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In this episode, we talk about writing as a permanent exercise in filmmaking.Santiago Mitre is an Argentine director initially recognized for his work as a screenwriter on Pablo Trapero's films, such as Leonera, Carancho and Elefante blanco, all of which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.With his debut feature film, El estudiante, he won the Special Jury Prize at Locarno. Since then, he has developed a successful filmography as a director, using the strategies of classic cinema to renew the narrative possibilities of genres such as political thriller. He recently won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar for his feature film Argentina, 1985, which also won the Fipresci Award at the Venice Film Festival.On the other hand, Alejandro Landes is a Brazilian-born director who grew up between Ecuador and Colombia. After working for some years in the press and television in the United States,...

The toxicity of patriarchal masculinity has become such a well-worn trope in pop culture (and especially in recent Colombian cinema) that it’s hard to remember its effects continue unabated in streets and households all over the world, and in that Latin American country specifically. And so, while Fabián Hernández’s central concerns in his simply-titled film, “A Man” (“Un Varón”), are all too familiar, his tale of a young man living in a shelter in the center of Bogotá who cannot escape the violence of the world of the streets around him, emerges nonetheless as a powerful portrait of the country’s inescapable machismo.

When Carlos (Dilan Felipe Ramírez Espitia) sits down to get a haircut, he has only one request: He wants one fit for a “varón.” Yet the English translation (“a man”) doesn’t quite capture the specificity of such a word in Colombian slang, for “varón...

Exec has previously headed sales for HanWay, Protagonist and eOne.

Lemming Film, the Netherlands-based producer of festival titles including Sweet Dreams and Milk, has appointed Charlotte van Weede as managing director.

Van Weede was previously sales director for ITV Studios’s global entertainment division whose catalogue includes formats such as The Voice and Love Island.

Before that, she worked at Anton Capital as head of distribution and Global Road as president of international sales. Van Weede has also worked as a feature film consultant at the Dutch Film Fund and spent four years as SVP of eOne Features in London...

Derk-Jan Warrink, co-founder of Keplerfilm, will represent The Netherlands as Producer on the Move at the Cannes Film Festival, May 17–28. The coproduction ‘The Woodcutter Story’**, directed by Mikko Myllylahti is set to premiere in Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique. Keplerfilm will also celebrate the world premiere of Fleur van der Meulen’s debut feature ‘Pink Moon’** at Tribeca next month and Michiel ten Horn’s family film ‘Hotel Sinestra’** is currently in post-production.

Derk-Jan Warrink

www.see-nl.com

Besides Derk-Jan’s place in Cannes this year, Netherlands has secured a place in the Festivl Competition with Close directed by Lukas Dhont, a coproduction of Belgium, Netherlands, France. Internationl sales agent (Isa) The Match Factory is selling this story of Leo and Remi, two thirteen-year-old boys whose close friendship suddenly thrown into disarray as the prospect of adolescence looms. Trying to understand what has gone wrong, Leo seeks comfort and grows closer to Remi’s mother, Sophie, as the boys pursue forgiveness and reconciliation to try and get their friendship back together. Lukas Dhont directs from a screenplay by Dhont and Angelo Tijssens, reteaming after their first feature film Girl.

Directors’ Fortnight is screening A Male/ Un varón directed by Fabian Hernández, a coproduction of Colombia, France, Germany, and Netherlands. Critics’ Week Competition is premiering The Woodcutter Story / Metsurin tarina directed by Mikko Myllylahti, a copro of Finland, Denmark, Netherlands, and Germany.

In L’Atelier is Anna 1st directd by Rosanne Pel of Netherlands.

To return to Derk-Jan who founded Keplerfilm together with Koji Nelissen in 2016 after having worked on award-winning films such as The Lobster* (by Yorgos Lanthimos), Bullhead (Michaël R. Roskam), Blind* (Eskil Vogt) and Monos** (Alejandro Landes), Keplerfilm has established itself as a (co-)production company of high-quality independent international feature films such as Semaine de la Critique 2021 Grand Prize winner Feathers* (Omar El Zohairy), Netflix Original Captain Nova** (Maurice Trouwborst) and Buladó** (Eché Janga) which was awarded Best Film at the National Film Awards.

Keplerfilm strongly values building a creative breeding ground on which exceptional and talented writers and directors can grow to their full potential, with an eye for an equal number of female and male directors. They have founded a writer’s residency which offers filmmakers the opportunity to work on a film plan for a month. Keplerfilm focuses on feature film and has the ambition to tell stories about real people, with inescapable struggles and genuine desires, while at the same time always aiming to entertain the audience intellectually.

