News

This tale of a boy’s sexual awakening when a city boy moves into town creates its own issues in refusing to make sexuality problematic

Here is a movie from Belgium about young queer love, with an obvious superficial resemblance to Lukas Dhont’s recent intense drama Close. But for all that this film shows an arguably refreshing and perhaps even radical refusal to problematise the central relationship, it looks pretty shallow in comparison.

Elias (Lou Goossens) is a teen boy in rural Belgium, notionally going out with Valerie (Saar Rogiers), a girl at his school. His grandpa is a farmer nearby, his dad a composer of cheesy but successful pop songs. Elias is quietly stunned when a good-looking boy of his age moves in next door, just arrived from Brussels; this is Alexander (Marius De Saeger). They become friends; Alexander is perfectly calm and candid about being gay and...

David Laub has joined Neon as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Publicity.

Laub, who served as Head of Metrograph Pictures from February 2024 through July 2025, will work closely with Ryan Werner, Neon’s new President of Global Cinema, further strengthening the studio’s position as a champion of bold, auteur-driven filmmaking. In this newly created role, Laub will bring his years of experience in marketing, publicity, and awards to Neon’s growing slate.

During his time at Metrograph, Laub acquired and released such films as India Donaldson’s highly acclaimed feature debut “Good One,” which played both Sundance and Cannes and was on over 100 year-end top ten lists; Cannes selection “Santosh,” which was on the shortlist for this year’s International Oscar award; and the highly lauded Venice prize-winner “April,” by Dea Kulumbegashvilli.

Laub spent almost 9 years at film and television studio A24, where he worked in all aspects of film distribution including marketing,...

David Laub, the former head of Metrograph Pictures, is joining Neon as SVP Marketing and Publicity, a newly created position in which the exec will focus on marketing, publicity and awards.

Laub will work closely with Ryan Werner, Neon’s new President of Global Cinema.

Laub had been head of Metrograph Pictures since February 2024. During his run, he acquired and released such films as India Donaldson’s feature debut Good One, which played both Sundance and Cannes and was on more than 100 year-end top 10 lists; Cannes selection Santosh, which was on the shortlist for this year’s International Feature Oscar; and the lauded Venice prize-winner April by Dea Kulumbegashvilli.

Laub previously had spent close to nine years at A24, where he worked in all aspects of film distribution including marketing, publicity, acquisitions and exhibition. He oversaw a slate of films for the company that included Charlotte Wells’ Oscar nominee Aftersun,...

The Match Factory has acquired international sales rights for “Julian,” the debut feature from Belgian director Cato Kusters. The film is set to premiere in the Discovery section at Toronto Film Festival.

“Julian” marks the first majority production from The Reunion, the new production company of Belgian filmmaker brothers Lukas and Michiel Dhont, the writer-director and producer, respectively, of 2022 Cannes Grand Prix winner and 2023 Oscar nominee “Close.”

Both “Close” and Lukas Dhont’s debut “Girl,” which won Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2018, were represented by The Match Factory.

Kusters works as an editor and director on short films and music videos. Her graduation short “Finn’s Heel” (2022) won the jury prize at the Ghent Film Festival and the audience award for best international short film at the Festival de Films de Femmes. The film caught the attention of the Dhont brothers, and she began developing “Julian” with them in 2022.

“Julian...

The Man in My Basement, the first feature from Nadia Latif, starring Corey Hawkins and Willem Dafoe, has been announced as part of the Discovery lineup at this year’s Toronto Film Festival.

TIFF released the Discovery lineup this morning. Other high-profile titles include Cato Kusters’ Julian, produced by Michiel and Lukas Dhont, Maddie’s Secret, the debut feature from cult comedian John Early, and Egghead Republic from Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja. Scroll down for the full lineup.

The 2025 Discovery selection was programmed by Dorota Lech, Jason Anderson, Kelly Boutsalis, Diana Cadavid, Robyn Citizen, June Kim, and Jason Ryle.

The programme will screen 23 World Premieres, with titles from over 30 countries, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.

The Discovery programme has, over the years, debuted projects from filmmakers like Ildikó Enyedi, Alfonso Cuarón, Julie Dash, Jean-Marc Vallée, Christopher Nolan,...

Twenty-three world premieres representing more than 30 countries have been selected for the Discovery programme at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, among them the directing debut of US alternative comedian John Early and three films from the UK.

Discovery showcases the first or second features by directors from around the world, with past participants having included Alfonso Cuarón, Julie Dash, Jean-Marc Vallée, Christopher Nolan, Yorgos and Barry Jenkins.

