News

Anora kept up its impressive run to the Oscars on Saturday, adding the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay to its considerable haul. The win for the the Sean Baker film came a week after Anora swept the Directors Guild of America and Producers Guild of America top prizes, cementing itself as the frontrunner heading into the Academy Awards on March 2.

RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes‘ script forNickel Boys, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, scored for Best Adapted Screenplay at the WGA Awards, which honor the best writing in movies, television, news, and radio.

The key WGA categories of Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay are seen as a bellwether for the impending Academy Awards, though the nominees rarely match up. Scripts produced outside the guild’s collective bargaining agreement or written by a non-union member are deemed ineligible. This year, six...

With last year’s ceremony taking place in the shadow of the 2023 strikes and this year’s function in the aftermath of the Southern California wildfires, the 2025 WGA Awards have a lot of work to do when it comes to lifting the spirits of the entertainment industry. Thankfully, good writing always has.

As is tradition, events for the east and west coast branches of the Writer’s Guild are held concurrently today at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles and the Edison Ballroom in New York City. LA’s affair is hosted by actor/comedian Joel Kim Booster and kicks off at 4:30pm Pt. For those who want to tune in at home, you can watch the west coast soiree via livestream at that time.

While under normal circumstances, tonight’s results wouldn’t necessarily carry much water when it comes to the Oscars, this year’s awards race...

The Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East have chimed in with their selection of the best writing among television and film offerings of 2024. The 2025 WGA Awards nomination announcement was delayed a week due to the devastating fires that hit Los Angeles and scorched more than 40,000 acres. The guild currently plans to stick with its Saturday, February 15th date for the awards ceremony.

Ceremonies will take place in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton and in New York City as the Edison Ballroom.

WGA Awards 2025 Nominees

Original Screenplay

A Real Pain, Written by Jesse Eisenberg; Searchlight Pictures

Anora, Written by Sean Baker; Neon

Challengers, Written by Justin Kuritzkes; Amazon MGM Studios

Civil War, Written by Alex Garland; A24

My Old Ass, Written by Megan Park; Amazon MGM Studios

Adapted Screenplay

A Complete Unknown, Screenplay by James Mangold and Jay Cocks, Based on the Book Dylan Goes Electric!

While Hollywood continues to reel from the devastating L.A. wildfires, the WGA is honoring some of the film industry’s best and brightest by announcing the 77th annual Writers Guild Awards nominees. The yearly celebration of excellence in film, TV, new media, news, radio, and promotional writing is always a highlight of the year, as the event brings attention to many hard-working individuals across a broad spectrum of entertainment.

Anora, A Real Pain, Challengers, Civil War, and My Old Ass are among the films nominated for the Original Screenplay category, while shows like The Boys, The Diplomat, Fallout, Mr. & Mr.s Smith, and Shōgun compete for Drama Series excellence.

The WGA plans to announce the winners on February 15 in New York at the Edison Ballroom and in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton.

Here are the nominees for the 77th annual Writers Guild Awards:

Screenplay

Original Screenplay

A Real Pain,...

Hit Man and My Old Ass join awards heavyweights Anora, A Real Pain and Dune: Part Two in the Writers Guild of America (WGA) nominations announced on Wednesday after being delayed due to the ongoing LA wildfires.

Scroll down for nominations

Challengers and Civil War are included in the original screenplay category, while Wicked, Nickel Boys and A Complete Unknown are in contention for adapted screenplay.

Vying for documentary honours are Jim Henson: Idea Man, Kiss The Future, Martha, and War Game.

Eligibility rules excluded The Brutalist, Conclave,Emilia Perez,All We Imagine As Light,Hard Truths, andThe Outrun.

The...

Anora, A Complete Unknown, Challengers, Hit Man, and Wicked are among the 2025 Writers Guild of America Awards nominees.

In Best Original Screenplay, Anora and Challengers are up against A Real Pain, Civil War, and My Old Ass. The Best Adapted Screenplay lineup features A Complete Unknown, Dune: Part Two, Hit Man, Nickel Boys, and Wicked.

The nominations were announced Wednesday, a week after the guild postponed its scheduled Jan. 9 announcement due to the Los Angeles wildfires.

As previously reported, dozens of scripts — including several top Oscar hopefuls — were ineligible for consideration this year. A screenplay is ineligible if it’s produced outside of the WGA’s collective bargaining agreement or written by a non-union member.

The ineligible adapted scripts were Golden Globe champ Conclave (by Peter Straughan), Emilia Pérez (by Jacques Audiard), I’m Still Here (by Walter Salles), Inside Out 2 (by Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein with a...

