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Dos presencias españolas, ‘Extraño Río’ y ‘Calle Málaga’, en la programación de la Biennale.

© Biennale

Ayer se desveló la impresionante programación de la 82 edición del Festival Internacional de Cine de Venecia, que se celebra del 27 de agosto al 6 de septiembre. Una selección potente, con claro protagonismo del cine en lengua inglesa, que busca posicionar a Venecia como la antesala decisiva de la temporada de premios. No es un gesto gratuito: Anora, ganadora en Cannes el año pasado, acabó llevándose el Óscar a la Mejor Película. Y ahora, todos miran a la Mostra como el próximo trampolín. Así, en la competición por el León de Oro hay nombres de peso como Guillermo del Toro, Yorgos Lanthimos, Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach, Park Chan-wook, o Benny Safdie. La riqueza de la programación se extiende también a las secciones paralelas y fuera de competición. En ellas se presentarán, entre otros, los nuevos trabajos de...

UK-Ireland directors, actors, producers, funders and filming locations are well-represented through thefull breadth of theVeniceline-up – with the exception of the Competition, where there are no films by UK or Ireland directors.

London-based David Heyman’s Heyday Films producedNoah Baumbach’s Competition titleJay Kelly,which partly shot in the UK and features Jim Broadbent, Lenny Henry, Emily Mortimer, Thaddea Graham, Louis Partridge, Eve Hewson and Jamie Demetriou among the cast.

US filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s anthology filmFather Mother Sister Brother, also in Competition, shot across the US, France and Ireland. UK-based Mubi is a producer on the project to which it has US rights,...

The lineup for this year’s Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, with the likes of Giullermo del Toro, Noah Baumbach, Kathryn Bigelow, Jim Jarmusch, Park Chan-wook, and Yorgos Lanthimos all competing for the coveted Golden Lion.

Here is the full lineup of 20 films in competition at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival:

Ballad of a Small Player, Edward Berger

Below the Clouds, Gianfranco Rosi

Bugonia, Yorgos Lanthimos

Duse, Pietro Marcello

Elisa Leonardo Di Costanzo

Father Mother Sister Brother, Jim Jarmusch

Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro

The Grace, Paolo Sorrentino

A House of Dynamite, Kathryn Bigelow

Jay Kelly, Noah Baumbach

Mother Bhum, Chong Keat Aun

No Other Choice, Park Chan-wook

A Pied D’Oeuvre, Valerie Donzelli

Silent Friend, Ildiko Enyedi

The Smashing Machine, Benny Safdie

The Stranger, François Ozon

The Sin Rises on Us All, Cai Shangjun

The Testament of Ann Lee, Mona Fastvoid

The Voice of Hind Rajab, Kaouther Ben...

The Venice Film Festival is back on the Lido for its 82nd edition, kicking off August 27-September 6. The packed lineup of auteur premieres heading to Italy include new films from Olivier Assayas, Guillermo del Toro, Mona Fastvold, Kathryn Bigelow, Noah Baumbach, Yorgos Lanthimos, Benny Safdie, Jim Jarmusch, Park Chan-wook, László Nemes, François Ozon, Pietro Marcello, and many more in competition.

Out of competition, we’ll see new films from Luca Guadagnino (“After the Hunt”), Werner Herzog (“Ghost Elephants”), Sofia Coppola (Marc Jacobs documentary “Marc by Sofia”), Charlie Kaufman (the short “How to Shoot a Ghost”), Julian Schnabel (“In the Hand of Dante”), Gus Van Sant (“Dead Man’s Wire”), Laura Poitras (“Cover-Up”), Lucrecia Martel (“Nuestra Tierra”), and Tsai Ming-liang (“Back Home”)

Artistic director Alberto Barbera’s programmers had already unveiled a wave of announcements before Tuesday’s lineup: Alexander Payne heads up the jury, Paolo Sorrentino’s “La Grazia” opens the festival Italian-style,...

Celebrating its 82nd edition this year, Venice Film Festival will take place August 27 through September 6. Ahead of the event, President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Director Alberto Barbera have now unveiled the lineup.

Highlights include new films from Jim Jarmusch, Park Chan-wook, Lucrecia Martel, Laura Poitras, Benny Safdie, Werner Herzog, Kathryn Bigelow, Luca Guadagnino, Olivier Assayas, Sofia Coppola, Kent Jones, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mark Jenkin, Tsai Ming-liang, Mamoru Hosoda, Gus Van Sant, Noah Baumbach, Mona Fastvold, Pietro Marcello, Guillermo del Toro, László Nemes, and more.

See the lineup below.

