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The 27th Shanghai International Film Festival cast a net wide for the winners of this year’s Golden Goblet prizes, with filmmakers from as far afield as Kyrgyzstan and Portugal being called to the stage to accept awards during a glittering closing ceremony inside the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

Golden Goblet jury president Giuseppe Tornatore — whose Oscar winner Cinema Paradiso remains a love letter to moviegoing — was quick to salute the event’s global mix. “Each competition film was unique … and magnificent,” he said.

The top honor went to Black Red Yellow, Kyrgyz filmmaker Aktan Arym Kubat’s simmering rural meditation on marriage, praised by the jury for “reflecting the fabric of life.”

The Jury Grand Prix was shared between Japanese director Shinya Tamada’s On Summer Sand, a languid tale of a broken man, played by heartthrob Joe Odigiri, who rediscovers hope when his niece arrives for an extended stay,...

Aktan Arym Kubat’s Black Red Yellow has won best feature at Shanghai International Film Festival’s (Siff) Golden Goblet Awards, which also saw a raft of prizes for Chinese films.

The Kyrgyz drama centres on the romance between a traditional carpet weaver and a horse herder and was named best feature at an award ceremony on Saturday (June 21) at the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Kubat, also known as Aktan Abdykalykov, is known for features such as The Adopted Son, which won the Silver Leopard at Locarno in 1998; The Light Thief, which screened in...

The Shanghai International Film Festival Golden Goblet Awards have been announced as the fest wraps up its 27th edition.

On Saturday, Kyrgyzstan director Aktan Arym Kubat’s Black Yellow Road was awarded Best Feature Film during the awards ceremony at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, where 49 entries competed across five major categories.

With the Jury Grand Prix being split between Japanese entry On Summer Sand and China’s Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts, the host country’s Cao Baoping won Best Director for his comedy One Wacky Summer.

Screenings for the film festival come to a close on Sunday.

Here are the winners of the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival Golden Goblet Awards.

Best Feature Film

Black Red Yellow (Kyrgyzstan), directed by Aktan Arym Kubat

Jury Grand Prix

On Summer Sand (Japan), directed by Shinya Tamada

Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts (China), directed by Wang Tong

Best Director

Cao Baoping for One Wacky...

The 27th Shanghai International Film Festival has announced its Golden Goblet Awards winners, with Kyrgyzstan’s “Black Red Yellow,” directed by Aktan Arym Kubat, taking home the award for best feature film in the main competition.

Chinese cinema had a strong showing, with multiple wins across key categories. The jury grand prix was shared between Japan’s “On Summer Sand,” directed by Shinya Tamada, and China’s “Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts,” helmed by Wang Tong.

Director Cao Baoping claimed the best director award for the Chinese film “One Wacky Summer,” while Wan Qian earned best actress honors for her performance in “Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts.”

In his acceptance speech, Cao reflected on his decade-long journey since winning the same award at Shanghai in 2015 for “The Dead End,” saying he had been “persistently trying to fuse personal expression with high-intensity narrative.”

The best actor prize went to José Martins for his...

Oscar-winner Giuseppe Tornatore, jury head of the 27th Shanghai International Film Festival (Siff), says he will be looking for films that touch his heart as he chairs selection of this year’s Golden Goblet Award winners.

“When I enter a film screening and close my eyes, I always return to the feeling of being an audience member,” Tornatore said Friday during the Shanghai jury’s meeting with the international media. “I always hope that the film will bring me a pleasant surprise every time I go to the cinema.”

The Italian filmmaker is best known for his Academy Award-winner Cinema Paradiso (1988), a film in which a young boy is swept away by the magic of the movies — and the 69-year-old Tornatore said that was the feeling he would be chasing throughout Siff’s 10-day run.

“Every time I go to the cinema to watch a movie, I don’t want...

Shanghai International Film Festival (Siff) has revealed the titles set to compete at its upcoming 27th edition, including the latest features by Cao Baoping, Aktan Arym Kubat and Antonio Ferreira.

They are among 49 titles that will vie for its Golden Goblet Awards, including 12 each from the main competition and the Asian New Talent competition, most of which are world premieres.

Scroll down for competition titles

A trio from China are running in the main competition, including Cao Baoping’s Tianjin-set crime comedy drama One Wacky Summer; Qiu Sheng’s latest China-France collaboration My Father’s Son; and Wang Tong’s feature debut Wild Nights,...

The 27th Shanghai International Film Festival (Siff) has unveiled its Golden Goblet Awards selection, with 49 films competing across five categories.

