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The rise in location shoots and local productions in Colombia – driven by attractive tax incentives, relative economic stability and improved security – has sparked new creative talent while enabling seasoned professionals to refine and expand their skill sets.

Honed by years of hands-on experience and formal training, these professionals have worked across a diverse range of productions – from feature films and high-end advertising to series and documentaries. Once the unsung heroes of the set, they are now gaining long-overdue recognition for their expertise, adaptability and vital contributions to the success of every project. Their deep understanding of both creative and technical demands makes them indispensable collaborators in an increasingly global and fast-paced industry.

Here are 5 Below-the-Line Talents to Track (in alphabetical order):

Juan Manuel Barreto, Gaffer, Cinematographer

With over 25 years of experience in the film industry, Barreto says he was drawn to moving images and the study of human nature from an early age.

This episode reflects on how Brazilian and Portuguese cinemas serve as a bridge between Latin America and Europe.Rui Poças is an acclaimed Portuguese cinematographer best known for his long-standing collaborations with two key figures of contemporary Portuguese cinema: Miguel Gomes and João Pedro Rodrigues. Since working on their respective debuts—The Face You Deserve (2004) and O Fantasma (2000)—Poças has lensed such acclaimed films as Our Beloved Month of August (2008), Tabu (2012), The Ornithologist (2016), Will-o’-the-Wisp (2022), and most recently Grand Tour (2024), which won Best Director at Cannes Film Festival.His distinctive visual style has also shaped important works by leading voices in Latin America, Europe, and the US, including Zama (2017) by Lucrecia Martel, Good Manners (2017) by Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra, Frankie (2019) by Ira Sachs, and The Rye Horn (2023) by Jaione Camborda.Rachel Daisy Ellis is a producer originally from England who relocated to Brazil in 2004. For over a decade, she has...

Ikusmira Berriak, the San Sebastian-based development program behind Cannes Directors’ Fortnight hits “The Water” and “Creatura” and Sundance standout “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” has announced six projects for its 2025 residency program, as the initiative soars in popularity, applications sky-rocketing 34% to 487 for this current year.

Reasons for that cut several ways. As markets contract for movies, Ikusmira Berriak, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, has supported 50 film projects since 2015. 23 of those have premiered at international festivals which are proving must-have platforms for films to cut through the slew of features made every year in Europe and beyond. Of other Ikusmira Berriak alums, Jaione Camborda won San Sebastian’s top Golden Shell with “The Rye Horne,” developed at Ikusmira Berriak. Nele Wohlatz’s “Sleep With Their Eyes Open,” at the facility in 2018, won last year the Fipresci Prize at Berlin’s Encounters.

Drawn from the world over, though with...

Valladolid’s Seminci International Film Festival will host its 69th edition from October 18-26 and, along with it, the second edition of its new industry sidebar.

Below, we highlight three key events hosted under this year’s Valladolid Industry banner.

Merci Valladolid

Among the myriad of activities aimed at filmmakers, producers, buyers and sellers, this year’s industry strand will host the Merci Valladolid (Mercado de Cine Independiente Valladolid).

For three days, Oct. 23-25, Merci will serve as a meeting point for 140 screen industry business professionals, including programmers, exhibitors and distributors. Valladolid will invite the accredited professionals to screenings of 22 of the most highly anticipated releases scheduled to hit cinemas through the end of 2024 and all of 2025.

According to organizers, the screenings will help “maximize the titles’ circulation and promote a better exploitation in the run-up to their release.”

In addition to the screenings, Merci will hold a series of...

The European Film Academy has announced that documentaries and animated features will now be considered for the European Film prize at its annual awards.

The category had previously only included fiction films. “The aim of this change is to better reflect the fact that documentaries and animated feature films are an essential part of European cinema culture, adding much to its great diversity,” a press release states. “Both documentary and animated films come in a plethora of genres, storytelling traditions and narrative forms, for any audience.”

The change is effective starting this year. The 37th European Film Awards are set to take place on Dec. 7 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

“Simply said, the best film of Europe can from now onwards also be a feature-length documentary film or animated feature film, and not only a fiction film,” European Film Academy CEO Matthijs Wouter Knol said in a statement. “The decision of the...