Derk-Jan Warrink is one of the in total 20 promising, up-and-coming European producers who have been selected for Producers on the Move, European Film Promotion’s high profile hybrid promotion and networking platform. The exclusive group of producers will be put in the spotlight before and during the Cannes Film Festival and take part in a tailor-made hybrid program in order to foster international co-productions, intensify the exchange of experiences and help create new professional networks. The Pre-Festival online program, which started May 3rd and runs until May 5th, includes 1:1 speed meetings, roundtables and pitching sessions. Producers will then meet personally during the Festival de Cannes from 19 to 23 May and take part in a five-day on-site program including case studies, social events and an extensive promotional campaign via the international trade magazines.

Previous Producers on the Move from the Netherlands include Iris Otten of Juliet — Pupkin(2021), Joram Willink of Bind Film (2019), Frank Hoeve of Baldr (2018), Julius Ponten of New Amsterdam Film Company (2017), Janneke Doolaard of Doxy Films (2016), Ellen Havenith of Prpl (2015), Harro van Staverden of Phanta Basta (2014), Marleen Slot of Viking Film (2013) and Trent of Oak Motion Pictures (2012).

*supported by the Netherlands Film Fund

**supported by the Netherlands Film Fund and Netherlands Production Incentive

Derk-Jan Warrink, Keplerfilm

Ph: +31 20 737 0608

derkjan@keplerfilm.com

www.keplerfilm.com

European Film Promotion

info@efp-online.com

www.efp-online.com

See Nl, a collaboration between Eye Filmmuseum and the Netherlands Film Fund, is dedicated to the international promotion of Dutch films, film professionals and film culture.

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Following two wins in the past three years, contenders from across the Americas are championing local culture and community.

The lack of physical festivals has not helped any film this year, and the relatively low-key roster from the Americas could have used the opportunity to break out a little-known filmmaker or remind voters of some of the more familiar names in play.

No film from the region made it onto the 10-strong shortlist last season and, despite speculation that some filmmakers might be holding back their latest work for what is hoped will be a return to physical festivals in...

Sweden’s Plattform Produktion is teaming up with Dutch production group Lemming Film on director Ena Sendijarević’s colonial drama “Sweet Dreams.”

The film, which is set to shoot on location in Southeast Asia next year, follows tumultuous events triggered by the death of a Dutch sugar plantation owner who ends up leaving his Indian Ocean island estate to his young illegitimate son – the child of his Indonesian housemaid – upending not only his Dutch family’s plans but also established hierarchies in a single stroke.

Plattform, whose credits include “The Square” and “Force Majeure,” joins fellow co-producers A Private View from Belgium and Dutch pubcaster Vpro.

For Sendijarević, the film represents her contribution to the movement that is critically examining the past and the relationship between the West and the rest of the world and its continuing impact.

Following the death of the plantation owner and family patriarch, “everyone’s...

A total of €395,000 awarded to projects from Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Egypt, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Senegal, Turkey and Venezuela.

Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (Wcf) has awarded a combined €395,000 ($455,000) to 14 projects in its latest funding round.

The recipients hail from Argentina, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Egypt, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Senegal, Turkey and Venezuela.

Selected directors that previously participated in Berlinale Talents include Amanda Nell EU (Tiger Stripes), Laura Citarella (Trenque Lauquen), Khavn de la Cruz (Love Is A Dog From Hell) and Katy Léna Ndiaye (Une Histoire Du Franc Cfa).

The latest funding round includes...

‘Money Heist’ scooped the most awards in the TV categories.

Pedro Almodovar’s Pain And Glory swept the Platino Xcaret Awards for Ibero-American films on June 29 winning six trophies including best Ibero-American film.

Almodovar was also awarded best director and best screenplay while Antonio Banderas - who was Oscar-nominated for his performance and won the actor prize at Cannes - picked up best actor. The film also won best editing for the work of Teresa Font, and best original score, for composer Alberto Iglesias.

The awards were originally meant to take place in Riviera Maya, Mexico, in early May but...

Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory” swept the 7th Platino Xcaret Awards, winning best Ibero-American film, as well as the best director and screenplay for Almodovar. It also took home three other awards: Original music for Alberto Iglesias, editing for Teresa Font and best actor for Antonio Banderas, Oscar-nominated for his role in Almodóvar’s semi-autobiographical opus.

Relegated to an online announcement by the Covid-19 pandemic, Ibero-America’s most prestigious awards ceremony unveiled the winners on its YouTube channel on Monday, June 29 where Platinos ambassador and CNN Español journalist Juan Carlos Arciniegas teamed up with Mexican actor-comedian Omar Chaparro and Colombian actress-singer Majida Issa to read out the winners.

Enrique Cerezo, president of the Premios Xcaret, said: “We regret that we couldn’t be present on site because of a nightmare we hope to wake up from soon.”

