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Marcelo Caetano’s São Paulo-set “Baby” maps an odyssey of a boy in quest of intimacy and connections which he couldn’t have in the ambit of family structures. The eighteen-year-old Wellington has just got out of a juvenile detention center. The details of the crime aren’t disclosed to us. His past registers amorphously.

It hangs over him but the film, with immense humanity and respectfulness, doesn’t let his jail stint limit the trajectory of his future. He drifts into the circles of the forty-two-year-old Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), whom he encounters at a porn cinema. The man proposes Wellington try out sex work. Ronaldo suggests he be an escort. Wellington is armed with all the youthful good looks. He is naïve and eager, not yet scorched by duplicitous men all swarming around him.

Yes, the world is pitiless, bleak, and full of sharks like a drug dealer Torres,...

Two Brazilian titles, Marcelo Gomes’ “Portrait of a Certain Orient” and Marianne Brennand’s “Manas,” swept the three biggest awards at Spain’s Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival, which wrapped Saturday night in the Southern Spanish city.

With Brazil’s Marcelo Caetano scooping a fourth trophy of a total seven on offer for competition titles, Huelva served to confirm the building renaissance of Brazilian cinema, already seen in Karim Aïnouz making Cannes main Competition cut two years running – with “Firebrand” and “Motel Destino” – and Walter Salles’ comeback and Brazilian Academy Award entry “I’m Still Here’s” reaping a rave review and reporting in Variety and other media, prompting Oscar buzz.

“Portrait of a Certain Orient,” Marcelo Gomes, Brazil, Italy: Golden Columbus, Best Picture

Shot in black-and-white and a 4:3 box format, “Portrait,” which took Huelva’s Best Picture Golden Columbus, tells a tender, lamenting parable of the tragedy of bigotry and patriarchy,...

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)’s Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) has selected 12 feature film projects for its 2024 Development Support scheme.

The 12 projects, which will receive a grant of €10,000 to support their development, were selected from a record 1,150 submissions.

Scroll down for full list

They include Christopher Murray’s Piedras Gigantes which will be among the first Chilean national fiction feature films shot on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), the remote Pacific Ocean island.

Piedras Gigantes tells the story of the archaeologist Katherine Routledge arriving on the island in 1914, who played a conflicted role amidst an indigenous uprising. Murray’s The...

The International Film Festival Rotterdam’s (IFFR) Hubert Bals Fund has picked twelve feature films for its development support scheme, backing each project with €10,000 ($10,500) in production financing. The selection comes after the fund received more than 1,150 submissions, a new record.

Several IFFR alumni filmmakers are among the recipients. Brazilian filmmaker Lillah Hallah, whose Levante won the Youth Jury Award at IFFR 2024, will receive support for Colhões de Ouro, a dark musical comedy. Midhun Murali, who won a Tiger Special Jury Award for Kiss Wagon, secures backing for his new project MTV i.e. Mars to Venus.

Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan, known for The Reports on Sarah and Saleem and A House in Jerusalem, receives funding for Conversation with the Sea. The film follows a Palestinian man ordered to pay his deceased son’s debt.

Christopher Murray’s Piedras gigantes will be one of the first Chilean fiction features shot on...

QCinema Project Market (Qpm) wrapped this weekend with an awards ceremony in which cash prizes and in-kind services worth $442,000 were handed out to projects from the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia.

The event is part of an expanding roster of industry programs at QCinema International Film Festival (November 8-17), one of the Philippines’ major film gatherings, hosted by Quezon City, which is the largest city within the vast metropolitan area of Metro Manila.

While the festival has been running for 12 years, Qpm (November 14-16) was holding its second edition this year, and was joined by the launch of Asian Next Wave Film Forum, a series of panel discussions, masterclasses and case studies of regional co-productions.

Qpm selected 20 projects, including 13 from the Philippines and seven from the rest of Southeast Asia. Winning projects included Myanmar-Indonesia co-production The Beer Girl In Yangon and upcoming works from Filipino filmmakers Martika Ramirez Escobar,...

The Philippines’ QCinema Project Market (Qpm) handed out $442,000 (PHP26M) in grants and co-production support at its closing ceremony on November 16.

Three projects from the Philippines received the QCinema Project Market Philippine Co-Production Grant, each valued at $ 34,000 (PHP2M) – Daughters Of The Sea, from Martika Ramirez Escobar; Heaven Help Us, directed by Eve Baswel, and Sonny Calvento’s Mother Maybe.

The QCinema Project Market – Southeast Asia Co-Production Grant, worth $17,000 (PHP1M) was awarded to Myanmar-Indonesia co-production The Beer Girl In Yangon, directed by Sein Lyan Tun. In addition, co-production grants of $12,000 each were presented to Other People’s Dreams, directed by Singapore’s Daniel Hui, and The Passport, from Malaysia’s Ananth Subramaniam.

