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Exclusive: UTA has signed rising Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin for representation in all areas.

This August, Pellerin will be seen starring in Lurker, the critically acclaimed feature directorial debut of Alex Russell, which was snapped up by Mubi for U.S. distribution and Focus Features for international following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it broke out as one of this year’s buzziest titles.

In the psychological thriller set in Los Angeles, the actor plays Matthew, a young retail clerk who cunningly inserts himself into the inner circle of a pop star (Archie Madekwe) with whom he’s become infatuated.

Upcoming, Pellerin will also be seen starring in Pauline Loquès’ debut feature Nino, a Parisian drama that premiered in competition at Cannes Critics’ Week, where the actor was awarded the Rising Star Award.

Pellerin previously starred as the Marquis de Lafayette in Apple TV+’s Franklin,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Bono: Stories of Surrender (Andrew Dominik)

After his wildly divisive Blonde was released three years ago, there’s been no movement on a new narrative feature from Andrew Dominik, but he’s back in the relatively safe territory of the concert documentary with his latest work. Following a world premiere at Cannes Film Festival, Bono: Stories of Surrender––based on Bono’s memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, and the accompanying book/theatre tour––has now arrived on Apple TV+.

Where to Stream: Apple TV+

A Desert (Joshua Erkman)

A neo-noir mystery oozing atmosphere, Joshua Erkman’s debut feature A Desert follows a photographer attempting to find a creative spark while on a trip in the barren lands of the American southwest. When...

Millie (Sophie Desmarais) with Hélène (Irène Jacob) and Aliocha (Aurélia Arandi-Longpré) in Philippe Lesage’s Who By Fire (Comme Le Feu) starting to move to Rock Lobster by the B-52s: “The use of music is very important in my films …”

Philippe Lesage’s striking Who By Fire, shot by Balthazar Lab has in its center a four minute dance scene to Rock Lobster by the B-52s that turns into a conga line. Beautifully choreographed, it unfolds as a well-deserved moment of relaxation for all present at the long intense weekend in the Canadian wilderness, albeit in a comfortable lodge owned by Oscar-winning filmmaker Blake, played mischievously by Arieh Worthalter (who starred opposite Vicky Krieps in Mathieu Amalric’s Hold Me Tight).

Philippe Lesage with Anne-Katrin Titze and Ed Bahlman holding up the B-52s original Rock Lobster/52-Girls record (1978)

We enter the story by car, in the...

Into the Woods: Lesage Explores Wounded Masculinities

In Vincent Sherman’s 1943 Bette Davis-led melodrama Old Acquaintance, the complex relationship between a pair of female frenemies becomes increasingly complicated throughout their lifetime. Resignedly, they rely on a metaphorical phrase to explain their relationship – “There’s always what’s left of the icing.” The same wistful sentiment cannot be said for the troubled relationship between two men in Philippe Lesage’s latest agonizing, unpredictable melodrama Who by Fire, which focuses on a pair of artists whose notable professional relationship dissolved years ago, now reuniting at a log cabin along with a handful of related guests.…...

Back at New Directors/New Films in 2019, I was struck by Philippe Lesage’s deeply moving, boldly structured coming-of-age tale Genesis, ultimately naming it one of my top 10 films of its respective year. Half-a-decade later the Quebecois filmmaker has finally returned with a worthy follow-up, expanding on his knack for expertly conceived characters with a wider ensemble. Who by Fire is a lush, intimate, psychologically riveting drama following two families on a secluded getaway in a remote cabin as they contend with career and romantic jealousies.

I spoke with Lesage while he was in town for the film’s 62nd New York Film Festival premiere last fall, and now sharing the conversation ahead of Friday’s opening at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center and next week’s opening at LA’s Laemmle Theatres. We spoke about expanding his scope, his approach to cinematography, what television will never have compared to cinema,...

Canadian director Philippe Lesage sits somewhere along the spectrum between François Truffaut and Richard Linklater when tracing the process of growing up. Since moving into narrative filmmaking with 2015’s The Demons, Lesage has pulled largely from the same group of young actors and followed their gradual progression from youth toward adulthood. The filmmaker tells me he plans to shoot a follow-up to 2018’s Genesis, following Théodore Pellerin’s Guillaume a decade after the film, but quips, “It’s not a sequel because I don’t expect that many people who have seen the previous films.”

Perhaps more audiences will come to discover Lesage’s filmography after seeing his latest work, Who by Fire. Four out of the film’s 10 actors return from previous collaborations with the director in this clash of generations that plays out in the secluded woods of rural Canada. Fault lines emerge across age, gender, status, professional attainment,...

