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European Film Promotion is playing host at the Cannes Film Festival to 20 up-and-coming European producers, selected for its Producers on the Move program. Variety invited the producers to share details of their upcoming projects, which we list below, including films to be directed by Jessica Hausner and Annemarie Jacir.

Blerina Hankollari, Albania

Project: “Beyond the Blue Mountains Is the Sea”

Director: Eneos Çarka

“Beyond the Blue Mountains Is the Sea” is a meditative docufiction about a diver, suspended in oxygen therapy, who slips into a reverie that connects him with his mysterious double travelling Europe’s last wild river in southern Albania, where water dissolves the boundaries between memory, nature, and identity.

Andi G. Hess, Austria

Project: “Toxic”

Director: Jessica Hausner

Across four chapters, “Toxic” examines different aspects of the modern working world. Through contemporary parables, it follows employees and employers within a capitalist system on the verge of outpacing itself.

Maura Delpero’s Italian WW2 drama Vermiglio won best film at the 70th David Di Donatello awards, Italy’s version of the Oscars, held at Rome’s historic Cinecittà film studio on Wednesday night. Delpero also took best directing honors en route to a 7-trophy sweep.

The film, which had its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival last year, beat out the two award frontrunners, Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, a sumptuous, occasionally surreal tribute to his hometown of Naples, and Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition, a political biopic about Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer, which lead the pack going into the David awards with 15 nominations each. Parthenope went away empty-handed, but The Great Ambition took two awards: Best actor for Elio Germano, who play Berlinguer, and best editing for Jacopo Quadri.

Tecla Insolia won best actress for her starring role in Nicolangelo Gelormini’s Sicilian...

Women dominated Italy’s David di Donatello Awards with Maura Delpero’s Venice Silver Lion winner “Vermiglio” taking top honors and Valeria Golino’s female empowerment drama “The Art of Joy” and Margherita Vicario’s directorial debut “Gloria!” also scoring multiple statuettes.

“Vermiglio,” which is set at the end of World War II in an Alpine village where the arrival of a soldier causes disruption in the dynamics between three sisters, was the night’s big winner taking best picture, best director, screenplay, producer, cinematography, sound and the David’s newly introduced casting category.

Delpero, who is the first woman to win the best director David in the 70-year history of the awards – and only the third female filmmaker to win best film – underlined the anti-war aspect of “Vermiglio”

“When I thought about writing it, someone asked me if it wasn’t anachronistic to talk about war,” she said.

“Unfortunately,...

Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio took home Best Film and Director at the 70th edition of Italy’s David di Donatello Awards on Wednesday evening, in an historic win for a female director.

Delpero is the first woman to win the David di Donatello Best Director prize in the history of the awards, and only the third female filmmaker to win Best Film.

The film picked up seven David di Donatellos in total which also included Best Original Screenplay, Casting, Producer, Cinematography and Sound.

Set in a remote mountain village in 1944, Vermiglio revolves around a family whose life is disrupted by the arrival of a deserted soldier. The feature world premiered in Venice where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and went on to be Italy’s 2025 Oscars submission.

It was an historically strong night for female directors.

Other big winners included Italian actress and singer-songwriter Margherita Vicario who won Best First Film,...

“Vermiglio” will soon be streaming stateside. Maura Delpero’s Italian epic is set to debut on the Criterion Channel May 20, IndieWire can announce. The film will be later released on Blu-ray & DVD from Janus Contemporaries August 26.

“Vermiglio” is set in a remote Alpine village, where a strict schoolteacher’s (Tommaso Ragno) family is rocked by the appearance of a mysterious Sicilian soldier (Giuseppe De Domenico) who is fleeing the front lines of World War II. The family’s three very different daughters each find their lives transformed by the soldier’s presence across one year. Per the official synopsis, as the “four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the eldest daughter of the teacher, are instantly drawn to each other leading to an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from tragedy, the family will face its own.” Roberta Rovelli, Anna Thaler, and Rachele Potrich also star.

Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, the director’s sumptuous, occasionally surreal tribute to his hometown of Naples, and Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition, a political biopic about Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer, are the frontrunners for this year’s David Di Donatello awards, Italy’s version of the Oscars.

Parthenope and The Great Ambition picked up 15 nominations each, including for best film and best director. In the best film category, they will face up against Maura Delpero’s Italian WW2 drama Vermiglio and Valeria Golino and Nicolangelo Gelormini’s L’arte della gioia (The Art of Joy), which received 14 nominations each, and the Francesca Comencini-directed drama The Time It Takes, which received four nominations. Other multiple nominees include Margherita Vicario’s debut feature Gloria!, about women musicians at a Church-run establishment in early-1800s Italy, which scored nine nominations, and Francesco Costabile’s crime thriller Familia, with eight.

In the best international film category,...

Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope and Andrea Segre’s The Great Ambition have taken the lead at the nomination stage for Italy’s upcoming 70th David di Donatello awards.

The titles have secured 15 nominations each including for best film and director.

Maura Delpero’s Vermiglio and Valeria Golino and Nicolangelo Gelormini’s The Art Of Joy received 14 nominations each, followed by Gloria! and Familia with nine and eight nominations respectively.

Sorrentino’s Parthenope, following a woman from her birth in 1950 to the current day against the backdrop of Naples, world premiered in Cannes.

Biopic The Great Ambition stars Elio Germano as 1970s and 1980s left-wing political leader Enrico Berlinguer, who nearly led the Communist party into power.

Vermiglio world premiered in Venice where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize and went on to be Italy’s 2025 Oscars submission. Set in a remote mountain village in 1944, the drama revolves around...

Writer/director Maura Delpero is capturing love in the time of World War II.

Delpero’s “Vermiglio,” which is the official Italian entry for Best International Feature at the 2025 Oscars, is set in 1944 Italy in the eponymous mountain village high up in the Italian Alps. As war looms as a distant but constant threat, the arrival of deserted soldier Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico) disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s (Tommaso Ragno) family forever.

Per the official synopsis, as the “four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the eldest daughter of the teacher, are instantly drawn to each other leading to an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from tragedy, the family will face its own.”

Roberta Rovelli, Anna Thaler, and Rachele Potrich also star.

“Vermiglio” premiered at 2024 Venice, and was recently nominated in the Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language category at the Golden Globes.

When the 34th annual Gotham Awards took place in Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Monday, December 2, the Oscar race officially began. The Gothams traditionally occupy a spot on the awards calendar as the first major film-centric ceremony of the season, giving fans their first opportunity to see the year’s biggest stars on the red carpet. The event also marks awards watchers’ first chance to gauge the state of the race.

The night’s top prize went to “A Different Man,” Aaron Schimberg’s A24 body transformation comedy that premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which stars Sebastian Stan as a facially disfigured actor who undergoes an experimental surgery to boost his career, beat out Oscar frontrunners such as Sean Baker’s “Anora” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers.” The win could boost the award chances of both Schimberg and his stars Stan and Adam Pearson.

The Gotham Awards, honoring the best in American independent films, held their 34th annual event on Monday night, Dec. 2, launching the fall and winter awards season. So who were the big winners? Scroll down for the complete list of 2024 Gotham Awards champs in all categories, updating live throughout the night.

Nominees were decided by panels of film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. The winners were then selected by juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors, and others directly involved in filmmaking. Those small juries change from year to year and from category to category, so these awards can produce surprising results.

Telling the story of a young sex worker from Brooklyn who meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch, “Anora” led the nominations with four bids including Best Feature, as well Sean Baker for Best Director, actress Mikey Madison for Best Lead Performance and actor...

Jacques Audiard‘s “Emilia Pérez” and Pedro Almodóvar‘s “The Room Next Door” topped Tuesday’s 37th European Film Awards nominations with four apiece.

Both are up for Best European Film, Best European Director, and Best European Screenwriter prizes, while their leads, Karla Sofía Gascón in “Emilia Pérez” and Tilda Swinton in “The Room Next Door,” will face off in Best European Actress.

Mohammad Rasoulof‘s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” nabbed three nominations for film, director, and screenwriter. Coralie Fargeat‘s word-of-mouth hit “The Substance” scored two bids for film and screenwriter honors.

For the first time, films nominated for Best European Documentary and Best Animated Feature Film are eligible in the Best European Film category, leading to an expanded list of 15 nominees. Also making the cut for the top prize are Italy’s Oscar entry “Vermiglio,” Senegal’s entry “Dahomey,” and Latvia’s entry and animated film “Flow.

The nominees for this year’s European Film Awards have been unveiled, with “Emilia Pérez,” “The Substance” and “The Room Next Door” all up for best European film.

Movies also in the running for the ceremony’s top award — which was expanded this year to documentaries and animated features — include Lina Soualem’s “Bye Bye Tiberias”; Mati Diop’s “Dahomey”; Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow”; Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Basel Adra and Hamdan Balla’s “No Other Land”; Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”; and Maura Delpero’s “Vermiglio.”

“Emilia Pérez” and “The Substance” lead the nominees overall, with each film scoring four respective nominations. The winners will be revealed during an awards ceremony on Dec. 7 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

See all the nominees below.

European Film

“Bye Bye Tiberias” — documentary film, directed by Lina Soualem, produced by Jean-Marie Nizan, Guillaume Malandrin and Ossama Bawardi

“Dahomey” — documentary film, directed by Mati Diop,...

