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The 19th edition of Sarajevo Film Festival’s training program, Talents Sarajevo, has unveiled its mentors, who include Isaure Pisani-Ferry, co-creator of Disney+’s “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld.”

The program will be attended by 63 up-and-coming film professionals, drawn from 17 countries. They will be grouped into eight labs: Acting Studio, Directors Summit, Script Station, Camera Studio, Producers Summit, Editing Studio, Talent Press and Pack and Pitch. Each is led by distinguished mentors.

Croatian actor Goran Bogdan is the mentor for Acting Studio. He is known for his roles in “Fargo,” “Father” and “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent,” winner of the 2024 Palme d’Or for best short and Oscar nominated.

The newly reimagined Directors Summit introduces the “One Day From Competition” concept, bringing together filmmakers whose work is featured in the competition program of the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival. Through sessions with Kukla (“Fantasy”), Vladimir Tagić (“Yugo Florida”), Stefan Đorđević, Georgi M. Unkovski...

Stellan Skarsgård is the star who will receive this year’s Honorary Heart of Sarajevo at the 31st edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival, organizers unveiled on Friday.

He will get to honor “in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the film industry and his remarkable acting career.”

Said the star: “The Sarajevo Film Festival remains unwavering and driven in its aim to highlight subjects of great consequence, underscored by an intense lust for life. I love going there.”

Skarsgård, “a longtime friend of the Sarajevo Film Festival, as well as a curator and one of the patrons of the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation – whose scholarships were awarded at the Sarajevo Film Festival – presented the foundation’s scholarship to Juanita Wilson at the festival’s 15th edition in 2009,” organizers highlighted.

Said Jovan Marjanovic, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival: “It is a true honor to present the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo to Stellan Skarsgård,...

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

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

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

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

Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino is this year’s recipient of the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award to be bestowed upon him during the 31st edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival, which will also feature a retrospective of his films that will be screened as part of the fest’s “tribute to” program.

The honor and tribute will be “in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the art of cinema,” Sarajevo fest organizers said on Tuesday. Sorrentino will also hold a masterclass and “share his thoughts on contemporary art in a conversation with the audience,” they noted.

“I am deeply honored to receive this prestigious recognition and grateful for the attention given to my filmography,” said Sorrentino. “I look forward to being with you in Sarajevo. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

The fest highlighted the effect the Italian director and screenwriter’s oeuvre has had on audiences. “Paolo...

Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown and Eva Libertad’s Deaf are among the 12 films selected to play in competition at the Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), taking place in Romania from June 13-22.

Films by first and second-time directors are in the running for the €10,000 Transilvania Trophy, while 10 works pushing the boundaries of the documentary form have been selected to screen for the top cash prize of €2,000 in the What’s Up Doc? Doc section.

In addition to the debut films from Danish-Palestinian director and Spain’s Libertad are Corsican filmmaker Julien Colonna’s The Kingdom, and second...

Exclusive: Agathe Rousselle, who broke out in 2021 Cannes Palme d’Or winning body-horror Titane, and Sallie Harmsen (Blade Runner 2049) have joined the cast of Apple TV+ heist series 12 12 12, alongside Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dornan, who also produce.

Co-produced by Skydance Television and Anonymous Content, 12 12 12 unfolds across three timelines of a heist: the 12 months of planning, the 12 hours of the heist, and the 12 days following the heist.

The series follows a disgraced FBI agent (Mackie) and an American career criminal (Dornan) who play a zero-sum game of cat and mouse across Europe. At the center of it all is the daring, epic raid on a bank vault deep beneath the streets of Zurich.

The show is created and written by Dudi Appleton and Jim Keeble, who will also executive produce.

Kari Skogland will direct the pilot, as well as executive produce. Mackie executive produces via his Make It With Gravy production company alongside Jason Spire for Inspire Entertainment.

The casting announcement comes hot on the heels of news last week that Ólafur Darri Ólafsson has also joined the cast.