Opening Film

La Grazia (Paolo Sorrentino) (in competition)

Closing Film

Chien 51 (Cédric Jimenez) (out of competition)

In Competition

The Wizard of the Kremlin (Olivier Assayas)

Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach)

The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania)

A House of Dynamite (Kathryn Bigelow)

The Sun Rises on Us All (Cai Shangjun)

Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)

Elisa (Leonardo Di Costanzo)

À pied d’œuvre...

Kathryn Bigelow’s A House Of Dynamite, Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, and Luca Guadagnino’s After The Hunt are among the films selected for the 82nd Venice Film Festival (August 27 - September 6).

Scroll down for full line-up

The first two are among 21 Competition titles, with further Competition entries including Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly starring George Clooney, Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard Of The Kremlin starring Jude Law as Vladimir Putin, Mona Fastvold’s The Testament Of Ann Lee, and Guillermo del Toro’sFrankenstein starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi.

The selection was announced by artistic director Alberto Barbera,...

The line-up for the 82nd Venice International Film Festival (August 27-September 9) is being unveiled today at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Scroll down for lineup

The press conference is live-streamed above, and this page will be updated with the films as they are announced.Refresh page for latest updates.

Alexander Payne will preside over the jury, which also includes Mohammad Rasoulof, Fernanda Torres, Stephane Brize, Maura Delpero, Cristian Mungiu and Zhao Tao. Julia Ducournau will chair the Horizons jury.

The Venice Critics’ Week line-up was announced yesterday.

Competition

La Grazia

Dir.

Exclusive: Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s performance film The Extraordinary Miss Flower has inked distribution deals with Madman for Australia and New Zealand and Non-Stop for Scandinavia and the Baltics.

The news comes fresh off the film’s UK theatrical run via BFI Distribution. Madman is planning an August release and Non-Stop will release the title in its territories in the fall. Additionally, The Festival Agency is helping with festival bookings are curating some screenings and a performance of the project this Autumn in Paris.

The Extraordinary Miss Flower brings to life the remarkable story of Geraldine Flower and the discovery of a suitcase of letters sent to her in the 1960s and 1970s that inspired acclaimed Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini to return to the studio. Described as “part film, part theatre, part fever dream”, the film takes the form of a series of specially designed performances by Torrini...

Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Hot Milk, Ira Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day and James Griffiths’ The Ballad Of Wallis Island are among the 28 features programmed for the third edition of Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival (June 21-29).

The festival has programmed 10 films in its main competition strand; with 12 out of competition titles; and six films in the environmentally-focused Mare Nostrum section.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

The festival will also present an honorary Golden Bee lifetime achievement award to UK producer Jeremy Thomas.

Thomas will participate in a masterclass conversation with Film London chief executive Adrian Wootton.

Other...

Vertigo Releasing’s The Surfer leads the new releases in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend as Universal’sThe Wedding Banquetand Altitude’sOcean With David Attenboroughare also out.

Nicholas Cage stars in Lorcan Finnegan’s psychological thriller The Surferwhich rides into 388 locations. The acclaimed actor plays a father who returns to his childhood beach in Australia and conflicts with the locals. The film premiered in Cannes Midnight Screenings last year.

Cage’s recent openings include Longlegs; Dream Scenario and Renfield.

Also out is The Wedding Banquetin 254 locations for Universal. A remake of the 1993 film of the same name, Bowen Yang...

Nick Cave and Richard Ayoade are among those reading out the posthumously discovered missives that inspired an album by Emilíana Torrini, who soundtracks this gorgeous film

You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Geraldine Flower, the subject of A new film from artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the pair behind the 2014 Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth. (Cave makes an appearance here reading a letter or two.) Flower was not famous in her lifetime and in fact, after watching the film we’re none the wiser about how she spent her later years. But when she died in 2019, a suitcase packed with hundreds of love letters written to her by smitten men in the 60s and 70s was found in her London flat.

The letters inspired a 2024 album by Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini (called Miss Flower) and also this intriguing, gorgeous and creative documentary – a film...

The 21st edition of the Glasgow Film Festival kicks into gear on Wednesday (February 26) with the world premiere of survival thriller Tornado from Scottish filmmaker John Maclean. With stars Tim Roth and Japanese actors Kōki and Takehiro Hira set to be in attendance, it’s sure to be one of the highlights of the 12-day event.

But there are also another 12 world and European premieres, 66 UK premieres and 12 Scottish premieres from 38 countries as well as In Conversation talks with stars such as James McAvoy and Jessica Lange and more on offer at the festival this year. We’ve rounded up what we think are sure to be some of the key films and events during this year’s Gff.

Tornado – Opening Night

The festival is opening with the world premiere of survival thriller Tornado from Scottish filmmaker John Maclean. The film, which stars Tim Roth, Jack Lowden, Takehiro Hira and Kōki,...

Arthood Entertainment has boarded world sales on Elmar Imanov’s The Kiss Of The Grasshopper, which will have its world premiere in the Berlinale Forum next week.

