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If you want to understand how a filmmaker like Bong Joon Ho became a master of juggling such wildly disparate tones in the same movie (and often in the same scene), a good place to start would be his list of the 10 greatest films of all time for the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound poll. There, you'll find Kim Ki-young's 1960 horror film "The Handmaiden" comfortably rubbing shoulders with Hou Hsiao-hsien's post-World War II tragedy "A City of Sadness." There's some magic realism in there as well (Alice Rohrwacher's "Happy as Lazzaro") and a trio of serial killer-ish films, but you've also got Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull" and Luchino Visconti's epic family drama "Rocco and His Brothers." That horror is so pronounced here shouldn't come as a surprise for a director who's made three movies that fit into that genre, but Hou's film is an odd choice given its under-statedness.

Exclusive: Element Pictures’ Rachel Dargavel, producer of Akinola Davies’s My Father’s Shadow, Nigeria’s first Cannes entry, tells Deadline that she and the filmmaker are in early development for his sophomore feature, Delta Force Six, which will be filmed on locations in the vast southern region of the West African nation.

The producer is eager to get the film rolling within two years. “You know how hard it is to get a second feature up and away and to make it great. And many people fall on the second feature. And I want for us to not be those people,” she insists.

Delta Force Six, a step up in terms of vision and budget, is being written by Davies and Wale, his Lagos-based sibling (together they penned the screenplay for their freshman hit), and is set in the oil-rich Niger Delta badlands where rebels kidnap foreign workers and sabotage pipelines.

Japanese chirashi for La chimera. Designer unknown.Totting up the most-liked posters on my Movie Poster of the Day Instagram over the first six months of 2025, the surprise winner, with over 4,000 likes on one day, was a Japanese chirashi for Alice Rohrwacher's La chimera (2023). I put its popularity down to the Josh O’Connor fan base, or for the film itself, though it is a lovely, colorful design. The second and third places, with over a couple thousand likes each, went to two designs that I posted in tribute to David Lynch upon his passing in January: the original poster for Eraserhead (1977) and a beautiful Japanese poster for The Straight Story (1999). There are actually three Japanese posters in the top four, number three being a zippy design for Charade (1963), which I posted in April in celebration of what would have been its director Stanley Donen’s 101st birthday. And the one-sheet...

Among the best things in The President’s Cake are the colors. There’s the deep red of a rooster’s comb as it peeks out from a young girl’s carrying pouch; there’s the white decorations that adorn her uncle’s blue car; and then there is the opening vista, in which a deep evening sky is disturbed by the roar of two American fighter jets. We’re somewhere in the ’90s, the country is Iraq, and the decorations are for its president, Saddam Hussein. Soon the camera will peel away to reveal a group of villagers lining up for water. If this is the length people are going for basic requirements, you soon begin to wonder: what chance does anyone have of finding baking soda?

Hasan Hadi’s Cake premiered in Directors’ Fortnight and won the audience award. Then, at the closing weekend, it was given Cannes’ coveted...

One of the most quietly quintessential American directors of our time, Kelly Reichardt has cemented her position on the international festival arthouse scene largely by way of a consistent, unassuming deconstruction of genre. Oftentimes, this comes with an unmistakable feminist slant, at once casual in its presentation and radical in its implication—a point worth noting given Reichardt’s position in a festival scene largely male-dominant—but with “The Mastermind,” the director foregrounds the masculine quest for capital to paint a view of America headed towards its lowest point.

A director who once described her masterful “Meek’s Cutoff” as “A Western from the perspective of the woman who pours John Wayne’s coffee,” there’s no denying that the deconstruction of how different genres uphold masculine power structures are a real point of fascination for Reichardt; westerns, historical dramas, espionage thrillers, road movies—even the story of a struggling artist...

For the second time in three years, Cannes’ competition ends with a film in which Josh O’Connor plays a scruffy, late-20th-century man with some knack for pinching masterpieces. Following (spiritually or otherwise) Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera is Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, an experiment in form so thorough and self-assured that even Robert Bresson might have appreciated it. Nobody expected the versatile director’s first heist movie to resemble Ocean’s 11, but The Mastermind is still remarkably low on flash. There is a jazzy score by Rob Mazurek and some even-jazzier opening credits, but this is very much a Reichardt joint: from its gorgeous, sylvan landscapes and autumnal color palette to the patient, observational tone, it suggests what robbing art in the early part of the 1970s might have truly felt like.

Whatever the case, The Mastermind will be billed as a new addition to the heist genre,...

