News

Gullane+, the fast-growing distribution arm of top Brazilian production company Gullane Entretenimento, has acquired both Brazilian and international distribution rights to Lírio Ferreira and Karen Harley’s “Para Vigo Me Voy.”

The documentary, playing at Cannes Classics, is a portrait of the legendary Brazilian filmmaker Carlos Diegues told through the weaving of film excerpts and rare footage into a journey through 60 years of Brazilian cinema.

Speaking with Variety out of Cannes, Gullane co-founder and producer Fabiano Gullane calls the documentary a “tribute to one of the most important directors and producers we ever had in Brazil,” adding that Diegues was pioneering in how he “paved the way” for Brazilian cinema in the international market. It is a particularly poignant homage considering that the country recently landed its first-ever Oscar for Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” and is in a prominent position at this year’s Cannes Film Festival as the...

Exclusive: Brazilian filmmaker Cao Hamburger, whose credits include Berlinale 2007 title The Year My Parents Went On Vacation, has lined up the feature School Without Walls with Brazilian production powerhouse Gullane, Portugal’s Ukbar Filmes and France’s Playtime Group.

Leading Brazilian actor Julio Andrade, one of Brazil’s most celebrated actors, stars in the film about the inspirational headteacher at a public school in Heliopolis, one of the largest favelas in Brazil.

School Without Walls is being backed by Globo Filmes and Telecine and will start shooting this summer.

Separately, Gullane’s new distribution arm Gullane + has acquired international rights to Para Vigo Me Voy,...

Quentin Tarantino will be the guest of honour at Cannes Classics, the repertory cinema strand of Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection.

Tarantino will present two western films by George Sherman – 1949’s Red Canyon, and 1950’s Comanche Territory – and will take part in a discussion with critic and filmmaker Elvis Mitchell.

Scroll down for the full selection of Cannes Classics titles

The Classics lineup includes the Cannes pre-opening film, a 4K restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s 1925 The Gold Rush, restored by the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory at the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna. Mk2 Films is arranging a worldwide re-release of the...

Quentin Tarantino will be guest of honor of Cannes Classics this year with a special tribute devoted to late low-budget westerns director George Sherman.

The Cannes regular, who won the Palme d’Or winner for Pulp Fiction and President of the Jury in 2004, will share his passion for Sherman’s work with screenings of two of his westerns made for Universal Pictures – Red Canyon and Comanche Territory – in one of his most creative periods.

Tarantino will participate in a conversation about Sherman moderated by critic and documentary filmmaker Elvis Mitchell.

Other highlights of the program devoted to classic cinema include a pre-opening screening of Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush, to mark the centenary of its making, as well as a 25th anniversary screening of Amores perros by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, in the presence of director, and the 50th anniversary screening of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

Shia Labeouf...

Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s “Birds of Passage,” Colombia’s official entry to the Oscars’ Foreign-Language category, took home the best picture Fenix Award in a glittering ceremony held in Mexico City on Nov. 7. Its lead actress, Carmiña Martínez, clinched the best actress Fenix.

However, Argentine period drama “Zama” by Lucrecia Martel snagged the most awards, including cinematography, editing, sound and art design.

In a nod to the boom in premium TV series, the Fenix have included included television nominees since last year. Alex Pina’s Atresmedia-produced Netflix heist thriller series, “La Casa de Papel” (“Money Heist”), nabbed best series while Gael Garcia Bernal and Kyzza Terraza’s “Here on Earth” won best ensemble cast for a family drama-thriller series which toplines some of the most renowned actors in the Spanish-speaking world, such as Mexico’s Daniel Giménez Cacho, Chile’s Luis Gnecco and Spain’s Ariadna Gil.

Marcelo Martinez...

If women have struggled to regularly breakthrough with the big narrative films that dominate the box office and turn directors into stars, the low-budget/small-crew environment of documentary filmmaking is one area where female directors have excelled. One of the most promising documentarians of the past decade, having been nominated for an Oscar the past two years, is British filmmaker Lucy Walker.

After some work in television, Walker made her entrance on the scene in 2002 with the documentary Devil’s Playground, a gritty and fascinating look at the Amish practice of rumspringa, where teenagers are given a chance to live outside the strict Amish rules in order to decide whether to commit themselves to the community. Equal parts shocking and predictable, the reaction to freedom from these strict constraints can be quite extreme.

Her second effort, 2006′s Blindsight, examines the work of the organization Braille Without Borders mentoring blind teenagers in Tibet.