The magic realist film follows a middle-aged writer whose obsessively-structured life in Cologne falls apart when his father becomes ill. The film will debut at the Delphi Filmpalast in Berlin on Saturday, February 15.

It is a second feature for Germany-based Azerbaijani director Imanov, after 2019 Rotterdam premiere End Of Season.

The Kiss Of The Grasshopper is produced by Eva Blondiau for Germany’s Color of May, with co-producers Adolf El Assal and Marta Zaccaron...

BFI Distribution has acquired UK-Ireland rights to Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s feature The Extraordinary Miss Flower.

The distributor is planning a May 2025 theatrical release for the title, after its screenings at Dublin International Film Festival on February 28 and Glasgow Film Festival on March 1 and 2.

Described by the BFI as a ‘biographical performance film’, The Extraordinary Miss Flower depicts the story of Geraldine Flower and the discovery of a suitcase of love letters sent to her in the 60s and 70s, that inspired Icelandic singer-songwriter Emiliana Torrini to record a new album.

The film consists of performances by Torrini and her band,...

The Glasgow Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its 21st edition this year and will host Glasgow-born Hollywood star James McAvoy to look back on his career during an “In Conversation” event.

“Across 12 packed days, Scotland’s largest annual celebration of cinema will showcase 92 world, U.K. and Scottish premieres from 39 countries,” including 12 world premieres, organizers said on Tuesday.

The gala world premiere of survival thriller Tornado, the sophomore feature from Scottish director John Maclean (Slow West), will open the fest on Feb. 26. “Set in the rugged landscape of 1790s Britain, Tornado (played by model-songwriter Kōki,) finds herself caught in a perilous situation when she and her father’s traveling puppet show crosses paths with a ruthless criminal gang led by Sugarman (Pulp Fiction star Tim Roth) and his ambitious son Little Sugar (Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden),” says a plot summary. “In an attempt to create a new life,...

Memory, artistry, and the complex web of human connections are all explored in a spellbinding way in The Extraordinary Miss Flower. This film, directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, goes beyond typical biographical storytelling by fusing the personal and the poetic to create a colorful tapestry that reflects Geraldine Flower’s mysterious life.

A worn-out box filled with the longing and affection of suitors from the 1960s and 1970s serves as the catalyst and canvas for this artistic tribute.

The narrative is a dual journey: one follows Geraldine’s life through the eyes of her daughter, Zoe Flower, and the other follows Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini as she channels this rich source material into a hauntingly beautiful album.

The film’s very essence is the interplay of memory and music, which invites viewers to reflect on the nature of love and loss through an intimate and broad lens. The...

Miss Geraldine Flower remains something of a mystery from beginning to end of this extraordinary experimental biopic. Inspired by a case full of letters, photographs and — those were the days — telexes left behind by the late Miss Flower after her untimely death, the film is essentially a song cycle, performed by Icelandic singer Emilíana Torrini and filmed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the directing duo behind the 2014 Nick Cave documentary 20,000 Days on Earth. Like that film, The Extraordinary Miss Flower — which had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival this weekend — is an exercise in channeling its subject rather than simply showing and telling. And like that film, it is destined to find an eager cult audience for its psychedelic charms.

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, that’s no surprise. Although her writing was sophisticated, and she worked periodically in the media (broadcast...

We present our interviews from The Extraordinary Miss Flower red carpet at the London Film Festival Premiere. Directed by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, written by Stuart Evers, the film stars Emilíana Torrini and Caroline Catz.

Colin Hart and Ethan Hart were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

The Extraordinary Miss Flower Lff Premiere Interviews

Plot:

When Geraldine Flower passed away, her family uncovered a secret cache of letters containing declarations of love from suitors around the globe, hinting at the possibility of a life of espionage. Taking inspiration, Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini recorded an album that forms the spine of this filmic fever dream. The songs and images bring these amorous words and the beguiling Miss Flower thrillingly back to life.

The post The Extraordinary Miss Flower Lff Premiere Interviews: Emilíana Torrini, Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard appeared first on HeyUGuys.

And now for something completely different… The Extraordinary Miss Flower, a new biographical filmic experience from British artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, known for their Nick Cave film 20,000 Days on Earth, is set for its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff) on Saturday. The event’s 68th edition, which opened with Steve McQueen’s Saoirse Ronan-starring Blitz, wraps on Sunday.

Miss Flower is very different from many of the other offerings of the Lff. “When Geraldine Flower passed away, her family uncovered a secret cache of letters containing declarations of love from suitors around the globe, hinting at the possibility of a life of espionage,” reads its synopsis. “Taking inspiration, Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini recorded an album that forms the spine of this filmic fever dream. The songs and images bring these amorous words and the beguiling Miss Flower thrillingly back to life.”

On their website,...