There is a kind of sadness that comes from living in a restless state of Fomo — or fear of missing out, as the acronym goes. The experiences you’d squander if you didn’t show up to an occasion, the next song you wouldn’t hear if you left a party too early and so on. In Italian filmmaker Francesco Sossai’s loose-limbed and quietly enchanting sophomore feature “The Last One for the Road,” lively 50-somethings Carlobianchi (Sergio Romano) and Doriano (Pierpaolo Capovilla) seem to have invented the perfect cure for Fomo by cheating it perpetually. To these penniless and amiably drunken men, every boozy beverage is always the last one — truly, for real this time, the last one — until the next one that usually comes right after. To them, the party is never quite over.

Thankfully, Carlobianchi and Doriano never come across as leachy, intoxicated creeps (the way hard-drinking...

In the end, Josh O’Connor made it to Cannes.

The La Chimera and Challengers actor was unable to make the Wednesday evening premiere of Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound, in which he stars alongside Paul Mescal, as he was still shooting in New York, working on Steven Spielberg’s new film. But O’Connor was given time away from the as-yet-untitled sci-fi project and caught a flight to Cannes Thursday night, meaning he was fresh and ready for Friday’s red carpet premiere of Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind.

Reichardt and O’Connor walked the carpet, joined by castmembers Alana Haim, John Magaro and Hope Davis.

Others in attendance included Viola Davis, strolling along in a stunning yellow gown, with husband Julius Tennon; Elle Fanning, a day after her red carpet premiere for Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value; and Isabella Ferrari. How to Have Sex director Molly Manning Walker,...

With an anti-eco-thriller, an anti-buddy-road-movie and a couple of anti-Westerns under her belt, Kelly Reichardt may never have met a genre she couldn’t meticulously deconstruct. But rarely has she done so with such offbeat wit and bluesy wisdom as with anti-heist movie “The Mastermind,” a canny rejoinder to the glamorous high drama of the traditional robbery-gone-wrong plot, in which an extraordinary act gradually comes undone when exposed to nothing more malign than the everyday forces of ordinary life, and the fatal flaws of an ordinary man. Very possibly her most accessible and enjoyable film to date, still it remains an unmistakably Reichardtian investigation into the fabric of ordinariness and what happens when it frays.

It is 1970 in suburban Massachusetts where it’s forever windbreaker weather, and the Mooney family are taking a trip to the Framingham Art Museum. Aside from father Jb (Josh O’Connor) staring rather too intently at some Arthur Dove abstract paintings,...

I could name few living filmmakers better equipped for the Western than Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis. The duo behind The Tale of King Crab––a film I revere like a sacred relic––have created their own niche in contemporary Italian magical realism, somewhere adjacent to Alice Rohrwacher and Pietro Marcello while very much its own thing. Their latest is called Heads or Tails and it’s another of the filmmakers’ ethereal campfire stories. If perhaps not the fullest realization of their Western potential, it will certainly do until that gets here.

Heads or Tails concerns Rosa (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), the intrepid wife of a wealthy and domineering landowner. It begins at the rodeo, where a kind of Vegas-era Buffalo Bill has come to town to tour his show. While charming the local dignitaries, he proposes a competition between his American riders and the local Italians, with the instruction to “lasso,...

Josh O’Connor experienced the splendor of Cannes in 2023, when he was there with Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera. This year, he’s back with two movies in contention for the Palme d’Or: Kelly Reichardt’s art heist picture The Mastermind and Oliver Hermanus’ The History of Sound, in which O’Connor stars with Paul Mescal.

While en route to the New York set of the untitled Steven Spielberg/Amblin/Universal film where he’s been cast alongside Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson and Emily Blunt, O’Connor said of Spielberg, “He’s great. He is the dream, the best in the world,” but he admits being on set makes him miss home and tending to his fig trees and vegetables.

Deadline: What are you able to say about the Spielberg movie?

Josh O’Connor: I’ll tell you what I’ll say. It’s like old-school Spielberg. I think people will be excited.

Angelina Jolie is bestowing a great honor on two rising stars: Marie Colomb and Finn Bennett!

The ceremony of the 25th edition of the Trophée Chopard took place at Carlton Beach during the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on Friday night (May 16) in Cannes, France.

Keep reading to find out more…

It was co-hosted by Festival President Iris Knobloch, General Delegate Thierry Frémaux, and President of Chopard Caroline Scheufele.

Following a moving retrospective of their careers, the 30-year-old Culte actress and the 26-year-old Warfare actor were presented with the iconic gold-coated silver film reel trophy by the 49-year-old acclaimed actress and activist, acting as the official “Godmother” of this year’s edition.

Angelina offered words of encouragement to the two actors as she presented the award, met with applause by an audience of film industry luminaries and

international stars.

Attendees included President of the Cannes Festival jury Juliette Binoche, Members of the Cannes Festival jury Halle Berry,...

