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The image of the lifeless body of two-year-old Kurdish-Syrian boy Alan Kurdi lying washed up on a Turkish beach shocked the world in September 2015.

His death, alongside that of his mother and brother, came to symbolize the tragedy of the refugee crisis unfolding across the Mediterranean basin in the wake of now deposed Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad’s suppression of a pro-democracy campaign which began in 2011.

U.S. director Matty Brown recounts how he was doubly shaken by the photo because it chimed with a short story he had written while homeless as a child.

“It was based on a dream I had where there’s a little boy on an island. His mom and dad were there, but they kind of disappeared. The island is sinking, and the boy doesn’t know how to swim and he’s trying to make sense of what is going on,” he explains.

Swimming Home

Director Justin Anderson's feature directorial début, Swimming Home, is an adaptation of Deborah Levy's novel of the same name. It revolves around Joe (Christopher Abbott), a celebrated poet who is struggling to write, and his partner Isabel (Mackenzie Davis), a war correspondent, who tolerates Joe's frequent affairs.

When they arrive at their rented Aegean holiday villa with Isabel's friend Laura (Nadine Labaki), their daughter Nina (Freya Hannan-Mills) surprises them by announcing that there's a naked lady in their pool. Unexpectedly, Isabel invites the stranger, Kitti (Ariane Labed), to stay. In turn, she exposes the fractures in Joe and Isabel's relationship and forces Joe to reckon with his repressed memories.

Justin Anderson

The theme of encounters is a common thread in Anderson's films, beginning with his 2014 short film Jumper, about the disruptive effect of a stranger on the lives of a bourgeois family. In 2016, he directed an adaptation of Guy.

Flóra Anna Buda, Andrea Gatopoulos, Xiwen Cong, Simon Maria Kubiena, Constance Tsang and Rodrigo Ribeyro have been named as the latest cohort of emerging directors to participate in the Cannes Film Festival’s La Résidence initiative, which is now in its 49th edition.

The six filmmakers are being hosted in the program’s residency in the Pigalle neighborhood of Paris, from March 15 to July 31, where they are benefiting from personalized screenwriting support and a collective program of meetings with film professionals.

Hungary’s Buda made waves in 2023 with her animated short film 27, which won the Cannes Palme d’or for best short, and then the Cristal Award at the Annecy Festival in 2023.

Italian and Greek director, producer and distributor Gatopoulos’s most recent work, the short film The Eggregores’ Theory, opened the 39th Venice Film Critics’ Week and made history as one of the first AI films to show in the sidebar.

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired Middle East and North African rights for Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham.

The Mena deal was struck by Elie Touma at Front Row and Stephanie Fuchs at Austrian-based sales company Autlook Filmsales, which is overseeing international sales.

The announcement comes amid fresh pushback against the documentary in the U.S., where a Miami mayor has been accused of censorship after he threatened to shut down an arthouse cinema showing the work.

Shot between 2019 and 2023, No Other Land captures the struggle of people living in the West Bank Palestinian villages of Masafer Yatta in the face of attempts by Israeli authorities and settlers to erase their homes and history from the map. Israeli settlers have continued to attack the area since the film’s Oscar win on March 2.

The documentary follows the journey of Adra...

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired distribution rights in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) to No Other Land, the Palestinian-Israeli feature that won best documentary at this year’s Oscars.

Front Row struck the deal with Austrian sales outfit Autlook Filmsales and said it plans to release the film “imminently” in select cinemas, followed by a premium VOD release across Mena.

Filmed from 2019 to 2023, the documentary follows activist Basel Adra as he documents the destruction of Palestinian houses and villages in the Masafer Yatta region of the West Bank by Israeli miliary bulldozers. Adra’s efforts to raise...

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired the distribution rights for the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

The agreement was finalized through negotiations between Elie Touma of Front Row and Stephanie Fuchs from the Austria-based sales company Autlook Filmsales.

Directed by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, No Other Land chronicles Adra’s journey as he examines the devastation of his hometown, designated for military training. His efforts to raise awareness gain momentum with Abraham’s support.

The documentary made its debut at the 2023 Berlinale, winning the Panorama Audience Award as well as the prestigious Berlinale Documentary Award. Since its premiere, No Other Land has garnered a remarkable 68 awards at various film festivals and has been recognized by the Boston Society of Film Critics, European Film Awards and Gotham Awards, ultimately taking home the award for best documentary feature at the 2025 Oscars.

Netflix's psychological thriller The Sand Castleis much more than the average deserted-island survival story. Akin to past entries within the subgenre like Lost and Sweatheart, the film does include its typical plotlines, like having characters withstand harsh elements, attempt different methods of escape, and encounter eerie happenings. However, the streaming service's Lebanese drama differs in its focus — using these tropes as a backdrop to explore the mind at war.