French actress Rousselle, who splits her time between Paris and San Francisco, and Dutch actress Harmsen have signed for regular roles in the series.

In the meantime, Rousselle will next be seen in French director Laurent Slama’s Paris 2024 Olympics-set and shot drama A Second Life, which world premieres in Tribeca in June. She co-stars opposite Alex Lawther (The End of the F**ing World) as a depressed woman working for a holiday lets concierge company, whose life changes when she meets a free-spirited traveller.

Other credits since Titane, in which Rousselle played a psychopath with a titanium plate in her head, have included French Netflix Original Feature Gold Brick and Australian drama How To Make Gravy, while she also appeared in Last Days, an opera based on the Gus Van Sant film, directed by Matt Copson, and performed at both the Royal Opera House in London and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Sallie Harmsen gained international attention in Blade Runner 2049 (2017) opposite Jared Leto, Devils (2020), The Postcard Killings (2020), directed by Oscar-winner Danis Tanović and the BBC-series Delia (2024).

She also starred in Drawback (2023) opposite Claes Bang and will soon be seen in a leading role in the series, Suga, for Amazon Prime Video. She’s been nominated for a Dutch Academy Award (Golden Calf) twice in The Netherlands.

Rousselle is is repped by CAA and Adéquat and Sallie Harmsen is represented by No19 Talent Management and United Agents.

12 12 12 is a co-production between Anonymous Content and Skydance Television. Skogland, Appleton, Keeble, Mackie, Dornan, and Spire will executive produce alongside David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Matt Thunell for Skydance Television, and David Levine and Garrett Kemble for Anonymous Content. Samantha Corbin-Miller and David Knoller also serve as executive producers.

Brazilian director Walter Salles kicks off the 11th Doha Film Institute’s Qumra meeting this Friday, in one of his first international appearances since political drama I’m Still Here won the Best International Feature Film Academy Award on March 2.

Running from April 4 to 9 in Doha, and then online from April 12 to 14, annual talent and project incubator Qumra will host the directors and producers of 49 works supported by Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) in various stages of development and production.

Salles is attending as a “Qumra Master” alongside Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz, Iranian and French cinematographer Darius Khondji, Mexican costume designer Anna Terrazas and Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To.

In this role, they will each give a masterclass on their careers and lessons learned for the emerging filmmakers in the room and also mentor a...

When Laura Fernández Espeso sits down in Grup Mediapro’s General Director seat for the first time on January 1, it will mark the latest notable step in a career that began in indie film working with award-winning directors Francis Ford Coppola, Danis Tanović and Ken Loach. In her first interview as Mediapro’s new leader, the Spanish exec tells Deadline, “It’s an amazing opportunity, a dream come true.”

Fernández Espeso is certainly qualified. Having led the Spanish firm’s production wing to make films and shows for the likes of Prime Video, Netflix, Max, Disney+, ViX, Movistar Plus+, Atresmedia and Rtve, she has become one of the most powerful execs in Europe and Spanish-language media, even while Mediapro’s wider business faced tough challenges such as falling revenues during the global pandemic. She...

Michael Gracey’s Robbie Williams biopic musical Better Man will open the 36th annual Palm Springs Film Festival on Thursday, January 2, while The Penguin Lessons, directed by Peter Cattaneo and starring Steve Coogan in the heartwarming story of a teacher who rescues and adopts an adorable penguin, closes it out January 13. Both films had premieres at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this year, and Better Man first had its world premiere at Telluride.

As always a hallmark of Psiff are screenings of numerous entries into the Oscar International Feature Film race, this year with 35 scheduled to screen in the desert.

The festival has programmed 158 films from 71 countries including 68 premieres. The lineup also includes sections like Talking Pictures, a focus on Spanish films with a spotlight on Pedro Almodóvar, New Voices New Visions, Modern Masters, Queer Cinema, Cine Latino, True Stories,...

On Tuesday, the Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) announced its official 2025 lineup for the nearly two-week event that’s being held from Jan. 2 to Jan. 13.