This year’s edition has set new records, with competition sections receiving over 2,800 submissions from 119 countries and regions, marking notable increases in entries from the Americas and Africa. Short film submissions alone rose 18% year-over-year.

The main competition features 12 titles spanning diverse territories. These include Chilean-u.K.-French co-production “After the Fog” directed by Miriam Heard, Kyrgyzstan’s “Black Red Yellow” from Aktan Arym Kubat, and Brazil’s “Cyclone” directed by Flavia Castro. Chinese cinema is well-represented with entries including “My Father’s Son” (Qiu Sheng), “One Wacky Summer” (Cao Baoping), and “Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts” (Wang Tong). The section also features Poland’s “Loss of Balance” (Korek Bojanowski), Germany’s “Luisa” (Julia Roesler), Japan’s “On Summer Sand” (Shinya Tamada), Argentina-Spain-Chile’s “The Reborn” (Santiago Esteves), Portugal-Brazil’s “The Scent...

The film is out of the running due to a “conflict of interest” among the selection committee.

The producer of Hong Kong film A Light Never Goes Out has spoken out following the disqualification of the feature from the 2024 Oscars race.

The drama was submitted by the Federation of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong for the international feature film category of the 96th Academy Awards in September. But when the Academy revealed the list of eligible titles last Thursday, A Light Never Goes Out was not included and the Federation is trying to figure out why.

Despite the outcome,...

Three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, an emerging generation of filmmakers born and raised in the independent countries of Central Asia is giving an exhilarating charge to the region’s cinema and helping to put their unheralded industries on the map.

Leading Kazakh film critic Gulnara Abikeyeva says these “children of independence” are bringing a “new attitude” to the screen and giving a jolt of energy to emerging industries that for decades were under Moscow’s thumb.

“The production of films is growing very fast in all Central Asian countries,” she says. “There have appeared so many young production studios who can make movies with public or private money.”

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, what Abikeyeva describes as the “euphoria of freedom” caught hold across its former Central Asian republics, which include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. Filmmakers who previously had to submit their...

Update — 6:34 am Pst: Crucindo Hung, chairman of the Federation Of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong, has told local press that Hong Kong’s Oscars submission, A Light Never Goes Out, was disqualified due to a conflict of interest.

Hung said he had changed the 13 members of the selection committee earlier this year after receiving a notice from AMPAS that members couldn’t vote if they’d been on the Federation’s board for more than six years. However, one of the new committee members is also an actor in the selected film. Detecting a conflict of interest, AMPAS asked Hong Kong to submit another film, but the invitation was declined.

Kyrgyzstan also declined an invitation to submit another film this year when the country’s Oscars submission, Aktan Arym Kubat’s This Is What I Remember, was disqualified because it was released before the required window of December 1, 2022 to October 31, 2023. However,...

Every year since its creation in 1956, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) invites the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The category was previously called the Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed in April 2019 to Best International Feature Film, after the Academy deemed the word “Foreign” to be outdated.

The award is presented annually by the Academy to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. For the 96th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must be first released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was October 2, 2023, and 92 countries submitted a film. The 15-film shortlist will be announced on December 21, 2023, followed by the official nominations on January 23, 2024.

Here are this edition's Asian Submissions for Best International Feature Film.

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

The 88 submissions for the best international feature award at the 2023 Oscars have been announced, and Screen has profiled all the entries below.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is set to be announced on December 21 with the final five nominees announced on January 24, 2024 The 95th Academy Awards will take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

The 88 submissions are down from last year when 92 films were in contentions. Four countries submitted this year but have not appeared on the final list - Cuba with Fernando Perez...

Bishkek, named after the mythical and legendary Kyrgyz hero who unified the various Kyrgyz tribes, is the capital of Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous Central Asian country of seven million inhabitants, plus a million Kyrgyz citizens working in the Russian Federation.

Kyrgyzstan borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. It is famous for Lake Issyk-Kul, an inland sea, horse riding, national parks and cinema. Director Tolomush Okeev is the leading figure of the Soviet period. For the post-Soviet period, since

Kyrgyzstan gained independence in 1992, Aktan Arym Kubat Abdykalykov, director who won the Silver Leopard at Locarno (Le Fils adoptif- Beshkempir), was twice selected at Cannes and has attended the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas several times, either as President of the International Jury or as guest of honor for a retrospective of his films.

Bishkek, named after the Soviet military commander Frunze during the Soviet period, has grown like a mushroom in 200 years.

