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Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in May 2019 and has been updated several times since.

Deserved or not, French cinema has a reputation for being a little racy. From classics like “Belle de Jour” to controversial modern films like “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” French film has consistently pushed the boundaries of sexuality and sensuality onscreen. So it’s perhaps no surprise that the country’s premier film festival Cannes is such an oasis for sexually explicit films, ones that have frequently generated controversy over its history — especially when these films feature unsimulated sexual acts.

Unsimulated sex onscreen at Cannes dates back to at least 1973, when the film “Thriller — a Cruel Picture,” featuring several acts of hardcore unsimulated porn, played at the festival. In the years afterwards, particularly provocative and avant-garde works like “Sweet Movie” and “The Idiots” caused shock at Cannes by presenting audiences with real, unvarnished sexual content.

Acclaimed actor Lisa Lu, whose storied career spans over 65 years across film, television and stage, will be honored with the 2,811th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bestowed the title of a “Living Legend” by the Chinese Government, Lu is a three-time Golden Horse winner whose recent work includes her memorable turn as Ah Ma, the matriarch of Singapore’s richest family in Warner Brothers’ box office hit “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018). Even in her 90s, Lu has maintained an active career, starring in “The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu” (2021), voicing Grandma Bai in the animated feature “Rally Road Racers,” and appearing in multiple episodes of the Hulu series “Death and Other Details” (2024).

Her stage career has been equally impressive, starring in Stan Lai’s epic eight-hour play “A Dream Like a Dream,” playing Lady Bracknell in the Chinese stage production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” at the National Theatre in Taipei,...

Leading figures from the UK film and TV industry gathered to showcase to potential international partners the opportunities of both the UK’s Independent Film Tax Credit (Iftc) and the increased tax relief for visual effects in film and high-end TV. The twin panel discussions were organised by the British Film Commission (Bfc), British Film Institute (BFI) and business growth agency London & Partners at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin on February 14.

Industry figures revealed the “galvanising” effect of the “game­changer” Iftc, an enhancement of the Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (Avec), effective from April 2025. They praised the impact the...

Ginger and Fed has acquired French filmmaker Anissa Bonnefont’s La Scala: The Force Of Destiny, a behind-the-scenes immersive look at the Milan Opera House, and has revealed a first-look here at the EFM.

Produced by Federation Studios’ Myriam Weil and Mde Films’ Francesco Melzi d’Eril, the film follows preparation for the staging of Verdi’s opera as 900 people work to perfect the annual December 7 opening day performance. It is now in post.

“The film is designed for a theatrical cinema experience,” says Sabine Chemaly, head of international film sales at Ginger and Fed, part of Federation Studios. “The ambition is to reach opera lovers,...

Ginger and Fed has acquired French filmmaker Anissa Bonnefont’s La Scala: The Force Of Destiny, a behind-the-scenes immersive look at the Milan Opera House, and has revealed a first-look here at the EFM.

Produced by Federation Studios’ Myriam Weil and Mde Films’ Francesco Melzi d’Eril, the film follows preparation for the staging of Verdi’s opera as 900 people work to perfect the annual December 7 opening day performance. It is now in post.

“The film is designed for a theatrical cinema experience,” says Sabine Chemaly, head of international film sales at Ginger and Fed, part of Federation Studios. “The ambition is to reach opera lovers,...

Bankside Films has boarded Wayne Wang’s Diary Of A Mad Old Manand is launching the film at the EFM this week.

Gabriel Byrne and Fan Bingbing are set to star in the English-language Tokyo-set film about a stubborn professor who becomes consumed by desire when he forms a bond with his best friend’s daughter who is tasked with taking care of him.

The film is in pre-production and is set to shoot in Japan in the summer.

Kelvin Wyles wrote the screenplay, based on the novel of the same name by Japanese author, Jun’ichirō Tanizaki.

Producers are Shôzô Ichiyama...

Screen International is keeping track of the key packages launched before and during the 2025 European Film Market, which runs February 13-19.

Refresh the page for latest updates. Listed in alphabetical order.

Arctic Skies

Morfydd Clark and Ariyon Bakare star in this UFO thriller, to be shot at Steven Knight’s Digbeth Loc. Studios in Birmingham. Writer-directors Elliot and Zander Weaver. Their Elliander Pictures are producing with Lowkey Films.

Int’l sales: Independent Entertainment

Bad Boy

From the producers of Longlegs and M3gan comes a serial killer project financed by C2 in which a dog is the hero. Ke Huy Quan...

