News

More than 250 celebrity leaders from across multiple industries — including Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, Pedro Pascal, and Addison Rae — have signed a full-page Planned Parenthood ad calling for support of the organization’s lifesaving healthcare initiatives in response to threats under President Donald Trump.

Rolling Stone exclusively reveals the list of signees behind the “I’m for Planned Parenthood” ad, which runs Wednesday in The New York Times.

Following the “I’m for Planned Parenthood” sentence structure, the ad reads: “Because I’m for freedom… because I’m for healthcare… because...

Veteran Hollywood actor Michael Douglas was shocked after discovering he is related to star Scarlett Johansson.

The 79-year-old star appeared on a series ‘Finding Your Roots’ to delve into his ancestry, and he was stunned to find out that Johansson, who he appeared alongside in 2019’s ‘Avengers: Endgame’, is a “DNA cousin” of his.

When told the news on the show, Douglas said: “Are you kidding? Oh, that’s amazing. All right. This is cool. This is so cool.”

‘Finding Your Roots’ presenter Henry Louis Gates Jr shared the news to Douglas. He told him that he and the 39-year-old actress “share identical branches of DNA on four different chromosomes”, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

The presenter added that the branches of DNA “appear on Scarlett’s maternal lines, which stretch back to Jewish communities in Eastern Europe”.

Douglas said it was “incredible” to find out he and the actress were related,...

Catering directly to my interests, the Criterion Channel’s January lineup boasts two of my favorite things: James Gray and cats. In the former case it’s his first five features (itself a terrible reminder he only released five movies in 20 years); the latter shows felines the respect they deserve, from Kuroneko to The Long Goodbye, Tourneur’s Cat People and Mick Garris’ Sleepwalkers. Meanwhile, Ava Gardner, Bertrand Tavernier, Isabel Sandoval, Ken Russell, Juleen Compton, George Harrison’s HandMade Films, and the Sundance Film Festival get retrospectives.

Restorations of Soviet sci-fi trip Ikarie Xb 1, The Unknown, and The Music of Regret stream, as does the recent Plan 75. January’s Criterion Editions are Inside Llewyn Davis, Farewell Amor, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and (most intriguingly) the long-out-of-print The Man Who Fell to Earth, Blu-rays of which go for hundreds of dollars.

See the lineup below and learn more here.

Back By Popular Demand

The Graduate,...

Lena Dunham’s “Catherine Called Birdy” brings vibrancy and color to her adaptation of Karen Cushman’s beloved novel. Rich reds and blues fill the medieval world and fictional town of Stonebridge.

The film, nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and Critics Choice Award, stars Bella Ramsey as a 14-year-old who rebels against the patriarchy when her father, played by Andrew Scott, proclaims she is to be married off. When building the aesthetics, Dunham wanted to steer clear of the “grays and browns” associated with medieval history.

Speaking via Zoom from London, Dunham says, “This film is very much about the domestic life of women and children, and it was exciting to think about how we look at medieval life in a more feminine way.”

The film’s poster reflects everything about Dunham’s vision, but her mother, artist Laurie Simmons, designed her own artwork for the movie that didn...

Ever since she burst onto the scene more than a decade ago, audiences have struggled to separate Lena Dunham the writer-director-actress from the female leads she creates. First, there was Aura, the floundering film-school student at the center of her semi-autobiographical indie Tiny Furniture, which lit up the festival circuit in 2010 and co-starred real-life family members including her mom, the artist Laurie Simmons, and sibling, Cyrus Grace Dunham. Then, of course, there was Girls’ Hannah Horvath, the Brooklyn-dwelling Oberlin grad (ditto you-know-who) and aspiring writer whose Gen Y ennui and...

The Tribeca Film Festival and Chanel have teamed to present Art Is New York/New York Is Art. The program invited more than 60 artists to contribute original sketches inspired by the relationship between art and New York City. The works will be posted on vacated storefronts throughout lower Manhattan.

Contributing artists include Julian Schnabel, Kiki Smith, Dustin Yellin, Nate Lowman, Swoon, Chuck D, Matthew Modine, Christopher Walken, Donna Ferrato, Aurel Schmidt, Kalup Linzy, Don Gummer and Sophie Matisse. A short film released in conjunction with Art Is New York/New York Is Art features Schnabel, Chuck D and Ferrato.

“Tribeca’s longstanding partnership with Chanel in supporting human expression through art is deeply rooted in the spirit of the festival. Their commitment to honoring the boldness and authenticity of artists is palpable,” Jane Rosenthal, co-founder and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises and Tribeca Festival, said in a statement released Monday morning.