Despite having to postpone its announcement due to the turmoil currently being faced in Los Angeles as a result of the Southern California wildfires, the Writers Guild of America has now released its nominations for the 2025 WGA Awards.

The Writers Guild of America West (Wgaw) and Writers Guild of America East (Wgae) have revealed nominations for outstanding achievement in screenwriting, television, new media, news, radio/audio, and promotional writing for work released in 2024.

Screenplays for “A Real Pain,” “Anora,” “Challengers,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Wicked,” and “Nickel Boys” were all featured among the nominees. Surprise nods include Glen Powell and Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man,” Alex Garland’s “Civil War,” and Megan Park’s “My Old Ass,” boosting their chances as Oscar voting wraps up.

For those confused as to why some films aren’t represented amongst the nominations, “All We Imagine As Light,” “The Brutalist,” “A Different Man,” “Dídi,” “Hard Truths,...

Anora, Challengers, A Complete Unknown, Nickel Boys and Wicked are among the feature film screenplay nominees for the 77th annual Writers Guild Awards, which revealed its nominees Wednesday to honor the year’s best in film, TV, new media, news, radio and promotional writing.

Winners will be announced February 15 during concurrent ceremonies in New York at the Edison Ballroom and Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton.

Today’s nomination comes after the WGA delayed its announcements from last week due to the impact of the devastating wildfires across Los Angeles last week. Several groups delayed their noms announcements in order to extend voting deadlines including the Oscars.

Last year’s WGA Awards saw The Holdovers and American Fiction win the top film awards at the strike-delayed ceremony, which came after the Oscars were handed out and Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction won the Academy Award for Adapted Screenplay.

Here’s...

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has unveiled its nominees for the 2025 WGA Awards, highlighting a mix of familiar Oscar frontrunners, unexpected entries, and the creative reshuffling prompted by ineligible contenders.

Sean Baker’s critically acclaimed “Anora” is leading the original screenplay list, which many consider the Oscar frontrunner in this category. Another strong contender is Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain,” a personal, semi-autobiographical drama that has been a critical favorite this season.

The inclusion of Justin Kuritzkes’ “Challengers” — a romantic sports drama starring Zendaya — is significant. After its high-profile shutout at the BAFTA Awards, this nomination could rejuvenate its awards season momentum. Adding variety to the category is Alex Garland’s bold post-apocalyptic thriller, “Civil War,” and Megan Park’s sweet yet irreverent comedy, “My Old Ass.” Park, who won praise for her directorial debut “The Fallout,” is also a DGA nominee for first-time director.

The adapted screenplay...

“Anora,” “A Real Pain,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Wicked” and “Nickel Boys” are among the films that have been nominated by the Writers Guild of America in the feature film category, the WGA West and WGA East announced on Wednesday.

In the Original Screenplay category, “Anora” and “A Real Pain” were nominated alongside “Challengers,” “Civil War” and “My Old Ass.” In Adapted Screenplay, “A Complete Unknown,” “Nickel Boys” and “Wicked” will be up against “Dune: Part Two” and “Hit Man.”

Eligibility for the Writers Guild Awards is restricted to screenplays that were written under the guild’s Minimum Basic Agreement or under related agreements from affiliated international guilds. That rule made many of the year’s likeliest Oscar nominees ineligible for Writers Guild nominations, including the original scripts “The Brutalist,” “The Substance,” “Hard Truths,” “September 5” and “All We Imagine as Light,” as well as the adaptations “Conclave,” “Sing Sing,”“Emilia Pérez” and “I’m Still Here.

The 2025 Writers Guild Awards nominations have finally been revealed.

The original screenplay nominees are A Real Pain, Anora, Challengers, Civil War and My Old Ass. The adapted screenplay nominees are A Complete Unknown, Dune: Part Two, Hit Man, Nickel Boys and Wicked.

Top awards contenders The Brutalist, Conclave, Emilia Pérez, Sing Sing and The Substance were not eligible for the WGA Awards’ adapted or original screenplay nominations.

On the TV side, Fallout, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Shogun and The Simpsons all lead with three nominations each, followed by two nominations apiece for The Bear, Bob’s Burgers, English Teacher and Hacks.

The guild was originally set to announce this year’s nominees on Thursday, Jan. 9, but the announcement was delayed twice amid the wildfires that have burned large areas of Los Angeles. The WGA originally set Monday as its new announcement date before again delaying the news “until further notice.” The...

A lot of great movies, actors, and screenplays fall through the cracks during awards season as the Oscars race typically narrows to a handful of expected nominees. That's why it's fun to see what earns attention with some of the other more niche awards bodies. The Writers Guild of America...

Kiss the Future is now back in the race for the Oscars! The Academy recently reversed its shocking decision, from declaring the documentary ineligible for the award to granting it eligibility.

