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Maha Haj

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Maha Haj

New Oscar Voters: Ariana Grande, Fernanda Torres, Kieran Culkin, Jeremy Strong and 530 More Invited to Join Academy
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Recent Oscar winners Kieran Culkin and Mikey Madison, along with nominees Ariana Grande, Fernanda Torres, Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong, are among the 534 distinguished artists and executives invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

These individuals have been recognized for their exceptional contributions to the art and science of filmmaking, representing a diverse spectrum of talent, perspectives and geographic backgrounds.

If all invitees accept, the Academy’s total membership will rise to 11,120, including 10,143 voting members. Invitees hail from 60 countries and territories outside the United States, contributing to the Academy’s increasing international profile.

“We are thrilled to welcome this esteemed class of artists, technologists and professionals into the Academy,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy president Janet Yang in a joint statement. “This year’s class embodies the diversity and global breadth of today’s film community, and their inclusion will continue to enrich the Academy’s mission and work.
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 6/26/2025
  • by Clayton Davis
  • Variety Film + TV
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Film Academy Invites 534 to Become Members, Including Mikey Madison, Ariana Grande, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel and Tom Quinn
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2025 Academy Award winners Mikey Madison, Kieran Culkin and Lol Crawley and nominees Ariana Grande, Sebastian Stan and Brandi Carlile have been invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as have other notables including incumbent Oscars host Conan O’Brien, his predecessor Jimmy Kimmel and their respective producers; top executives Tom Quinn of Neon, Jason Ropell of Mubi, Ravi Ahuja of Sony and Shannon Ryan of Disney; plus WME president Ari Greenburg, entertainment lawyer Nina Shaw and Christian Hodell, managing partner of the leading U.K. talent agency Hamilton Hodell.

The list of 534 invitees, released Thursday morning by the Academy, is the largest one issued since 2020, the last year of a half-decade stretch in which the organization recruited huge classes of unprecedented diversity, ranging in size from 683 to a record 928, as part of its response to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of 2015 and 2016. Subsequent classes were smaller: 395 in...
See full article at The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
  • 6/26/2025
  • by Scott Feinberg
  • The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Abbas’s Inheritance Drama Wins Best Film and Director at Arab Critics Awards
Nabil Ayouch
Laila Abbas’s debut feature Thank You for Banking With Us! swept top honors at the 9th Critics Awards for Arab Films, held May 17 during the Cannes Film Festival. The Palestinian director received Best Film and Best Director for her drama, which exposes gendered inheritance rules under Islamic Sharia law as two sisters race against time to claim their father’s estate.

Morocco’s Everybody Loves Touda earned Best Screenplay for Nabil Ayouch and Maryam Touzani, while lead actress Nisrin Erradi won Best Actress for her portrayal of a village poet determined to chase her dreams despite familial obligations. The film premiered last year in Cannes’s Premiere section and drew praise for its compassionate telling of a woman’s quest in rural Morocco.

Adam Bessa took Best Actor for Ghost Trail, a French-Tunisian thriller in which his character tracks Syrian regime figures across Europe and confronts his own former captor.
See full article at Gazettely
  • 5/17/2025
  • by Naser Nahandian
  • Gazettely
The 15 Best West-Central-South Asian Films of 2024
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Although Iran continues to hold the sceptres in the region as its largest movie industry, the cinema of other countries from the region finds an increasing numbers of way out, with Kazakhstan’s genre movies for example. At the same time, festivals all around the world continue to nurture movies from the region, whose approach is definitely of independent style, but not exactly arthouse, at least not all the time. “Songs of Adam” and “Seed of the Sacred Fig” definitely stood out this year due to their quality, just like “Sima’s Song” and “From Ground Zero” did for their significance

Without further ado, here are the best West-Central Asian (rest of Asia one could say) films of 2024, in random order. Some films may have premiered in 2023, but since they mostly circulated in 2024, we decided to include them.

15. Dastur

One of the reasons “Dastur” fared so well at the domestic...
See full article at AsianMoviePulse
  • 1/7/2025
  • by AMP Group
  • AsianMoviePulse
Maha Haj’s Upshot takes home 2 awards from 77th Locarno Film Festival
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After a successful world premiere at the 77th Locarno Film Festival – where the film competed at the Pardi di Domani – Corti d'Autore Competition – Maha Haj's poignant Palestinian short Upshot took home with the Pardino d'Oro Swiss Life for Best Auteur Short Film Award and the Junior Jury Award for the Best Auteur Short Film at the Swiss festival's closing ceremony on Saturday Aug 17, where Haj herself received the award.

The film received widespread audience and critical acclaim, with Samuel Lembo of Sinistra.ch saying, “[The film] is a punch to the gut and a strong blow to the heart. [It's] a roar for Palestine at Locarno.”

Meanwhile, film critic Mohamed Reda described the film as “one of the best films [he's] seen this year,” gushing about it in The Middle East Newspaper and praising its acting, comparing it to a “harmonious musical duet.”

