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Belgian filmmaker Tim Mielants’ feature Steve, starring Cillian Murphy, has been added to the Platform lineup for this year’s Toronto Film Festival.

Steve was among nine titles added to the Platform competition Tuesday morning. Those titles are: Farnoosh Samadi’s Between Dreams and Hope, Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani’s Bouchra, György Pálfi’s Hen, Pauline Loquès’ Nino, Bretten Hannam’s Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts), Milagros Mumenthaler’s The Currents, Yoon Ga-eun’s The World of Love, Valentyn Vasyanovych’s To the Victory! and Kasia Adamik’s Winter of the Crow.

The Platform jury will be headed by Carlos Marqués-Marcet, who won the 2024 Platform Award for They Will Be Dust. He will be joined by Oscar-nominated actor, writer, composer and director Marianne Jean-Baptiste, most recently at the festival in 2024 with Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, and Québécois filmmaker Chloé Robichaud, whose Sundance title Two...

Korean adoptee feature film, “Isle Child” made its world premiere in San Francisco as a part of the Sf International Film Festival, where we caught the young director, Thomas Paul Kim. At only 24 years old set with support from Cj, Sundance, and HBO, he stands at the cusp of a prolific career ahead.

The film was based off of Kim’s own personal experience in Concord, Massachusetts, where he was one of few Asian Americans growing up. “In an age so hungry for love and belonging, you want to fit in, right? So I, for the longest time, tried to act like I was white – and so was Si.”

“Isle Child” revolves around a Korean adoptee of the same name, “Si”. Here, Si is “one of the boys.” In this white-majority town, Si plays baseball, talks shop about college, and is comfortably surrounded by his peers. His carefully-built suburban world rattles,...

With eight nominations and two awards, Jerome Yoo‘s first feature, “Mongrels,” made a splash on the international film festival scene. Of these are notable: he took home the Emerging Canadian Director award at the film’s world premiere in the director’s homeground, the Vancouver International Film Festival, and won the coveted Fipresci prize at the 2024 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival just a few months later. “Mongrels” is now making its rounds on the festival circuit back in North America, with its upcoming screening at CAAMFest 2025. In this heartfelt Korean immigrant tale, Yoo captures a cutting portrait of a family drunk with grief.

“Mongrels” is split into three parts, each following the family members’ point of view. Here, Sonny (Jae-hyun Kim) drags his children, Hajoon (Da-nu Nam) and Hana (Sein Jin) from the verdant forests of Korea to the golden wheat fields of Canada. In this foreign land, Sonny hunts feral dogs,...

Named after the influential film Platform (2000) by the great “Sixth Generation” master filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke, it’ll soon be a decade since TIFF introduced the Platform section – the fest’s only competition section meant to promote innovative and bold type cinema and comes with a cash award but unfortunately no trophy. Previous winners include Pablo Larraín, Pietro Marcello, Anthony Shim and last year it was Tarsem who won for Dear Jassi (we were there). This year’s batch of ten has a handful of familiar names in Mexico’s Rodrigo Prieto and Spain’s Nacho Vigalondo and Carlos Marqués-Marcet.

Prieto’s Pedro Paramo is the cinematographer directorial debut.…...

Writer-director Sean Wang is tough on himself in “Dìdi,” a fresh and funny summer-before-freshman-year flashback that provides an Asian American angle on that Sundanciest of indie-film genres: the semi-autobiographical coming-of-age movie. In what feels like a cross between Bing Liu’s “Minding the Gap” and Jonah Hill’s “mid90s” — courtesy of the young director’s teenage desire to make skate videos — Wang serves up some of his most wince-inducing adolescent memories, from an aborted first kiss to the realization that he’d been trying to downplay his Taiwanese heritage.

Hacky creative writing coaches are always insisting, “Write what you know.” And yet, when the result comes out as specific and self-effacing as Wang’s Fremont, Calif.-set time capsule, it’s hard to improve on that advice. As Wang reminds, the year 2008 (which also saw the financial crisis in precipitous fall) found thousands of teens making the transition from...

Rotterdam Film Festival Sets ‘Head South’ As Opening Film

Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk, coming-of-age comedy Head South has been announced as the opening picture of the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), running from January 25 to February 4. The festival has also teased a handful of early selections. They include Indian filmmaker Ishan Shukla’s dystopian, sci-fi animation Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust and U.S. director Billy Woodberry’s biodoc Mário, about African independence activist Mário de Andrade, which will both world premiere. Further confirmations include European premieres for Amanda Kramer’s So Unreal and Ann Hui’s Elegies as well as Omar Hilal’s Voy! Voy! Voy!, which is Egypt’s Oscar entry this year. The festival will unveil its full line-up on December 18.