Early’s satire about content culture, Maddie’s Secret, is the opening night film in this year’s Discovery section, and one of only two US titles in the line-up.

Other...

Lawmakers in California have approved the plan to more than double annual funding for the state’s tax credit programme to $750m, according to reports, though a formal vote is still a few days away.

The increase in annual funding from the current $330m was first proposed by state Governor Gavin Newsom last October, as a response to the continuing production slump that has affected the state since the 2023 Hollywood strikes.

But the $750m figure was not included in the 2025-2026 state budget that lawmakers approved earlier this week. Instead, the figure has had to be introduced in a ‘trailer bill’ to the budget.

Lawmakers in California have approved the plan to more than double annual funding for the state’s tax credit programme to $750m, according to reports, though a formal vote is still a few days away.

The increase in annual funding from the current $330m was first proposed by state Governor Gavin Newsom last October, as a response to the continuing production slump that has affected the state since the 2023 Hollywood strikes.

But the $750m figure was not included in the 2025-2026 state budget that lawmakers approved earlier this week. Instead, the figure has had to be introduced in a ‘trailer bill’ to the budget.

Films by Lukas Dhont, Pawel Pawlikowski, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Marie Kreutzer, Jonas Poher Rasmussen and Radu Jude are among 35 features to share €10.7m in Eurimages’s latest round of funding.

The 35 supported co-productions include five documentaries and two animations. 13 of the projects are to be directed or co-directed by women, representing 39.41% of the total funding awarded.

Scroll down for full list

Flemish director Dhont, who was Oscar nominated for his 2023 feature Close, received €500,000 forCoward. Dhont joins forces again with co-writer Angelo Tijssens for the film, for which plot details are not yet available.

The Reunion, the production company set up by Michiel and Lukas Dhont,...

Exclusive: Belgian film distributor Lumiere is moving back into independent distribution in the Netherlands.

The Flemish company, which also runs cinemas as well as production company Lunamine, has appointed Thomas Fransman as head of theatrical and acquisitions. He will start work at the Amsterdam office in early September.

Lumiere aims to release eight films theatrically across the Benelux each year.

Titles on the Lumiere release slate include Laura Wandel’s Adam’s Sake, which screened in Critics Week in Cannes; Julian by Cato Kusters, produced by Lukas and Michiel Dhont through their production outfit The Reunion; the upcomingMinotaur by Andrey Zvyagintsev...

In what has become a familiar sight on the Croisette, Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne strolled up the red carpet to present their new film to a welcoming crowd.

The Dardennes’ latest, The Young Mother’s Home premiered early Friday evening, marking the brothers’ ninth entry in Cannes competition. The Dardennes almost never leave Cannes empty-handed.

Casual with suits and no ties (the early afternoon screenings are not mandatory black-tie), the Dardennes strolled up to the premiere accompanied by their somewhat more excited (and better dressed) young stars: Lucie Laruelle, Babette Verbeek, Elsa Houben, Janaïna Halloy Fokan and Samia Hilmi.

Warm, enthusiastic applause rolled over the auditorium in waves as the film credits rolled, and the Dardennes embraced their co-stars. The young actresses wiped away tears. Laruelle, who plays Perla in the film, was visibly shaking with emotion, before joining her co-stars in a group hug. The film, while containing...

Continuing its buying ways in Cannes, Mubi has acquired Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident for Latin America, U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Turkey and India.

The film premiered in competition at Cannes on Tuesday and earlier Neon picked up its North American rights. It Was Just an Accident marks Panahi’s first since being released from prison in Iran, and was inspired in part by his second incarceration in that country.

The film stars Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, and Vahid Mobasseri, and focuses on a minor accident that sets in motion a series of escalating consequences that in turn illustrate the traumas suffered by political dissidents and other opponents of power.

It Was Just an Accident is a Les Films Pelléas and Jafar Panahi Production from Iran, France and Luxembourg. The deal was made between Mubi and mk2, who are handling international sales.

Also in Cannes,...

“Corsage” director Marie Kreutzer’s “Gentle Monster” emerged as the big winner at the third edition of the Cannes Film Market’s Investors Circle, scooping up the ArteKino International Prize with its €20,000 purse.

The Austrian project, produced by Alexander Glehr and Johanna Scherz of Film Ag Produktions GmbH, was selected from among 10 film projects presented to VIP investors at the high-profile Cannes financing event.

