sake of survival.

A Gaza Weekend is screening at Toronto International Film Festival

Like many films about Palestine, “A Gaza Weekend” follows the trajectory of a refugee couple – though this time, they’re from Israel. Englishman Michael (Stephen Mangan) and his Israeli partner Keren (Mouna Hawa) are desperate to leave the country after the outbreak of a new deadly Ars virus.