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Dos presencias españolas, ‘Extraño Río’ y ‘Calle Málaga’, en la programación de la Biennale.

© Biennale

Ayer se desveló la impresionante programación de la 82 edición del Festival Internacional de Cine de Venecia, que se celebra del 27 de agosto al 6 de septiembre. Una selección potente, con claro protagonismo del cine en lengua inglesa, que busca posicionar a Venecia como la antesala decisiva de la temporada de premios. No es un gesto gratuito: Anora, ganadora en Cannes el año pasado, acabó llevándose el Óscar a la Mejor Película. Y ahora, todos miran a la Mostra como el próximo trampolín. Así, en la competición por el León de Oro hay nombres de peso como Guillermo del Toro, Yorgos Lanthimos, Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach, Park Chan-wook, o Benny Safdie. La riqueza de la programación se extiende también a las secciones paralelas y fuera de competición. En ellas se presentarán, entre otros, los nuevos trabajos de...

Early Tuesday morning, the Venice Film Festival announced the lineup for its 82nd edition featuring a range of films set to make waves internationally the rest of the year. While many of the competition titles were predicted by IndieWire and others ahead of the official announcement on the morning of July 22, the overall list of films and filmmakers in attendance still offered plenty of surprises.

Below, we dive into what stood out about the lineup, whether it was which films and studios are not participating this time around, to the ways in which this group of Venice entries differs from the ones from last year.

No Warner Bros. Pictures

While there are other studios that are not taking some expected features to Venice, like Focus Features with “Hamnet” or Sony with “Klara and the Sun,” the studio most noticeably absent from any part of the Venice schedule is Warner Bros.

After getting upstaged by Cannes at this year’s Oscars — when Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner Anora took best picture over Brady Corbet’s Lido champ The Brutalist — Venice has come roaring back.

Venice’s 2025 lineup, with its blend of prestige auteurs, big-name debuts and politically charged provocations, reaffirms the Lido as the premiere launchpad for award-season hopefuls. Highlights this year include Julia Roberts in Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, Dwayne Johnson in Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine and a triple threat from Netflix: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein starring Jacob Elordi, Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly with George Clooney and Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite with Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson.

Add in new features from Yorgos Lanthimos, Jim Jarmusch, Park Chan-wook, François Ozon, Paolo Sorrentino, Mona Fastvold, Gus van Sant, Julian Schnabel, Mamoru Hosoda and Laszlo Nemes, and the political heft...

Even by Venice’s lofty standards, this is a tantalizing and eye-catching 2025 lineup that the festival revealed Tuesday. The star-power may be at an all-time high, from George Clooney to Julia Roberts, Idris Elba to Jacob Elordi, Cate Blanchett to Emily Blunt, and Tony Leung to Dwayne Johnson.

Venice chief Alberto Barbera has once again pulled in an impressive mix of Hollywood and arthouse fare, and there’s a bumper crop of fascinating-sounding documentaries. He has spoken previously about the lack of movies from traditional studios this year (an ongoing problem for the sector), but there is a lively presence from the streamers and indie studios.

We checked in with Barbera to discuss the powerhouse lineup, Oscar hopefuls, thorny choices and why so many filmmakers seem to be making longer movies at the moment.

Alberto Barbera Getty Images

Deadline: How are you feeling about the lineup?

Alberto Barbera: I...

The Voice Of Hind Rajab, the latest feature from Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, will debut in Competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Announcing the title this morning during his official press conference, Venice head Alberto Barbera described The Voice Of Hind Rajab as a moving film that he believed would “most impress audiences and critics.”

The film tells the story of a young Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza last year along with six of her family members. Rajab and her family had been fleeing Gaza City when their vehicle was shelled, killing her uncle, aunt, and three cousins. Rajab and another cousin survived and contacted the Palestine Red Crescent Society (Prcs) seeking aid. The car was later found with both Rajab and the paramedics dead. Rajab’s death sparked global protests, most notably at Columbia University, where students renamed Hamilton Hall as Hind’s Hall.

UK-Ireland directors, actors, producers, funders and filming locations are well-represented through thefull breadth of theVeniceline-up – with the exception of the Competition, where there are no films by UK or Ireland directors.

London-based David Heyman’s Heyday Films producedNoah Baumbach’s Competition titleJay Kelly,which partly shot in the UK and features Jim Broadbent, Lenny Henry, Emily Mortimer, Thaddea Graham, Louis Partridge, Eve Hewson and Jamie Demetriou among the cast.