The 68th BFI London Film Festival’s Official Competition is an exciting showcase of some of the most inventive and thought-provoking films from across the globe, competing for the prestigious Best Film Award. Each entry reflects a unique cinematic voice, exploring themes ranging from personal struggles to political conflicts, all crafted by directors with distinct perspectives.

April, directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, delves deep into rural Georgian life, centering on the moral and emotional dilemmas faced by a doctor. Kulumbegashvili, a rising star in the film world, previously made waves with her debut Beginning (2020), which won the Fipresci Prize at Cannes. With April, she continues her exploration of personal resilience amidst societal rigidity, painting a vivid portrait of strength and morality.

In Christopher Andrews’ feature debut, Bring Them Down, the rugged beauty of rural Ireland serves as the backdrop for a fierce family feud. Starring Christopher Abbott (It Comes at Night...

Emiliana Torrini’s acting debut from directors Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard is making its debut at the London Film Festival next month.

Music! Letters! Nick Cave! If those words in any order appeal to you, then you’ll be thrilled to hear that The Extraordinary Miss Flower – which we’ve been looking at with intrigue for some time – is getting its world premiere in competition at the London Film Festival in October, and there’s a funky trailer to prove it.

The film’s got a pretty interesting story behind it, too. Taking the form of a series of performances by Emiliana Torrini and her band, the project was inspired when the musician, producer Zoe Flower and her husband, Simon, found a case of treasured letters, telexes and photographs in Flower’s mother’s possessions.

These letters became a creative springboard for a series of songs from Torrini, which in...

The 68 th BFI London Film Festival has announced the full programme line-up, which will be presented in cinemas and online, across the UK.

The Lff will present a vibrant and diverse programme of 253 features, shorts, series and immersive works from 79 countries, featuring 63 languages playing across the 12 days of the festival. This includes 112 works made by female and non-binary filmmakers – 44% of the programme.

World Premieres

From filmmakers and artists include: Steve McQueen’s Blitz which opens the festival, Ben Taylor’s Cunard Gala Joy starring Thomasin McKenzie, James Norton and Bill Nighy, the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation’s restoration Silent Sherlock, Darren Thornton’s Irish comedy film Four Mothers, spellbinding performance film from Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard The Extraordinary Miss Flower, thriller series A Thousand Blows from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, the latest documentary from Oscar®-winning directing duo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin Endurance,...

Fifteen features will world premiere at the 68th BFI London Film Festival (Lff), including Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s documentary Endurance, and previously announced opening title Steve McQueen’s Blitz.

The festival takes place from October 9-20.

Free Solo and Nyad directing duo Vasarhelyi and Chin direct Endurance alongside Natalie Hewit, which examines the lost ship of Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. Further world premieres include Sophie Compton and Daisy-May Hudson’s documentary Holloway, about one of the largest women’s prisons in Europe.

Steven Knight’s Victorian boxing series A Thousand Blows, starring Stephen Graham, will receive its world premiere.

The BFI London Film Festival (Lff) 2024 will screen documentaries about “witches,” and zoos and animal rescue centers in Argentina, first features from directors of varied backgrounds, and Ali Abbas’ Donald Trump film The Apprentice in its gala lineup organizers said on Wednesday as they unveiled the full program for this year’s event.

Overall, Lff will screen 253 titles, including features films, shorts, series, and immersive works, that hail from 79 countries and feature 64 languages. Of the total, 112 works are made by female and non-binary filmmakers, or 44 percent of the program, the fest said.

The London doc lineup includes the likes of Elizabeth Sankey’s 90-minute goth-y Witches, which posits a connection between historical witchery and post-partum psychological suffering and debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Meanwhile, the first feature program at Lff includes Denise Fernandes’ Hanami, which recently world-premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, and Neo Sora’s Happyend, which debuted...

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s latest documentary feature Endurance about the epic search to find the lost ship of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, Sean Baker’s Anora, and Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch starring Amy Adams are among the titles that have been announced within the full lineup of the British Film Institute’s (BFI) 68th London Film Festival. Scroll down for the full list.

Endurance, which Oscar winners Vasarhelyi and Chin have made for National Geographic, will screen as a world premiere. Running October 9-20, Lff will feature 40 World Premieres, 12 International Premieres, and 21 European Premieres.

Eye-grabbing entries from today’s launch include headline gala screenings of Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora, Edward Berger’s latest feature Conclave, and Ali Abbasi’s much-talked-about Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice. Other highly-anticipated titles that arrive from the...

Ahead of the programme release for the 2024 London Film Festival on Wednesday, the BFI have revealed which movies will be competing for the Best Film Award in this year's Official Competition line-up. Among the eleven hopefuls looking to scoop the prize taken last year by Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Evil Does Not Exist, highlights include Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott's feuding farmer feature Bring Them Down, Adam Elliot's (Mary & Max) long-awaited stop-motion movie Memoir Of A Snail with Sarah Snook and Eric Bana, and Geraldine Flower documentary The Extraordinary Miss Flower, the latest from 20,000 Days On Earth directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.