Ralph Fiennes has had an extremely varied career throughout the years. He made his debut on television in 1991, playing the role of Michael in the TV series Prime Suspect. A year later, he also played the key role of Heathcliff in the 1992 adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. Since then, he has played in both dramatic and comedy roles, including parts in Schindler's List, Quiz Show, and the Wes Anderson movie The Grand Budapest Hotel. Fiennes has been nominated for two Oscars, the first for his supporting role in Schindler's List and the second for The English Patient.

This year, Fiennes seems likely to score an Oscar nomination again with his part in Conclave. Conclave is an Edward Berger-directed film about Cardinal Lawrence, who has to lead the Vatican's search for a new pope. The movie has been getting good reviews, and has spurred discussion of Fiennes...

'Tis the season for streaming ourselves into holiday movie oblivion, and we've already seen a bunch of festive films shoot to the top of streaming charts everywhere. Among the usual suspects such as "Elf" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," we've seen a Bruce Willis action classic predictably climb the Prime Video charts, while over on Netflix, Keira Knightley's Christmas-themed spy thriller "Black Doves" comfortably triumphed in the Top 10.

We've also seen a Christmas movie which Jack Black completely forgot about (even though he's in it) dominate the Prime Video charts, and now it looks like Black has been usurped by an opponent no less formidable than Queen Latifah. Yes, the queen herself has now taken over the Prime Video rankings with a forgotten holiday movie that's currently enjoying a nice little streaming resurgence.

"Lady Holiday" stars Latifah as department store assistant Georgia who is diagnosed with a terminal brain...

The box office record-breaking success of "Wicked" is once again proving the crowd-pleasing chops of Jon M. Chu, who had previously demonstrated them via the massive success of a certain swanky romantic comedy to which he was connected long before becoming its director. Based on the eponymous novel by Kevin Kwan, 2018's "Crazy Rich Asians" topped the box office in its release week and went on to gross over $239 million worldwide on a $30 million budget. It's safe to say that it's a movie with a lot of fans.

Thankfully, there are several other films you can queue up if you count yourself as one of those fans. Whether you're drawn to the perfectly executed rom-com plotting, to the Asian American representation, to the themes of familial displacement and culture clash between North America and Asia, to the snarky sense of humor, or to the ritz and sumptuousness of the wedding...

“Black Ox,” a powerful rural drama from Japan’s Tsuta Tetsuichiro, has been picked up for world sales by Hong Kong and Beijing-based agency Asian Shadows. The film has its world premiere on Friday in the Asian Future section of the Tokyo International Film Festival and will go on commercial release in Taiwan the following week.

Set in the 19th century, “Black Ox” follows the life of a man, transitioning from a hunter-gatherer existence in the mountains to a life in the farm. One day, he comes across an ox, which somehow, he succeeds in leading back to his home. He lives with the animal, which becomes his companion in a life of changing seasons.

The Japan-set film is inspired by the “Ten Ox-Herding Pictures” a series of short poems and illustrations from the Zen Buddhist tradition that depict the path to enlightenment and spiritual awakening.

The cast includes the Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-sheng,...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled its streaming lineup for August 2024, which features an eclectic mix of independent films showcasing the work of auteurs from around the world.

The boutique service will become the exclusive streaming home of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2021 comedy “Licorice Pizza,” and will celebrate the occasion by adding four more of his films to the channel: “The Master,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” and “Magnolia.” Anderson’s frequent collaborator Philip Seymour Hoffman will additionally be celebrated on the streaming service as part of a larger retrospective. Many of the late actor’s most iconic roles, including “Capote” and “Synecdoche, New York,” will be included, along with his sole directorial outing “Jack Goes Boating.”

The channel will also highlight several other prominent filmmakers including Preston Sturges, who helped pioneer the modern rom-com through films like “The Lady Eve” and “The Palm Beach Story,” and prolific Egyptian auteur Youssef Chahine.

The Criterion Channel’s August lineup pays tribute to auteurs of all kinds: directors, actors, and photographers, fictional or otherwise. In a notable act of preservation and advocacy, they’ll stream 20 titles by the Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, here introduced by the great Richard Peña. More known (but fun all the same) is a five-title Paul Thomas Anderson series including the exclusive stream of Licorice Pizza, as well as a Philip Seymour Hoffman series that overlaps with Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love (a Criterion Edition this month), and The Master, plus 25th Hour, Love Liza, and his own directing effort Jack Goes Boating. Preston Sturges gets five movies, with Sullivan’s Travels arriving in October.

Theme-wise, a photographer series includes Rear Window, Peeping Tom, Blow-up, Close-Up, and Clouzot’s La prisonnière; “Vacation Noir” features The Lady from Shanghai, Brighton Rock, Kansas City Confidential, Purple Noon, and La piscine. Alongside the aforementioned PTA and Antonioni pictures,...

