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What is a place if it’s not on a map? What is a people if they’re not recognized? Felipe Holguín Caro’s “La Suprema” asks these questions within an intimate drama set in a remote Caribbean town in Colombia. La Suprema exists on no map and its Afro-Colombian population feels similarly erased. Modest in its ambitions yet brimming with a real sense of place, this lush drama about a boxing match is a quiet revelation. It serves as a vivid portrait of a community aching for glory and, perhaps more importantly, for the dignity they’ve long deserved.

Everyone in La Suprema knows of Anastasio Páez. He’s a boxer who’s making a name for himself on the world stage. His niece Laureana (Elizabeth Martínez) admires him from afar. It’s been a while since he left the town for good but his boxing skills still inspire Laureana,...

It’s that special time of year again. So much anticipation… so many parties… so much to consume and consider. If these phrases conjure up the holidays and all the stress that comes with them, think again.

It’s awards season— the period from late fall to early spring when movies and the people who make them get recognized for their efforts. Whether you’re a film goer, lover, maker, or all of the above, awards season is an opportunity to witness the exceptional craft of storytellers worldwide.

With the 97th Oscars just around the corner, we’re excited to highlight official submissions for Best International Feature, as well as a Best Live Action Short eligible film, made by Fellows and Participants from Film Independent’s programs. These stories underscore the universal value of human connection, while showcasing the importance of cultures and perspectives from around the world. Film Independent’s Global Media Makers,...

Michael Gracey’s Robbie Williams biopic musical Better Man will open the 36th annual Palm Springs Film Festival on Thursday, January 2, while The Penguin Lessons, directed by Peter Cattaneo and starring Steve Coogan in the heartwarming story of a teacher who rescues and adopts an adorable penguin, closes it out January 13. Both films had premieres at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this year, and Better Man first had its world premiere at Telluride.

As always a hallmark of Psiff are screenings of numerous entries into the Oscar International Feature Film race, this year with 35 scheduled to screen in the desert.

The festival has programmed 158 films from 71 countries including 68 premieres. The lineup also includes sections like Talking Pictures, a focus on Spanish films with a spotlight on Pedro Almodóvar, New Voices New Visions, Modern Masters, Queer Cinema, Cine Latino, True Stories,...

On Tuesday, the Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) announced its official 2025 lineup for the nearly two-week event that’s being held from Jan. 2 to Jan. 13.

The opening night movie will be Paramount Pictures’ “Better Man,” starring Robbie Williams and directed by Michael Gracey, which chronicles the pop star’s meteoric rise and dramatic fall. And the festival will close with Sony Pictures Classics’ “The Penguin Lessons,” starring Steve Coogan and directed by Peter Cattaneo, in the dramedy about a teacher whose life changes when he adopts a penguin. In all, Psiff will screen 158 films from 71 countries, including 68 premieres.

Artistic director Lili Rodriguez said, “Our lineup this year is truly something special. In true Psiff fashion, it spans genres and crosses borders to bring an exciting mix of films to the Coachella Valley. Over the past year, our Palm Springs International Film Festival team has carefully crafted a program that celebrates the art of storytelling,...

The Palm Springs International Film Festival is set to kick off on Jan. 2 with “Better Man,” directed by Michael Gracey, while the closing film on Jan. 12 will be “The Penguin Lessons,” directed by Peter Cattaneo.

The lineup will feature 35 of the international feature film Oscar submissions. Over 11 days, the festival will screen 158 films from 71 countries, including 68 premieres.

Also set are a focus on Spanish films including a spotlight on Pedro Almodóvar, and the return of sections such as New Voices New Visions, Modern Masters, Queer Cinema, Cine Latino, True Stories and World Cinema Now.

“Better Man” is based on the true story of the rise, fall and return of British musician Robbie Williams. Cattaneo will be in attendance for “The Penguin Lessons,” a dramedy about a schoolteacher in militaristic Argentina who rescues a penguin.

Several of the honorees from the Palm Springs International Film Awards are set to participate in the Talking Pictures screenings,...

Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees for Best International Feature is made difficult by the three-step process that begins after the October 2, 2024 deadline for countries to submit entries. To be part of the selection process for this category, which was called Best Foreign Language Film before 2020, requires a great deal of dedication. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2025 Oscar predictions for Best International Feature.)

In the days following the deadline for submissions, the academy determines each film’s eligibility. Then the several hundred academy members who serve on the International Feature screening committee are divided into groups and required to watch all their submissions over a six-week period that ends in early December. Their top 15 vote-getters will make it to the next round. That list of semi-finalists will be revealed on December 17, 2024.

These 15 films will be made available to the entire academy membership who can cast ballots for the final...

Selection committees from countries around the world had until 5pm on October 2, 2024 to submit their entry for Best International Feature at the 2025 Oscars. Films submitted must meet the eligibility criteria and qualify between November 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024. From this group, a shortlist of 15 contenders will be revealed on December 17, 2024 and the five Oscar nominees will be announced on January 17, 2025.

Below are details on the 85 films selected.

Albania

Title: “Waterdrop”

Director: Robert Budina

Language: Albanian, Italian

Synopsis: Aida, 45, a city hall manager in a small Albanian town by Lake Ohrid, is forced to face her own complicity when her son Mark, 15, is involved in a rape scandal that could send him to jail.

Algeria

Title: “Algiers”

Director: Chakib Taleb-Bendiab

Language: Arabic, French

Synopsis: The kidnapping of a little girl creates tension and suspicion in Algiers. Only Dounia, a brilliant psychiatrist, and Sami, a police inspector, can unearth the demons of the past.

France has selected Jacques Audiard’s bold musical “Emilia Perez” to represent the country in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film race, giving that category an instant frontrunner at the 97th Academy Awards.

The Netflix film, which caused a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival with its story of a Mexican drug lord undergoing sex reassignment surgery, is considered one of the year’s likeliest Best Picture nominees, making it a clear favorite in the international category as well.

It was chosen on Wednesday by a selection committee that had narrowed its choices to four: “Emilia Perez,” Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,” Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo” and Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericordia.”

Last year, that committee chose “The Taste of Things” over “Anatomy of a Fall,” going with a ravishing romance over an edgier drama that had won the top prize in Cannes. “The Taste of Things...

For the perpetually impecunious (see: poor) indie filmmaker, a well-executed short or feature project can often be your best passport to the larger world. Left to our own scant devices, our calendars are unlikely to fill up with myriad jaunts to such exotic locales as Cannes, Venice, Locarno or, erm, Arkansas. But with a piping hot Dcp in hand, you not have not just an excuse to visit such places but an invitation. And few American cities are quite as dreamily summoned in the mind as day-glow Miami. After all: if it’s good enough for LeBron James, it’s good enough for us.

For 41 years, the Miami Film Festival has been showcasing innovative, inclusive work from new and emerging independent creators worldwide. Unsurprisingly, many of said creators are our own beloved Film Independent Fellows. In fact, a whopping 38 Fi Fellows will be in the Magic City next week to show new work,...

Fast-emerging Mexican auteur, delivering knowing and cross.grained takes on life in Mixtec communities, actress-turned-director Angeles Cruz’s “Valentina or the Serenity” walked off Saturday night with the top best picture award and best actress (Myriam Bravo) in a high-caliber main competition at this year’s Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival.

Best actor went to “Money Heist’s” Rodolfo de la Serna, for his weighty turn in Paramount Television Intl. Studios’ “The Rescue.”

The Rescue

Cruz’s win underscored the focus and value of Huelva. Despite funding challenges, Latin America’s big three – Mexico, Brazil and Argentina – alone produced 660 features in 2022. It is simply impossible for the media to pay sufficient attention to all but a highly select clutch of top titles.

“Ibero-American cinema is constantly evolving. Now, it is very easy to find great films, if not in budgetary terms, then in artistic ambitions,” Huelva director Manuel H. Martin told...