“I’m surprised in the most positive way,” Kreutzer said following her win. “Filmmaking is a really big mountain, and what happens before the premiere – to get a film made – is a very long climb. So we really need people who want to support cinema and have love for cinema – that’s why meeting investors is extremely important. I had great conversations with these investors so far. The script has sparked their interest, and they’re eager to learn more about the project.”

Held at the...

Marie Kreutzer’s upcoming feature Gentle Monster has clinched the 2025 ArteKino International Prize at the Cannes Market’s third Investors Circle event, with the prize money going to the producers Alexander Glehr and Johanna Scherz for development of the project.

Kreutzer’s latest film after Corsage with Vicky Krieps, Gentle Monster will take the spectator on the unsettling journey of an internationally renowned pianist who moves her family from Munich to the countryside and uncovers life-shattering truths about her partner.

It was one of 10 projects pitched at the third Investors Circle event on May 18, aimed at connecting elevated arthouse projects with investors.

The festival has also unveiled details of the projects, which were under wraps until the event was over, which include new films by Belgium’s Lukas Dhont, whose second film Close shared Cannes Grand Prix; Hungarian festival regular Kornél Mundruczó, who won the Un Certain Regard Prize for White God,...

Producers Alexander Glehr and Johanna Scherz have received the €20,000 ArteKino International Prize from the Cannes Marche du Film’s Investors Circle for Gentle Monster, to be directed by Marie Kreutzer.

Gentle Monster follows two women who shape their lives around men whose dark sides they prefer to ignore: Lucy, who moves to the country with Philip and their son despite professional restrictions on her; and Elsa, who balances her job as a police special investigator with caring for her demented father.

Glehr and Scherz produce through their Austrian company Film Ag Produktions GmbH, and have previously made titles including Kreutzer...

Gentle Monster, the new feature project from Austrian director Marie Kreutzer (Corsage), has won the 2025 ArteKino International Prize at this year’s Investors Circle in Cannes. Producers Alexander Glehr and Johanna Scherz of Film Ag Produktions received the 20,000 euro ($22,000) award during a private pitching session that capped the third edition of the Marché du Film’s curated investment platform.

I’m surprised in the most positive way,” said Kreutzer, about her win. “Filmmaking is a really big mountain, and what happens before the premiere — to get a film made — is a very long climb. So we really need people who want to support cinema and have love for cinema — that’s why meeting investors is extremely important. I had great conversations with these investors so far. The script has sparked their interest, and they’re eager to learn more about the project.”

Held at the Plage des Palmes during the 78th Cannes Film Festival,...

Of the ten projects recently selected to participate at the Marche du Film’s pitch event called the Investors Circle initiative, we placed Flemish Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont‘s third feature film as one of the more anticipated films we’ll be tracking and obviously watching out for in 2026.

Following in a film per every four years pace, Dhont is attached by the limb to the Cannes Film Festival since he workshopped Girl at the Cinéfondation Residence at Cannes in 2016. In 2018, his feature debut was included in the Un Certain Regard section and beat out the masses to collect the Caméra d’Or for Best First Film.…...

Exclusive:Paris-based sales company Luxbox will handle global sales for Japanese filmmaker Yuiga Danzuka’s family drama Brand New Landscape which will have its world premiere at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.

The debut feature follows two siblings navigating the ever-changing landscape of Tokyo haunted by the absence of their mother until the return of their estranged father, a renowned architect, gives the family one last chance to reconcile.

It is produced by Japan’s Siglo with associate producer Lesplos Entertainment. The cast includes Kodai Kurosaki, Kenichi Endo, Haruka Igawa and Mai Kiryu.

Luxbox’s head of international sales Jennyfer Gautier said:...

Cannes Investors Circle is returning for its third edition, with Chilean director Sebastián Lelio, Belgium’s Lukas Dhont, Austria’s Marie Kreutzer and Iceland’s Hlynur Pálmason among 10 directors selected to pitch their latest feature-film projects in development to VIP private investors.

Lelio, who won the international feature Oscar in 2018 forA Fantastic Woman, will screen his new filmThe Wavein Cannes Première at this year’s festival. Cannes Première will also screen Pálmason’s new featureThe Love That Remains, after the Icelandic filmmaker’s previous visit to Cannes in 2022 withGodland.

Dhont won the Caméra d’Or forGirlin 2018 and the Grand Prix...

10 directors from eight countries are set to pitch their latest projects in development to a select group of VIP private investors in Cannes as part of the Marche du Film’s Investors Circle initiative.