Clémence Polès at Happy Bones on The Music Of Regret and My Art director Laurie Simmons and Women Without Men and Looking For Oum Kulthum director Shirin Neshat at Fffest: “They both are artists that are filmmakers as well and I thought a conversation could be interesting.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The 2nd annual Fffest screened Bette Gordon’s Variety and I-94; Kirsten Johnson’s Cameraperson with Sofia Bohdanowicz’s Veslemøy’s Song; Nadia Farés’s Honey And Ashes; Kei Fujiwara’s Organ with Shinya Tsukamoto’s Tetsuo: The Iron Man; Shirin Neshat’s Women Without Men with Forough Farrokhzad’s The House Is Black; Laurie Simmons’ The Music Of Regret, and a Women From Ghetto Film School free short film programme.

Laurie Simmons with Shirin Neshat on the Fffest red carpet Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

A panel with Erin Lee Carr (I Love You Now Die), Desiree Akhavan (The Miseducation Of Cameron Post), Dianna Agron,...

In an election year marked by unprecedented grassroots energy on the left, and with just one month to go until the midterms (Nov 6th), dozens of notable cultural figures have come together in a video series launching today with the goal to drive mass volunteer action that transforms our government this November.

Amid a slew of celebrity PSAs and reminders to vote, their message is different: “Don’t just vote this year — volunteer!”

Entitled The Last Call for The Last Weekend, the video series is the last big push for The Last Weekend, a coalition campaign organized by Swing Left and backed by more than 60 other progressive organizations including Indivisible, MoveOn, Organizing for Action, and Emily’s List to enlist people from across the country to volunteer a collective 1 million hours to help get out the vote when volunteering matters most: on the last weekend before the midterm elections (Saturday 11/3 – Tuesday 11/6).

In the video series,...

Laurie Simmons on Kurt Weill's It Never Was You: "I love the words to the song because of Ellie [Laurie Simmons] assuming all these characters. It has so many meanings." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Laurie Simmons has assembled an impressive list of collaborators for her debut feature film My Art, including Barbara Sukowa, Blair Brown, Parker Posey, and Lena Dunham to go along with her film vignette reenactment partners Robert Clohessy, John Rothman and Josh Safdie.

Costume designer Stacey Battat (Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer's Still Alice, Scott McGehee and David Siegel's What Maisie Knew, Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled and The Bling Ring) and production designer Kelly McGehee (Oren Moverman's The Dinner and Time Out Of Mind, Reed Morano's Meadowland and I Think We're Alone Now) dressed up the actors and the sets respectively, and Celia Rowlson-Hall brilliantly recreated choreography from Joshua Logan's Picnic, starring William Holden and Kim Novak.

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Proud Mary [IMDb] pictured

Taraji P. Henson stars at a hitwoman for the Boston mob. (male writers and director)

The Post [my review]

Meryl Streep costars as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham at a critical juncture in the paper’s history. Cowritten by Liz Hannah. (male director)

Lady Bird [my review]

Greta Gerwig writes and directs this piercingly funny coming-of-age story about a teenaged girl (Saoirse Ronan) trying to figure out who she is.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri [IMDb]

Frances McDormand stars in a black comedy about a woman seeking justice for her murdered daughter. (male writer and director)

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Inside [IMDb]

A pregnant woman (Rachel Nichols) is tormented by a stalker after her baby. (male writers and director)

The Insult [IMDb]

Joelle Touma cowrites this courtroom drama about two men in Beirut. (male director)

My Art [IMDb]

Laurie Simmons writes, directs, and stars in a dramedy about an unsuccessful artist in New York City.

Post Golden Globes and just ahead of next week's Sundance Film Festival, awards contenders will continue to dominate the Specialty box office this weekend, though newcomers continue to trickle in. Film Movement is opening Laurie Simmons' My Art, which features her daughters Lena and Grace Dunham. Simmons had starred in Lena Dunham's 2010 directorial breakout, Tiny Furniture. French filmmaker Philippe Garrel's Lover For a Day heads to theaters after playing at the New York…...

There’s a brief, smile-inducing montage early in “My Art” that sees the lead character Ellie — an artist played by an artist, Laurie Simmons, who also wrote and directed — arriving at the grand upstate New York country house where she’s housesitting for the summer, and throwing open its many doors. Because when you work in the city all year teaching, and you’ve successfully escaped (in this case to focus on your own work), you’re in the mood for possibilities, for fresh air. Ellie’s door-flinging is her way of letting her art-making process know she’s ready for business. But opening...

Laurie Simmons may be new to feature filmmaking, but she is a veteran of the arts scene. A graduate of the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, she moved to SoHo in 1973 and soon thereafter commenced the phase of her photography career for which she would be most well-known: the shooting of dolls that have been lit and arranged within a miniature domestic space in a manner that resembled actual images of people within their homes. From the 1980s onward, she expanded on her interest in dolls in various ways, from a series on male ventriloquist dummies to works featuring “walking objects”—large props worn by her friend Jimmy de Sana—to the 1997 Music of Regret series where Simmons commissioned sort-of self-portraits starring a female doll whose face had been made to resemble her own.