The 49th edition of Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival, Spain’s largest confab for films from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, will honor Mexican star Cecilia Suárez with its City of Huelva Award.

With leading roles in Netflix’s “The House of Flowers” and HBO Latin America’s “Capadocia,” Suárez has also be seen in ABC’s drama “The Promised Land” and has worked on films by as Tommy Lee Jones (“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”), James L. Brooks (“Spanglish”), Ernesto Contreras (“Párpados azules”), Antonio Serrano and Fernando Colomo (“Cuidado con lo que deseas”).

The new edition of Huelva runs Nov. 10-18.

Andalusia’s oldest film festival, Huelva will also grant a Light Award to Spanish actress Natalia de Molina, a two-time Goya winner, delivering acclaimed performance in films such as David Trueba’s “Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed” and Juan Miguel del Castillo’s “Food and Shelter.”

Another...

Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi, 2023).The lineup is being unveiled for the 2023 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, starting with 60 selections from the Gala and Special Presentations programs. The festival takes place from September 7–17, 2023.Gala PRESENTATIONSConcrete Utopia (Um Tae-Hwa)Dumb Money (Craig Gillespie)Fair Play (Chloe Domont)Flora and Son (John Carney)Hate to Love: Nickelback (Leigh Brooks)Lee (Ellen Kuras)Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi)Nyad (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)Punjab ’95 (Honey Trehan)Solo (Sophie Dupuis)The End We Start From (Mahalia Belo)The Movie Emperor (Ning Hao)The New Boy (Warwick Thornton) The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green)The Holdovers.Special Presentationsa Difficult Year (Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache)A Normal Family (Hur Jin-ho)American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)Close to You (Dominic Savage)Days of Happiness (Chloé Robichaud)The Rescue (Daniela Goggi)Ezra (Tony Goldwyn)Fingernails (Christos Nikou)Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania...

Toronto — The Toronto International Film Festival® is thrilled to announce the 2023 selections for the Discovery and Midnight Madness programmes. The infamous Midnight Madness lineup features 10 titles, 7 of which are World Premieres. The Discovery lineup, which primarily boasts World and International Premieres, includes 26 titles. Notably, 13 female filmmakers representing 50% of the total programme are featured in this year’s Discovery programme.

Midnight Madness and Discovery provide a cornucopia of original and unexpected work. Midnight Madness is a fan favourite, iconoclastic programme highlighting the weird and the wicked, while the Discovery programme offers a window to contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to first and second feature films from gifted new filmmakers.

“We’re excited to be showcasing new voices, audacious vision, and genre-bending cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “TIFF’s Discovery and Midnight Madness programmes for 2023 will once again prove to be the ultimate destination for tastemakers and experience seekers.

This year’s edition of the Toronto International Film Festival is set to take place from September 7th through the 17th, and yesterday they invited film fans to guess which ten movies they’ll be screening in their Midnight Madness lineup this year. The hints were the titles of ten movies that could be compared to the films in the lineup in some way. They were Trey Parker’s Orgazmo, Geoff Murphy’s Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, Jimmy Wang Yu’s Fantasy Mission Force, Charles Martin Smith’s Trick or Treat, Stan Brakhage’s Dog Star Man, Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead, Paul Schrader’s Blue Collar, Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf, and Theodore J. Flicker’s Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang. Now TIFF has announced the full lineup for both their Midnight Madness and Discovery programmes, and...

The Toronto International Film Festival lineup keeps rolling in, with Midnight Madness, Discovery, and Platform programs being unveiled this week. Leading the pack is the North American premiere of Harmony Korine’s infrared action feature Aggro DR1FT, while new films from Tarsem, Larry Charles, Patricia Arquette, Molly Manning Walker, and more were also added.

“Sides will be split — both figuratively and literally (on screen) — as Midnight Madness returns to the Royal Alexandra Theatre with another stimulating concoction of unpredictable shock and ‘y’arr!’ cinema,” said Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International Programmer, Midnight Madness. “Featuring two timely satiric provocations from Saudi Arabia (Naga) and Serbia (Working Class Goes to Hell) — nations that are making their section debut — this year’s madness infectiously ignites with 11 o’clock numbers that go all the way to midnight courtesy of Larry Charles’ bonkers and bawdy Dicks: The Musical. A menagerie of tastes will be sated, so bottoms up!

Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl and Larry Charles’ Dicks: The Musical open the sections.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled the titles in its Discovery and Midnight Madness programmes, with the line-ups including Harmony Korine’s Aggro Dr1ft, Patricia Arquette’s Gonzo Girl and Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex.

The Discovery line-up, designed to open a window on contemporary international cinema with first and second features from new filmmakers, comprises 26 titles from 25 countries, most of them world or international premieres.

As well as Arquette’s directing debut Gonzo Girl, with the actor also starring alongside Willem Dafoe,...

The Toronto International Film Festival announced the 2023 selections for the Discovery and Midnight Madness program this morning. The Midnight Madness lineup features 10 titles, seven of which are World Premieres. The Discovery lineup, which primarily boasts World and International Premieres, includes 26 titles. Notably, 13 female filmmakers representing 50% of the total are featured in this year’s Discovery program.

Midnight Madness and Discovery provide a cornucopia of original and unexpected work. Midnight Madness is a fan favorite, iconoclastic program highlighting the weird and the wicked, while the Discovery program offers a window to contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to first and second feature films from gifted new filmmakers.

“We’re excited to be showcasing new voices, audacious vision, and genre-bending cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “TIFF’s Discovery and Midnight Madness program for 2023 will once again prove to be the ultimate destination for tastemakers and experience seekers.”

Midnight...

New films from Patricia Arquette, Larry Charles, Harmony Korine and Finn Wolfhard will screen in the Midnight Madness and Discovery sections of the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Thursday.

Korine’s “Aggro DR1FT” and Charles’ “Dicks: The Musical” will screen in the Midnight Madness section, along with eight other films that also include Jason Yu’s “Sleep” and Wolfhard and Billy Bryk’s “Hell of a Summer.”

“Dicks: The Musical,” which TIFF Midnight Madness programmer Peter Kuplowsky called “bonkers and bawdy” in the press release announcing the lineups, will open the Midnight Madness section, while Weston Razooli’s “Riddle of Fire” will be the closing-night attraction.

The Discovery section will showcase 26 films from up-and-coming directors around the world. It will open with Arquette’s “Gonzo Girl,” which stars Willem Dafoe and Camilla Morrone (“Daisy Jones & the Six”) and is one of many TIFF titles from actors who have turned to directing.

The Toronto International Film Festival has today announced the lineup for two of its more unpredictable and interesting sections: Discovery and Midnight Madness. Billed as “the infamous,” this year’s Midnight Madness lineup features 10 titles, seven of which are world premieres. The Discovery lineup, which primarily includes world and international premieres, includes 26 titles.

Per TIFF, both “Midnight Madness and Discovery provide a cornucopia of original and unexpected work. Midnight Madness is a fan favorite, iconoclastic program highlighting the weird and the wicked, while the Discovery program offers a window to contemporary international cinema and introduces the public to first and second feature films from gifted new filmmakers.” The festival’s announcement also notes that 13 female filmmakers, representing 50 percent of the total program, are featured in this year’s Discovery lineup.

Those films include new offerings from Harmony Korine and Larry Charles, plus — as Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International Programmer, Midnight Madness,...

The Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness sidebar will open with Borat director Larry Charles’ latest movie Dicks: The Musical getting a world premiere.

Charles’ latest film, from A24 and in theaters from Sept. 29, stars Megan Mullally, Megan Thee Stallion, Bowen Yang as God and Nathan Lane, as the comedy duo of Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp (who also wrote the film’s script) play self-obsessed businessmen who discover they’re long-lost identical twins and come together to plot the reunion of their eccentric and divorced parents.

“This year’s madness infectiously ignites with 11 o’clock numbers that go all the way to midnight courtesy of Larry Charles’ bonkers and bawdy Dicks: The Musical. A menagerie of tastes will be sated, so bottoms up!” Peter Kuplowsky, TIFF International programmer of Midnight Madness, said in a statement on Thursday.