A Family Affair is Netflix’s latest rom-com directed by Richard Lagravenese from a screenplay by Carrie Solomon. The Netflix film follows the story of Zara, a young woman with aspirations of becoming a film producer, but currently, she works as an assistant for a self-obsessed and childish movie star, Chris Cole. While Zara hates her job and boss, she still tolerates them, but things get worse when she finds out that her mother and boss are romantically involved. A Family Affair has an amazing cast, including Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, Joey King, and Kathy Bates. So, if you loved the romance, banter, and hijinks of A Family Affair, here are some similar romcoms you could watch next.

The Idea of You (Prime Video) Credit – Prime Video

The Idea of You is a romantic comedy film directed by Michael Showalter from a screenplay co-written by Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt. Based...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.FESTIVALSMay Days.As many as 200 French film festival workers plan to stage labor actions during Cannes, citing insufficient pay and the exclusion of many festival staff from unemployment benefits when they are not under contract. The movement is being organized under the banner of Sous Les Écrans La Dèche: Collectif Des Précaires Des Festivals De Cinéma.A new report outlines the institutional dysfunction at the Toronto International Film Festival, which recently lost the support of the telecommunications company Bell as its major sponsor. Citing a desire for “greater accessibility,” Slamdance Film Festival will relocate from Park City, Ut, to Los Angeles in 2025.NEWSHarlan County, U.S.A..Now that all thirteen IATSE locals have reached tentative agreements with the AMPTP,...

Paul Auster, the celebrated author of Winter Journal, Sunset Park, Invisible, The Book of Illusions and The New York Trilogy, screenwriter on Wayne Wang’s Smoke and director of Lulu on the Bridge, has died. His friend, Jacki Lyden, confirmed the news to the New York Times. Auster was 77.

Auster’s debut work, a memoir titled The Invention of Solitude, won critical praise.

His stature as one of America’s most prominent authors was cemented with with a series of three loosely connected stories published collectively as The New York Trilogy. They are City of Glass (1985), Ghosts (1986) and The Locked Room (1986). The books in the Trilogy play on tropes of the detective novel to address existential questions.

Critic Michael Dirda wrote of Auster’s work, “Ever since City of Glass, the first volume of his New York Trilogy, Auster has perfected a limpid, confessional style, then used it to set...

Film Forum is turning back the clock to the ’80s and celebrating golden era cinemas with the New York premiere of Richard Shepard’s “Film Geek.”

Emmy winner Shepard writes and directs the cine-memoir feature centered on moviegoing in the ’70s and ’80s. “Film Geek” debuts as part of Film Forum’s “Out of the ’80s” programming, which includes over 50 films ranging from blockbusters to cult classics.

Films such as “Blue Velvet,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and more will screen at the theater. Actors such as Griffin Dunne and Isaac Mizrahi will revisit their own ’80s features, while directors like Charlie Ahearn, Charles Lane, and Jerry Schatzberg discuss their filmmaking styles.

The series is programmed by Bruce Goldstein, Film Forum’s Repertory Artistic Director, and was inspired by Richard Shepard’s documentary “Film Geek.” The festival centers on the debut of “Film Geek,” which is...

Welcome to The B-Side from The Film Stage. Here we usually talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today, we talk to a music supervisor! And one of the great music supervisors! Randall Poster!

We discuss his new film Priscilla, how working with Sofia Coppola compares to working with someone like Wes Anderson, and––most importantly––how they chose what music would be in the movie.

There’s also talk of Poster’s early career. There’s the film he co-wrote (A Matter of Degrees) in 1990 and the early indies he made with Christine Vachon (including Office Killer). There’s also Maid in Manhattan, directed by past guest Wayne Wang. Finally, Poster worked on the criminally-underrated indie Diggers, which you should watch.

This is a fun, special episode about the kind of crew member...

Anthony Chen (“The Breaking Ice”) is attached to direct and Shinho Lee to write “Sunset Park” for Barunson C&c, a film and TV production subsidiary of Barunson E&a, the Korean company that produced Oscar-winning hit “Parasite.”

“Sunset Park” recounts a surprising journey in the U.S. made by a Korean father with his son’s room mate, after the man receives tragic news about his son. The project is being developed by Jane Hyojin Kwon (Lucky Jane Title) and Woo-sik Seo (Barunson C&c), with Chen’s production outlet Giraffe Pictures boarding as producing partner. New York-based Lee is the writer of Na Hong-jin’s breakout Korean actioner “The Chaser” as well as Wayne Wang’s drama film “While The Women Are Sleeping.”

The cross-cultural story is only one of several high-profile global projects that the company is launching in and around the Busan International Film Festival and on...

