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Exclusive:Be For Films has taken on international sales rights to Tamara Stepanyan’s In The Land Of Artostarring Camille Cottin and Zar Amir that will open Locarno Film Festival at the Piazza Grande on August 6.

Cottin plays a woman who arrives in Armenia to legalise the death of her husband but discovers he has been lying to her about his identity and is actually a former soldier who deserted the war.She embarks on a journey as she uncovers her former spouse’s past and a country haunted by a never-ending war.

Amir, who won Cannes’ best actress prize in...

Fans of kaiju movies are always on the lookout for new giant monster movies to make their day, and fortunately, this is a great time to follow this genre. Apart from Japan's steady output of amazing films like Takashi Yamazaki's sublime "Godzilla Minus One," other countries have been upping their game considerably in the last decades. Hollywood has long since recovered from Roland Emmerich's 1998 "Godzilla," which was so awful that Toho's "Godzilla: Final Wars" gave its hated monster a humiliating second death in a fight against the real Godzilla. Between Matt Reeves' "Cloverfield," Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim," and Legendary Pictures' ongoing MonsterVerse franchise, Tinseltown has been establishing itself as a reliable hotspot of kaiju entertainment, and in 2006, Korean director luminary Bong Joon Ho of "Parasite" and "Snowpiercer" fame put his own spin on the theme with one of the greatest monster movies ever made, "The Host.

Jane Campion, Richard Linklater, Radu Jude and Ali Abbasi are among the advisors and special guests taking part in the 2025 Oxbelly screenwriting and literary retreat in Greece.

The event takes place on June 28–July 6 at Costa Navarino in Messinia and includes programs for writers working in film and literary fiction.

Golden Bear-winner Jude leads the screenwriters program – for writers working on their second features - with eight fellows selected this year. The full list of screenwriting fellows is below.

Other advisors or guests taking part include directors Annemarie Jacir and Kleber Mendonça Filho, and UK producer Tanya Seghatchian.

The lab...

Jane Campion, Richard Linklater, Radu Jude and Ali Abbasi are among the advisors and special guests taking part in the 2025 Oxbelly screenwriting and literary retreat in Greece.

The event takes place on June 28–July 6 at Costa Navarino in Messinia and includes programs for writers working in film and literary fiction.

Golden Bear-winner Jude leads the screenwriters program – for writers working on their second features - with eight fellows selected this year. The full list of screenwriting fellows is below.

Other advisors or guests taking part include directors Annemarie Jacir and Kleber Mendonça Filho, and UK producer Tanya Seghatchian.

The lab...

Irish directorColum Eastwood’shorror film The Morrigan andMark Forbes’class divide documentaryQuiet On Setare among the films set to world premiere at the 37th edition of Galway Film Fleadh, taking place from July 8-13 in Ireland.

Quiet On Set explores class division in the UK film industry and features actors Maxine Peake and Vicky McClure, writer Paul Laverty and filmmakers Sean McAllister and Kolton Lee.

The Morrigan follows an archaeologist who unearths a burial casket of a mummified figure and unleashes an ancient evil upon her team. The cast includes Saffron Burrows, James Cosmo, Toby Stephens and Antonia Campbell-Hughes.

Galway...

The Apprentice is easily one of the riskiest and probably career-ending movies in Hollywood. Showcasing the story of a young Donald Trump, The Apprentice follows the story of Trump finding a willingness to win and to do whatever it takes to stay victorious.

However, veteran director Clint Eastwood wasn’t a big fan of the project since, although he was approached to direct the movie earlier, Eastwood allegedly chose his career’s safety over creating a good movie, and honestly, we don’t even blame him.

Clint Eastwood rejected directing the riskiest movie of 2024

Directed by Ali Abbasi, The Apprentice received average reviews and ratings, with several controversial talks about the timing of the film’s release (it was released a month before the U.S. elections).

Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice | Credit: Briarcliff Entertainment

With Sebastian Stan portraying the role of Donald Trump, the movie was very well a risky move.

A Canadian Screen Awards that put marginalized voices front and center and challenged the global political landscape saw The Apprentice, a film about a young Donald Trump, dominate the national film and TV awards Sunday night in Toronto.

Director Ali Abbasi’s Trump origin story won best movie, while Sebastian Stan, the Romania-born American actor who plays the future U.S. president alongside Jeremy Strong as his consigliere Roy Cohn, earned top honors for best leading role.

Daniel Bekerman, co-producer of the Canada/Ireland/Denmark co-production The Apprentice, said when accepting the prize, “Our movie shows how the young Donald Trump amassed wealth and power by finding a dilapidated building and slapping his name on it as president. We’ll see how that works out.”