Qpm’s industry partners also handed out several awards including Nathan Studios’ development grant of PHP250,000, which went to Secret Cries, while the Taiwan Creative Content Agency presented the $5,000 Taicca Award to Ewa, the sole animation...

Vietnam talent showed strong presence at the 12th QCinema International Film Festival in Quezon City, Philippines, as Trương Minh Quý’s “Viet and Nam” claimed the top prize, while compatriot Dương Diệu Linh’s “Don’t Cry, Butterfly” secured the Grand Jury Prize.

“Viet and Nam,” which made its debut in Cannes Un Certain Regard, emerged victorious in the Asian Next Wave competition. The jury, comprising Babyruth Villarama, Gabor Greiner, Ming-Jung Kuo and Nguyen Le, praised the film for “conjuring the haunting presence of trauma and memories that are embedded within the landscape, and tenderly following a romance that unfolds deep within the coal mines.”

“Don’t Cry, Butterfly,” Dương’s debut feature, follows a middle-aged wife who, upon discovering her husband’s infidelity, embarks on a mystical journey in search of a better life. The film previously won three prizes at Venice.

Elizabeth Lo took home the Best Director award for “Mistress Dispeller,...

On October 22, 2024, the QCinema International Film Festival announced its much-anticipated lineup for this year, with The Gaze as its central theme. With 76 titles—22 short films and 55 full-length features—spanning across 11 distinct sections, the festival invites audiences to explore diverse perspectives through film. The Gaze seeks to challenge and expand how we view the world, from traditional masculine and feminine perspectives to new and transformative ways of seeing.

Quezon City Mayor Maria Josefina Belmonte officially opened the occasion, emphasizing QCinema’s vital role in advancing the city government’s cultural policies. She highlighted the festival’s contribution to Quezon City’s vision for sustainability and environmental friendliness, underscoring the partnership between the city and the festival to fulfill these goals.

The 12th edition of QCinema will open with Directors’ Factory Philippines, an omnibus film project in collaboration with Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. The project features four films created by Filipino directors alongside filmmakers from neighboring countries.

NewFest, the annual New York-based LGBTQ+ film festival, has officially unveiled its 2024 award winners.

The 36th annual festival hosted a Filmmaker & Awards Brunch at the Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn to announce the honorees selected by both the festival jury and 2024 audiences. The jury was composed of leading LGBTQ+ creatives, allies, filmmakers, artists, activists, journalists, and entertainment professionals.

The top honor of the Grand Jury Award for U.S. Narrative Feature was awarded to trans neo-noir thriller “Ponyboi,” which was written and produced by NewFest alum River Gallo, who also stars alongside Dylan O’Brien, Victoria Pedretti, Murray Bartlett, and Indya Moore. Gallo’s 2019 short film on which the feature is based won the New York Short jury grand prize at NewFest31. Esteban Arango directed the feature.

“This is a film that, we felt, bridged the space of humanistic storytelling at its highest level,” the U.S. Narrative Feature category jurors of creative executive Sarah Flores,...

Walter Salles’s Brazilian Oscar submission I’m Still Here will open the 16th Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival later this month with the filmmaker and star Fernanda Torres in attendance.

I’m Still Here tells the true story of Eunice Jovem, a wife and mother who must reinvent herself and protect her family in the early 1970s when her husband, a former politician, disappears under the military dictatorship.

Torres has earned acclaim for her role and will take part in a post-screening Q&a at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The festival runs October 29 to November 2.

Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega...

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil – South America’s largest festival, the Rio International Film Festival, wrapped Sunday, Oct. 13, consolidating its position as the main venue for Brazilian pics’ premieres and an important gathering of filmmakers from around the world.

Following a combination of an unsupportive government, a recession and the pandemic, Rio Fest resurged last year and expanded this year, screening about 270 pics.

“For the first time in years, we were able to invite this year international guests to attend our festival, some 50 filmmakers from different countries”, Rio Fest’s director Ilda Santiago told Variety. “We back on track.

Rio Fest’s Premiere Brasil, which included 90 features and short films, was once again the main showcase of local pics. Two features shared Redentor kudos for fiction film.

Marcelo Caetano’s “Baby,” a co-production between Brazil, France and the Netherlands, is centered on male prostitution in Sao Paulo. Joao Pedro Mariano received...

Two Brazilian films with a successful career on the international festival circuit shared the main prize at the 26th edition of Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival (Festival do Rio) on Sunday night (October 13).