The last project is the one that is most widely referenced in My Art,...

Ah, film. That exquisite, unsurpassable medium to which we are all enslaved. Film can do the impossible, taking us to places we’ll never go and introducing us to people we’ll never meet. Film turns people into icons and stories into legends, seamlessly coalescing fantasy and reality. Surrealist photographer Laurie Simmons positions her first feature, “My Art,” on such a precipice, examining the point at which filmic iconography meets everyday banality.

Continue reading Far From A Masterpiece, ‘My Art’ Is A Milquetoast Mess [Review] at The Playlist.

Deal comes as Film Movement aims to expand footprint in documentary arena.

New York-based distributor Film Movement and documentary specialist Bond/360 have struck an alliance to broaden their reach into festivals and the educational sales arena.

Through Film Movement, Bond/360 will enhance the reach of their titles into festivals, community screenings, home entertainment and digital platforms, airlines, and hotels.

Bond/360 will assist in expanding the representation of Film Movement’s catalogue of documentaries and narrative films to educational institutions.

Film Movement has recently moved more aggressively into the documentary space, acquiring more than two dozen features in the last two years, including such titles as My Love, Don’t Cross That River, Randall White’s Hockney, Jack Riccobono’s The Seventh Fire, and Tanja Cumming’s Lodz ghetto film Line 41.

Bond/360 has more than 40 documentary features that will join Film Movement’s library of more than 300 features and 150 short films.

“We are pleased...

Laurie Simmons’ debut feature premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival.

Film Movement has acquired Us rights to Laurie Simmons’ My Art and will open the film theatrically next winter, followed by a digital and home video release.

The film centres on New York City artist Ellie, who is looking to gain inspiration and tranquility as she housesits for a friend in upstate New York.

Accompanied by her lovable handicapped dog, Bing, Ellie comes of age — middle age — in her new surroundings. She turns the adjoining barn into her new workplace, staging elaborate recreations of classic movie scenes.

The film stars Simmons, who also wrote the script, as well as Josh Safdie, Parker Posey, Robert Clohessy, and John Rothman.

Premiering at the 2016 Venice Film Festival and the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival in North America, the comedy-drama also features Barbara Sukowa, Blair Brown, and Simmons’ daughter, Lena Dunham.

Simmons commented: “Film Movement is the perfect fit for us...

Andrew Bolton in front of Body Meets Dress - Dress Meets Body on Rei Kawakubo and collaboration: "I think with Merce Cunningham, they both share notions of chance." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Andrew Rossi's The First Monday In May (2016 Tribeca Film Festival Opening Night Gala selection) brilliantly captured the work behind the scenes for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute China: Through The Looking Glass exhibition, curated by Andrew Bolton with The Grandmaster's Wong Kar Wai as Artistic Director, and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour's Costume Institute Gala Benefit. The first Monday in May is here again.

Object/Subject - Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art Of The In-Between Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Julianne Moore, Lena Dunham (seen at Tribeca in Laurie Simmons' My Art), Felicity Jones, Claire Foy, Ruth Negga, Lupita Nyong'o, Reese Witherspoon, Katie Holmes, Sarah Paulson, Madonna, Jeff Koons (Pappi Corsicato's Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait,...

In Flames, which also premiered at Tribeca, real-life artists and filmmakers Zeffrey Throwell and Josephine Decker created a docu-drama about their actual relationship. In My Art real-life artist and filmmaker Laurie Simmons takes a different approach, creating a feature that’s ostensibly narrative but seems intertwined closely with her identity. For one thing the lead character, Ellie, is portrayed by Simmons, who also directs and wrote the screenplay. Ellie is a talented artist frustrated by the distraction of everyday live in New York City, and so steals away for the summer to a friend’s idyllic upstate estate, complete with a barn-cum-art-studio....read more...

There’s no question that photographer and artist Laurie Simmons has an eye for images, and while her feature directorial debut “My Art” relies heavily on a series of homages to some of cinema’s most beloved features, the newbie narrative filmmaker really impresses in an unexpected arena. Simmons pulls triple duty on the film, writing, directing and starring in the feature, and although she knows how to compose lovely shots and her insight into the art world is keen, it’s her performance as artist Ellie that stands out in an otherwise predictable feature about growing up, no matter your age.

Mashing up mid-life crisis narratives (the film is heavy on the Nancy Meyers influence, down to the shades of “Baby Boom” and an attention to great interior design) with various recreations of classic films that run the gamut from “Some Like It Hot” to “Jules and Jim” and plenty of pictures in between,...