When it comes to Hollywood superstars, rarely does one originate from behind the camera. Oftentimes, when we think of non-actor superstars, we imagine directors like Spike Lee or Martin Scorsese, writers like Quentin Tarantino or Greta Gerwig, or composers like Hans Zimmer or Randy Newman. Out of the hundreds of crew members on set, the director of photography will barely pull a large crowd.

However, if there were one cinematographer throughout the history of Hollywood who has developed a superstar-like following, most would point to accomplished cameraman Roger Deakins.

Throughout his career, Deakins has nurtured creative partnerships with directors he has a personal affinity for, collaborating with Denis Villeneuve three times, with Sam Mendes five times, and with the Coen Brothers twelve times. He has a whopping sixteen Academy Award nominations, taking home the statue twice for his work on Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and Mendes’ 1917 (2019).

Having worked with directors such as David Mamet,...

We recently had the good fortune to speak with the talented, prolific filmmaker Wayne Wang about his long career, in particular his film Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, whose Director-Approved Special Edition Blu-ray is now available from Criterion and also streaming on the Criterion Channel. Additional B-Sides we chatted about with Wang included Eat a Bowl of Tea, Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive (also on Criterion Channel), Smoke (and its own B-Side Blue in the Face), Chinese Box, and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.

Wang elaborated on making films efficiently, his career-long ambition to make a different kind of picture every time, how he constructed the perfect “pillow shot” (an homage to filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu) in Dim Sum, and some smaller films of his that he hopes more people discover. There’s also talk about his faltering first steps into Hollywood (Slam Dance) and...

The bread and butter of film festivals is the unveiling of new movies. And in the case of the major festivals taking place in the late summer and early fall — Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York — the selections offer a preview of potential Oscar nominees and winners. Remember the eight-minute standing ovation Brendan Fraser received last year at Venice for “The Whale”? It kicked off his comeback and journey to a best Oscar win this year.

And with the 50th annual Telluride Film Festival kicking off August 31 at in the picturesque Colorado mountain burg, let’s take the cinematic time machine back 1993 when the fest was a mere 20 years old. John Boorman of “Deliverance” and “Hope and Glory” fame was the guest director of the festival. Jennifer Jason Leigh, then just 31 and whose latest film was Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts,” was honored with a tribute as was socialist British director Ken Loach,...

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie directors! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.

Surprise! Here’s a bonus episode in which we speak to the talented, prolific, and dynamic director Wayne Wang. Our main B-Side is Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, whose Director-Approved Special Edition Blu-ray is now available from Criterion.

Additional B-Sides include Eat a Bowl of Tea, Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive (also on Criterion Channel), Smoke (and its own B-Side Blue in the Face), Chinese Box, and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.

We talk to Wang about making films efficiently, his career-long ambition to make a different kind of film every time, how to construct the perfect “pillow shot” (an homage to filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu), combating boredom on set with ambition,...

Wayne Wang’s Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, the filmmaker’s follow-up to his existential noir riff Chan Is Missing, again focuses explicitly on the Chinese American community in San Francisco. But where his debut feature found its protagonists constantly scrambling about the city, Dim Sum is set almost exclusively within, or just outside, the domestic space. Echoes of Ozu Yasujirō, specifically Late Spring, ring throughout Wang’s melodrama, whose tender, empathetic, and often funny examination of a loving, codependent mother-daughter relationship is reminiscent of Ryū Chishū and Haru Setsuko’s characters’ in Ozu’s masterwork.

Dim Sum, too, is a film of extended silences and often mundane conversations, and of emotions coursing beneath placid surfaces across settings where old customs collide with new ones. Wang makes evocative use of Ozu’s signature pillow shots throughout, reflecting elements of a Chinese community through shots of Chinatown and its...

One of independent film’s key players, Ray Price, died July 16 at the age of 75 from heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his long-term partner Meg Madison confirmed.

Talking to Price about movies, past and present, was an exhilarating sport that could take a while. He knew his stuff — no one loved movies more — but more than anyone during the great indie decades of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, he was a respected innovator who thought outside the box. He began as an exhibitor in San Francisco and moved on to marketing, releasing, and distributing movies, leaning toward the outrageous in how he lured audiences to sample challenging fare.

“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles wrote me in an email. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he...

Ray Price, a respected producer of indie filmmaking, died July 16 from heart failure after a long battle with cancer. The news was confirmed by his long-term partner Meg Madison. He was 75 years old.

Price launched his film career in 1972, managing the Berkeley storefront theater the Rialto, and went on to build with Allen Michaan Renaissance Theaters, an independent art film chain that became one of the largest (33 at its peak) in the Bay Area and was later sold to the Landmark Theatre circuit.

A tough negotiator and exacting exhibitor, under Price’s stewardship, Renaissance Theaters were renowned for redesigning marketing materials, from posters to press books — designs that fledgling distributors often adopted when the films hadn’t found success in other markets.