In a tie, Marcelo Caetano’s Baby and Pedro Freire’s Malu have won the best fiction feature award from Premiere Brazil, the main competition section which screened more than 50 local films this year.

In addition to the biggest prize, Baby won in two more categories at the Redentor awards ceremony at the historic Cine Odeon Cclsr in downtown Rio de Janeiro. The queer drama about...

“Baby,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week where it won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for joint acting lead Ricardo Teodoro, has closed further sales.

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal have sold the distribution rights to Ama Films for Greece, Mezipatra z.s for Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Falcon for Indonesia.

“Baby,” directed by Brazilian Marcelo Caetano and based on a screenplay by Caetano and Gabriel Domingues, follows 18-year-old Wellington, who finds himself alone and adrift on the streets of São Paulo, without any contact from his parents and lacking the resources to rebuild his life. He encounters Ronaldo, a mature man, who teaches him new ways of surviving. Gradually, their relationship turns into a conflicting passion.

Ama Films, whose recent releases include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist” (also handled by M-Appeal) and Jessica Hausner’s “Club Zero,” plans to release “Baby” in cinemas at the end of the year.

Brazilian romantic comedy “Perfect Endings” has sold to distributors in North America and several territories in Europe. Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal is handling world sales rights.

“Perfect Endings” is directed by Daniel Ribeiro, who won the Berlinale’s Teddy Award, given to the best film with a queer theme in the festival, with “The Way He Looks.”

“Perfect Endings” follows João, played by Artur Volpi, an aspiring filmmaker, who is thrown into the dating world after breaking up with his boyfriend of 10 years. At a crossroads in both his personal and professional life, he ends up directing amateur erotic films, while finding his way through the confusion of modern romance.

Dark Star Pictures and Uncork’d Entertainment have nabbed the rights for North America, where “Perfect Endings” will have its international premiere at Frameline on June 27.

Mike Repsch, president of Dark Star Pictures, commented: “We are incredibly excited to bring ‘Perfect Endings’ to North America.

As Baby opens, the title character, whose given name is Wellington, has a taste of freedom for the first time in nearly two years. He’s ending his stint in a youth detention center, a place with the grim industrial aura of a high-security prison — but also one where there are occasional breaks for drum-and-brass musical performances. Freedom presents particular challenges for Wellington, who discovers upon return to his working-class São Paulo neighborhood that his parents have left the city. There’s no forwarding address. Stepping into the void is a man more than twice his age, offering a confusing tangle of care and possessiveness as lover, mentor, business partner and paternal protector.

Exploring the twisty, aching complexities of the men’s relationship and the demimonde they inhabit, writer-director Marcelo Caetano (Body Electric), who served as casting director on Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Bacurau and Aquarius, has drawn compelling performances from his two leads.

Simon of the Mountain, the debut feature from Argentinian director Federico Luis, has won the Grand Prize at the 63rd edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.

Argentinian actor and singer/songwriter Lorenzo Ferro stars in the coming-of-age story of a young man struggling with a mental disorder. Luxbox is handling international sales on the film.

Blue Sun Palace from U.S.-Chinese filmmaker Constance Tsang won the French Touch Prize of the Jury for best first feature in the Cannes sidebar. The drama is a look at the lives of Chinese immigrants living in Queens. Charades are selling Blue Sun Palace internationally, with WME representing rights in North America.

The Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor went to Ricardo Teodoro for his performance in the Queer romantic drama Baby from Brazilian director Marcelo Caetano, where Teodoro plays an outsider trying to survive in the mean streets of São Paolo.

Federico Luis’ Simon Of The Mountain won the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize on Wednesday night (May 22).

The Argentinian first feature is a coming-of-age story about a boy with a disability wrestling through life. Luxbox is handling international sales for the film produced by Argentina’s 20/20 in coproduction with Chile’s Planta, Uruguay’s Mother Superior and Los Angeles and Mexico City-based Twelve Thirty Media.

The jury prize went to US director Constance Tsang’s first feature Blue Sun Palace about Chinese immigrants living in Queens. Charades is handling international sales and WME has North American rights to the film...

Argentinian director Federico Luis’s first film Simon of the Mountain has won the Grand Prize at the 63rd edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.

The coming-of-age tale stars rising Argentinian actor, singer and song writer Lorenzo Ferro as a young man grappling with the challenges of a mental disorder.

It is produced by Patricio Alvarez Casado at Argentinian production house 20/20 in coproduction with Fernando Bascuñan at Chilean company Planta, Ignacio Cucucovich’s Uruguayan company Mother Superior and L.A. and Mexico City based producer Carlos Rincones at Twelve Thirty Media, with Luxbox handling international sales.