Then Bekerman turned to Trump taunting Canada as a possible 51st state for the United States. “Now he wants to slap his name on this country.

It was a star-studded soirée in Cannes last night as The Hollywood Reporter, with Longines, hosted the official afterparty of Lynne Ramsay thriller Die, My Love.

Robert Pattinson arrived straight from the Palais premiere — where the film was recipient of a warm, six-minute standing ovation — and Lakeith Stanfield came soon after, breaking out some dance moves as carpet photos were taken. Jennifer Lawrence joined later in the evening on the arm of Longines CEO Matthias Breschan.

Among other arrivals was Eddington star Joaquin Phoenix and wife Rooney Mara, who together blocked Pedro Pascal, also in Ari Aster’s pandemic-era film, from snapping any photos. Dakota Johnson, set to feature in Celine Song’s hotly-anticipated Materialists this coming summer, as well as “brat” queen Charli Xcx and German actor Matthias Schweighöfer also joined to celebrate Ramsay’s new movie. Ali Abbasi, director of last year’s Cannes picture The Apprentice with Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong,...

Dogma isn’t dead!

In a packed presser this afternoon at the Zentropa villa in Cannes, filmmakers May el-Toukhy, Milad Alami, Annika Berg, Isabella Eklöf and Jesper Just announced that they are launching a rebranded Dogma manifesto, styled as Dogma 25, to “protect the artistic integrity of feature film and create space for uncompromising cinematic storytelling.”

The manifesto contains 10 new dogmas, and the filmmakers said they have taken a “new vow of chastity” to uphold the rules, which they explained are influenced by three central themes: a return to the physical reality, aesthetic restrain and economic and geographic accountability. You can read the full list of dogmas below.

No. 1 on the list compels each director to only work on screenplays that are original and handwritten by the director. The list demands that the internet is off limits in all creative processes, and the filmmakers must only accept funding with no content-altering conditions attached.

Media Capital Technologies (McT) has signed a deal to provide “significant investment capital” for Head Gear.

As part of the agreement, Head Gear will use the capital to deploy senior-secured loans across film, television, music, and video games. It will invest alongside global asset manager Allianz Global Investors and Compton Ross, Head Gear’s longstanding capital partners.

“We’ve had the privilege of knowing Phil for nearly two decades. In an industry often marked by volatility and short-lived ventures, he has built a remarkably enduring company with an ironclad reputation as one of the most trusted names in production financing. That is a testament to his vision and leadership,” says McT Principals Christopher Woodrow and Raj Singh. “We’re excited to partner with Head Gear and look forward to what we can achieve together.”

“Chris and I began as mavericks, working in parallel to each other,” says Head Gear Founder and CEO Phil Hunt.

Just hours before the Cannes Film Festival opening gala, jury member Halle Berry revealed she had to swap her planned gown after organizers unveiled strict guidelines banning nudity and oversized trains on the red carpet. Speaking at the Palais des Festivals press conference on May 12, Berry said her custom Gupta dress featured a train deemed too large. “I’m not going to break the rules,” she said, adding that the ban on nudity “is probably a good rule.”

Cannes officials issued a statement explaining the measures align with the festival’s charter and French law. Attire that risks blocking other guests’ passage or complicating seating in screening rooms may be refused entry. Festival programmers say the guidelines formalize long-standing practices rather than introduce new mandates.

Berry sits alongside jury president Juliette Binoche and peers Jeremy Strong, Payal Kapadia, Hong Sangsoo, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi and Carlos Reygadas. The...

Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong, and Cannes jury president Juliette Binoche were immediately pressed on all things Trump at the festival’s first press conference on Tuesday.

They were joined by Alba Rohrwacher, auteur directors Hong Sangsoo, Payal Kapadia, and Carlos Reygadas, French Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani, and Congolese documentarist Dieudo Hamadi.

Of course, the conversation swiftly moved to the looming shadow of President Donald Trump whose spate of tariffs has upended the global economy. He has, in recent days, turned his attention to Hollywood: a 100 percent movie tariff on international films putting the fear of god into every producer flocking to the Croisette.

“I’m not sure I’m capable to answer that because it requires an analysis of the industry and cinema in the world,” Binoche said when asked how the proposed tariffs threaten the international film industry. “I understand President Trump is trying to protect… he was trying to protect his country,...

Neon has picked up rights for North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand for Fjord, the English-language debut of Palme d’Or-winning Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve. Neon plans to release the film theatrically in the U.S..