“Everything fits in its place, and the rhythm is fluid,...
See full article at AsianMoviePulse
  • 8/19/2024
  • by Suzie Cho
  • AsianMoviePulse
Film Review: Upshot (2024) by Maha Haj
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Palestinian filmmaker Maha Haj seems to have found the recipe for success in the festival circuit, since, after the multi screened and awarded “Mediterranean Fever”, her latest work, the short “Upshot” went home with the Pardino d'Oro Swiss Life for Best Auteur Short Film Award and the Junior Jury Award for Best Auteur Short Film in Locarno. It is also a film that highlights both her rising competence as a filmmaker and the progress of short filmmaking in Asia in general.

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Suleiman and Lubna, a retired doctor and a housewife, are a couple who have retreated to an isolated farm, in a fashion that many people in the Mediterranean tend to do when they get older. They spend their days tending the fields (him) and the house (her) while, as most couples their age, bickering about their children, whom they...
See full article at AsianMoviePulse
  • 8/19/2024
  • by Panos Kotzathanasis
  • AsianMoviePulse
Lithuanian Teen Drama ‘Toxic’ Wins Big at Locarno Film Festival
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Lithuanian cinema, not typically that well represented on the international film festival circuit, was the big story of this year’s Locarno Film Festival awards ceremony, with two films from the Baltic nation taking a number of top prizes between them.

“Toxic,” an auspicious debut from writer-director Saulė Bliuvaitė, won not only the Golden Leopard for Best Film in the fest’s premier International Competition — from a jury chaired by Austrian auteur Jessica Hausner — but also, in an unusual double, the top prize in the separately juried First Feature Competition. Bliuvaitė’s compatriot Laurynas Bareiša, meanwhile, won Best Director in the International Competition for his sophomore feature “Drowning Dry,” while the same film’s ensemble also collectively took one of the jury’s gender-neutral acting prizes.

A hard-hitting study of alliances and rivalries between teenage girls enrolled at a modeling school in small-town Lithuania, “Toxic” stood out in the Competition...
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 8/17/2024
  • by Guy Lodge
  • Variety Film + TV
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Mad picks up Cannes titles ‘Ghost Trail’, ‘The Village Next To Paradise’ for Mena (exclusive)
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Cairo-based Mad Distribution has acquired Jonathan Millet’s Critics’ Week opener Ghost Trail from mk2 Films, Somali director Mo Harawe’s Un Certain Regard drama The Village Next To Paradise from Totem Films and Anne-Marie Jacir’s upcoming All Before You for release in the Middle East and North Africa.

They are three of 30 titles secured by Mad Distribution for Mena territories, which also include Saif Hammash’s Palestinian short Deer’s Tooth, selected for La Cinef, and Rayane Mcirdi’s Algerian-French short After The Sun, which plays in Directors’ Fortnight.

The distribution arm of indie studio Mad Solutions plans...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 5/18/2024
  • ScreenDaily
Venice title ‘Heartless’ and Burak Cevik drama among 13 projects backed by Berlinale World Cinema Fund
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Projects from Bhutan to Brazil to receive production and distribution funding.

The Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (Wcf) has revealed 13 features it will support with a share of $380,000 in production and distribution funding.

Projects include Nothing In Its Place by Turkish filmmaker Burak Çevik, whose features The Pillar Of Salt, Belonging and Forms Of Forgetting each premiered at the Berlinale Forum.

His latest focuses on one of Turkey’s most bloody political massacres, which took place in the country’s capital of Ankara in 1978, and focuses on the night when a group of leftist youths who believed in unarmed revolution...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 8/7/2023
  • by Michael Rosser
  • ScreenDaily
‘Saint Omer’ Takes Top Honors At 34th Palm Springs Film Festival
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Legal docudrama Saint Omer was voted Best Picture at the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which announced this year’s juried award winners today.

Saint Omer wins for its ability “to expertly interrogate issues of society, culture, race, and gender,” the festival release stated. “Alice Diop, as screenwriter and director, delivers a film that explores different dynamics of Black women in contemporary France, drawing empathetic lead performances from Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanga. By harnessing the skills of her technical team, Diop turns Saint Omer into a shrewd, cogent, ambitious, and overwhelming film which teases a metafictional awareness while remaining clear-eyed and unsentimental.”

The Palm Springs festival took place from January 5-16 and screened 134 films from 64 countries, including 27 premieres. The lineup includes 35 of the International Feature Film Oscar submissions.

The jury award categories included the Fipresci Prize for films...
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 1/15/2023
  • by Bruce Haring
  • Deadline Film + TV
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Palm Springs Film Festival Announces Its 2023 Lineup
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Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Sally Field star in ’80 For Brady’ from Paramount Pictures.

The world premiere of 80 for Brady starring Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno, and Lily Tomlin will open the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Festival on Friday, January 6, 2023, and The Lost King from director Stephen Frears will close the festival on Sunday, January 15th. In between, Psiff will screen 132 films including the world premiere of the documentary Shot in the Arm.

“We are beyond excited to welcome back our beloved audience and filmmakers in Palm Springs. We’re especially thrilled to be joined by all four leads of 80 For Brady. The film is brimming with joy and heart, and it’s a perfect film to kick off our 34th edition,” said Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez. “Our programmers have dedicated almost a year to scouting the world for the films that make up this edition.
See full article at Showbiz Junkies
  • 12/6/2022
  • by Rebecca Murray
  • Showbiz Junkies
International Film Festival Of India Unveils 15-Title Competition Section, Including ‘Mediterranean Fever’, ‘When the Waves Are Gone’, ‘The Storyteller’
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The International Film Festival Of India (Iffi) has announced the 15 films that will screen in competition at this year’s edition of the annual event, including recent festival favourites such as Maha Haj’s Mediterranean Fever and Lav Diaz’ When The Waves Are Gone, and three Indian films, including recent Busan premiere The Storyteller.