Directed by Matty Brown, known for short films like The Distraction, The Sand Castle follows a fractured family of four trying to survive alone on a remote island somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. Luckily, they have a working lighthouse to take refuge in and attract rescue. However, as the days pass without any word from the outside world, their survival becomes uncertain, tensions rise, and the once idyllic sanctuary gradually reveals a shocking reality.

Additionally, throughout the film, the truth...

Matty Brown’s film The Sand Castle presents a stark scene on a Mediterranean island, casting a stark view of a seemingly idyllic landscape. Jana (Riman Al Rafeea), a young girl, builds sand castles against a backdrop of hidden family struggles. The story explores trauma through her innocent perspective, revealing deep emotional complexities.

Brown, working with performers like Nadine Labaki and Ziad Bakri, creates a narrative that challenges viewers’ perceptions. The film examines how a picturesque setting can mask profound psychological tensions.

The work probes the refugee experience through a poetic visual language. It reveals the profound impact of external conflicts on a child’s inner world, presenting a raw exploration of survival and resilience. Jana’s sand castles become a metaphor for fragility and hope, capturing the nuanced experience of displacement and emotional survival.

The Shifting Sands of Reality: Navigating the Narrative of “The Sand Castle”

The Sand Castle...

The Sand Castle, a Lebanese family drama, is currently climbing up the Netflix streaming chart after releasing on the platform earlier this month. The film follows a family stranded on an island, attempting to survive the dangerous landscape and the deterioration of the mind that comes with it. Featuring a talent cast and crew, The Sand Castle quietly made its debut last week, but it has rather quickly swept up audiences with a visually-inspired drama that is as thrilling as it is emotional.

As of this writing, The Sand Castle reached as high as the #2 spot on Netflix's most watched movies during the past few days (via Flix Patrol). It's unclear if it will hold that spot for an extended period of time, or climb even higher, but it seems subscribers are readily flocking to the survival picture. Focused on a family of four stranded on a deserted island, a...

A young girl named Jana is stranded with her family on a small patch of land somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. They’ve taken shelter in a lighthouse, where Jana spends her days playing in the sand while the family notices strange occurrences: Jana sees a body bag floating by the shore; her mother hears a radio broadcast confirming dozens of migrants have drowned between Greece and Turkey; their radio breaks, leaving them with no connection to the outside world. As they struggle to accept their fates, their circumstances deteriorate.

The Lebanese drama The Sand Castle, from director Matty Brown (2020’s The Distraction), follows this family of four as their pasts are slowly revealed, while their futures hang in the balance. Starring Oscar nominee Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, and Zain and Riman Al Rafeea, the film was written by Brown, Hend Fakhroo (The Waiting Room), and Yassmina Karajah (Rupture). This...

Director Matty Brown’s psychological drama, The Sand Castle, offers a harrowing look at the crude reality of armed conflicts around the world—how the greed of warmongers affects the lives of generations to come—leaving children rootless and without identity. The poignant tone of the movie is amplified by the choice of narrative treatment, as the beautiful, imaginative perspective of a child guides viewers through the story, the horrors of reality continue to reveal themselves through occasional cracks in the imagination, until the final moments of the movie bring out the agonizing truth. The four members of the family, and their actions, are presented through an intermingling of layers of reality and imagination. It was a daunting task to pull off, given the unique demands of the script. Additionally, there are subtle allusions to real-world events, which the actors needed to convey without committing to anything specific. Thankfully, the...

Netflix’s The Sand Castle follows the perspective of a young girl named Jana (Riman Al Rafeea) stuck on an isolated island with her family. The family of four was likely shipwrecked after a devastating incident at sea, and through a radio in their possession, they have been trying to contact anyone who can pick up the signal. From the very beginning, the film used its characters to point out that the island wasn’t real and the family was surrounded by water on all sides. Their lifeboat was slowly sinking in the face of the rising waves around them, and they had no way to survive the odds unless someone spotted them in the vastness of the ocean.

Spoiler Alert

So, yes, the island and the lighthouse weren’t real at all, and they were just a figment of Jana’s imagination, which she used to create a favorable...

Movies where it’s revealed that the whole plot was happening in the protagonist’s head all along can be very hit or miss. Yes, yes, I know that Albus Dumbledore told Harry Potter that even though their conversation was happening in the latter’s head, it didn’t make it any less real. Yet, using that as a plot twist always makes the whole exercise a little cheap, and the only way to kind of bypass that feeling is by engrossing the audience in the narrative to such an extent that the last-minute attempt at recontextualizing the events doesn’t even matter. For example, there’s The Wizard of Oz, which is such a magical film that the knowledge that it was all a dream is borderline irrelevant. Stay, Ghost Stories, Donnie Darko, and Identity kind of make more sense when you find out that it was all being imagined by someone.