In other key prizes, U.S.-Chinese filmmaker Constance Tsang’s won the French Touch Prize of the Jury for first feature Blue Sun Palace, a bittersweet chronicle of the tumultuous destiny of Chinese immigrants living in Queens.

It is produced by Eli Raskin at Field Trip Media and Tony Yang at Big Buddha Productions,...

And the winner is: “Simon of the Mountain.”

The film, directed by Federico Luis – and marking his feature debut – was awarded Cannes’ Critics Week Grand Prix.

Sold by Luxbox, the Argentina-Chile-Uruguay production stars Lorenzo “Toto” Ferro, the lead in breakout “El Angel,” as Simon, 21, a lonely only son who falls in with a group of discapacitated kids, feigning a discapacity. Thanks to their friendship he flowers, discovering love, sex and a sense of belonging.

“I am thinking not only about what it means to us, but also about what it means to the people in Argentina who, over the course of the next four years, will struggle, trying to make local films,” said Luis, accepting the award.

“At home, there are people who still think we make films no one wants to see. I hope this will change it and that Argentinian people – and then the whole world – will watch Argentinian cinema.

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has sold the distribution rights for Marcelo Caetano‘s “Baby,” which world premiered May 21 in Cannes Critics’ Week, to several territories.

The buyers are Palace Films for Australia and New Zealand, Swallow Wings Films for Taiwan, and Salzgeber for Germany and Austria.

The Brazilian film, based on a screenplay by Caetano and Gabriel Domingues, centers on 18-year-old Wellington, who has been released from a juvenile detention center. He finds himself alone and adrift on the streets of São Paulo, without any contact from his parents and lacking the resources to rebuild his life. He encounters Ronaldo, a mature man, who teaches him new ways of surviving. Gradually, their relationship turns into a conflicting passion.

The cast includes João Pedro Mariano, Ricardo Teodoro, Ana Flavia Cavalcanti, Bruna Linzmeyer and Luiz Bertazzo.

The production companies are Cup Filmes, Desbun Filmes and Plateau Produções in Brazil, Still Moving in France,...

Haha…Arri learned from us and created a camera chart of the Arri cameras that were used to shoot Cannes 2024 films. According to the chart, the new Alexa 35 is booming. In the 2nd place is the Mini Lf, and the 3rd belongs to the good and old Alexa Mini.

Arri Alexa 35. The winner of Cannes 2024? Arri cameras at Cannes 2024

As the tradition continues, Arri cameras are preferred among Cannes filmmakers. For instance, the Alexa Mini and Mini Lf were the chosen cameras by the Cannes 2023 cinematographers. It appears that in Cannes 2024 there’s no difference besides the rise of the newest Alexa, which is the 35. Arri felt inspired by Y.M.Cinema charts and released its own Cannes 2024 camera chart focusing on Arri cameras. According to Arri’s chart, the Alexa 35 is in the first place as the weapon of choice of Cannes 2024 cinematographers. After that, there are the Mini Lf,...

Brazil’s Spcine, the city of São Paulo’s film-tv body, is launching the third edition of its cash rebate program, which prioritizes international projects looking to shoot in the vibrant city and state.

Municipal support for the program has already been renewed, now totalling US$ 3.8 million, while negotiations with the state of São Paulo are still ongoing, said Luiz Toledo, Spcine director of investments and strategic partnerships.

The incentive program, which offers 20%-30% cash rebates to international films and TV shows – whether fiction, non-fiction, Xr or animation – stipulates a minimum investment of $2 million in the territory and a cap per project of $3 million. Additional bonus percentages are provided to projects that embrace diversity.

“We are beginning to reap tangible results since we launched in 2019,” Toledo noted, estimating that São Paulo has attracted an average of 1,000 projects a year – encompassing films, series, ads and video clips – which invested a combined...

Brazilian director Marcelo Caetano’s Critics’ Week title Baby has been sold to Dark Star Pictures and Uncork’d Entertainment for North America in advance of its Cannes premiere later this week.

Germany’s M-Appeal is handling sales on the film about an 18 year-old boy is released from a juvenile detention centre, only to find himself alone and adrift on the streets of São Paulo.

The film is a Brazil-France-Netherlands co-production involving Cup Filmes, Desbun Filmes, Plateau Produções, Still Moving, Circe Films and Kaap Holland Film.

Further recent Dark Star releases include 2023 Critics; Week winner Tiger Stripes and Fantastic Fest winner Property.

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has closed several new deals for Berlinale title “Sex,” directed by Dag Johan Haugerud, and two further deals for Venice’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” directed by Oscar-winner Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

The new “Sex” buyers include U.K. and Ireland (Modern Films), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Pilot Film), Portugal (Films4You), Switzerland (Xenix Film), Ex-Yugoslavian territories (McF Megacom) and Hungary (Vertigo Média).