La controvertida película sobre el mundo de la tauromaquia se llevó el máximo galardón en una gala que se cerró con el estreno europeo de ‘We Live in Time’. © Ssiff

La 72 edición del Festival de San Sebastián, celebrada entre el 20 y el 28 de septiembre, ha concluido este sábado con la ceremonia de entrega de premios, celebrada en el Auditorio Kursaal, en la que la película Tardes de soledad, el documental de Albert Serra que sigue la vida del torero Andrés Roca Rey durante un día de corrida, desde que se viste de luces hasta que se desviste, ha obtenido la Concha de Oro, el máximo galardón del festival.

Un galardón no exento de polémicas – ya Pacma, incluso antes de que se proyectara la película, pidió su retirada del festival – que fue entregado por la presidenta del jurado, Jaione Camborda, quien destacó su «poder artístico» y señalando, en nombre del jurado,...

Albert Serra with his Golden Shell for Afternoons Of Solitude Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Alex Abril Albert Serra's bullfighting documentary Afternoons Of Solitude won the Golden Shell as San Sebastian Film Festival's 72nd edition drew to a close last night.

The film considers the life of matador Andrés Roca Rey and Serra received the award from last year’s Golden Shell winner, Spanish filmmaker Jaione Camborda. The jury also included directors Ulrich Seidl, Christos Nikou and Fran Kranz, producer Carole Scotta and journalist Leila Guerriero.

The Silver Shell directing honours were shared ex-aequo by Edinburgh-based Portuguese filmmaker Laura Carreira for On Falling, a carefully crafted character study of a Portuguese migrant working as a warehouse picker and Spaniard Pedro Martín Calero, also making his debut, with ambitious female-centric horror film The Wailing.

Laura Carreira receives her Silver Shell from Carole Scotta for On Falling Photo: Courtesy of...

Spanish director Albert Serra’s bullfighting documentary Afternoons Of Solitude has won the Golden Shell for best film at the closing ceremony of the 72nd edition of the Spanish festival tonight (Saturday September 28).

The special jury prize was awarded to Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl which stars Pamela Anderson as a Vegas showgirl facing the end of her career.

’Afternoons Of Solitude’ review

The official competition jury, presided over by Spanish filmmaker Jaione Camborda – who was last year’s Golden Shell winner for The Rye Horn, also awarded top prizes to new filmmakers. The Silver Shell for best director...

Sometimes, in a closely contested festival competition, it pays to be the one thing that isn’t like the others. A starkly powerful, observational study of contemporary bullfighting, Spanish auteur Albert Serra’s “Afternoons of Solitude” was the only documentary in the main competition at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival — and this evening won the Golden Shell for best film of the festival, beating some big-name narrative competition.

The award was presented by last year’s Golden Shell winner, Spanish filmmaker Jaione Camborda, heading a jury that also included directors Ulrich Seidl, Christos Nikou and Fran Kranz, producer Carole Scotta and Argentine journalist Leila Guerriero.

Centred on star Peruvian matador Andrés Rey Roca, “Afternoons of Solitude” is candid in its depiction of the violence of the sport, and has already proven controversial on home turf, with Spain’s animal-rights party Pacma calling for the film to be withdrawn from the festival.

José Luis Rebordinos, director of the San Sebastian Film Festival, has just over a week until opening night when he sits down for an interview with Deadline, and he is still plagued by one niggling organizational issue.

“It’s always so difficult to close the jury,” Rebordinos explains as he rushes out of the room to take a call about his potential jury head.

When he returns, he explains: “A few weeks ago I was speaking with Thierry Fremaux. He said even for him it’s always a problem because jury members have to be at your festival for 10 days, you don’t pay, and it’s complicated because people are often working and when they aren’t, they want to spend time with their families and friends.”

A few days later, the competition jury is finally confirmed, with Spanish filmmaker Jaione Camborda leading alongside Leila Guerriero, Fran Kranz, Christos Nikou,...

The jury for the 2024 San Sebastian Festival will be chaired by director Jaione Camborda, who was the first Spanish female filmmaker to win the Golden Shell last year with The Rye Horn.