Paul Schrader To Be Feted At Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Avellino Festival

U.S. director and screenwriter Paul Schrader will be honored with a Lifetime...

In Flames, the feature debut of Pakistani-Canadian director Zarrar Kahn, has been picked up for the U.S. market by Game Theory Films.

The Urdu-language horror movie, which premiered as part of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight lineup, follows a young woman and her mother tormented by real and fantastic forces following the death of the family patriarch. The ensemble cast includes Ramesha Nawal, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Omar Javaid, Mohammad Ali Hashmi, Adnan Shah Tipu and Jibraan Khan.

A theatrical release is set in early 2024 in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Toronto and Vancouver, with a focus on South Asian audiences across North America. A home video and video-on-demand release of In Flames is scheduled to follow in the second quarter of 2024.

The AFM deal for In Flames with sales agent XYZ Films follows Game Theory Films earlier nabbing the Canadian rights out of Cannes to the horror film that is also Pakistan...

Two Japanese films take top honours, while Korean films ’Past Lives’ and ’Riceboy Sleeps’ are also awarded.

Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days took the best film prize at the 16th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) today (November 3), while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won the jury grand prize.

The two Japanese films were honoured in a ceremony held for 250 people from 20 countries at the Home of the Arts on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Perfect Days, which debuted in competition at Cannes this year, is Japan’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards. The film, about finding beauty in the everyday world around us,...

Japan has dominated this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa), with German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ latest Tokyo-set pic and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up taking the top prizes.

Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.

“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.

He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...

The Athens International Film Festival was the latest festival to fall for the charms of UK director Molly Manning Walker’s directorial debut How to Have Sex this week, presenting the drama with the €2,000 Golden Athena award for best film.

The coming-of-age film about a group of teenagers on holiday shot in Greece and was co-produced by George Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovrakis’ Heretic which also handles world sales. Local theatrical distributor and platform Cinobo picked up Greek rights.

How To Have Sex debuted at Cannes where it won the Un Certain Regard prize and nost recently won best film at Germany’s Filmfest Hamburg.

A tidbit of news that slipped under our radar late last week, Variety reports that Canadian Korean filmmaker Anthony Shim (who is coming off a solid 2022 with his sophomore feature Riceboy Sleeps) is attached to adapt and direct Offerings for the big screen. Production would be set for the fall of 2024 – so we’d be looking at a possible 2025 drop if everything falls into place. Anonymous Content’s David Levine and Chadwick Prichard (set to produce Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Jupiter) plus Anthology Studios’ Jay Choi and Soon Ho Song (Cobweb) will produce the acclaimed Korean novel written by Michael Kim (aka Kim Byung Ju).…...

Following the announcement of the London Korean Film Festival’s (Lkff) upcoming 18th edition which gives special commemoration to the 40th Anniversary of the Korean Academy of Film Arts (Kafa), the festival is delighted to reveal its 2023 programme. At the BFI Southbank, the London Korean Film Festival will host the Opening and Closing ceremonies in celebration of the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK and Korea.

The Festival runs from 2 November – 16 November 2023 with a programme of 40 films comprising the following strands: Cinema Now, Special Focus : 40th Anniversary of Kafa, Women’s Voices, Special Screenings and Korea Season.

A Normal Family by Hur Jin-ho will open the festival on the 2nd November at BFI Southbank with the director in attendance. The story is based on the celebrated Dutch novel Het Diner (The Dinner) by Herman Koch, which has sold over a million copies. The latest...

Japan heads the nominations, followed by China.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist heads the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with nods in four categories including best film, best director, best screenplay and best cinematography.

The Japanese feature premiered at Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize, and centres on a father and daughter in a rural village, whose peaceful lives are disrupted by proposals to build a camping site in their area.

Hamaguchi’s latest film, following Oscar-winner Drive My Car, was just ahead of China’s Snow Leopard by the late Tibetan director Pema Tseden,...

’Mr. Dressup: The Magic Of Make Believe’ wins doc award, ’Dicks: The Musical’ wins Midnight Madness.

The satire American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2023 People’s Choice Award, boosting the crowd-pleaser’s Oscar credentials heading into awards season.