The Substance by Coralie Fargeat, Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard, The Room Next Door by Pedro Almodóvar, and The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof are among the nominees for the 2024 European Film Awards (EFAs), organizers unveiled on Tuesday.

Emilia Pérez and The Room Next Door earned four noms each, including for best European film and best director. Sacred Fig is up for the best film, best director, and best screenwriter prizes. The Substance is in the running for the best film and best screenwriter honors.

In the best actress race, Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón faces Renate Reinsve, Tilda Swinton for her role in The Room Next Door, and The Girl With the Needle actresses Trine Dyrholm and Vic Carmen Sonne. For The Girl With the Needle, Magnus von Horn and Line Langebek are also nominated in the best screenwriter category.

Queer star Daniel Craig and...

Awards season is officially underway, according to the Gotham Film & Media Institute, and “Anora,” “Babygirl,” “Challengers,” “A Different Man,” and “Nickel Boys” are among the films in competition at this year’s Gotham Awards.

On Tuesday, the membership-based, non-profit independent film group announced its nominees for the 2024 Gotham Awards, the “start of the annual awards season” according to press materials. “Anora” led with four nominations, including Best Feature, Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison, Best Supporting Performance for Yura Borisov, and Best Director for Sean Baker.

The other Best Feature nominees included “Babygirl” (which landed Nicole Kidman a nomination for Best Lead Performance), “Challengers,” “A Different Man” (which also received recognition for Adam Pearson in Best Supporting Performance), and “Nickel Boys” (which had two other nominations – Best Director for RaMell Ross and Breakthrough Performance for Brandon Wilson).

Other highlights among the nominees include Demi Moore and Pamela Anderson in the Best Lead Performance category,...

The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced today the nominations for the 34th edition of The Gothams, including 39 feature films and 25 performances in nine award categories. Leading the Best Feature nominees are Anora, Babygirl, Challengers, A Different Man, and Nickel Boys.

“We are proud to announce the nominees for The Gothams, selected by nominating committees who bring their independent perspective to the selection process. This year’s nominations celebrate voices from across the globe, embodying the growing embrace of international cinema by audiences everywhere. We look forward to celebrating our nominees and our Gotham tributes in a few weeks,” said Sharp.

The 2024 Gothams will be held live and in person at 7 pm on Monday, December 2nd at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Best Feature

Anora

Sean Baker, director; Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, producers (Neon)

Babygirl

Halina Reijn, director; David Hinojosa, Julia Oh, Halina Reijn, producers (A24)

Challengers

Luca Guadagnino,...

Sean Baker’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Anora from Neon has nabbed four Gotham Award nominations today including Best Feature, Best Director, Outstanding Lead Performance for Mikey Madison and Outstanding Supporting Performance for Yura Borisov.

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers from Orion/Amazon MGM was nominated for Best Feature. The studio’s Nickel Boys by RaMell Ross had noms for Best Feature and Best Director.

The indie-centric awards last year removed a longstanding budget cap on eligibility, an opening for bigger budget studio and streamer fare to submit for consideration.

A24 films were everywhere with multiple nominations for Babygirl, I Saw The TV Glow, Sing Sing and A Different Man. The Brutalist, Janet Planet and Love Lies Bleeding had noms as well.

The October noms and early December ceremony are industry bellwethers, coming at the start of awards season in the crush of fall festival buzz.

“We are proud to announce the nominees for The Gothams,...

“Anora,” “Babygirl,” “Challengers,” “A Different Man” and “Nickel Boys” have been nominated as the best films of 2024 by the 2024 Gotham Awards, the Gotham Film & Media Institute announced on Tuesday.

Sean Baker’s “Anora” led all films with four nominations, including Best Feature, Best Director and Outstanding Lead and Supporting Performances for Mikey Madison and Yuri Borisov.

In the gender-neutral Gotham acting categories, other nominees included Pamela Anderson for “The Last Showgirl,” Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce for “The Brutalist,” Nicole Kidman for “Babygirl,” Marianne Jean-Baptiste for “Hard Truths,” Demi Moore for “The Substance” and Saoirse Ronan for “The Outrun.”

Eligibility for the Gotham Awards used to be restricted to films that came in under a $35 million budget cap, but the awards did away with that rule last year. Currently, the definition of a film eligible for the Gothams is “filmmaking with a point of view … where the vision of an individual director,...

The Gotham Film and Media Institute announced Tuesday the nominations for the 34th annual Gothams, honoring 39 features and 25 performances across nine award categories. Nominees were chosen by a group of journalist- and programmer-led committees. This is the first major awards body to share nominations for the year in film, and here, the Gothams are led by “Anora,” “Babygirl,” “Challengers,” “A Different Man,” and “Nickel Boys” in the Best Feature category.