She will be joined on the jury by Greek director Christos Nikou who competed at San Sebastian last year Apples And Fingernails, which won the Fipresci Award; Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl, who presented Sparta in the Official Selection in 2022 and is a prize-winner at Berlin and Venice; and French producer Carole Scotta, founder of Haut et Court.

Also on the jury are actor Fran Kranz, whose first film as a director,...

Otros de los títulos seleccionados incluyen ‘Bird’, ‘Emilia Perez’, ‘Kinds of Kindness’ y ‘The Substance’.

La Academia de Cine Europeo ha anunciado la primera selección de títulos que optan a las nominaciones de los Premios del Cine Europeo. Se han seleccionado 29 producciones y en septiembre se ampliará la lista con una nueva tanda de títulos.

En esta primera lista se encuentran tres películas españolas: Un amor, de Isabel Coixet, con siete nominaciones a los premios Goya 2024, O Corno, de Jaione Camborda, ganadora de la Concha de Oro en el Festival de San Sebastián 2023, y Volveréis, de Jonás Trueba, premio a la Mejor Película europea en la Quincena de Realizadores de Cannes.

La ceremonia de los Premios del Cine Europeo tendrá lugar el 7 de diciembre en Lucerna (Suiza). Pueden optar a los Premios del Cine Europeo los largometrajes europeos que, entre otros criterios, hayan tenido su primera proyección oficial entre el...

The first wave of titles in contention for the 2024 European Film Awards include Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds Of Kindness and Sundance award-winner Kneecap.

Cannes premieres feature predominantly in the 29 titles unveiled today (August 14), including Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez; Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig; Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour; Halfdan Ullmann Tønde’s Armand and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance – all of which picked up prizes on the Croisette.

Other films from Cannes include Andrea Arnold’s Bird; Emanuel Pârvu’s Three Kilometers To The End Of The World; The Count Of Monte-Cristo; and Magnus von Horn’s The Girl With The Needle.

The European Film Academy has revealed the first tranche of film titles that members can consider for nominations for the European Film Awards, which take place on Dec. 7 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The academy’s selection of 29 titles covers films that had their first official screening between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024. Further titles will be announced in September, which will include films that had their premieres in the summer and early autumn festivals, such as Locarno and Venice.

Among the selection are Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” Cannes’ best actress and jury prize winner, Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour,” Cannes’ best director winner, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds Of Kindness,” best actor winner at Cannes, Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” jury special prize winner at Cannes, Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” best screenplay winner at Cannes, “Armand” by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, the Golden Camera winner at Cannes, Matthias Glasner’s “Dying,...

Cannes Competition titles The Substance, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, and Emilia Perez are among the first set of titles recommended for nominations at this year’s European Film Awards.

Overall, 29 titles have been selected for the first stage of nominations by the European Film Academy Board. The selection includes films from 26 countries. In the coming weeks, the 5,000 members of the European Film Academy will start to vote on the selected films. The winners will be announced at the European Film Awards ceremony in Lucerne, Switzerland, on December 7.

To be eligible for a European Film Awards, films must be European feature films which, among other criteria, had their first official screening between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024 and have a European director. The rule book states that should a film director not be European, exceptions can be made if the filmmaker is “provided they have a European refugee or similar status...

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds Of Kindness, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance and Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, are among the films that will screen in CineMasters, the main competition of this month’s Munich International Film Festival (Miff), taking place from June 28 to July in Germany.

Fourteen films are in the running for CineMasters’ €50,000 Arri Award which is presented to the producers of the best international film. Further titles include Jia Zhang-ke’s Caught By The Tides, Rúnar Rúnarsson’s When The Light Breaks, which premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section last month, as well as Jaione Camborda...

The Mediterrane Film Festival announced its complete program ahead of its second edition, taking place in Malta’s capital of Valetta from June 22-30. New titles selected include recent Cannes highlights in Coralie Fargeat’s Demi Moore-led body horror “The Substance” and Roberto Minvervini’s “The Damned,” which join previously announced films like Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Kinds of Kindness” and Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw The TV Glow.”