‘American Fiction’: Toronto Review

Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut for Amazon/MGM stars Wright as a frustrated Black author whose deliberately dumbed-down novel about cliched Black characters becomes a hit. There are multiple screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox today (September 17) from 2:30pm-9:30pm Et.

American Fiction follows last year’s recipient...

’Mr. Dressup: The Magic Of Make Believe’ wins doc award, ’Dicks: The Musical’ wins Midnight Madness.

The satire American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2023 People’s Choice Award, boosting the crowd-pleaser’s Oscar credentials heading into awards season.

‘American Fiction’: Toronto Review

Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut from Orion and MRC stars Wright as a frustrated Black author whose deliberately dumbed-down novel about cliched Black characters becomes a hit. There are multiple screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox today (September 17) from 2:30pm-9:30pm Et.

MGM distributes American Fiction in the...

’Mr. Dressup: The Magic Of Make Believe’ wins doc award, ’Dicks: The Musical’ wins Midnight Madness.

The satire American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright has won the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) 2023 People’s Choice Award, boosting the crowd-pleaser’s Oscar credentials heading into awards season.

‘American Fiction’: Toronto Review

Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut from Orion and MRC stars Wright as a frustrated Black author whose deliberately dumbed-down novel about cliched Black characters becomes a hit. There are multiple screenings at TIFF Bell Lightbox today (September 17) from 2:30pm-9:30pm Et.

MGM distributes American Fiction in the...

“American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson’s blistering satire of race and media, captured the Toronto International Film Festival’s people’s choice award, bolstering its Oscars chances.

TIFF’s people’s choice award is considered to be among the best predictors of eventual awards success, though the 2023 festival hosted a weaker lineup than most years due to the writers and actors strikes that saw some prominent contenders skip a Canadian premiere. In the past, winners of the prize such as “Green Book,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Nomadland” went on to be named best picture at the Academy Awards. Other recipients, including “Belfast,” “La La Land,” “Jojo Rabbit,” and 2022’s winner, “The Fabelmans,” were all best picture nominees.

The people’s choice category was created in 1978. Seven recipients won best picture at the Oscars, with five of those victories coming in the past two decades.

Alexander Payne’s boarding school dramedy...

“American Fiction” has won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced at an awards brunch on Sunday.

The Orion/MGM film by first-time director Cord Jefferson is a barbed satire that stars Jeffrey Wright as a writer who, to his dismay, achieves enormous success after as a joke writing a book filled with what he feels are the worst and most pandering cliches of Black representation. In its review, TheWrap called the film “an outlandishly assured directorial debut, a beautifully modulated film that takes a great actor, Jeffrey Wright, and gives him a spectacular showcase.”

While the film did not come into the festival as one of its highest profile selections, it was an immediate sensation after its Friday night premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre, drawing some of TIFF’s most positive reviews. It currently stands at 86% positive on Rotten Tomatoes...

Speakers include Guillermo del Toro, Ladj Ly, Nadine Labaki, Viggo Mortenson, Jeremy Thomas.

TIFF top brass have unveiled the bulk of the TIFF Industry Conference line-up with sessions and speakers including Spike Lee, Lucy Walker, AI and film, and African cinema and film industries.

The Conference is divided into six sections and encompasses Doc Day and the new Sloane science and technology project pitch initiative funded by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Public Understanding of Science and Technology programme.

Besides Lee and Walker, whose acquisition title Mountain Queen: The Summits Of Lhakpa Sherpa will premiere in TIFF Docs, speakers include Guillermo del Toro,...

Toronto International Film Festival announces ten films in its Platform program. Dream Scenario, a comedy produced by Ari Aster and starring Nicolas Cage, will open the festival. The Platform program selection offers a diverse lineup of bold character studies and genre approaches.

Yesterday, the Toronto International Film Festival announced ten films up for competition via its Platform program. Coming courtesy of Deadline, The TIFF Platform program features international filmmakers from 12 countries making their global debut. The films presented will be eligible to win the Platform Prize and $20,0000Ca, decided by the jury, and the Nicolas Cage led, Ari Aster produced A24 comedy Dream Scenario will be the opening film.

“I am delighted to announce that we have an international dream jury with acclaimed filmmakers Barry Jenkins, Nadine Labaki, and Anthony Shim as jury members for the Platform program at TIFF. Together, they represent the bold and independent spirit of the Platform Prize,...