There is that classic saying that goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” For famed artist Vik Muniz, it’s “One man’s trash is another man’s art.” World renowned and applauded for his art, Muniz has spent the past couple of decades creating mesmerizing works of art by only using various pieces of trash and garbage as his tools. Director Lucy Walker, along with co-directors João Jardim and Karen Harley, followed Muniz for three years as he created his most ambitious work of art to date and what resulted was the Academy Award-nominated documentary, Waste Land. You can read my review after the jump. Opening with the immediately charming Muniz while he has a smile on his face as he explains how he became an artist all thanks to being shot, Waste Land starts on an upbeat note as we get to know Muniz and...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Limitless – Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro

The Lincoln Lawyer – Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe

Paul – Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen

Movie of the Week

Limitless

The Stars: Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro

The Plot: A copywriter (Cooper) discovers a top-secret drug which gives him super-human abilities.

The Buzz: Until recently, I couldn’t stand Bradley Cooper — and no, it wasn’t his role in A-Team that won me over, it was, hearkening back a decade, his role in the television series ‘Alias.’ Yes, I’m a total johnny-come-lately when it comes to that show, but I love it, and I love Bradley Cooper in it. He can act, I was surprised to see. His success with ‘Alias’ ultimately launched his career, and now, ten years later, here he is approaching A-list status, starring in a fine-looking action film,...

With Berlinale wrapped, let's take one last looksie at random celebs working the premieres and photo ops. Part of our irregular red carpet lineup tradition. And then the awardage.

From left to right: I didn't know what Michael Winterbottom looked like, so I've included him here. He's a boyish 48. I think his career is pretty fascinating because it covers so much global ground and differing genre terrain. He's so prolific while still making intelligent films. I'm impatient so prolific works for me. That said, his new noir The Killer Inside Me might be one I'll have to skip. If festival types are so horrified by the violence I'm sure it's more than I can take.

Julianne Moore looking foxy on her way to fifty. She's gone a bit goth here with smoky eyes, black dress and black fingernails. More on her in a bit.

Two-time Oscar nominee Isabelle Adjani, who hasn't been working much,...

A Family directed by Pernille Fischer Christensen which was in the Competition section won the Fipresci (the international film critics association) prize for Best Film in the 60th edition of the Berlinale.

According to Ians reports, after receiving the International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) award Friday, the 27-year-old debutante director dedicated it "to the whole community of La Barra", a village on Colombia's northern coast where the filming took place. From the Panorama, the Fipresci award was given to Parade by Isao Yukisada and Crab Trap directed by Oscar Ruíz Navia from the Forum won this prize.

Generation K Plus awards were also announced on Saturday. Crystal Bear for the Best Film went to Shui Yuet Sun Tau (Hongkong / China)  by Alex Law while This Way Of Life(New Zealand / Canada) by Thomas Burstyn won a special mention from the Jury.

Crystal Bear for the Best Short Film went...

As I said in Toronto and again at the Hof Flm Festival, until there is parity between male and female directors I will continue to look at women directors. I heard the other day that the number of women directors is actually decreasing in the television world.

Here are some quick facts on Sundance this year:

If you include shorts- 51 women directors are represented at Sundance.

In the Premiere section, out of 16 films 7 have women directors.

John Cooper, Director, Sundance Film Festival, brought it to my attention that "Low Budget is dominated by the boys still but that is changing with Lynn Shelton, Katie Aselton etc stepping up. Even there, many have women producers. I have a hunch in the indie creative producer world women dominate. Like I said, that is just a hunch I have never done a study."

Sundance Film Festival is showing approximately 115 features. Of those 25 (20%) are...

  Berlin -- Brit director Mat Whitecross, who shook up the Berlin film festival with his last two documentaries, "The Shock Doctrine" (2009) and "Road to Guantanamo" (2006) is returning this year with "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll," a biopic of British punk icon Ian Dury starring Andy Serkis.

"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" is certain to be one of the highlights of this year's Panorama lineup, which was announced Friday.

Other returning veterans include French filmmakers Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel, whose new drama "Family Tree" will have its world premiere in Berlin; Hong Kong helmer Skud, coming to town with "Amphetamine" and Austrian director Peter Kern, whose "Initiation" looks at the relationship between an octogenarian and a 16-year-old boy.

Art and gay cinema have always had pride of place at the Panorama, and are well represented in the 2010 lineup. Panorama's non-fiction section, the Dokumente, includes "Waste Land," Lucy Walker's portrait of artist...