US filmmaker Jim Jarmusch’s anthology filmFather Mother Sister Brother, also in Competition, shot across the US, France and Ireland. UK-based Mubi is a producer on the project to which it has US rights,...

It's going to be a smashing time in Venice this year. The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its 82nd edition and the annual event will serve as the launching pad for Dwayne Johnson's Oscar campaign. The WWE star-turned-leading man plans to be front and center on the Lido with the competition entry The Smashing Machine from director Benny Safdie. Based on the life of Mma fighter Mark Kerr, the film reunites Johnson with his Jungle Cruise costar, Emily Blunt, and hopes to succeed in the awards race where A24's last sports picture — 2023's The Iron Claw — fell short.

But Johnson is stepping into the ring with some heavy-hitters in the Best Actor race, including George Clooney and Oscar Isaac. Both stars will be in Venice for their respective Netflix productions, Jay Kelly and Frankenstein, which hail from directors with proven awards track records. Clooney...

Valérie Donzelli (À Pied d’Oeuvre), Cai Shangjun (The Sun Rises on Us All), Kaouther Ben Hania (The Voice of Hind Rajab) and the directorial debut by Hou Hsiao-Hsien muse Shu Qi arriving with “Nühai” (Girl) are some of the surprise inclusions for the 82nd Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion competition. Of course this year is no different from previous editions – it is stacked with heavyweights such as Park Chan-wook, Mona Fastvold, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier Assayas, Kathryn Bigelow, former Golden Lion winners Guillermo del Toro and Yorgos Lanthimos.…...

Alberto Barbera presided over a lengthy press conference Tuesday morning, when he announced the stacked lineup for this year’s Venice Film Festival, which runs August 27-September 6.

The lineup is expansive, with big names and arthouse darlings sprinkled across the festival’s strands, even including the shorts program.

High-profile titles include Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny. Roberts leads the cast as a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star student (Edebiri) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Garfield), and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come into the light. The film will screen Out of Competition on Guadagnino and Amazon MGM Studios’ request, Barbera explained during the presser.

Elsewhere, in Competition we have Jay Kelly, the latest film Noah Baumbach has made for Netflix. The...

Celebrating its 82nd edition this year, Venice Film Festival will take place August 27 through September 6. Ahead of the event, President Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Director Alberto Barbera have now unveiled the lineup.

Highlights include new films from Jim Jarmusch, Park Chan-wook, Lucrecia Martel, Laura Poitras, Benny Safdie, Werner Herzog, Kathryn Bigelow, Luca Guadagnino, Olivier Assayas, Sofia Coppola, Kent Jones, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mark Jenkin, Tsai Ming-liang, Mamoru Hosoda, Gus Van Sant, Noah Baumbach, Mona Fastvold, Pietro Marcello, Guillermo del Toro, László Nemes, and more.

See the lineup below.

Opening Film

La Grazia (Paolo Sorrentino) (in competition)

Closing Film

Chien 51 (Cédric Jimenez) (out of competition)

In Competition

The Wizard of the Kremlin (Olivier Assayas)

Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach)

The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania)

A House of Dynamite (Kathryn Bigelow)

The Sun Rises on Us All (Cai Shangjun)

Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)

Elisa (Leonardo Di Costanzo)

À pied d’œuvre...

Oscar season starts here.

With its 2025 line-up, announced Tuesday, the Venice Film Festival has (again) taken the award season pole position, with a program packed with a frankly absurd number of must-see movies.

Among the hot awards titles heading to the Lido are Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, from A24, featuring Dwayne Johnson as two‑time UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr and Emily Blunt as his wife Dawn; Luca Guadagnino’s #MeToo–inspired thriller After the Hunt, for Amazon MGM Studios, starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri, will premiere out of competition; and Guillermo del Toro’s dark reimagining of Frankenstein, featuring Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth, a Netflix production.

This will mark the Venice festival debut for both Roberts and Johnson.

Netflix, which sat out Vence last year, is back in force for 2025. Alongside Frankenstein, the streamer has Noah Baumbach’s comedy‑drama Jay Kelly,...

Kathryn Bigelow’s A House Of Dynamite, Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine, and Luca Guadagnino’s After The Hunt are among the films selected for the 82nd Venice Film Festival (August 27 - September 6).

Scroll down for full line-up

The first two are among 21 Competition titles, with further Competition entries including Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly starring George Clooney, Olivier Assayas’ The Wizard Of The Kremlin starring Jude Law as Vladimir Putin, Mona Fastvold’s The Testament Of Ann Lee, and Guillermo del Toro’sFrankenstein starring Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi.