Toronto — TIFF today unveiled the 10 World Premiere features that comprise the Platform programme for 2023, along with the 2023 Platform jury members: Academy Award–winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins, joined by Cannes Jury Prize–winning director, writer, and actor Nadine Labaki, and 2022 Platform Prize–winning filmmaker Anthony Shim.

Since its introduction in 2015, Platform has celebrated and showcased films with unique directorial perspectives. The 10 films in the 2023 programme are eligible for the Platform Prize, an award of $20,000 Cad given to the best film in the programme, selected by an in-person international jury.

“I am delighted to announce that we have an international dream jury with acclaimed filmmakers Barry Jenkins, Nadine Labaki, and Anthony Shim as jury members for the Platform programme at TIFF,” said Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “Together, they represent the bold and independent spirit of the Platform Prize.”

Platform is TIFF’s competitive programme that champions bold directorial visions. The...

TIFF has announced the coveted line-up for the 10 World Premiere features that make up the 2023 Platform programme and one of the flicks includes Nicolas Cage!

The Platform programme, conceived in 2015, will reward one special film $20,000 Cad, selected by an in-person jury. This year’s jury will consist of big-shot names, including Oscar-winner Barry Jenkins, Cannes winner Nadine Labaki and 2022 Platform Prize winner Anthony Shim.

Read More: Toronto International Film Festival 2023: Diljit Dosanjh & Arjun Rampal’s ‘Punjab ’95’ Set For World Premiere

The Platform is TIFF’s highly competitive, aiming to crown innovative and fearless directorial visions. This year’s film roster is imported from 12 countries across three continents.

One of the most talked-about films is Nicolas Cage’s “Dream Scenario”, directed by Kristoffer Borgli. The movie is described as a sharp, witty, satirical commentary on social media. TIFF got it’s hands on a first-look photo of Nicolas Cage in the movie,...

We now know the identity of the Platform programme — what we still consider the premium section destination at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. We have a competition of ten films plus a jury of three comprised of Barry Jenkins, Nadine Labaki and Anthony Shim. Among the titles we’ve been tracking we find the likes of Tarsem Singh, Nora El Hourch, Héléna Klotz and Kristoffer Borgli‘s sophomore film (an A24 comedy) serves as the section’s opener. Starring Julianne Nicholson and Nicolas Cage, Dream Scenario quickly moved into production after Borgli launched Sick of Myself in Cannes 2022. Tarsem Singh moved into production on an off-the-radar project in his native homeland with Dear Jassi.…...

Having already announced documentary as well as gala and special presentation lineups, TIFF now unveils 10 world premiering films selected for this year’s Platform program. The 2023 Platform jury is also revealed today, consisting of of Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins, Cannes Jury Prize-winning director, writer, and actor Nadine Labaki and Anthony Shim, whose 2022 film Riceboy Sleeps won the Platform Prize last year. The Platform Prize—consisting of $20,000 Cad—is given to the best film as selected by the jury. Notable past recipients of the Platform Prize also include Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon (2021), Kamila Andini’s Yuni (2021), Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal (2019), Alice Winocour’s Proxima (2019), […]

The post TIFF Reveals 2023 Platform Lineup and Jury first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Having already announced documentary as well as gala and special presentation lineups, TIFF now unveils 10 world premiering films selected for this year’s Platform program. The 2023 Platform jury is also revealed today, consisting of of Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins, Cannes Jury Prize-winning director, writer, and actor Nadine Labaki and Anthony Shim, whose 2022 film Riceboy Sleeps won the Platform Prize last year. The Platform Prize—consisting of $20,000 Cad—is given to the best film as selected by the jury. Notable past recipients of the Platform Prize also include Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon (2021), Kamila Andini’s Yuni (2021), Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal (2019), Alice Winocour’s Proxima (2019), […]

The post TIFF Reveals 2023 Platform Lineup and Jury first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced the world premieres of ten features that will be included in the 2023 Platform Programme for this year’s festivities. Anita Lee, the Chief Programming Officer of TIFF, has shared her excitement for this year’s entries, “I am delighted to announce that we have an international dream jury with acclaimed filmmakers Barry Jenkins, Nadine Labaki, and Anthony Shim as jury members for the Platform programme at TIFF. Together, they represent the bold and independent spirit of the Platform Prize.”