Lineup and Pre-Festival Announcements and News

Tribeca 2017: 14 Must-See Films From This Year’s Festival

Tribeca 2017: 10 Must-Attend Events at This Year’s Festival

Why ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Is the Most Anticipated Screening of the Tribeca Film Festival

Tribeca 2017: New Online Works Showcase Will Premiere Fresh Efforts from Shailene Woodley, Eli Roth and More

Tribeca TV Lineup 2017 Unveiled: ’Handmaid’s Tale,’ Albert Einstein’s ‘Genius,’ Ken Burns’ Vietnam War Doc and More

Tribeca Talks 2017: Scarlett Johansson, Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Baumbach, and Lena Dunham Join The Conversation

Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino Will Reunite for ‘The Godfather’ 45th Anniversary Celebration

Tribeca 2017 Lineup: The Obamas’ Virtual Reality White House Tour Leads Experimental Storytelling Program

Tribeca 2017 Short Film Lineup: Elisabeth Moss, Kobe Bryant, Mae Whitman and More Lend Their Talents to This Year’s Program

Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons...

Each year, the Tribeca Film Festival fills out its schedule with a variety of events that extend far past the typical film fest fare, including their signature Tribeca Talks program and a continuing bent towards the possibilities of Virtual Reality. This year’s slate is no different, offering up intimate chats between industry luminaries (did you know that Robert Rodriguez and Barbra Streisand are pals? they are!) and special screening opportunities for projects both new (Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s “The Vietnam War”) and classic (a “Godfather” one-two punch). There’s a little something for everyone here.

This year’s Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 19 – 30. Check out some of our must-attend events below.

Read More: Tribeca 2017: 14 Must-See Films From This Year’s Festival

Tribeca Talks: Jon Favreau with Scarlett Johansson

Friday, April 21 at 5:00Pm

The must-see event at Tribeca’s Directors Series is “Iron Man...

If you like your time travel thrillers with a side of memory loss and taser fights, Kenneth Mader’s “Displacement” is the film for you.

The feature follows a young physics student who sets out to reverse a fatal quantum time anomaly that causes short-term lapses in memory and time slips. Oh, and on top of that, she’s also trying to solve the murder of her boyfriend. Just a totally normal day, right?

Read More: ‘American Assassin’ First Trailer: Michael Keaton and Dylan O’Brien Take on Terrorism in CIA Black Ops Thriller

Courtney Hope stars in the lead role, with Bruce Davison, Susan Blakely, Sarah Douglas, Lou Richards, and Christopher Backus filling out the rest of the cast.

“Displacement” opens in Los Angeles on April 28, with other cities to follow. Check out our taser-filled exclusive clip below.

Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news!

“The Little Hours” had its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, where it was acquired by Otter Media’s Gunpowder & Sky. Now, Jeff Baena’s irreverent and hilarious adaptation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s medieval book “The Decameron” is ready for its theatrical debut this summer, and a red band trailer has just dropped.

Read More: Aubrey Plaza Leads a Hilarious Cast of Sexually Deviant Nuns In Jeff Baena’s ‘The Little Hours’ — Sundance 2017 Review

Written and directed by Baena, “The Little Hours” follows a group of nuns (played by Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza and Kate Micucci), who lead a non-eventful life in a monastery lead by Father Tommasso (John C. Reilly). When a virile young man named Massetto (Dave Franco) is brought in by Father Tommasso as the new hired hand, the nuns engage in sexual deviance, substance abuse and wicked revelry.

Read More: 50 Movies to See This Summer

Molly Shannon,...

Lionsgate has dropped the first trailer for “American Assassin,” a fast-paced action-thriller about a young man recruited into the nation’s most elite counterterrorism program. The film stars Dylan O’Brien as the new recruit Mitch Rapp and Michael Keaton as Stan Hurley, the head of the covert operations group.

Read More: ‘A Star is Born’ Remake: Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper Saddle Up for Coachella-Set Shoot

Here’s the official synopsis:

“American Assassin” follows the rise of Mitch Rapp, a CIA black ops recruit under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley. The pair is then enlisted by CIA Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on both military and civilian targets. Together the three discover a pattern in the violence leading them to a joint mission with a lethal Turkish agent (Shiva Negar) to stop a mysterious operative (Taylor Kitsch...

Film features director’s daughter, Lena Dunham.

Mongrel International has picked up world sales rights to Laurie Simmons’s rom-com My Art ahead of its North American premiere at Tribeca.

The film features Simmons, Robert Clohessy, John Rothman, Parker Posey, Blair Brown and Simmons’ daughter, Lena Dunham.