The selection was announced by artistic director Alberto Barbera,...

Launched at Cannes 2024 as the global sales arm of pan-Arab entertainment powerhouse Mad Solutions, Mad World has swooped on worldwide sales rights to highly regarded Tunisian filmmaker Mehdi Hmili’s revenge drama “Exile” ahead of its world premiere at August’s Locarno Film Festival.

Mad World has also shared in exclusivity with Variety a first look of the five-way co-production between Tunisia, Luxembourg, France, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia – this backing a sign of Mehdi’s building ambition and growing status in the Arab cinema world.

Lead produced by Tunisia’s Yol Film House, set up by Mehdi and producer Moufida Fedhila, “Exile” weighs in at Locarno as a social-issue revenge thriller set in an industrial world notably scarred by tragedy. It turns on Mohamed, a worker at the country’s biggest steel factory, a state concern on the brink of bankruptcy which is about to be privatised.

Mohamed survives a...

Beirut-based Abbout Productions, led by Georges Schoucair and Myriam Sassine, will be celebrated by the Locarno Film Festival with its Raimondo Rezzonico Award dedicated to producers who epitomize the indie ethos.

Schoucair founded Abbout Productions in 2004 with Sassine joining as lead producer in 2010. They have been nurturing a network of Lebanese and Arab filmmakers amid difficult and often catastrophic circumstances, fighting to keep indie cinema alive in the region by shepherding a wide range of Arab and Lebanese feature films and launching them internationally.

Films produced by Schoucair and Sassine in recent years include “Costa Brava, Lebanon” (Venice Orizzonti, 2021); “Memory Box” (Berlinale Competition, 2021) and other works by local filmmakers such as Ahmad Ghossein, Mohamed Malas, Ghassan Salhab, Oualid Mouannes, Cyril Aris, Ely Dagher, Rana Eid and Myriam El Hajj, whose “Diaries From Lebanon” premiered in Berlinale Panorama in 2024.

Schoucair and Sassine have also co-produced several award-winning international films through their...

The independent Beirut-based production house Abbout Productions, led by Georges Schoucair and Myriam Sassine, will receive the Raimondo Rezzonico Award at the 78th edition of the Locarno Film Festival.

The production firm will also present two of its movies at Locarno, namely Costa Brava, Lebanon by Mounia Akl, and Memory Box by Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige.

“In recent years, Georges Schoucair, who took over as CEO of Abbout Productions in 2004, and Myriam Sassine, who joined as lead producer in 2010, have shepherded an array of acclaimed Arab and Lebanese feature films into existence and onto the international distribution marketplace,” Locarno organizers said. “A vital production and distribution hub for the region, Abbout Productions has sustained a network of Lebanese and Arab artists and filmmakers who, despite difficult and often catastrophic circumstances, fight to create independent cinema in the region.”

The company’s movies have also included works by such local filmmakers as Ahmad Ghossein,...

Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux entered the room with a martial bearing, his square jaw tilted upwards in the manner of a man who need not doubt his significance.

He came to the Salon des Ambassadeurs within the Palais to make a few remarks before the awarding of the annual l’Oeil d’or (Golden Eye) award for the festival’s top documentary, as selected by a jury. Before an audience of perhaps a hundred or more nonfiction film lovers, he stated what must be considered unquestionable:

“Documentaries are a minority within the Cannes Film Festival. There have been documentaries in the past, but very few,” Frémaux acknowledged, before adding, “But it’s true that over the past few years, there have been many more.”

Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux speaks at the l’Oeil d’or ceremony Matthew Carey

He went on to say, “[With] your minority status, you can always feel a little oppressed.

The killing of Hind Rajab, the 5-year-old Palestinian girl who was left stranded in a car that had been attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza on Jan. 29 2024 and later found dead, is being made into a drama by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, Variety has learned.

The under-the-radar project, shot in a location in Tunisia, is being produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha (“Four Daughters”) alongside Oscar winners Odessa Rae (“Navalny”) and James Wilson (“The Zone of Interest”). The film — currently simply known as “Untitled Kaouther Ben Hania Project” — is backed by Film4.

The death of Rajab, while one of thousands of children killed in Gaza since Israeli launched its military offensive following the terror attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7 2023, sparked global condemnation, with student protestors at Columbia University renaming overtaken buildings in honor of the victim.