Robyn Citizen, Director, Programming & Platform Lead, has added her own statement of enthusiasm for the line-up they have compiled. “We are thrilled to present this year’s extraordinary films in the Platform programme, and especially delighted to present Kristoffer Borgli’s latest film Dream Scenario, starring Nicolas Cage, as Platform’s opening film. This surrealist satire-comedy has sharp, timely observations about social media culture...

The Toronto Film Festival on Wednesday revealed the 10 titles in its Platform program, a sidebar that will tee off with A24’s Kristoffer Borgli comedy Dream Scenario starring Nicolas Cage. This year’s Platform includes movies from 12 countries across three continents, all of which are making their world premiere at TIFF, which this year runs from September 7-17.

In addition, the fest today unveiled this year’s Platform jury, which includes Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins as chair; Cannes Jury Prize–winning director, writer, and actor Nadine Labaki; and 2022 Platform Prize–winning filmmaker Anthony Shim.

The Platform program, going into its eighth year, is curated for its bold directorial visions. The movies in the 2023 program are eligible for the Platform Prize, an award of CA$20,000 selected by the in-person international jury.

Barry Jenkins

“I am delighted to announce that we have an international dream jury with acclaimed filmmakers Barry Jenkins, Nadine Labaki,...

Barry Jenkins will head the jury for the competitive section.

Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario has been set as the opening night film for the Platform section at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) (Sept 7-17).

Barry Jenkins has been named jury chair for the competitive section, which according to the festival “champions bold directorial visions.” Other jury members are Nadine Labaki and Anthony Shim, whose Riceboy Sleeps won the Platform prize, which comes with an award of Cad $20,000, last year.

Among the other nine world premieres in this year’s section are Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s Dear Jassi,...

“Dream Scenario,” a bizarre comedy starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, will be one of 10 films competing in the Platform program at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Wednesday.

The films will be competing for the Platform Prize, a $20,000 Cad award that will be given to the film chosen as the section’s best by a jury consisting of directors Barry Jenkins, Nadine Labaki and Anthony Shim (who won the Platform Prize last year for “Riceboy Sleeps”).

In a statement released by TIFF, programming director and Platform lead Robyn Citizen singled out “Dream Scenario,” which will serve as the section’s opening-night film, and said, “This surrealist satire-comedy has sharp, timely observations about social media culture — especially ‘going viral’ — and its impact on the way that we interact with others in our day-to-day life. Cage delivers some of his finest work.” She went on to say,...

The Toronto International Film Festival has today announced the 10 world premiere features that comprise its Platform program for the 2023 edition, along with the 2023 Platform jury members: Academy Award–winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins serves as jury chair; joined by Cannes Jury Prize–winning director, writer, and actor Nadine Labaki; and 2022 Platform Prize–winning filmmaker Anthony Shim. Both Jenkins and Shim have previously shown work in the section, and Shim was awarded program’s highest prize in 2022 for his “Riceboy Sleeps.”

Per TIFF, “Since its introduction in 2015, Platform has celebrated and showcased films with unique directorial perspectives.” The section is the fest’s “competitive program that champions bold directorial visions.” The films selected for this year’s lineup come from 12 countries across three continents, all of which will be making their world premiere at TIFF.

This year’s lineup includes new films from Kristoffer Borgli, whose razor-sharp “Sick of Myself” recently hit America,...

Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario comedy, starring Nicolas Cage with a hair transformation and Julianne Nicholson, will open the Toronto Film Festival’s Platform competition program with a world premiere.

The latest film from the director of Cannes gem Sick of Myself also stars Dylan Baker, Kate Berlant, Michael Cera, Dylan Gelula and Tim Meadows, and is part of a competitive program of emerging and established directors headed to Toronto with world premieres.

“This surrealist satire-comedy has sharp, timely observations about social media culture — especially going viral — and its impact on the way that we interact with others in our day-to-day life. Cage delivers some of his finest work,” Robyn Citizen, director, programming & platform lead at TIFF, said in a statement about choosing A24’s Dream Scenario as the opening film for the competitive sidebar.

Toronto unveiled 10 features with world premieres for the festival section where international films outside the Hollywood studio orbit compete.

Co-presidents Anick Poirier and Lorne Price led highly regarded business.

Montreal-based sales agent Sphere Films International is to close down on June 16 as parent company Sphere said it was refocusing its distribution activities.

The highly regarded sales business led by co-presidents Anick Poirier and Lorne Price was noted throughout the global independent community for championing arthouse film, often by first-time directors.

