News

Ahead of Cannes market, Scandinavia’s leading sales agent TrustNordisk has released a fresh still from Pernille Fischer Christensen’s drama “Unraveled” (“Vores Løfte”) which just wrapped filming for Nordisk Film Production Denmark.

A Berlinale regular, from her 2006 breakthrough prize-winning debut “A Soap” to the Astrid Lindgren biopic “Becoming Astrid” (2018), picked up by Music Box for the U.S., Christensen’s “Unraveled” marks her anticipated return to the silver screen after her TV drama immersion that notably took in co-directing Dr’s acclaimed “Cry Wolf.”

The upcoming Danish pic stars Danica Curcic as Maria, a former elite swimmer and famous sports commentator whose life unravels when her beloved husband Mikael (Lars Ranthe from “Another Round”), her former coach and father of their daughter, is suddenly suspected of sexual abuse. Sparking the scandal and media interest is the revelation in an upcoming book, of a young girl’s misguided infatuation for her swimming coach,...

Scandinavia’s leading sales agent TrustNordisk has swooped on the international sales rights of Amanda Kernell’s “Brace your Heart” (“Förbannelsen”) ahead of the European Film Market in Berlin.

The Swedish drama, which starts filming this week in the Kiruna region, Northern Sweden, is Kernell’s third pic after the Swedish Oscar entry “Charter” and her acclaimed debut “Sami Blood” (a best directing debut at Venice Days 2016) which firmly put her name among Scandinavia’s most promising female voices.

Based on Kernell’s own original script, the story is set in a remote Sámi village, high in the mountains.

When Ejva (20) inherits her father’s reindeer herd upon his death, she takes over the family tradition and struggles to keep it thriving. At the same time, the local leader Heaika develops romantic feelings for her, and though hesitant, she feels compelled to accept, says the logline.

Everything changes when Nejla,...

“Kokomo City,” D. Smith’s documentary about four trans Black women in New York and Georgia, led all films in nominations for the 17th annual Cinema Eye Honors, the New York-based awards designed to spotlight all facets of nonfiction filmmaking.

The film received six nominations, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature and Outstanding Direction. Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory” and Sam Green’s “32 Sounds” followed with five nominations each.

In the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category, “Kokomo City,” “The Eternal Memory,” “20 Days in Mariupol” and “32 Sounds” were joined by “Four Daughters,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”

Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony” received nominations for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Score, making Heineman the third-most-nominated filmmaker in Cinema Eye history. With 12 nominations overall, he now trails Steve James and Laura Poitras by one.

While many...

Phrases like “Tone poem” and “meditation” are normally used by critics to describe works of art that are small and delicate.

Margareth Olin’s new documentary Songs of Earth, Norway’s selection for best international feature at next year’s Academy Awards, is surely a tone poem and equally surely a meditation on all manner of things, from our relationship with nature to the parent-child bond. The film, which boasts Liv Ullmann and Wim Wenders among its executive producers, is also surely a delicate film, one that frequently feels like it benefits more from being experienced than analyzed or interrogated.

Yet Songs of Earth is not a small movie. It’s a documentary that should be seen on the biggest screen at your disposal — whatever showcases its epic cinematography to its best advantage. Don’t sell Songs of Earth short, mind you, as an exclusively visual experience. Its sound design...

The first line of Amazon’s spy thriller “All the Old Knives” hints at the troubles to come: “Something has gone terribly amiss.”

At one point Kate Winslet, Michelle Williams, and Idris Elba were all rumored to be attached, but fell away over the years. So how, exactly, did Chris Pine and Thandiwe Newton get talked into what feels like an early-aughts, made-for-cable movie?

A stiffly somber Pine, entombed in turtlenecks and long scarves, is introduced like he’s in one of those perfume commercials celebrities try to keep hidden overseas. Despite a few moments of tense intrigue, the rest of the film too often follows suit.

Most of the action hinges on an event that took place several years ago. In flashback, we see shockwaves ripple through the CIA’s office in Vienna, as agency heads Wallinger (Laurence Fishburne) and Compton (Jonathan Pryce) share news of a violent airplane hijacking by Chechen rebels.