The opening night movie will be Paramount Pictures’ “Better Man,” starring Robbie Williams and directed by Michael Gracey, which chronicles the pop star’s meteoric rise and dramatic fall. And the festival will close with Sony Pictures Classics’ “The Penguin Lessons,” starring Steve Coogan and directed by Peter Cattaneo, in the dramedy about a teacher whose life changes when he adopts a penguin. In all, Psiff will screen 158 films from 71 countries, including 68 premieres.

Artistic director Lili Rodriguez said, “Our lineup this year is truly something special. In true Psiff fashion, it spans genres and crosses borders to bring an exciting mix of films to the Coachella Valley. Over the past year, our Palm Springs International Film Festival team has carefully crafted a program that celebrates the art of storytelling,...

The Palm Springs International Film Festival is set to kick off on Jan. 2 with “Better Man,” directed by Michael Gracey, while the closing film on Jan. 12 will be “The Penguin Lessons,” directed by Peter Cattaneo.

The lineup will feature 35 of the international feature film Oscar submissions. Over 11 days, the festival will screen 158 films from 71 countries, including 68 premieres.

Also set are a focus on Spanish films including a spotlight on Pedro Almodóvar, and the return of sections such as New Voices New Visions, Modern Masters, Queer Cinema, Cine Latino, True Stories and World Cinema Now.

“Better Man” is based on the true story of the rise, fall and return of British musician Robbie Williams. Cattaneo will be in attendance for “The Penguin Lessons,” a dramedy about a schoolteacher in militaristic Argentina who rescues a penguin.

Several of the honorees from the Palm Springs International Film Awards are set to participate in the Talking Pictures screenings,...

The 45th edition of the Cairo Film Festival concluded with the top prize, the Golden Pyramid Award, going to Bogdan Mureșanu’s “The New Year That Never Came.” The black comedy, which previously won the Horizons sidebar at the Venice Film Festival, is set in 1989 during the festive season that immediately precedes the downfall of the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu.

The Special Jury Award for best director, the Silver Pyramid, went to Russian director Natalia Nazarova for “Postmarks,” which also picked up a best actor award for Maxim Stoyanov and a special mention for the female lead, Alina Khojevanova. The other male lead award went to Lee Kang-Sheng for his performance in “Blue Sun Palace.”

The International Jury led by Danis Tanović (“No Man’s Land”) also awarded the Bronze Pyramid for best debut or second feature award to Pedro Freire’s “Malu.” The Rio-set film was inspired by his...

After going dark last year due to the war in Gaza, the Cairo Film Festival now returns with a super-sized program and a more humanist remit. Running Nov. 13 – 22, this bulked out edition aims for wider international visibility and greater attendance, all while keeping the projectors running longer than ever before.

“We have to compensate,” says incoming artistic director Essam Zakarea. “We have to make a bigger edition with an unprecedented number of films.”

For this 45th edition, the Cairo Film Festival will screen 194 titles spread across 15 sections, including a number of competitive sections devoted to Palestinian stories and cinema.

This too was born of the similar instinct that the saw the lights dim in 2023.

“If last year was canceled in solidarity with Gaza, [we hold] this edition in that same solidarity,” Zakarea says. “Film festivals are just not for entertainment. They also can play a crucial role in politics, in making people more human,...

Academy members who are voting in the Best International Feature Film category have been given 85 different films to consider, according to emails sent to voters on Friday and obtained by TheWrap.

The 85 films make up the smallest field in the category in nine years. Last year saw 88 qualifying films, after the total number of eligible films had topped 90 in five of the previous six years. The record was 93, set in 2000.

In late September, all prospective voters in the category received emails inviting them to vote in the international category and telling them that those who opted in would receive emails with their assigned viewing on Friday, Nov. 1. But those emails came a week early, going to prospective voters on Friday afternoon, Oct. 25, and separating the members into seven separate groups.

Each group was given a list of 12 or 13 films to view, either in the Academy’s members-only screening platform devoted...