In a banner year for international representation at the London Film Festival (13 countries are represented across the Official Competition line-up), the rest of the buzzy films set to compete in competition are as follows: Rungano Nyoni's Cannes Un Certain Regard-winning Zambian drama On Becoming A Guinea Fowl...

The 68th BFI London Film Festival has announced the films screening in the Official Competition and contending for the Best Film Award.

From a gripping Irish portrait of deep-rooted generational rivalry to a stop-motion animated tale of self-discovery; a moving portrait of living with deaf parents in Tokyo to a follow-up feature from one of Zambia’s most distinctive voices, the films selected for the Official Competition celebrate and recognize inspiring and inventive global filmmaking.

Established in 2009 and first won by Jacques Audiard for ‘A Prophet,’ recent winners of the Best Film Award include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ in 2023 and Marie Kreutzer’s ‘Corsage’ in 2022.

Also in news – Asa Butterfield & Molly Windsor added to cast of series ‘Out of the Dust’

The 11 films in Official Competition are:

April

Dea Kulumbegashvili’s probing exploration of rural life in Georgia centres on the experiences of a doctor whose moral...

Barry Keoghan, Nick Cave, and the voices of Sarah Snook and Eric Bana will feature in the competition lineup of the 68th BFI London Film Festival (Lff), held this fall in partnership with American Express. The Extraordinary Miss Flower, the new film from Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, known for their Cave movie 20,000 Days on Earth, and the Luca Guadagnino-produced April from Georgia’s Dea Kulumbegashvili, whose feminist debut feature Beginning drew rave reviews, will be among the 11 movies competing for the best film award in London.

So will a drama about Islamic inheritance laws and gender dynamics, as well as a film about a Ukrainian family that most cope with the Russian invasion of their home country while away on a beach holiday.

Organizers on Thursday also unveiled such competition titles as Chris Andrews’ Bring Them Down, starring Keoghan and Christopher Abbott, Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,...

The 68th BFI London Film Festival (Lff) has announced the 11 films selected for its official competition, vying for the best film award at this year’s event. The diverse lineup represents 13 countries and showcases a range of international filmmaking talent.

The selected films include:

“Memoir of a Snail” (Australia) dir. Adam Elliot: A stop-motion animated tale of separated twins in 1970s Australia, blending humor and emotion. Featuring the voices of Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Eric Bana, it won best film at Annecy earlier this year.

“Bring Them Down” (Ireland-u.K.-Belgium) dir. Christopher Andrews: A portrait of two feuding farming families in rural Ireland, starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott. The film travels from Toronto where it is a special presentation.

“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” (Zambia-u.K.-Ireland) dir. Rungano Nyoni: A story of tradition, abuse and strength within a Zambian family. The film debuted...

The 2024 BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its lineup for the films screening in Official Competition and competing for the coveted Best Film Award.

This year, selections include new features from “20,000 Days On Earth” filmmakers Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Mipo O, and Rungano Nyoni. Actors Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott are among the casts in the curated program of 11 films.

The festival takes place from October 9 through October 20, with the winner being chosen by the Lff Awards Jury and announced on October 20. The Best Film Award was established in 2009 and first won by Jacques Audiard for “A Prophet.” Recent winners include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist” in 2023 and Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage” in 2022.

The program includes “inspiring, inventive and distinctive international filmmaking,” with 13 countries represented across the selection, per the press release.

Highlights include “Bring Them Down,” directed by Christopher Andrews and starring Barry Keoghan and...

Eleven films including Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili’s latest April and Bring Them Down, starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbot, will screen as part of the official competition at this year’s London Film Festival. Scroll down for the full list.

Established in 2009 and first won by Jacques Audiard for A Prophet, recent winners of the Lff Best Film Award include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist in 2023 and Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage in 2022. This year’s crop of official competition films features projects from 13 different countries.

The competition titles will once again screen at BFI Southbank. The films shortlisted for the festival’s other competitive categories, the Grierson Award for Best Documentary, the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature and the Short Film Award will be revealed on September 4. Winners in all four categories will be chosen by the Lff awards jury. The BFI will announce jury members in the coming weeks.

Thank You For Banking With Us, Four Mothers and The Extraordinary Miss Flower are to world premiere at BFI London Film Festival (October 9-20) as part of the 11-strong competition line-up.

Scroll down for the full list of Lff 2024 competition titles

Palestinian filmmaker Laila Abbas’ feature debut, Thank You For Banking With Us, follows two sisters in a race against time to assure their inheritance as a patriarchal system attempts to get in their way.