The selection of 12 international titles also includes Syrian filmmaker Soudade Kaadan’s Nezouh; Next Sohee, from South Korea’s Jung Ju-ri; Red Shoes, from Japan’s Toshiro Saiga; Cold As Marble, from Azerbaijan’s Asif Rustamov; Seven Dogs, from Argentina’s Rodrigo Guerrero; Ursula Meier’s The Line (La Ligne); Valentina Maurel’s I Have Electric Dreams, and two Iranian films – Dariush Mehrjui’s A Minor and Nader Saeivar’s No End.

South Asia is also represented by Maarya: The Ocean Angel, about a group of fishermen disturbed by a sex doll they find in the sea,...
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 11/14/2022
  • by Liz Shackleton
  • Deadline Film + TV
Festival Standouts and Local Flavor Mark Buzzy Marrakech Selection
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Boasting a selection of 76 films from 33 countries spread across seven sections, this year’s Marrakech Film Festival will offer no shortage of cinematic treasure. Running over Nov. 11 – 19, the festival’s 19th edition will open with “Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” ahead of gala screenings of James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” Paul Schrader’s “Master Gardener,” and Sally El Hosaini’s “The Swimmers.”

While hosting a handful of world premieres – including Anurag Kashyap’s Bollywood-flavored “Almost Love,” to be presented outdoors at Marrakech’s Jemaa El Fna Square – this year’s festival will also spotlight a number of jewels from the festival circuit.

Below are fourteen standouts from this year’s program.

“Abdelinho” (dir. Hicham Ayouch) (Moroccan Panorama)

Satirical comedy “Abdelinho” follows a young Moroccan man with samba in his bones and Brazil ever on his mind. Director Hicham Ayouch’s bright crowd-pleaser is one of several finished projects to graduate...
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 11/11/2022
  • by Ben Croll
  • Variety Film + TV
Rotterdam film festival confirms full return in 2023 with first titles revealed
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Bright Future and Limelight titles first to be announced.

International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) and industry platform CineMart are set to fully return in-person in 2023, with its first wave of titles announced today.

The 52nd edition of the festival is scheduled to take place from January 25 to February 5 and organisers said it plans to welcome back audiences with a complete programme of features, shorts, focus programmes, installations and performances.

The 40th edition of IFFR’s co-production market CineMart is also set to run from January 29 to February 1, with one-to-one meetings and informal networking taking place in person for the first time in three years.
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 10/27/2022
  • by Michael Rosser
  • ScreenDaily
‘No Bears’, ‘Saint Omer’ among Chicago fest international selections (exclusive)
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Festival runs October 12-23.

Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Alice Diop’s Saint Omer, and Sergei Loznitsa’s The Natural History Of Destruction are among the international competitions line-up at the 58th Chicago International Film Festival next month.

This year’s competitions include 10 films receiving their North American premiere and 17 getting their US premiere as the entries vie for the festival’s Gold Hugo award in the categories of international feature, international documentary, and new directors.

The festival runs October 12-23. The full international competition line-ups are below.

Playing in International Feature Competition are: The Beasts (Sp-Fr), Rodrigo Sorogoyen, US premiere; Before,...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 9/16/2022
  • by Jeremy Kay
  • ScreenDaily
‘A New Old Play’, ‘Mediterranean Fever’ win Hong Kong Firebird Awards
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Films from China, Chile, Palestine and India picked up prizes.

Qui Jiongjiong’s A New Old Play and Maha Haj’s Mediterranean Fever picked up the top prizes at the Firebird Awards at the Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff).

A New Old Play won the Firebird Award for best film in the Chinese-language Young Cinema Competition. The story follows a family of Sichuan Opera artists living through a tumultuous era and the prize rounds out a year-long tour of festivals that began with Locarno last August and took in Busan, Tallinn Black Night, Rotterdam and Goteborg among others. The...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 8/31/2022
  • by Michael Rosser
  • ScreenDaily
‘A New Old Play’ and ‘Mediterranean Fever’ Claim Firebird Awards at Hong Kong Film Festival
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The delayed 46th edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival wrapped Wednesday with the award of 13 prizes for its young filmmaker, documentary and shorts competitions.

Hailed by the jury as “one of this year’s most distinguished films both creatively and artistically,” Qiu Jiongjiong’s “A New Old Play” was named best film for the Young Cinema Competition (Chinese Language). “A New Old Play” is a tale of a family of Sichuan Opera artists living through a tumultuous era. It also collected the Fipresci Prize, with the jury commending the film for “its masterful approach and inventive visual style.”

In the global category, Palestinian director Maha Haj’s “Mediterranean Fever” was chosen as the Firebird Award winner for being “an all-rounded gem that is at once a thriller, social comedy, and odd couple bromance.”

In the Chinese-language category, Hong Kong’s Mak Pui-tung won the best actor award for “The Sparring Partner.
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 8/31/2022
  • by Patrick Frater
  • Variety Film + TV
‘A Cat Called Dom,’ ‘Winners’ Triumph at Edinburgh
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Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson’s “A Cat Called Dom” won the Powell & Pressburger Award for best feature film at the 75th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), while Hassan Nazer’s “Winners” won the audience award.