For the French-Spanish filmmaker Oliver Laxe, a competition berth in Cannes has been a long time coming. Laxe was here in 2010 (You All Are Captains), 2016 (Mimosas), and 2019 (Fire Will Come) without once going home empty-handed, and he now rises to the occasion with Sirat, his grandest, most adventurous work yet: the kind of bold, auteurist arrival that seems to happen more here than any other festival. The story takes place in Morocco, which provided the backdrop of Laxe’s first two films, and follows a father searching for his daughter amidst the dust and drugs of an illegal rave scene in and around the Atlas Mountains. There’s a delicious touch of Paul Schrader’s Hardcore to that setup, but Sirat is more in the lineage of William Friedkin’s Sorcerer, even Mad Max: a story about a ragtag group attempting to move some monstrous vehicles over a landscape...

Joaquin Phoenix, Juliette Binoche, Pedro Pascal, Riz Ahmed and Guillermo del Toro are among a group of figures to have added their names to a letter condemning the film industry for its “silence” over the ongoing and deadly impact of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

The letter, published on the first day of Cannes and initially signed by more than 370 actors and filmmakers, also condemned Israel’s killing of Fatma Hassona, the protagonist of festival-bound doc “Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk.”

The new signatories also includes the likes of Rooney Mara, Jim Jarmusch, Omar Sy, Peter Straughan, Camille Cottin, Michael Moore, Boots Riley and Alice Rohrwacher.

The letter urged cinema — which it said was a “breeding ground for socially committed works” — to use its art form to “draw lessons from history, to make films that are committed” and to be “present to protect oppressed voices.”

The...

This year’s Italian presence at Cannes – one entry in competition by veteran auteur Mario Martone and two by young directors that landed slots in Un Certain Regard – accurately reflects the current state of Cinema Italiano.

Broadly speaking, following a protracted growth spurt, there has been a slowdown in production activity caused by the fact that the government has been dithering with modifications on tax incentives for local film and TV productions, which has stalled the greenlight process, especially for bigger-budget Italian movies.

But even though getting films financed has gotten tougher, a new generation of directors is bubbling under, alongside well-known names such as Paolo Sorrentino, Luca Guadagnino, Alice Rohrwacher and Nanni Moretti.

“I have the impression that once again we are seeing young [Italian] directors emerging and this is formidable,” Thierry Fremaux noted while announcing the lineup. The Cannes boss went on to add that “Italy is historically a...

The French Riviera is set to host international cinema again this year. Getting featured in the Cannes Film Festival is a lifelong ambition for many filmmakers, and once again, its 78th edition is going to fulfill many of these dreams. The Festival will take place from May 13 to May 24, 2025, and this year is particularly interesting for some new reasons.

One of the reasons is the recent announcement by President Donald Trump about potential tariffs on films from countries across the border. Other than these, there will be the usual glamorous red carpets, neck-to-neck competition, and maybe a bit of political drama as well, which makes the Cannes Film Festival a special event.

Jury of the Cannes Film Festival 2025

The jury lineup is quite stacked this year. It’s French actress Juliette Binoche who is leading the Main Competition jury, and she is joined by a talented team. Halle Berry’s...

Exclusive: Italian screen icon Monica Bellucci has signed with Artist International Group for management.

The Matrix Reloaded and Passion of the Christ actress is known for her eclectic filmography in a range of languages. Her accolades include a David Di Donatello award and a Cesar nomination.

Actress and model Bellucci first rose to prominence in the 1990s with performances in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and The Apartment, which earned her a César nomination, followed by Under Suspicion, Malèna, and Irréversible.

She made history at age 50 as the oldest-ever Bond Girl, playing Lucia Sciarra in Spectre.

Recent credits include the French series Call My Agent! (playing a version of herself) and the action thriller Memory opposite Liam Neeson and Guy Pearce. Other notable films include The Wonders, directed by Alice Rohrwacher and winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, and The Man Who Sold His Skin by Kaouther Ben Hania, which...

Alongside physical infrastructure, improving and augmenting the local workforce is a key pillar of French president Emmanuel Macron’s France 2030 plan, his 30 billion euro ($34 billion) roadmap for investment and innovation.

“Top-tier technicians are the foundation of the entire French ecosystem,” says Arnaud Roland, who oversees the France 2030 project for the national film agency Cnc. “That’s why professional training programs are integrated into every aspect of our modernization efforts. Our competitive edge goes beyond locations; it lies in the combination of diverse landscapes, modern infrastructure, and, most importantly, highly adaptable crews.”

As France 2030 targets doubling the workforce in animation and VFX, public investment covers every stage of the creative process — from scriptwriting and costume design to construction and compositing. A recent beneficiary of this funding, the Paris film school La Fémis, will soon launch a new course teaching designers to blend traditional techniques with the LED-wall technologies required for virtual production.