Further program additions include Mahdi Fleifel’s Directors’ Fortnight standout “To a Land Unknown,” which Variety labeled “a confident, angry, fully-realized drama,” and Truong Minh Quy’s Un Certain Regard breakout “Viet and Nam.” An extended version of the Malta-shot “Jurassic World: Dominion” will play as part of the Malta Expanded strand, while on the retrospective end of the program, the festival will honor David Bowie with screenings of Nicolas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and Lisa Azuelos’s “My Way,...

The Mediterrane Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its second edition (June 22-30), with Cannes premiere The Count Of Monte Cristo set to open the event.

Scroll down for the full line-up

Directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, the film is among seven titles in the out of competition strand, which also includes Jane Schoenbrun’s Sundance title I Saw The TV Glow and Tarsem Singh’s Dear Jassi.

The 15-strong competition section features Cannes competition titles Kinds Of Kindness and The Substance, and Berlin premiere The Strangers case starring Omar Sy,

Seven films compete in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section,...

Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival has set the full competition and industry lineup for its second edition, which runs June 22 to 30 in the country’s capital, Valletta.

The programme includes 15 films in competition, seven out-of-competition, and seven films competing in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section, topped up by 14 immersive projects.

Select competition titles include Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest Kinds of Kindness, Coralie Fargeat’s body horror The Substance, and The Damned by Italian filmmaker Roberto Minvervini. All three films debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Scroll down to see the full lineup. Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller will serve on the competition jury.

The festival has also set its industry lineup, featuring a series of masterclass sessions. Speakers include editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, production designer Nathan Crowley, casting director Margery Simkin, and composer Simon Franglen...

Over June 10-14, Madrid is welcoming 300-plus industry delegates for the inaugural Ecam Forum, which is shaping up as the next go-to market for Spanish projects and co-productions, considering the stellar list of projects and attendees lined up.

Hosting the event is not a private company nor the industry arm of an A-list festival, but a film and audiovisual school-Madrid’s prestigious Ecam.

Founded in 1994, the school, which offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses to more than 300 students a year, is Spain’s leading breeding ground for some of the country’s biggest names in film, television and advertising such as filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen and regular writing partner Isabel Peña or cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe.

The reasons for Ecam being so industry-facing comes down to the school’s status and founding principles, as explained by Rafa Alberola, head of Ecam Industria (formerly known as ‘The Screen’), the umbrella regrouping the school’s...

Valladolid International Film Week’s Independent Film Market saw Spanish distributors showcase acquired films to local streamers, TV networks and exhibitors.

Merci, Valladolid International Film Week’s Independent Film Market, enjoyed a 20% rise in the number of professionals attending this year.

Merci, which ran from October 25-27, provides an opportunity for Spanish independent distributors to meet with platforms, TV networks and distributors, and to show them selection of their recent acquisitions.

Among the 24 titles being screened by distributors at Merci Valladolid this year were Tran Anh Hung’s The Pot Au Feu, Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Aki Kaurismäki...

Spanish distributors will present their international titles to exhibitors, broadcasters and platforms st the Merci market.

Seminci, the Valladolid International Film Week, will host an expanded third edition of Spain’s Independent Film Market for the first time from October 25-27.

Known as Merci Valladolid, the market is jointly organised by Seminci and the Association of Independent Film Distributors (Adicine).

The market used to be held at the Seville European Film Festival, which was previously run by Seminici’s new director José Luis Cienfuegos.

Sixteen Spanish independent distributors will present their international titles to exhibitors, television networks and platforms at Merci Valladolid.

Indie films have scored some impressive figures at Spanish box office this year.

As the Spanish film industry comes together at Valladolid International Film Week (known locally as the Seminici), one of the big talking points will be how to make independent films stand out at the local box office.

Although Spain’s box office in the year to mid-October has grossed €400m, 35% higher than the same period in 2022, it is still 17% lower than the 2015-2019 pre-Covid average.

US studio blockbusters led the charge, headed by Barbie ($35.2m), Super Mario Bros. Movie ($29m), Avatar: The Way Of Water, ($26.9m) Oppenheimer...