The re-teaming of Stan and Reinsve, who co-starred in A Different Man, is a family drama focused on the Gheorghiu family, made up of a Romanian father (Stan) and a Norwegian mother (Reinsve), who relocate to a remote village in the mother’s homeland. They quickly form a close bond with the neighboring Halberg family. But when troubling allegations surface, the Gheorghius find themselves at the center of a small-town reckoning.

Stan is coming off a best actor Oscar nomination for playing Donald Trump in Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice and a reprisal of his role as Bucky in the MCU...

Donald Trump is getting the biopic treatment again as Italian producer Andrea Iervolino looks to get the project off the ground.

Last year’s The Apprentice – a great film, if you ask me – was surrounded by controversy. Director Ali Abbasi, armed with the acting abilities of Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan, brought the current President of the United States, Donald Trump, to the big screen in a biopic that didn’t exactly flatter the businessman-turned-politician. In our review, we called it “an engrossing character study of a man who took the opportunity to become the worst possible version of himself.”

Trump was notoriously against the film and even tried to stop it from being released, eventually losing that fight. Deadline now reports that a new biopic of Trump is in the works, with Ferrari producer Andrea Iervolino attached to it. The new movie reportedly has a pretty high price tag...

Academy Award nominee Sebastian Stan and Leo Woodall will star in Burning Rainbow Farm to be directed by Justin Kurzel.

The screenplay was written by Tommy Murphy based on the book by Dean Kuipers.

Rocket Science will introduce the project to international buyers in Cannes this month. CAA Media Finance is handling North American distribution rights.

The film will tell the true story of Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm, a couple in rural Michigan who build a peaceful, pot-friendly utopia called Rainbow Farm. When the two run afoul of local authorities and their young son is taken from them, a standoff ensues leading to one of the largest and most dramatic sieges America has ever seen.

Burning Rainbow Farm is being produced by Nicole O’Donohue, Kurzel, and Alexandra Taussig for Thirdborn,...

Daniel Bekerman, producer of the Donald Trump film The Apprentice, has a different take to much of the global entertainment industry left reeling by the U.S. president threatening a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made movies.

Bekerman sees the film tariff as less of an economic tool to bring jobs and moviemaking back to Hollywood, and more of a storytelling tool by Trump to keep alive his own image as an infallible deal-maker ever on the attack and counter-attack. “When it comes to Trump talking about film tariffs in the film industry, now he’s actually come home, because this industry is where his skill set resides,” Bekerman tells The Hollywood Reporter about a Hollywood filled with stars, moguls and directors equally adept at master storytelling.

“Tariffs … are a narrative tool that supports his story that he’s been telling for 50 years, since he met Roy Cohn. And the story is...

Sebastian Stan has become one of the most exciting actors of his generation, a rare alumni of the Marvel Universe, and a risk taker when it comes to challenging projects (subtle nod to The Apprentice). And guess what, he even received his first-ever Academy Award nomination—so he must be doing something right with his career.

Meanwhile, now that Sebastian Stan is once again set to hit the silver screen and rock our world with his appearance as Bucky Barnes in the upcoming Thunderbolts*, let’s check out a few of his previous films. From critically acclaimed appearances to highly rated films, let’s take a look at 8 of Stan’s rare classics from his coveted filmography.

8. The Apprentice (2024)

Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice is one of the riskiest and bravest American films in years, and Sebastian Stan tackled the project with grace and nuance. Portraying the role of young...

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

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

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

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

Opening in the final weeks of an election cycle that eventually saw its subject Donald Trump re-elected as President of the United States, Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice” was one of 2024’s most controversial films. It became a political lightning rod to the point that Sebastian Stan, who played Trump in the 1980s-set film, reportedly couldn’t find a fellow actor willing to discuss it for Variety’s Actors on Actors series. But even if some people avoided the film, Stan is confident that Trump is a fan of it.

In a new interview with Vanity Fair, Sebastian Stan speculated that the president has repeatedly watched “The Apprentice,” suggesting that the film’s critical tone might be lost on the former real estate mogul.

“I would put money down he’s seen it 100 fucking times, of course, because he’s a narcissist,” Stan said. “And I bet you there’s...

Sebastian Stan does not think there is any question whether or not Donald Trump has watched “The Apprentice.”

In an interview with Vanity Fair published Monday, Stan reflected on the 2024 film, in which the actor played a young Trump who is taught how to succeed in corporate America by Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). For his performance in the Ali Abbasi-directed film, Stan received critical acclaim and both Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. In October, Trump himself blasted the film and its pre-election release.