Exclusive: Fandango Sales has appointed former The Match Factory exec Laura Nacher as Head of International Sales.

The appointment comes as the sales arm of Rome-based film company Fandango gears up for a major international push.

Nacher, who was previously Head of Sale Operations at The Match Factory, brings more than 12 years of experience in the international film sales sector.

She will make her first market outing with the company at the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film this month, where it will present a first promo of Francesca Archibugi’s new film Illusion to buyers.

Nacher will report directly to Raffaella Di Giulio, Managing Director of Fandango Sales. Di Giulio will continue to oversee all sales and acquisitions activities, while also contributing to the company’s co-production strategy.

“I’m very excited for Laura to join the Fandango Sales team—and more broadly, the Fandango family. I’m...

UK filmmaker and cinematographer Molly Manning Walker will preside over the jury of Cannes Film Festival’s sidebar Un Certain Regard.

Walker’s debut feature How To Have Sex premiered in the strand in 2023 where it won the top prize.

Joining Walker is French-Swiss director and screenwriter Louise Courvoisier, whose debut Holy Cow won the youth award in Un Certain Regard in 2024, and Italian filmmaker Roberto Minervini who took home best director the same year for The Damned.

Rounding out the jury is Vanja Kaludjercic, director of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and Argentinian actor Nahuel Pérez Biscayart.

There are...

Halle Berry and Jeremy Strong have been appointed to the main competition jury for the 78th Cannes Film Festival, joining previously announced jury president Juliette Binoche. The festival will take place from May 14 to May 24.

The full jury includes Berry, Strong, Payal Kapadia, Alba Rohrwacher, Hong Sangsoo, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi, and Carlos Reygadas. They will award the Palme d’Or and other prizes among the 21 films selected for competition. Winners are scheduled to be announced on May 24.

Berry became the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress for Monster’s Ball. Her credits include Jungle Fever, Swordfish, X-Men, Cloud Atlas, and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. She directed her first film, Bruised, in 2020 and has co-produced several recent projects, including Alexandre Aja’s Never Let Go.

Kapadia won the Grand Prix at Cannes last year with All We Imagine As Light, bringing India back into the...

The Cannes Film Festival has put together a powerful jury for its 78th edition, including Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong (“The Apprentice”) and Payal Kapadia, the Indian filmmaker of “All We Imagine as Light.”

Mixing actors, filmmakers and authors, the jury will also comprise of South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo; Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher; French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani; Congolese director, documentarist and producer Dieudo Hamadi; and Mexican filmmaker and producer Carlos Reygadas. As previously announced, Juliette Binoche will preside over the jury, succeeding Greta Gerwig who handed out the Palme d’Or to Sean Baker’s “Anora.”

Both Strong and Kapadia were at Cannes last year, in competition. Strong presented Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” in which he starred as Roy Cohn, while Kapadia was there with her fiction debut, “All We Imagine as Light” which won the Grand Prize.

Berry became the first African-American woman to win best actress at...

An all-star line-up, including actors Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong, and Alba Rohrwacher, auteur directors Hong Sangsoo, Payal Kapadia, and Carlos Reygadas, French Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, and Congolese documentarist Dieudo Hamadi will join Oscar-winning French star Juliette Binoche on this year’s international jury for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.

The group will pick the winners of this year’s Palme d’Or for best film.

From left to right: Jeremy Strong, Alba Rohrwacher, Dieudo Hamadi, Leïla Slimani, Juliette Binoche, Halle Berry, Carlos Reygadas, Payal Kapadia, Hong Sangsoo

Strong and Kapadie return to Cannes after a triumphant 2024, which saw the U.S. actor impress on the Croisette as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, a turn that would earn him a best-supporting Oscar nomination this year, and the Indian director win the festival’s Grand Prix with her debut feature, All We Imagine As Light.

Rohrwacher and Reygadas are Cannes regulars. The...

Halle Berry, Payal Kapadia, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi, Hong Sangsoo, Carlos Reygadas and Jeremy Strong have been announced as members of the Cannes Film Festival’s main Competition jury for its 78th edition running from May 13 to May 24.

They join previously announced Jury President Juliet Binoche. Together, they will award the Palme d’Or to one of the 21 films in the main Competition, as well as the Grand Prix, Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor awards.

U.S. Actress and filmmaker Berry was the first African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Marc Forster’s Monster’s Ball (2002).

Alternating between blockbusters and independent productions, her credits include Jungle Fever (1991), Dorothy Dandridge (1999), X-Men (1999), Swordfish (2002), Die Another Day (2003), Gothika (2003), Frankie & Alice (2011), Cloud Atlas (2012), Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and John Wick Parabellum (2019).