The list of filmmakers includes Italian director Giacomo Abbruzzese, Belgian director Lukas Dhont, American director Eliza Hittman, Austrian directors Jessica Hausner and Marie Kreutzer, as well as Kornél Mundruczó from Hungary, Jasmila Žbanić from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Hlynur Pálmason from Iceland (whose latest film “The Love That Remains” will screen in Cannes Première at the 78th Festival de Cannes). South America is also represented by French-Chilean director Marcela Said and Chilean director Sebastián Lelio.

The Investors Circle is now into its third edition and organizers claim is has already proven to be a “powerful catalyst for private investment in auteur cinema.” Many featured projects have secured significant financial backing, with one standout title being “Renoir” by Chie Hayakawa,...

An award-winning lineup of international auteurs, including Oscar-winner Sebastián Lelio (A Fantastic Woman) and Oscar nominees Lukas Dhont (Close) and Jasmila Zbanić (Quo Vadis, Aida?), will take part in the third Investors Circle at the Cannes film market next month, pitching their next projects to a small group of VIP investors.

The Investors Circle lineup, announced today, also includes art house favorites Kornél Mundruczó (Pieces of a Woman), Marie Kreutzer (Corsage), Jessica Hausner (Little Joe), Hlynur Pálmason (Godland), Marcela Said (Los Perros), Giacomo Abbruzzese (Disco Boy) and Eliza Hittman (Never Rarely Sometimes Always).

The 10 filmmakers will present their upcoming projects to a small group of private investors at the Cannes market, the Marché du Film, on Sunday, May 18.

The Investors Circle will feature 10 curated, never-before-seen feature film projects, presented by their directors and filmmakers in a private, invitation-only event for a select group of VIP investors. The projects, spanning various cinematic styles and languages,...

The Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film has unveiled the 10 directors who will pitch their upcoming feature film projects at its third Investors Circle meeting.

The one-day event unfolding on May 18 at the market’s Plage des Palmes venue aims to connect auteur directors and their elevated international projects with film financiers and private investors.

This year’s director cohort includes Belgium’s Lukas Dhont, whose second film Close shared Cannes Grand Prix in 2022; Hungarian festival regular Kornél Mundruczó, who won the Un Certain Regard Prize in 2014 for White God, as well as Austrian Cannes regular Jessica Hausner.

Two of the directors presenting new projects have completed films in this year’s Cannes Official Selection: Iceland’s Hlynur Pálmason with The Love That Remains and Chile’s director Sebastián Lelio with The Wave.

The other participating directors comprise Giacomo Abbruzzese (Italy), Eliza Hittman (US), Jasmila Žbanić (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Marcela Saidand Marie Kreutzer (Austria).

Details of the projects are under wraps and are only unveiled to people participating in the meeting. Te market said the projects spanned a wide variety of cinematic styles, languages and production scales, the ten selected projects carry budgets ranging from €3M to €9M ($3.4M-$10.2M).

“As new economic models continue to emerge, the Marché du Film reaffirms its role as a global accelerator for innovative film financing,” said Guillaume Esmiol, Executive Director of the Marché du Film.

“For its third edition, the Investors Circle is quickly becoming a reference point for those looking to engage in equity-driven support for independent film. We are proud to provide a platform where auteur cinema and financial strategy align.”

The Marché du Film runs from May 13 to 21.

Flóra Anna Buda, Andrea Gatopoulos, Xiwen Cong, Simon Maria Kubiena, Constance Tsang and Rodrigo Ribeyro have been named as the latest cohort of emerging directors to participate in the Cannes Film Festival’s La Résidence initiative, which is now in its 49th edition.

The six filmmakers are being hosted in the program’s residency in the Pigalle neighborhood of Paris, from March 15 to July 31, where they are benefiting from personalized screenwriting support and a collective program of meetings with film professionals.

Hungary’s Buda made waves in 2023 with her animated short film 27, which won the Cannes Palme d’or for best short, and then the Cristal Award at the Annecy Festival in 2023.

Italian and Greek director, producer and distributor Gatopoulos’s most recent work, the short film The Eggregores’ Theory, opened the 39th Venice Film Critics’ Week and made history as one of the first AI films to show in the sidebar.

Émilie Dequenne, the Belgian actress who received the best actress trophy at Cannes for her breakout role in the Dardenne brothers’ Palme d’Or-winning drama Rosetta, has died. She was 43.