Rajab and her family had been fleeing Gaza City when their vehicle was shelled, killing her uncle,...

A group of more than 350 international actors, directors and producers have signed a letter published on the first day of Cannes condemning the killing of Fatma Hassona, the Palestinian photojournalist and protagonist of the festival-bound documentary “Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk,” in an Israeli airstrike.

The letter, signed by names such as Mark Ruffalo, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, Melissa Barrera, Yorgos Lanthimos, Javier Bardem, Hannah Einbinder, Pedro Almodóvar, David Cronenberg, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Leigh, Alex Gibney, Viggo Mortensen, Cynthia Nixon, Tessa Ross and many more, also called out the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ for its “lack of support” for “No Other Land” co-director Hamdan Ballal.

Just three weeks after winning the Oscar for the documentary, Ballal was assaulted by settlers and kidnapped by the Israeli army. After being criticized for its silence over the incident, AMPAS eventually publicly apologized. “We are ashamed of such passivity,...

More than 350 film world figures, including Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Javier Bardem, have published an open letter on the eve of the Cannes Film Festival condemning “silence” over the deadly impact of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

The letter, published on the website of France’s Libération newspaper on Monday evening, was headed “In Cannes, the horror Gaza must not be silenced”. It was addressed “For Fatem”, in memory of 25-year-old Gaza artist and photojournalist Fatima Hassouna.

The young woman was killed in an Israeli airstrike in mid-April just 24 hours after it was announced a documentary exploring her life in the Gaza Strip would world premiere in the Cannes. Ten of her relatives, including her pregnant sister, were killed in same strike.

“She was a Palestinian freelance photojournalist. She was targeted by the Israeli army on 16 April, 2025, the day after it was announced that Sepideh Farsi’s...

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

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

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

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

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

The Cannes Film Festival’s Acid section has released its 2025 line-up, presenting nine new feature films selected by a committee of working directors. Known for spotlighting independent works that operate outside mainstream formats, this year’s list includes filmmakers from Finland, Argentina, Iran, Portugal, Colombia, and France.

Acid, run by the Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema, began in 1992 with the intention of supporting work overlooked by traditional festival circuits. The section’s 2025 program was shaped by fourteen filmmakers including Camila Beltran, Jan Gassman, and Mona Convert. Eight of the nine selected films will screen as world premieres.

The selection opens with L’aventura, the fifth feature by French director Sophie Letourneur. Set during a family trip to Sardinia, the story unfolds through the voice of an 11-year-old girl who recounts their days on the road, interrupted by her younger brother’s constant intrusions. Letourneur plays the mother, alongside Philippe Katerine,...

Cannes parallel section Acid, run by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (l’Acid), has unveiled its 2025 line-up.

The section will open with French actress and director Sophie Letourneur’s L’aventura set against a family road trip to Sardinia told by the 11-year-old daughter.

Letourneur co-stars as the mother opposite Philippe Katerine, who gained international fame over the summer when he appeared nearly naked and painted blue as Dionysus in the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

The section will showcase nine features – eight of them world premieres – selected by a committee of directors from 600 submissions and aimed at showcasing “original and audacious” works.

International films include U.S.-based Argentinian director Lucio Castro’s Drunken Noodles. Loosely inspired by the life of embroidery artist Sal Salandra, it follows a young artist as he arrives in New York and tries to break into the gallery scene.

From Finland,...

Exclusive: Paris-based The Party Film Sales has acquired international sales rights for Dutch director Sven Bresser’s first feature Reedland ahead of its premiere in competition in Cannes Critics’ Week in May.

The film tells the story of reed cutter Johan who discovers the lifeless body of a girl on his land and is overcome by an ambiguous sense of guilt. While he takes care of his granddaughter, he sets out on a quest to track down evil. But darkness can thrive in unexpected places.

Non-professional actor Gerrit Knobbe makes his big screen debut as Johan, alongside young newcomer Loïs Reinders.

The drama is among 11 first and second feature films, seven in competition, selected out of 1,000 submitted films for the upcoming edition of Cannes Critics’ Week, running from May 14 to 22.

Reedland is the first feature by a Dutch director to premiere in Critics’ Week since Karim Traïdia’s The Polish...

Whatever their reason for doing a co-production, producers and filmmakers should focus on the story they’re trying to tell rather than trying to please all audiences and markets, was the major message of a panel about international co-production at the on-going Hong Kong Filmart.

