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Barcelona-born, Beirut-based Irene Bartolomé’s experimental feature Dream Of Another Summer won the top prize in Locarno Pro’s First Look section which this year focused on works-in-progress from Spain.

Bartolomé, who has worked for the past 10 years as a film editor, received the Antaviana Films First Look Award, covering services towards the completion of films in post-production up to the value of €50,000.

The international First Look jury, comprising Istanbul Film Festival director Kerem Ayan, Venice Critics’ Week artistic director Beatrice Fiorentino and Rotterdam programmer Mercedes Martínez-Abarca, described the co-production between Colibrí Studio, I.B. Films and The Attic Productions as...

Locarno, Switzerland — Two affecting doc-fiction hybrids from Barcelona – “Dream of Another Summer” and “Downriver, a Tiger”– triumphed Sunday at Locarno’s First Look pix-in-post strand, focused on Spain.

In other awards announced by Locarno Pro, the festival’s dynamic industry arm, Liliana Cavani’s 1970 “The Year of the Cannibals” won Locarno Pro’s Historical Restoration Contest.

Laureates at European co-production initiative Alliance 4 Development took in, notably, “Bourgeois Paranoia” by Lukas Nathrath, a former Locarno First Look winner.

Composed of a series of extended fixed-frame shots of the streets of Beirut and parts of am apartment, Irene Bartolomé’s “Dream” builds, often elliptically, as a portrait of a woman returning to Beirut after Lebanon’s 2020 financial crash and a massive chemical explosion in the city’s port.

She’s on an emotional slide; Beirut and Lebanon are – sometimes literally – near to collapse. Doc feature specialist Colibri Studio produces.

“This film could...

The Locarno Film Festival’s Locarno Pro industry strand on Sunday unveiled the winners of its industry

awards, including its First Look works-in-progress section focusing on projects on the verge of completion, the co-development program Alliance 4 Development, and the second Heritage Restoration Contest.

The winners were unveiled during the Locarno Pro Award Ceremony on Sunday. The promising feature film projects that competed for the First Look awards were from this year’s focus country, Spain.

The Locarno Pro industry strand of the Locarno festival this year included industry panels on AI and more, as well as a masterclass by Romanian auteur Radu Jude.

Check out the full list of winners below.

First Look

First Look was held in partnership with Icaa, the Spanish Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts, and Icex Spain Trade & Investment.

The jury that awarded the prizes was comprised of Beatrice Fiorentino, artistic director of Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week,...

Experimental feature Dream of Another Summer has picked up Locarno Pro’s Antaviana Films First Look Award, the biggest prize handed out by the festival’s industry section. The award comes with post-production services up to €50,000.

The feature is helmed by Barcelona-born, Beirut-based filmmaker Irene Bartolomé. Producers on the project are Pere Marzo (Colibrí Studio), Bartolomé (I.B. Films), and Elie Kamal (The Attic Productions).

Discussing their choice, the Locarno Pro jury — comprised of Beatrice Fiorentino, Kerem Ayan, and Mercedes Martínez-Abarca — said the film is “a poetic and rigorous project that elaborates on collective trauma by rewriting the topography of a city wounded many times by history.”

The jury added: “In its dual public and private dimensions, it restores the complexity of a territory marked by the past and the drive for modernity.”

Elsewhere,...

All genres are welcome at Locarno’s co-development initiative Alliance 4 Development this year, from “dramas to dark comedies and thrillers,” says project manager Francesca Palleschi. But 11 projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland do share some recurring themes.

“Identity, history’s enduring legacy, environmental concerns, family ties, the sense of belonging and displacement, societal dynamics. And the desperate search for attention,” Palleschi list.

In “I’m Not Here to Make Friends” by Julia Niemann, who recently enjoyed arthouse success with controversial Sundance premiere “Veni Vidi Vici” co-directed with Daniel Hoesl, she’s following Emmy, a contestant on a dating reality show. The film will be shot in English.

“Reality TV may be the lowest of all forms of entertainment. But when it’s done well, it tells of nothing less than the human condition, just like the movies. It’s a film about what we all want: Attention. Why...

Beta Cinema has closed the first deals on tragicomedy “One Last Evening,” the inventive debut feature film from up-and-coming German director Lukas Nathrath.

The Munich-based sales agency discovered the film at the Locarno Film Festival last year, where it screened in the Works-in-Progress section, and took the main prize, the First Look Award.

The film has been sold to Filmwelt for Germany and Austria, September Film for Benelux, Aurora Films for Poland and Discovery for the former Yugoslavian territories.