The Powell & Pressburger jury also gave a special mention to Maha Haj’s “Mediterranean Fever.”

The Norman McLaren Award for British short animation went to “Stay” by Yu Sun, while the Norman McLaren Award for British short film went to “Canvas 5” by Karla Crome.

Anderson and Henderson said: “To screen our first feature at Eiff was an honor, but to take away the first Powell & Pressburger Award is just so special. ‘A Cat Called Dom’ is a film about embracing failure – after Eiff it now feels much more like a success.”

Nazer said: “Winning the audience award at Eiff means everything to me. I have been working towards this since I decided to become a filmmaker.
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 8/24/2022
  • by Naman Ramachandran
  • Variety Film + TV
Edinburgh’s top prize goes to ‘A Cat Called Dom’
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10 films were competing for the Powell and Pressburger award.

Scottish animators Will Anderson and Ainslie Henderson’s 60-minutes documentary A Cat Called Dom has won the inaugural Powell and Pressburger Award for best film at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Anderson and Henderson star in and co-direct the inventive documentary, which had its world premiere at Eiff. The film explores how Will deals with his mother’s cancer diagnosis and also the frustrations of trying to make a film.

The jury, comprised of president Gaylene Gould (founder of creative lab The Space to Come), producer Rosie Crerar and author Sarah Winman,...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 8/23/2022
  • by Wendy Mitchell
  • ScreenDaily
‘Where The Wind Blows’, ‘Warriors Of Future’ to open Hong Kong film festival
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The two titles are star-studded and long-postponed.

Two long-postponed and star-studded films – Philip Yung’s Where The Wind Blows and Ng Yuen Fai’s Warriors Of Future – will open the 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) in August. It was announced today (July 27) at a media event in Hong Kong.

Where The Wind Blows was selected as one of Hkiff’s opening films last year, but it pulled out just a few days before its world premiere due to “technical reasons”.

The crime drama features two of Asia’s biggest stars, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Aaron Kwok as two...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 7/27/2022
  • by Silvia Wong
  • ScreenDaily
Edinburgh International Film Festival Reveals 2022 Programme – Here All The Asian Titles
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Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced the programme for its fully in-person 75th Anniversary edition this year. The dynamic programme of cinema screenings, live performance and industry dialogues in Edinburgh in the heart of the August festival season welcomes attending UK & international filmmakers to present their work.

Full programme includes 87 new features, 12 short film programmes, and two large scale retrospectives that celebrate the 2022 Theme of the 50th Anniversary of the Women’s Film Festival in new Creative Director Kristy Matheson’s inaugural edition. 10 international feature films with over 50 female Directors or Co-Directors for the brand-new competitive section for ‘The Powell and Pressburger Award for Best Feature Film’.

Eiff 2022 Festival Theme:

In 1972, the Edinburgh International Film Festival presented the first global film event entirely dedicated to the cinematic achievements of female directors, curated by Claire Johnston, Lynda Myles, and Laura Mulvey. Honouring the spirit of this original programme provocation, Eiff’s...
See full article at AsianMoviePulse
  • 7/22/2022
  • by Adriana Rosati
  • AsianMoviePulse
Edinburgh Puts Accent On Women As It Unveils Full 75th Edition Line-Up; ‘Nude Tuesday’ Set For Gala Screening
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The Edinburgh International Film Festival has unveiled the complete line-up for its 75th Anniversary edition (August 12-17) as it gears up for its first full-scale roll-out since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Palestinian director Maha Haj’s drama Mediterranean Fever, US musician and filmmaker Amanda Kramer’s musical queer thriller Please Please Me, and Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet will be among the 10 feature films competing in the rebooted competition strand for the new Powell and Pressburger Award.

There will be gala screenings for previously announced opening film Aftersun by Edinburgh-born filmmaker Charlotte Wells and closing film After Yang by South Korean-us director Kogonada, as well as New Zealand director Armağan Ballantyne’s comedy Nude Tuesday, which will play mid-way through the festival.

Kogonada, who has been invited to curate a selection of films under the Eiff’s Carte Blanche sidebar, has chosen Kor-eda Hirokazu’s After Life,...
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 7/20/2022
  • by Melanie Goodfellow
  • Deadline Film + TV
‘Nude Tuesday’ to be Central Gala as Edinburgh Reveals Competition Titles for Reimagined Major Award
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Armağan Ballantyne’s gibberish comedy “Nude Tuesday” will be the central gala at the 75th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff).

In the film, which has previously played at Tribeca and Sydney, 40-somethings Laura (Jackie van Beek) and Bruno (Damon Herriman) head to a three day couples’ retreat run by relationship and sexual healing guru Bjorg Rasmussen (Jemaine Clement) in an effort to rekindle the spark in their troubled marriage. Upon arrival, the path to their reconnection is met with increasingly absurd farce. The film is spoken entirely in an improvised, gibberish-esque language with subtitles created by Julia Davis.