It was a banner year for Spanish productions which went home with...

“It was important to let people know what we were doing.”

Owners of the first arthouse cinema to reopen in the Central American country of Costa Rica say they have been encouraged by the response from audiences as they head into the second week of business.

Cine Magaly in the capital San José opened its doors on Monday (May 11) with a first-run presentation of The Lighthouse after the ministry of health said patrons could return to theatres that demonstrated sufficient safety and hygiene protocols in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Programming director Anabelle Carcheri said the family-run business – sister Jessica is manager of operations,...

“It was important to let people know what we were doing.”

Owners of the first art house cinema to reopen in the Central American country of Costa Rica say they have been encouraged by the response from audiences as they head into the second week of business.

Cine Magaly in the capital San José opened its doors on Monday (May 11) with a first-run presentation of The Lighthouse after the ministry of health said patrons could return to theatres that demonstrated sufficient safety and hygiene protocols in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Programming director Anabelle Carcheri said the family-run business...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

1917 (Sam Mendes)

War is a cataclysm that scars everything in its proximity. From the bodies and psyches of the people who must fight in it, to the towns and cities that happen to be in its wake, down to the very land itself, the churn of battle destroys everything without remorse, consideration, or mercy. No movie interested in exploring the realities of war avoids these facts, but it is possible that no film in recent memory evidences this truth better than 1917. – Brian R. (full review)

Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google

Big Time Adolescence (Jason Orley)

Everyone knows that one person from high school who is...

Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...

“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” — the story about a young displaced teacher who travels to Bhutan and is taught his own life lessons from the happy and kind locals (including a yak) — won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at The Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff), it was announced Sunday.

“Gay Chorus Deep South” — a documentary following the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus as the group embarks upon a high-risk tour of the Deep South to spread a message of tolerance — won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.

“Parasite” screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won won the Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay for their tale about two Korean families — one wealthy and one poor — whose live intersect in the most unexpected way.

Among the acting awards, Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” and Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” took top honors.

Also Read: Palm Springs: Renée Zellweger,...

Updated with Audience Award winners: The 31st annual Palm Springs Film Festival has named the Bhutan drama Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom the winner of its Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and Gay Chorus Deep South its Audience Award for Best Documentary.

The news Sunday comes after the fest yesterday revealed its juried award winners at a luncheon at the Hilton Palm Springs. There, Russian pic Beanpole took the Fipresci prize, while Bong Joon-Ho’s Oscar favorite Parasite copped the Fipresci Screenplay prize.

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, from director Pawo Choyning Dorji, was filmed on location at more than 16,000 feet in one of the most remote villages in Bhutan. The pic centers on a young displaced teacher who is taught his own life lessons from the happy and kind locals.

David Charles Rodrigues’ U.S. docu Gay Chorus Deep South follows the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus...

The Palm Springs International Film Festival, which began just after the New Year and wraps January 13, screened 188 films; 51 of them were submitted for the Best International Feature Film Academy Award. The Palm Springs Film Festival prize winners announced Saturday over brunch at the Hilton included a handful of these films. See the full list of winners below. Audience awards will be announced on Sunday.

Fipresci Prize for Best International Feature Film: “Beanpole” (Russia), Director Kantemir Balagov.

Fipresci Prize for Best Actor in a International Feature Film: Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” (Poland).

Fipresci Prize for the Best Actress in a International Feature Film: Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” (Germany).

Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay: “Parasite” (South Korea), Screenwriters Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-Won.

Fipresci Prize for International Screenplay Special Mention: “Antigone” (Canada), Screenwrier Sophie Deraspe.

The Fipresci jury members were film critics Pamela Biénzobas, Alferov Gavrylyshyn, and Tina Hassannia.

The Palm Springs Film Festival has announced its juried winners, with “Beanpole” taking the Fipresci prize for films in the international feature film Oscar submissions program. The documentary award went to “Talking About Trees.”

Acting prizes went to Bartosz Bielenia from “Corpus Christi” for actor and Helena Zengel from “System Crasher” for actress. “Parasite” won the screenplay prize from the Fipresci jury of international film critics.

The festival, held from January 2-13, screened 192 films from 81 countries.

The New Voices New Visions award for first and second time filmmakers went to “Song Without a Name,” while “Monos” received the Ibero-American Award for films from Latin America, Spain or Portugal.

Other prizes included the local jury award to “Adam,” the Young Cineastes Award to “Corpus Christi,” and the Bridging the Borders award to “Advocate.”

The audience prizes will be announced Sunday.

A complete list of winners follows:

Fipresci Prize for Best International...

Following our top 50 films of 2019, we’re sharing personal top 10 lists from our contributors. Check out the latest below and see our complete year-end coverage here.