“One Last Evening” (“Letzter Abend”) draws a poignant and humorous portrait of Generation Y. The film, which is set during the pandemic, centers around a dinner party hosted by a young couple as they prepare to move from Hanover to Berlin.

Lisa is an on-the-rise doctor bracing herself for a new position; Clemens is a talented but unsuccessful singer-songwriter crippled by self-doubt. To say goodbye, they host a dinner party in their now-empty flat.

Fest focus on films by up-and-coming talent from Geman-speaking world.

Max Gleschinski’s Alaska won the top prize in the feature film competition at this year’s Filmfestival Max Ophüls, which was held in Saarbrücken on the German-French border from January 23-29.

Focusing on works by up-and-coming talent from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg, the festival is considered the most important newcomer film festival in the German-speaking world.

Rostock-based Gleschinski’s second feature centres on a 40-something woman who slowly finds her way back into life after nursing her father for 20 years, and falls in love with another woman.

The...

Lukas Nathrath’s Generation Y drama “One Last Evening,” which has its world premiere in the Tiger Competition of International Film Festival Rotterdam, has debuted its trailer (below). The film was the winner of the First Look Award, part of the industry section of the Locarno Film Festival. Beta Cinema is handling international sales.

The film is set during the pandemic, and centers on a young couple who want a fresh start, moving from Hanover to Berlin. Lisa is an on-the-rise doctor bracing herself for a new position; Clemens is a talented but unsuccessful singer-songwriter crippled by self-doubt.

To say goodbye, they host a dinner party in their now empty flat. But good friends cancel — and uninvited guests show up. As the attendees start eyeing each other’s achievements, the evening slowly escalates, leading to an emotional crash that uncovers misunderstandings, rivalries, animosities and anxieties.

Sebastian Jakob Doppelbauer stars in the film,...

Exclusive: German Films, the agency that promotes German cinema globally, has unveiled the seven participants for the eighth edition of its annual Face to Face campaign, which include talents who have worked on projects ranging from Berlin Alexanderplatz to David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future to Amazon Prime Video hit We Children of Bahnhof Zoo.

This year’s edition, which is dubbed Face to Face with German Films – The Filmmakers, will showcase seven filmmakers who have made a lasting impact on the German film industry with their creative and artistic work. The initiative is considered a prominent platform for showcasing German talent to the international film and television worlds.

The participants this year are: screenwriter Sönke Anderson, who has worked on projects such as 2019 Grimme Award winner Familie Lotzmann Auf Den Barrikaden and upcoming opera film Orphea In Love; actor Welket Bungué, who has appeared in Berlin Alexanderplatz, Body...

Following the lineups from Slamdance and Sundance, an early look at 2023 in cinema has come into further focus with the announcement of the competition lineup for the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Taking place January 25 through February 5, the festival will open with Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s Munch, an experimental biopic of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Along with the Tiger and Big Screen competition, seen below, the festival will also Steve McQueen’s latest artwork Sunshine State, a two-channel video projection.

Check out the lineup below via THR.

Opening Film

Munch, dir. Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken

Tiger Competition

100 Seasons, dir. Giovanni Bucchieri

Gagaland, dir. Teng Yuhan

Geology of Separation, dirs. Yosr Gasmi, Mauro Mazzocchi

Indivision, dir. Leïla Kilani

Letzter Abend, dir. Lukas Nathrath

Mannvirki, dir. Gústav Geir Bollason

Munnel, dir. Visakesa Chandrasekaram

New Strains, dir. Artemis Shaw, Prashanth Kamalakanthan

Notas sobre un verano, dir. Diego Llorente

Numb, dir. Amir Toodehroosta

Nummer achttien, dir.

Munch.International Film Festival Rotterdam have announced the lineup for their 52nd edition, which will take place between January 25 through February 5. The festival will be held in-person for the first time since 2020.Opening FILMMunch (Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken)Tiger COMPETITION100 årstider (Giovanni Bucchieri)Gagaland (Teng Yuhan)Geology of SeparationIndivision (Leïla Kilani)Letzter Abend (Lukas Nathrath)Mannvirki (Gústav Geir Bollason)Munnel (Visakesa Chandrasekaram)New StrainsNotas sobre un verano (Diego Llorente)Numb (Amir Toodehroosta)Nummer achttien (Guido van der Werve)La Palisiada (Philip Sotnychenko)Playland (Georden West)Le spectre de Boko Haram (Cyrielle Raingou)Thiiird (Karim Kassem)three sparks (Naomi Uman)Big Screen COMPETITIONAvant l’effondrementBefore the Buzzards Arrive (Jonás N. Díaz)Copenhagen Does Not Exist (Martin Skovbjerg)Drawing LotsEndless Borders (Abbas Amini)Le formiche di Mida (Edgar Honetschläger)Four Little Adults (Selma Vilhunen)La hembrita (Laura Amelia Guzmán Conde)Joram (Devashish Makhija)Luka (Jessica Woodworth)My Little Nighttime Secret (Natalya Meshchaninova...