Winner of last year’s Grand Prix in the Generation 14plus section at the Berlinale and selected as part of the New York Film Festival 2024 (Main Slate), with his fourth consecutive fiction feature, Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Lesage takes the plunge into unstable, emotionally complex terrain where the young folk (and older folks) navigate not only the deep forrest but also the challenges of identity, new and old relationships, and self-discovery. As noted in our review, Lesage ends on the merest suggestion of reconciliation, there’s arguably nothing left on the icing of this scorched cake between two compromised male egos who seem interested in driving knives into their wounds rather than burying the axe.…...

After his revelatory coming-of-age film Genesis, Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Lesage has expanded his canvas with Who by Fire, a lush, intimate, and psychologically riveting drama following two families on a secluded getaway in a remote cabin as they contend with career and romantic jealousies and entanglements. Following its Berlinale and New York Film Festival premieres, KimStim picked up the stellar drama for a release this spring. Ahead of a March 14 opening beginning at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center (with Lesage in person for opening week Q&As) and a March 21 opening at LA’s Laemmle Theatres, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first U.S. trailer.

Here’s the synopsis: “A getaway at a secluded log cabin in the forest becomes the site of escalating, multigenerational tensions and anxieties in this disquieting, impeccably mounted coming-of-age drama from Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Lesage. Ostensibly a merry reunion between well-known film...

When the Light Breaks, a quiet and haunting drama about grief from Icelandic filmmaker Rúnar Rúnarsson, won the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the 48th Göteborg Film Festival. The award, which comes with a 400,000 Swedish krona ($36,000) cash prize, was announced during the closing gala Sunday night.

Shot on 16mm, When The Light Breaks stars Elín Hall (Cold, Let Me Fall) as a young art student confronted with a sudden loss who has to navigate love, friendship and grief over an endless long summer day in Iceland. The film premiered in the Cannes’ Un Certain Regard lineup.

The Göteborg jury, which included filmmakers Ella Lemhagen, Philippe Lesage, Athina Rachel Tsangari, cinematographer Jp Passi and actor Frida Gustavsson, praised the film for its “masterfully calibrated mise en scène, its sensitivity and delicate lightness, and its unexpectedly uplifting treatment of grief.”

The Audience Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film went to Eirik Svensson’s Safe House,...

When The Light Breaks, the latest film from Icelandic filmmaker Rúnar Rúnarsson, has won the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at this year’s Göteborg Film Festival. The award is the festival’s top competitive honor.

The award comes with a Sek 400,000 cash prize. The competition jury featured filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari, cinematographer Jp Passi, filmmaker Ella Lemhagen, director Philippe Lesage, and actor Frida Gustavsson.

The jury said Rúnarsson’s film was chosen “for its masterfully calibrated mise en scène, its sensitivity and delicate lightness, its director’s unexpectedly uplifting treatment of grief, acutely portrayed by a perfect young ensemble.”

The flick debuted at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. The official synopsis reads: An accident plunges Iceland into national mourning, and for young art student Una, that fateful 24-hour day will change her life forever. She carries a secret, and while her friends find solace in community, Una...

Prominent Icelandic auteur Rúnar Rúnarsson who was Oscar-nominated in 2006 for his short film “The Last Farm,” was handed out the Göteborg Film Festival’s hefty SEK400,000 Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film for his fourth feature “When the Light Breaks” at tonight’s closing gala of the festival’s 48th edition.

Shot in 16mm, the subtle coming-of-age drama starring Elín Hall world premiered last May as the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section.

The story turns on Una, a young art student who encounters love, friendship, sorrow and beauty during on a long summer day in Iceland. The jury for Best Nordic Film including filmmakers Ella Lemhagen, Philippe Lesage, Athina Rachel Tsangari, cinematographer Jp Passi and actor Frida Gustavsson, said the film was awarded the festival’s top prize “for its masterfully calibrated mise en scène, its sensitivity and delicate lightness, its director’s unexpectedly uplifting treatment of grief,...

Eagerly-awaited as one of the star projects of the new Nordic Gateway strand of the Göteborg Film Festival, a new section connecting international features to Nordic partners, “Honor of Persia,” the solo directing debut of French-Iranian actor Zar Amir Ebrahimi, was handed Jan. 30 the inaugural Tint Post-Production Award worth Sek 400,000.

Inspired by the Cannes-winning actor of “Holy Spider”’s personal experience, the story co-written by Ebrahimi with Mahmoud Chokrollahi, turns on Ava Rad, a beloved star of Iranian TV and cinema adored by the religious Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and Iran’s cultural elite. “When an old explicit tape of her is leaked, the woman starts a descent into hell,” reads the logline.

During her moving pitch to a crowd of industry delegates at Göteborg’s Nordic Film Market, Ebrahimi opened up about the genesis of the project and the urgency for her to bring it to the screens.