‘This Is What I Remember’ was the first submission by the Asian country in more than 20 years.

Kyrgyzstan’s Oscar selection committee has turned down the US Academy’s request to submit another title for the international feature film category following the rejection of Aktan Arym Kubat’s This Is What I Remember.

The film from the Central Asian country did not make the final list as its release date fell outside the Academy’s release window.

According to Oscar regulations, international feature film submissions must have received a local release between December 1, 2022 and October 31, 2023 in order to qualify. However,...

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...

The Cinema Heritage festival announces the 9 films in the International Competition after more than 500 films were viewed. Costa Gavras and Cristian Mungiu will be the guests of honour on the closing night.

Eva Peydro, Barbara Lorey de Lacharrière and Philip Cheah, who make up the Selection Committee for the first edition of the Cinema Heritage festival, have viewed 500 films from 56 different countries and are presenting the finalists.

The International Competition comprises 9 films:

– The Winter Within by Aamir Bashir India, France, Qatar / 2022 / Paris Premiere

– The Echo by Tatiana Huezo Mexico, Germany / 2023 / French premiere

– Muyeres by Marta Lallana Spain / 2023 / Paris Premiere

– Behind The Haystacks by Asimina Proedrou Greece, Germany, Macedonia / 2022 / French premiere

– The Promised Land by Nikolaj Arcel Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany / 2023 / French premiere

– Lubo by Giorgio Diritti Italy, Switzerland / 2023 /French premiere

– The Land Where Winds Stood Still by Ardak Amirkulov Kazakhstan / 2023 / French premiere

– Esimde (This Is What I Remember) by Aktan Arym Kubat...

There are touches of Fellini and Satyajit Ray in the gentle, unforced artistry of Aktan Abdykalykov’s film, which casts the director’s son in the title role

The admirable Klassiki streaming service, in response to some modest proposals from myself, is now showcasing five movies from central Asian film-makers, and the first is this absolute gem from Kyrgyzstan. It is an autobiographical movie by writer-director Aktan Abdykalykov, much acclaimed on the European festival circuit on first release in 1998: a very personal and immediate film, but with the mystery and calm of a folk tale. It’s a story of the director’s own childhood, and he casts his own teenage son Mirlan as himself. Beshkempir has the fluency and candour of something by Satyajit Ray and its ecstatic retrieval of memory makes me think of Fellini’s Amarcord.

The film is mostly in black and white but starts...

Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees for Best International Feature is made difficult by the three-step process that begins after the October 2, 2023 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 2024 Oscars Best International Feature predictions.)

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 21, 2023.

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

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 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 December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Uzbekistani family drama Sunday, directed by Shokir Kholikov, was named best film of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival’s Asian New Talent section, which honors distinguished works by emerging regional filmmakers.

Sunday tells the story of an elderly couple living a peaceful life in a remote village, with their oldest son residing nearby and their youngest son working abroad. It depicts the conflicting dreams and dramas between two generations.

The Asian New Talents jury awarded the best director prize two filmmakers: Kazakhstan’s Aisultan Seit for Qash; and China’s Luo Dong won for May.

The best actor award went to 10-year-old Yue Hao, who plays the leading role in the Chinese film Day Dreaming. Best actress was given to Sorour Peyrovani, the lead of Iranian film 1.5 Horsepower.

“Every film in the [in the lineup] is very insightful with mature technology. Also, the subject is contemporary, to express the in-depth thinking of society and humanity,...

“Sunday,” by Uzbekistan-based director Shokir Kholikov, was Thursday named best film in the Asian New Talent section of the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival.

The Asian New Talent Awards are called Golden Goblet Awards, but are separate from the festival’s official competition section, and favor new and emerging talent. The main competition jury will hand out its Golden Goblets on Sunday.

The best director prize in the Asian New Talent section was shared by two helmers: China’s Luo Dong won for “May.” So too did Kazakhstan’s Aisultan Seit for “Qash.” Luo previously attended the Shanghai festival’s project market ten years ago and has since completed one other film.

“Every film in the [section] is very insightful with mature technology. Also the subject is contemporary, to express the in-depth thinking of society and humanity,” said Aktan Arym Kubat, chair of jury for Asian New Talent. “I have encountered...

Mai Meksawan’s Thailand-based production, sales and distribution company Diversion has picked up international sales rights to “This Is What I Remember,” a film by Kyrgyz director Aktan Arym Kubat.