Simmons plays a single New York artist who finds a new joie de vivre when she house-sits for a friend upstate and becomes romantically entangled. Andrew Fierberg served as producer.

“We’re so delighted to be involved with My Art,” Mongrel acquisitions and sales executive Caroline Habib said. “The movie spoke very strongly to our all women team – it’s funny, it’s warm and it’s extremely smart. Laurie gave us, with grace and humor, an honest glimpse into the artistic process.”

“I could not be more excited having Caroline, Charlotte [Mickie, Mongrel International president] and the entire team at Mongrel stand behind our film,” Simmons said.

“To be included...

Acclaimed photographer Laurie Simmons’ debut feature film “My Art” is headed to this month’s Tribeca Film Festival for its North American premiere, after bowing at Venice last year. Mongrel International will be repping the film at the fest, as it recently acquired international sales rights, including U.S., for the feature.

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

“We’re so delighted to be involved with ‘My Art,'” said Mongrel Acquisitions & Sales executive, Caroline Habib in an exclusive statement. “The movie spoke very strongly to our all women team — it’s funny, it’s warm and it’s extremely smart. Laurie gave us, with grace and humor, an honest glimpse into the artistic process.”

Simmons added, “I could not be more excited having Caroline, Charlotte and the entire team at Mongrel stand behind our film. To be...

Starz has released the trailer for season 3 of its time travel drama series “Outlander.” The network debuted the teaser during Sunday night’s premiere of the period drama “The White Princess.”

Read More: The Best TV Shows Adapted From Books — IndieWire Critics Survey

Based on Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling 8-book series “Outlander,” the time travel saga follows Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), a married British Army nurse from the 1940s who is mysteriously taken back in time to 1743, where she marries a young Scottish warrior named Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). As she travels back and forth in time, Claire’s heart is torn between two very different men and two very different lives.

Read More: ‘Orphan Black’ Trailer: The Sestras Are United in The Final Season Fight — Watch

Based on the third book in the series, titled “Voyager,” season three picks up right after Claire returns to her “normal” life in 1948, while,...

Now in its sixteenth year, New York City’s own Tribeca Film Festival kicks off every spring with a wide variety of programming on offer, from an ever-expanding Vr installation to an enviable television lineup, but the bread and butter of the annual festival is still in its film slate. This year’s festival offers up plenty of returning favorites with new projects, alongside fresh faces itching to break out. From insightful documentaries to fanciful features, with a heavy dose of Gotham-centric films (hey, it is Tribeca after all), there’s plenty to dive into here, so we’ve culled the schedule for a few surefire hits.

This year’s Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 20 – 30. Check out some of our must-see picks below.

Read More: Why ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Is the Most Anticipated Screening of the Tribeca Film Festival

“A Gray State”

It might be the craziest story...

You can’t accuse the Tribeca Film Festival (April 19-30) of bandwagon jumping: Back in 2005, it screened the series finale of “Friends” outdoors on a Hudson pier for rapturous fans. Today, TV is a fait d’accompli as Tribeca expands its second annual TV program to 15 shows and five series. Golden-age TV draws viewers, Hollywood filmmakers, and a wider audience.

Last year, the TV program included world premieres of “The Night Of” (HBO, from Oscar-winning executive producer Steve Zaillian), “The Night Manager” (AMC, directed by Oscar-winning Susanne Bier), and “O.J.: Made in America” (Espn, directed by eventual Oscar-winner Ezra Edelman).

Read More: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Review: The Scariest TV Show Ever Made, Because It Feels So Real

This year’s highest-profile debuts include the adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu) starring Elisabeth Moss and Joseph Fiennes, and directed by indie filmmaker Reed Morano...

Zoë Kravitz is skipping Coachella festivities in Indio, California, this weekend — and the star, who recently debuted her pixie cut, has a decided stance on the ubiquitous flower crown.

“When they ask me if im at Coachella im like ….. #saynotoflowercrowns ,” the actress, 28, captioned on her Instagram, posting a photo of Barbra Streisand extending a single rose. Meanwhile, her Big Little Lies costar Laura Dern made it to the festival with five teenagers in tow — where she showed off her pretty flower crown. (We’re sure Kravitz will forgive her for it!)

Lena Dunham also got in on the Coachella jest,...

The producers of Alex Gibney’s new documentary “No Stone Unturned” have pulled the film from the Tribeca Film Festival one week before its scheduled premiere on Saturday, April 23.

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

“We were notified today from the producers of Alex Gibney’s ‘No Stone Unturned’ that there are outstanding legal issues surrounding the film and they will need to withdraw the documentary from the Festival,” the Tribeca Film Festival said in a statement. “We are very disappointed that audiences will not be able to see the film at Tribeca and we know Alex is equally disappointed that his film will not have its world premiere at the Festival.”