Movies about irresponsible parenting in the great outdoors have become something of an arthouse subgenre over the past decade. Matt Ross’ Captain Fantastic, Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace, India Donaldson’s Good One and Philippe Lesage’s Who by Fire all feature children coming of age in the wilderness as their fathers mess up in one way or another. If there’s perhaps one takeaway from all of these films, it’s to be on guard the next time your dad asks you to go on a long hike or camping trip.

Unfortunately, such a warning was never issued to Roy (Woody Norman), the 13-year-old protagonist of French writer-director Vladimir de Fontenay’s latest feature, Sukkwan Island. Embarking with his father, Tom (Swann Arlaud), on an extended séjour to an isolated cabin somewhere in the Norwegian fjords, Roy soon finds himself facing various life or death scenarios while Tom gradually flies off the handle.

The adults in the room may be battling for dominance, but in the end, it’s the one who considers the long-term consequences and deeper implications who truly claims the last word. Comme le feu (aka Who by Fire) delves into the fragility of male egos when entangled in complex power dynamics. Much like navigating a wild, choppy river or a dense forest, the film keeps us disoriented, uncertain of the terrain—where a single moment can bloom into deeply rooted resentment. The “last word” also happens to be filmmaker Philippe Lesage’s gin-based cocktail of choice, and like the ensemble cast here, it’s a blend of ingredients you’re not entirely sure will work together.…...

We don’t want to overwhelm you, but while you’re catching up with our top 50 films of 2024, more cinematic greatness awaits in 2025. Ahead of our 100 most-anticipated films (all of which have yet to premiere), we’re highlighting 30 titles from this year’s festival circuit that have either confirmed 2025 release dates or await a debut date from its distributor. There’s also a handful of films seeking distribution that we hope will arrive in the next 12 months, as can be seen here.

As an additional note: a number of 2024 films that had one-week qualifying runs will get expanded releases in 2025, including Hard Truths (Jan. 10), The Last Showgirl (Jan. 10), I’m Still Here (Jan. 17), Armand (Feb. 7), and Universal Language (Feb. 14).

Pepe (Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias; Jan. 10 on Mubi)

Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias’ 2017 fiction debut Cocote was the dazzling, textured arrival of a new voice; the director doesn’t...

Julie Delpy’s Meet The Barbarians will open the 21st edition of the Seville European Film Festival on November 8. The Spanish festival turns the spotlight on European films during this year’s awards season.

Meet The Barbarians is a satire about the arrival of a group of refugees in a village in Brittany.

The official selection includes 19 titles in competition for its top award: the Golden Giraldillo, named after the statue that crowns Sevilla’s Cathedral, La Giralda.

The prize comes with €40,000 for the Spanish distributor of the winning film or €20,000 for the company that submitted the film to the...

Philippe Lesage’s Who by Fire begins with a vision of what could be called stasis in motion. Following a car on a highway as it winds its way deeper into the woods, the opening shot holds for an unnervingly long time, accompanied by droning ambient music, before moving into the car, where the legs and hands of two people sitting side by side can be glimpsed. Only later will it be made clear that the occupants of the car are screenwriter Albert (Paul Ahmarani), his two kids, Aliocha (Aurelia Arandi-Longpré) and Max (Antoine Marchand-Gagnon), and Max’s friend Jeff (Noah Parker), on their way to the cabin of Albert’s former collaborator, Blake (Arieh Worthalter), that’s only accessible by seaplane.

The portentousness of this early journey is laced with a somewhat spiky sense of humor; in one scene, captured in a single long shot, Albert teasingly drives forward several times,...

Exclusive: Brooklyn-based distributor KimStim has picked up all U.S. rights to Quebecois filmmaker Philippe Lesage’s feature Who by Fire.

The film debuted at the Berlin Film Festival where it won Best Film in the Generation 17 competition. The film will have its U.S. premiere at the upcoming New York Film Festival.

KimStim’s co-president Ian Stimler negotiated the deal with Pamela Leu, Head of Sales at the Belgian-based Be For Films.

The film follows Jeff, a 17-year-old aspiring filmmaker who joins his friend Max’s family at a retreat hosted by former filmmaker Blake Cadieux. The synopsis reads: Tensions escalate as old conflicts between Blake and Max’s father, Albert, resurface while Jeff navigates his feelings for Max’s sister, Aliocha, amidst the unfolding drama.

The film was produced by Unité Centrale and Shellac Sud. Balthazar Lab shot the film and Mathieu Bouchard-Malo was the editor.

