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The ambitious film is based on the classic Italian novel, Dino Buzatti’s ’The Desert Of The Tatars’

US-Belgian director Jessica Woodworth shot her ambitious new film Luka in Sicily, in black and white and in 16mm, as a complex European co-production.

The film has its world premiere this week in the Big Screen competition of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

Geraldine Chaplin and Jonas Smulders star in the English-language film, about a young man, played by Smulders, who heads off to join the army at the remote and desolate Fort Kairos. Under the command of the General, played by Chaplin,...

“I knew from day one it was Geraldine Chaplin who needed to play The General,” says director Jessica Woodworth about having Charlie Chaplin’s daughter play one of the central characters in her latest drama, “Luka,” which is having its world premiere in the Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

“Not because she’s female, however,” emphasizes the director. “This had nothing to do with it. In fact, my intention was to have her incarnate a male character, but our working relationship is so strong, I told her I couldn’t make a film without her. In the end, it became totally irrelevant whether she was male or female.”

The film is inspired by Dino Buzzati’s classic novel “The Tartar Steppe,” and stars Chaplin and Jonas Smulders, a previous European Shooting Star, as the titular character. “I studied Italian literature at university, and lived in Italy for a while,...

The trailer has debuted for Jessica Woodworth’s sci-fi epic “Luka,” which has its world premiere in the Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Films Boutique is handling international sales.

The film is Woodworth’s take on Dino Buzzati’s “The Tartar Steppe,” in which she crafts a fantasy of post-truth lunacy. Geraldine Chaplin plays the twisted General in a drama tinged with the conjured terrors of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” and the rapturous brotherly love of Jean Genet’s “Un chant d’amour.”

In the film, Luka, a young and ambitious soldier, embeds himself in Fort Kairos where heroic warriors defend the remains of civilization. His hopes to serve as an elite sniper are crushed when he is assigned to maintenance and must submit to the code of Kairos: obedience, endurance and sacrifice. As he rises through the ranks, Luka finds joy and strength in friendships with Konstantin,...

Luka

Shot in glorious B&w and Super 16mm, Belgian-American filmmaker Jessica Woodworth mounted this solo adventure utilizing the backdrop of Sicily back in October of ’21. Before being selected for the upcoming edition of Rotterdam, Luka was known as “Fortress” and was in the works dating back to 2017’s TorinoFilmLab. Jonas Smulders toplines the project sharing the screen alongside Geraldine Chaplin, Samvel Tadevossian, Jan Bijvoet, Sam Louwyck, Django Schrevens and Hal Yamanouchi. As we already know Woodworth was part of the filmmaking team with Peter Brosens beginning with Khadak which preemed at the Venice Days, followed by 2009’s Altiplano in the Cannes Critics’ Week, 2012’s The Fifth Season as a comp title in Venice, The King of the Belgians in Venice’s Orizzonti and The Barefoot Emperor a Toronto selection.…...

"He forgets about us the moment he boards the plane." Kino Lorber has revealed another new official US trailer for the worth watching Croatian film Murina, now opening in July in the US in just a few months. I highly recommend seeing this when it opens, worth it on the big screen. It initially premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival playing in Director's Fortnight, winner of the Golden Camera award. A Croatian teen tries to replace her controlling father with a wealthy foreigner on a weekend trip to the Adriatic Sea, causing turmoil. She hopes it will help her escape her life at home for something more, but it doesn't go as planned. Starring Gracija Filipovic as Julija, Danica Curcic, Leon Lucev, Cliff Curtis, and Jonas Smulders. I saw this film during TIFF last year and it's fantastic. Excellent cinematography and a riveting story about this young woman fighting back against her misogynistic father.

For some cinephiles, Sicily may still conjure images from “The Godfather” franchise, but the Italian isle has long moved on.

When you see Sicily on screen these days in movies and TV series made for global audiences, the narratives now seldom involve Cosa Nostra tropes as they once used to. What’s taking precedence for producers now is the sheer beauty of the Sicilian landscape in its plethora of forms.

“For decades Sicily was where you would come to film stories that were centered around the Mafia and organized crime; but now this is changing,” says Sicilian Film Commission chief Nicola Tarantino. He notes that only 10 of the roughly 45 projects supported by the commission last year have anything to do with the mob.

While the crime angle may have boosted Sicily’s profile as a location, productions that chose the island for filming are just “less and less interested in this theme,...