According to Variety, the documentary film directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain is now available in the Academy screening room for members of the documentary team to vote for it as the Best Documentary Feature.

This good news comes after Kiss the Future was kicked out of the Oscars race a month ago, declaring it ineligible, as reported by Deadline. But what was the reason for the acclaimed feature to be ruled out?

Here’s why Kiss the Future was initially ineligible for the Oscars 2025! Kiss the Future| Credits: YouTube

According to Deadline, Kiss the Future did not initially qualify for the Oscars 2025 because of the strict rule on theatrical release. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,...

Kiss the Future, the documentary produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, is going to get a shot at Oscar recognition after all.

The Academy today reversed its earlier decision declaring the film ineligible on the basis of not meeting qualification criteria. As of this morning, the documentary directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain appears in the Academy Screening Room, allowing documentary branch members to consider it for Best Documentary Feature.

“I’m very happy to learn from the Academy that they changed their decision,” Cicin-Sain told Deadline exclusively. His documentary centers on the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s and how beleaguered residents of the city drew inspiration from the music of U2 as they attempted to survive years of war, sniper attacks and deprivation.

“There were so many people who shared their personal traumas and joys in the telling of this story,” Cicin-Sain said, responding to the Academy’s decision today.

Academy Award winners and best friends Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have a shot at more Oscar recognition for producing the documentary “Kiss the Future.”

Variety has learned exclusively the Academy has granted eligibility to the documentary feature for consideration for the upcoming 97th Oscars. The decision follows an initial ruling by the Academy’s Documentary Branch Executive Committee that deemed the film ineligible, citing a shortfall in meeting required daily theatrical screening showtimes per the Academy’s regulations.

In a procedural review, the Academy’s Awards Committee re-evaluated “Kiss the Future” as part of its commitment to fairness and inclusion in the eligibility process. The committee ultimately reversed the initial ruling, citing the film’s release on more than 100 screens across multiple markets as evidence of its wide release intent, which aligns with the Academy’s objective to foster theatrical experiences for moviegoers.

The reversal highlights a standing precedent within the Academy,...

Updated:: Academy sources say the rule that states a film, to qualify for Oscar consideration, must play “in the same commercial motion picture theater” three times a day for a week has been in place since the 93rd Academy Awards. That language appears under Rule Two section 2d, which outlines eligibility for “All eligible motion pictures, unless otherwise noted.” Those Academy sources say very similar language was added this year to “Rule Twelve. Special Rules for the Documentary Feature Film Award,” so that it now appears in two places within the Academy guidelines.

That may not end the argument, however. Contacted Tuesday night, Kiss the Future director Nenad Cicin-Sain said, regarding Rule Two section 2d, “That section of the rules pertains to feature films and not documentary films. And documentary feature films have always had their own set of rules.” He added that his film did its qualifying run in February of this year,...

In 2023, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon premiered their documentary Kiss the Future at the Berlin International Film Festival, the beginning of what would be an award-winning festival run. The film follows the Siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War in the 1990s, and the concert U2 played in 1997 soon after the end of the conflict. An inspiring meditation on the undying nature of art in times of despair, Paramount+ released Kiss the Future on the streaming service in May 2024 after hitting theaters in February. However, due to an apparent technicality, the acclaimed documentary will not be making an awards push for next year's Oscars.

Per Deadline, Kiss the Future was deemed ineligible for the upcoming Academy Awards, despite screening across the nation in over 130 theaters and having a lengthy festival run. According to the report, the reason the documentary got kicked out of the Oscar race is due to it...

Exclusive: The Motion Picture Academy has rejected a plea from producers Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and fellow makers of Kiss the Future to reconsider its decision ruling the documentary ineligible for Oscar consideration.

The award-winning film — exploring the 1990s siege of Sarajevo and how the city’s residents took inspiration from U2’s music amid a campaign of extermination — played in more than 130 AMC cinemas nationwide, far surpassing the theatrical distribution of most documentaries. But, in what filmmakers see as a technicality, the Academy judged the film screened two times a day in a qualifying market, and not the prescribed three times as stipulated by Oscar rules.

Deadline has reviewed an August 20 letter from producers Damon, Affleck, and Sarah Anthony addressed to the “Awards Committee and the Documentary Branch Executive Committee” asking for a reevaluation...

Paramount+ today announced that the critically acclaimed documentary Kiss the Future, which made its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival and opened the Tribeca Festival in 2023, will premiere exclusively on the service in the U.S. and Canada on May 7. The documentary features interviews with Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Christine Amanpour, Bill Clinton, and more.

Produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for Artists Equity and Sarah Anthony, Kiss the Future was directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and written by Bill S. Carter and Cicin-Sain. It is based on Carter’s memoir Fools Rush In.

The film tells a story of defiance amid the 1990s siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, focusing on a vibrant, underground community that used art and music to affect change; a community that garnered global attention by ultimately inspiring an American aid worker to reach out to the band U2 to help raise awareness of the devastating conflict.

Following the release of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” AMC Theatres, the world’s biggest cinema chain, is releasing Nenad Cicin-Sain’s documentary “Kiss the Future” on Feb. 23.

The exclusive run of the 102-minute docu, which premiered in February 2023 at the Berlin Film Festival, is a major feat for the film, which chronicles the 1990s siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. Although the film features an awe inspiring U2 performance during a 1997 post-war concert celebrating the city’s hard-fought triumph over ethnic nationalism, “Kiss the Future” is not a shiny, shimmering, bombastic pop doc. Instead it’s a docu that chronicles the breakup of Yugoslavia and the onset of war in Bosnia. In the film citizens struggle to survive the siege of Sarajevo and ultimately turn to rock and punk music for inspiration and distraction from the daily nightmare of Serbian shells and snipers.

"Having a disco in the middle of a war is the only thing that kept us going." AMC Theatres has revealed an official trailer for an outstanding documentary film titled Kiss the Future, from filmmaker Nenad Cicin-Sain. This premiered at the Berlinale 2023 but didn't make much of an impact there (I was one of the only ones to see it). Thankfully AMC has stepped up and is giving it a proper nationwide release in AMC cinemas later in February. Kiss the Future celebrates the underground art & music scene that thrived during the siege of Sarajevo. The biggest band in the world, U2, lead by Bono, paid attention and shined a light on the crisis in an effort to support the besieged Sarajevans. The film culminates in a post-war unification concert. A cautionary tale about the rise of nationalism, and an uplifting celebration of the power of the human spirit and...

AMC Theatres will be the exclusive cinematic home to Kiss the Future, the award-winning documentary about the siege of Sarajevo and how its people and artistic community drew inspiration from the music of U2.

Under a deal between AMC and Fifth Season, select AMC locations will debut the film on February 23 for what is described as a full theatrical run. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Christiane Amanpour, and former Pres. Bill Clinton are among those who appear in the film directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Sarah Anthony. Kiss the Future will become available to stream later this year exclusively on Paramount+.

“Kiss the Future, directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain, story by Bill Carter and Cicin-Sain, screenplay by Carter, based on his memoir: Fools Rush In, is the story of defiance amid the 1990s siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War,” notes a release about the documentary.

“Kiss the Future,” a documentary produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and featuring Bono and Bill Clinton, is coming to the big screen next month.

The film will receive a theatrical run exclusively at AMC Theatres, starting on Feb. 23, before it lands on Paramount+ at a later date. This marks the theater chain’s latest foray into distribution following the release of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.” However, the two concert docs played on more than just AMC screens.

Directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain, “Kiss the Future” chronicles the 1990s siege of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War and focuses on an underground community that used music and art to effect change. They eventually inspired an American aid worker to reach out to U2 to raise awareness of the conflict. In the documentary, the band follows through on its promise to perform at a post-war...

AMC Theatres is continuing its foray into the distribution business following Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé.

The world’s largest cinema circuit revealed Wednesday it has pacted with Fifth Season to release the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck-produced documentary Kiss the Future in the U.S. The acclaimed film chronicles the vibrant underground music scene during the Siege of Sarajevo and U2’s involvement, culminating with the band’s 1997 concert there.

Unlike the Beyoncé and Swift concert films, Kiss the Future will play exclusively in select AMC locations. The film, which will receive a full theatrical run beginning Feb. 23, will stream later this year on Paramount+

Directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and also produced by Sarah Anthony, the doc is based on Bill Carter’s memoir Fools Rush In, a story of how a vibrant underground community used music and art to effect change...

U2 frontman Bono made a surprise appearance Friday night at the opening ceremony of the Sarajevo Film Festival, with the Irish pop star leading a rapturous crowd in an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song.”

The legendary vocalist took the stage after an emotional screening of “Kiss the Future,” director Nenad Cicin-Sain’s documentary, produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, about U2’s relationship with war-torn Sarajevo in the 1990s. He was accompanied by bandmate the Edge and their wives, Ali Hewson and Morleigh Steinberg, along with model and activist Christy Turlington and veteran CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour.

Bono (c.) with CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour (r.) and others on the red carpet in Sarajevo.

Based on American-born aid worker Bill Carter’s “Fools Rush in: A Memoir,” “Kiss the Future” chronicles the band’s efforts to publicize the plight of the city’s besieged civilians during the Bosnian War.