The movie “The Sand Castle,” directed by Matty Brown, is a 2024 thriller and mystery drama set in Lebanon. The film follows a family of four who find themselves trapped on an idyllic island that harbors a shocking reality. The screenplay, crafted by Matty Brown, Hend Fakhroo, and Yassmina Karajah, delves into themes of family relationships and survival. The cast features notable actors such as Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, and Zain Al Rafeea, with music composed by West Thordson and Kat Vokes. Cinematography by Jeremy Snell enhances the film’s atmospheric tension. Produced as a co-production between Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, the movie is distributed by Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Netflix.

“The Sand Castle,” is available from this Friday on Netflix

Where to Watch “The Sand Castle”

Netflix...

U.S. director Matty Brown’s allegorical drama “The Sand Castle,” which sees Lebanese multi-hyphenate Nadine Labaki reunite on screen with young “Capernaum” siblings Zain and Reman Al Rafeea – who are both Syrian refugees – will be released globally on Jan. 24 by Netflix at a critical time in the Middle East.

With Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks currently underway and uncertainties still looming for Syrian refugees after the fall of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad, the fable-like film, which is told from the perspective of children, “has many interesting parallels with what’s happening not only on Syria but also in Palestine,” says New York-based producer Mandy Ward. Ward is part of the “Sand Castle” production team alongside Houston King and Dubai-based Gianluca Chakra’s Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Mario Jr. Haddad’s Empire Entertainment.

“I think that this film was always told from a place of people who felt like they didn’t belong somewhere,...

Cate Blanchett has voiced her support for the reopening of the Metropolis Cinema in Beirut, Lebanon, on Saturday.

“This is a remarkable achievement, and I extend my congratulations to everyone involved in the opening of the Metropolis Cinema in the heart of Beirut,” Blanchett said in a message read at the official opening ceremony in the city’s Mar Mikhael district.

“Not only will it be a space where Lebanese cinema can flourish and new voices can emerge, but in these deeply tragic, heartbreaking and bewildering times, this venue in Mar Mikhael stands as a testament to resilience and cultural revival — bringing stories to life and uniting the community,” she added.

The 18-year-old cinema had to halt operations during Lebanon’s economic crisis of 2019. Then, the massive devastation of Beirut’s port blast in 2020 unleashed a shock wave explosion that destroyed the cinema complex in the city’s nightlife district.

Beirut’s beloved Metropolis Cinema – championed by Lebanese filmmakers as an indie cinema beacon amid bombings, despair and dysfunction – came back to life on Saturday with the inauguration of a new venue in a highly symbolic opening graced by messages of support from Nadine Labaki and Cate Blanchett.

The inauguration came amid Israel’s ceasefire with Hezbollah following months air strikes and artillery attacks. The new Metropolis Cinema location is located in Beirut’s Mar Mikhael district right across from where the tragic Beirut port blast occurred on Aug. 4, 2020 — one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded — in which more than 200 people died.

After the previous venue was shuttered four years ago, the new state-of-the-art Metropolis complex –featuring two indoor screens, an outdoor cinema, and a garden area with a café – opened Saturday with a gala cine-concert featuring a montage of of vintage shorts from Arab archives accompanied by live...

Cate Blanchett and Nadine Labaki were among the stars sending messages of support for Beirut’s landmark arthouse Metropolis Cinema as it officially opened its new venue in the city’s port area of Mar Mikhael on Saturday.

The launch marks a new chapter in the cinema’s 18-year journey after being homeless for some four years, following its eviction from its previous home in the Empire-Sofil cinema in Achrafieh in 2020.

Its new location on a piece of temporarily donated land is situated directly across from the port where the catastrophic Beirut explosion occurred in 2020, killing at least 218 deaths, injuring another 7,000 people, and initially leaving 300,000 people homeless.

The new venue features two indoor cinemas, an outdoor cinema, and a green area with a café. Its cutting edge sustainable design is by architect Sophie Khayat, who has created the venue in such a way that it can be dismantled and moved...

A new film hub launched in Beirut today (December 21), backed by messages of support from actress Cate Blanchett and Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki.

The Metropolis Cinema in the Mar Mikhael area of Lebanon’s capital city will serve as a screening venue for independent films while also offering space for training and industry professionals. It will also house a dedicated Lebanese film heritage centre, which aims to preserve the country’s cinematic legacy, offering resources to students, researchers, and film professionals.

Conceived by architect Sophie Khayat, the venue has two screening rooms – one with 200 seats, and the other with 100 seats...

Short Film Review: WAShhh (2024) by Mickie Lai

Lee Kah Giap’s black-and-white cinematography works quite well here, adding in a way, to the tension that is instigated by both the story and Wong Kai Yun’s sharp editing, in a film that scores quite high on production values overall. “WAShhh” is a great film, that manages to communicate a series of comments and a very entertaining story/event in just over 20 minutes. What becomes evident, is that Lai is more than ready to shoot a feature, perhaps even with the same theme.

Video Interviews: Mowaffaq Alobaid Short Film Review: Saint Rose (2024) by Zayn Alexandre

The cinematography is rather polished, in a way that mirrors the spotlessness of the house, making the aforementioned comment more intense, with the tension, however, coming more from the acting and the sound than the visuals. The editing results in a fast tempo that allows the...