“We are proud to announce the nominees for The Gothams, selected by nominating committees who bring their independent perspective to the selection process. This year’s nominations celebrate voices from across the globe, embodying the growing embrace of international cinema by audiences everywhere. We look forward to celebrating our nominees and our Gotham tributes in a few weeks,” said Gotham Film and Media Institute executive director Jeffrey Sharp.

Per the Institute, nominees are chosen by committees of film critics, journalists,...

Exclusive: Sideshow and Janus Films have set a December 25 U.S. theatrical release date for Venice Silver Lion winner Vermiglio. The drama from writer, director and producer Maura Delpero is also Italy’s submission to the Best International Feature Film Oscar category. Delpero is the first woman to represent the country in 19 years.

A portrait of a sprawling family, Vermiglio is set in 1944, in the titular high-mountain village of the Italian Alps where war looms as a distant but constant threat. The arrival of Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a taciturn Sicilian soldier who hides out in town after deserting the army, disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s family, changing them forever. He develops a romance with the eldest daughter, Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), which ends up having unforeseen consequences for everyone. As the world emerges from its tragedy, the family will face its own.

Also starring are Tommaso Ragno and Roberta Rovelli.

Maura Delpero’s “Vermiglio,” which recently won the Venice Film Festival’s Silver Lion and is Italy’s international Oscars contender, is scoring stellar returns at the local box office and fast becoming the country’s indie darling.

The intimate period drama, which is largely spoken in Northern Italian dialect and is playing with Italian-language subtitles in local cinemas, has been rapidly turning into a surprise local box office sensation, gradually going from a 26 screen micro-release on Sept. 19 via distributor Lucky Red to a much wider 340-screen outing this past weekend.

“Vermiglio,” now in its third frame, this past weekend clocked in second only to “Joker: Folie à Deux,” according to national box office compiler Cinetel.

The film has so far pulled €1.2 million ($1.3 million), which makes it “the top Italian indie film of 2024,” said Lucky Red head of theatrical Gabriele D’Andrea. He noted that “Vermiglio” will wind up outperforming the...

Italy has selected Maura Delpero’s Venice Silver Lion winner Vermiglio as its entry for the best international feature Oscar.

Vermiglio won the Grand Jury Prize in Competition at Venice earlier this month. Set in 1944 in the Italian alpine village after which the film is named, it sees the arrival of a deserter soldier disrupt the life of the village teacher and his family, as the eldest daughter falls in love with him.

Producers on the film are Francesca Andreoli, Santiago Fondevila, Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli and Delpero, for Italy’s Cinedora with Rai Cinema, in co-production with France’s Charades...

Italy has selected Maura Delpero’s Venice Silver Lion winner Vermiglio as its entry for the best international feature Oscar.

Vermiglio won the Grand Jury Prize in Competition at Venice earlier this month. Set in 1944 in the Italian alpine village after which the film is named, it sees the arrival of a deserter soldier disrupt the life of the village teacher and his family, as the eldest daughter falls in love with him.

Producers on the film are Francesca Andreoli, Santiago Fondevila, Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli and Delpero, for Italy’s Cinedora with Rai Cinema, in co-production with France’s Charades...

Maura Delpero’s intimate epic “Vermiglio,” which recently won the Venice Film Festival’s Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, has been designated as Italy’s candidate for the best international feature film category of the 2025 Academy Awards.

The drama, which is set at the end of World War II in an Alpine village where the arrival of a soldier causes disruption in the dynamics between three sisters, had its North American premiere after Venice in the special presentations section at Toronto.

In her Variety review, critic Jessica Kiang called “Vermiglio” “quietly breathtaking,” going on to note that the film “unfolds from tiny tactile details of furnishings and fabrics and the hide of a dairy cow, into a momentous vision of everyday rural existence in the high Italian Alps.”

“Vermiglio” marks Delpero’s follow-up to her first feature “Maternal” that takes place in an Argentinian refuge for teenage mothers run by...

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all North American rights to Vermiglio, written, directed and produced by Maura Delpero. The drama recently had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. Yesterday, it screened in the Special Presentations section of the Toronto International Film Festival. Sideshow and Janus are planning a theatrical release in the coming months.

Vermiglio is set in 1944, in the titular high-mountain village of the Italian Alps where war looms as a distant but constant threat. The arrival of Pietro, a refugee soldier, disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s family, changing them forever. During the four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia, the eldest daughter of the teacher, are instantly drawn to each other, led to marriage and to an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from its tragedy, the family will face its own.

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights to Maura Delpero’s intimate epic “Vermiglio,” which recently won the Venice Film Festival’s Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize.

The drama, which is set at the end of World War II in an Alpine village where the arrival of a soldier causes disruption in the dynamics between three sisters, subsequently had its North American premiere in the special presentations section at Toronto.

Sideshow and Janus Films plan to release “Vermiglio” theatrically in the coming months, they said in a statement.