The company has been handling sales on Fantasia opener Red Rooms and its credits include award-winners such as Canada’s 2020 Oscar submission Antigone by Sophie Deraspe and more recently Anthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps, Stéphane Lafleur’s Viking, and Job Clerc’s Sweet As.

Warwick Thornton’s “The New Boy” has been set as the opening title of next month’s Sydney Film Festival, which will celebrate its 70th edition, June 7-18. The film, a tale of sprituality and survival in 1940s Australia, starring Cate Blanchett, Deborah Mailman, Wayne Blair and Aswan Reid, will also play in the festival’s competition section.

Other titles in competition include: the world premiere of Australian documentary feature “The Dark Emu Story,” directed by Allan Clarke; Christian Petzold’s previously announced “Afire”; Charlotte Regan’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner “Scrapper”; Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Monster”; Aki Kaurismäki’s compassionate comedy “Fallen Leaves”; Kim Jee-woon’s “Cobweb”; Asmae El Moudir’s “The Mother of All Lies”; Alice Englert’s directorial debut “Bad Behaviour”; Celine Song’s Sundance and Berlinale 2023 selected romance “Past Lives”; Liu Jian’s 2023 Berlinale-selected animation “Art College 1994”; Devashish Makhija’s “Joram,” a thriller about an...

There comes a time in many lives when a kind of matter transference takes place in the relationship between parent and child. Like a sudden change of filter or aspect ratio, we see our mothers and fathers in new ways, realizing they existed before we did, thought thoughts and felt feelings entirely separate from our own. Almost always, it’s a flower of understanding that blossoms just a bit later than we would like and when it does, it asks of us an impossible question: what to do with this new knowledge, this strange flood of retrospective awe? Perhaps, when you’re far on the other side, looking back through the reverse end of time’s telescope, and if you’re Canadian director Anthony Shim, you make a film like “Riceboy Sleeps,” a familiar immigrant song sung in such an elegant, sincere voice that it feels like a whole new arrangement.

Montreal-based company represents worldwide rights excluding Canada on both titles.

Montreal-based Sphere Films has added two completed features to its Cannes line-up and will launch sales on the Croisette later this month on Queen Tut and Red Rooms.

Reem Morsi (The Last Mark) directed Queen Tut, which stars Alexandra Billings from Transparent in the story of an Egyptian teenager who leaves Cairo when his mother dies and lands in the underground queer nightlife scene in Toronto where he confronts his mother’s death by becoming a drag artist – much to his father’s disapproval.

The Canadian drama is in English...

"She never stopped worrying for her son." 1091 Pictures has revealed the official US trailer for the release of this acclaimed Canadian indie film titled Riceboy Sleeps, from filmmaker Anthony Shim. It premiered at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival last year, and won a bunch of other awards playing at fests throughout the fall. The film centers on So-Young, played by Choi Seung-yoon, a Korean immigrant single mother raising her teenage son Dong-Hyun after moving to Canada to give him a better life. It was shot around Vancouver and is based in part on filmmaker Anthony Shim's own childhood. Ethan Hwang stars as Dong-Hyun, with a cast including Hunter Dillon, Anthony Shim, and Jerina Son. This features many elegant long takes, telling the story of this boy growing up as an immigrant in Canada. It earned rave reviews and did well for an indie at the Canadian box office after first opening in March.

The summer season is upon us and, per each year, we’ve dug beyond studio offerings (though a few potential highlights remain) to present an in-depth look at what should be on your radar. From festival winners of the past year to selections coming straight from Cannes to genre delights to, yes, a few blockbuster spectacles, there’s more than enough to anticipate.

Check out our picks below and return for monthly updates as more is sure to be added to the calendar.

Riceboy Sleeps (Anthony Shim; May 2)

So-Young (Choi Seung-yoon) didn’t want to leave South Korea. She had no choice. The father of her newborn son committed suicide and, as an orphan who was never adopted, she had no other family. So, with nowhere to turn and a boy who couldn’t legally become a citizen due to being born out of wedlock, she immigrated to Canada to start anew.

The BET+/CBC drama The Porter and the HBO Max/CBC comedy Sort Of were the big winners at the Canadian Screen Awards on Friday night.

The Porter, a civil rights drama about 1920s Black train employees in Montreal and Chicago, won for best TV drama, best drama direction for Charles Officer, best drama writing for Marsha Greene and Alfre Woodard picked up the trophy for best guest drama performance.