“This Is What I Remember” tells the story of an amnesiac old man, played by the director himself, who returns to his homeland after 23 years of ordeals in foreign lands. Events take place in a village in Kyrgyzstan, where he is brought by his adult son. Much has changed during his absence. These include the morals of the villagers, the realities of a changing world, the rise of radical Islam, crime and corruption.

The film had its world premiere in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October and subsequently won the Jury Grand Prize at the Australia-based Apsa Awards.

The film is a co-production between Kyrgyzstan producers Kyrgyzfilm and Oy Art, with Volya Films (The Netherlands), Bitters End...

Drama from Kyrgyzstan’s Aktan Arym Kubat won the jury grand prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Bangkok-based outfit Diversion has secured world sales rights to This Is What I Remember, the latest drama from leading Kyrgyz filmmaker Aktan Arym Kubat.

The film premiered in competition at Tokyo International Film Festival in October and received the jury grand prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards last month.

It is a co-production between Kyrgyzstan’s Kyrgyzfilm and Oy Art, the Netherlands’ Volya Films, Japan’s Bitters End, and France’s Mandra Films.

The story follows a man, played by Kubat,...

Indonesian director Kamila Andini’s “Before Now and Then” was named best film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. The film’s lead actor Happy Salma was on hand to receive the award at a ceremony in Gold Coast, Australia, on Friday.

The film recounts the story of a young woman who escapes an anti-Communist purge and leads a quiet life as the second wife of a wealthy man. But her past traumas resurface in her dreams.

Although the win is the first time that an Indonesian title has been named Apsa’s best film, and the first time that a woman has claimed the prize, it is the third time that Andini has won a feature film Apsa. Previously, she won the best children’s film prize with “The Mirror Never Lies” in 2012 and collected the youth feature film prize with “The Seen and Unseen” in 2017.

Other key prizes...

Click here to read the full article.

In a welcome return to normalcy, the Tokyo International Film Festival rolled out the full red carpet, all 541 feet of it, for the first time since 2019, once again welcoming guests from around the globe to a new venue for its opening ceremony on a brisk autumn evening in the Japanese capital.

The Covid-19 pandemic had kept international visitors away for the last few editions, but the opening of the 35th Tokyo festival felt like old times. More than one hundred overseas guests are joining the proceedings this year — some paying their own way to Tokyo as sky-high airline ticket prices drained the event’s budget — up from just eight at the 2021 edition.

The red carpet, which clocked in at almost two hours, snaked its way from Toho’s famed Godzilla statue in front of Hibiya Midtown to the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater. Once a fixture of Roppongi,...

Tokyo International Film Festival’s 35th edition will include titles from Bui Thac Chuyen, Olivia Wilde and Hiroki Ryuichi.

The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today unveiled its line-up for its first full-scale physical edition since the pandemic started, with 15 international competition titles including its first from Vietnam - Bui Thac Chuyen’s Glorious Ashes.

Set to make its world premiere at TIFF, the film was a recipient of the Asean Co-production Fund (Acof) launched by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (Fdcp) and the Southeast Asia co-production grant (Scpg) established by the Singapore Film Commission (Sfc), as...

Iranian action drama “World War III,” which won two awards at the recent Venice festival, will feature among the main competition titles at next month’s Tokyo International Film Festival.

The festival will operate as an in-person event with foreign filmmakers, media and other guests in attendance from Oct. 24-Nov. 2, 2022.

“World War III” is joined in the competition section by the world premiere of Milcho Manchevski’s “Kaymak,” Spanish director Carlos Vermut’s “Manticore” and Roberta Torre’s “The Fabulous Ones,” Michale Boganim’s “Tel Aviv Beirut,” and Youssef Chebbi’s debut film “Ashkal.”

The 15-strong competition also includes two Japanese films Imaizumi Rikiya’s “By The Window” and Matsunaga Daishi’s “Egoist” and two Japanese co-productions, Fukunaga Takeshi’s “Mountain Woman,” and Kyrgyzstan director Aktan Arym Kubat’s “This Is What I Remember.”

Winners from the competition section will be chosen by a jury headed by Julie Taymor, along with Joao Pedro Rodrigues,...

The 23rd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival goes online and presents the best documentaries from all over the world, an exciting feature and the most thrilling documentaries for children and young people. 50 documentaries in total will be presented from Thursday March 4 to Sunday March 14, 2021, through the Festival’s digital platform Here.

The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival will be held this year in a hybrid way. From March 4 – 14, 2021 it will take place online through the Festival platform for viewers in Greece and from June 24 until July 4, 2021 it will take place in physical spaces and online. The Festival’s three competition sections and the Greek documentary production will be presented during the summer.