At a time when most top arthouse distributors focused on established auteurs from Europe and Asia, Renaissance Theaters exploded those norms by programming new American directors like Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes.

Ray Price, an indie film producer and marketing veteran, died on July 16 of heart failure after battling cancer, his longterm partner Meg Madison confirmed. He was 75.

During his career in film, Price was president of Francis Ford Coppola’s production company American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and a marketing and distribution exec for Landmark Theatres, Trimark Pictures and 2929 Entertainment. He also supported up-and-coming filmmakers like Tran Anh Hung (“The Scent of Green Papaya”), Gurinder Chadha (“Bhaji on The Beach”), Carl Franklin (“One False Move”), Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”) and John Sayles (“The Secret of Roan Inish”).

“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” said Magnolia Pictures co-ceo Eamonn Bowles in a statement. “From theatre chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he always sought out novel ways of approaching things. He truly was a rebel...

Ray Price, the respected indie film innovator who served as president of American Zoetrope and First Look Pictures and as a marketing and distribution executive for companies including Landmark Theatres and Trimark Pictures, has died. He was 75.

Price died Sunday at Whittier Hospital Medical Center from heart failure after a long battle with cancer, his longtime partner, Meg Madison, said.

Throughout his career, Price displayed an encyclopedic knowledge of film, mentored generations of executives and leaned toward the outrageous in the ways he lured audiences to sample challenging movies.

Along the way, he championed filmmakers including Carl Franklin (1992’s One False Move), Allison Anders (1992’s Gas Food Lodging), Tran Anh Hung (1993’s The Scent of Green Papaya), Gurinder Chadha (1993’s Bhaji on the Beach) and John Sayles (1994’s The Secret of Roan Inish).

“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,...

A total of 24 feature films, including five world premieres, make up this year’s programme.

Edinburgh International Film Festival has unveiled a 24-title programme for 2023, featuring the world premiere of Janis Pugh’s feature debut Chuck Chuck Baby, and international titles spanning Europe, China, India and Japan.

There are five world premieres, plus five retrospective titles, five short films and an outdoor screening weekend of seven features.

Chuck Chuck Baby unfurls in a chicken factory in north Wales, and stars Louise Brealey, Annabel Scholey, Sorcha Cusack, Celyn Jones and Emily Fairn. It’s set in the present day, with a...

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Choose Irvine Welsh” are among the world premieres at the 2023 Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), the full program for which was unveiled on Thursday.

As previously announced, “Silent Roar” and “Fremont” will bookend the festival, which includes 24 feature films, five retrospective titles, five short film programs and an outdoor screening weekend with seven features.

A hybrid adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Hope Dickson Leach’s film transposes the action from London to Victorian Edinburgh. Ian Jefferies’ “Choose Irvine Welsh” is a documentary about the renowned “Trainspotting” author and features his admirers including Iggy Pop, Martin Compston, Danny Boyle, Bobbie Gillespie, Gail Porter, Rowetta and Andrew Macdonald.

Other world premieres include debutant Janice Pugh’s Lgbtqia+ romance “Chuck Chuck Baby,” starring Louise Brealey (“Sherlock”) and Annabel Scholey (“The Split...

This story about Giancarlo Esposito and “The Mandalorian” first ran in the drama issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.

Giancarlo Esposito knows villains.

The actor, whose career began in the early 1980’s, has always flitted between television and movie roles—he has appeared in movies by Jim Jarmusch, Wayne Wang, Spike Lee and Bong Joon-ho. And he has a particular specialty when it comes to playing characters with a, let’s say, loose moral compass.

Esposito is probably best known for his role as mannered drug kingpin Gustavo Fring on “Breaking Bad” and the prequel series “Better Call Saul.” He entered “Star Wars” lore in Season 1 of “The Mandalorian” as Moff Gideon, an Imperial zealot who returned in Season 3 to terrorize the titular hero (Pedro Pascal) and enact his evil plan, which involved creepy clones of himself. So his presumed death in the Mandalorian finale isn’t so certain. When clones are involved,...

Despite what the splashy yacht parties in Cannes suggest, media companies really are trying to save money right now. Really!

Top execs at Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, Netflix, Paramount Global, Amazon and NBCUniversal parent Comcast have all promised shareholders during recent quarterly earnings calls that they’ll be spending wisely amid the economic downturn. Sweeping layoffs and other cost-cutting strategies, including the removal of underperforming content from some streaming services, has been among the first orders of business in 2023.