Lesage is...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Chronicles of a Wandering Saint (Tomás Gómez Bustillo)

Tomás Gómez Bustillo’s charming, intelligent Chronicles of a Wandering Saint is a natural follow-up to the two short films for which he is known: Soy Buenos Aires (a strange, picaresque rags-to-riches tale) and Museum of Fleeting Wonders (a collection of dramatized paranormal happenings). In Chronicles, as in the two short films, he is primarily concerned with spiritual, ethical, and religious contrasts; scenarios in which miracles are mixed with coincidences, faith with rationality, and boredom with inspiration. But that is where the comparisons end; for Chronicles is in every way a more serious, controlled, and moving work of art, which stands with the very best of contemporary Argentine cinema. – Oliver W. (full review)

Where...

The best-curated film festival of the year has unveiled its first complete section. The 62nd New York Film Festival has dropped its Main Slate lineup, featuring surprise world premieres from Julia Loktev and Robinson Devor, along with the latest from Pedro Almodóvar, Sean Baker, Brady Corbet, David Cronenberg, Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias, Mati Diop, Miguel Gomes, Alain Guiraudie, Hong Sangsoo, Jia Zhangke, Payal Kapadia, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Mike Leigh, Philippe Lesage, Julia Loktev, Carson Lund, Pia Marais, Steve McQueen, Roberto Minervini, Rungano Nyoni, Mohammad Rasoulof, RaMell Ross, Paul Schrader, Neo Sora, Trương Minh Quý, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Wang Bing, Yeo Siew Hua, and Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor.

“The festival’s ambition is to reflect the state of cinema in a given year, which often means also reflecting the state of the world,” said Dennis Lim, Artistic Director, New York Film Festival. “The most notable...

The 2024 New York Film Festival has revealed its main slate lineup including Cannes winners Anora and Seed of the Sacred Fig as well as the U.S. premieres of Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds and Roberto Minervini’s The Damned, which was also awarded at Cannes.

Indeed, the NYFF main slate features a number of Cannes prize winners in addition to Sean Baker’s Anora, which won Cannes’ Palme d’Or; exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s Seed of the Sacred Fig, which was awarded a special prize; and The Damned, which won best director in the Un Certain Regard section, shared with Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, which will also screen at NYFF. Other Cannes faves set to play in New York include Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, which won the grand prize at the French festival, and Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour,...

New York Film Festival (NYFF) has announced a varied Main Slate featuring anticipated Venice world premiere The Brutalist from Brady Corbet as well as a raft of Cannes and Berlin winners including Sean Baker’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora.

The line-up of 33 films announced on Tuesday morning includes Payal Kapadia’s Cannes grand prize winner All We Imagine As Light, Miguel Gomes’s best director winner Grand Tour, and Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, recipient of the special prize.

Mati Diop’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Dahomey takes its place in the selection, as...

Thirty-three films will make up the Main Slate of the 62nd New York Film Festival, including the latest from David Cronenberg, Sean Baker, Payal Kapadia, Mike Leigh, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo and Julia Loktev. The festival will take place Sept. 27 — Oct. 14, 2024.

“The festival’s ambition is to reflect the state of cinema in a given year, which often means also reflecting the state of the world,” the festival’s artistic director Dennis Lim said in a statement. “The most notable thing about the films in the Main Slate — and in the other sections that we will announce in the coming weeks— is the degree to which they emphasize cinema’s relationship to reality. They are reminders that, in the hands of its most vital practitioners, film has the capacity to reckon with, intervene in, and reimagine the world.”

The movies in this year’s Main Slate come from 24 different countries.

New York Film Festival has revealed the Main Slate titles for its 62nd edition, which runs September 27 through October 14. The selection includes feature films from 24 countries, with 18 directors making their NYFF Main Slate debut, and two world, five North American, and 16 U.S. premieres. As previously announced, the festival will open with RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys” and close with Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” and will feature Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” as its Centerpiece.

The Main Slate includes celebrated films from festivals worldwide including Cannes prize winners: Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light” (Grand Prize), Sean Baker’s “Anora” (Palme d’Or), Roberto Minervini’s “The Damned”, Miguel Gomes’s “Grand Tour” (Best Director), Rungano Nyoni’s “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”, and Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” (Special Prize). At this year’s Berlinale, Mati Diop’s “Dahomey” received the Golden...

Ever since seeing his stellar performance in Philippe Lesage’s Genesis, it’s been great to see Théodore Pellerin expand his resume with films by Eliza Hittman and Ari Aster. One of his most acclaimed films yet has now arrived with Sophie Dupuis’ Solo, which premiered at TIFF last fall while also picking up the award for Best Canadian Feature Film. Picked up by Music Box Films, it’ll now arrive in New York at IFC Center on May 24 and in Los Angeles at Laemmle Glendale on May 31. Ahead of the release, the new U.S. trailer has arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “Simon (Théodore Pellerin) is a rising star in Montreal’s drag scene performing lively disco pop numbers weekly at his local club. Friendly with his fellow drag queens and supported by his sister, who delights in designing increasingly elaborate and beautiful costumes for his act, Simon vibrates...