The latest additions to the Toronto Film Festival also include the lineup...

Univision Communications is officially looking to unload the Gizmodo Media Group — which mostly comprises the sites it acquired in the bankruptcy auction of Gawker Media — and its stake in comedy and entertainment publisher The Onion.

The Hispanic media company said Tuesday that it has initiated a formal process to explore the sale of the Gizmodo Media Group (Gmg) and The Onion, in which Univision owns a controlling stake.

“The company determined that pursuing a sale of Gmg and The Onion collectively will allow Uci to focus on its core assets and further strengthen Uci’s position as the No. 1 media company serving U.S. Hispanics, while enabling both Gmg and The Onion even greater opportunities to grow under new ownership,” Univision said in a statement.

The Gmg digital portfolio includes Gizmodo, Jezebel, Deadspin, Lifehacker, Splinter, The Root, Kotaku, Earther and Jalopnik and The Onion portfolio includes, The Onion, Clickhole, The A.

Univision Communications now wants to unload Fusion Media Group — coming two years after it bought a half-dozen websites from Gawker Media in a bid to boost its reach among younger audiences.

The Hispanic media giant is exploring a sale of Fusion Media Group, the Wall Street Journal reported. (Univision declined to comment.) The strategic about-face comes after Univision cancelled its initial public offering plans earlier this year and has seen broad turnover among its senior executive ranks.

Univision last year had tried to sell a 20% stake in Fusion Media Group for $200 million, but failed to find any investors willing to go in on the deal, the Journal reported. According to the WSJ, potential partners were “skittish” about working with the Univision ownership group, which includes Haim Saban’s Saban Capital Group, Televisa, and private-equity firms Providence Equity Partners, Madison Dearborn Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners and Tpg.

In March, Univision...

The shortened 2018 Digital Content NewFronts is getting a reshuffle less than two weeks before the annual online-ad pitchfest kicks off.

Univision’s Fusion Media Group and social-video network Jukin Media have pulled out of the NewFronts.

Meanwhile, Vice Media is now in the lineup, slated to present Friday, May 4, from 3-5 p.m. Newly appointed Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc and Dominique Delport, chief revenue officer/head of international, are among the execs slated to attend the session at Tribeca’s Spring Studios. Last year, the millennial-skewing media company took the final Friday spot in the first week; then-ceo Shane Smith skipped the event, which featured a boxing match between an exec and the host of one of Viceland’s shows.

Jukin Media exited the NewFronts in New York after deciding that it would instead participate in the first-ever L.A. NewFronts later this year. “Our viewership and reach have never been stronger…...

Gawker Media’s new owner, Univision, has removed previously published posts on Gawker sites Deadspin, Gizmodo and Jezebel that relate to the company’s legal issues. Gawker Media executive editor John Cook said in a memo to staff that Univision execs Felipe Holguin and Jay Grant suggested deleting seven posts because they were “under active litigation against Gawker Media” and that Univision subsidiary, Unimoda, “had been authorized only to purchase the assets, and not the liabilities, of the company.” “Unimoda’s legal analysis was that the continued publication of the posts under the new entity would constitute the adoption of liability,...

The 16th annual San Antonio Film Festival, which runs June 23-27, is truly a great combination of celebrating local talent and international cinema, screening films produced in Texas to ones produced in Europe, South America and the Middle East.

There’s also a distinct flavor of socially aware fictional narratives and documentaries, including films about Tibetan refugees, migrant workers, the 2008 Presidential election, alcoholism and genocide. But, that’s not to say the fest is a totally serious affair as there’s also several genre films about the World Cup, sheep rustlers, dancers, crooks and other ne’er-do-wells. It looks like a fun mix.

The full lineup of films is below. The way the festival runs is that films screen in blocks in three different theaters. A “block” of films will generally contain a feature or two (feature = film that is 50 mins. or more), plus several shorts. In the lineup I have up,...