Here’s the official synopsis for the movie:

In 1994, six men were gunned down and five wounded in a pub while celebrating Ireland’s landmark victory...

Balancing and preserving a budding progressive family within a framework of traditional spirituality is a difficult task in any city. One film premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival this month shows that going through that process in Nazareth brings with it a special set of challenges.

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

Written, directed, and starring Shady Srour, “Holy Air” centers on the difficulties and small misfortunes of Adam, a Christian Arab living in Nazareth. Adam is a decent businessman and his pregnant wife, Lamia, is a strong advocate for women’s rights. Things take a turn for the worse for the couple when Adam’s father falls severely ill and Lamia’s pregnancy has complications. In need of money to assist his father and support his growing family, Adam turns to a crafty business venture: selling bottles...

Family can sometimes drive us up a wall. At holiday dinners, families like to poke their noses in others business with questions about the future or current romantic partners or career choices, and the answers they are given are typically met with slight condescension. With every intention of defending ourselves, we bite our tongues to preserve the only time of week, month, or year we see our families. This tense familial setting is the foundation of the film “Ice Mother,” directed by Bohdan Sláma (“Something Like Happiness” “Country Teacher”).

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

The film tells a story of Hana, an older woman who lives alone, aside from her weekly visits with her two sons and their families. These passive-aggressive dinners are central to the family dynamic that no one intends to break. One day, while...

Moving from one country to another is never easy. It’s even worse if you arrive to find that your mother has married a strange old man — at least that’s the case for Misha in the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival premiere, “Son of Sofia.”

IndieWire has an exclusive first look at Elina Psykou’s upcoming film, her second following her acclaimed debut “The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevask.”

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

Set during the 2004 Athens Olympics, “Son of Sofia” follows the dark, coming-of-age story of Misha, a highly imaginative 11-year old boy who travels from Russia to Athens to join his mother after a long time apart. Unbeknownst to Misha, a new father awaits for him there. In the exclusive trailer below, Psykou paints a dark yet tender story of a boy’s clash...

In a case of art imitating art imitating life, IFC Films has released a lively first trailer for its biopic about the man who inspired Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky,” starring Liev Schreiber as Chuck Wepner. The movie also stars Naomi Watts and Elizabeth Moss as Wepner’s two love interests, along with comedian Jim Gaffigan and Ron Perlman.

Read More: Cristian Mungiu Is a World-Famous Auteur, But In Romania, He Self-Distributes His Movies

Known as the Bayonne Bleeder, Wepner was a 1970’s-era heavyweight boxer who went 15 rounds in the rings with Muhammad Ali and once fought an actual live bear. The true pride of his life was being the real “Rocky,” however, and his newfound fame led him to a life of drinking, drugs, and infidelity. As Chuck struggles to hang onto the people that matter, including his no-nonsense wife (Moss) and a straight-talking local bartender (Watts), the film offers...

Young love is naive. Young love is passionate. Yet, what happens when young love becomes unrequited? For Liina, it leads to drastic measures.

Read More: Tribeca TV Lineup 2017 Unveiled: ’Handmaid’s Tale,’ Albert Einstein’s ‘Genius,’ Ken Burns’ Vietnam War Doc and More

Premiering at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival in the International Narrative Competition, “November.” directed by Rainer Sarnet. revolves around a small Estonian village where dark magic looms and infatuation spawns. There, the desperate village people steal from each other, from their German manor lords, from spirits, the devil, and from Christ. They are willing to give away their souls to thieving creatures made of wood and metal called kratts, who help their masters whose soul they purchased steal even more.

Within this town is Young Lina (Rea Lest) who falls hopelessly in love with Hans (Jörgen Liik), but their relationship is spoiled when she discovers that...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced programming today for its N.O.W. (New Online Works) section, an inspired array of established and emerging creators who are pushing the boundaries of online storytelling.

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Set to Open With ‘Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives’ Premiere Event at Radio City Music Hall

Top-lining the section is the premiere of “Awake, A Dream from Standing Rock,” a documentary from the Oscar-nominated team of Josh Fox and James Spione and Executive Producer Shailene Woodley. The project is a collaboration with indigenous filmmaker Myron Dewey about the Native-led resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline. Eli Roth’s Crypt TV will premiere “Monster Madness,” a series of several character shorts; and Op-Docs, The New York Times’ award-winning forum for short, opinionated documentaries, will screen three films at the Festival.

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons...

Cue the handmaids.