Alex Russell, whose writing credits include FX’s “Dave” and “The Bear” and Netflix’s “Beef,” is making his directorial debut with the upcoming thriller “Lurker,” starring and Théodore Pellerin (“Never Rarely Sometimes Always”) and Archie Madekwe (“Saltburn”).

Havana Rose Liu, Sunny Suljic, Daniel Zolghadri and Zack Fox round out the cast of “Lurker,” which follows a retail employee (Pellerin) who infiltrates the inner circle of an artist on the verge of stardom (Madekwe). As he gets closer to the budding music star, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.

WME Independent will represent worldwide sales for the film, which begins shooting this spring.

Pellerin’s credits include Philippe Lesage’s “Genesis,” Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” and Joel Edgerton’s “Boy Erased.”

Last year Madekwe starred as Farleigh Start in Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn” and as Jann Mardenborough in Sony’s “Gran Turismo.” His...

As a general movie rule, when a group of happy weekenders head to a woodland cottage for a bit of rest and relaxation, the great outdoors has some grisly surprises in store for them. In “Who By Fire,” however, the horrors all come from inside the house — or more specifically from the people themselves, many of whose worst impulses and insecurities are unleashed by their tranquil surroundings. Dramatizing a curious case of cabin fever with keen human observation and patient wrangling of intangible dread, the third narrative feature from Quebecois director Philippe Lesage underlines his ability to carve a semblance of a horror movie from everyday domestic drama — confirming him as a filmmaker of considerable grace and daring.

It’s been six years since Lesage’s last film, “Genesis” — a long wait for his admirers, a select club still largely confined to the festival circuit, notwithstanding the polish and rigor of the director’s work.

It’s been almost a decade now that French-Canadian director Philippe Lesage’s intense, intricate dramas have been premiering in top festivals and receiving rave reviews from critics. And yet he unfortunately remains more or less unknown to general arthouse audiences.

Lesage began his career shooting documentaries, including the 2010 hospital chronicle The Heart That Beats, then made his first fictional feature, The Demons, in 2015, following it up in 2018 with Genesis. Both movies were coming-of-age stories — or more like cruel stories of youth, to cite the Nagisa Oshima film — helmed with laser-sharp precision and backed by formidable turns from a young cast. Fine-tuned and freewheeling at the same time, his narratives keep bubbling up until they boil over, in explosive sequences where the characters let it all out or start bellowing pop songs at will.

He’s a gifted and original filmmaker who should be getting more attention — which is why...

You’d expect the pivotal music cue in Philippe Lesage’s Who by Fire to be its namesake by Leonard Cohen, a beautiful and plaintive prayer of a song. But instead it’s The B-52s’ infectious slice of bubblegum “Rock Lobster,” initially seeded through a dialogue reference, then heard fully in an eccentric sequence I won’t further detail. The funny, noteworthy quirk of “Rock Lobster,” though, is its structurally well-earned length of just under seven minutes. Who by Fire, running 161 minutes itself, also seems to be up to something, committing to that runtime as such a contained, semi-domestic drama: a provocation through duration.

A rising Québécois filmmaker making his second coproduction with France, Lesage thus far in his career has tinkered around the edges of familiar genres and subject matter, embedding these into his personal sensibility if never quite reinventing them. The camera styles of his two prior...

Generation, the Berlin Film Festival sidebar for children and youth films, has announced this year’s winners unveiling the picks from both the Generation 14plus (for teen and older viewers) and the youth jury for the Generation Kplus (kids and tweens) sections.

Sasha Nathwani’s coming-of-age drama Last Swim, about an Iranian-British teen confronting a major life decision, took the Crystal Bear for best film in the Generation 14plus section, with Kim Hye-young’s It’s Okay!, about an orphaned young dancer, winning the top prize for Generation Kplus. Both prizes were awarded by youth juries of young filmgoers.

In its statement, the 14plus jury called Last Swim “a story about the beauty of life and of things coming to an end. It is a film that does not shy away from portraying the messy and consuming feelings that can arise when you know your dreams may not be fulfilled. However,...

Ukrainian drama project Screaming Girl has scooped the top prize at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

The feature won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, worth €20,000, which went to Kyiv-based producers Forefilms.

Director Antonio Lukich is known for comedy-drama Luxembourg, Luxembourg, which screened in the Horizons strand of the Venice Film Festival in 2022. His debut was My Thoughts Are Silent, which won a special jury prize at Karlovy Vary in 2019.