“The Sand Castle” is made up of intentionally simple elements: an abandoned island, a creaky old lighthouse, an intermittently working radio. And at its center is a family of four: a doting mother, a resourceful father, a moody teen son and a daydreaming daughter. Their survival depends on the increasingly Sisyphean task of waiting and scavenging, hoping and praying. Help, they hope, will soon come their way. But what at first feels like a modern-day “Robinson Crusoe” adventure soon turns into something darker and altogether more timely. While Matty Brown’s dreamy film plays more like a children’s fable than the harrowing thriller it sometimes flirts with becoming, its oblique stab at storytelling ends up muddling its ambitious vision and well-intended message.

Survival stories hinge on the grit and resilience of its characters. Food is scarce and fresh water elusive. Sleep is near impossible and shelter close to untenable.

It has been known for some time, but it turns out that the main way Netflix picks its content is through an algorithm that calculates the popularity value of the cast among other things. As such, having “Capernaum”’s Nadine Labaki and Zain Al Rafeea might be what propelled the streamer to pick “The Sandcastle” for its Middle East program, along with the fact that the theme seems to be about Palestine. It turns out, however, that the algorithm can make mistakes, and that star quality is not always enough. Let us take a closer look though.

The Sandcastle is screening at Red Sea Film Festival

A family of four, Nabil, Yasmine and their children, Adam and Jana, find themselves stranded on an island that looks both picturesque and post-apocalyptic, with the ominous presence of a lighting house playing a crucial role in both actually. The reasons for them being there are not exactly clear,...

Former mk2 films acquisition and sales agents Olivier Barbier and Ola Byszuk are joining forces with ex-Orange Studio exec Lenny Porte to create international sales company Lucky Number.

The trio, who have worked on hundreds of auteur titles between them, including Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist to name but a few – are currently building their slate for an early 2025 market launch.

Their aim is to handle 10 French and international auteur films a year, split roughly between two to three animated features, and seven to eight fiction films and docs, including work by new voices.

The trio want to offer a boutique service, which also involves financing and distribution strategies from the earliest stages of development, to ensure maximum impact on international markets.

“In an industry that has become increasingly complex both in terms of production and distribution,...

Netflix has officially boarded “The Sand Castle” that sees Lebanese multi-hyphenate Nadine Labaki reunite on screen with “Capernaum” siblings Zain and Reman Al Rafeea.

The streaming giant has set a Jan. 24, 2025, global drop date for the hotly anticipated thriller.

U.S. director Matty Brown — whose shorts have won accolades — makes his feature film debut with “The Sand Castle” which is the tale of an Arabic family of four stuck on a seemingly idyllic island. There, the family begins to uncover dark secrets that they struggle to keep from their youngest, Jana.

“As events spiral out of control and the line between reality and fiction blurs, the family is forced to confront harsh truths and difficult choices, testing their resilience and their hopes of making it back home,” says the provided synopsis.

The film’s ensemble cast also features Palestinian actor Ziad Bakri (“Meet the Barbarians”).

Brown co-wrote “Sand Castle” with...

Few films deliver a gut punch quite like Capernaum, the 2018 Lebanese film that took the world by storm and snagged the attention of the Academy. Directed by Nadine Labaki, Capernaum revolves around a suffering child who sues his parents for bringing him into the world. Scratch that thats not the whole story. It's a film about the struggles of a stateless refugee child who is angry at the world he lives in, yet determined to survive no matter what. The story follows Zain (played by Zain Al Rafeea), an unregistered child aged about twelve and living in the slums of Beirut.

Cannes has announced the six first and second-time filmmakers selected for its annual Résidence programme, whose 48th session kicked off on October 1 in Paris and will run through February 15, 2025.

This year’s crop of rising talents includes four female filmmakers, among them: French-Moroccan director Sofia Alaoui, a 2022 Screen Arab Star of Tomorrow and 2023 Unifrance 10 to Watch talent, whose debut feature Animalia won the 2023 Sundance special jury prize; Lithuanian director Eglé Razumaite whose latest short Ootidé competed at Cannes 2024; India’s director Diwa Shah, whose Bahadur: The Brave screened at San Sebastián; and Germany’s Anastasia Veber whose short Trap won...

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired global distribution rights for anthology film Disorder exploring Lebanon’s recent tumultuous years through the eyes of four directors.

The picture, which is due to premiere at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival later this month, brings together Lebanese writers and directors Lucien Bourjeily (Heaven Without People), Bane Fakih (Keep It Together), Wissam Charaf, and Areej Mahmoud (Beirut 6:07).

The launch comes as the global spotlight is on Lebanon due to the flare-up in the conflict between Israel and Shiite Muslim political party and militant group Hezbollah, which has resulted in close to 2,000 deaths, and also displaced more than 350,000 people over the last two weeks.