Laura Fernández Espeso, who took over as CEO of The Mediapro Studio (Tms), in 2020, has taken the Iberian powerhouse global. The group now has 52 offices across 31 countries, and this summer launched operations across the U.S. and Canada. “We’ve opened offices in Los Angeles after operating in Miami and New York over the last few years,” she says, Tms US & Canada fulfills our goal to create, produce, and distribute content in English, intended for audiences all over the world.”

Tms’ English-language credits to date include the Paolo Sorrentino-directed limited series The Young Pope and The New Pope, for HBO/Max, and Nicolas Winding Refn’s family adventure series The Famous Five for the BBC, as well as such features as A Perfect Day, Hunting Ava Bravo, and Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths.

Indie film is where Fernández Espeso got her start in the industry, more than 20 years ago.

Ahead of Cannes Mipcom confab, Beta Film has closed a string of major deals on six premium series from Central Eastern Europe, a proof of the region’s fast transformation into a prime destination for multi-territory players such as HBO, Canal+ and Walter Presents, hungry for culturally-specific stories with global potential. Five of the shows come with a raft of prestigious accolades.

Case in point is the Serbian “Operation Sabre,“ winner of a Special Interpretation Award at Canneseries and Best Cee Drama at the recent Czech Serial Killer Festival, snapped up by HBO for the Cee region and Filmin for Spain and Portugal.

“We are extremely happy and grateful to have Beta Film on board as they are doing an amazing work with sales,“ said producer Snežana van Houwelingen of This and That Productions who also looks forward to the Serbian premiere on the local pubcaster Rts on Nov. 2. “The...

Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees for Best International Feature is made difficult by the three-step process that begins after the October 2, 2024 deadline for countries to submit entries. To be part of the selection process for this category, which was called Best Foreign Language Film before 2020, requires a great deal of dedication. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2025 Oscar predictions for Best International Feature.)

In the days following the deadline for submissions, the academy determines each film’s eligibility. Then the several hundred academy members who serve on the International Feature screening committee are divided into groups and required to watch all their submissions over a six-week period that ends in early December. Their top 15 vote-getters will make it to the next round. That list of semi-finalists will be revealed on December 17, 2024.

These 15 films will be made available to the entire academy membership who can cast ballots for the final...

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

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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

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

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

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

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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

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

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

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

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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

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

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

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

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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

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

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

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

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

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

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

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

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...

Selection committees from countries around the world had until 5pm on October 2, 2024 to submit their entry for Best International Feature at the 2025 Oscars. Films submitted must meet the eligibility criteria and qualify between November 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024. From this group, a shortlist of 15 contenders will be revealed on December 17, 2024 and the five Oscar nominees will be announced on January 17, 2025.

Below are details on the 85 films selected.

Albania

Title: “Waterdrop”

Director: Robert Budina

Language: Albanian, Italian

Synopsis: Aida, 45, a city hall manager in a small Albanian town by Lake Ohrid, is forced to face her own complicity when her son Mark, 15, is involved in a rape scandal that could send him to jail.

Algeria

Title: “Algiers”

Director: Chakib Taleb-Bendiab

Language: Arabic, French

Synopsis: The kidnapping of a little girl creates tension and suspicion in Algiers. Only Dounia, a brilliant psychiatrist, and Sami, a police inspector, can unearth the demons of the past.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has selected My Late Summer, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Danis Tanović, as its official submission for the 2025 Oscar race in the best international feature film category.

The comedy-drama, which debuted as the opening film at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival, follows Maja, a feisty 30-something (played by Anja Matković), who journeys to a remote island to resolve a family inheritance dispute only to be confronted with unresolved issues from her past. What starts as a quest for material wealth transforms into a deeper search for identity and forgiveness as she falls in love with the charming island and its quirky locals, and an unexpected romance blooms.

Propeler Film produced My Late Summer in co-production with Tangaj Production, Obala Art Centar, Bas Celik and Tramal Films.

While best known for his Bosnian films, Tanović has also tried his hand at English-language features, including the 2020 crime thriller The Postcard Killings...