Arguably the defining film discourse this year was ignited when Martin Scorsese compared Marvel movies to theme parks. Fans got defensive, which is understandable given the passionate, apparently inexhaustible love for Iron Man & Co. But when you take a look at the box office receipts of 2019, you realize it’s the moviegoers of this world who seem to have decided (with their wallets) that everything else they find at the cinemas are not movies.

This is not to suggest that no non-Marvel films did well financially. But that is becoming more and more the exception and the general consumer preference has gotten so lopsided it’s hard not to read it as a categorical rejection of anything original, unfamiliar, not based on pre-existing IP.

The Chicago Indie Critics announced their nominees Saturday for the group’s fourth annual film awards, with Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women leading with eight nominations, including Best Studio Film and Best Director.

Following next with seven nominations each were The Irishman, Marriage Story, 1917, and Parasite.

Winners will be announced on January 4, at the Cards Against Humanity Theater in Chicago. Stand-up comedian and former film critic Katie Baker is set to host the ceremony, which will stream live on YouTube.

For our most comprehensive year-end feature, we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2019. We’ve asked our contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentions–a selection of those personal lists will be shared in the coming days–and, after tallying the votes, a top 50 has been assembled.

It should be noted that, unlike our other year-end features, we placed no requirement on a selection being a U.S theatrical release, so you may see some repeats from last year and a few we’ll certainly discuss more over the next twelve months. So, without further ado, check out our rundown of 2019 below, our ongoing year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2020.

50. Bait (Mark Jenkin)

With all the talk of mermaids, wickies and wanks; you might have...

Organisations and publications reveal their top 20.

Lulu Wang’s The Farewell has been named the best film of 2019 in a poll of UK female film critics and commentators.

Conducted by female-centred film organisation Bechdel Test Fest, the poll surveyed 57 respondents from organisations and publications including the British Film Institute, Curzon, Birds Eye View, Mubi, Leeds Film Festival and Film London.

Olivia Wilde’s teen comedy-drama Booksmart came in second place while third went to documentary For Sama, from directors Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts.

Of the top 10 titles, six are directed or co-director by women - including Joanna Hogg’s...

The annual Palm Springs International Film Festival in California is always an opportunity to catch up on many of the contenders for the Best International Feature — née Best Foreign-Language — Film Academy Award. Now in its 31st edition, the festival this year has 51 of them, from favorite-to-beat “Parasite” from South Korea and Senegal’s “Atlantics,” to other films quietly making strides in the race: Czech Republic’s “The Painted Bird,” Sweden’s “And Then We Danced,” Russia’s “Beanpole,” Romania’s “The Whistlers,” North Macedonia’s documentary contender “Honeyland,” Norway’s “Out Stealing Horses,” and many more.

The festival will screen 188 films from 81 countries, including 51 premieres, from January 2-13, 2020. The Awards Buzz section includes a special jury of international film critics, who will review these films to present the Fipresci Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, as well as Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay in this category.

One hundred eighty-eight films films from 81 countries including 51 premieres highlight the lineup for the 31st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which kicks off January 2 with a star-studded gala that has become a must-stop during awards season for Oscar hopefuls. The festival, which runs through January 13, also is known for showcasing a large number of submissions in the Motion Picture Academy’s International Film (formerly Foreign Language) competition and will feature 51 of those entries.

The opening-night film on January 3 is the Italian farce An Almost Ordinary Summer, while the closer is director Peter Cattaneo’s heartwarming dramedy Military Wives in which Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan and Jason Flemyng lead a superb ensemble cast. The film had its world premiere at September’s Toronto International Film Festival and became an instant crowd-pleaser. Bleecker Street releases it in 2020.

Among the previously announced honorees at the January 2 gala are Antonio Banderas, Renee Zellweger,...

Sight & Sound has revealed its top 20 films of 2019, and the British Film Institute magazine’s eclectic list is led by Joanna Hogg’s intense and personal “The Souvenir.” That film stars breakout Honor Swinton Byrne as a burgeoning filmmaker whose life is torn to bits by the arrival of a charming, dissolute heroin addict. “The Souvenir” also recently landed on BBC’s list of the 100 greatest films directed by women.

Also factoring into the Sight & Sound top 20 are the year’s usual suspects, such as Bong Joon Ho’s South Korean Oscar entry “Parasite,” Quentin Tarantino’s Tinseltown love letter “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” Martin Scorsese’s epic “The Irishman,” and Claire Denis’ space odyssey ‘High Life.” Year-end appreciation is fomenting for Jordan Peele’s “Us,” despite the fact that the doppelgänger horror story arrived in March.

The top 10s are beginning to pour in. Time Magazine recently...