In her Variety review, critic Jessica Kiang called “Vermiglio” “quietly breathtaking,” going on to note that the film “unfolds from tiny tactile details of furnishings and fabrics and the hide of a dairy cow, into a momentous vision of everyday rural existence in the high Italian Alps.”

Venice jury president Isabelle Huppert praised the Silver Lion winner for being a...

Paris-based sales and production company Totem has boarded “Quasi a Casa,” directed by Carolina Pavone.

The film is produced by Marta Donzelli and Gregorio Paonessa for Vivo Film, and by Palme d’Or winner Nanni Moretti for Sacher Film. Fandango – behind festival favorites “Orlando, My Political Biography” and “The Survival of Kindness” – will handle Italian distribution.

Described as a “pop drama,” it follows Caterina. Now in her 20s, she wants to be a musician, but she’s paralyzed by fear and insecurity. One summer, she meets her idol, the French singer Mia and gets to know her. It’s the beginning of a complex relationship that will accompany Caterina over the years and finally allow her to find home. Almost.

The logline states: “There comes a time in everyone’s life, when we need to start figuring out what our place in the world is.”

Newcomer Maria Chiara Arrighini plays Caterina.

Exclusive: Beatrice Grannò, the Italian actress best known for her knockout performance in The White Lotus Season 2, has signed with Independent Artist Group for representation.

Set in Sicily, the second installment of Mike White’s hugely popular HBO satire, examining the dynamics between employees and guests at luxury hotels around the world, had Grannò working closely opposite fellow Italian Simona Tabasco, also sharing the screen with Theo James, Adam Dimarco, Michael Imperioli, Theo James and more.

The 15x Emmy-winning series had her playing the role of Mia, a seductive, piano-playing chanteuse looking to build her business on the grounds of The White Lotus Sicily, who’s best friends with Tabasco’s prostitute, Lucia Greco. For her performance as part of the starry ensemble, the actress was recognized with a SAG Award in 2023.

Previously, Grannò has been seen in the film The Time of Indifference from Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, also playing...

In “The Time of Indifference,” Italian filmmaker Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli adapts the 1929 novel by renowned author Alberto Moravia about a once wealthy family in decline but unable to give up the pretenses of appearance.

Transposed to modern-day Rome, the film retains the novel’s timeless story of a hapless widow whose devious and manipulative lover comes between her and her two increasingly wary children.

For Seràgnoli, the film was a return to the work of a writer he first read in high school. “I think since then Moravia has been with me throughout my life.”

Indeed, in his first film, “Last Summer,” Seràgnoli borrowed elements of Moravia’s 1945 novel “Agostino,” about a 13-year-old boy spending the summer at a seaside resort with his beautiful widowed mother. The film caught the attention of Carmen Llera, the late author’s wife. “She really loved my first film. She contacted me and said,...

Gli Indifferenti

It’s been well over a decade since a filmmaker has attempted an new adaptation of Italian author Alberto Moravia, whose novels provided the basis for such classics as De Sica’s Two Women (1960), Godard’s Contempt (1963) and Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970), among many others. For his third feature, Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli remounts Moravia’s The Time of Indifference, assembling a formidable cast with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Giovanna Mezzorgiorno, Edoardo Pesce, Beatrice Granno and Vincenzo Crea. The title is produced by Marco Cohen, Fabrizio Donvito, Benedetto Habib and Daniel Campos Pavoncelli with Gian Filippo Corticelli (favored Dp of Ferzan Ozpetek) lensing.…...

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi has been cast as a morally and economically bankrupt matron in Italian director Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli’s movie adaptation of “The Time of Indifference,” author Alberto Moravia’s scathing critique of the Fascist-era bourgeoisie.

Seràgnoli, a young helmer known for “Last Summer” and “Likemeback” – which bowed at the Rome and Locarno fests, respectively – has started shooting his contemporary take on the widely translated novel in Rome. First published in 1929, when Moravia was 21, “Gli Indifferenti” captured the middle-class malaise of its time and established Moravia as a world-class writer.

The story sees members of an upper-crust Rome family reacting to a financial crisis that is undermining their social status. Mariagrazia, played by Bruni Tedeschi, is a widow with an unscrupulous lover, Leo, played by Edoardo Pesce (“Dogman”). She has two children by her dead husband: Carla, whom Leo has the hots for, and Michele, who is aware that...