Rather than horns, they look like tiny black catkins clinging to the grains on swaying stalks of rye. These little clusters — actually a fungus known as ergot — are a disease that affects the ovaries of their host plants, but can be made into an infusion that induces abortion in women. That kind of resonance, between the natural world and the female human experience, is very much at the heart of Jaione Camborda’s second film, “The Rye Horn,” which began its festival journey in Toronto and won top honors in San Sebastian.

But as symbiotically involved with nature as the film is, particularly in Portuguese master cinematographer Rui Poças’ earthen imagery, which is so tactile you can almost feel the wet gray sand of the Galician island setting under your toes, its somber narrative is comparatively undernourished. Atmospherics can only do so much to engage with a central character this wary and stoic.

The Golden Shell winner at the San Sebastián––the Basque film festival’s top prize––went to home-grown filmmaker Jaione Camborda for this absorbing and sensual Galician-language abortion drama The Rye Horn, an urgent film about women in a totalitarian environment that has potent echoes today.

It’s 1971 and the late stages of the Franco regime on an island off the northwest coast of Spain, the same Galicia region that provided the untamed landscapes of The Beasts and Olivier Laxe’s Fire Will Come. Maria, perhaps in her late 30s or early 40s, makes a living in this rustic part of the world picking shellfish, in touch with nature and the tactile world of her surroundings. But in this tight-knit community, she’s also an unofficial midwife, perhaps a symbol of how the centralized, male-led Spain of the regime has neglected this far-flung end of the country––only women protect women here.

There’s something fittingly appropriate about the way that The Spirit Of The Beehive director Victor Erice became the first Basque director to receive a lifetime achievement Donostia Award at the 71st San Sebastian Festival, while the Golden Shell for Best Film also went to San Sebastian-born Jaione Camborda for The Rye Horn, which is scripted in Galician and Portuguese. It encapsulates not just the way that the old meets the new at the festival but how, under José Luis Rebordinos’s directorship since 2011, it has continued to champion home-grown voices and non-hegemonic languages. Erice brought Close Your Eyes, his first film […]

The post The Public Experience: San Sebastian International Film Festival 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

There’s something fittingly appropriate about the way that The Spirit Of The Beehive director Victor Erice became the first Basque director to receive a lifetime achievement Donostia Award at the 71st San Sebastian Festival, while the Golden Shell for Best Film also went to San Sebastian-born Jaione Camborda for The Rye Horn, which is scripted in Galician and Portuguese. It encapsulates not just the way that the old meets the new at the festival but how, under José Luis Rebordinos’s directorship since 2011, it has continued to champion home-grown voices and non-hegemonic languages. Erice brought Close Your Eyes, his first film […]

The post The Public Experience: San Sebastian International Film Festival 2023 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

San Sebastián, Spain, native Jaione Camborda took the top prize, the Golden Shell for best film, at the 71st San Sebastián Film Festival, for her The Rye Horn, a 1970s-set drama about a midwife forced to flee Galicia, Spain, to Portugal when, after a tragedy strikes, a teenage mother asked her for an abortion.

The audience award for best film went to J.A. Bayona’s Netflix real-life survival thriller Society of the Snow, while San Sebastián viewers voted Matteo Garrone’s migration drama Io Capitano the best European film at the festival. Both Society of the Snow and Io Capitano are in the running for the 2024 Oscar in the best international feature category.

The best performance award went to both Marcelo Subiotto for his performance as a philosophy teacher at the University of Buenos Aires battling a bitter rival over a professorship position in the dramedy Puan and Tatsuya Fuji...

Janet Novás in The Rye Horn Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival Jaione Camborda's The Rye Horn took the top award of the Golden Shell as San Sebastian Film Festival drew to a close last night. The San Sebastian-born director's second film is set in 1970s Galicia and relates the struggles of a woman who finds herself forced to flee on a smugglers' route between Spain and Portugal.