But no matter how many jobs these Hollywood heavyweights cut, reaching an outlandish savings target (nearly $4 billion for the post-merger Warner Bros. Discovery) is going to require pinching pennies in more areas than staff headcount. While CFOs are shredding budgets to ribbons, TV’s latest FYC season poses another quandary: What is the cost vs. benefit of an Emmy this year? And does the statuette’s symbolic value go down if...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSStars at Noon.Claire Denis is currently location scouting in Cameroon for her next film, which she completed writing a couple of weeks ago, according to the Guardian.The BlackStar Film Festival, taking place from August 2 through 6 in Philadelphia, has just announced their lineup. The slate includes new films by Ja’Tovia Gary, Kevin Jerome Everson, and Darol Olu Kae.Recommended Viewinga special mini-season of the Mubi Podcast involves conversations with filmmakers at Cannes. The first of these sees host Rico Gagliano talk to legendary director Wim Wenders about one of two films he premiered at the festival: Anselm, a 3D documentary about the work of German fine artist Anselm Kiefer.We’ve partnered with Filmadrid for our annual collaborative series, “The Video Essay.

Maid in Manhattan is a classic romantic comedy that tells the story of Marisa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez), a single mother working as a maid in a luxurious Manhattan hotel. Her life takes a dramatic turn when she meets the charming Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes), a wealthy politician who mistakes her for a guest at the hotel. As their relationship develops, Marisa struggles to balance her personal life with her professional obligations, while also dealing with the challenges of being a single mother.

Directed by Wayne Wang, Maid in Manhattan was released in 2002. Though it failed to impress critics, it was a box office success. Evidently, the film resonated with audiences, and, what's more, continues to do so even 20 years after its initial release. Indeed, there are a multitude of reasons why Lopez's film remains, to this day, one of the most relatable rom-coms ever made.

Marisa's Struggles Are Common...

Let's start with a little dim sum before night falls and dreams begin. In August 2023, The Criterion Collection will release Wayne Wang's Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart on Blu-ray and Akira Kurosawa's Dreams in 4K, which makes me look forward to a month that I've often associated only with blood, sweat, and tears. Also, to quote the official release: "Drylongso, a rediscovered 1990s treasure of dynamic DIY filmmaking by Cauleen Smith; and Bo Widerberg's New Swedish Cinema, a quartet of poetic, political films by the pivotal Swedish auteur" are heading for release in August. About the two I know more about: Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart is a wonderfully gentle 1985 excursion into love and cooking, as I recall, and...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Every month, The Criterion Collection announces a new batch of films that are getting the special edition treatment. And for the upcoming month of August, you can’t do much better than a new release of an Akira Kurosawa film.

Read More: 2023 Cannes Film Festival: 21 Must-See Movies To Watch

Leading the way in August from the Criterion Collection is Akira Kurosawa’s “Dreams.” The anthology film was released in 1990 and marks one of the final works from one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live.

Continue reading New Criterion Releases Of Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Dreams,’ Wayne Wang’s ‘Dim Sum’ & More Coming In August at The Playlist.

Surely marking an upgrade from the snapcase Warner Bros. DVD we all watched in your green-gilled days, Criterion will give Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams the 4K treatment this August. It’s the biggest announcement this month, but shouldn’t entirely overshadow the further offerings––among them a four-film set highlighting Swedish director Bo Widerberg, newly restored and boasting an introduction from Ruben Östlund.

Meanwhile, the recently restored, much-acclaimed Drylongso gets Blu-ray treatment––read our interview with director Cauleen Smith here––and Wayne Wang’s little-seen Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart arrives in a new director’s cut.

Find artwork below and more at Criterion.

The post Criterion’s August Lineup Includes 4K Kurosawa, Drylongso & More first appeared on The Film Stage.

A couple months after spotlighting the world’s greatest actress, the Criterion Channel have taken a logical next step towards America’s greatest actress. May (or: next week) will bring an eleven-film celebration of Jennifer Jason Leigh, highlights including Verhoeven’s Flesh + Blood, Miami Blues, Alan Rudolph’s Mrs. Parker, her directorial debut The Anniversary Party, and Synecdoche, New York, and a special introduction from Leigh. Another actor’s showcase localizes directorial collaborations: Jimmy Stewart’s time with Anthony Mann, an eight-title series boasting the likes of Winchester ’73 and The Man from Laramie. Two more: a survey of ’80s Asian-American cinema (Chan Is Missing being the best-known) and 14 movies by Seijun Suzuki.

That would be enough for one month (or two), but No Bears and Cette maison will have their streaming premieres, while Criterion Editions offers the Infernal Affairs trilogy (plus its packed set), Days of Heaven, and the aforementioned Chan Is Missing.

by Olivia Pop

Wayne Wang's iconic 1982 film “Chan is Missing” is a staple of film studies and ethnic studies' screening lists across American universities, but each casual yet multi-layered second of its 76-minute runtime is replete with enough material to ponder for a lifetime. The director blends fiction with non-fiction in the depiction of a very real San Francisco Chinatown and parody with noir in its shifts between references to the Charlie Chan series and embrace of the detective style.