Bono made a surprise appearance at the Sarajevo Film Festival this evening, where he accompanied the crew behind the U2-inspired Bosnian war documentary Kiss The Future, which opened the festival.

Bono was joined by his U2 band member The Edge on the red carpet at Bosnia’s National Theatre alongside CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour, who also features in the doc, during which she recounts her time as a young reporter covering the Bosnian conflict.

Directed by filmmaker Nenad Cicin-Sain, Kiss the Future tells the story of the underground community that continued to work and live throughout the 1990s siege of Sarajevo. Amid the breakup of Yugoslavia, the citizens of Sarajevo woke up to find their city under siege and wider Bosnia at war.

Bono and Christiane Amanpour.

In a far-fetched scheme inspired by local resistance, Bill Carter, an American aid worker living in Sarajevo, reached out to the world...

When the Sarajevo Film Festival returned to full strength last year after successive, slimmed-down pandemic editions, a robust turn-out was to be expected. For nearly three decades, the audience-facing event has been the cultural lifeblood of the lively, cosmopolitan city it calls home.

The 2022 edition broke attendance records set in 2019, and just days after its online ticketing system launched this month, the fest appears on pace to surpass that mark again. It is a testament to the enduring love affair between a city and a festival that was founded in impossible circumstances in 1995, at the tail end of a brutal, four-year siege — proof that even in times of war and scarcity, cinema could endure.

The festival returns Aug. 11 – 18, with organizers insisting the event’s 29th edition will stay true to its roots. “We wanted to keep the festival focused on its main goals: presenting the best of cinema today to...

The Sarajevo Film Festival has long been the biggest showcase of Southeast European cinema and this year’s edition, which unspools on August 11, is on course to be its most reflective and regionally focused edition yet.

“Our manifesto has always been to support young filmmakers and productions from the region while rebuilding an international film industry around it and this year our aim is to strengthen that even further,” says festival director Jovan Marjanović, who is currently in his second year in the role after taking over from festival founder Mirsad Purivatra, who started the event in 1995 during the siege of Sarajevo in the Bosnian War.

This year’s official selection will see 49 films compete for Heart of Sarajevo awards across its four competition sections – feature, documentary, short and student film – and included in this are 22 world, two international, 22 regional and three national premieres. Films in the official line-up include...

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck produced the film.

The 29th Sarajevo Film Festival is to open with Kiss The Future, a documentary that recounts how rock band U2 came to play a concert in Sarajevo in the wake of the Bosnian War.

The feature, directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain, will screen as part of the festival’s Open Air programme on August 11. It previously received its world premiere at the Berlinale in February.

The documentary explores how a US aid worker in war-torn Sarajevo enlisted the help of U2 to shine a light on the Bosnian War.

Produced by Matt Damon...

Lviv Municipal Art Center Director Lyana Mytsko with artist/activist Bogdana Dabydiuk postering support for Ukraine in David Gutnik’s Tribeca highlight Rule Of Two Walls Photo: courtesy of New City/Old City

David Gutnik’s creative and hopeful Rule Of Two Walls, produced by Olha Beskhmelnytsina and executive produced by Liev Schreiber is a take-action highlight of the 22nd edition of the Tribeca Film Festival (along with Nenad Cicin-Sain’s Kiss The Future). At the start in Lviv, Ukraine in April 2022, cinematographer Volodymyr Ivanov and sound recordist Mykhailo Zakutskyi take us to the apartment of Lyana Mytsko and Stepan Burban (aka rapper Palindrom). From there with air-raid sirens blaring we walk with Lyana to the Municipal Art Center, where she is the director, to meet artist Diana Berg from Mariupol who sees her images as “a possibility to regain some control over how beautiful it was” before the invasion...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro on the opening night of the 22nd edition of the Tribeca Film Festival before the screening of Nenad Cicin-Sain’s Kiss the Future, edited by Eric Burton Photo: Arturo Holmes, Getty Images

Tribeca co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal attended with Brendan Fraser (Oscar-winner for Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale), Shirin Neshat, West Duchovny, Elvira Lind, Alfredo Jaar, Patty Jenkins, Mark Ruffalo, and Peter Coyote the Opening Night Gala of the 22nd edition of the Tribeca Film Festival screening of Nenad Cicin-Sain’s terrific documentary Kiss The Future, which includes on-camera interviews with U2 members Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton, plus Bill Clinton, Christiane Amanpour, Enes Zlatar (Sikter), Srdan Gino Jevdević (Kulture Shock), Vesna Andree Zaimović (journalist), and Senad Zaimović (editor-in-chief of Rat Art).