The Best Director Silver Shell went to to Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang for Taiwanese film A Journey In Spring and the Silver Shell for Best Screenplay went to María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat for Argentinian comedy Puan. Its star Marcelo Subiotto also won a Silver Shell for his portrayal of the hapless philosophy professor at the film's heart, which he shared, ex-aequo, with Tatsuya Fuji for his role in Japanese dementia drama Great Absence.

Jaione Camborda with her Golden...

The San Sebastian Film Festival awarded O Corno (The Rye Horn) with the Golden Shell for Best Film. San Sebastián native Jaione Camborda took the top prize of the night for the feature she directed.

Additionally, the jury gave the Silver Shell for Best Director to Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang for Chun xing / A Journey in Spring (Taiwan), while the Best Screenplay Award went to María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat for Puan (Argentina-Italy-Germany-France-Brazil).

The Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance fell ex aequo upon Marcelo Subiotto and Tatsuya Fuji for their respective roles in Puan, by Alché and Naishtat, and Great Absence (Japan), by Kei Chika-ura, while the Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance went to Hovik Keuchkerian for his character in Un amor (Spain) by Isabel Coixet.

Check out the full list of winners below.

San Sebastian 2023 Award Winners List Golden Shell For Best Film

O Corno (The Rye Horn...

It’s now the fourth year in a row that a female filmmaker has won San Sebastián’s prestigious Golden Shell award. After Déa Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning, Alina Grigore’s Blue Moon and last year’s Laura Mora’s The Kings of the World, it is Jaione Camborda‘s The Rye Horn wins the biggest prize of them all. The film had its world premiere in the Platform section at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. Isabella Eklöf’s Kalak and María Alché plus Benjamín Naishtat’s Puan doubled up with wins – Kalak grabbed a Special Jury Prize and Best Cinematography, while Puan nabbed Best Screenplay and Best Leading perf for Marcelo Subiotto.…...

Spanish director becomes the fourth consecutive woman director to win the festival’s top prize

The Rye Horn (O Corno), the second feature by Jaione Camborda, has won the top prize, the Golden Shell, at the 2023 San Sebastian Film Festival.

Set on an island off the coast of Galicia in 1971, the film tells the story of a woman who earns a living harvesting shellfish. She is also known on the island for helping other women in childbirth but has to flee and try to cross the border into Portugal after an unexpected event.

Camborda, who was born in San Sebastian,...

A predictably spectacular sunset spreads streaks of pink and orange across a northern Spanish late September sky, heralding the end of another packed edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival, where at the closing gala, “The Rye Horn” the second feature from Spanish director Jaione Camborda has just been handed the Golden Shell, the festival’s top award.

It is perhaps a surprising win, but does now mark the fourth consecutive year that the festival’s most prestigious prize has gone to a female director. But in another way it has to be a first: the international jury, comprising French director Claire Denis, alongside Chinese actor and producer Fan Bingbing, Colombian producer-director Cristina Gallego, French photographer Brigitte Lacombe, Spanish actor Vicky Luengo, Canadian producer and distributor Robert Lantos and German director Christian Petzold, has chosen to award not just a Spanish film, but one from a female director who was...

San Sebastian — Blessed by blowsy sun, two Conferences and a Co-Pro Forum, which brought the highest caliber and number of U.S., European execs and Latin American producers ever seen in festival history, San Sebastian rounded its final bend Friday after a packed, busy and upbeat event, also suggesting a stability in contrast to other major European events, such as Berlin.

Below, eight takeaways, some 24 hours before Saturday night’s closing gala and prize ceremony.

Women Rule Still

Coming into the festival, many of the biggest main competition buzz pictures were directed by women. Many now figure, according to a El Diario Vasco Spanish critics’ poll, as Golden Shell frontrunners: Isabel Helguera’s animated pic “Sultana’s Dream,” Raven Jackson’s Sundance hit “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” Jaione Camborda’s Toronto platform screener “The Rye Horn” and Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang’s “A Journey in Spring.”

New...

Films by Carolina Markowicz, Isabel Coixet, Jaione Camborda and Isabel Herguera all have international potential.

Highly anticipated features from Isabel Coixet, Lucía Puenzo and Jaione Camborda are among the buzziest Spanish and Latin American titles screening across all strands of this year’s San Sebastián film festival. Here is a flavour of what festival audiences can expect.