The first Canadian drama to boast an all-Black creative team also picked up a host of other trophies for best photography, original music, picture editing, make-up and hair and costume and production design. The Porter led the film and TV field for the Canadian Screen Awards with 19 nominations in all, including for best small-screen drama.

Also dominating the TV categories at the non-telecast Canadian Screen Awards was the Peabody Award-winning comedy Sort Of. The series about a gender fluid young...

Canadian Screen Week is officially underway — it’s the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s annual week-long celebration of the best in Canadian film, TV and digital media. With in-person ceremonies returning for the first time since 2019, nominees across 145 categories are being honoured over four days of live award shows at Toronto’s Meridian Hall. It’s all leading up to a star-studded broadcast hosted by Samantha Bee on Sunday night, when the winner of the Cogeco Fund Audience Choice Award will be revealed.

The hour-long special, which airs at 8 p.m. Et on CBC and CBC Gem, will look back at the past year in Canadian film and TV. Also on tap? Interviews with this year’s slate of Special Award recipients — which includes Canadian icons like Catherine O’Hara, Ryan Reynolds and Simu Liu — along with special guests Amy Poehler, Lamar Johnson, “White Lotus” star Adam Dimarco and more.

Exclusive: Canadian post-production outfit Elemental Post has opened a new post-production studio in Vancouver.

The studio is located in Vancouver’s Railtown district and features a 4K theatre with laser projection, three color suites, two sound stages, and extra suites for finishing, titling, and dailies.

The boutique label is headed by Post Supervisor and Sound Designer Matt Drake and Senior Colourist Dave Tomiak. Some of the company’s recent credits include Canadian filmmaker Anthony Shim’s Toronto Film Critic Award-winning feature Riceboy Sleeps and the ESPN 30 for 30 doc I’m Just Here for the Riot from filmmakers Asia Youngman and Kat Jayme, which centers on the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot.

Upcoming projects in post at Elemental include Cocaine Bear writer Jimmy Warden’s directorial debut Borderline, which is being produced by Margot Robbie’s production company LuckyChap Entertainment, and Cold Copy starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Bel Powely, and Jacob Tremblay.

The industry presence saw a return to pre-pandemic levels.

Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) has reported a 25% increase in cinema admissions for this year’s edition, which ran from March 1-12, compared to the hybrid 2022 edition, while the in-person industry presence has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels.

In total, 33,667 people attended 295 Gff film screenings and events over 12 days, including sell-out screenings of the opening night gala, Adura ONashile’s Girl, closing night film, Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society and Under The Skin with a live soundtrack from BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

This figure doesn’t quite match up to the record...

Glasgow Film Festival ran from March 1-12, screening 123 features.

A joy-filled Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) drew to a close last night (March 12) with the UK premiere of Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, while Riceboy Sleeps scooped the festival’s only prize, the audience award, in what co-director Allan Hunter described as the “tightest” voting race in Gff’s audience award history.

Riceboy Sleeps is directed by Anthony Shim, and premiered at Toronto last year. It follows a South Korean family’s attempts to adapt to a new life in Canada, produced by Shim, Rebecca Steele and Bryan Demore. The family...

Glasgow Film Festival ran from March 1-12, screening 123 features.

A joy-filled Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) drew to a close last night (March 12) with the UK premiere of Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, while Riceboy Sleeps scooped the festival’s only prize, the audience award, in what co-director Allan Hunter described as the “tightest” voting race in Gff’s audience award history.

Riceboy Sleeps is directed by Anthony Shim, and premiered at Toronto last year. It follows a South Korean family’s attempts to adapt to a new life in Canada, produced by Shim, Rebecca Steele and Bryan Demore. The family...

‘Riceboy Sleeps’ Scoops Top Canadian Film Award

Anthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps has won Canada’s biggest film award, the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award. The prize, decided by the Toronto Film Critics Association (Tfca), comes with a Can$100,000 cash prize. Riceboy Sleeps beat nominees Clement Virgo’s Brother and David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future. The semi-autobiographical film explores the challenges of living between two cultures through the tale of a Korean immigrant single mother raising her son in Canada. Shot in the Greater Vancouver area and Korea, the feature world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, winning its Platform Prize, and then played in Busan and a raft of other festivals. The win comes as Toronto-based distributor Game Theory Films gears up for the title’s Canadian release on March 17. The feature will also be released in Korea, Singapore and the US in the coming months.