In 2020, she directed her first film, Bruised. Also a producer,...

Easter isn’t just about chocolate eggs and springtime flowers. It’s a time of renewal, hope, and quiet reflection. Whether you’re spending it with family or enjoying a peaceful moment alone, the right film can help set the mood. These movies capture the essence of Easter in different ways—through faith, innocence, kindness, or the simple joy of being alive. Some are spiritual, some heartwarming, and a few just feel like a fresh start. Here’s a small list of movies that reflect what Easter is about.

It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

This animated classic is a gentle and funny reminder of childhood Easter traditions. As the Peanuts gang prepares for the holiday, Snoopy’s antics as the Easter Beagle bring laughter and warmth. While it’s lighthearted, the themes of belief and tradition make it meaningful. The idea that joy can arrive when you least...

Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher has been selected to preside over the Caméra d’Or jury at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, running May 13-24.

The Caméra d’Or (golden camera) is awarded to thebest first feature film in Cannes’ Official Selection, or in the parallel Critics’ Week or Directors’ Fortnight sections.

Last year’s prize went to Norwegian director Halfdan Ullmann Tøondel for his Un Certain Regard premiereArmand.

Rohrwacher is a Cannes regular whose own debut featureHeavenly Bodypremiered in Directors’ Fortnight in 2011 and her follow-up filmThe Wonderswon the Grand Prix in Competition in 2014.

Her 2018 filmHappy As Lazzaroscreened in Competition and...

Gold Derby's top news stories for April 18, 2025. 

Darth Maul animated series in the works at Disney+

At the Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, Lucasfilm announced that a new animated series about iconic, double-ended-lightsaber-wielding Sith lord Darth Maul, titled Maul - Shadow Lord, is coming to Disney+ in 2026. Sam Witwer will return to voice Maul, having voice the character several times previously. The series is set after the events of the final season of animated series The Clone Wars, and follows Maul as he rises again to lead the underworld factions.

Conan O'Brien Must Go Season 2 gets trailer and premiere date

Conan O'Brien Must Go, Max's Emmy-winning travel comedy series, will return for Season 2 on May 8. In the three-episode season, Conan O'Brien visits Spain, Austria, and New Zealand, with guest appearances by Javier Bardem and Taika Waititi. New episodes debut weekly on Thursdays, concluding with the season finale on May...

Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher might be the most caffeinated filmmaker on the Croisette this year. After gifting us her first masterwork in La Chimera (read review) at Cannes 2023, Rohrwacher returns — she has been chosen to chair the Jury of the Caméra d’Or – which means she gets to watch all the debut features on the Croisette.

Beginning with the surprise opening film Partir un jour by Amélie Bonnin, she’ll be moving from Debussy with at least eight offerings in the Un Certain Regard, the same amount in the Directors’ Fortnight section and a half dozen in the Critics’ Week.…...

This year’s Cannes Camera d’Or jury will be led by a very familiar face to the festival faithful: Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher. Following last year’s duo of jury chairs, Emmanuelle Béart and Baloji, Rohrwacher will chair the group that honors a first feature film presented in the fest’s Official Selection, at the Critics’ Week, or the Directors’ Fortnight. In 2024, the Caméra d’or went to Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel for “Armand,” which premiered at Un Certain Regard.

“First times are always important and they stay with us for the rest of our lives,” said Rohrwacher in an official statement. “Like entering an unfamiliar room, approaching one’s beloved for a first kiss, or landing on a foreign shore. There’s something golden that haloes these moments in our memory. Is that why the most prestigious award for first films is called Caméra d’Or?”

“La Chimera” and...

Italian director and screenwriter Alice Rohrwacher has been chosen to chair the Jury of the Caméra d’or. She follows in the footsteps of last year’s joint chairs Emmanuelle Béart and Baloji.

This award honors a first feature film presented in the Official Selection, at the Critics’ Week or the Directors’ Fortnight. Rohrwacher will also recognize a filmmaker’s debut at the Closing Ceremony of the 78th Festival de Cannes on Saturday May 24.

In 2024, the Caméra d’or went to Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel for Armand which premiered at Un Certain Regard. The 78th Festival de Cannes will take place from Tuesday May 13 to Saturday May 24, 2025.

Rohrwacher said:

“First times are always important, and they stay with us for the rest of our lives. Like entering an unfamiliar room, approaching one’s beloved for a first kiss, or landing on a foreign shore. There’s something golden that haloes these moments in our memory.

Italian director Alice Rohrwacher, whose works “The Wonders,” “Happy as Lazzaro” and “La Chimera” competed in Cannes, will preside over the jury for the Cannes Film Festival’s Caméra d’Or prize. The award is given to a first work across the official selection as well as in the Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight sections.