The festival has reimagined its major award, the Michael Powell Award for best British feature. “With a renewed commitment to internationalism and cultural exchange, the principles on which the Edinburgh Festivals were founded, Eiff will present the Powell & Pressburger award for best feature film. This competition of 10 films is composed of a mix of U.
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 7/20/2022
  • by Naman Ramachandran
  • Variety Film + TV
2022 Cannes Coverage Wrap-Up: Un Certain Regard
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All the People I’ll Never Be – Davy Chou [Review]

The Blue Caftan – Maryam Touzani

Burning Days – Emin Alper

Butterfly Vision – Maksym Nakonechnyi

Corsage – Marie Kreutzer [Review]

Domingo and the Mist – Ariel Escalante Meza

Father & Soldier – Mathieu Vadepied

Godland – Hlynur Pálmason [Review]

Harka – Lotfy Nathan [Review]

Joyland – Saim Sadiq

Les Pires – Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret [Review] [Interview]

Mediterranean Fever – Maha Haj

Metronom – Alexandru Belc [Review]

Plus que jamais – Emily Atef [Review]

Plan 75 – Chie Hayakawa [Review]

Rodéo – Lola Quivoron [Review]

Sick of Myself – Kristoffer Borgli [Review]

The Silent Twins – Agnieszka Smoczyńska [Review]

The Stranger – Thomas M.…...
See full article at IONCINEMA.com
  • 6/15/2022
  • by Eric Lavallée
  • IONCINEMA.com
Kevin Chu to be Honored at Taipei Festival – Global Bulletin
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Outstanding Contribution

The Taipei Film Festival has named prolific writer-director-producer Kevin Chu (aka Chu Yen-ping) as the recipient of its Outstanding Contribution Award. During the 1980s and the 1990s, Chu made many popular memorable commercial films and discovered several promising new actors — Chu wrote the script of “Never Too Late to Repent” and won the best screenplay award at the Asia Pacific Film Festival. After that, Chu made this directorial debut, “The Clown and the Swan,” which was a critically-acclaimed box office success in which comedy actor Hsu Pu-liao established his name. “Chu single-handedly maintained the genre movie production in the market while the New Taiwan Cinema [art house movement] rose in the 1980s,” said the festival. In recent years, Chu has dedicated himself to advocating the exchanges between the Taiwanese filmmakers and their Chinese counterparts. The 24th Taipei Film Festival is scheduled to be held from June 23 to July 9, 2022.

Cannes Deals

“No Fathers in Kashmir,...
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 6/6/2022
  • by Patrick Frater
  • Variety Film + TV
Cannes 2022. Awards
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Triangle of SadnessCOMPETITIONPalme d’Or: Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund) (Read our review)Grand Prix ex aequo: Close (Lukas Dhont)Grand Prix ex aequo: Stars at Noon (Claire Denis) (Read our review)Jury Prize ex aequo: The Eight Mountains (Charlotte Vandermeersch, Felix Van Groeningen)Jury Prize ex aequo: Eo (Jerzy Skolimowski) (Read our review)75th Anniversary Prize: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Tori and Lokita) (Read our review)Best Director: Park Chan-wook (Decision to Leave) (Read our review)Best Actor: Song Kang-ho (Broker)Best Actress: Zahra Amir-Ebrahimi (Holy Spider)Best Screenplay: Tarik Saleh (Boy From Heaven)The Worst OnesUN Certain REGARDGrand Prize: The Worst Ones (Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret)Ensemble Prize: Jury Prize: Joyland (Saim Sadiq)Jury Special Mention: Best Director: Alexandru Belc (Metronome)Best Performance: Vicky Krieps (Corsage) and Adam Bessa (Harka) (Read our review)Screenplay: Mediterranean Fever (Maha Haj)Coup de Coeur Award: Rodeo (Lola Quivoron)The MountainDIRECTORS' FORTNIGHTEuropa...
See full article at MUBI
  • 5/29/2022
  • MUBI
‘The Worst Ones’ wins top Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes
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Other prize winners in the section include Joyland, Metronom and Mediterranean Fever.

The Worst Ones, from French directors Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, has won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Also awarded honours by the section’s jury were Joyland, Metronom and Mediterranean Fever.

The Worst Ones (Les Pires) is the debut feature from Akoka and Gueret, who also wrote the script with Elénore Gurrey. The story of a group of young people recruited for a film shoot, the film was produced by Frédéric Jouve and Marine Alaric for Les Films Velvet.
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 5/27/2022
  • by John Hazelton
  • ScreenDaily
Vicky Krieps
‘The Worst Ones,’ Vicky Krieps Win Prizes in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard Section
Vicky Krieps
“The Worst Ones” (“Les Pires”), a drama about four unruly French teenagers who are chosen to act in a film, has won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival.

The film was chosen by a jury chaired by actress Valeria Golino and also including director Debra Granik, actors Joanna Kulig and Edgar Ramirez and actor-singer Benjamin Biolay. Acting prizes went to Vicky Krieps for “Corsage” and Adam Bessa for “Harka,” while the directing award went to Alexandru Belc for “Metronomes.”

Saim Sadiq’s “Joyland” won the Jury Prize, which made it runner-up to “The Worst Ones.”