Yes, we haven’t seen Cats or Rise of the Skywalker yet, but the vast majority of 2019 releases have now been released and with that, we have one of the most notable year-end lists. Sight & Sound, the BFI’s international film magazine, have unveiled their 50 favorite films of the year, topped by Joanna Hogg’s magnificent drama The Souvenir, which world premiered Sundance Film Festival at the start of 2019.

Featuring ballots from 100 international critics, programmers and academics who contribute to the magazine, the list also includes new films from Bong Joon Ho, Martin Scorsese (who produced Hogg’s film), Quentin Tarantino, Céline Sciamma, Pedro Almodóvar, Jordan Peele, Claire Denis, the Safdies, and more.

One of the most welcome surprises in the top 10 is Mark Jenkin’s visionary fishing village drama Bait, which I greatly enjoyed at New Directors/New Films earlier this year, and it’s still seeking U.S.

A version of this story about Alejandro Landes and “Monos” first appeared in the International Feature Film Issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.

Alejandro Landes’ bold and occasionally hallucinogenic drama “Monos” plunges viewers into the jungle and into the midst of a military outpost manned by unruly teenagers who guard an American hostage played by Julianne Nicholson.

The film, which won rave reviews when it was released in the U.S. over the summer, is Colombia’s entry in the Oscar Best International Feature Film category. Landes sat down with TheWrap to discuss the project’s origins.

What led you to this story of a group of kids in a remote outpost during a war?

I was about to shoot my first fiction film, and I needed to go to the ministry of justice. The place was packed with kids, all in sneakers and jeans playing and flirting in the hallways.

To celebrate the release of Monos, UK and Irish cinemas now, we’ve teamed up with Picturehouse Entertainment and Invada Records UK to offer one lucky winner an exclusive prize. The winner of this competition can get their hands on a vinyl copy of the score, along with a UK poster, signed by Mica Levi and director/writer, Alejandro Landes.

Monos is the critically acclaimed, festival winner that focuses on a young group of guerrilla soldiers watching over a prisoner on the remote mountain tops of Colombia. The film recently won the Best Film prize at the London Film Festival, and has since garnered dozens of glowing reviews and box office success. Noted often in the reviews is Mica Levi’s beautiful, haunting and pulsating score.

On a remote mountaintop, a rebel group of commandos perform military training exercises while watching over a prisoner (Julianne Nicholson) for a shadowy force...

Alejandro Landes has had a busy year. His survivalist saga Monos debuted at Sundance in January where it won a Special Jury Award and was acquired by Neon after its world premiere there. Landes was then signed by UTA and the film went on to play Berlin as well as a host of other festivals, scooping prizes along they way including in London and San Sebastian among others. In late August, Monos was selected as Colombia’s entry for the International Feature Oscar race.

Monos follows group of young soldiers and guerrillas training on a remote mountain in Latin America with an American hostage played by Julianne Nicholson. The teenage commandos, who have nicknames like Rambo, Smurg, Bigfoot, Wolf and Boom-Boom, perform military training exercises while watching over a prisoner and a conscripted dairy cow for a shadow force know only as The Organization. After an ambush drives the squadron into the jungle,...

Ventana Sur takes place from December 2-6.

The Méliès International Festivals Federation (formerly known as European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation) and Blood Window have announced the contenders for best Latin American feature film of the year at the upcoming Ventana Sur sidebar in Buenos Aires.

Vying for the prize will be Alejandro Landes’ Colombian international feature film Oscar contender Monos, as well as Kleber Mendonça Filho’s highly regarded Brazilian film and Cannes selection Bacurau. Ten features in total are in consideration for the honour, now in its third year.

“The Méliès International Festivals Federation is excited to continue its...

The Warner Bros hit has now grossed £54.3m in the UK.

RankFilm (Distributor)Three-day gross (Nov 8-10)Total gross to date Week 1 Joker (Warner Bros) £1.7m £54.3m 6 2 Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (Disney) £1m £13.1m 4 3 The Addams Family (Universal) £1m £11.6m 3 4 The Good Liar (Warner Bros) £956,000 £956,000 1 5 Midway (Lionsgate) £753,585 £753,585 1

Today’s Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.29

Warner Bros

Joker topped the UK box office again this weekend, becoming the first film in a decade to hold the number one spot for six weeks.

It grossed £1.7m from Friday to Sunday, a fall of 32%, which takes it to £54.3m overall – the fourth highest-grossing...

Among the record 92 submissions this year, 27 titles are directed or co-directed by women. There are six documentaries in the mix, as well as two animated features. Moreover, for the first time, Ghana and Uzbekistan are each fielding an entry. However, Nigeria’s submission was disqualified by the Academy as being mostly in the English language. Here’s a guide to the films, including logline and sales or production contact.