Based upon the graphic novel of the same name published in 15 different countries, the film is an Italian-Belgian-French co-production and will hit Italian cinemas on 29 August. 5 Is the Perfect Number, the first feature film written and directed by the Cagliari comic book artist and novelist Igor Tuveri, aka Igort (who also co-wrote the screenplay for Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli’s Last Summer and Enrico Pau’s L’accabadora), is ready for release. Based upon Igort’s own highly successful, homonymous graphic novel, which was published in 15 countries, the film stars Toni Servillo in the role of disenchanted hitman Peppino Lo Cicero, Valeria Golino as his long-time lover and Carlo Buccirosso as the bloodthirsty Totò ‘O Macellaio, Peppino’s lifelong friend and accomplice. We’re in Naples in the 1970s: Peppino Lo Cicero, a retired second-rate camorrista, comes back onto the scene when his son is murdered. This tragic event triggers a series of.

Media Luna New Films has sold South Korean rights for comedy-drama “522. A Cat, a Chinese Guy and My Father” to Laon-i at Cannes.

The film tells the story of George, an agoraphobic young woman who can’t walk more than 522 steps from her home. One day, her cat forces her to embark on a trip from Spain to her native Portugal. Along the way, George’s whole world starts to open up.

The film is directed by Paco R. Baños and was produced by Angel Tirado for Tarkemoto in Spain, and co-produced by Pandora da Cunha for Ukbar Films in Portugal. It stars Natalia de Molina.

In the run-up to Cannes, Media Luna closed a deal for “Likemeback” with Alamode for the German-speaking territories. The Locarno premiered Italian film was directed by Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli and produced by Ines Vasiljevic for Nightswim, and co-produced by Indiana Production.

Recent additions to...

Following his first feature in 2014, the Rinko Kikuchi-led “Last Summer”, Italian writer-director Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli returns with “Likemeback,” a young women-led drama exploring smartphone addiction. This time around, he follows three Italian teenagers – played by Angela Fontana, Denise Tantucci and Blu Yoshimi – on a boat-based vacation in Croatia, celebrating the end of high school. They share everything on social media, but their addiction to those platforms, along with conflicts concerning their insecurities, take multiple dark turns that look to be life-ruining.

As “Likemeback” received its world premiere at this year’s Locarno Festival, Seràgnoli spoke to Variety about the film’s themes concerning social media, collaborating with his stars on the story, and the appeal of setting a social media cautionary tale out at sea.

When did you start cultivating an interest in the relationship we have with technology and our phones?

I didn’t have Facebook until two years ago.

Bruno Dumont's CoinCoin et les Z'inhumainsThe lineup for the 2018 festival has been revealed, including new films by Hong Sang-soo, Radu Muntean, Mariano Llinás and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes, and much more.

Piazza GRANDEBlacKkKlansmanBlazeCoincoin et les Z'inhumainsI Feel GoodLe vent tourneLes Beaux EspritsLibertyL'ordre des medecinsL'ospiteManila in the Claws of LightBirds of PassageRuben Brandt, Collector (Milorad Krstic, Hungary)Se7enSearchingThe Equalizer 2Un nemico che ti vuole bene (Denis Rabaglia, Italy/Switzerland)What Doesn't Kill Us

Concorso INTERNAZIONALEGlaubenbergA Family TourDianeLa FlorYaraMenocchioToo Late To Die YoungRay & LizHotel By the RiverA Land ImaginedMSibelGenèseWintermärchenAlice T.

Concorso Cineasti Del PRESENTEAll GoodThose Who WorkChaosClosing TimeImmersed FamilyFaust The Dive Suburban BirdsYoung and AliveLikemebackDead Horse NebulaWe Are ThankfulSophia AntipolisHierLong Way HomeTrot

Signs Of Lifea Room with a Coconut ViewCommunion Los AngelesHow Fernando Pessoa Saved PortugalDulcineaGulyabaniThe Fragile HouseMan in the WellJulio Iglesias's HouseThe Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas ChauvinSedução da CarneAnything And AllThe Grand BizarreErased,...

The lineup for this year’s Locarno International Film Festival, which celebrates its 71st edition, has arrived. Among the most-anticipated titles in the lineup there’s a new feature from Hong Sang-soo titled Hotel by the River and the latest film from Tuesday, After Christmas director Radu Muntean, Alice T. Also in the slate is Man in the Well, a short film from Hu Bo, made before his first and final feature An Elephant Sitting Still. Ahead of our coverage, check out the full lineup below (via Mubi), also featuring previously premiered films from Spike Lee, Kent Jones, Ethan Hawke, Ciro Guerra & Cristtina Gallego, Aneesh Chaganty, and more.

Piazza Grande

BlackKkansman

Blaze

Coincoin et les Z’inhumains

I Feel Good

Le vent tourne

Les Beaux Esprits

Liberty

L’ordre des medecins

L’ospite

Manila in the Claws of Light

Birds of Passage

Ruben Brandt, Collector

Se7en

Searching

The Equalizer 2...