Bosnia and Herzegovina has chosen the film “My Late Summer” to represent the country at the Academy Awards. The movie tells the story of a woman who travels to an island to resolve a family inheritance issue. Along the way, she confronts questions from her past.

Directed by Danis Tanović, “My Late Summer” follows a young woman embarking on a journey. She hopes to solve an inheritance problem but faces unexpected challenges. Through these experiences, the protagonist examines personal identity and forgiveness. Tanović is a renowned Bosnian director known for past Oscar-winning films like “No Man’s Land” from 2001.

Made across several European countries, “My Late Summer” was produced in Croatia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia. An industry panel selected the movie for Oscars consideration. Panelists included director Nermin Hamzagić, producer Amira Kudumović, and others from Bosnia’s film community.

Tanović has achieved global acclaim for films examining his homeland.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has selected Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic’s drama My Late Summer as its candidate for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.

The film, which world premiered as the opening film of the Sarajevo Film Festival over the summer, is a comedy drama about a young woman who travels to a remote island to solve an issue of family inheritance.

In a whirlwind of new emotions and through a series of unpredictable situations, she finally faces questions from her past. The search for inheritance becomes a search for her own identity, but also for forgiveness.

Tanović is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina most acclaimed directors.

He broke out internationally with his Bosnia War inspired No Man’s Land which won he Oscar and Golden Globe for best foreign language film in 2002. He has also won the Berlinale’s Silver Bear for An Episode in the Life...

While the main events at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival have captured the spotlight — with films such as the Oscar-nominated Bosnian director Danis Tanović’s My Late Summer making its world premiere and Hollywood A-listers Alexander Payne, Meg Ryan and Paul Schrader on hand across the week — the wheels of business have been turning in the background.

The third edition of the Sff’s CineLink Producers’ Lab has gathered 15 Southern European producers with between two and five years of experience for an immersive program of industry training and networking. The goal of the program is to help the producers’ tackle the universal issues facing contemporary cinema while “equipping participants with the knowledge and understanding of digital supply chain changes and the ever-evolving landscape of film distribution.”

The Producers’ Lab is “aimed at stimulating personal and professional growth for film professionals in Southeast Europe,” according to organizers. “Under this umbrella,...

Romantic comedy icon Meg Ryan said she loves the challenges that directing a feature film offers up and that since stepping behind the camera for both 2015’s Ithaca and 2023’s What Happens Later, it’s helped her to look at acting in a different light.

“I understand acting I think more now because of that,” Ryan told an audience at the Sarajevo Film Festival. “I think, as an actor, you’re a soloist in an orchestra. You don’t see the big picture. Your one small job is to play your emotional instrument and know yourself well and be available to your feelings, you know, and to get out of your way and try not to be too intellectual about expressing them.”

Since being a director, said Ryan, she’s learned that “other actors I’ve worked with have a different process.”

Ryan spoke to a packed audience for a...

Rom-com queen Meg Ryan charmed a packed house during an appearance at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Tuesday, reprising some of her iconic roles in movies including “When Harry Met Sally” and “You’ve Got Mail” while also opening up about her life and career in the movie business since turning 60.

“I don’t look at the downside very often. I am the luckiest person you’re ever going to meet,” she said. “I don’t have feelings like I’m being denied anything. I have a charmed existence and I work with incredible people.”

Ryan is appearing at the Bosnian fest to receive a lifetime achievement award and to present her latest film, “What Happens Later,” a romantic comedy that she directed, wrote and executive produced, and in which she stars opposite David Duchovny as ex-lovers who find themselves stranded by a snowstorm.

She’s also presenting a special screening...

Meg Ryan discussed her directorial methods and relayed memories from films including Top Gun and When Harry Met Sally…, in a masterclass at Sarajevo Film Festival today.

“It’s a parental relationship,” said Ryan of the bond between director and actor. “Actors project whatever their relationship is with their own parents, or with authority, onto the director.”