Emad Eskandar, head of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Fund, which has recently expanded to include Asia, compared co-production to being a gamer: “Every item you use comes with pluses and minuses – you’re going to get ten points with this element, but perhaps minus five points in health.”

He explained that Saudi has already been involved in hundreds of international co-productions through the Red Sea Fund, including Oscar-nominated titles Four Daughters and The Man Who Sold His Skin, both directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. But he advised that the script should always come first: “I see the artistic side sometimes get challenged; the co-producers...

Exclusive: The inaugural Henry Awards for Public Interest Documentary has named its 15 semifinalists, with the winner set to receive $100,000.

The new prize, created by the Documentary Film in the Public Interest Initiative at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, recognizes “nonfiction films that advance public understanding of the critical issues of our time while demonstrating outstanding cinematic achievement,” according to a release. “Guided by the hallmarks of ethical practice, rigorous investigation, and courageous storytelling, the Henry Awards are intended to honor and encourage a documentary filmmaking practice grounded in its essential role to a thriving society and focused on the public good.”

‘Four Daughters’

Among the 15 semifinalists announced Tuesday are the Oscar nominated documentary Four Daughters, directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, and the Oscar-shortlisted documentaries Queendom, directed by Agniia Galdanova, and Hollywoodgate, directed by Ibrahim Nash’at. Scroll for the full list of semifinalists.

In April 2023, violence erupted between Sudan’s military and Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group previously affiliated with the government. The brutal clash plunged an already fragile nation into more distressing circumstances. Aid agencies declared Sudan’s humanitarian crisis the worst in the world and relayed the African country’s dire situation through frightening statistics: 11 million people displaced, 25 million hungry and more than half the population in need of critical aid.

Numbers, though useful, can have a numbing effect, because stats can’t measure intangible losses — the details that texture lives. The filmmakers behind Khartoum, a poignant documentary of survival and hope, have an implicit knowledge of that. Their film, which premiered at Sundance before screening at Berlin, is a thoughtful and experimental melange focused on five Sudanese people forced to evacuate Khartoum after Rsf soldiers invaded the city. Led by a collective of British and Sudanese directors, these participants...

Exclusive: Tunisian-Egyptian actress Hend Sabry, star of Oscar-nominated hybrid doc Four Daughters and Netflix hit show Finding Ola, has signed with Cairo-based talent management and promotional agency Mad Celebrity.

The company will manage and promote the star across the Middle East and North Africa, while CAA, which signed Sabry in 2023, continues to represent her internationally as her talent agent.

Sabry first became a household name across the Arab world with the 2010 Egyptian TV classic Ayza Atgawez, in the role of a young pharmacist desperate to get married before she turns 30. She has since rebooted the character for Netflix in the hit show Finding Ola.

The star joins a growing list of internationally recognized talents from the Arab world on the Mad Celebrity books, including megastar Yousra, the Emmy-nominated Menna Shalaby (Nawara), British Lebanese actress Razane Jammal (The Sandman) and the trail-blazing Saudi artist Fatima Al Banawi (Basma).

Sabry, who has...

The snow-covered Park City feels a world away from Tunis, where Amel Guellaty shot her feature debut “Where the Wind Comes From,” which has its world premieres at Sundance, with Rotterdam hosting the European premiere. This real-life journey somewhat echoes that of the film’s main characters, Alyssa (Eya Bellagha) and Mehdi (Slim Baccar), who embark on an eventful road trip to make it to an artist contest that promises to be the key to leaving their home country for a life in Europe.

Speaking exclusively with Variety, the photographer-turned-filmmaker says Sundance was always her “dream” festival. “When I see the Sundance laurels on a film poster I know I am going to like the movie, so I couldn’t believe it when I got in.” The premiere has an added layer of excitement for Guellaty: this is the first time her leading actors will be seeing snow. “They are...

With 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best International Feature, Best Actress for Karla Sofia Gascón, and Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez broke the record for most Oscar nominations for a film not in the English language by three. As Best Actress nominees, Gascón and I’m Still Here star Fernanda Torres are the first pair of non-English performances nominated together in the category since 1966. As a Best Picture nominee, I’m Still Here is the first Brazilian film ever nominated in the category while Torres is only the second Brazilian actress nominated for Best Actress after her mother, Fernanda Montenegro. Thanks to Emilia Pérez and I’m Still Here, this is the seventh consecutive year when a non-English language film has received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, with Parasite remaining as the only winner thus far.

Those were some of the main headlines on Thursday morning after the 2025 Oscar nominations announcement.