The film, which premiered in the Panorama section of Berlinale, follows two men – both working as chimney sweeps – living in monogamous, heterosexual marriages as they both end up in situations that challenge their views on sexuality and gender roles.

The title received three awards at the festival: the Europa Cinemas Label – Best European Film (Panorama), the Cicae Art Cinema Award, and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.

Previously, the film secured distribution deals in North America (Strand Releasing), France (Pyramide Distribution), South Korea (JinJin Pictures...

Cannes Competition titles Bird by Andrea Arnold and Emila Perez by Jacques Audiard are among the films eligible for the Queer Palm at this year’s festival.

Any title playing in Cannes which deals in anyway with Lgbtqiaa+ themes is eligible for the Queer Palm, whose jury this year will be presided over by Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont. Competing films are drawn from all Cannes selections: Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Critics’ Week, Directors’ Fortnight and Acid.

Bird centres on a 12-year-old who lives with her single father and brother in a squat and seeks attention and adventure elsewhere; among...

The trailer (below) has debuted for Marcelo Caetano’s “Baby,” which has its world premiere in Cannes Critics’ Week. Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has acquired world sales rights.

The Brazilian film, based on a screenplay by Caetano and Gabriel Domingues, centers on 18-year-old Wellington, who has been released from a juvenile detention center. He finds himself alone and adrift on the streets of São Paulo, without any contact from his parents and lacking the resources to rebuild his life. He encounters Ronaldo, a mature man, who teaches him new ways of surviving. Gradually, their relationship turns into a conflicting passion.

The cast includes João Pedro Mariano, Ricardo Teodoro, Ana Flavia Cavalcanti, Bruna Linzmeyer and Luiz Bertazzo.

The production companies are Cup Filmes, Desbun Filmes and Plateau Produções in Brazil, Still Moving in France, and Circe Films and Kaap Holland in the Netherlands.

The producers are Beto Tibiriçá, Ivan Melo and Caetano.

Berlin-based M-Appeal has taken on world sales rights to Brazilian director Marcelo Caetano’s Cannes Critics’ Week title Baby.

The film, scripted by Caetano and Gabriel Domingues, follows an 18-year-old boy who is released from a juvenile detention centre and finds himself adrift on the streets of São Paulo.

The Brazil-France-Netherlands co-production is made through Cup Filmes, Caetano’s Desbun Filmes, Plateau Produções, Still Moving, Circe Films and Kaap Holland Film. The cast is led by João Pedro Mariano, Ricardo Teodoro and Ana Flavia Cavalcanti.

M-Appeal also handled the director’s 2017 debut feature Body Electric. Vitrine Filmes will distribute Caetano’s second film in Brazil.

Following the main lineups for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, a handful of sidebar slates have been unveiled, featuring Directors Fortnight, Critics Week, and Acid. Notable highlights include the Sundance favorite Good One (read our review here), Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point starring Michael Cera, the first film in over a decade from James White director Josh Mond, the Christopher Abbott-led It Doesn’t Matter, Eat the Night from Jessica Forever duo Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel, Carson Lund’s Eephus, Patricia Mazuy’s Visting Hours, The Hyperboreans, a new film from The Wolf House directors Cristobal Leo & Joaquin Cocina, Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century follow-up Universal Language, and more.

Check out the lineups below.

Cannes Directors Fortnight

Feature films:

“Ma Vie Ma Gueule,” Sophie Fillieres (France) – opening film

“A Son Image,” Thierry de Peretti (France)

“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” Tyler Taormina (USA)

“Desert of Namibia,...

The Cannes Critics’ Week, the parallel film festival sidebar organized by the French film critics’ union, has unveiled its 2024 selection.

The psychological thriller Ghost Trail, the first feature from acclaimed French shorts director Jonathan Millet, will open the 2024 sidebar. Adam Bessa (star of 2022’s Un Certain Regard winner Harka) plays the lead in the manhunt drama about a man pursuing his former torturer, using only his sensory memories to guide him.

The competition lineup includes Brazilian drama Baby from director Marcelo Caetano, a portrait of a young outsider growing up in São Paulo; Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace, which looks at the lives of Chinese immigrants in Queens; and the Egyptian/French/Danish/Qatari/Saudi Arabian drama The Brink of Dreams about a group of girls from the disenfranchised Christian Copts who defy tradition and set up an all-female street theater troupe.

Baby

Other competition titles include Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass,...

Cannes Critics’ Week, spotlighting first and second features, has unveiled the competition and special screenings selection for its 63rd edition running May 15-23.