The Un Certain Regard section, which is typically devoted to smaller, more daring films than those in the main competition, consisted of 20 movies this year. Other entries in the section included Riley Keough and Gina Gammell’s “War Pony,” Davy Chou’s “Return to Seoul,” Maryam Touzani’s “The Blue Caftan,...
See full article at The Wrap
  • 5/27/2022
  • by Steve Pond
  • The Wrap
Cannes Un Certain Regard Winners: ‘The Worst Ones’ and ‘Joyland’ Take Top Prizes
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With the Cannes Film Festival wrapping up, the awards portion of the world’s most prestigious film festival is officially underway. While fans will have to wait until tomorrow to see the festival’s main jury award its top prizes, including the Palme d’Or, the winners in the Un Certain Regard category have been announced. Italian actress and director Valeria Golino oversaw the jury for Un Certain Regard, which runs parallel to the Main Competition and awards films with particularly unique styles or points of view. And even by the category’s bold standards, some of this year’s winners were likely surprising to the festival’s attendees.

“The Worst Ones,” Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s French movie about a film crew shooting in a working-class town, took the top prize, while “Joyland,” Saim Sadiq’s Pakistani transgender love story, won the Jury Prize. Alexandru Belc won Best Director for “Metronom,...
See full article at Indiewire
  • 5/27/2022
  • by Christian Zilko
  • Indiewire
French Film ‘The Worst Ones’ and Vicky Krieps Win Big in Cannes Un Certain Regard Awards
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Predicting winners is always a fool’s errand in the Un Certain Regard section (the second-most prestigious competition of the Cannes Film Festival) and so it proved tonight, as the little-heralded French entry “The Worst Ones” (“Les Pires”), a debut feature from female directing duo Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, was handed the top prize by jury president Valeria Golino — one of four first films to be recognized at the ceremony.

A playful film-within-a-film about the challenges and perils of street casting — following a film crew seeking out local non-professional actors for a shoot in a working-class French town — “The Worst Ones” surged past a number of buzzier critical favorites and hot distribution prospects to claim the award.

It’s the second consecutive female-directed feature to be named best in show: last year’s Prix Un Certain Regard went to Russian director Kira Kovalenko’s gritty coming-of-age drama “Unclenching the Fists.
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 5/27/2022
  • by Guy Lodge
  • Variety Film + TV
Palestinian Filmmaker Maha Haj on Politics and Male Vulnerability in ‘Mediterranean Fever’
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Returning to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard with her second feature film, Palestinian director Maha Haj tackles the dynamics of male friendship and the strain of living under occupation in “Mediterranean Fever.” The subtly tender film follows family man Waleed, whose chronic depression hinders his dreams of a writing career and leads him into the path of neighbor and petty criminal Jalal, where tragedy awaits. “Mediterranean Fever” is a co-production between Palestine, Germany, France, Cyprus and Qatar, with sales handled by Luxbox.

“The idea came to me five years ago,” says Haj, “but I can’t really tell you how or what exactly inspired me. It is partly about the frustration that we Palestinians live with daily, whether we’re in Gaza, the West Bank, inside the state of Israel or exiled. It’s the sense of being imprisoned and not knowing when you’re going to be free, if you’re going to be free.
See full article at Variety Film + TV
  • 5/25/2022
  • by Caitlin Quinlan
  • Variety Film + TV
First trailer for Un Certain Regard title ‘Mediterranean Fever’ (exclusive)
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It is the director’s second time in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard selection.

Screen can reveal the first trailer for Palestinian director Maha Haj’s second film Mediterranean Fever ahead of its world premiere in Cannes Un Certain Regard.

The drama revolves around an aspiring but depressed writer living in Hafia who befriends his small-time crook neighbour in the hope he will help him with a sinister scheme. Amer Hlehel and Ashraf Farah lead the cast.

Haj’s debut feature Personal Affairs also world premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2016.

Producers are Ger­many’s Pallas Film, France’s Still Moving,...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 5/17/2022
  • by Ellie Calnan
  • ScreenDaily
​Luxbox boards Maha Haj’s Un Certain Regard title ‘Mediterranean Fever’ (exclusive)
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Haj’s first film ’Personal Affairs’ also screened in Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2016.

Paris-based sales company Luxbox has boarded sales on Palestinian director Maha Haj’s second film Mediterranean Fever, which was announced as a fresh addition to Cannes Un Certain Regard section on Thursday (April 21).

At the same time, Dulac Distribution has also announced its acquisition of French rights for the film.

Haj’s debut feature Personal Affairs also world premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2016.

The new drama revolves around an aspiring but depressed writer living in Haifa who befriends his small-time crook neighbour in the hope...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 4/22/2022
  • by Melanie Goodfellow
  • ScreenDaily
Charlotte Vandermeersch
Cannes Adds 17 Films, Sets Record for Female Directors in Competition
Charlotte Vandermeersch
A week after announcing its official selections, the 2022 Cannes Film Festival has added 17 new films, in the process increasing the number of films directed by women in its main competition from three to five.

The addition of “Un Petit Frere” by French director Leonor Serraille and “Le Otto Montagne” by the Belgian team of Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen means that this year’s competition lineup contains five films from female directors, one more than the record of four that was set in 2011 and equaled in 2019 and 2021.

The section now includes 21 films, which means that female-directed films still make up less than one-fourth of the competition lineup at a festival long criticized for its paltry representation of films by women.