It will be artistic director Vanja Kaludjercic’s first full physical event since being appointed three years ago.

Norwegian director Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s Munch will open the 2023 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), taking place from January 25-February 5 in the Netherlands. It is the first in-person festival following two online pandemic events and the first physical one for festival director Vanja Kaludjercic since taking over from Bero Beyer after the 2020 event.

Munch, which will screen out of competition, explores the life of the tortured Norwegian artist, celebrated for his painting of ‘The Scream’, and who endured mental turmoil throughout his life.

This year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the 16 films selected for its flagship Tiger Competition. Scroll down for the full list.

As always, the competition selection is a global affair, with features from Sweeden to Sri Lanka. The 2023 jury will grant three prizes: the Tiger Award, plus two special jury awards. On the jury are: Alonso Díaz de la Vega, Anisia Uzeyman, Christine Vachon, Lav Diaz, and Sabrina Baracetti.

Running from January 25 to February 5, the fest is set to return for its first full-scale physical edition since the pandemic. The event will open with Munch, an experimental feature biopic of the Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch by Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken (Returning Home).

The honorary Robby Müller Award will go to French cinematographer Hélène Louvart. Louvart is best known for her work with Claire Denis, including the 1999 classic Beau Travail. Louvart has also worked with directors such as Wim Wenders,...

Beta Cinema has picked up sales rights to director Lukas Nathrath’s first feature film “One Last Evening,” a tragicomedy that competed in Locarno’s First Look selection and won the main prize. Produced on a micro-budget, “One Last Evening” will world premiere in International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Tiger Competition and subsequently at the Max Ophüls Preis Filmfestival.

“One Last Evening” (original title “Letzter Abend”) is set during the standstill of the pandemic summer and was shot over seven days, almost entirely in the protagonists’ city apartment: A young couple want a fresh start, moving from Hannover to Berlin. Lisa is an on-the-rise doctor bracing herself for a new position, Clemens is a talented but unsuccessful singer-songwriter crippled by self-doubts. To say goodbye, they host a dinner party in their now empty flat. But good friends cancel — and uninvited guests show up. As the attendees start eying each other’s achievements,...

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will open on Jan. 25 with “Munch,” Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken’s take on the Norwegian artist behind “The Scream.”

“Bringing to life the inner world of such a complex character has been a very rewarding experience. We are thrilled to show audiences what inspired [Edvard] Munch and what kept his inner flame alive,” noted the helmer.

Produced by The Film Company and sold internationally by Viaplay Content Distribution, it will premiere in Norwegian cinemas on Jan. 27 and on Viaplay on March 24.

IFFR, set to return for its first full-scale physical edition since the pandemic, will present 16 films in its flagship Tiger Competition. Jurors Sabrina Baracetti, Lav Diaz, Anisia Uzeyman, Christine Vachon and Alonso Díaz de la Vega will grant three prizes: the Tiger Award, worth €40,000, and two Special Jury Awards, worth €10,000 each.

Ukraine’s Philip Sotnychenko “La Palisiada,” “New Strains” by Artemis Shaw and Prashanth Kamalakanthan, and...

Welcome back to another edition of International Insider. This week, you’ve got me, Jesse Whittock, taking you through the big stories from beyond the U.S. shores.

Indian Incentive

Luring them in: Indian TV production is one of the big, developing international narratives of 2022, and the country is desperate to attract more overseas players to its shores following a difficult pandemic. Our Contributing Editor for Asia, Liz Shackleton, took a deep dive into a new 30 cash rebate that the country’s Information & Broadcasting Ministry has rolled out over recent months. Here’s the science bit: the incentive will reimburse up to 30 of qualifying expenditure up to about INR20M. An additional 5 can be accessed for productions with larger Indian crews. To be eligible, productions must get I&b approval and spend a minimum INR25M. There are several other caveats, but Liz explains it better than I can,...

German director Lukas Nathrath has already lined up his next projects, Variety has found out. Following ensemble drama “One Last Evening,” which nabbed him Locarno Film Festival’s Cinegrell First Look Award consisting of post-production service worth €50,000, he will turn to “Bourgeois Paranoia” next.

A mixture of dark comedy and psychological thriller, it will be set in the near future, when rents have become unaffordable and the roommate selection process goes off the rails. Fueled by permanent performance pressure, winning becomes a matter of life and death, states Nathrath.