Also world premiering is UK biographical film The Extraordinary Miss Flower, directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the team behind Sundance 2014 title 20,000 Days On Earth.

Anohni has announced My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross, the first studio album under her Anohni and the Johnsons moniker in more than a decade. The LP is out July 7th via Secretly Canadian and Rough Trade, and features the lead single, “It Must Change.”

In a press release, Anohni explained that Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On was “a really important touchstone” while creating the new album, adding, “Some of these songs respond to global and environmental concerns first voiced in popular music over 50 years ago.”

Anohni began working on My Back Was a Bridge with soul producer Jimmy Hogarth in 2022, when they created a series of demos together before assembling a studio band including Leo Abrahams, Chris Vatalaro, Sam Dixon, and string arranger Rob Moose to record the project. Pre-orders are ongoing.

“I want the record to be useful,” Anohni said about the album.

A Margaret Thatcher cast, created from the original puppet used on Spitting Image, will go on public display later this month.

In an announcement released on Monday (24 October), London culture venue Somerset House revealed that a forthcoming exhibition titled The Horror Show! will house the puppet.

Before this, the puppet was kept at Cambridge University Library’s Spitting Image Archive, created when the programme’s co-creator Roger Law donated his entire personal archive in 2018.

The puppet will be part of a “cabinet of curiosities” within the exhibition, titled Misrule Britannia, which aims to provide a look at “the dark shadow of socio-political conflict and tension that defined the 1970s and 80s in Britain”.

Standing at just over one metre tall, the puppet was created by using the original mould used by Peter Fluck for the satirical sketch series in the Eighties.

With all original iterations of the Thatcher puppets in private collections,...

The musician holds the spotlight again in Andrew Dominik’s followup documentary, with star-quality input from Warren Ellis and Marianne Faithfull

There’s a sweet moment in this mostly music documentary about rock star Nick Cave, in which he talks about having always defined himself in the past as a musician or a performer, but now he thinks of himself increasingly as a father or a husband. He even jokes that recently he took the government’s advice to retrain during the pandemic and became a ceramicist, specialising in mock-Meissen figurines showing the devil at various stages of a melancholy life, several of which enigmatically involved sailors.

As the soliloquy says, one man in his time plays many parts, and in Cave’s case one of those roles could be described as semi-professional documentary subject, as there have already been quite a few films about him – most notably Iain Forsyth...

Following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Trafalgar Releasing has set a May worldwide cinema release for Andrew Dominik’s “This Much I Know to Be True.”

Shot on location in London and Brighton, the film captures the creative relationship of revered musicians Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ as they bring to life the songs from their last two studio albums, “Ghosteen” (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) and “Carnage” (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis). The film serves as a document of their first ever performances of these albums, filmed in spring 2021 ahead of their U.K. tour, as the two musicians, accompanied by singers and string quartet, nurture each song into existence. The film also features a special appearance by their close friend and long-term collaborator, Marianne Faithfull.

The deep friendship and personal relationship between Nick Cave and Warren Ellis was glimpsed in Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s...

Two cameras orbit a grand piano on a circular track. Sometimes one will catch sight of the other, passing behind the black-haired singer at the keyboard, flashing between the session violinists or gliding beyond the bearded man crouched low over his synthesizer. Though this visible stagecraft draws attention to the fabrication — stage lights pop; grips wander through, adjusting the wiring — somehow the effect of Andrew Dominik’s “This Much I Know to Be True” is floaty, disembodied, hypnotic. Illuminating tracks from the superb 2019 Bad Seeds album “Ghosteen” and Cave’s 2021 collaboration with Warren Ellis, “Carnage,” .

In a ballroom clad in crumbling plasterwork (actually a disused Bristol factory space) Dominik stages the musical sections that make up most of the film, each one a bouquet of barbed wire, sung by Cave — with his ever-witchy charisma — like it’s the last song anyone will ever hear. In between are occasional off-the-cuff interviews,...

Closing out the summer, Mubi has unveiled their August 2021 lineup, kicking off most fittingly with Brett Story’s acclaimed recent documentary The Hottest August. Also among the lineup is Akira Kurosawa’s epic Ran, Fritz Lang’s hugely entertaining two-parter The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb. As his latest films arrive, Pablo Larraín’s The Club is also part of the lineup.

Xinyuan Zheng Lu’s Rotterdam winner The Cloud in Her Room is coming to Mubi in August, plus a “late film” special featuring Manoel de Olviera’s Gebo and the Shadow and The Last Sentence by Jan Troell. There will also be a canine double feature of Heddy Honigmann’s Buddy and Los Reyes by Bettina Perut and Ivan Osnovikoff.

See the lineup below and get 30 days of Mubi free here.

August 1 | The Hottest August | Brett Story

August 2 | Gebo and the Shadow | Manoel de Oliveria | Twilight...