The other new competition title is “Tourment Sur les Iles” by Spanish director Albert Serra. Other additions to the festival lineup include Dominik Moll’s “La Nuit du 12” and...
See full article at The Wrap
  • 4/21/2022
  • by Steve Pond
  • The Wrap
Albert Serra at an event for The Death of Louis XIV (2016)
Cannes 2022 Adds New Films from Albert Serra, Serge Bozon, Louis Garrel & More
Albert Serra at an event for The Death of Louis XIV (2016)
After the initial announcement, the 2022 Cannes Film Festival has added a handful of new titles across its various sections. Most notably, Albert Serra’s newest feature Pacifiction – Tourment sur les îles is now in competition, as well as the latest film from Montparnasse Bienvenüe director Léonor Serraille. Also added is Serge Bozon’s Don Juan, starring Virginie Efira and Tahar Rahim, in the Cannes Premiere section, while Louis Garrel’s L’Innocent will premiere out of competition. Check out all the additions below.

Competition

Le Otto Montagne Charlotte Vandermeersch, Felix Van Groeningen (Italy/Belgium)

Un Petit FRÈRE Léonor Serraille (France)

Tourment Sur Les ÎLES Albert Serra (Spain)

Cannes PREMIÈRE

Don Juan Serge Bozon (France)

LA Nuit Du 12 Dominik Moll (France)

Chronique D’Une Liaison PASSAGÈRE Emmanuel Mouret (France)

Midnight Screenings

Rebel Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah (Belgium)

Un Certain Regard

Plus Que Jamais Emily Atef (Germany/France)

Mediterranean Fever Maha Haj...
See full article at The Film Stage
  • 4/21/2022
  • by Leonard Pearce
  • The Film Stage
Cannes 2022 Adds Competition Titles, Special Screenings: See the Full Lineup
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Updated, April 21: The Cannes Film Festival has added competition titles and additional screenings in the Midnight, Un Certain Regard, and Out of Competition sections. They are:

Competition

“The Eight Mountains,” Charlotte Vandermeersch, Felix Van Groeningen

“Un Petit Frère,” Leonor Serraille

“Tourment Sur Les Iles,” Albert Serra

Cannes Premiere

“Don Juan,” Serge Bozon

“La Nuit du 12,” Dominik Moll

“Chronicle of a Temporary Affair,” Emmanuel Mouret

Midnight Screenings

“Rebel,” Adil Arbi, Bilall Fallah

Un Certain Regard

“More Than Ever,” Emily Atef

“Mediterranean Fever,” Maha Haj

“The Blue Caftan,” Maryam Touzani

Out of Competition

“L’Innocent,” Louis Garrel

Special Screenings

“Mi Pais Imaginario,” Patricio Guzmán

“The Vagabonds,” Doroteya Droumeva

“Riposte Feministe,” Marie Perennes, Simon Depardon

“Restos do Vento,” Tiago Guedes

“Little Nicholas,” Amandine Fredon, Benjamin Massoubre

Earlier, April 14: The 2022 Cannes Film Festival is upon us and once again taking place in person this spring from May 17 through May 28. The lineup for...
See full article at Indiewire
  • 4/21/2022
  • by Ryan Lattanzio
  • Indiewire
Cannes Film Festival Adds Raft Of New Movies Including Three To Competition
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The Cannes Film Festival on Thursday added a raft of movies to its lineup ahead of next month’s 75th edition, including three films in the main Competition lineup.

The news comes after festival head Thierry Frémaux last week unveiled the event’s 75th anniversary lineup in Paris.

The new Competition titles include two from women directors — Le Otto Montagne from Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen, and Un Petit Frère from Léonor Serraille — giving the lineup a record five women helmers in this year’s field competing for the Palme d’Or.

Here are the new titles:

New to Competition:

Le Otto Montagne

Charlotte Vandermeersch, Felix Van Groeningen

Italy/Belgium

Un Petit FRÈRE

Léonor Serraille

France

Tourment Sur Les ÎLES

Albert Serra

Spain

Added to Cannes Premiere section:

Don Juan

Serge Bozon

France

LA Nuit Du 12

Dominik Moll

France

Chronique D’Une Liaison PASSAGÈRE

Emmanuel Mouret

France

A new...
See full article at Deadline Film + TV
  • 4/21/2022
  • by Andreas Wiseman
  • Deadline Film + TV
Doha Film Institute unveils 45 projects to be showcased at Qumra 2022
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The eighth edition of the annual talent incubator takes place online from March 18-23.

The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has unveiled the 45 projects that will participate in the eighth edition of its annual talent incubator Qumra, taking place online March 18-23.

The event is running as a virtual edition for the third year due to ongoing health concerns and travel restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The selection spans 28 features, 11 shorts and 6 series in different stages of development and production from 21 territories.

Features in development include Oscar-nominated Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi’s debut feature The Teacher and Syrian director Anas Khalaf...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 3/2/2022
  • by Melanie Goodfellow
  • ScreenDaily
Doha Film Institute unveils 48 projects to be showcased at Qumra 2022
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The eighth edition of the annual talent incubator takes place online from March 18-23.

The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has unveiled the 48 projects that will participate in the eighth edition of its annual talent incubator Qumra, taking place online March 18-23.

The event is running as a virtual edition for the third year due to ongoing health concerns and travel restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The selection spans 28 features, 11 shorts and 6 series in different stages of development and production from 21 territories.