The feature is curated and produced Bechara Mouzannar under the banner of Unbranded, in collaboration with Nadine Labaki and Khaled Mouzanar who take executive producer credits. The trio previously collaborated on Labaki’s 2018 film Capernaum

Blending drama and dark comedy,...

Dubai-based Front Row Filmed Entertainment has secured world rights to Disorder, an anthology feature that explores Lebanon’s recent tumultuous years.

Blending drama and dark humour, the film comprises four shorts – The Group, Motherland, Don’t Panic, and A Piece of Heaven – directly respectively by Lucien Bourjeily, Bane Fakih, Wissam Charaf, and Areej Mahmoud.

Curated and produced by Bechara Mouzannar through his Beirut-based outfit Unbranded, the film is executive produced by Lebanese director and actress Nadine Labaki of Cannes award-winner Capernaum.

The film is set to premiere out of competition at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (Oct 24-Nov 1).

As well as handling world sales,...

Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired world rights to anthology film “Disorder,” which depicts different aspects of Lebanon’s recent turbulence and the toll taken by the country’s disarray on its new generations.

The timely portmanteau film comprises four shorts helmed by prominent Lebanese writers and directors: Lucien Bourjeili (“Heaven Without People”), Bane Fakih (“Keep It Together”), Wissam Charaf and Areej Mahmoud (“Beirut 6:07”).

The shorts, titled “The Group,” “Motherland,” “Don’t Panic” and “A Piece of Heaven,” feature top Lebanese talents such as Manal Issa (“The Swimmers”), Rodrigue Sleiman (“The Traveller”), Farah Shaer (“Heaven Without People”) and Hanane Hajj Ali (“Bab El Shams”).

“Disorder” will world premiere out-of-competition at Egypt’s upcoming El Gouna Film Festival.

Curated and lead-produced by prominent advertising exec Bechara Mouzannar – who is a former creative chief of ad agency Leo Burnett in the Middle East and Africa and now runs a production...

Roeg Sutherland, CAA’s co-head of the media finance department and co-head of the International Film Group, will be honored with the Game Changer Award for his “outstanding achievements and contributions within the film industry” at the Zurich Summit, which takes place in October during the 20th Zurich Film Festival.

FilmNation Entertainment CEO Glen Basner will host the Game Changer Award recipient conversation, where he is speaking with Sutherland about his career.

Zurich Film Festival artistic director Christian Jungen said: “Roeg is a passionate cinephile and industry leader, who has not only discovered, but also nurtured and developed the careers of countless artists. In the past several years, he has secured financing and sold some of the most important and critically acclaimed films, both domestic and international.

“His impressive client list includes Oscar winners, nominees, and auteurs like Nadine Labaki, who he signed by specifically flying to Lebanon to meet...

CAA’s Roeg Sutherland is set to be honored with the Zurich Film Festival’s Game Changer Award for his outstanding achievements and contributions within the film industry.

The co-Head of CAA’s Media Finance department as well as its International Film Group, will be presented with the award during the festival’s industry-focused Zurich Summit, which takes place in October within the framework of the 20th Zurich Film Festival (Zff).

As part of the recognition, FilmNation Entertainment CEO Glen Basner will host the Game Changer Award recipient conversation, in which he will speak with Sutherland about his journey.

“Roeg is a passionate cinephile and industry leader, who has not only discovered, but also nurtured and developed the careers of countless artists. In the past several years, he has secured financing and sold some of the most important and critically acclaimed films, both domestic and international,” commented Zff Artistic Director Christian Jungen.

Fledgling Saudi production company Alamiya Filmed Entertainment (Afe) has partnered with Dubai-based Front Row Productions to make female-led road trip comedy feature My Treat (Mahmool Makfool).

Directed by Egypt’s Karim Abu Zeid, filming is set to begin this September in Riyadh and Istanbul, and is billed as the first time a major Saudi feature has shot in Turkey. A theatrical release across the Middle East is being scheduled for 2025.

The story follows three superfans of Turkish soap operas who travel from Saudi to Istanbul in a bid to meet their favourite actor. But the trip takes an unexpected turn...

Qatari beIN media group and Dubai-based film distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment have renewed an ongoing first run deal for another three years until 2027.

Under the accord, beIN has secured exclusive pay one window rights to up to 300 movie titles for its linear and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services across the Middle East and North African region.

Titles covered by the deal include Better Man, Priscilla, Anatomy of a Fall, The Night of the Zoopocalypse, La Cocina, Ezra, Mother’s Instinct, Bad Genius, Riddick: Furya; The Smashing Machine, Parthenope, and the upcoming Cliffhanger reboot, on which Front Row is a backer.

“Front Row Filmed Entertainment has been an important partner ever since beIN expanded its portfolio to include entertainment content, so we are very pleased to be continuing this relationship,” said Esra Altop, Chief Entertainment Content Officer at beIN.