Dequenne died Sunday in a hospital outside Paris after battling adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal gland, her family and agent announced.

Born on Aug. 29, 1981, in Belgium, Dequenne began studying drama at 12 and trained at the Music & Spoken Word Academy in Baudour before joining the La Relève Theater troupe. At 17, she was cast in Rosetta, playing a working-class teenager struggling to escape poverty. Her performance earned her the Cannes best actress prize in 1999 (shared with Séverine Caneele for Humanité), launching a career in European cinema.

She was a feature in French and Belgian films for decades, with more than 60 acting credits to her name. Highlights included Christophe Gans’ action horror thriller The Brotherhood of the Wolf; Joachim Lafosse...

Émilie Dequenne, the Belgian actor who won a Cannes Film Festival prize for her breakout role in the Dardenne Brothers’ 1999 film “Rosetta,” died on Sunday. She was 43.

Dequenne’s family confirmed to French news agency Afp (via The Guardian) on Sunday night that she died of a rare cancer in a hospital just outside Paris. She revealed in October 2023 that she had been diagnosed with adrenocortical carcinoma, a cancer of the adrenal glands in the kidney.

Born in Belœil, Belgium on Aug. 29, 1981, Dequenne was just 18 when she broke out in “Rosetta,” a coming-of-age story about a teenager who lives in a trailer park with her alcoholic mother. Her performance earned her Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious best actress award, and “Rosetta” also won the Palme d’Or at the 1999 festival.

Her next role was in Christophe Gans’ commercially successful “Brotherhood of the Wolf” (2001), and she went on to star in...

Belgian actress Emilie Dequenne, known for her breakout role in Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Palme d’Or winning Rosetta, has died aged 43.

Her agent announced that she had died of a rare cancer at a hospital just outside of Paris on Sunday evening.

Dequenne, who starred in more than 50 films during her long career,won the best actress prize in Cannes for Rosetta in 1999 and has been nominated for five Cesar awards, including a win in 2021 for Emmanuel Mouret’s Love Affair(s).

She balanced commercial films with more auteur fare and worked with acclaimed filmmakers including Claude Berri,...

Émilie Dequenne, the Belgian actress who first achieved fame with her 1999 Cannes d’Or-winning, big screen debut in Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s drama Rosetta, has died at the age 43.

The actress, who revealed in October 2023 that she was battling a rare adrenal gland cancer, died in hospital on the outskirts of Paris on Sunday evening, her agent Danielle Gain announced to Afp.

Born on August 29, 1981, Dequenne studied at Belgium’s Music & Spoken Word Academy in Baudour from an early age, taking up drama there at the age of 12, alongside joining the La Relève Theater troupe.

She landed her first cinema role at age 17 in Rosetta. She clinched Best Actress at Cannes in 1999 for her performance as the titular teenager living in a caravan with an alcoholic mother in the film, which also won the Dardenne brothers their first Palme d’Or.

“It’s terrible, life is disgusting sometimes,...

The cineuropa folks always publish the latest advance on receipts for the Cnc and it gives us taste of what we’ll find in the not so distant future and we’d wager that Bertrand Mandico and Lukas Dhont will likely move into production soon for what would be a likely 2026 drop and seeing that both filmmakers are tied to Cannes having premiered there in the past we think that the chances are indeed plausible for some Croisette love. Announce this past December, Marion Cotillard, Alba Rohrwacher and Jasmine Trinca signed onto topline Mandico’s Roma elastica (revolves around an actress who is going make her last film in Rome in the 1980s) while Dhont has been receiving some early coin support to put towards his third feature film in Coward.…

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The largest audience award in the world, the Lux Audience Award, sees citizens and members of the democratically elected European Parliament coming together yearly to honor a European film with their coveted prize. This year’s slate of highly-acclaimed nominees include Gints Zibalodis’s history-making “Flow,” which just won Latvia its first ever Oscar for Best Animated Film, and Mati Diop’s “Dahomey,” the first film by a Black filmmaker to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

A joint initiative of the European Parliament and the European Film Academy in collaboration with the European Commission and Europa Cinemas, the Lux Audience Award “fosters dialogue and engagement between politics and the public through the medium of film.” Nominated films address “European values” as well as raising “awareness about some of today’s main social and political issues.” Throughout the competition period, the European Parliament provides subtitles in 24 EU...

Veteran administrator Karla Puttemanshas been appointed director of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (Vaf), the Belgian public body that supports films, series, games and podcasts.