Features in development include Oscar-nominated Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi’s debut feature The Teacher and Syrian director Anas Khalaf...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 3/2/2022
  • by Melanie Goodfellow
  • ScreenDaily
Veerle Baetens, Charlotte Le Bon projects among €4.1m Eurimages awards
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Co-production funds to support the directorial debuts of the two actresses.

The feature directorial debuts of actresses Charlotte Le Bon and Veerle Baetens and a drama about the Bataclan terrorist attack have secured a share of €4.1m ($5m) from European cultural support fund Eurimages.

The Melting is being directed and co-written by Baetens, who is best known internationally for her performance in Felix van Groeningen’s Oscar-nominated The Broken Circle Breakdown.

The Belgium-Netherlands co-production has received €310,000 in Eurimages support, adding to a financial boost from Screen Flanders last week and the ARTEKino International Prize at the Berlinale Co-Production Market earlier this year.
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 12/15/2020
  • by Michael Rosser
  • ScreenDaily
Doha’s fifth annual Qumra event opens in Qatar
Industry professionals will discuss 36 projects at all stages of development.

The fifth edition of Qumra, the Doha Film Institute (Dfi)’s regional talent and project development event begins in Doha today (Friday March 15).

Budding filmmakers from the region and leading international industry professionals will come together to discuss and nurture around 36 film projects at all stages of production at the six-day meeting. Qumra takes place in and around Doha’s Souq Wafiq area as well as the city’s I.M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art.

“The unprecedented access for emerging talent to the world’s top leaders across all...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 3/15/2019
  • by Melanie Goodfellow
  • ScreenDaily
Agnès Varda
Alice Rohrwacher, Eugenio Caballero join Doha’s Qumra masters programme
Agnès Varda
They join the previously announced Agnès Varda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Pawel Pawlikowski.

Italian filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher and Mexican Academy Award-winning production designer Eugenio Caballero have been confirmed as the final two masters at the fifth edition of the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event, which runs March 15-20 this year.

The pair join three previously announced masters: iconic French director Agnès Varda, Japanese filmmaker and writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski, who is Oscar nominated this year for Cold War.

Caballero’s 30-plus film credits include Jim Jarmusch’s The Limit Of Control, Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet and Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma.
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 2/11/2019
  • by Melanie Goodfellow
  • ScreenDaily
Last Days (2005)
Tawfik Abu Wael unveils Tel Aviv-set thriller 'Wise Hassan'
Last Days (2005)
Thirst and Last Days In Jerusalem director plots next project.

Palestinian filmmaker Tawfik Abu Wael is developing a Tel Aviv-set thriller spinning off the love story between a young man from the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm and a transgender prostitute he is sent to kill for collaborating with the Israeli secret services.

It will be Abu Wael’s third feature after Thirst (Atash), which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2004, and Last Days In Jerusalem [pictured], which debuted in competition at the Locarno Film Festival in 2011.

Abu Wael and his long-time producer Baher Agbariya at Haifa-based Majdal Films presented the project at the Jerusalem Pitch Point event on Sunday aimed at connecting Israeli-funded productions with international partners.

“After two hardcore arthouse films, I’m trying to make a thriller,” he told the participants, who included top industry figures such as Protagonist Pictures CEO Michael Goodridge and Tanja Meissner, sales chief at Paris-based Memento Films International (Mfi).

The...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 7/17/2017
  • ScreenDaily
Last Days (2005)
Tawfik Abu Wael unveils Tel Aviv-set gay thriller 'Wise Hassan'
Last Days (2005)
Thirst and Last Days In Jerusalem director plots next project.

Palestinian filmmaker Tawfik Abu Wael is developing a Tel Aviv-set thriller spinning off the love story between a young man from the Arab town of Umm al-Fahm and a transgender prostitute he is sent to kill for collaborating with the Israeli secret services.

It will be Abu Wael’s third feature after Thirst (Atash), which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2004, and Last Days In Jerusalem [pictured], which debuted in competition at the Locarno Film Festival in 2011.

Abu Wael and his long-time producer Baher Agbariya at Haifa-based Majdal Films presented the project at the Jerusalem Pitch Point event on Sunday aimed at connecting Israeli-funded productions with international partners.

“After two hardcore arthouse films, I’m trying to make a thriller,” he told the participants, who included top industry figures such as Protagonist Pictures CEO Michael Goodridge and Tanja Meissner, sales chief at Paris-based Memento Films International (Mfi).

The...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 7/17/2017
  • ScreenDaily
Nina Menkes plans modern Minotaur
Nina Menkes
Experimental filmmaker Nina Menkes is developing a new film examining the Israel-Palestinian conflict through the Greek legend of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Nina Menkes is developing a new film examining the Israel-Palestinian conflict through a loose re-telling of the Greek legend of Theseus and the Minotaur set against the backdrop of the Old City of Jerusalem in contemporary times.

Entitled simply Minotaur, the film revolves around a Christian Palestinian working with tourists in the Old City, who embodies both Theseus and the Minotaur, which manifests itself as a Hebrew-speaking beast that attacks visitors in the crypt of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He has a mother called Pasiphae and falls for the beautiful foreign waitress Ariadne.

“First and foremost it’s an emotional story about the process of confronting the self and not living in denial which I think is a big issue around here… but it’s also a political story about here the country...
See full article at ScreenDaily
  • 7/17/2014
  • ScreenDaily
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