"The Slamdance Film Festival has unveiled 20 titles for its narrative and documentary feature film competition programs for its 22nd edition during Jan. 22-28," announces Variety's Dave McNary. "Notable titles include Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli’s drama Last Summer, starring Rinko Kikuchi, Yorick van Wageningen and Lucy Griffiths; Derek Kimball’s drama Neptune, set on an island off the coast of Maine and centered on an orphan girl raised by the church; Paul Taylor’s dialogue-free Driftwood, starring Joslyn Jensen, Paul C. Kelly and Michael Fentin; and Andrea Marini’s Art of the Prank, starring Joey Skaggs, Robert Forster and Peter Maloney." » - David Hudson...

"The Slamdance Film Festival has unveiled 20 titles for its narrative and documentary feature film competition programs for its 22nd edition during Jan. 22-28," announces Variety's Dave McNary. "Notable titles include Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli’s drama Last Summer, starring Rinko Kikuchi, Yorick van Wageningen and Lucy Griffiths; Derek Kimball’s drama Neptune, set on an island off the coast of Maine and centered on an orphan girl raised by the church; Paul Taylor’s dialogue-free Driftwood, starring Joslyn Jensen, Paul C. Kelly and Michael Fentin; and Andrea Marini’s Art of the Prank, starring Joey Skaggs, Robert Forster and Peter Maloney." » - David Hudson...

Festival top brass announced on Monday the 12 Narrative and eight Documentary Feature Film Competition films in 22nd edition, set to run in Park City from January 22-28, 2016.

The 20-strong line-up includes 12 world premieres, three North American premieres and one Us premiere.

All competition films are feature directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1m and without Us distribution.

Jury awards are presented to feature films in both categories and all films are eligible for audience awards as well as the Spirit Of Slamdance Award, judged by the filmmakers themselves.

“The standard of Diy filmmaking around the world is the highest we’ve seen, and the diversity of storytelling is the most we’ve experienced,” sad Slamdance co-founder and president Peter Baxter.

“With a record breaking number of submissions to select from, the narrative and documentary feature line-up has never been so competitive or as exciting to programme.”

All synopses provided by the festival.

Narrative Features...

Festival top brass announced on Monday the 12 Narrative and eight Documentary Feature Film Competition films in 22nd edition, set to run in Park City from January 22-28, 2016.

The 20-strong line-up includes 12 world premieres, three North American premieres and one Us premiere.

All competition films are feature directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1m and without Us distribution.

Jury awards are presented to feature films in both categories and all films are eligible for audience awards as well as the Spirit Of Slamdance Award, judged by the filmmakers themselves.

“The standard of Diy filmmaking around the world is the highest we’ve seen, and the diversity of storytelling is the most we’ve experienced,” sad Slamdance co-founder and president Peter Baxter.

“With a record breaking number of submissions to select from, the narrative and documentary feature line-up has never been so competitive or as exciting to programme.”

Al synopses provided by the festival.

Narrative Features...

Manuel here to bring you some more film festival news. Toronto, Venice, Telluride and New York are behind us but that doesn’t mean we’re done with film festivals; across the pond, London and Rome have recently wrapped up which means: awards!

BFI London Film Festival (8-19 October)

Official Competition winner – Best Film: Leviathan – Andrey Zvyagintsev (reviewed at Cannes and winner of Best Screenplay at that fest)

First Feature Competition winner – The Sutherland Award:Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy for The Tribe (Critics Week Winner at Cannes)

Documentary Competition winner – The Grierson Award: Silvered Water, Syria Self-portrait – Ossama Mohammed & Wiam Simav Bedirxan (reviewed by Glenn at Nyff)

Best British Newcomer: Sameena Jabeen Ahmed – actor Catch Me Daddy

BFI Fellowship: Stephen Frears (we were just discussing his new film!)

Rome Film Festival (15-25 October)

Bnl People’s Choice Award | Gala - Trash by Stephen Daldry

People’s Choice Award | Cinema d'Oggi - Shier...

Other winners included Chinese crime drama 12 Citizens and an Indian adaptation of Hamlet.Scroll down for full list of winners

The 9th Rome Film Festival (Oct 15-25) drew to a close tonight with an awards ceremony that saw Stephen Daldry’s Trash take home the Bnl People’s Choice Gala Award.

Set in Brazil, the film centres on three youngsters who make a discovery in a trash dump that puts them on the run from the police. Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen star in the film from Oscar-nominated Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours).

It beat competition from 14 other titles including David Fincher’s Gone Girl, Steven Soderbergh’s TV series The Knick and Andrea Di Stefano’s Escobar: Paradise Lost.

This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme were decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.

Click here for red carpet pictures from Rome[p...