Scroll down for full list of titles

Artistic director Ava Cahen, now in her third year in the position, announced the selection of 11 features chosen from 1,050 films screened. Seven films will vie for four top prizes in competition, chosen by a jury led by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Nine are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and three are directed or co-directed by women.

The sidebar will open with French director Jonathan Millet...

Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar dedicated to first and second films, will open with Jonathan Millet’s psychological thriller “Ghost Trail” and wrap with Emma Benestan’s genre film “Animale.”

“Ghost Trail” and “Animale” are two of the 11 features slated for Critics’ Week, which runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival.

The sole U.S. film of the selection is Constance Tsang’s “Blue Sun Palace,” a bittersweet film about two Chinese immigrants living in Queens who bond following a tragic death and find meaning in each other’s company. “As humble and dignified as its characters, this first, realistic and intimate, film sheds light on a community that is little seen,” said Ava Cahen, Critics’ Week’s artistic director. “Blue Sun Palace” stars Lee Kang-sheng whose recent credits include “Twisted Strings.”

Besides the opening and closing films, the Special Screenings section will comprise of Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s “Across the...

Cannes Critics’ Week championing work by emerging filmmakers has unveiled the line-up for its 63rd edition running from May 15 to 23.

The traditionally compact parallel selection will showcase 11 features, seven in competition, as well as 13 short films, selected from 1,050 features and 2,150 short films. (scroll down for full list)

The 2024 edition marks Artistic Director Ava Cahen’s third at the helm, with buzzy discoveries under her directorship to date including Tiger Stripes, The Rapture, Aftersun and Love According To Dalva.

Opening and closing films

French director Jonathan Millet’s psychological manhunt thriller Ghost Trail (Les Fantômes) will open the section. It marks his first feature after half a dozen shorts including Tell Me About The Stars.

Adam Bessa, who won the Un Certain Regard prize for his performance in Harka in 2022, stars as a man in pursuit of his former torturer. He never saw his oppressor’s face, but knows his smell,...

By uniting forces, the two co-production platforms of the Holland Film Market and Rotterdam Film Festival’s (Iffr) CineMart have created a new space in which the selected projects can get stronger film industry exposure and support.

The participant projects’ representatives receive advice from film professionals through a series of individual meetings with special attention paid to their festival, sales and marketing strategies. From the first BoostNL program, four films entered the Iffr 2018 program.

The interest now lies in watching BoostNL films as they progress through the international film circuit:

The Reports on Sarah and Selim, Muayad Alayan. After its world premiere at Iffr 2018, it continued winning for Best Actress and Best Picture at Durban Ff and playing at Hamburg and Jeonju Film Festivals. International sales by Heretic Outreach did extremely well, going to Australia/Nz- Hi Gloss, Benelux-Moov, Croatia & Ex-Yugoslavia-Mediterranean Film Festival Split/ Kino Mediteran, Mena-Mad Solutions, France-Bodega, Germany-Missingfilms,...

Exclusive: Films by Babak Jalali, Ricardo Silva and Deepak Rauniyar selected.

The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), which is administered by International Film Festival Rotterdam, has backed 13 projects in its latest funding round.

The Hbf Voices strand championing filmmakers who are more advanced in their careers, has selected Babak Jalali, pictured (whose film is titled Hymns), Ricardo Silva (Sleepwalk) and Deepak Rauniyar (Raja). Each project will receive script and project development funding worth €10,000.

The Nff+Hbf co-production scheme – a joint initiative by the Netherlands Film Fund and the Hubert Bals Fund – has backed two projects co-produced by Dutch producers.

Those are, Muayad Alayan’s The Reports On Sarah And Saleem, which is co-produced by KeyFilm, and Leonardo Brzezicki’s Almost In Love, which is co-produced by Keplerfilm. Both films receive a production grant of €50,000.

The Hbf Bright Future fund will grant €10,000 to eight features: Arun Karthick (Nasir); Sivaroj Kongsakul (Regretfully At Dawn); John Trengove (Estate); Omar Elzohairy (Feathers...

Exclusive: M-Appeal closes series of deals on sales slate.

Berlin-based M-Appeal World Sales has confirmed a raft of sales on its current slate.

Among the deals, the company has sold Body Electric [pictured] by Marcelo Caetano and Discreet by Travis Mathews to Peccadillo Pictures for the UK and Ireland. Both titles are screening in Guadalajara at the moment, and Body Electric will screen at BFI Flare later this week.

“It’s a pleasure to be working with M-Appeal on the fabulous Body Electric which will have its UK premiere at BFI Flare and the astonishing Discreet by Travis Mathews. Body Electric adds beautifully to our catalogue of South American and especially Brazilian cinema, whereas Discreet demonstrates the outstanding talent of Travis Mathews,” Peccadillo Pictures’ managing director Tom Abell commented.