Albania

“The Delegation”

Director: Bujar Alimani

Logline: In autumn 1990,

a political prisoner is secretly taken out of jail to meet the head of the European delegation investigating human-rights violations. But nothing goes according to plan.

Key Cast: Viktor Zhusti, Ndriçim Xhepa, Xhevdet Feri

Sales: Art Film

Algeria

“Papicha”

Director: Mounia Meddour

Logline: A female student rebels against the bans set by radicals during the civil war and plans a fashion show.

Key Cast: Lyna Khoudri, Shirine Boutella, Amira Hilda Douaouda

Sales:...

The supervillain story has now hit £46.7m.

RankFilm (Distributor)Three-day gross (Oct 25-27)Total gross to date Week 1 Joker (Warner Bros) £3.5m £46.7m 4 2 Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil (Disney) £2.2m £7.5m 2 3 The Addams Family (Universal) £2.1m £2.1m 1 4 Terminator: Dark Fate (Disney) £2.1m £2.9m 1 5 A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (Studiocanal) £1.1m £3.3m 2

Today’s Gbp to Usd conversionrate: 1.28

Warner Bros

Warner Bros’ Joker continues to dominate the UK box office, holding off the challenge of openers including Terminator: Dark Fate and The Addams Family to stay top of the charts for the fourth weekend in a row.

Todd Phillips’ supervillain origin...

Inspired by the upheaval in his native Colombia, Alejandro Landes’s story of teenage guerrillas descending into anarchy is a hypnotic triumph

This second fiction feature from Colombian-Ecuadorian writer-director Alejandro Landes is a dizzying fable of child soldiery that plunges its audience headfirst into an immersive world of war and adolescence. Brilliantly played by a youthful ensemble cast, and accompanied by a breathtaking Mica Levi score, it is alternately sensuous and scary, thrilling and appalling, with a dark heart of horror at its core.

We open on a remote mountaintop, where a ragtag band of teenagers plays blindfolded football. These are the titular Monos (alluding to the Greek word for “alone”) – a guerrilla outfit overseen by a fearsome “Messenger”, who teaches them that “we work for the Organisation; the Organisation is our family!” They have cartoonish noms de guerre and lead a regimented life amid a landscape of surreal stone structures,...

Other new openers include ‘Monos’, ‘By The Grace Of God’.

Disney’s action franchise title Terminator: Dark Fate and Universal’s The Addams Family are the latest titles looking to challenge the box-office dominance of Warner Bros’ Joker this weekend at the UK box office.

Terminator: Dark Fate is the sixth film in the Terminator series. It takes place 27 years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgement Day when a new, modified liquid metal Terminator robot (Diego Luna) is sent from the future by Skynet to destroy a cyborg human (Mackenzie Davis). Sarah Connor and the original Terminator come to help them save the world.

The 30th Singapore International Film Festival (Sgiff) announced its full Festival line-up at the Shangri-La Hotel today, staying true to its roots as a discovery ground of the spirited stories in Southeast Asia, an enabler to the regional filmmaking scene and talents, and a tastemaker of global developments in cinema.

A leading international film festival in the region and part of the Singapore Media Festival (Smf), Sgiff will present a dynamic array of over 90 films by auteurs from 40 countries that take the pulse of Asian and international cinema.

Sgiff’s Programme Director, Kuo Ming-Jung said, “In the past year, captivating stories told by brilliant filmmakers have unfolded in varying styles and genres across the global cinematic landscape. As with our line-up each year, we hope to bring distinctive films from around the world to the audience, while staying committed to the strong belief in giving a voice to our own...

The long list for the coveted best international picture prize at the British Independent Film Awards includes Cannes Palme d’Or and London Film Festival winners, as well as pictures from Pedro Almodovar, Robert Eggers and Noah Baumbach. Multiple titles that have been submitted to compete for the Oscar for best international feature film are also in the mix.

The long list for the Best International Independent Film at the BIFAs, shared exclusively with Variety, includes Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or-winning “Parasite,” and Alejandro Landes’ child soldier saga “Monos,” which was named best picture at the London Film Festival.

Other titles that launched at Cannes and on the Bifa long list include Nora Fingscheidt’s “System Crasher” and Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory,” which are Germany’s and Spain’s Oscar entries, respectively. Other national entries to the Oscars that are also on the Bifa long list include...

Alejandro Amenábar’s ‘While at War’ wins international award.

Oren Gerner’s Africa and Yaron Shani’s Reborn have been jointly awarded the top award at the 35th Haifa International Film Festival (Oct 12-21).

Scroll down for full list of winners

As joint winners of the best Israeli feature film award, the prize of 100,000 Nis will be divided between them.

The dramas each won three trophies at the festival’s awards on Saturday (Oct 19).