“The partnership with Front Row Filmed Entertainment aligns with beIN’s continued strategic...

Principal photography has commenced on the Arab underworld thriller “Boomah” (“The Owl”), written and directed by Zaid Abu Hamdan and marking the Jordanian filmmaker’s second feature following his critically acclaimed “Daughters of Abdul Rahman.”

Previously announced in December, Rakeen Saad is set to play the titular role of the female thug Boomah. Saad rose to acclaim for her central roles in hit shows “The Giza Killer” and the Netflix original “Al Rawabi School for Girls,” and will next be seen as the lead in a new Netflix series production “Echoes of the Past” and “The Way of the Wind,” the biblical drama by Terrence Malick.

“Boomah” — now shooting in Jordan — reunites Saad with Rawabi co-star Joanna Arida who will play the role of her best friend and confidant Anoud. Arida will next appear in “Laura H,” a Dutch TV series based on the bestseller by journalist Thomas Rueb. Rounding...

Zaid Abu Hamdan has begun principal photography in Jordan on new film Boomah which is being positioned as an Arab world thriller with a similar gritty edge as City of God, Gomorrah and La Haine.

Boomah marks Jordanian director Abu Hamdan’s second feature after his critically acclaimed female focused drama Daughters of Abdul Rahman.

The Giza Killer and Al Rawabi School For Girls actress Rakeen Saad stars in the titular role of a female thug, who goes by the name of Boomah. The actress is also soon to be seen as the lead in new Netflix series production Echoes of the Past, as well as in Terrence Malick’s biblical drama The Way of the Wind.

She will be joined by Rawabi co-star Joanna Arida in the role of Boomah’s best friend and confidant Anoud. Rounding out the cast are Majd Eid, Nabil Al Raee and Hanan Al Hilo, who previously starred in Daughters of Abdul Rahman.

The new film is billed as an “expansive crime thriller” set against the backdrop of Jordan’s underworld. Protagonist Boomah is notorious and knife-savvy female gang member who becomes embroiled in a power struggle between street thugs and religious extremists while battling the traumas of her harrowing orphaned past.

The film is produced by Front Row Productions with Ahmad Abu Koush and director Abu Hamdan’s Jordan-based Bounce Productions.

Also on board is Amman-based production company Bayt Al Shawareb, which worked on 2014 Oscar-nominated film Theeb and the 2023 Cannes Critics’ Week breakout Inshallah a Boy.

A joint venture between Mena distributors Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment, Front Row Productions’ previous credits include Netflix originals Perfect Strangers, The Sandcastle, starring Nadine Labaki and Ziad Bakri, and the upcoming Cliffhanger reboot.

“We’re proud to be a part of this project, supporting Jordanian and Levantine talent during this extremely difficult and trying period, with so much risk inherent in cinema and arts coming out of this region,” said Front Row Productions partners Gianluca Chakra and Mario Jr. Haddad.

“Zaid is an outstanding young and ambitious director with a very bright future ahead, a true visionary and difference-maker. His understanding of the nuances of Jordanian street culture is exceptional,” they added.

“We are concentrating on a script and storytelling that transcends borders and nationality while looking to break the limits of background and identity to bring Boomah to a wide Arab audience and beyond. We see Boomah positioned as a film with Arab and international appeal, as a crime thriller reminiscent of great underworld juggernaut works like City of God, Gomorrah, La Haine and others.”...

The jury of Greta Gerwig, filmmakers J. A. Bayona, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nadine Labaki, acting folks Eva Green, Omar Sy, Lily Gladstone and Pierfrancesco Favino with the all-in-one Ebru Ceylan chose Sean Baker’s Anora as the film worthy of the Palme d’Or. As usual, we were on hand to witness those who claimed an award during the evening. Below are small video snip-its:

Palme d’or: Anora by Sean Baker

Grand Prix: All We Imagine As Light by Payal Kapadia

Jury Prize: Emilia PÉREZ by Jacques Audiard

Best Director: Miguel Gomes for Grand Tour

Special Award: Mohammad Rasoulof for The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Best Performance by an Actress: Adriana Paz, Zoe SALDAÑA, Karla SOFÍA GASCÓN & Selena Gomez in Emilia Pérez directed by Jacques Audiard

Best Screenplay: The Substance by Coralie Fargeat

Short Film Palme d’or: The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent by Nebojša Slijepčević

Special...

The 77th annual Cannes Film Festival concluded on Saturday with an elegant closing ceremony at the Palais des Festivals. Under the spotlight were the esteemed jury members, led by acclaimed filmmaker and actress Greta Gerwig, who took the stage to announce the winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or.

The star-studded red carpet saw appearances by Festival President Iris Knobloch and Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux, along with jury members Pierfrancesco Favino, Nadine Labaki, Lily Gladstone, Juan Antonio Bayona, Eva Green, Omar Sy, Ebru Ceylan and Hirokazu Kore-eda. Each brought a unique perspective to this year’s diverse jury panel, reflecting the global influence of cinema.