Screaming Girl centres on a girl who, after the invasion of Ukraine, finds herself in Ireland and pursues her dream of becoming an actress. However, she begins to experience strange and fantastical events that disrupt her life,...

A Different Man.The Berlinale have begun to announce the first few titles selected for the 74th edition of their festival, set to take place from February 15 through 21, 2024. This page will be updated as further sections are announced.COMPETITIONAnother End (Piero Messina)Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)La Cocina (Alonso Ruiz Palacios) Dahomey (Mati Diop)A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)The Empire (Bruno Dumont)Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)My Favourite CakeLangue Etrangère (Claire Berger)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Joobeur)Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)Sterben (Matthias Glasner)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)Sleep With Your Eyes Open. ENCOUNTERSArcadia (Yorgos Zois)Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)Demba (Mamadou Dia)Direct ActionSleep With Your Eyes Open (Nele Wohlatz)The Fable (Raam Reddy...

Berlinale topper Carlo Chatrian is slowly unveiling titles for his final line-up and this morning we’ve got some stocking stuffers with the first batch of titles from the Berlinale Special, Generation and Forum Expanded sections. Among the headliners, we have the world premiere screenings for Julia von Heinz‘s Treasure and Tilman Singer‘s Cuckoo) while Johan Renck’s Spaceman (which Netflix dropped the assets for yesterday) will be showcased will also launch here. Another noteworthy Sundance-Berlin title is Zellner brothers with Sasquatch Sunset which features Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg. Among our most anticipated films for ’24, Philippe Lesage‘s Comme le feu will launch from the Generation section.…...

New films featuring Carey Mulligan, Adam Sandler, Amanda Seyfried, Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough are among 2024 Berlinale Specials lineup, the out-of-competition gala presentations at next year’s Berlin International Film Festival.

Spaceman, a Netflix sci-fi drama from Chernobyl director Johan Renck, starring Sandler, Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini and Paul Dano, will have its world premiere in the Berlinale Special gala sidebar. Sasquatch Sunset, an adventure comedy from the Zellner brothers which stars Keough, Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner, and Christophe Zajac-Denek, will screen in Berlin after its Sundance debut. Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils, which had its world premiere in Toronto, and stars Seyfried alongside Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Ambur Braid, and Michael Kupfer-Radecky, will also have its international premiere in the Berlinale Specials gala section.

Treasure (aka Iron Box), the 90-set English-language feature from German director Julia von Heinz (And Tomorrow The Entire World), which stars Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry...

The highest-ranked Canadian filmmaker on this year’s list moved into production on his fourth feature film back in August of last year. After 2015’s Les démons, 2016’s Copenhague – A Love Story and the Locarno preemed Genèse (2018), Philippe Lesage moves into (and returns) to the woods just outside Montreal with what is another young adult-orientated narrative but in a maze that includes the power dynamics of adults and where masculinity might take on an uppercut. Sometimes you should not meet your idols. Formerly titled “Un grand homme,” this Canadian-France production mixes recognizable players from both sides of the Atlantic and Olla (check out our interview) and 2022 Critics’ Week La jauría cinematographer Balthazar Lab is onboard here.…...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi)

Following his early days of being an assistant for Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi’s career soon blossomed, leading to a few collaborations between the two monumental figures of Iranian cinemas––one of which, Crimson Gold, is now available on The Criterion Channel. The masterful 2003 character study, scripted by Kiarostami after he told the tenets of the story to Panahi while sitting in traffic, stars unprofessional actor Hossain Emadeddin in his sole performance. Following a pizza delivery driver who witnesses the sharp class divide and political terror playing out in his society, Kiarostami and Panahi brilliantly preview the brutal ending from the start as the pieces then cogently and subtly fall into place as to why a man would...

The U.S. lineup for films coming to Mubi this September has been announced, featuring some of my personal favorites of the last few years, notably Philippe Lesage’s severely overlooked coming-of-age drama Genesis, John Gianvito’s Helen Keller documentary Her Socialist Smile, Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten’s formally thrilling Slow Machine, and Robert Greene’s documentary Bisbee ’17, as well as Jia Zhangke’s latest release Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue.

Also in the lineup is Bill Forsyth’s delightful Gregory’s Girl, Ari Folman’s hybrid feature The Congress, and Manoel de Oliveira’s Visit, or Memories and Confession, which was made in 1982, and only allowed to screen after his death.

See the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

September 1 | Yellow Cat | Adilkhan Yerzhanov | Festival Focus: Venice

September 2 | Visit, or Memories and Confessions | Manoel de Oliveira | Rediscovered

September 3 | Slow Machine | Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten | Mubi Spotlight

September...