Ryan returned to acting and directing last year with romantic comedy What Happens Later – her first role since 2015’s Ithaca, her directorial debut in which she also starred.

The 90-minute session was hosted by local Bosnian icon Danis Tanovic, with the pair agreeing...

The Sarajevo Film Festival kicked off its 30th year on August 12th, welcoming audiences to enjoy over 250 films from around the world. Now in its fourth decade, the annual event continues its mission of cultural exchange through film.

Since starting as a small three-day event during the Bosnian War in 1995, the festival has grown into a major international cinema showcase. This year’s iteration features 57 films competing for the “Heart of Sarajevo” award, considered one of the top prizes in the Southeast European film industry.

The opening night screened the world premiere of “Late Summer,” a co-production from five Balkan nations directed by Oscar winner Danis Tanovic. Top stars from Hollywood were also on hand to walk the red carpet at the National Theater, launching over a week of movies, talks and career development for local filmmakers.

One emphasis this year is documentaries, with 21 non-fiction works vying for awards out of 275 submissions.

For its landmark 30th edition, Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Sarajevo Film Festival is physically growing, taking over new sites in the city’s political, business and retail centre.

Located a 20-minute walk from the festival’s longtime home near Sarajevo’s Old Town, the expansion includes an entirely new industry venue, moving from the Hotel Europe to the Hotel Swissotel, another open-air cinema, an increase to eight in the number of screens at the Sarajevo Cineplexx, and a Festival Garden for socialising and events.

Jovan Marjanovic, heading into his third edition as festival director, says the move will help align the...

Bosnian filmmaker Danis Tanović makes movies all around the world. His 2020 crime thriller The Postcard Killings (2020), starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Famke Janssen, and Cush Jumbo, was shot in Sweden. Triage (2009), which stars Collin Ferrell as a war photographer, shot in Ireland and Spain. He filmed his latest, the comedic drama My Late Summer, in Croatia. But he keeps coming back to Sarajevo.

“It’s the place where I know everybody, where everybody knows me,” Tanović says. “I know every stone of this city.”

Easily Bosnia’s greatest cinema export and to date its only Oscar winner (Tanović’s 2001 debut No Man’s Land, a powerful exploration of the absurdities of war, won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film), Tanović has carved out a unique career by refusing to repeat himself. L’Enfer (2005), his feature follow-up to No Man’s Land, is a family drama adapted from a script by the late Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz.

For a richly pedigreed event that is intimately woven into the fabric of its host city, the Sarajevo Film Festival could be forgiven for resting on its laurels and choosing its 30th edition as an opportunity to look back — to reflect on its storied beginnings during the four-year siege that all but reduced the Bosnian capital to rubble in the early-1990s.

Instead, the organizers are introducing sweeping changes that will alter the look and feel of the event moving forward, with the nucleus of festival activities shifting from its historic home in the heart of Sarajevo’s old town to the modern part of the city.

Festival director Jovan Marjanović, who joined the Sarajevo fest two decades ago as a fresh-faced high-school graduate, tells Variety that while this year’s event will certainly pay homage to the past, festival leadership is “fully focused on the future,” adding: “I think...

Meg Ryan is not just America’s sweetheart anymore — now she’s an international “heart” icon.

The writer/director/actress is being feted with the Heart Award at the 2024 Sarajevo Film Festival, where her classic rom-com “You’ve Got Mail” screened 25 years ago in 1999.

This year, Ryan will present a special screening of the 1998 hit film and also host a masterclass about writing and directing her sophomore 2023 film “What Happens Later,” which will additionally be screened at the Festival. The masterclass will be moderated by “No Man’s Land” director Danis Tanović.

Ryan made her directorial debut with 2015’s WWII drama “Ithaca,” which marked a reunion for Ryan and frequent collaborator Tom Hanks.

“Meg Ryan had our hearts at hello! Not only has she charmed us all with her unforgettable performances, but she has also proven her prowess behind the camera as a director and screenwriter. It is our honor to present...

Sarajevo Film Festival has selected 18 titles for its Kinoscope strand and seven for its In Focus section, including a range of 2024 festival hits from Berlin and Cannes.