"What secrets are you hiding?" Modern Films UK has revealed an official trailer for Murina, an excellent film from Croatia marking the feature directorial debut of Croatian filmmaker Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic. This initially premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival playing in the Director's Fortnight sidebar. A teenage girl decides to replace her controlling father with his wealthy foreign friend during a weekend trip to the Adriatic Sea, causing turmoil. She hopes that this will help her escape her life at home for something more, but it doesn't go as planned. I saw this film at the Toronto Film Festival last year and Loved it. It's absolutely gorgeous - not only the cinematography (including some great underwater scenes) but the story about a young woman pushing back against her traditionalist parents and figuring out her own way in this modern world. I can't recommend it enough. Starring Gracija Filipovic, Danica Curcic,...

Geraldine Chaplin, Jonas Smulders star.

Berlin-based sales firm Films Boutique has boarded Jessica Woodworth’s Belgian feature Fortress starring Geraldine Chaplin and Jonas Smulders.

It has released a first-look image of the film, which is in post-production, above.

Fortress shot for six weeks in Sicily in autumn 2021, with filming in black-and-white on Super 16mm film. US-Belgian filmmaker Woodworth wrote the screenplay, adapted from Dino Buzzati’s 1940 novel The Tartar Steppe.

It is about a young soldier, hungry for battle, who embeds himself in an isolated fort where men wait in vain for an enemy to strike. Jan Bijvoet and Sam Louwyck also star.

Fortress

They’ve been sharing co-directing duties since their inception with 2006’s Khadak, but there was only one director’s chair on set of Fortress. Jessica Woodworth has now gone solo but Peter Brosens is not too far behind – he wears the producer’s hat on what is their six feature film collab. A 2017 TorinoFilmLab project, filming took place last summer running up until October in Sicily, and from what we can tell from this Euro co-production is that Geraldine Chaplin (who is credited as The General) will steal some scenes (she was in Woodworth’s last film) but she is joined by Dutch actor Jonas Smulders (he had a bit role in Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s Murina) who likely toplined the project.…...

Italy, which has always been attractive for international film and TV productions, is now making huge strides as a shooting destination mainly due to its Covid safety measures and smart rebate, on top its stunning locations.

The number of high-profile Hollywood shoots that since the pandemic have flocked to Italian sites — from the Alpine Alto Adige area to Sicily and Sardinia — has increased exponentially.

Productions taking advantage of Italy’s attractive incentives and deep crew base include “Mission: Impossible 7,” Netflix’s Dwayne Johnson-starrer “Red Notice,” Amazon’s “The Wheel of Time,” Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” “Indiana Jones 5” and also Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci,” Showtime’s “Ripley” series and Joe Wright’s “Cyrano.”

These last three productions have the distinction of being lensed almost entirely in the country.

Foreign production spend this year in Italy is estimated at roughly $250 million and is expected to double...

Further new openers include ‘Our Ladies’, ‘The Nest’.

Universal’s franchise title Candyman leads this weekend’s new openers at the UK-Ireland box office, looking to join the list of horror films to have made strong debuts since cinemas reopened.

Candyman is directed by Nia DaCosta and written by DaCosta, Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. It is a direct sequel to the 1992 film of the same name, and the fourth film in the Candyman series, based on Clive Barker’s 1985 short story The Forbidden.

The film has been delayed several times due to the pandemic, having been first scheduled for June,...

Further new openers include ‘Our Ladies’, ‘The Nest’.

Universal’s franchise title Candyman leads this weekend’s new openers at the UK-Ireland box office, looking to join the list of horror films to have made strong debuts since cinemas reopened.

Candyman is directed by Nia DaCosta and written by DaCosta, Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. It is a direct sequel to the 1992 film of the same name, and the fourth film in the Candyman series, based on Clive Barker’s 1985 short story The Forbidden.

The film has been delayed several times due to the pandemic, having been first scheduled for June,...

The film is a Belgian-Italian-Dutch-Bulgarian-Armenian co-production.

US actor Geraldine Chaplin and the Netherlands’ Jonas Smulders have joined the cast of US-Belgian filmmaker Jessica Woodworth’s drama Fortress.

Filming on the drama got underway this week in Sicily, and will run until October 5.

Woodworth has written the screenplay for the film, adapted from Dino Buzzati’s 1940 Italian novel The Tartar Steppe. It is about a young solder, hungry for battle, who embeds himself in an isolated fort where men wait in vain for an enemy to strike.

Woodworth is also producing with Peter Brosens for Belgium’s Bo Films and Krater Films.