Gerwig, known for her directorial successes Lady Bird, Little Women and Barbie, led the jury through a competition that featured 21 films from around the world as its president. In her speech, she highlighted the importance of storytelling in bridging cultural divides and praised the high caliber of entries.

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival was officially closed yesterday, on May 25, 2024, as the prizes for the movies and the actors were awarded at the closing ceremony. It was a very exciting and content-filled event, and we have also reported on numerous movies that had their premiere at Cannes, some of which were received well, while others… not so much. But, naturally, everyone wants to know who won and who lost at Cannes, and that is what we are going to report about in this article.

The article will be divided into two main sections. The first one will list all the juries at Cannes, since they are the ones who chose the winners at the film festival, so we think that it is only fair that you know who picked the winners. After that, we are going to list all the winners in each of the categories.

As we have said,...

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival concluded on Saturday, May 25 following two weeks packed with screenings, stars, press and parties. With the prizes having been handed out for the festival’s 77th anniversary, we can now start looking at what contenders might be in the best spot to get into the upcoming Oscar race. Let’s examine the winners from this year’s festival and see the history that each category has when it comes to the Oscars.

In recent years, we’ve seen the festival serve as a huge springboard for major players in the Oscar derby. Three of the last four winners of the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, have nabbed Best Picture nominations: “Parasite” (2019), “Triangle of Sadness” (2022) and “Anatomy of a Fall” (2023). Other big winners at recent festivals that became big Oscar players include “Drive My Car,” “The Zone of Interest” and “BlacKkKlansman.” This year’s...

“We really led with our hearts for everything we watched,” said 77th Cannes Film Festival Jury President Greta Gerwig on what was a fiercely competitive year.

In a Cannes that delivered a Demi Moore comeback pro-femme horror film Substance, a ground breaking trans noir Spanish-lingo musical in Emilia Perez, Francis Ford Coppola’s $120M passion project Megalopolis, it was Sean Baker’s dark romantic comedy about a sex worker, Anora that transcended this year’s jury.

“It was an embarrassment of riches this year in terms of cinema,” exclaimed Gerwig, “we (the jury) could have been talking into next week.”

Anora follows a stripper who falls for a Russia oligarch’s son. He loves her so much, he marries her, much to the chagrin of his family. Chaos ensues.

Said Gerwig on why they chose it: “There was something that reminded us of a classic, there were structures of Lubitsch and Howard Hawks.

The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival concludes today with the Closing Ceremony and presentation of the coveted award, the Palme d’Or which was awarded to Sean Baker’s Anora, on Saturday, May 25.

The Jury, chaired by director Greta Gerwig was tasked with awarding the Palme d’Or to one of the 22 films in the Competition.

Related: Cannes Film Festival: ‘Anora’ Wins Palme D’Or; ‘All We Imagine As Light’ Takes Grand Prize; ‘Emilia Perez’ Jury Prize & Best Actresses

The jury included Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green and Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, as well as Spanish director and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino, Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu, and French actor and producer Omar Sy.

Related: ‘Emilia Pérez’ Cannes Film Festival Premiere Photos: Édgar Ramírez, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña & More

Hu Guan’s drama Black Dog...

Sean Baker’s Anora has won the Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, which wrapped Saturday night (May 25).

The US comedy-drama stars Mikey Madison as the titular Anora, a sex worker who finds herself married to a Russian oligarch and must fend off his parents who are keen for an annulment. It marks Baker’s second time in Competition, following 2021’s Red Rocket.

Scroll down for full list of winners

In his speech, Baker devoted the award “to all sex workers past, present and future”, and voiced his support for theatrical distribution: “The future of cinema is where...

Sean Baker’s “Anora” has won the Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, a jury headed by Greta Gerwig announced on Saturday.

The win for Baker’s freewheeling film about a stripper and the son of a Russian oligarch becomes the fifth consecutive Palme winner to be distributed by Neon, which previously handled “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Triangle of Sadness,” “Titane” and “Parasite.”

TheWrap’s review said of the film, “It’s one of the most entertaining movies to play in Cannes this year, and also one of the most confounding: part character study of the title character (Mikey Madison), a sex worker from Brighton Beach who falls for rich Russian playboy Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn); part look into the world of the super-rich, an arena Baker has studiously avoided in films like ‘Tangerine,’ ‘The Florida Project’ and ‘Red Rocket’; part escalating nightmare comedy reminiscent of ’80s gems...

Cannes — Nine years after being named one of Variety’s Directors to Watch, Sean Baker won the Palme d’Or for “Anora,” a rowdy whirlwind romance between an exotic dancer (Mikey Madison) and the obscenely rich son of a Russian oligarch (played by Mark Eydelshteyn). Baker is the first American filmmaker to cinch the festival’s top prize since Terrence Malick earned the Palme for “The Tree of Life” in 2011.