Eric Burton with Anne-Katrin Titze on the multicultural diversity in Sarajevo:...

The 2023 Tribeca Film Festival kicked off last night with Nenad Cicin-Sain’s Kiss the Future and now continues with its characteristically densely packed program of features, interactive and new media works, television and special events. It’s the third year for Tribeca’s move to June, following Cannes, and the festival runs until June 18th, when the closing night picture is a 30th anniversary screening of Tribeca co-founder Robert DeNiro’s A Bronx Tale. “I really hope that people are adventurous in what they choose to experience at the festival and come see a lot,” Tribeca Festival Director Cara Cusumano told Filmmaker. “I […]

The post 13 Films To Watch at the 2023 Tribeca Festival first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The 2023 Tribeca Film Festival kicked off last night with Nenad Cicin-Sain’s Kiss the Future and now continues with its characteristically densely packed program of features, interactive and new media works, television and special events. It’s the third year for Tribeca’s move to June, following Cannes, and the festival runs until June 18th, when the closing night picture is a 30th anniversary screening of Tribeca co-founder Robert DeNiro’s A Bronx Tale. “I really hope that people are adventurous in what they choose to experience at the festival and come see a lot,” Tribeca Festival Director Cara Cusumano told Filmmaker. “I […]

The post 13 Films To Watch at the 2023 Tribeca Festival first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The Tribeca Festival brings its unusual brand of film, music, TV, games, reunions and talks, audio and immersive storytelling to New York City this week, a festival for the city and the latest stop for the film community after a short post-Cannes break. Today’s opening may face unexpected headwinds as New York suffers a sudden, sharp deterioration of air quality due to wildfires in Canada.

The fest, which runs June 7-18, kicks off Wednesday with Kiss the Future, a documentary by Nenad Cicin-Sain produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Sarah Anthony. It closes with a 30th anniversary screening of A Bronx Tale, produced by and starring, respectively, Tribeca co-founders Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro. Just before the fest kickoff, NYC Mayor Eric Adams — who is attending opening night — will make an arts- and culture-related announcement with the actor.

The festival yanked the word “Film” from its title...

Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer on Pierfrancesco Favino, star of Andrea Di Stefano’s The Last Night with Amore: “He’s an extraordinary actor.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

The Opening Night Gala selection of the 22nd edition of the Tribeca Film Festival is Nenad Cicin-Sain’s terrific documentary Kiss the Future, which includes on-camera interviews with U2 members Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton, plus Bill Clinton, Christiane Amanpour, Enes Zlatar (Sikter), Srdan Gino Jevdev (Kulture Shock), Vesna Andree Zaimović (journalist), and Senad Zaimović (editor-in-chief of the Rat Art).

Frédéric Boyer with Anne-Katrin Titze on Pier-Philippe Chevigny’s Richelieu: “This is about workers, the actors are extraordinary in the film.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In the second instalment with Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer on the 2023 selections we discuss Robert De Niro’s A Bronx Tale (Closing Night Gala selection) Andrea Di Stefano’s (the priest in Ang Lee’s Life Of Pi...

The 2023 Tribeca Festival has revealed its opening and closing night and centerpiece selections, as well as more gala events.

The festival will kick off on Wednesday, June 7, with the North American premiere of the documentary Kiss the Future, which follows underground musicians and creatives through the siege of Sarajevo and the 1997 U2 concert celebrating the liberation of the Bosnian capital. The movie is produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Sarah Anthony.

“We are grateful to the people of Sarajevo and to U2 for giving us the opportunity to help tell this special story,” Damon said in a statement. “Though this event happened almost 30 years ago, we feel it has strong relevance to today’s world, serving as a powerful reminder that human creativity can provide a powerful antidote to even the most horrific of situations.”

In a separate statement after the selection was announced, U2’s Bono said, “We...

Audiences are one step closer to the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

This year’s Tribeca Gala events, including the Opening, Closing, and Centerpiece film selections were unveiled Thursday. The 2023 Tribeca Festival will kick off June 7 with the North American premiere of “Kiss the Future,” a documentary following the story of a community of underground musicians and creatives throughout the nearly four-year-long siege of Sarajevo, as well as the 1997 U2 concert celebrating the liberation of the Bosnian capital.

The film serves as a testament to art’s enduring ability to cast light even in the darkest of circumstances and reflects Tribeca’s founding mission of utilizing the power of storytelling to heal communities. “Kiss the Future” is produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Sarah Anthony, and features U2’s Bono, The Edge, and Adam Clayton.

“Ben and I are proud of this film and are honored that it has been selected to open the Tribeca Festival,...