Here are the Asian Titles of the Festival:

“The Train Stop”

by Sergei Loznitsa

Destination: Journey

This section explores the modern experience of travelling and our relationship with it through the fascinating tribute Destination: Journey that includes a total of 22 films; 20 documentaries and two fiction films.

Four iconic 90s releases from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are now available in English and online for 2020’s Tashkent Film Encounters.

Tashkent’s Centre of Contemporary Art has released a new online programme to share the best contemporary classics from Central Asian cinema.

Created together with Saodat Ismailova, a Paris-based Uzbek director, Tashkent Film Encounters says it aims to promote and safeguard the region’s cinematic heritage.

The festival had initially planned to bring together Central Asian directors for a series of film screenings in the Uzbek capital. But, as the Covid-19 pandemic dismantled their plans, the organisers instead moved the project online. Now, from 2 June, English-speaking audiences can view the festival’s selection of the four best contemporary Central Asian films – as voted by audiences – for free on the project’s website.

“I have long wanted to organise something like the Tashkent Film Encounters because, unfortunately, we don...

In the blue waiting room of an orphanage sits a Kyrgyz woman in a traditional head scarf, while in a nearby dormitory a young boy is awakened and told his mother has finally come to pick him up. As mother and son stride across the playground together, the other children envy his luck. But there’s something inscrutable about the pair: Zhipara (a beautifully careworn Perizat Ermanbaeva) seems more grimly determined than overjoyed at this reunion, after an unexplained 10-year separation. And Uluk (Daniel Daiyerbekov) looks wary, his eyes those of an old man, set deep and sad in his little-boy face.

This is the quietly arresting beginning to Russian director Elizaveta Stishova’s Kyrgyzstan-set “Suleiman Mountain,” a mixture of sober, ethnographic study and high melodrama that compels even when it doesn’t quite convince. Perhaps it’s Stishova’s outsider point of view that places the film indefinably but...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kyrgyzstan has selected Kentavr (Centaur), directed by Aktan Arym Kubat, as its submission for the best foreign-language film race at the Oscars.

Set in the mountains outside Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, the allegorical tale of humans, animals and nature centers on a horse thief who goes by the nickname Centaur.

The film premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlin film festival this past February and won the Cicae Award.

Centaur was co-produced by Kyrgyzstan's Oy Art, France's Asap Films, Germany's Pallas Film and the Netherlands' Volya Films. The Match Factory handles international sales.

The director's previous films...

Exclusive: Festival winners sell to Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.

Art-house stalwart The Match Factory has secured a slew of deals on its Berlinale and Efm slate, including on the three films which won awards for the company at the festival.

Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side Of Hope, winner of the Silver Bear for best director, sold out in Europe during the Efm and has additionally been snapped up for Japan (Eurospace), Brazil (Imovision), Cis (Russian Report) Hong Kong (Edko), Mexico (Mantarraya) Turkey (Filmarti) and China (Time-in-Portrait).

Deals for other key markets are understood to be in the works while deals for the digitally remastered Kaurismäki Classics collection have been closed for China (Time-in-Portrait) and Hong Kong (Edko).

German comedy Bye Bye Germany, the Berlinale special title starring Moritz Bleibtreu, went to Australia/Nz (Jiff), Brazil (Mares), Bulgaria (Bulgarian Film Vision), China (Time-in-Portait), Cis (Russian Report), Greece (Feelgood), Turkey (Filmarti), Hong Kong (Edko), Hungary (Cirko...

Seven years after his international breakthrough with The Light Thief, Aktan Arym Kubat has returned with "The Horse Thief." Or that's at least what Centaur could have been titled, since the Kyrgyz filmmaker's sixth feature revolves around a man given to riding across wide open steppes on thoroughbreds taken from stables across town.

The stealing aside, other similarities abound between Kubat's latest outing and The Light Thief. Just like the electrician from the 2010 film who tweaks power lines to give electricity to the poor, Centaur's protagonist steals from the corrupt rich, which he considers to be an act of...

Eight features and eight short films from the Netherlands or supported by the Dutch have been selected for the 67th Berlin International Film Festival that runs 9–19 Feb 2017.“The Wound”

“The Wound” is the only film ever to world premiere in Sundance, continue into Hivos Tiger Competition in Rotterdam and play Opening Night at the Berlinale Panorama. The movie is universal and potent exploraton of conflicting conceptions of what it means to be a man.