“It may have some genre elements,” he teases.

He will also keep himself busy with “Principle of Failure,” an episodic tragicomedy which will show an aspiring writer who gets caught up in an odyssey of misadventures, white lies and absurd power games with his much more successful cousin.

“These two projects, I want to make them on a much bigger scale,...

Click here to read the full article.

Three new German dramas have scooped up top honors at the 2022 Locarno Film Festival’s First Look awards, an industry prize that backs works-in-progress.

Lukas Nathrath’s One Last Evening, a scathing dramedy that skewers success-obsessed society, took the Cinegrell First Look Award, which comes with a 51,000 (50,000 euro) bursary in postproduction services from German/Swiss post-house Cinegrell.

Arthur & Diana, a road movie from director Sara Summa, won the Le Film Français Award and the accompanying 5,700 (5,600 euro) in advertising services for the yet-to-be-released feature. Summa, director of the Italian-set 2019 horror title The Last to See Them, stars in the documentary-style Arthur & Diana with her real-life brother. The feature follows the two siblings as they travel from Berlin to South Tyrol re-enacting the road trips of their childhood.

Locarno Pro’s Kaiju Cinema Diffusion Prize, which includes 5,100 (5,000 euro) to go toward the design of an international poster for the film,...

Three German features in post win awards.

The Locarno Film Festival’s industry programme Locarno Pro has handed out its first awards to three German feature films in postproduction, presented as part of its First Look works in progress section.

An international jury comprised of festival directors Vanja Kaludjercic, Tricia Tuttle and Huh Moonyung gave the Cinegrell First Look Award offering postproduction services worth €50,000 to Lukas Nathrath’s tragicomedy One Last Evening, produced by Klinkerfilm in co-production with Doppelbauer & Nathrath Filmproduktion.

Meanwhile, Le Film Français Award with advertising services worth €5,600 went to Dffb student Sara Summa’s European road movie Arthur & Diana.

Lukas Nathrath’s One Last Evening Wins Locarno Pro’s First Look Prize

German filmmaker Lukas Nathrath’s debut feature One Last Evening, about a young couple who host a doomed farewell dinner for friends before moving to a new city, has won Locarno Pro’s First Look Award. The prize comes with €50,000 in post-production services from Swiss and Germany-based production house Cinegrell. This year’s First Look line-up showcased six upcoming movies from Germany. In further prizes, Le Film Français Award, offering advertising services worth €5,600, went to Arthur & Diana by Sara Summa. And the Kaiju Cinema Diffusion Prize, an award of €5,000 for the design of an international poster, went to Elaha by Milena Aboyan. The awards jury was made of BFI London Film Festival director Tricia Tuttle, International Film Festival Rotterdam artistic director Vanja Kaludjercic, and Busan International Film Festival festival director Huh Moonyung.

UKTV Seeks Comedy Scripts By Women,...

Lukas Nathrath’s “One Last Evening,” an often excruciating tragedy-laced dramedy set around a couple’s farewell dinner for friends, won big at Locarno’s First Look on Sunday, scooping the Cinegrell First Look Award.

The award consists in €50,000 in post-production services from Cinegrell, a Switzerland and Germany based services house.

The biggest prize at this year’s Locarno Pro First Look, a pix-in-post showcase dedicated six new movies from Germany, went to a first feature which delivers a scathing portrait of a success-obsessed society whose members mostly don’t live up to their promise, especially in their own estimation.

Sebastian Jakob Doppelbauer plays Clemens, a once budding singer-songwriter but now pitied depressive whose girlfriend is now shaping up as the partner with a future as an on-the-rise doctor. Clemens in contrast doesn’t do shit.

Starting off afresh, moving from Hanover to Berlin, the couple stage a farewell dinner that spirals out of control,...

Films from Maze Pictures, producer of Colin Firth-starrer “The Happy Prince,” and from Basis Berlin, behind Oscar-nominated doc feature “Of Father and Sons,” figure among the six pix in post to be highlighted at Locarno’s First Look on German Cinema, which is shaping up as one of the festival’s industry highlights.

Maze and Basis Berlin will unveil what look on paper like the section’s biggest commercial plays: Drug scene drama “Three Lives Long” and Iran-set social thriller “Empty Nets.”

First Look’s most classic art house play may be Milena Aboyan’s “Elaha,” a Kurd bride-to-be emancipation drama set in contemporary Germany.

Two other titles have more of an indie tenor: Pan-Europe road movie “Arthur & Diana” and farewell dinner dramedy “One Last Evening.”

“Life is Not a Competition, But I’m Winning” weighs in as an arch film essay from queer feminist activist Julia Fuhr Mann.