Tunisia has made relatively few submissions for the international feature Oscar, yet thanks to female helmer Kaouther Ben Hania, the country recently earned a nomination with “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020) and a place on the shortlist with “Four Daughters” (2023). This year’s submission, “Take My Breath,” comes from another female director, Nada Mezni Hafaiedh, but did not make the shortlist. The beautifully shot, attractively cast melodrama follows the plight of an intersex person living as a woman until her secret is betrayed. Unfortunately, the well-intentioned screenplay by Hafaiedh and Pascal Jousse piles on such a plethora of social issues that it overwhelms the central storyline.

Shams is a talented 23-year-old seamstress, who is well-liked in her small island community. She lives with and supports her bitter mother Fadilah (Fatma Saidene) and wheelchair-using sister. Her quiet competence and natural beauty grab the attention of hunky engineer-cum-fisherman Habib (former model...

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival kicked off its fourth edition on Thursday with the world premiere of Karim Shenawi’s Egyptian drama “The Tale of Daye’s Family” and a glitzy red carpet featuring Will Smith, Emily Blunt, Cynthia Erivo, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eva Longoria, Michelle Yeoh, Minnie Driver, Michael Douglas and Vin Diesel, the latter of whom received the festival’s Iconic Characters Award.

Diesel took to the stage after a warm introduction by his long-time collaborator Michelle Rodríguez, who said the two have “been creatively in rooms defending storytelling, people with our colored skin and the beauty of the streets and the people who don’t necessarily live by the rules of others.”

Michelle Rodriguez, Mohammed Al Turki and Eva Longoria attend the opening ceremony at the Red Sea Film Festival.

Accepting the award, the actor quipped about the star-filled room: “There might be more familiar faces...

Open Doors, Locarno Pro’s co-production and talent development initiative, is to focus on the African continent for the next four years.

The Africa focus comes after Open Doors’ most recent cycle centred on Latin America and the Caribbean for 2022 – 2024.

Filmmakers from 42 countries in Africa can apply for the Open Doors programme, which is backed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Sdc) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (Fdfa).

Submissions for the 2025 edition of Open Doors’ three main programmes - Open Doors Projects, Open Doors Producers and Open Doors Directors - are open from November 28 to January...

The results of the third Eurimages Project Evaluation Session of 2024 have been unveiled and among the batch of filmmakers we find the likes of Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania (Four Daughters) who firmly moved back into fiction with Tu ne feras point d’images (aka You Shall Not Make an Image). From Morocco, we find The Blue Caftan director Maryam Touzani going to Spain for Calle Malaga. Danish-Egyptian filmmaker May el-Toukhy (who gave us Queen of Hearts – it was recently adapted by Catherine Breillat for L’Été dernier) is getting ready for a project titled Woman, Unknown.…...

Feature film projects from The Blue Caftan filmmaker Maryam Touzani and Four Daughters director Kaouther Ben Hania are among 24 titles that have received a combined €6.78m in the latest session of Council of Europe co-production fund Eurimages.

The 24 feature films backed by Eurimages include four documentaries and one animation. 16 are to be directed or co-directed by women, representing over 75% of the total funding awarded.

Morrocan filmmaker Maryam Touzani’s Spanish language Calle Malaga was awarded €500,000. It’s the story of a 74-year old woman who belongs to the Spanish community of Tangier who has to leave her home but unexpectedly...

For the first time in more than a decade, the Cairo Film Festival will open for business.

Now kicking off its 45th edition, the Egyptian event has remained a key cultural and artistic showcase for the region and for the wider Middle East and North Africa world – but Cairo has gone without a market since scuppering that component after the country’s 2011 revolution.

Soon, that’s all about to change.

“This is the best time to reintroduce the market, because the whole of the Egyptian industry needs it very much,” says Cairo head of industry Mohamed Sayed Abdel Rehim. “So many of our filmmakers and technicians now find work in Saudi Arabia, so we want to bring more projects to Egypt and to engage more filmmakers from abroad.”

Held as part of the Cairo Industry Days, and set to open on Nov. 15, Cairo’s streamlined and revamped market will primarily feature Egyptian,...

In November 2015, a staggeringly violent crime took place in the impoverished area of Mghila Mountain in Tunisia. A jihadist group attacked two young shepherds, killing one and forcing the survivor to carry a bloody message back to his family. The real-life case inspired Lotfi Achour’s harrowing drama “Red Path,” which played as part of the Meet the Neighbors competition at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

“At first, I dismissed the idea of making a film based on this story, telling myself that I needed to let some time pass and my emotions calm down,” Achour told Variety. “When a year and a half later the second brother was murdered in similar circumstances, it brought back the need for me to talk about it because it was no longer an isolated crime but premeditated acts on the part of jihadists. From then on, I was obsessed with making this film.”