While Puttemans lacks direct experience in film production, which some in the Flemish industry had been advocating for in the Vaf leadership role, she is regarded as a safe pair of hands and has worked within the organisation for several years, including in her current role as head of creation and talent development.

Previously Puttemans worked as a cultural policy officer at the European Parliament and for various advisory bodies including the Media Council and the...

This year marks the 39th annual Teddy Award honors, the longest-running LGBTQ+ prizes at any major film festival. While the Feb. 21 closing ceremony is business as usual for the Berlinale, global events could make this one of the most important years in Teddy history.

U.S. President Trump is implementing numerous anti-transgender policies, withdrawing President Biden’s executive order making federal agencies enforce a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that sex discrimination laws include LGBTQ discrimination, and even declaring that there are only two sexes – seemingly oblivious to children born intersex, a plot point in one of this year’s biggest Oscar contenders. His appointee Elon Musk regularly makes anti-trans statements and endorsed Germany’s far-right AfD party, which has opposed some gay rights. And rapper Kanye West has proudly aligned himself with the Nazi party, unaware or unconcerned that it persecuted Black people like him during Hitler’s reign.

Yet for now,...

New features by Lukas Dhont, Felix van Groeningen, and Teodora Ana Mihai will be among the projects to be showcased at Flanders Film Days 2025, a relaunch of Flanders Image’s feature showcase, previously known as Connext.

Flanders Audiovisual Fund (Vaf) is again supporting the event which will take place in Ghent from October 7-8, 2025, in close collaboration with Film Fest Gent, which opens on October 8.

Feature-length fiction, animated and documentary films at various stages of production will be pitched and shown to international industry and festival executive.. It will also be presenting work from young and emerging filmmakers. In a change from Connext,...

New features by Lukas Dhont, Felix van Groeningen, and Teodora Ana Mihai will be among the projects to be showcased at Flanders Film Days 2025, a relaunch of Flanders Image’s feature showcase, previously known as Connext.

Flanders Audiovisual Fund (Vaf) is again supporting the event which will take place in Ghent from October 7-8, 2025, in close collaboration with Film Fest Gent, which opens on October 8.

Feature-length fiction, animated and documentary films at various stages of production will be pitched and shown to international industry and festival executive.. It will also be presenting work from young and emerging filmmakers. In a change from Connext,...

Production began this week in Belgium on Anke Blonde’s Dust, which LevelK has boarded for international sales.

Taking place in the span of one day, the suspense film follows two tech visionaries coming to terms with the fall of their empire due to an imminent exposé about their fake companies. Dries Phlypo produces for Belgium’s A Private View, with a script by Angelo Tijssens, co-writer of Lukas Dhont’s Girl and Close.

Girl and The Goldman Case star Arieh Worthalter and Mr. Nobody’s Jan Hammenecker lead the cast, alongside Anthony Welsh, Fania Sorel, 2024 European Film Promotion Shooting Star Thibaud Dooms,...

Mubi, which recently planted a flag in the U.S. with the wide release of Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” has welcomed Zhang Xin to its board of directors, as part of a new chapter for the rapidly expanding company which will also see Zhang’s New York-based film production and financing group Closer Media become an investor in Mubi.

A billionaire entrepreneur, Zhang co-founded Closer Media and previously co-founded Soho China, a construction giant in Beijing and Shanghai known for its iconic projects designed by leading architects from around the world. She left the company in 2022 and partnered with William Horberg, a veteran producer whose credits include “The Queen’s Gambit” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” to break into the media world.

A patron of the arts, Zhang also serves as a Trustee of MoMA, and is a member of both the Harvard Global Advisory Council and Asia Business Council.

Beta Cinema has notched up further sales onAndres Veiel’s Venice premiereRiefenstahl, which seeks to prove controversial German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was the Nazi propagandist she tried deny she was.

The feature documentary has been acquired by Dogwoof for the UK and Ireland, Madman Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, and Lev Cinemas for Israel.

Riefenstahl became famous for her Nazi propaganda filmTriumph Of The Willbut denied any closer ties to the regime.Riefenstahlis a six-year investigation into her private papers that aims to prove this denial was a convenient lie.

Produced by German political journalist Sandra Maischberger, the film...

Gaetano Maiorino, the former managing director and head of acquisitions at Italian sales company True Colours, has joined leading Italian producer Tramp Limited with a brief to expand its international footprint.

Maiorino, who left True Colours earlier this year, has joined Tramp Limited in the newly created role of head of international co-productions & business affairs.