M-Appeal has also closed further deals on its slate of titles.

Jonathan by Piotr J. Lewandowski and Take Me For A Ride by Micaela Ruedahave have both gone to...

Exclusive: Deals include for The Fool, The Major, Without Name and Body Electric [pictured].

Early in the market, German world sales outfit M-Appeal has announced a raft of sales on its current slate.

Russian auteur Yuri Bykov’s two features The Fool and The Major have gone to Turkey (Filmarti).

Israeli title Barash has gone to France’s Optimale Distribution, which is planning a theatrical release in the summer.

Another M-Appeal title, Lorcan Finnegan’s Without Name by Lorcan Finnegan has sold to Element Pictures for the UK & Ireland.

Body Electric by Marcelo Caetano, a world premiere at Iffr last month, has gone to Salzgeber (Germany)

4 Days In France by Jérôme Reybaud has been acquired by Matchbox Films for the UK & Ireland and to Es Film Buro Producciones for Spain.

M-Appeal has also confirmed that Blanka by Kokhi Hasei has sold to Mooov in Benelux.

Exclusive: M-Appeal snaps up Rotterdam-bound comedy-drama and Ventana Sur hit.

Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has snapped up international rights to new Dutch movie Quality Time, directed by Daan Bakker, and Brazilian drama Body Electric.

Quality Time, which receives its world premiere in Rotterdam’s Tiger competition, consists of a series of five stories about men in their 30s who are still struggling to adjust to the realities and responsibilities of adult life.

Pim Hermeling’s September Films will handle the Dutch distribution on the feature, which is produced by Iris Otten of Amsterdam-based Pupkin.

The film was produced under the Netherlands Film Fund’s Oversteek system, a collaboration between broadcasters, the Netherlands Film Fund and the Dutch Cultural Media Fund aimed at supporting new talent.

Quality Time includes animation and black and white footage. In one episode, Koen attends a family reunion and nearly overdoses on ham and milk. In another, amateur photographer...

Exclusive: Iffr reveals lineup and jury for programme focused on emerging filmmakers.

International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) (25 Jan – 5 Feb) has announced the full line-up of its Bright Future programme, including the titles that will compete for the Bright Future Award.

Scroll down for the full lineup

The competition for the Bright Future Award 2017 consists of sixteen debut films, including Chinese documentary Children Are Not Afraid of Death, Children Are Afraid of Ghosts by Rong Guang Rong and Caroline Leone’s melancholy Brazilian road movie Pela Janela. Also competing are Belgian title Inside the Distance and German feature Self-Criticism Of A Bourgeois Dog.

The jury for the award will be made up of Italian film producer Marta Donzelli (Le Quattro Volte); Marleen Slot, Netherlands producer for Viking Film (Neon Bull) and chair of Film Producers Netherlands (Fpn); and Jean-Pierre Rehm, director of the French film festival Fid Marseille.

Outside of this competition, Bright Future also presents...

Programmers at the eighth Buenos Aires market handed out their annual awards on Friday when several titles rose to the top and the judges also unveiled selections from a vibrant inaugural animation section.

Mexican director Natalia Beristain’s The Goodbyes (Los Adiosos) from Woo Films, Zamora Films and Chamaca Films earned the European Vision Prize in the Primer Corte section for projects in post-production.

The Mexico-uk-Poland drama also won the HD Argentina Prize in the Latin American Vision section and tells of the life of renowned Mexican author Rosario Castellanos and her love for Ricardo Guerra.

Also in Primer Corte, the Film Francais Prize went to another multiple winner, Marcelo Caetano’s Brazilian entry Body Electric (Corpo Electrico), which also scooped the Habanero Award and the Sofia Films Award in the Latin American Vision category.

The film from Desbun Filmes and África Filmes centres on a man from the northeast of Brazil who arrives in Sao Paulo...

Kiki Alvarez’s drama takes its place alongside five others in the Buenos Aires market’s post-production slate.

Soul Sisters (Las Chambelonas) marks Alvazrez’s follow-up to Venice, his drama that debuted in Toronto back in September 2014.

Primer Corte includes drama Los Últimos (Argentina) – the feature directorial debut of Nicolás Puenzo – and Natalia Beristain’s drama The Goodbyes (Los Adioses, Mexico).

Rounding out Primer Corte are drama Body Electric (Corpo Elétrico, Brazil) by Marcelo Caetano, comedy musical Las Malcogidas (Bolivia) by Denisse Arancibia, and comedy The Originals (Los Oriyinales, Colombia) by Harold Trompetero.