A chilling, controlled pressure cooker of a film, Charlène Favier’s Slalom brings attentive nuance to a story of psychological and sexual abuse. Set amongst the slopes of the French alps, the Cannes-selected drama centers on Lyz Lopez (Noée Abita), a 15-year-old skiing prodigy whose life is more or less controlled by her callous instructor Fred (Jérémie Renier). With his predatory advances shrouded and twisted in the mutual desire for competitive success and filtered through the young girl’s initial intrigue, Favier expertly delves into the psychological prison that soon becomes her daily existence. Far from a one-note #MeToo message movie, Slalom brings a poignant sense of restraint with fleshed-out characters for a thoroughly unnerving experience.

Clearly Fred’s favorite student, Lyz becomes ostracized by her fellow pupils in this high-stakes training program, with no one wanting to date her much less befriend her. Leaving only room in her life for skiing,...

New films from Pepa San Martín and Golden Bear winner Adina Pintilie among the line up.

The films selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 22-26) have been revealed and top 50% by female directors in the official project selection for the first time.

Scroll down for full list of titles

A total of 36 features from 34 countries will be showcased by producers seeking co-production partners through one-to-one meetings with distributors, financiers and sales agents.

For the official project selection, 21 projects with budgets ranging from €750,000 to €5m were selected from more than 300 submissions. With 11 projects by female directors, the proportion here has exceeded 50% for the first time.

Following our top 50 films of 2019, we’re sharing personal top 10 lists from our contributors. Check out the latest below and see our complete year-end coverage here.

The end of the decade has spurred reflection on what defined the last ten years in cinema as streaming wars commenced and the future of the theatrical experience was further questioned. It’s still too early to deduce such matters with any long-lasting clarity, so for now, I’ll take a look back at my perspective on the previous year in cinema.

Before we get to new films, my favorite few days inside a cinema in 2019 was at The Nitrate Picture Show at the George Eastman Museum and one can see my 100 favorite new-to-me films throughout the year. After the staggering first viewings of the sprawling masterpieces Berlin Alexanderplatz, Sátántangó, War and Peace, Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, Les Vampires, and Celine and Julie Go Boating,...

Sundance Film Festival favorite Eliza Hittman has been steadily crafting intimate, shot-on-film, coming-of-age stories for more than a decade. Her first feature, “A Lot Like Love,” stormed Park City in 2013, followed by 2017’s coming-out drama “Beach Rats” with Harris Dickinson. She’s since directed episodes of the HBO series “High Maintenance,” and for Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why.” Now, Hittman is finally coming back to the Sundance Film Festival with a new feature as writer/director, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.” Focus Features will open the movie Friday, March 13, following its January 24 bow in Park City. Watch the first trailer below.

Here’s the synopsis: “The film is an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship,...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Adam (Rhys Ernst)

There’s a specific kind of warm, crowd-pleasing aesthetic–often in the coming-of-age subgenre–that seems to find a home among the Sundance programming more so than any other festival. A few years ago, Sean Baker’s Tangerine heralded a major breakthrough for transgender representation in cinema and broke this mold in formally compelling ways. For better or worse, Adam has now arrived to fit more in the aforementioned lighthearted, simplistic, but ultimately empathetic dramedy conceit. – Jordan R. (full review)

Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes

Age Out (A.J. Edwards)

The only thing worse than never getting your happy ending is having it...

Valladolid, Spain – The Valladolid Intl. Film Festival (Seminci), the truest event dedicated to international arthouse cinema on Spain’s festival calendar, capped off eight days of screenings, press conferences and roundtables by handing out awards on Saturday evening at the Spanish city’s historic Calderon Theater. The evening’s big winners: Wang Quan’an’s “Öndög” and Karim Aïnouz’s “The Invisible Life.”

After premiering in competition at February’s Berlinale, Quan’an’s Mongolian dramedy “Öndög” has hit its stride eight months later scoring a best film award at last week’s Ghent Intl. Film Festival before repeating the feat at last night’s closing gala along with a best cinematography award for its Beijing-based French cinematographer Aymerick Pilarski.

Set on the seemingly endless planes of Mongolia, the film follows a rookie officer and a veteran shepard tasked with protecting a crime scene from harsh elements and harsher wolves.

A thematic follow-up to his fiction debut The Demons (2015), Genèse is linked to Philippe Lesage’s earlier film in more ways than one – from a further exploration of the same generational themes, to the re-working of some crucial educational milestones and the role they play in shaping a person, to even a surprising appearance of some old characters. There’s a distinctive and original inter-filmography exchange between the two, which speaks volumes of the Montreal-based director’s supremely insightful and personal screenwriting after his documentary work earlier in his career.