“Anora” is Baker’s third film to debut at Cannes, following “The Florida Project” and “Red Rocket.” He accepted the award from two-time Palme d’Or winner Francis Ford Coppola, whose “Megalopolis” went home empty-handed. Coppola also presented an honorary Palme d’Or to his friend and fellow legend George Lucas, whom he called his “own kid brother.”

Baker dedicated the award to “all sex workers, past, present and future,” underscoring the importance of “making films intended for theatrical exhibition.

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival is finally coming to a close — but not without a big splash. Crossing the Croissette one last time, stars and filmmakers alike are about to find out who’s taking home this year’s prizes.

Guessing the Palme d’Or winner has become a beloved pastime for fans and critics alike, but the best part of any Cannes Awards ceremony are the surprises. This year’s jury, led by Greta Gerwig and including Lily Gladstone, Ebru Ceylan, Eva Green, Nadine Labaki, J.A. Bayona, Pierfrancesco Favino, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Omar Sy, has been pretty tight-lipped about its preferences, but there are certainly a few standouts amongst the 22 films in competition.

“Megalopolis,” Francis Ford Coppola’s decades-in-the-making passion project saw him return to Cannes after many years, but was met with a mixed response despite IndieWire’s own appreciation for the film. One of the real standouts of...

The hype out of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, for those far-flung and on the ground, tells one story: This was among the weaker lineups in recent memory.

Sure, huge stories broke out of the festival, from Francis Ford Coppola’s distribution push for his self-funded, decades-in-the-making passion project “Megalopolis” to Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof fleeing his home country after being sentenced to eight years in prison, finally making it to Cannes with his new film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.” This journey inspired the jury to award him and his film a Special Prize (Prix Spécial).

Elsewhere in the official selection, Un Certain Regard already handed out its prizes on Friday from a jury led by Xavier Dolan and including Maïmouna Doucouré, Asmae El Moudir, Vicky Krieps, and Todd McCarthy. Among the top winners were Roberto Minervini (“The Damned”) and Rungano Nyoni (“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”) tying for Best Director,...

The closing ceremony of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival is taking place today (May 25) at 18:45 Cest (17.45 BST) at the Grand Theatre Lumiere.

Scroll down for live winners

The ceremony is broadcast live on France 2, as well as online in various international territories via Brut. It will be followed by a screening of the closing night film.

This story will update with the winners as they happen, below. Refresh the page for latest updates

This year’s jury was made up of president Greta Gerwig, plus Ebru Ceylan, Lily Gladstone, Eva Green, Nadine Labaki, J.A. Bayona, Pierfrancesco Favino, Kore-eda Hirokazu and Omar Sy.

Courtesy of Festival de Cannes

© Shochiku Co., Ltd. – Rhapsody in August by Akira Kurosawa (1991) / Graphic design © Hartland Villa

The jury of the 77th Festival de Cannes has presented its 2024 winners' list from the 22 films presented in competition this year. The Jury of the 77th Cannes Film Festival was chaired by American director, screenwriter and actress Greta Gerwig and the jury included Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, Spanish director, producer and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu, and French actor and producer Omar Sy.

Palme D’Or

Anora - Sean Baker

Grand Prix

All We Imagine as Light - Payal Kapadia

Best Director

Grand Tour - Miguel Gomes

Jury Prize

Emilia Pérez - Jacques Audiard

Special Prize

The Seed of the Sacred Fig - Mohammad Rasoulof

Best Screenplay

The Substance...

The Cannes Film Festival is nearing its conclusion, with plenty of films making a splash on the starry Croisette on the French Riviera. However, one studio executive tells Variety, “There aren’t many Oscar-buzzy titles to be excited about, not even in the international feature space.”

This year’s main competition jury, led by president Greta Gerwig and including J.A. Bayona, Ebru Ceylan, Pierfrancesco Favino, Lily Gladstone, Eva Green, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nadine Labaki and Omar Sy, will name its winners on Saturday.

It was looking like a foregone conclusion that the Palme d’Or win would be bestowed upon Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical “Emilia Pérez,” starring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Karla Sofía Gascón, which was picked up by Netflix. However, on Friday, Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” garnered the most enthusiastic reactions on social media from attendees and the longest-standing ovation at 12 minutes. One awards publicist says,...

The Cannes Film Festival is many things: A prestigious platform for the best of world cinema, a massive industry event where film acquisitions get made, a testament to the French film industry’s classism and rampant sexual abuse. But more than anything, it’s one of the world’s greatest photo opps.

Sure, sure, everyone wants the Palme D’or. But even more people would kill to get seen on the iconic Cannes red carpet, and get their picture snapped by the hordes of press that camp on the Croisette. Some of the world’s most glamorous and beautiful celebrities can be seen on the steps outside the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès every year posing for the cameras, and while it’s not quite the fashion moment that the Met Gala is, it still offers a great opportunity for us pleebs to gawk at some particularly shiny stars in all of their finery.