Watching “Kiss the Future,” a documentary about the band U2’s relationship with wartorn Sarajevo in the 1990s, it’s hard not to think: “We’ve seen this movie before.” That’s not to do with the doc itself so much as how aspects of the 30-year-old footage from Bosnia’s brutal civil war parallel what we’ve seen in the news coverage coming out of Ukraine for the past year. Both involve stranger-than-fiction (or stranger-than-fascism) scenarios of cosmopolitan cities suddenly subject to state terrorism, which makes the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck-produced film coincidentally timely, for all its belatedness.

In a sense, “Kiss the Future” is the story of a long-distance romance, between a superstar rock quartet reaching its peak and a once-grand metropolis that’s bottoming out. In the early ’90s, genocidally minded Serbian president Slobodan Milošević tried to subject the happily mixed population of Sarajevo to...

The ongoing war in Ukraine adds a timely resonance to Nenad Cicin-Sain’s documentary about the underground art and music movement that sprung up in Sarajevo during the 1990s Bosnian War. Not that it was needed, since Kiss the Future would have the same power anytime in a world perpetually marked by armed conflict. This moving and inspirational film premiering at the Berlin Film Festival also boasts a commercial hook in the form of the band U2, who figure prominently in the proceedings via both archival footage and contemporary interviews with members Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton.

Based on the 2004 memoir Fools Rush In by Bill S. Carter, who also wrote the screenplay and provides frequent onscreen commentary, the film revolves around the nearly four-years-long Siege of Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serbs. As a result, its inhabitants were essentially trapped, including many young people who were intent on reaffirming...

The Irish director and musician John Carney once made a movie under the working title “Can a Song Save Your Life?,” though the name was changed before it was released. And another batch of Dublin musicians of note ask a similar question in the documentary “Kiss the Future,” which premiered on Sunday at the Berlin International Film Festival and finds U2 using music to aid the occupants of a city under siege, Sarajevo.

Directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain, produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Sarah Anthony and written by Bill S. Carter, who is also a major player in the events depicted, “Kiss the Future” is a portrait of a city and a people who used culture to fight back; it’s also the story of a rock ‘n’ roll band exploring the limits of how its music can impact the real world. Above all else, though, it’s a...

Nenad Cicin-Sain’s documentary tells the story of a maverick film-maker who, with extraordinary persistence, induced the Irish rockers to keep the spotlight firmly on the Bosnian war

Thirty years on, the Bosnian war still has the power to horrify, with its genocidal massacres and concentration camps in the heart of Europe even as international leaders solemnly avowed their determination never to repeat the nightmare of the second world war. Even now, cultural commentators call the 1990s the “Seinfeld decade” where nothing happened, disregarding the carnage in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Nenad Cicin-Sain’s music documentary gives us an unofficial, unlicensed look at the nightmare of Sarajevo and the way that rock music kept humanity and hope alive: the rough-and-ready gigs and discos happening in Sarajevo’s battered garages and bomb shelters, while war raged above. It also tells the story of a maverick American journalist and film-maker called Bill Carter,...

For almost four years of siege in the 1990s, the city of Sarajevo concussed from shelling, the rumblings of armored vehicles and the repeated pop of sniper fire.

But in stolen moments, other more hopeful sounds broke through: music coming from underground clubs and through TV sets whenever electricity wasn’t interrupted. Songs like U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “One.” The human need for the joy and release of music underpins the documentary Kiss the Future, which recounts how Bono and band took up the cause of Sarajevo. The documentary produced by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Sarah Anthony, and Drew Vinton and directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain made its world premiere tonight at the Berlin Film Festival.

The film (a sales title at the Berlinale) takes us back to 1992 when Serbia, under the barbaric leadership of President Slobodan Milošević, embarked on a campaign of territorial expansion and ethnic cleansing in...

Matt Damon revealed he is in the early stages of research in a documentary project tackling the war in Ukraine at the Berlin Film Festival on Sunday.

The Jason Bourne actor and producer was at the festival as one of the producers on Kiss The Future.

The documentary revisits the Siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s through the prism of U2’s solidarity with the city’s besieged citizens as well as its underground music scene. Watch the first trailer here.

Asked at the press conference whether he could see himself getting involved in a documentary on the war in Ukraine, in the vein of Sean Penn’s Superpower, Damon revealed he was researching a potential project.

The actor-producer said he had not had direct exchanges with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy but had met his wife Olena Zelenska at the U.N. Assembly last year.

“I think a lot of...

Matt Damon revealed he was in the “early stages” on a project about Ukraine during the press conference for “Kiss the Future” at the Berlin Film Festival. Damon is a producer on the documentary which chronicles the struggle of Sarajevo citizens during the Bosnian War.