The title of Anthony Shim’s semi-autobiographical film comes from an insult hurled at young Dong-hyun (Dohyun Noel Hwang) on his first day at school – his first taste of racism after moving from Korea to Canada. He will subsequently throw his gimbap in the bin and beg his mother So-young (Choi Seung-yoon) for a packed lunch more like those eaten by the other kids. There is no support whatsoever offered by the school, which treats his ethnicity as a problem to be solved and even asks his mother to give him a new name. She’s keen to fit in, and so he comes to be known as David in public – a name not used at home unless he’s in trouble. When she gets to know other Korean immigrants at work, So-young discovers that they, too, have changed their children’s names.

Taking away a name has been used throughout history as.

Riceboy Sleeps Photo: courtesy of Glasgow Film Festival

Director Anthony Shim and I are both a bit out of breath when we catch up to discuss his new film, Riceboy Sleeps. It has been a hectic morning for each of us, and as we relax with hot drinks and begin to reflect on the amazing success of this independent Korean Canadian tale, which follows a mother and son’s journey to make sense of their dual identity, I remark that every day recently must have been pretty full on for him, in light of the attention it’s getting.

“Oh, absolutely. It’s something that one might hope for or fantasise about happening, but there was no way that we could actually think this far and think that it could do the things that it has done. So this has all been a wonderful, whirlwind experience.”

It’s coming up...

The very first email Toronto filmmaker Clement Virgo received on Wednesday morning was from Scarborough author Catherine Hernandez.

“It said, ‘Congratulations. Well deserved’,” Virgo tells Et Canada. “At first I wasn’t sure what she was talking about.”

Then he checked the news and saw that his movie “Brother”, a coming-of-age story set in Scarborough that he wrote and directed, received 14 Canadian Screen Awards nominations, topping all nods in the film category.

Read More: Exclusive: Clement Virgo’s ‘Brother’ Explores Growing Up Amid Toronto’s Pulsing ’90s Hip-Hop Scene

Just as Hernandez’s book was turned into an acclaimed film (2021’s “Scarborough”), “Brother” is an adaptation of a 2017 novel by David Chariandy. It follows two sons of Caribbean immigrants as they grow into young men while traversing Toronto’s ’90s hip hop scene. Among the CSA nods it received were Best Motion Picture and Achievement in Direction.

“It feels heartening and overwhelming.

The Canadian Screen Awards has unveiled nominations for the national film and TV prize-giving, and the CBC civil rights drama The Porter leads the film and TV field with 19 mentions in all, including for best small-screen drama.

The first Canadian drama series from an all-Black creative team, which also streams on BET+, centers on the lives of Black train porters and their families as they launch North America’s first Black labor union in the 1920s.

The TV categories, voted on by around 3,000 Canadian industry insiders, also sees the CBC series Detention Adventure and Sort Of – a Peabody award-winning show about a gender fluid young Muslim in Toronto played by Bilal Baig — nab 15 nominations each in an awards show shaping up to be a major showcase for people of color.

That follows Canadian film, and TV industry efforts to ensure diversity and inclusivity in the country’s indie production sector and prize-giving process.

Canadian sales agents licenses Viking, Into The Weeds to US.

Sphere Films International has reported key territory deals here on Anthony Shim’s TIFF Platform Prize and Busan audience award winner Riceboy Sleeps.

1091 Pictures has acquired the family drama for the US and rights have gone for Australia and New Zealand (Icon), South Korea (Pancinema), Spain (Yoda Films), Benelux (September Films), Taiwan (Creative Century), Singapore (Lighthouse Film), and Israel (Lev Films).

Theatrical releases are planned for spring in South Korea and Singapore with other releases expected to follow shortly after. Anthony Shim’s 1990’s-set film follows a Korean single...

Long before Canada sought greater diversity for its homegrown films in recent years, its movie industry depended on a web of international co-production treaties to get indie fare into the global market.

Now the Canadian industry is looking to marry that diversity drive with international co-production coin as racially diverse filmmakers converge at the Berlin Film Festival and its European Film Market (EFM).

Take Toronto producer Shehrezade Mian of Markhor Pictures, who is targeting foreign sales for Antoine Bourges’ Concrete Valley, an English- and Arabic-language immigrant drama anchored in Canada. Chronicling the struggles of a Syrian family attempting to make a life in the Great White North, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and will screen in the Berlinale’s Forum program.

Antoine Bourges’ Concrete Valley tells the story of a Syrian family adjusting to life in Canada.

While in Berlin, Mian will fly the Maple...