“Red Path...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2, 2024.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2, 2024.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2, 2024.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Tunisia has selected Nada Mezni Hfaiedh’s drama Take My Breath, exploring intersex identity, to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category of the 97th Oscars.

The drama, which released in Tunisia late last year, stars Amina Ben Ismail as 23-year-old seamstress Shams, whose life is overturned when their intersex identity is exposed.

Shams escapes to the city, where they live in the shadows, shunned by true love and rejected by society’s rigid norms and expectations.

Last year’s Tunisian entry, documentary Four Daughters by Kaouther Ben Hania, made it onto the shortlist in the International Feature category and went on to be nominated in the Best Documentary category.

The country’s National Cinema Centre announced the selection with just over 24 hours to go until the deadline for submission to the category for the 97th Academy Awards, at 5 p.m. Pt on October 2.

So far, around 76 country entries have been publicly declared,...

Tunisia has made its Oscar pick, selecting Take My Breath, the debut feature from director Nada Mezni Hafaiedh as its entry for the 2025 Academy Awards in the best international feature category.

The drama follows Shams, a young seamstress whose tranquil life unravels when their intersex identity, and the steamy love triangle in which their are entwined, is exposed. When Shams is targeted by an obsessive attacker, they are forced to escape to the capital city of Tunis.

Amina Ben Smail, seen alongside Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve in Pierro Mesina’s Berlin film festival entry Another End, plays Shams. Sana Ben Cheikh Larbi, Mohamed Mrad, and Fatima Ben Saidane co-star. Slim Hafaiedh of Leyth Production and Ziad H. Hamzeh of Hamzeh Mystique Films co-produced.

Take My Breath had its world premiere at the Warsaw Film Festival last year and has been a box office hit at home.

Mad Solutions,...

Docs are prominent among specialty releases this weekend with South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker renovating a massive Mexican restaurant and creative takes on psychics, oysters, Abraham Lincoln and Casablanca bread riots. The Thicket starring Peter Dinklage marks Tubi Films’ first non-day-and-date release. French Canadian chiller Red Rooms gets a U.S bow from Utopia. Screens for indie fare have been scarce and are now running over with Tim Burton’s anticipated wide release Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! starts a limited run this weekend and has been racking up significant presales that promise one of the highest per-screen averages for a documentary since Covid at its first stop, Alamo Denver. Deadline hears theaters initially scheduled two shows a day but have been upping that to 4-5 shows, possibly with more to be added.

Directed by Arthur Bradford, the doc premiered at Tribeca where it won the audience award,...

In the run up to its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Elizabeth Lo (“Stray”)’s anticipated second feature documentary “Mistress Dispeller” has been boarded by The Party Film Sales.

The Paris-based company has acquired international sales rights to the movie and has unveiled a clip. AC Independent and Submarine Entertainment are handling North American sales.

“Mistress Dispeller” will bow in the Horizons section at Venice on Sept. 2 before having its North American premiere at Toronto.

“Mistress Dispeller” takes place in China, where a new industry has emerged devoted to helping couples stay married in the face of infidelity. Wang Zhenxi is part of this growing profession, a “mistress dispeller” who is hired to maintain the bonds of marriage — and break up affairs — by any means necessary.

The documentary follows a real, unfolding case of infidelity as Teacher Wang attempts to bring a couple back from the edge of crisis.

Monica Bellucci with Anne-Katrin Titze on the Maria Callas Yves Saint Laurent dress she wore in Yannis Dimolitsas and Tom Volf’s Maria Callas: Letters And Memoirs: “This dress really brings me luck.”

On the afternoon before a private screening of Yannis Dimolitsas and Tom Volf’s Maria Callas: Letters And Memoirs at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Monica Bellucci spoke about the connection she feels to the woman she portrayed on stage, working with women directors, including Kaouther Ben Hania (Oscar-nominated Best International Feature The Man Who Sold His Skin) and Rebecca Miller (The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee), her daughter Deva Cassel, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Medea, and the magic of the Maria Callas Yves Saint Laurent dress that brings her luck.

Monica Bellucci on Maria Callas: “The moment that is so incredible to me is when she is singing Carmen in Hamburg in 1962.” Photo:...