A lonely, young factory worker Xolani travels to a remote mountain camp in South Africa to tend teenage boys going through a traditional Xhola rite of passage. This year, Xolani is assigned to mentor Kwanda, a coddled Jo’burg boy who challenges the customs of the camp and is ostracized by other initiates. Kwanda, as observant as he is insolent, quickly notices the attraction between Xolani and his fellow caregiver, the volatile Vija. Heeding Kwanda’s exhortations,...

Berlin’s Panorama lineup also includes new films from Us, China and Brazil.

Berlin’s Panorama strand is now complete following the addition of 24 additional titles.

A total of 51 works from 43 countries have been chosen for screening in the section, including 21 in Panorama Dokumente and 29 feature films in the main programme and Panorama Special. 36 of these films will be getting their world premieres at the Berlinale.

The German production Tiger Girl by Jakob Lass will open this year’s edition of Panorama Special at Berlin’s Zoo Palast cinema, along with the previously announced Brazilian production Vazante.

Among newly confirmed films are UK Sundance title God’s Own Country, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, Cate Shortland’s Berlin Syndrome, feminist fairy tale The Misandrists by Berlinale regular Bruce Labruce, Erik Poppe’s The King’s Choice and Belgian-French-Lebanese co-production Insyriated which stars Hiam Abbass as a woman trapped in an apartment during war.[p...

Sally Potter's The PartyThe titles for the 67th Berlin International Film Festival are being announced in anticipation of the event running February 9 - 19, 2017. We will update the program as new films are revealed.COMPETITIONOn Body and Soul (Ildiko Enyedi, Hungary)Ana, mon amour (Călin Peter Netzer, Romania / Germany France)Beuys (Andres Veiel, Germany)Colo (Teresa Villaverde, Portugal / France)The Dinner (Oren Moverman, USA)Félicité (Alain Gomis, France / Senegal / Belgium / Germany / Lebanon)The Party (Sally Potter, UK)Spoor (Agnieszka Holland, Poland / Germany/ Czech Republic / Sweden / Slovak Republic)The Other Side of Hope (Aki Kaurismäki, Finland)A Fantastic Woman (Sebastián Lelio, Chile / German / USA / Spain)Berlinale SPECIALThe Queen of Spain (Fernando Trueba, Spain)The Young Karl Marx (Raoul Peck, France / Germany / Belgium)Last Days in Havana (Fernando Pérez, Cuba / Spain)PANORAMAVazante (Daniela Thomas, Brazil/Portugal)I Am Not Your Negro (Raoul Peck, France/USA/Belgium/Switzerland)The Wound (John Trengove, South Africa/Germany/Netherlands/France)Politics,...

The Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the first 11 titles in its Panorama section, including Raoul Peck’s “I Am Not Your Negro,” the James Schamus-produced “Casting JonBenet” and Daniela Thomas’ “Vazante.” John Trengrove’s “The Wound” will open the section.

Read More: 5 Exciting Films in the 2017 Berlin Film Festival Competition Lineup

The festival says two prominent themes have emerged among the films. The first involves “Reclaiming Black History” or “a fresh historically reflective approach to the history of black people in North America, South America and Africa”; and the second is “Europa Europa,” or “how progressive forces might best defend themselves in light of a zeitgeist that makes it seem as if yesterday never went away.”

The Panorama titles are listed below with synopses and divided by theme. The festival will run from February 9 through 17.

In Focus: Reclaiming Black History

“Vazante” (Daniela Thomas, Brazil/Portugal); with Adriano Carvalho,...

South African-set The Wound, directed by John Trengove, set to kick off this year’s Panorama main programme.

The Berlin Film Festival (9-19 February) has announced the first 11 films for its Panorama strand.

The films have been grouped according to two themes - ‘Reclaiming Black History’ and ‘Europa Europa’.

The Wound, directed by John Trengove, opens this year’s Panorama main programme. Set in South Africa, it revolves around a Johannesburg businessman who takes his 17-year-old son to the circumcision ceremony of his old tribe.

The complete list of films announced so far are:

In Focus: Reclaiming Black History

The Wound (South Africa/Germany/Netherlands/France)

Dir. John Trengove

European premiere

I Am Not Your Negro (France / USA / Belgium / Switzerland)

Dir. Raoul Peck

European premiere

Vazante (Brazil / Portugal)

Dir. Daniela Thomas

World premiere

Europa Europa

Politics, Instructions Manual (Spain)

Dir. Fernando León de Aranoa

European premiere

Fighting Through the Night (Canada)

Dir. Sylvain L’Espérance...

Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation won the Grand Prix at this year’s Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff), overshadowed in its final days by the shooting down of a Malaysian Airways plane.

Lavie’s debut feature, handled internationally by The Match Factory, was voted by the festival-goers to receive the Golden Duke statuette and the $12,000 cash prize.

Director Lavie and actress Shani Klein were accompanied on stage by the Israel Film Fund Katriel Schory to accept the Grand Prix from the hands of the Oiff president Viktoriya Tigipko.

News of the Malaysian Airways plane tragedy broke early on Thursday evening during a reception in honour of Turkish films showing at the festival.

A minute’s silence was held in memory of the crash victims ahead of Gogol Wives’ documentary Pussy vs Putin that evening.

On Friday, another minute of silence was held at the beginning of the awards ceremony in memory of the aeroplane’s passengers as well...

Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation won the Grand Prix at this year’s Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff), overshadowed in its final days by the shooting down of a Malaysian Airways plane.

Lavie’s debut feature, handled internationally by The Match Factory, was voted by the festival-goers to receive the Golden Duke statuette and the $12,000 cash prize.

Director Lavie and actress Shani Klein were accompanied on stage by the Israel Film Fund Katriel Schory to accept the Grand Prix from the hands of the Oiff president Viktoriya Tigipko.

News of the Malaysian Airways plane tragedy broke early on Thursday evening during a reception in honour of Turkish films showing at the festival.

A minute’s silence was held in memory of the crash victims ahead of Gogol Wives’ documentary Pussy vs Putin that evening.

On Friday, another minute of silence was held at the beginning of the awards ceremony in memory of the aeroplane’s passengers as well...

International co-production and co-production markets around the globe will not be the same now following the news that the internationally respected German producer-distributor Karl Baumgartner has died at the age of 65.

Known affectionately by friends and colleagues alike as ¨Baumi¨, Baumgartner hailed from the South Tyrol, but was ¨ at home¨ in different countries and cultures, working with film-makers on projects located in some of the seemingly most inaccessible or logistically nightmarish parts of the planet.

Hearing him recount the making of Bakhtiar Khudojnazarov’s Luna Papa at one of the countless co-production panels with his tales of the shooting being stopped by floods washing the set away, the outbreak of civil war and being evacuated by the Red Cross floods, one often wondered whether he purposely looked for such challenges.

Not to speak of the challenge of putting such delicate and time-consuming co-production structures together involving tried-and-tested production partners, public funders and broadcasters from across Europe and beyond...

In more Berlinale news, two new episodes of House of Cards to be shown on festival closing day.

The award will be presented to Baumgartner after laudatory speeches by Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick and Aki Kaurismäki on Feb 8 before a screening of Kaurismäki’s 1991 film La Vie de Bohème.

In 1982, Baumgartner and Reinhard Brundig founded the distrubution company Pandora Filmverleih in Frankfurt, which became one of the leading players in the world of interational arthouse cinema, discovering such talents as Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurimäki, Sally Potter, Andrei Tarkovsky and Kim Ki Duk.

Pandora’s move into production has seen the company backing films by Emir Kusturica (Underground), Sam Garbarski (Irina Palm), Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre), Sergey Dvorstevoy (Tulpan), Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive), Claire Denis (Bastards), and, most recently, Fatih Akin (The Cut), to mention just a handful.

Apart from Cologne-based Pandora Filmproduktion, Baumgartner is also a partner with Thanassis Karathanos in Pallas Film, which...

In more Berlinale news, two new episodes of House of Cards to be shown on festival closing day.

The award will be presented to Baumgartner after laudatory speeches by Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick and Aki Kaurismäki on Feb 8 before a screening of Kaurismäki’s 1991 film La Vie de Bohème.

In 1982, Baumgartner and Reinhard Brundig founded the distrubution company Pandora Filmverleih in Frankfurt, which became one of the leading players in the world of interational arthouse cinema, discovering such talents as Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurimäki, Sally Potter, Andrei Tarkovsky and Kim Ki Duk.

Pandora’s move into production has seen the company backing films by Emir Kusturica (Underground), Sam Garbarski (Irina Palm), Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre), Sergey Dvorstevoy (Tulpan), Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive), Claire Denis (Bastards), and, most recently, Fatih Akin (The Cut), to mention just a handful.

Apart from Cologne-based Pandora Filmproduktion, Baumgartner is also a partner with Thanassis Karathanos in Pallas Film, which...