The Kinoscope selection consists of 12 Kinoscope films, and six titles in genre strand Kinoscope Surreal.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

Titles include Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, which won the Grand Prix in Cannes Competition this year; and Santosh, the debut feature of 2023 Screen Star of Tomorrow Sandhya Suri, which debuted in Un Certain Regard.

Guan Hu’s Black Dog, winner of the Un Certain Regard prize,...

Meg Ryan is set to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival in recognition of her contribution to the film industry.

The star will also present a special screening of her 1998 romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail, co-starring Tom Hanks, at the Coca-Cola Open Air Cinema, the same venue where the film was first screened 25 years ago at the fest’s fifth event.

Ryan will also hold a master class moderated by Bosnian director Danis Tanović, best known for his Oscar-winning film No Man’s Land. Ryan’s latest work, 2023’s What Happens Later, will also screen at the festival. The Bleecker Street Media film, which features Ryan alongside David Duchovny, is directed and written by the When Harry Met Sally star. It is her second directorial project.

“Meg Ryan had our hearts at hello!” said Jovan Marjanović, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival. “Not only...

Meg Ryan will receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award at the 2024 Sarajevo Film Festival (August 16-23).

US actress and filmmaker Ryan will present a screening of romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail and the festival, 25 years after it screened at the 5th edition of the festival in 1999.

Ryan will also participate in a masterclass about her career and latest film What Happens Later, which she directed and stars in opposite David Duchovny. Bosnian director Danis Tanovic will host the masterclass.

Ryan broke out internationally opposite Billy Crystal in Rob Reiner’s 1989 romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally, written by Nora Ephron,...

Sarajevo Film Festival has unveiled the programme for its four competition sections at its 30th edition (August 16-23), including five feature world premieres.

Eight films will play in the feature film competition, including the world premiere of Vuk Rsumovic’s Dwelling Among The Gods, about a young Afghan migrant woman who comes to Belgrade and learns her brother drowned in the river, so attempts to bury him under her full name.

Scroll down for the full feature selection

The film is a co-production between Serbia’s BaBoon Production, Croatia’s Kinorama and Italy’s Nightswim.

There is one out of competition title,...

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...

The 30th Sarajevo Film Festival in Bosnia and Herzegovina will open on Aug. 16 with the world premiere of “My Late Summer” by local filmmaker Danis Tanović, who won an Oscar with “No Man’s Land.”

The comedy-drama centers on a young woman, Maja, who travels to a remote island to sort out her family’s inheritance. In a whirlwind of emotions and surprising situations, she faces questions from her past. The search for inheritance becomes a search for her own identity, but also for forgiveness.

The film will be screened simultaneously in Sarajevo at the National Theatre, at the Coca-Cola Open Air Cinema, at the Stari Grad open air cinema and at the Centar Safet Zajko open air cinema, and its premiere will also kick off the festival’s screenings in Mostar, at the Bh Telecom Open Air Cinema Mostar, and in Tuzla, at the Bingo Open Air Cinema Tuzla.

Tanović...

The world premiere of Danis Tanovic’s My Late Summer will open the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival on Friday, August 16.

Tanovic’s new film is a comedy-drama about a young woman who comes to a remote island to solve her family inheritance issues. The screening will play simultaneously in the National Theatre and three open-air cinemas in Sarajevo, as well as beginning the festival’s satellite screenings in the Bosnian towns of Mostar and Tuzla.

My Late Summer was produced by Croatia’s Propeler Film, co-produced by Romania’s Tangaj Production, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Obala Art Centar (the organisation...

Paolo Cortellesi’s “There’s Still Tomorrow,” a box office smash in its native Italy, was Sunday named winner of the Sydney Film Prize at the end of the Sydney Film Festival (June 5-16)

A jury headed by Danis Tanovic called the film about an industrious woman in post WWII Rome “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous.” The prize is one of the richest awarded at any festival and is worth A$60,000.