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Chinese American taxi driver Jo (Wood Moy) and his nephew, Steve (Marc Hayashi), begin a search for the missing Chan Hung in San Francisco's Chinatown, to whom they had given 4000 dollars for a cab license. Their pursuit leads them to all corners of the neighborhood and into encounters with a variety of different characters, all of whom describe different portraits of Chan.

It is my experience that one gets a far richer, stranger cinema education in pursuing the careers of actors, that group defined first by (assuming luck shines upon them) two or three era-defining films and then so much that dictates their industry—pet projects, contractual obligations, called-in favors alimony payments, auteur one-offs, and on and on. Few embody that deluge of circumstance better than Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert, both of whom are receiving spotlights in March. The former’s is a who’s-who of Hong Kong talent, new favorites (The Heroic Trio), items we can at least say are of interest (Trio‘s not-great sequel Executioners), etc.

Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...

Robert Dalva, the film editor who earned an Oscar nomination for his work on the touching family adventure The Black Stallion and collaborated with director Joe Johnston on five films, including Jumanji and Captain America: The First Avenger, has died. He was 80.

Dalva died Jan. 27 of lymphoma in Marin County, California, his son Matthew Dalva told The Hollywood Reporter.

Dalva attended USC film school in the same class with George Lucas, and he went to work with him and Francis Ford Coppola in 1969 as the pair launched their innovative American Zoetrope production company in San Francisco.

The relationship paid off when Lucas hired Dalva to handle second-unit photography — he shot the land speeder going across the desert — on the original Star Wars (1977).

On the Coppola-produced Black Stallion (1979), starring Mickey Rooney in an Oscar-nominated performance, Dalva partnered with director Carroll Ballard, who also did second-unit work on Star Wars.

“We had...

During his tenure as head of production at Columbia TriStar in the 1990s, Chris Lee oversaw such Hollywood classics as Philadelphia, Jerry Maguire and As Good As It Gets.

But behind the scenes, as the first known Asian American to lead production at a major Hollywood studio, the Hawaii native was also actively involved in nurturing the industry’s then-inchoate Aapi community of executives and creatives, co-founding in 1991 the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment.

Just over 20 years ago, Lee returned to his home state and continued his mission of developing Aapi storytellers by establishing the Academy for Creative Media across the University of Hawai’i system, where he still directs the program. Two ACM alumni have premiered features at Sundance over the past two years — Christopher Makoto Yogi with I Was a Simple Man in 2021 and Alika Maikau with Kaimuki in 2022.

This year Lee himself is returning to the...

Almost 30 years after the original’s 1993 release, a sequel to The Joy Luck Club is on the way. Amy Tan and Ron Bass will write the script, with Jeff Kleeman and Ashok Amritraj of Hyde Park Entertainment Group producing. The original film, directed by Wayne Wang, focuses on the life histories of four East Asian women and their daughters. Through their richly-detailed life experiences, the women pass their knowledge onto a new generation, hoping to shape them into strong and independent individuals. Tamlyn Tomita, Rosalind Chao, Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin, France Nuyen, Lisa Lu, Ming-Na Wen, and Lauren Tom, who starred in the original, are in talks to reprise their roles for The Joy Luck Club sequel.

The Joy Luck Club is a well-respected film often credited with changing the face of Asian cinema. The heartfelt drama helped launch the career of Ming-Na Wen, the badass you know from Marvel’s Agents of S.

Decades after revolutionizing how we see Asian American women on screen, "The Joy Luck Club" will be meeting up once again. Deadline reports that the 1993 film, originally directed by Wayne Wang, will be getting a sequel that is sure to continue the themes of intergenerational struggles portrayed in the original. Amy Tan, who wrote the original 1989 novel, and Ron Bass will both return as screenwriters. Hyde Park Entertainment Group, headed up by Ashok Amritraj, will handle the majority of producing duties on the project.

"We are excited to be teaming with Hyde Park and ["The Judge" producer] Jeff Kleeman in bringing to life the next generation of these four families so close to our hearts," the duo wrote in a statement provided to Deadline.

Not much is known about the film's story, but what we do know is that it will be a true legacy sequel in every sense of the term.

“The Joy Luck Club” is reconvening for a sequel three decades after the adaptation of Amy Tan’s award-winning novel became a milestone for Asian American representation onscreen.

Tan and “The Joy Luck Club” screenwriter Ron Bass are teaming up to develop the project, with Tan, Jeff Kleeman and Hyde Park Entertainment Group’s Ashok Amritraj and Priya Amritraj producing. A director has not yet been named.