Title: Last Summer Director: Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli Starring: Rinko Kikuchi, Yorick Van Wageningen, Lucy Griffiths, Laura Sofia Bach, Daniel Brady, Ken Brady. The Rome Film Festival – which has had a precipitous downfall over the years – opens with a mediocre film. ‘Last Summer’ directed by Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli has a very simple and nerve-wracking plot: A Japanese mother is obliged to spend a few final days with her 4-year-old son, who’s been whisked away in a custody battle, though we never know why. The boy is initially aloof – also because he’s overprotected by the staff on board of the yacht – but eventually will open up to his [ Read More ]

The post Last Summer Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Festival veteran discusses this year’s “pop mix” and a “very challenging” year.

Rome Film Festival (Oct 16-25) artistic director Marco Mueller hails this year’s line-up as a “pop mix”, which combines eclectic genres and nationalities, despite significant festival budget cuts.

“We have a very interesting pop mix,” says the respected veteran, who will depart the festival after this, his third year in charge.

“We move between an unusual Italian comedy [Alessandro Genovesi’s opener Soap Opera], amazing genre films, a large presentation of Latin American cinema – in a strong year for the region, Asian films and some of the key English-language films of the coming awards season.”

Line-up

This year’s line-up comprises 24 world premieres, including Aleksey Fedorchenko’s drama Angels Of Revolution, Christoph Hochhausler’s German thriller The Lies of the Victors and Afghan/German director Burhan Kurbani’s We Are Young. We Are Strong.

English-language titles in the line-up include the European premiere of Stephen Daldry’s Trash, [link...

Name and focus changes for every section, which are now all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.

The ninth Rome Film Festival (Oct 16-25) has revealed a diverse line-up including the Italian premieres for potential awards contenders including David Fincher’s Gone Girl. the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s As the Gods Will and Burhan Qurbani’s We are Young, We are Strong and European premiere of Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind, Toronto hit Still Alice and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.

This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme will be decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.

Each section has changed name and focus for 2014 and are all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.

Italian comedies Soap Opera and Andiamo a Quel Paese bookend the line-up.

Full line-up

Cinema D’Oggi

World premiere

• Angely...

Fortissimo Films has added two Last Summer from Italy and Atlantic from the Netherlands to its Cannes slate.

Fortissimo Films is to begin pre-sales at the Cannes market on Italian feature Last Summer and Dutch film Atlantic. Both are currently in post-production and slated for festival launches later this year.

Fortissimo will handle worldwide sales for both outside their respective countries of origin and will introduce the films to buyers during the Marche with exclusive footage.

Last Summer marks the feature debut of London-based Italian commercials and short film director Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli.

Starring Rinko Kikuchi (Babel), the English and Japanese language film also introduces child actor Ken Brady. Produced by Elda Ferri (Jean Vigo Italia), Luigi Musini (Cinemaundici) and Rai Cinema, the film was written by Seragnoli and Igort. Acclaimed Japanese writer Banana Yoshimoto is a contributing writer on the film.

The film is partially set on a luxury yacht anchored off the coast of Apulia...

• One-time Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (Milk) is reportedly in talks to star in Jurassic World, the fourth installment in the dinosaur franchise. Jurassic World has a release date (July 12, 2015), a director (Safety Not Guaranteed’s Colin Trevorrow), a script in the works, and a few cast members (Bryce Dallas Howard and Iron Man 3′s Ty Simpkins), but little else is known about the plot or the characters. Brolin has a number of projects scheduled for release this and next year, including Jason Reitman’s Labor Day, Spike Lee’s English-language remake of Oldboy, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For,...

Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi, 32, has nabbed the lead role in Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli’s feature film debut “Last Summer,” according to a report by Variety. Kikuchi joins an ensemble cast that includes Lucy Griffiths, Yorick Van Wageningen and Laura Sofia Bach. “Last Summer” tells the story of Naomi, a Japanese woman (Kikuchi) who has only [...]

The post “Pacific Rim” Star Rinko Kikuchi Lands Lead Role in Italian Indie Drama “Last Summer” appeared first on Up and Comers.

Last Summer

Rinko Kikuchi ("Pacific Rim," "Babel") is currently at work filming the lead role in Italian indie filmmaker Leonardo Guerra Seragnoli's English-language drama "Last Summer". Lucy Griffiths, Yorick Van Wageningen and Laura Sofia Bach also star.

The story follows a free-spirited but reckless Japanese woman trapped on her father-in-law's yacht off the Italian coast. She has four days to spend with her six-year-old son before she loses custody of him to a wealthy Westerner. [Source: Variety]

Tusk

Haley Joel Osment has joined the cast of Kevin Smith's new indie comedy "Tusk".

Osment plays a best friend and podcast co-host (Justin Long) who goes missing in the backwoods of Canada. Filming begins next month in North Carolina and La. [Source: Deadline]

Business Trip

June Diane Raphael ("Ass Backwards") will play Vince Vaughn's wife in Ken Scott's comedy "Business Trip". Tom Wilkinson also stars

Vaughn plays a Midwestern businessman who takes...