Blondi (Argentina)

Dir: Dolores Fonzi

The debut feature from Argentinian actress Dolores Fonzi plays in the Horizontes Latinos section, which screens premieres entirely or partially produced in Latin America and not yet released in Spain. Fonzi also stars in the film which is...

Spanish cinema has undoubtedly been making a strong imprint on the international film festival circuit throughout the last few years and, crucially, there’s a new wave of female filmmakers that are driving this charge.

Carla Simon’s Alcarràs took the Golden Bear in Berlin last year, while Elena Lopez Riera and Clara Roquet debuted their respective films The Water and Libertad in Cannes as well as Elena Martin’s feature debut Creatura, which played in the festival’s Directors Fortnight section this year.

So at this year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival, it’s unsurprising that the trend is continuing as three Spanish films in official competition this year are directed and produced by women: Isabel Coixet’s Un Amor, based on a bestselling novel by Sara Mesa, which is produced by Marisa Fernández Armenteros and Sandra Hermida; Sultana’s Dream, the debut feature from Isabel Herguera which...

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

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

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

Toronto’s Platform is set to be enriched by Jaione Camborda’s poignant second feature “The Rye Horn.” The film, set against the backdrop of 1970s Galicia, unravels the tale of María, a midwife thrust into a life on the run following a devastating incident. Her path to freedom takes her from Galicia to Portugal, retracing ancient smugglers’ trails.

The film, supported by the Galician broadcaster Tvg and the region’s Agency of Cultural Industries (Agadic), was brought to life under the banner of Andrea Vázquez’s Miramemira and Camborda’s own label, Esnatu Zinema, and Elástica Films, behind “Alcarràs” and “Creature.” Portugal’s Bando à Parte and Belgium’s Bulletproof Cupid co-produce. Elastica also distributes in Spain.

With the film also bound for San Sebastian main competition, for its European premiere, Camborda’s return to her hometown is particularly poignant. “For me, it’s like a gift… I grew up in the Basque Country,...

Aussie filmmaker Kitty Green’s latest pic, The Royal Hotel, starring Julia Garner, and Fingernails, the latest film from Christos Nikou, with Riz Ahmed and Jessie Buckley, have been added to San Sebastian’s competition lineup.

Overall, six films have been announced as late additions to proceedings in San Seb. The other titles are Kalak (Isabella Eklöf), The Successor (Xavier Legrand), Great Absence (Kei Chika-Ura), and the debut from Tzu-Hui Peng and Ping-Wen Wang, A Journey in Spring. Additionally, the French pic A Real Job, directed by Thomas Lilti, will play the fest’s special screenings section.

The Royal Hotel is Kitty Green’s first feature since her 2019 breakout, The Assistant. The film tells the tale of two backpackers (Garner and Jessica Henwick) who take a job in a pub in the remote Australian Outback. Neon has acquired North American rights to the film. Following his debut Apples, which played Telluride,...

Thomas Lilti’s A Real Job will premiere as a special screening.

Films from Xavier Legrand and Kitty Green are among the new titles in the competition line-up of the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

French director Legrand, whose 2017 feature Custody won best film at the Cesars and best director in Venice, brings The Successor, about a designer who discovers a shocking secret after his father dies.

Australian director Green follows up her fiction feature debut hit The Assistant (2019) with The Royal Hotel, about two backpackers who start working at a pub in the remote Australian outback. Julia Garner once again stars in the film,...

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...

Bhutanese director Pawo Choyning Dorji’s ‘The Monk And The Gun’ plays in Toronto’s Centrepiece programme next month.

Berlin-based Films Boutique has boarded international sales for Bhutanese director Pawo Choyning Dorji’s The Monk And The Gun, which has its international premiere at Toronto next month in the festival’s Centrepiece programme

Dorji previously directed Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom, which was nominated for best international feature at last year’s Academy Awards. Lunana premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in 2019, played widely on the festival circuit and secured multiple distribution deals including with Samuel Goldwyn for North America.

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Barry Jenkins

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

Barry Jenkins will head the jury for the competitive section.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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