The Tribeca Film Festival announced its second annual Tribeca TV program on Thursday and it includes a range of world premieres, popular show returns and a slate of independent pilots. One of the most highly anticipated debuts will be Hulu’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Fillms From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

The series has been in the news lately, and not only because it will premiere soon. The dystopian story about a government forcing fertile women to become breeders for their high-ranking officials has struck a nerve among progressive women who are wary of having their health and reproductive rights controlled. Recently, protestors dressed in the handmaids’ red robes and white bonnets made an appearance in the Texas Senate gallery as its members were passing abortion legislation.

The TV lineup...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced today its full slate of panels and discussions with industry leaders for the 16th annual festival.

Under the Tribeca Talks banner, the festival presents a talent-filled roster in discussion with leading creative voices across the entertainment industry. That includes conversations with big name directors such as Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Baumbach, Lena Dunham, and Jon Favreau, as well as crossovers from the music and sports industries like Common, Kobe Bryant, and Bruce Springsteen. They will be joining previously announced participants Alejandro González Iñárritu and Barbra Streisand.

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

Scarlett Johansson will interview Jon Favreau as part of the Directors Series, and Dustin Hoffman will do the same with Noah Baumbach. The Storytellers Series will feature “Girls” creator Lena Dunham in conversation with longtime collaborator Jenni Konner, as well as a...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– The Wisconsin Film Festival returns to Madison, running March 30 – April 6. Highlights of the program include James Gray’s “The Lost City of Z,” Terence Davies’ “A Quiet Passion,” Alex Ross Perry’s “Golden Exits,” Olivier Assayas’ “Personal Shopper,” Geremy Jasper’s “Patti Cake$” and a section dedicated to new women directors. Find out more information at their official site.

– The Denver Film Society has announced its full festival program and schedule for the 7th Women+Film Festival on International Women’s Day. The Festival will take place at the Sie FilmCenter April 4 – 9 and individual tickets and all-access passes are on sale now. The Women+Film Festival shines a spotlight on stories by and about women with a high profile, female-centric mix of documentaries, feature presentations and short films.

I know it was you, Tribeca. This year’s edition of the festival will close on April 29 with back-to-back screenings of “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II,” followed by a cast reunion and conversation involving Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire and Robert De Niro. Bring your own oranges and hope for the best.

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

The one-time event, which marks 45 years since “The Godfather” was first released, isn’t the only anniversary screening: “Aladdin” celebrates 25 years with a sing-along; “Reservoir Dogs” also turns 25, followed by a discussion with Quentin Tarantino and members of the cast; and Michael Moore appears for a 15th-anniversary screening of his Oscar-winning documentary “Bowling for Columbine.”

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: The Obamas’ Virtual Reality White House Tour Leads Experimental Storytelling Program...

The 16th annual Tribeca Film Festival announced today its lineup of immersive films, including 29 Vr and interactive projects in its Storyscapes and Virtual Arcade exhibits. Tribeca was one of the first U.S. festivals to showcase experimental storytelling projects, and as such the festival attracts world premieres from some of the vastly growing industry’s leading creators and studios.

Highlights include a virtual reality tour of the White House led by Barack and Michelle Obama; a new Vr collaboration from Chris Milk and by Pharell Williams; a mystery starring Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola from interactive studio Eko; and a multidisciplinary exploration of women of color’s experience through the lens of technology, society and culture, titled “NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism.”

Read More: Tribeca 2017 Lineup: New Films From Alex Gibney, Azazel Jacobs and Laurie Simmons Lead the Eclectic Mix

“As Vr has continued to evolve technologically, so has the storytelling. Our mission...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– Hot Docs has announced the ten documentary features that will screen in this year’s Special Presentations program. Special Presentations features a high-profile collection of world and international premieres, award winners from the recent international festival circuit and works by master filmmakers or featuring some star subjects.

Special Presentations will screen as part of the 2017 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, running April 27 – May 7. The complete Special Presentations program and the full selection of films to screen at Hot Docs 2017 will be announced on March 21, including the 2017 opening night film.

The new titles include: “Bill Nye: Science Guy,” “Chasing Coral,” “Dolores,” “Elian,” “Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower,” “In Loco Parentis,” “Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press,” “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World,” “Strong Island” and “The Workers Cup.

“Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral” is tentatively scheduled for release later this year, and a boycott of the upcoming horror film has already been called for. The move has been called for due to the fact that Victor Salva, the film’s writer/director, was convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor in 1988. Annie Swital has started a change.org petition calling on others to actively oppose the film on the grounds that “monsters belong on the screen, not behind the camera.”

Read More: 7 New Netflix Shows to Binge Watch in March 2017, and The Best Episodes of Each

Here’s the full text of the petition:

“Jeepers Creepers 3 is currently in production. The director and creator of this franchise, Victor Salva, used his position to rape a 12 year old boy in 1988 during the filming of the movie Clownhouse. He was convicted and served a measly 15 months in prison. As the three...