“First times are always important and they stay with us for the rest of our lives,” Rohrwacher said in a statement. “Like entering an unfamiliar room, approaching one’s beloved for a first kiss, or landing on a foreign shore. There’s something golden that haloes these moments in our memory. Is that why the most prestigious award for first films is called Caméra d’Or?”

Rohrwacher’s longstanding rapport with Cannes started with her first feature, coming-of-age drama “Heavenly Body” (“Corpo Celeste”), which launched at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2011 and went on to play...

Italian director and screenwriter Alice Rohrwacher (La Chimera, Heavenly Body) has been chosen to chair the jury of the Caméra d’or, the Golden Camera jury, in Cannes. This award honors the best first feature film presented in the Official Selection at the Critics’ Week or the Directors’ Fortnight.

Rohrwacher, “whose delicate work blossomed in Cannes,” as organizers noted Friday, will recognize a filmmaker’s debut at the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday, May 24.

Last year, the award went to Halfdan Ullmann Tondel for Armand, which premiered in the Cannes festival’s Un Certain Regard section.

“First times are always important and they stay with us for the rest of our lives,” said Rohrwacher. “Like entering an unfamiliar room, approaching one’s beloved for a first kiss, or landing on a foreign shore. There’s something golden that haloes these moments in our memory. Is...

In 2021, Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi and Alice Rohrwacher made Futura, a documentary in which young Italians discuss their feelings and philosophies, their ambitions and their thoughts about the future. Christina Friedrich’s The Night Is Dark And Colder Than The Day, which premièred at the 2025 Rotterdam International Film Festival, takes a similar approach with younger German children, but is tonally very different. Navigating fears, dreams and dark imaginings, it has a folkloric depth to it even as it seems acutely relevant to the present, to our changing world.

The film was very much driven by the children themselves. Having appeared in her previous work, Zone, they were keen to make something of their own. It’s not clear quite how much fact has been tinged with fiction, but the ideas are the children’s own, and this adds to the sense of strangeness about it. No effort is made to connect.

Playing a traumatized nightclub singer made her a star, but to finally win over the Academy, Isabella Rossellini had to play a nosy nun.

Rossellini received her first-ever Oscar nomination on Thursday, scoring a nomination in the best supporting actress category for her role as Sister Agnes in Edward Berger’s Vatican-set thriller Conclave. Her competition includes Ariana Grande for Wicked, Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez.

Both of Rossellini’s parents were Oscar nominees — her mother Ingrid Bergman was nominated an astounding 7 times, winning best actress 3 times, while father Roberto Rossellini received a screenwriting nom in 1950 — but it took this nepo-baby nearly 40 years to translate her overnight success into Academy acclaim.

Rossellini’s iconic role as tortured crooner Dorothy Vallens in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) won her an Independent Spirit Award for best female lead but the...

Has there been a bigger breakout performance in recent memory than Mikey Madison in Sean Baker‘s “Anora“? With the actress currently the most awarded actress this awards season, Madison will have all sorts of directors lining up to work with her. But who does she want to work with the most?

Continue reading Who Would Mikey Madison Like To Work With Next? Luca Guadagnino & Alice Rohrwacher: “I Would Just Pass Out” at The Playlist.

Mikey Madison is entering the New Year with yet another accolade: the National Board of Review's Breakthrough Performance Award, which she received at their Awards Gala on January 7th. The actor's performance in Sean Baker's newest film, Anora, has continued to receive acclaim, as the 2024 film has topped numerous lists as one of the best films of the year. As Madison looks toward the future of her career, she has also revealed which directors she would like to work with next.

In an interview with IndieWire after receiving the award mentioned above, Madison discussed which directors she would like to work with next. She said, “I love Alice Rohrwacher. I say her name a lot. I love Luca Guadagnino; I would just pass out.” Guadagnino has been receiving plenty of award attention of his own for two films he also released this past year: Challengers in April and Queer in December.

The National Board of Review held its annual Awards Gala Tuesday, January 7 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. This year 246 films were viewed by a select group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers, professionals, academics, and students to celebrate the art of cinema from the last year.

Mikey Madison was honored with the Breakthrough Performance Award for her role in Sean Baker’s “Anora,” making her the most awarded actress of the current awards season thus far. Coming back to NYC from the Golden Globes on Sunday, Madison is still beaming with light as she makes her rounds on the awards circuit.

“I’ve met so many incredible women who I’ve admired for so long and have made wonderful friends, so I think that’s what I’ll take away from all of this,” she told IndieWire of what she takes away most from all of the circuit buzz and experiences.