"He's only in it for the money and the fame! Now he gets what he deserves." Netflix has unveiled a teaser trailer for the first Dutch Netflix original film, titled Forever Rich, the second feature by Dutch filmmaker Shady El-Hamus. The film tells the story of Richie, who wants to be rich and famous, and his journey to becoming the greatest rap artist in the Netherlands. One evening he is violently robbed by a group of teens and loses his most prized possession: an expensive watch. When images of the humiliating robbery go viral, his hard-earned reputation is damaged. Can Richie restore his image or will this be the end of his career? He decides to risk everything to polish his status again. This stars Jonas Smulders as Richie, with Daniel Kolf, Sinem Kavus, Hadewych Minis, Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing, Mustafa Duygulu, and Yassin Dardour. It looks like a clever twist on...

The East Trailer — Jim Taihuttu‘s The East / De Oost (2020) movie trailer has been released by Magnolia Pictures and Magnolia Releasing. The East trailer stars Martijn Lakemeyer, Marwan Kenzari, Jonas Smulders, Coen Bril, Jeroen Perceval, Huub Smit, David Wristers, Robert de Hoog, and Reinout Bussemaker. Crew Mustafa Duygulu and Jim Taihuttu wrote the [...]

Continue reading: The East (2020) Movie Trailer: A Soldier in an Elite Unit during Post-WW2 Begins Questioning His Brutal Captain...

"The only way to destroy terror is with more terror." Magnolia Pictures has released an official trailer for a Dutch war movie titled The East, also known as De Oost in Dutch. The film premiered at the Nederlands Film Festival last year, and is getting a US release starting this August. A young Dutch soldier deployed to suppress post-wwii independence efforts in the Netherlands' colony of Indonesia, known as the Indonesian War of Independence (from 1945-1949), finds himself torn between duty and conscience when he joins an increasingly ruthless commander's elite squad. The tagline says it is "a war between duty and conscience." Isn't that what most wars are about? The East stars Martijn Lakemeyer as Johan de Vries, with Marwan Kenzari, Jonas Smulders, Abel van Gijlswijk, Coen Bril, and plenty of others. This looks like another worthwhile war thriller trying to address that guilty conscience of why white men felt so driven to colonize.

In an industry which is still largely grappling at putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to empowering female film directors, there will always be something encouraging about seeing a first-time female director debut her work at an international film festival. But when you meet writer-director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, it’s hard to think that her name won’t be one that we continue to see in the director’s chair for years to come. The Croatian helmer, who has spent a chunk of her adult years in New York, is touching down on the Croisette for the first time with her debut feature Murina, which is premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the festival tomorrow.

The concept for Murina was largely inspired by Kusijanović’s short film Into The Blue, which was a huge hit on the international festival circuit, nabbing prizes in Berlin and Sarajevo.

Peijnenburg’s first feature debuts at Iffr before going to Berlin.

There has been a growing interest in Dutch director Mees Peijnenburg’s debut feature ever since his Netherlands Film Academy graduation short Even Cowboys Get To Cry appeared in the 2014 Berlinale.

He followed that with another Berlinale entry, A Hole In My Heart which received the prestigious Dutch Directors’ Guild award for the film in 2016.

His 2015 television drama We Will Never Be Royals, inspired by the Lorde song and about a teenage brother and sister in care, won a Golden Calf, his country’s equivalent to the Oscars.

“When...

Orange Studio, the film and TV banner of France’s leading telco company Orange, has acquired Mees Peijnenburg’s feature debut, “Paradise Drifters,” a project that the Dutch actor-turned-director developed at the Cannes Film festival’s Cinefondation residency.

“Paradise Drifters” follows the journey of three homeless young adults who are heading to Southern Europe in search of money, love and happiness. Now in post-production, the film stars Jonas Smulders, Bilal Wahib and Tamar van Waning.

Peijnenburg (pictured) has already presented two short films, “A Hole in My Heart” and “Even Cowboys Get to Cry,” in competition at the Berlin Film Festival in 2015 and 2014, respectively. “A Hole in My Heart” was also the Dutch candidate for the short film Oscars in 2016. “Even Cowboys Get to Cry” also played at SXSW. The director has also helmed music videos and commercials for Iconoclast.

Andrei Kamarowsky, Orange Studio’s head of international, said he...

In honour of National Coming Out Day on October 11, we’ve been thinking about a lot of our favourite Lgbt movies. From the modern-day rom-coms like “Love, Simon” all the way back to hard-hitting dramas like “Midnight Cowboy” – and everything in between – we’ve been debating which movies are our all-time favourites.