The original leading cast of the Wayne Wang-directed film – which included Rosalind Chao, Tamlyn Tomita, Lisa Lu, Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin, France Nuyen, Lauren Tom and Ming-Na Wen – are in talks to star.

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Randall Park’s Directorial Debut ‘Shortcomings’ Sets Justin H. Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki as Stars

Released in 1993, “The Joy Luck Club” revolved around a San Francisco-based group of Chinese immigrant mothers and their Chinese American daughters who navigate the push and pull of mother-daughter relationships, cultural...

Novelist Amy Tan and Oscar-winning “Rain Man” screenwriter Ron Bass are on board to deliver a sequel to “The Joy Luck Club,” the 1993 movie that broke new ground for Asian American representation.

The new film, “Joy Luck Club 2,” is set up at Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group, with Ashok and Priya Amritraj producing alongside Tan, Bass and Jeff Kleeman. A director hasn’t been announced yet.

The original “Joy Luck Club,” directed by Wayne Wang, was an epic, multigenerational saga of Chinese and Chinese-American mothers and daughters, whose histories, stories and lives interweave as they navigate life. Club members included characters played by Tsai Chin, France Nuyen, Lisa Lu and Kieu Chinh. The ensemble cast also included Tamlyn Tomita, Rosalind Chao and Russell Wong.

In “Joy Luck Club 2,” the mothers become grandmothers and the daughters become mothers in their own right, introducing a new generation exploring their own relationships with culture,...

Exclusive: Nearly 30 years after The Joy Luck Club changed Asian and Asian American representation in cinema, a sequel is in development with author Amy Tan and Oscar-winning screenwriter Ron Bass continuing from the former’s bestselling novel.

Also producing are Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertainment Group and The Judge producer Jeff Kleeman.

Amy Tan, Getty Images

The original leading cast are in talks to return to their roles, now the mothers and grandmothers of their families. The Wayne Wang-directed movie was a breakout role for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Mandalorian actress Ming-Na Wen and also starred Tamlyn Tomita, and Lisa Lu.

Ron Bass, Getty Images

The Joy Luck Club, released in 1993, tells the multigenerational saga of Chinese and Chinese-American mothers and daughters, whose histories, stories and lives interweave as they navigate life. The original Disney Touchstone theatrical paved the way for such Asian-led movies as Crazy Rich Asians...

Film noir is a story of migration and its uncertainties. The genre made its way from France in the crime novels of Marcel Duhamel via the term Série noire, then smuggled itself into the United States in the mid-1940s, first used by Nino Frank to undress the battered pulp of Dashiell Hammett. It was pilfered again by other writers to describe the influx of post-wwii films that were bathed in expressionistic and literal darkness, following disoriented protagonists and their futile searches for an American Dream that was little more than a bear trap.

Continue reading ‘Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive’ Review: Wayne Wang’s Hong Kong Noir Dazzles In New Director’s Cut & Restoration at The Playlist.

Child actors often grown up to become veteran actors, but Thora Birch was always different: She wanted to be the one who had the answers. Birch made her mark in “Hocus Pocus,” “American Beauty,” and “Ghost World,” but she had her eye on being the person who told the actors what to do. After producing indie films “Petunia” and “The Competition,” she’s now got that opportunity as the director of Lifetime movie “The Gabby Petito Story,” in which she also takes a role as Gabby’s mom, Nichole.

The daughter of pornographic performers, Birch started acting at four and snagged major commercials before turning to films with “Purple People Eater” at age six. Her three-decade career also includes a recurring role on “The Walking Dead” and starring in the sci-fi podcast “Overleaper.”

Along the way she’s earned BAFTA, Emmy, and Golden Globe nominations and she’s worked with...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Lincoln Center

As the 60th New York Film Festival launches, so does Revivals—having a banner year with Canyon Passage, Drylongso, Le Damier, The Long Farewell, and (my most-anticipated) Glauber Rocha’s Black God, White Devil.

Roxy Cinema

Mishima and Light Sleeper screen on 35mm throughout the weekend; a print of Godard’s King Lear continues, while 1 p.m. screens on 16mm this Sunday.

Bam

Wayne Wang’s Life is Cheap…But Toilet Paper is Expensive debuts a restored director’s cut. Along with seeing it this weekend, watch a clip below.

Museum of the Moving Image

A packed weekend for The Caan Film Festival is headlined by Thief and a print of Bottle Rocket.

Film Forum

The 4K restorations of Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series continue, as does Breathless on 35mm; Princess Mononoke screens this Sunday.

IFC Center

“World of Wong Kar-wai” returns; Videodrome,...