World premiering in the Berlinale Special section, the politically minded documentary is directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and based on “Fools Rush in: A Memoir” the memoir of Bill Carter, an aid worker. It shows how his determination resulted in the enlistment of the world’s largest rock band, U2, to help shine a light. Fifth Season and WME handling worldwide sales.

Asked if he was considering following the footsteps of Sean Penn with “Superpower” with a film on the war in Ukraine, he said he’s “watched as everyone has with horror that unfolded there in the last year,” and although they “don’t have...

There’s no shortage of movies that gauzily peddle the notion of art as a balm. Few, however, are as invested in the charged immediacy of art’s relationship to real-life pain as “Kiss the Future,” a documentary enjoying its world premiere Feb. 19 in the Berlinale Special slot, with Fifth Season and WME handling worldwide sales.

Directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain, and based on American-born aid worker Bill Carter’s “Fools Rush in: A Memoir” (the pair share a screen story credit), the film is a savvy mélange of history and cultural portraiture that affectingly chronicles the struggle of Sarajevo’s besieged civilians during the Bosnian War of the 1990s.

Produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, the movie shows the young Carter bluffing his way into an interview with the frontman of the biggest band in the world at the time: U2, a group never afraid of sociopolitical statements or...

Festival to also honour French cinematographer Caroline Champetier with honorary Berlinale Camera.

The Berlinale has added the world premiere of documentary Love To Love You, Donna Summer and a tribute to a century of Disney animation to its upcoming 73rd edition.

The additions complete the lineup for the Berlinale Special sidebar at the festival, set to run February 16-26.

Love To Love You, Donna Summer is co-directed by Roger Ross Williams, Oscar nominated in 2016 for Life, Animated, and US actress Brooklyn Sudano, who is the daughter of Summer and makes her directorial debut with the film.

The documentary will explore...

The Berlin Film Festival, held every year in February, the cruelest month of the German winter, has never been able to match the Mediterranean flair of Cannes or Venice, or the laid-back indie cool of Sundance. But when it comes to serious movies, few festivals, big or small, can match the Berlinale.

In place of the big blockbuster movies, Berlin has doubled down on political dramas and documentaries that focus on the real troubles of the world. The war in Ukraine — launched by Russia’s invasion a year ago — will be on screens everywhere this Berlinale. Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufmann’s documentary Superpower, shot just before and after Russia’s invasion, and featuring several interviews with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, will have its world premiere in Berlin’s Special Screening section and there are three more Ukraine documentaries — Roman Liubyi’s Iron Butterflies, Vitaly Mansky and Yevhen Titarenko’s doc Eastern Front,...

2023 truly begins taking shape with next month’s Berlinale, which will run from February 16 to February 26 and feature more than a few of our most-anticipated films this year. Among them are Christian Petzold’s Afire (Roter Himmel), starring new muse Paula Beer; Hong Sangsoo’s In Water, which will appear in the Encounters section; and Philippe Garrel’s The Plough, once known as La lune crevée starring his three children Louis, Esther, and Lena, and (judging from the still) his first color feature since 2011’s A Burning Hot Summer. Meanwhile: Angela Schanelec will return with Music, and––six years after the wonderful Person to Person––it’s nice spotting a new feature from Dustin Guy Defa, The Adults.

Find the lineup below and head back next month for our coverage of the festival headed by Kristen Stewart’s jury.

Competition

20,000 Species of Bees (Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren)

The Shadowless Tower (Zhang...

U2 documentary ‘Kiss The Future’ added to Berlinale Special; further Generation titles revealed.

The Berlinale has completed the Panorama section for its 2023 edition with a raft of world premieres including UK thriller Femme, starring George MacKay and Candyman star Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.

The festival, which is set to run from February 16-26, has also revealed fresh titles selected for its Generation competition and the addition of U2 documentary Kiss The Future as a Berlinale Special screening.

The Panorama strand will comprise 35 films from 30 countries, including 28 world premieres and 11 debuts. Having previously announced several titles, the festival revealed that animated feature The...

It’s a good time to be a U2 fan. Bono released his new memoir “Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story” this week and is currently promoting it with a rare 14-night solo tour. And in a new interview with the German publication Welt, the longtime U2 frontman revealed that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have produced a new documentary about the band’s involvement in the Bosnian War. Titled “Kiss the Future,” the film will cover U2’s 1993 satellite performance in Sarajevo during the darkest days of the Bosnian War and 1997 live concert after the war had concluded.

He explained that the idea for the documentary stemmed from a trip to Kyiv to support Ukraine’s war efforts against Russia.

“In the texts of U2, this topic has always occupied us, to show solidarity with people who are oppressed, who are victims of violence,” Bono said. “When Edge and I took the train to Kyiv,...