Founded in 2007 by nonfiction filmmaker, writer, and visual artist Aj Schnack, Cinema Eye began as an awards event for documentary films, but by 2010, had blossomed into a multi-day celebration of the form, paying tribute to each year’s new class of nominees, as well as the influences that shaped them all. They were the first and remain the only international nonfiction awards organization to recognize the entire creative team, presenting awards for directing, editing, producing, cinematography, original score, visual design, and sound design, as well as non-competitive Honors for onscreen participants.

Doubling down on their commitment to recognizing all creative team members, starting in the year 2025, the named nominees for Cinema Eye’s highest honor, Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, will include the films’ directors, producers, editors, cinematographers, composers, sound and visual designers, as well as the primary onscreen participants. Individuals will be nominated for this category regardless of...

Distribution veteran Wendy Lidell will depart Kino Lorber as SVP of theatrical acquisitions and distribution at the end of June after eight years to pursue a new, undisclosed, chapter.

Kino Lorber chairman and CEO Richard Lorber made the announcement on Friday and hailed Lidell as “the rarest amalgam of smart cinephile and canny business executive”.

Kino Lorber chief revenue officer Lisa Schwartz will oversee theatrical distribution and acquisitions in the interim and continue to report to Klmg president Ed Carroll.

Lidell joined the company in 2016. During her tenure she shepherded three documentaries to Oscar nominations – Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire At Sea,...

Exclusive: Kino Lorber SVP of Theatrical Acquisitions & Distribution Wendy Lidell will depart the company at the end of June following a great eight year run at the indie distributor.

The company’s Chief Revenue Officer Lisa Schwartz will oversee theatrical distribution and acquisitions in the interim and will continue to report to President Ed Carroll. Reporting to Schwartz will be SVP Marketing and Communications Nicholas Kemp, VP Press and Publicity Kate Patterson, VP Theatrical Distribution & Repertory Acquisitions George Schmalz, and Director Theatrical Distribution Maxwell Wolkin.

Schwartz and Carroll, former top executives at AMC Networks, joined Kino Lorber in early 2023.

Lidell has been at Kino Lorber since 2016, overseeing all theatrical acquisitions and distribution efforts and shepherding three documentaries to Oscar nominations – Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea, Talal Derki’s Of Fathers and Sons most recently Kaouther Ben Hania’s decorated Four Daughters.

Other theatrical releases on her watch include Long Day’s Journey Into Night,...

For the second year in a row, the L’Oeil d’or prize – the top award for documentary at the Cannes Film Festival – is being shared by two films.

The award announced on the Croisette today went to Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck, and The Brink of Dreams, directed by Ayman El Amir and Nada Riyadh.

Peck’s film centers on the titular South African photographer who documented life under apartheid for his country’s oppressed Black population. Actor Lakeith Stanfield voices writings from the late artist in the film. Ernest Cole: Lost and Found premiered in the Special Screenings section of Cannes.

Director Raoul Peck at the Deadline Studio during the 77th Cannes Film Festival presented by Neom on May 22, 2024.

The L’Oeil d’or jury – comprised of president Nicolas Philibert, as well as Dyana Gaye, Elise Jalladeau, Francis Legault and Mina Kavani – wrote,...

Sudanese first-timer Mohamed Kordofani’s “Goodbye Julia,” a timely morality tale that takes place just before the 2011 secession of South Sudan, has won top awards for both fest feature film and best screenplay at the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films that will be handed out today at the Plage des Palmes in Cannes.

The first Sudanese film ever to screen in Cannes’ official selection, where it premiered in Un Certain Regard last year, “Goodbye Julia” (pictured) is the story of two women — one from the North, the other from the South — who are brought together by fate in a complex relationship that attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities in the war-ravaged country.

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s hybrid doc-drama “Four Daughters,” about an Arab mother contending with the Islamic radicalization and the sexual desires of her teenage daughters, scored three awards: best director for Ben Hania,...

Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia has won best film at the 8th Critics Awards for Arab Films, which will celebrate its winners in Cannes today.

The film, which was the first from Sudan ever selected for Cannes where it premiered in Un Certain Regard last year, also picked up best screenplay for feature debut writer/director Kordofani.

Tunisian documentary-drama hybrid Four Daughters secured three awards: best director for Kaouther Ben Hania, best documentary and best editing for the work of Qutaiba Barhamji. The film also played at last year’s Cannes, winning the Golden Eye for director Ben Hania, and...