LevelK has boarded Anna Hildur’s directorial debut “A Song Called Hate,” a documentary revolving around Hatari, the performance art group which made headlines at last year’s Eurovision Song Contest. LevelK is handling world sales excluding Iceland.

Executive produced by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the documentary follows the journey of Hatari, a controversial Bdsm techno band which represented Iceland at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. The band notoriously flagged the Palestine banners when the contest results were announced, going against the rules of the European Broadcasting Union which organizes the show and wants it to be a non-political event.

“A Song Called Hate” tracks the band’s voyage from Reykjavik to Tel Aviv and Palestine, and examines how these young artists coped with criticism coming from all sides, as well as explores freedom of expression and the role of artists in engaging in contemporary issues.

“Making...

After nine days of films, episodics, events, premieres and snow, Sundance is winding down and its ending with huge news as the Park City fest has announced Tabitha Jackson as the new Director of the Sundance Film Festival.

Jackson, who joined the Sundance Institute as the Director of the Documentary Film Program in 2013, will take the torch from John Cooper, who announced he was stepping down from the post last June. Sundance 2020 was Cooper’s last fest as director. Jackson will oversee the Festival’s overall vision and strategy while leading a senior team in close collaboration with Director of Programming, Kim Yutani. Cooper will take on the newly-created role of Emeritus Director. He will oversee special projects including preparations for the Institute’s 40th anniversary in 2021.

“I founded Sundance Institute with the clear mission of celebrating and supporting independent artists, said Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford in a statement,...

Gavin & Stacey and Abigail’s Party star Alison Steadman is to front BBC drama Life from Doctor Foster creator Mike Bartlett.

Steadman is joined by Peter Davison, who starred as the Doctor in the fifth iteration of Doctor Who, Adrian Lester (Riviera), Victoria Hamilton (Doctor Foster) and Rachael Stirling (The Bletchley Circle) in the six-part series.

The Drama Republic-fronted series, which has just begun filming in Manchester, follows the stories of the residents in a large house in Manchester divided into flats. As each of the four separate, relatable yet surprising strands unfold, they tell a larger story about what happens when we decide to step out of our own personal space and take a closer look into other people’s lives.

Gail, played by Steadman, who is married to Henry, played by Davison, is about to celebrate her 70th birthday when a chance encounter throws her whole life into question.

Over 200 projects announced, including 37 world and 70 UK premieres.

UK documentary festival Sheffield Doc/Fest has unveiled the programme for its 25th edition, which runs from June 7-12 this summer.

Amongst the titles are a screening of McQueen, Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s film about the late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen composed of archival footage and personal testimonials.

Last month Sean McAllister’s A Northern Soul was announced as the opening night film.

Scroll down for the full list of films in competition

The 2018 official competition jury includes documentarian Mark Cousins, director Sophie Fiennes and artists Liv Wynter and Samson Kambalu.

New initiatives at Cph:dox include Britdoc’s Good Pitch event, a cultural summit and tech innovation pitches at Propeller Springboard.

Cph:dox has awarded its Dox:award to Last Men in Aleppo, directed by Feras Fayyad and co-directed by Steen Johannessen.

The jury said the film, about volunteers in the war-torn Syrian city, is “a film whose devastating emotional immediacy plunges us into a Shakespearean tragedy of a people striving to retain their humanity in the face of impossible realities.”

The film previously won the grand jury prize in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary competition.

Special mentions went to Gray House by Austin Lynch and Matthew Booth and The John Dalli Mystery by Jeppe Rønde.

The F:act Award, for a film involving in-depth journalistic investigation, went to Reber Dosky’s Radio Kobani, about a young woman’s struggle to run a local radio station in war-torn northern Syria.

A special mention went to Trophy by Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau...

At Cph:Forum, Eurimages Award goes to Maria Back’s Psychosis in Stockholm; 31 projects pitched.

Cph:dox expanded its industry offerings this year by adding a Work-in-Progress session on the eve of its Cph:forum for six Nordic documentaries currently in production or post-production.

Short presentations including footage was shown for projects including:

The Acali Experiment (Swe/Den/Ger/Us), dir Marcus Lindeen, prod Erik Gandini

The story will examine what happened when Mexican anthropologist Santiago Genovés tried a unique experiment in 1973, putting 10 people on a raft for a 101-day voyage to study human behaviour. Lindeen brought the participants together for the first time in 43 years to talk about Genoves’ manipulative behaviour. “I wanted make a reunion and let them talk about their memories of what happened on the raft,” he said. “We let the subjects make a study of the scientist.” The team aims to deliver the film in the autumn.

Contact: gandini@fasad.se

[link...