In light of this, I’ve put together my own personal list of my favourite Lgbt films – ‘my’ and ‘personal’ are the operative words here. This list is entirely my own opinion and personal preferences, this is not a definitive ranking of what are ‘the best’ Lgbt films. Merely, this is a list of which films resonated with me the most.

But please, join in the debate in the comment section and tell us about your favourite Lgbt films and why – and whether or not you agree with my own list. You may think I’m right, you...

Jim Taihuttu writing and directing Toronto market title.

Xyz Films, New Amsterdam and writer-director Jim Taihuttu have reunited after crime drama Wolf on Indonesia-set period war thriller The East, which Xyz has introduced to international buyers in Tiff.

Sander Verdonk and Julius Ponten are producing for New Amsterdam Film Company out of The Netherlands, alongside Benoit Roland for Belgium’s Wrong Men, and Shanty Harmayn of Salto Films in Indonesia.

Xyz Films serve as executive producers, international sales agent, and jointly represent Us rights with ICM Partners. Indonesia holds a special significance for Xyz Films, who were behind The Raid films,...

Author: Jon Lyus

The 21st edition of the European Shooting Stars was held at the Berlin Film Festival this past weekend, supporting new talent from across Europe. Past Shooting Stars include Tomb Raider’s Alicia Vikander, Game of Thrones’ Pilou Asbæk, Alba Rohrwacher and 007 James Bond himself, Daniel Craig.

The select group were introduced to the Berlinale Palast stage by former Italian Shooting Star Alba Rohrwacher – who recently attended the World Premiere of her new film Daughter of Mine, which is screening as part of the Official Competition.

The prestigious nomination will surely act as a springboard to bigger things for all those gathered here. The full list includes Luna Wedler (Switzerland), Matteo Simoni (Belgium), Alba August (Sweden), Réka Tenki (Hungary), Dieter Kosslick (Festival Director of Berlin Film Festival), Michaela Coel (United Kingdom), Eili Harboe (Norway), Irakli Kvirikadze (Georgia), Matilda De Angelis (Italy), Jonas Smulders (The Netherlands) and Franz Rogowski...

The 10 young European actors selected for this year’s Shooting Stars initiative are in town to meet the global film industry.

While young acting talent is spotlighted annually by initiatives such as Bafta’s Rising Star award and Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow, European Film Promotion’s (Efp) Shooting Stars programme is the most visible celebration of next-generation thespian talent allied to an A-list film festival.

Each year, 10 young European actors are awarded the Shooting Star accolade at the Berlinale, a five-person jury having selected the winners from submissions by the 37 Efp member countries. The recipients travel to Berlin to meet producers, casting directors and other film industry figures, and are feted at a ceremony at the Berlinale Palast, which this year takes place on Monday February 19.

This year’s line-up includes UK Screen Star Of Tomorrow Michaela Coel, Norway’s Thelma star Eili Harboe, Hungary’s Réka Tenki, who appeared in last...

The young acting talent will be presented on the opening weekend of next year’s Berlinale.

Source: Efp

European Film Promotion (Efp) has revealed the 10 young actors it has selected for the 2018 edition of European Shooting Stars, which highlights up-and-coming talent from the region.

The list includes British award-winning actress, playwright, screenwriter and poet Michaela Coel. She is best known for her BAFTA-winning hit-series Chewing Gum, and was named a Screen Star Of Tomorrow this year.

Other actors on the list include Eili Harboe, who stars in the Norwegian festival hit Thelma, and Italian actress Matilda De Angelis, nominated for two David di Donatello awards for Italian Race.

The actors will be presented to the film industry, public and international press at next year’s Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 15 - 25, 2018).

This year’s Shooting Stars jury included former Shooting Star Eduardo Noriega from Spain, director Mijke de Jong from The Netherlands,...

The young acting talent will be presented on the opening weekend of next year’s Berlinale.

Source: Efp

European Film Promotion (Efp) has revealed the 10 young actors it has selected for the 2018 edition of European Shooting Stars, which highlights up-and-coming talent from the region.

The list includes British award-winning actress, playwright, screenwriter and poet Michaela Coel. She is best known for her BAFTA-winning hit-series Chewing Gum, and was named a Screen Star Of Tomorrow this year.

Other actors on the list include Eili Harboe, who stars in the Norwegian festival hit Thelma, and Italian actress Matilda De Angelis, nominated for two David di Donatello awards for Italian Race.

The actors will be presented to the film industry, public and international press at next year’s Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 15 - 25, 2018).

This year’s Shooting Stars jury included former Shooting Star Eduardo Noriega from Spain, director Mijke de Jong from The Netherlands, casting director and [link...