Well-received in Locarno last summer, thanks to nuanced, convincing performances from young stars Théodore Pellerin and Noée Abita (here playing half-siblings undergoing parallel journeys of sentimental education), the award-winning film is wrapping up its festival-circuit tour with a stop in Rotterdam for Iffr, where I caught up with filmmaker to discuss teenagehood, the perils of love, and the genesis of his own storytelling style.

Have you ever wondered what are the films that inspire the next generation of visionary filmmakers? With this month’s Ioncinephile we look back at the incredible twelve months that was for Philippe Lesage‘s third fiction feature, Genesis (Genèse). Selected as a Competition film at the 2018 Locarno Film Festival, the Film Movement release Genèse at Film at Lincoln Center on August 23rd. We asked Philippe to identify his top ten films of all time and he was up for the challenge. Here is a preamble from the filmmaker and his top ten films as of August 2019.…...

Ioncinema.com’s Ioncinephile of the Month feature focuses on an emerging creator from the world of cinema. This month, we feature Canadian filmmaker Philippe Lesage who saw his third fiction film Genesis (Genèse) land a coveted competition slot at the 2018 edition of Locarno Film Festival and then taking the festival circuit by storm with 2019 showcases at Rotterdam (where we had the chance to interview the filmmaker) and more recently, New Directors/New Films. The Film Movement folks release Genèse at Film at Lincoln Center on August 23rd. Make sure to check out Part 2 of our profile – where Philippe Lesage shares his Top Ten Films of All Time list.…...

We’ve been singing the praises of Philippe Lesage’s stunning coming-of-age film Genesis since last fall, where Zhuo-Ning Su caught it at Hamburg Film Festival. The Canadian drama follows the lives of half-siblings Guillaume (Théodore Pellerin) and Charlotte (Noée Abita) as they traverse first love, desire, and danger. Both actors give genuine breakthrough performances, with Pellerin on the rise, starring in the next film from Eliza Hittman. Film Movement picked up the film for an August release and now a new trailer has arrived.

Zhuo-Ning Su said in his review, “In the grand scheme of things, teenage love affairs–together with all the raptures, jitters, devastations associated with them–probably don’t count that much. But then again probably everyone can relate to the sheer groundbreaking force of that first quickening of the heart, of that blinding rush of hormones that compels us to act with a recklessness that...

True to her previous pair of films and casting process, Eliza Hittman has once again unearthed first time acting talents for her third feature, Never Rarely Sometimes Always. In today’s surprise announcement (Deadline) we learn that newbies Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder (who play the young leads) will be surrounded be a supporting cast comprised of Théodore Pellerin (Philippe Lesage’s Genèse), Ryan Eggold, and Sharon Van Etten while Focus Features is onboard as a backer landing world rights to the drama. Producers Adele Romanski and Sara Murphy joined forces with Executive producers Rose Garnett for BBC Films, Tim Headington and Lia Buman for Tango Entertainment, Elika Portnoy and Alex Orlovsky for Mutressa Movies.…...

Clément Cogitore’s “Braguino,” Meryem Benm’Barek’s (pictured) “Sofia” and Marie Losier’s “Cassandro the Exotico!” are among the 12 recent French movies which will play as part of the Young French Cinema Program organized by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S. and UniFrance.

“Braguino” is a documentary feature about two feuding families living isolated in the middle of the Siberian taiga. Cogitore’s last feature film “Neither Heaven Nor Earth” opened at Cannes’s Critics Week in 2015.

Set in Casablanca, “Sofia” follows a young woman who has 24 hours to provide the identification papers of her child’s father before the authorities are alerted that she broke the law by having a child out of wedlock. The film world premiered at Cannes’s Un Certain Regard and won best screenplay.

“Cassandro the Exotico!” follows the leader of a group of gender-bending, cross-dressing wrestlers known...

The Toronto Film Festival has revealed its annual list of top ten Canadian films. Compiled by Tiff’s team of programmers in collaboration with Canadian critics, the ‘Canada’s Top Ten’ list includes Tiff titles Freaks, which scored a significant deal with Well Go, and Giant Little Ones. Scroll down for the full list.

The feature list was curated by Cameron Bailey, Kerri Craddock, Steve Gravestock, Danis Goulet, Ming-Jenn Lim, and Kathleen Drumm, in collaboration with the Vancouver Film Critics Circle and the Association Québécoise des Critiques de Cinéma.

“Tiff is thrilled to present its uniquely Canadian list that offers a richness of voices, perspectives, and insights into adolescent identity,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head of Tiff. “These films expertly examine heritage, family, the fragility of friendships, and the importance of challenging the current state of our world, and are testament to the fact that our Canadian filmmakers...