Reda Kateb met Ben Mendelsohn on the set of Ryan Gosling's sharp Lost River Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Wim Wenders has played a big part for Reda Kateb with films Paris, Texas, The State Of Things, Buena Vista Social Club, and The Soul Of A Man and he recently starred with Sophie Semin in Les Beaux Jours D'Aranjuez, based on a Peter Handke story and appears in Wim's latest, Submergence, starring James McAvoy and Alicia Vikander. Longtime Nick Cave collaborator Warren Ellis, who is featured in Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth's 20,000 Days On Earth and is the composer for Deniz Gamze Ergüven's Mustang, got involved with Étienne Comar's Django through Reda's film Pitchoune.

Cave and Ellis did work for David Oelhoffen's intimate Loin Des Hommes, in which Reda starred opposite Viggo Mortensen. His next film, Territoires, will be with Alice Winocour's Disorder star Matthias Schoenaerts,...

Alejandra Amarilla with Recycled Orchestra members Noelia Ríos, Azucena Azcona and Ada Ríos Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

There is Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth's buoyant 20,000 Days On Earth on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds with Kylie Minogue, Warren Ellis, Blixa Bargeld and Ray Winstone, and Morgan Neville's far-reaching The Music Of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Now comes the Landfill Harmonic, directed by Brad Allgood and Graham Townsley, co-directed and co-produced by Juliana Peñaranda-Loftus, where the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, Paraguay, conducted by Favio Chávez, meet Megadeth's David Ellefson, Dave Mustaine, Shawn Drover, and Chris Broderick to perform with them Symphony Of Destruction.

Producer and co-director Juliana Peñaranda-Loftus on Favio Chávez: "I saw the potential in Favio." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Juliana Peñaranda-Loftus, co-producer Alejandra Amarilla, musical director Favio Chávez and members of the Recycled Orchestra met with me for a conversation...

Feature will include the first chance to hear songs from upcoming Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album.

Musician Nick Cave has teamed with director Andrew Dominik for One More Time With Feeling, a feature that will include the first opportunity anyone will have to hear songs from Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 16th studio album, Skeleton Tree.

The film will be distributed to more than 650 cinemas around the world by Picturehouse Entertainment on September 8, prior to the release of the album the following day.

Originally a performance based concept, One More Time With Feeling will explore the writing and recording of the album and delve into its tragic backdrop (Cave’s 15-year-old son, Arthur, died in July 2015 after falling from a cliff).

Interwoven throughout the Bad Seeds’ filmed performance of the new album are interviews and footage shot by Dominik, accompanied by Cave’s narration.

New Zealand-born Australian film director Dominik is best known for Chopper, [link...

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We take a spoiler-free look at Sky Arts' terrific quartet of Neil Gaiman short stories, starting on Thursday the 26th at 9pm...

Neil Gaiman's success gives me faith in the world. He's a great writer, and he's well known because of that fact. I think it springs from the particular way he has of looking at humanity, and passing along his insights to us - with wit, warmth, and not a small bath of uncomfortable self-realisation topped with the occasional cold shower of fear. If that sounds like a lot for a writer to accomplish, well, that's why he's so good, and why he should be able to make a living with his words. The fact that he does makes me feel better about us all.

The big challenge of Likely Stories, therefore, is to capture Gaiman's appeal and put it across without losing any one of those elements.

The Bafta award-winning drama Murder is set to return to BBC Two with three new films. Co-created by Robert Jones and Kath Mattock, and written by Robert Jones, the three 1 hour dramas have been made by Touchpaper TV for BBC Two.

Continuing with the same innovative and unique format, with three new standalone films, Murder uses personal confessions to revisit the missing moments leading up to a death, in search of the truth.

Intercut with CCTV footage, live action and forensic evidence, the protagonists speak direct to camera giving their version of events. But where does the truth lie when the different versions don’t add up?

Jessica Barden (represented by Curtis Brown) stars in in the third instalment Murder: The Big Bang, directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.

Ten years ago, an off-duty policeman was killed in cold blood in a swimming-pool car park. That much is not in dispute.

Mustang director Deniz Gamze Ergüven on costume designer Selin Sozen's "shapeless shit-colored dresses": "For me it looks like a western." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan star with Nihal G. Koldas, Ayberk Pekcan, Burak Yigit and Bahar Kerimoglu in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's Foreign Language Film Oscar nominated drama Mustang, co-written with Augustine director Alice Winocour. On a frosty afternoon in Chelsea, we spoke about Nick Cave collaborator Warren Ellis, who is featured in Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth's 20,000 Days On Earth, Jafar Panahi's Offside, why Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides lacks in comparison to Don Siegel's Escape From Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood, costume design, cooking lessons and the importance of blanket making.

Lale (Günes Sensoy)

Part allegory, part teenage empowerment, Mustang follows five high-spirited, orphaned sisters, Sonay [Akdogan], Selma [Sunguroglu], Ece [Iscan], Nur [Doguslu] and Lale [Sensoy]. Defying expectations in different...