Africa, the story of how a retiree copes with growing older, also picked up the Danny Lerner award for best Israeli feature debut and the Michael...

For a long time, likely one of the few things most people knew about Colombia is that is was a country with a huge number of kidnappings. So many, in fact, that there was a radio show that ran for 25 years, dedicated to voices of the families of the kidnapped, in vain hopes that they would be heard. Less-widely known was the widespread recruitment of child soldiers in the nearly 50-year internal armed conflict. Alejandro Landes' widely-lauded and awarded feature Monos takes both a somewhat dream-like and harsh realistic look at this situation, with a keen eye to the brutality that comes with isolation, forced and unfocused indoctrination, and youthful boredom. A group of teenage soldiers - codenamed Wolf, Lady, Smurf, Rambo, Dog, Boom-Boom,...

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

The BFI London Film Festival reported a 6% rise in attendance for its 2019 edition, which wrapped on Sunday with the international premiere of Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman.”

“The Irishman” gala premiere, which was attended by Scorsese and cast members Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel, was streamed via satellite from the Odeon Luxe in London’s Leicester Square to audiences in more than 80 cinemas in the U.K. and Ireland.

The BFI said there were 178,789 admissions for London screenings and events over the festival’s 12 days.

This comprised 161,059 public attendances, an increase of 6% on last year’s London public attendance. There were an additional 17,730 press and industry attendances across the festival. The festival also hosted satellite screenings at more than 100 venues around the British Isles.

The 63rd edition welcomed more than 868 international and British filmmakers, including Scorsese, Alex Gibney, Fernando Meirelles, Lukas Moodysson, François Ozon, Sarah Gavron, Mati Diop and Michael Winterbottom.

Cannes Film Festival chiefs Pierre Lescure and Thierry Fremaux have named the six titles that will comprise its inaugural ‘Film Week’ at Hong Kong’s K11 Musea in November (12-17). They include three from this year’s Cannes competition: Young Ahmed, which won best director, Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, which took best screenplay, and Marco Bellocchio’s The Traitor. Screening from the Un Certain Regard section are The Invisible Life Of Euridice Gusmão, which won the sidebar’s top prize, The Climb, which took the jury’s Coup de Cœur prize; and On A Magical Night, which took the best performance award for Chiara Mastroianni. The Hong Kong event will also feature masterclasses with Young Ahmed directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux, who will talk about the works of the Lumiere brothers, and a third as-yet unannounced guest.

Rakuten TV, the European VOD service owned by Japanese retailer Rakuten,...

Alejandro Landes’ flick has won the top prize in the UK capital, while Atlantics scooped Best First Feature, White Riot pocketed Best Documentary and Fault Line came out on top in the shorts category. Monos has won the Best Film Award in the Official Competition of the London Film Festival. Giving out the prize, Wash Westmoreland, the Official Competition jury president, called Alejandro Landes’ movie a “stunning cinematic achievement, marrying dynamic visuals, faultless performances and groundbreaking storytelling. It’s a masterpiece!” Monos, which tells the story of child soldiers in Colombia, is a co-production between Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and the USA. France’s Le Pacte is handling its international sales. Monos debuted at Sundance, where Cineuropa praised the film as an “exhilarating nightmare”. The Official Competition jury also gave out Special Commendations to Rose Glass’ Saint Maud and Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy. Atlantics by Mati Diop won.

Alejandro Landes’ Colombian survival thriller Monos was presented with the best film award of the Official Competition at the BFI London Film Festival tonight (October 12).

The film is Colombia’s entry for the best international film at the Oscars, and has already won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury award at Sundance. Picturehouse acquired UK rights from Le Pacte for a release later this month.

Wash Westmoreland, the Official Competition jury president, said: “Monos is a stunning cinematic achievement; marrying dynamic visuals, faultless performances and groundbreaking storytelling. It’s a masterpiece!

“Monos,” an unsettling thriller about teenage soldiers that one critic described as “like ‘Lord of the Flies’ in hell,” has won the award for best film at the BFI London Film Festival.

Mati Diop’s “Atlantics,” which premiered in Cannes, took home the prize for best debut feature, while “White Riot,” about a 1970s reggae protest movement, was named best documentary. The awards were unveiled Saturday, on the eve of the festival’s closing.

Directed by Alejandro Landes, “Monos” premiered at Sundance. To an evocative score by Mica Levi, the Spanish-language film follows a group of teenage soldiers and their hostage, an American doctor, as they retreat farther into the jungle.

“‘Monos’ is a stunning cinematic achievement, marrying dynamic visuals, faultless performances and groundbreaking storytelling,” director Wash Westmoreland (“Colette”), the president of the official competition jury, said. “It’s a masterpiece.”