The announcement was made at the city’s State Theatre ahead of the Australian premiere screening of the Demi Moore-starring Cannes hit “The Substance.”

The A$20,000 Documentary Australia award went to local filmmaker James Bradley, for “Welcome to Babel,” which charts Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen’s plans to create an epic work.

The inaugural recipient of the largest cash prize for First Nations filmmaking, the A$35,000 First Nations Award went to New Zealand filmmaker Awanui Simich-Pene’s “First Horse,” a short...

The 71st edition of Australia’s Sydney Film Festival (Sff) closed on Sunday June 16 amid a wave of optimisim with a wealth of prizes, a likely rise in ticket sales, and an influx of young cinemagoers.

Ticket sales were estimated to be more than 10% up on last year, making 2024 the second biggest year on record after 2019.

“It’s been quite phenomenal and we feel very optimistic about the future,” said festival director Nashen Moodley. “We can’t tell with precision, but judging by which films sold, the younger demographic is increasing.”

Paola Cortellesi’s post-Second World War Italian melodrama There’s Still Tomorrow,...

Sydney Film Festival (June 5-16) has unveiled the 12 titles that will play in competition at its 71st edition, including six features that are set to premiere at Cannes this month.

Fresh from playing in Competition at Cannes will be Kinds of Kindness, starring Emma Stone and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who won the Sydney Film Prize in 2012 with Alps. Further Palme d’Or contenders selected for Sydney include Grand Tour from Portugal’s Miguel Gomes, whose Arabian Nights won the Sydney Film Prize in 2015; Christophe Honoré’s French-Italian comedy Marcello Mio; and Payal Kapadia’s Indian romantic drama All We Imagine As Light.

Veteran film festival director Marco Müller has been named the new artistic director of Italy’s Taormina Film Fest and will take over for Taormina’s 70th edition this year.

Müller is one of the great journeymen of the festival circuit, having run A-list events in Venice, Rotterdam, Locarno and, most recently, the Pingyao festival in Macao.

Sergio Bonomo, special commissioner of the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation, which runs the festival, said “Maestro” Müller will be “a driving force of success for the prestigious film event.”

Taormina is one of the world’s oldest film festivals, and one blessed with one of the world’s most beautiful locations in the sun-kissed region of Sicily overlooking Mount Etna that The White Lotus picked as the backdrop for its season 2. The festival centerpiece is the Teatro Antico amphitheater, an historic Greek theater used for Taormina’s premieres.

But the festival’s history has been a stormy one,...

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 Postcard Killings is a crime thriller that follows an NYPD officer in search of his daughter's murderer and uncovers a complex web of serial killers working in tandem. The movie is filled with shocking twists and turns, including the revelation that the real killers are a brother and sister who have an incestuous relationship and create art out of their victims. The film ends with one killer dead and the other, Marina, still alive and targeting her abusive adoptive father, leaving the possibility open for a sequel. The movie is not based on a true story, but it uses real historical works of art as inspiration.

Directed by Danis Tanović, The Postcard Killings is a feature-length crime thriller released in March 2020. Despite the critical misgivings, the movie has found new life on Netflix after recently shooting to the top of the platform's most-watched movies. Based on the 2010 novel The...

The Netflix success of Jeffrey Dean Morgan's The Postcard Killings underscores the unpredictable nature of film viewership and the strong appeal of its stars. The film's resurgence on Netflix reveals the unique ability of streaming platforms to give second life to underperforming movies. The popularity of crime dramas on Netflix and the audience's intrigue with mystery contribute to the film's newfound success.

The Postcard Killings, a crime thriller featuring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Famke Janssen, has recently soared to the top charts of Netflix's most-watched in the US. This film demonstrates a fascinating scenario of how unpredictable the world of movie success and audience preferences is.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, widely recognized for his compelling portrayal of Negan in The Walking Dead franchise, and Famke Janssen, known for her roles in the X-Men movie series and the Taken trilogy, lead this intriguing thriller. It appears that the resurgence of the...