New projects from Pakalnina, Louhimies and Kilmi at Tallinn market.

New films from Laila Pakalnina (Dawn), Aku Louhimies (True) and Jaak Kilmi (Heroes from the East) are among 12 projects from 11 countries selected for this year’s Baltic Event co-production market which will be held in Tallinn from November 27-29.

Local Estonian film-maker Kilmi will be at the Baltic Event for the second year in a row after presenting another feature project, The Hoppers, which won the Screen International Best Pitch Award last year.

As the Baltic Event’s organisers point out, the 2013 line-up has a large number of feature debutants – six in total – ranging from Romania’s Botond-Csaba Püsök (Miracle in Cluj) through Ukraine’s Marysia Nikitiuk (When The Trees Are Falling) to Finland’s Jussi Hiltunen (Law of the Land).

In addition, Julietta Sichel, the former programme director of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, is coming to Tallinn with her company 8Heads Production and Stanislav Babic of Croatia...

The recently created Saint-Petersburg-based Point Of View (Pov) Development Fund has backed three film projects a total of $86,000 (€65,000).

An international expert group of producers that selected the projects included Sergei Selyanov (Ctb Film Company), Artem Vasiliev (Metrafilms), Riina Sildos (Amrion), Konstantinos Kontovrakis (Heretic) and Berlin-based sales agent Jean-Christophe Simon of Films Boutique.

The films they selected each have the fate of a woman at their centre:

The Woman From Ingria, to be produced by Pavel Odynin, is based on the biography of a simple woman in the north-western corner of Russia during the 20th century (€25,000);

Svetlana follows the real love story between Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva and the Indian raj Brajesh Singh in the mid-1960s. It will be produced by Anastasia Perova, Olga Kolegaeva and Konstantin Nafikov with Karsten Stöter of Germany’s Rohfilm,which was a co-producer of Ritesh Batra’s Cannes hit The Lunchbox (€25,000);

Manifestation, the feature debut by Georgian-born film-maker Anna Sarukhanova...

Hello Sound on Sight readers! My name is Edgar Chaput. You may have come across some of my articles over the past couple of months. I became a new addition to the Montreal based team of writers back in December of last year and have contributed, to the best of my abilities, with two weekly columns (Friday Noir and Shaw Brothers Saturdays) as well as some general reviews for press screenings concerning new theatrical releases.

I have been assigned a new, thrilling task as a Sound on Sight writer, that being film festival coverage. It will be a privilege share the word with you, the tremendously astute Sound on Sight fans, on some great new movies which travel the festival circuit and make pit stops in Montreal, Québec. I hope to live up to the challenge.

This very weekend marks the start of the 3rd annual AmérAsia Film Festival, with...

The AmérAsia Film Festival is proud to announce the five principle subcategories – Asian Treasures, Animation Spotlight, WeDistribute, Québécois Special and AmerAsia(AA) Shorts – for this third edition of Montreal’s premiere festival celebrating the latest Asian and Asian-Canadian cinema, taking place on the first two weekends of March.

Asian Treasure

The full line-up of blockbuster Asian films that will screen over the course of the festival has been chosen from the best of the continent’s creative talent. Oscar-nominated Chinese blockbuster Aftershock, the international premiere of Kyung-soon’s “Red Maria”, funny and moving major festival selection ”The Day He Arrives“ by director Hong Sang-soo, the Cannes award-winning ”Arirang – Movie” by renowned Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk, Best Newcomer nominee at the 2012 Asian Film Awards I Wish, and Vietnamese director Cuong Ngo’s captivating personal portraits in Pearls of the Far East will all feature.

Also included is 24th Tokyo International Film Festival selection Power of Two,...

The AmérAsia Film Festival has announced the five principle subcategories for its third edition of Montreal’s premiere festival celebrating the latest Asian and Asian-Canadian cinema, taking place on the first two weekends of March. There are plenty of titles to get excited about including Arirang by renowned Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk, Jiro Dreams of Sushi and the Oscar-nominated Chinese blockbuster Aftershock. Here is the full press release.

Asian Treasure

The full line-up of blockbuster Asian films that will screen over the course of the festival has been chosen from the best of the continent’s creative talent. Oscar-nominated Chinese blockbuster Aftershock, the international premiere of Kyung-soon’s Red Maria, funny and moving major festival selection The Day He Arrives by director Hong Sangsoo, the Cannes award-winning Arirang by renowned Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk, Best Newcomer nominee at the 2012 Asian Film Awards I Wish, and Vietnamese director Cuong Ngo’s...