Until now Tramp Limited has mostly focused on the local Italian market, producing a slate of successful comedies and, more recently, arthouse dramas that have exceeded expectations.

Its 2022 period comedy drama Strangeness, starring Toni Servillo and directed by Roberto Andò, was the highest-grossing Italian film of the year,...

New films by directors Lukas Dhont, Ana Teodora Mihai and Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are among 14 new projects to share €3 million in funding from Screen Flanders.

Flemish director Dhont, who was Oscar nominated for his 2023 feature Close, received €200,000 for his new feature Coward.

Dhont joins forces again with co-writer Angelo Tijssens for the film, whose plot details are not yet available. The Reunion, the production company set up by Michiel and Lukas Dhont, takes the lead in the film’s production, with Lumière Publishing releasing in the Benelux.

Heysel 85, which received €250,000, is directed by Ana Teodora Mihai whose...

Cannes has announced the six first and second-time filmmakers selected for its annual Résidence programme, whose 48th session kicked off on October 1 in Paris and will run through February 15, 2025.

This year’s crop of rising talents includes four female filmmakers, among them: French-Moroccan director Sofia Alaoui, a 2022 Screen Arab Star of Tomorrow and 2023 Unifrance 10 to Watch talent, whose debut feature Animalia won the 2023 Sundance special jury prize; Lithuanian director Eglé Razumaite whose latest short Ootidé competed at Cannes 2024; India’s director Diwa Shah, whose Bahadur: The Brave screened at San Sebastián; and Germany’s Anastasia Veber whose short Trap won...

In a move that promises to create a new indie production powerhouse in Belgium, Caviar, the company behind The Sound Of Metal, War Pony and The Rider, has taken 45% of the shares of leading Belgian outfit Versus Production and its two sister companies Inver Invest and O’Brother Distribution.

The remaining 55% of the shares will stay in the hands of Versus founder Jacques-Henri Bronckart. Together, the aim is to develop larger-scale, international-facing projects across film and television.

Founded in 1999, Versus is one of Belgium’s most respected production outfits, known for its work with directors like Bouli Lanners and Joachim Lafosse...

Pride month is over, but just because it is no longer June doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop celebrating love and telling queer stories. In fact, we should always celebrate love and tell queer stories. So, here is a list of 62 films with canon main Lgbtqia+ characters and couples. Call Me by Your Name Original Title: Call Me by Your Name Year: 2017 Director(s): Luca Guadagnino Writer(s): James Ivory, André Aciman Country: Italy, France, United States, Brazil Language: English, Italian, French, German, Hebrew Genre: Drama, Romance Motion Picture Rating (MPA): R The rather sensitive Elio (Timothée Chalamet), the only son of the American family of Italian and French Perlman ancestry, is facing another lazy summer at his parents' home in the beautiful, languid Italian countryside. Every summer, Mr. Pearlman (Michael Stuhlbarg) hosts an academic to help with his research. This year’s student, Oliver (Armie Hammer), comes to bring change.

Connext, the annual showcase of upcoming film and TV projects and rising talent from Flanders, will not take place in 2024, Flanders Image has confirmed.

It is understood the plan is for Connext to return in 2025, possibly with a new name, widened scope and different location. The event has previously taken place in Ghent and Antwerp but could head to Ostend or Brussels. There will also likely be an online component.

Connext was the platform for local film and TV producers to pitch projects, present works in progress and show completed films to international sales agents, distributors, festival directors and financiers.

Cinema is replete with depictions of mothers good and bad, though few are depicted with such radical ambiguity as Léa Drucker’s Anne in Last Summer. This comes with the territory for the film’s legendary director Catherine Breillat, who’s broken ground for decades with her fearless explorations of female sexuality. Yet even knowing the French filmmaker’s background, it still feels radical to watch the story of a mother involved in an affair with her teenage stepson, Théo (Samuel Kircher), presented so freely of judgment.

Breillat bakes in much of that perspective at the script level as she adapts the 2019 Danish film Queen of Hearts with a less moralistic bent. But to realize Anne in a way that goes beyond mere intellectualization requires a partnership with a brilliant actress like Drucker, who has recently come to prominence outside her native France in films such as Xavier Legrand’s...