Illustrations by Stephanie Lane Gage.As the year draws to a close, we’d like to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our contributors. Here are some of their finest essays, interviews, festival coverage, and more from this year. We’re looking forward to much more in the new one. As always, thank you for reading.ESSAYSIllustration by Zoé Mahamès Peters.The current cinema:Sasha Frere-Jones on Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Eiko Ishibashi’s GIFTPhilippa Snow on Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor ThingsAdam Nayman on Pascal Plante’s Red RoomsCassie da Costa on RaMell Ross’s Nickel BoysAmanda Chen on Trương Minh Quý’s Việt and NamSanoja Bhaumik on Felipe Gálvez Haberle’s The SettlersNathalie Olah on Andrea Arnold’s BirdRobert Rubsam on Alice Rohrwacher’s La chimeraGrace Byron on Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV GlowZach Schonfeld on M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap and Michael Showalter’s The Idea of YouSam...

Illustrations by Stephanie Lane Gage.The results of our seventeenth annual writers poll are in! Every year, we ask our contributors to program a fantasy double feature, placing one new release and one older film back to back, coaxing out subtle resonances or following a thread—of theme, genre, performance—through the years. We invite you to test out some of these inspired combinations for yourself over the holidays. If journalism is the first draft of history, maybe this feature can be the first draft of film culture to come. Here’s to another year of great cinema.{{notebook_form}}Dylan AdamsonMegalopolis + Pandora and the Flying DutchmanFrom the nowhere-shore of the mind to the nowhere-horizon of the future, a boat casts off, possessed of a clarity of purpose that will be reserved from our view. Shaking off the accumulated dust of two thousand years of human culture, one of...

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has unveiled the “longlists” for 2025 — and “Emilia Pérez” leads the competition, landing 15 spots. The longlists narrow the field in 25 different categories for the 2025 Ee British Academy Film Awards, which will take place on Feb. 16.

“Emilia Pérez” scored slots on lists including best film, director (for Jacques Audiard), leading actress (Karla Sofía Gascón) and supporting actress. Just behind it is “Conclave,” which popped up on 14 lists that include best film, director (Edward Berger) and leading actor (Ralph Fiennes).

Next in line, appearing on 11 lists, are “The Substance,” “The Brutalist” and “A Complete Unknown,” followed by “Wicked” and “Dune: Part Two” on 10 lists and “Anora” and “Gladiator 2” on nine. All but “Gladiator 2” are on the longlist for best film. But bright side: Denzel Washington is on the supporting actor list. (The two-time Oscar winner has never been nominated for a BAFTA.

Emilia Pérez and Conclave led the British Academy of Film and Television Arts longlist selections on Friday, the first step toward securing BAFTA Awards nominations when the list of official 2025 award contenders is revealed on Jan. 15.

Netflix’s top contender Emilia Pérez landed on 15 longlists — tying a record set by Netflix’s All Quiet on the Western Front two years ago and Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Barbie last year. Among its mentions were Best Film, Best Film Not in English Language, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jacques Audiard, and four longlist nods for its quartet of actresses — with Karla Sofia Gascon hitting the lead actress longlist and co-stars Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz all appearing on the supporting actress longlist. The four actresses shared the Best Actress honors at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where Emilia Pérez made its debut.

Conclave was second with 14 longlist mentions,...

BAFTA on Friday unveiled its longlists for this year’s film awards with Emilia Pérez, Conclave, A Complete Unknown, The Brutalist and The Substance setting the pace.

Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical tops the longlists (15), including leading actress and supporting actress mentions for Karla Sofia Gascon, Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez. Edward Berger’s Conclave follows with 14 nods, including leading actor and supporting actor for Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, respectively.

After that, it’s a three-way tie between Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (11). Sean Baker’s Anora is honored with nine mentions on the longlists, including for lead star Mikey Madison. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are included for their roles in Jon M. Chu’s Wicked, and Timothée Chalamet is among the leading actor list for his performance in A Complete Unknown.

Round two of voting kicks off Friday,...

Bafta has unveiled the round two voting longlists for its 2024 film awards, with Emilia Perez leading the way with 15 spots followed by Conclave with 14.

Eighty films have been longlisted across 25 categories, including the new children’s and family film award – the first new category at the Bafta film awards for five years.

Scroll down for the full longlists

After Emilia Perez and Conclave, three films tied with 11 spots on the lists: James Mangold’s Bob Dylan story A Complete Unknown, Brady Corbet’s Venice title The Brutalist and Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes Competition entry The Substance.

Blockbusters Dune: Part Two...

Women directors made notable contributions to filmmaking in 2024, but the numbers show the industry still has a long way to go in terms of equal representation. Films such as The Fire Inside by Rachel Morrison, Babygirl by Halina Reijn, and The Substance by Coralie Fargeat showcased exceptional talent, yet women remained underrepresented behind the camera.