The jury also awarded special commendations to Sundance title...

Two submissions for the 2020 Best International Feature Film Academy Awards got a nice boost today at the BFI London Film Festival, which named all the prize winners for its 63rd edition.

Alejandro Landes’ “Monos,” which is Colombia’s Oscar pick and is currently in theaters via distributor Neon, scooped up BFI London’s Best Film Award. When the film world-premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, Landes won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for his striking, “Lord of the Flies”-esque vision of a band of gun-toting kids gone deliriously insane in the wilderness.

Netflix’s Cannes acquisition “Atlantics,” which made history at the French film festival when director Mati Diop became the first woman of African descent with a film screening in Competition, won the BFI London’s Sutherland Award for First Feature. Diop’s film is Senegal’s submission to the Academy Awards, and will debut in...

The BFI London Film Festival on Saturday unveiled its award winners for 2019.

Alejandro Landes' Monos took home best film honors. The survival thriller about child soldiers, which premiered at Sundance, was acquired by Neon for the U.S. and was recently named Colombia's submission for consideration in the international feature film Oscar competition.

"Monos is a stunning cinematic achievement; marrying dynamic visuals, faultless performances and groundbreaking storytelling. It’s a masterpiece!" said Wash Westmoreland, head of the main jury, which also awarded special mentions to Alma Har'el's Honey Boy and Saint Maud from Rose Glass.

Mati Diop'...

The BFI London Film Festival on Saturday unveiled its award winners for 2019.

Alejandro Landes' Monos took home best film honors. The survival thriller about child soldiers, which premiered at Sundance, was acquired by Neon for the U.S. and was recently named Colombia's submission for consideration in the international feature film Oscar competition.

"Monos is a stunning cinematic achievement; marrying dynamic visuals, faultless performances and groundbreaking storytelling. It’s a masterpiece!" said Wash Westmoreland, head of the main jury, which also awarded special mentions to Alma Har'el's Honey Boy and Saint Maud from Rose Glass.

Mati Diop'...

Earlier in the week, we finally learned which films would be selected by all of the countries in search of Academy Award love in Best International Feature. Not only did we get the answers to some questions regarding what each nation would pick, but we found that a record breaking 93 submissions have been made here in 2019. It’s truly the largest slate ever for voters to sift through. Talk about a good problem to have! Below you can see all of the titles in competition for the Best International Feature Oscar. Right now, only Parasite from South Korea and Pain and Glory from Spain seem like safe bets, with the former almost assured of winning the Academy Award. Aside from them? Anything goes in this category, which has potential nominees like Atlantics from Senegal, Beanpole from Russia, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind from the United Kingdom, The Chambermaid from Mexico,...

When Alejandro Landes took 25 youngsters on a bootcamp high in the Andes to make a psychedelic drama about child soldiers, reality almost outpaced his movie

Monos is set in a South American paradise but comes off like Lord of the Flies in hell. Following an eight-strong group of teen soldiers and their adult prisoner of war, it is sensual, and gorgeous and intensely, continuously disturbing. The kids – Dog, Lady, Bigfoot, Boom-Boom, Rambo, Swede, Wolf, Smurf – are left to their own devices except for the occasional visit from “the Messenger”, who works for whatever organisation has recruited them. So they scrap and kiss and fire their Ak-47s into the sky.

They met a man with dwarfism who became a child soldier at 11. 'He was an amazing destroyer of things'...

A record 93 countries submitted entries in the International Feature Film race at the 2020 Oscars. That is up by six from last year,when the category was still called Best Foreign-Language Film, and eclipses the record 92 submissions in 2018. The nations represented ranged from A (Albania) to V (Vietnam). Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees is made difficult by the two-step process.

First, the several hundred academy members of the Foreign-Language Film screening committee are required to watch a number of the submissions (upwards of a dozen) over a two-month period that ends in mid December. They will rate them from 6 to 10 and their top six vote-getters make it to the next round, as will three films added by the 20 members of the executive committee.

Those nine semi-finalists will be screened three per day beginning in early January by select committee members in Gotham, Hollywood, London and San Francisco. These 40 folks will...

Expanded shortlist of 10 films to be announced on December 16.

The Academy on Monday (7) confirmed that 93 countries have submitted films for consideration in the international feature film category for the 92nd Academy Awards.

Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants with Kwabena Gyansah’s Azali, Genevieve Nnaji’s Lionheart, and Umid Khamdamov’s Hot Bread, respectively.

Earlier this year, the Academy board voted to rename the category formerly known as foreign language film, and expand the shortlist from nine to 10 films.

The shortlist will be announced on December 16. Nominations for the 92nd Oscars will be unveiled on January 13, 2020, and the Oscars...