Cannes’ Cinefondation’s Georges Goldenstern selected the line-up. Ventana Sur runs from November 29-December 3.

Projects selected for the Trends platform showcasing new technologies are: Bad Winters Day (Maximiliano Trionfante, Argentina); Territoria (Gonzalo Sierra, Argentina); Sense 360 (Peterson Da Silva, Brazil); Vr Chinchorro (Diego Briet and Maria Court, Chile); Ancestros (Rodrigo Castellanos, Colombia); Cuerpos De Agua (Alvaro Rodriguez and Carlos Serrano, Colombia); and Fran...

The Guild Presentation: Focus on Diversity Programs panel and Director's Roundtable are scheduled during the Hollywood Brazilian Film Festival (July 31-August 4, Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood). Both panels will be held at the Arena Cinema - 1625 North Las Palmas Avenue (adjacent to the Egyptian Theatre).

There will be an informal cocktail reception following each panel. Please let us know if we can reserve you a seat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, August 1:

Guild Presentation - Focus on Diversity Programs

3:30pm - 4:30pm - Diversity Panel

4:30pm -5:00pm - Cocktails

HBRFest will present a panel discussion explaining the importance of the Diversity Committee from three of the most powerful guilds in Hollywood: DGA, WGA and PGA.

The mission of all three guilds is to promote diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry. The DGA and WGA have a number of minority committees representing Hispanics, gays, women, blacks, and Asians. The DGA has only one committee, the Diversity Committee, where all the subgroups fall under.

For this goal, the Diversity Committee offers a number of programs and opportunities to members and non-members in education and networking. They all celebrate producers whose projects in film, TV, and the Web reflect their mission.

Panelists:

Producers Guild of America (PGA) - Deborah Calla

A writer/producer originally from Brazil. She is the Chair of the Producers Guild of America Diversity Committee as well as the Chair of the Media Access Awards and a member of the WGA.

Writers Guild of America (WGA) - Kimberly Myers

Myers served as Vice President of Program Development at Turner Network and Vice President of Movies and Mini Series at Fox. She was the producer of television films for NBC, CBS, Lifetime and TNT prior to joining the Writers Guild of America in 2007 as its Director of Diversity.

Directors Guild of America (DGA) - Regina Render

Before joining the DGA, Render was a Business Representative at the International Cinematographers Guild and later a Senior Representative at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, where she managed key organizational functions and coordinated labor initiatives on public policy issues, multi-union campaigns, and political action. Regina has a long history of civic engagement, including being appointed by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley to the “Neighbor to Neighbor Program,” which developed community response programs and activities after the civil unrest of the 1992 riots.

Friday, August 2

Director's Roundtable - Focus on the Creative Process

3:00pm - 4:30pm - Director's Roundtable

4:30pm -5:00pm - Cocktails

Back by popular demand, attending filmmakers will participate in a special Filmmakers Roundtable moderated by Robert Koehler, former Variety critic and expert in Latin American cinema. This event will provide great insight into the current state of Brazilian filmmaking, trends and an opportunity to meet the rising talent of Brazil.

Special Guest: Laurence Reymond - Directors Fortnight short film programmer.

Moderator: Robert Koehler

Panelists:

Gabriela Amaral Almeida

Director “The Comforting Hand” 19’ – West-Coast Premiere (Documentary)

Sergio Andrade

Director “Jonathas´ Forest” 98’ – West-Coast Premiere (Narrative Feature)

Daniel Aragão

Director “Good Luck, Sweetheart” 95’ – West-Coast Premiere (Narrative Feature)

Marcelo Caetano

Director “By Your Side” 20’ – North-America Premiere (Short Film)

Caetano Gotardo

Director “The Moving Creatures” 97’ – West-Coast Premiere (Short Film)

Helvecio Marins

Director “The Song Of The Nightingale” 19’23” (Short Film)

Gabriel Mascaro

Director “Housemaids” 76’ – North-America Premiere (Documentary)

Anna Myulaert (HBRFest Guest of Honor)

Director – “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” 52’ -Opening Night Film (Narrative Feature) ; “Durval Records” 103’ - Closing Night Film (Narrative Feature)

Allan Ribeiro

Director “This Love That Consumes” 80’ – International Premiere (Narrative Feature)

Rafael Sampaio

Producer “The Package” 18’ – L.A. Premiere (Short Film)

Leonardo Sette

Co-director “Enraged Pigs” 10’ – West-Coast Premiere (Short Film)

Rafael Todeschini

Director “Eva Maria” 12’ – World Premiere (Short Film)

Michael Wahrmann

Director “Avanti Popolo” 72’ – West-Coast Premiere (Narrative Feature)

For additional details: http://hbrfest.com...