According to studies from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film and USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, progress for female directors has plateaued, with minimal gains compared to previous years.

In 2024, women accounted for only 16% of directors for the 250 highest-grossing films, matching the 2023 percentage. The numbers dropped further for the top 100 films, where women directed just 11%, a decrease from 2023.

Similarly, USC’s report found that women helmed 13.4% of the top 100 movies in 2024, slightly up from 12.1% in 2023. These figures highlight how rare opportunities remain for women to take on leadership roles in the industry.

From thrillers like “Babygirl” and “Love Lies Bleeding” to genre-bending horror flicks like “The Substance” to inspirational sports dramas like “The Fire Inside,” women directed some of last year’s most audacious and acclaimed films. However, those female filmmakers remained the exception, not the rule.

Women accounted for just 16% of directors working on the 250 highest-grossing domestic releases, according to new research from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. That was even with the percentage of films directed by women in 2023. And the situation didn’t improve as you climb up the box office chart — women directed just 11% of the 100 most popular films, down three percentage points from 2023.

Some of these films, such as Rachel Morrison’s “The Fire Inside,” were released at the end of 2024 and have yet to finalize their box office tally, while others such as Anna Kendrick...

On Falling, the debut feature from Laura Carreira is among the titles set to feature as part of the Ingmar Bergman Competition at this year’s Göteborg Film Festival.

On Falling follows Aurora, a young Portuguese woman who struggles to make ends meet across one week in her adopted home of Glasgow, Scotland. Long days spent grabbing packages off shelves for an anonymous e-commerce giant barely cover the bills and leave her exhausted and desperate for something more. Per the synopsis: Aurora seeks to resist the loneliness, alienation, and ensuing small talk that begin to threaten her sense of self. Set against a landscape dominated by an algorithm-driven gig economy, designed to keep us apart. The film was produced by Jack Thomas-o’Brien of Sixteen Films alongside the Portuguese-based Bro Cinema. Backers include BBC Film, BFI, and Screen Scotland. Conic will release the pic in UK cinemas in early 2025.

Other titles...

In Savanna and the Mountain, the real villagers of Covas do Barroso in Northern Portugal do battle with Savannah Resources, a real British company looking to turn large areas of their Unesco-protected region into Europe’s largest lithium mine. As moral showdowns go, it’s an easy one to get behind, certainly enough to warrant director Paulo Carneiro presenting his film and their story like a fable: casting locals to play themselves in scripted scenes, and framing the struggle like a pastiche of ’70s Westerns. Not everything clicks, but that relatively novel approach, the urgency of the situation––this conflict began as recently as 2019 and is still ongoing––and Carneiro’s connection to the region build enough goodwill to forgive a few shortcomings.

One particular sticking point is how it allows the viewer to not feel especially complicit. That the laptop I’m typing this on and the phone...

I think it’s been a great year for cinema. Maybe even better than last year. According to my Letterboxd I didn’t give any film that came out in 2023 the heralded five stars but this year I’ve given that score twice, and a lot of four and a halves to go with. Scores are, of course, arbitrary, but it’s interesting to look back and see how things have played out on a macro level. It’s been a great year for cinema visits too, with lots of screenings locally as well as a day trip to the Prince Charles Cinema in London to watch David Lynch’s Inland Empire. What a wonderful, baffling fever dream (nightmare?) of a film. Watching it on the big screen with a loyal, and slightly stoned, audience was one of those experiences that just got me hyped about cinema again. Will definitely...

Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist and Sean Baker’s Anora lead the nominations for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards 2025, announced today, December 19.

Both films are nominated in seven categories, followed by Edward Berger’s Conclave and The Substance on six nominations each and Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez with five.

All of the above films are nominated in film of the year alongside Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap, RaMell Ross’ Nickel Boys, and Robert Eggers’Nosferatu.

Conclave and Kneecap are also nominated in British/Irish film of...

Sean Baker’s “Anora” and Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” have topped the 45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards nominations with seven nods each.

Edward Berger’s “Conclave” and Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” followed with six nominations each, while Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” secured five nods. Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths” and Rich Peppiatt’s “Kneecap” each received four nominations.

The Film of the Year race features 10 contenders: Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine As Light,” “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” Alice Rohrwacher’s “La Chimera,” “Conclave,” “Emilia Pérez,” “Kneecap,” RaMell Ross’ “Nickel Boys,” Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu,” and “The Substance.”

In the performance categories, Actress of the Year nominations went to Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”), Nicole Kidman (“Babygirl”), Mikey Madison (“Anora”), Demi Moore (“The Substance”), and Saoirse Ronan (“The Outrun”). The Actor of the Year category features Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”), Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Daniel Craig (“Queer”), Colman Domingo...