At first glance, Young Hearts seems to resemble Lukas Dhont’s Close — in its rural Belgian town setting and its focus on two early teenage boys navigating the tricky boundaries between friendship and romance. But closer acquaintance reveals Flemish filmmaker Anthony Schatteman’s first feature to be something more in line with Heartstopper or Love, Simon, entirely without the tragic dimensions of Dhont’s Oscar-nominated drama. Impressive newcomer Lou Goossens plays a 14-year-old boy thrown into emotional confusion by his attraction to a new neighbor in a film whose queer positivity should be a balm to LGBTQ kids wrestling with their sexuality as well as to parents struggling with acceptance.

That doesn’t mean the usual conflicts of brooding isolation, initial rejection and fear of stigmatization are absent. But one of the chief selling points of Young Hearts is its sincere depiction of coming out in a supportive environment, unfolding...

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival was officially closed yesterday, on May 25, 2024, as the prizes for the movies and the actors were awarded at the closing ceremony. It was a very exciting and content-filled event, and we have also reported on numerous movies that had their premiere at Cannes, some of which were received well, while others… not so much. But, naturally, everyone wants to know who won and who lost at Cannes, and that is what we are going to report about in this article.

The article will be divided into two main sections. The first one will list all the juries at Cannes, since they are the ones who chose the winners at the film festival, so we think that it is only fair that you know who picked the winners. After that, we are going to list all the winners in each of the categories.

As we have said,...

“Emilia Pérez,” the Spanish-language musical drama starring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón which scored enthusiastic reviews after its Cannes premiere, is nearing a deal for U.S. and U.K. rights with Netflix.

Sources said the deal, which could also include additional territories, is for approximately $12 million, and there’s still the possibility that the ongoing negotiations could fall apart.

Saldaña stars as Rita, an undervalued lawyer whose firm is more inclined to help criminals than seek justice. She finds an unexpected way out when a feared drug cartel leader Manitas (Gascón) recruits her to aid him in surreptitiously completing a sex change operation to become the woman he’s always wanted to be. Gomez plays his unsuspecting wife. In an exclusive interview with Variety, Audiard described the movie as an “opera libretto in four acts,” as the actors break out into original songs to advance the plot.

The stars of Cannes sensation “Emilia Perez” got personal about the politics of their genre-bending musical on Sunday.

Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña and Édgar Ramírez fielded questions at a press conference for the Jacques Audiard project about the film’s setting in Mexico — a country torn by cartel violence as it heads for a summer election. A Mexican journalist asked the actors if they could reconcile the beauty of the film with the real world corruption occurring in the nation.

“I’ve been living in LA for 20 years. Mexican culture, that’s something that’s dear to my heart. I have lots of family there. There is injustice and corruption, which is true of all places in the world. But I’m grateful to Jacques because he used a lot of creative library and freedom [in this story],” said Saldaña.

Gomez said she related “so much to what Zoe said. I still have family there and,...

“Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish-language musical drama starring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón, has earned the biggest standing ovation of this year’s Cannes Film Festival so far.

Gomez wiped away tears as the Palais clapped for a full nine minutes, accompanied by plenty of hooting, whistling and cheering. During the standing ovation, director Jacques Audiard waved his hat at the balcony as stars Saldaña and Édgar Ramírez shared an emotional hug. There was huge applause for Gascón, who stars in the film as a drug cartel leader who seeks gender-affirming surgery.

In the film, from Palme d’Or winner Audiard, Saldaña stars as Rita, an “overqualified and undervalued” lawyer, whose firm is more inclined to help criminals than seek justice. She finds an unexpected way out when a feared drug cartel leader Manitas (Gascón) recruits her to aid him in surreptitiously completing a sex change operation to...

Cannes Competition titles Bird by Andrea Arnold and Emila Perez by Jacques Audiard are among the films eligible for the Queer Palm at this year’s festival.

Any title playing in Cannes which deals in anyway with Lgbtqiaa+ themes is eligible for the Queer Palm, whose jury this year will be presided over by Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont. Competing films are drawn from all Cannes selections: Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Critics’ Week, Directors’ Fortnight and Acid.

Bird centres on a 12-year-old who lives with her single father and brother in a squat and seeks attention and adventure elsewhere; among...

European film executives Christian De Schutter and Barbara Van Lombeek have teamed up to launch The FYC Academy, an agency for global awards strategies.

FYC – which stands for For Your Campaign – will launch officially in Cannes next month. The company’s focus is to set up international campaigns and develop strategies aimed at achieving optimum visibility for films during awards season.

It will include, but is not limited to Academy Awards campaigns, and will work initially on around five titles per year, from any international territory.

The FYC Academy will operate separately from Van Lombeek’s The PR Factory and...