There have already been plenty of terrific pictures that’ve unspooled at the Venice Film Festival (check out our full coverage), and as the fest rolls into its second half, there’s more to come. And one picture looking to earn some shine on the Lido is Laurie Simmons‘ “My Art,” which looks to be a slightly […]

The post Venice Exclusive: Trailer For Laurie Simmons’ ‘My Art’ Featuring Lena Dunham, Parker Posey, Josh Safdie, And More appeared first on The Playlist.

In 2010, Lena Dunham inspired a generation of college graduates trying to figure out what to do with their lives with her film Tiny Furniture. Now, she’s hoping a new film will inspire another generation, the generation of baby boomers, to remember their value in the world and start creating again. The kicker? The film, My Art, which premieres at the Venice Film Festival Tuesday, is by her mother, artist Laurie Simmons. Tiny Furniture and My Art are full of parallels, not just in the storytelling of a woman trying to find her place in the world, but also in

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2016 New York Film Festival poster - Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Cemetery Of Splendor director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has designed the 54th New York Film Festival poster to join the ranks of Laurie Anderson, Andy Warhol, Bruce Conner, Richard Avedon, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Diane Arbus, Martin Scorsese, Julian Schnabel, Jeff Bridges, Maurice Pialat, John Baldessari, Cindy Sherman and Laurie Simmons.

Bruce Conner's Angels (1986) at MoMA in New York City Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Ava DuVernay’s documentary The 13th will open the festival, Mike Mills' 20th Century Women starring Annette Bening with Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning, Lucas Jade Zumann and Greta Gerwig is the centrepiece and James Gray's The Lost City Of Z with Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland and Charlie Hunnam is the Closing Night Gala selection.

“Apichatpong Weerasethakul is more than just a ‘logical’ choice to do our poster—he’s one of the world’s greatest filmmakers...

The selection for the 2016 Venice Film Festival has been announced, with new films by Terrence Malick, Pablo Larraín, Lav Diaz, Wang Bing, Amat Escalante, Tom Ford, and more.COMPETITIONVoyage of TimeThe Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour)Une vie i (Stéphane Brizé)La La Land (Damien Chazelle)The Light Between Oceans (Derek Cianfrance)El ciudadano ilustre (Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat)Spira Mirabilis (Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti)The Woman Who Left (Lav Diaz)La región salvaje (Amat Escalante)Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford)Piuma (Roan Johnson)Paradise (Andrei Konchalovsky)Brimstone (Martin Koolhoven)Jackie (Pablo Larraín)Voyage of Time (Terrence Malick)El Cristo Ciego (Christopher Murray)Frantz (François Ozon)Questi Giorni (Giuseppe Piccioni)Arrival (Denis Villeneuve)Les beaux jours D'Aranjuez (Wim Wenders)Out Of COMPETITIONSafariOur War (Bruno Chiaravolloti, Claudio Jampaglia, Benedetta Argentieri)I Called Him Morgan (Kasper Collin)One More Time with Feeling (Andrew Dominik)The Bleeder (Philippe Falardeau)The Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua...

Is there a best picture winner in the bunch? The Venice Film Festival has unveiled its 2016 lineup, including both in competition and out of competition offerings, and with the festival’s strong track record of debuting recent best picture winners — from “Spotlight” to “Birdman” — there might be another big winner among the slate’s ranks.

As had been previously announced, the festival will open with Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land,” which will later hit Toronto (and, presumably, also Telluride). The festival will close with Antoine Fuqua’s “The Magnificent Seven,” which kicks off its own festival run days earlier, when it will open Tiff.

Read More: Tiff Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘American Honey,’ ‘La La Land’ and ‘Birth of A Nation’

Other picks that will also do the Venice-tiff two-step include Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival,” Francois Ozon’s “Frantz,” Nick Hamm...

Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, Pablo Larrain’s Jackie, Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge and Michael Fassbender romance The Light Between Oceans among line-up.Scroll Down For Line-up

The 73rd Venice Film Festival (Aug 31 - Sept 10) has unveiled the 55 features – mixing star vehicles and international auteurs – that will make up this year’s official selection.

A total of 20 films will play in competition, 18 will play out of competition and 19 will play in Horizons.

Venice is on a roll having played host to the Best Picture Oscar winner two years in a row while three years ago Gravity went on to score seven Oscars.

Ahead of the world’s oldest festival, the buzz is palpable once again.

Competition titles include Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals, Pablo Larrain’s Jacqueline Kennedy biopic Jackie (seemingly a last minute confirmation) and Michael Fassbender romance The Light Between Oceans.

Auteur directors among the line-up include Terrence Malick, Lav Diaz, [link...