“It’s a cheap, defamatory and politically disgusting hatchet job,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “So sad that Human Scum, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want in order to hurt a Political Movement, which is far bigger than any of us.”

It was unclear if Trump had actually seen “The Apprentice” when he penned that social media post.

Utopia Dives Into Uncharted Territory With US Acquisition Of Hot Spring Shark Attack

Hot Spring Shark Attack Makes Its US Premiere As The Opening Night Selection At The Chattanooga Film Festival

Utopia, the award-winning independent studio known for arthouse gems such as Pet Shop Days, Shiva Baby, The Sweet East, Holy Spider, and Red Rooms announced they are plunging into new waters today with the acquisition of Hot Spring Shark Attack (aka Onsen Shâku).

Utopia has acquired North American rights to the “unhinged” Japanese shark film and are planning a summer 2025 rollout. The deal was negotiated by Candace Tan on behalf of Utopia and Akiko Uchida of King Record.

Hot Spring Shark Attack is set in a small, hot spring town in Japan, where a ferocious ancient shark reawakens and terrorizes the local hot spring facilities. As the threat escalates, the townspeople band together to protect their beloved town from the menacing predator,...

The LA Film Festival was a serious feeder for talent for both independent cinema and Hollywood. The festival highlighted exciting talent and gave that talent access and audience with the larger LA film world. Coffee dates were made, next projects were pitched, and a community was fostered.

A few notable names that you might have heard of this award season screened their earlier work at the fest, including Sean Baker (Anora), Justin Simien (Hollywood Black), Ali Abbasi (The Apprentice), and Jon M Chu (Wicked).

These four filmmakers took full advantage of everything the festival had to offer and are now able to make those daring projects that have earned them all that hardware. If we look at the films that they brought to the festival, we might learn a little something about what makes these filmmakers tick, and how themes they explored way back when are still relevant to the directors today.

The past 18 months have marked an extraordinarily turbulent period for Jews worldwide, with a pogrom launched against communities in southern Israel soon yielding a major spike in antisemitic incidents. Veteran documentary filmmaker Wendy Sachs says she watched what transpired and began chronicling and connecting dots.

Sachs’ new film October 8 begins with the unprecedented Hamas attack a day earlier, then tracks the fallout over the course of the ensuing Gaza war, examining global anti-Israel protests along with increases in anti-Jewish rhetoric and violence.

The doc, which opened this past weekend, features a host of prominent figures, including advocates (the Anti-Defamation League’s Jonathan Greenblatt), academics (George Washington University’s Lorenzo Vidino), executives (Sheryl Sandberg), podcasters (Dan Senor), politicians (Ritchie Torres) and actor-activists Debra Messing (who executive produced the film) and the Israeli-American Noa Tishby (In Treatment, Nip/Tuck). Together they build an argument that what we are witnessing is simply old...

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired Middle East and North African rights for Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham.

The Mena deal was struck by Elie Touma at Front Row and Stephanie Fuchs at Austrian-based sales company Autlook Filmsales, which is overseeing international sales.

The announcement comes amid fresh pushback against the documentary in the U.S., where a Miami mayor has been accused of censorship after he threatened to shut down an arthouse cinema showing the work.

Shot between 2019 and 2023, No Other Land captures the struggle of people living in the West Bank Palestinian villages of Masafer Yatta in the face of attempts by Israeli authorities and settlers to erase their homes and history from the map. Israeli settlers have continued to attack the area since the film’s Oscar win on March 2.

The documentary follows the journey of Adra...

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired distribution rights in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) to No Other Land, the Palestinian-Israeli feature that won best documentary at this year’s Oscars.

Front Row struck the deal with Austrian sales outfit Autlook Filmsales and said it plans to release the film “imminently” in select cinemas, followed by a premium VOD release across Mena.

Filmed from 2019 to 2023, the documentary follows activist Basel Adra as he documents the destruction of Palestinian houses and villages in the Masafer Yatta region of the West Bank by Israeli miliary bulldozers. Adra’s efforts to raise...

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired the distribution rights for the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

The agreement was finalized through negotiations between Elie Touma of Front Row and Stephanie Fuchs from the Austria-based sales company Autlook Filmsales.

Directed by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, No Other Land chronicles Adra’s journey as he examines the devastation of his hometown, designated for military training. His efforts to raise awareness gain momentum with Abraham’s support.

The documentary made its debut at the 2023 Berlinale, winning the Panorama Audience Award as well as the prestigious Berlinale Documentary Award. Since its premiere, No Other Land has garnered a remarkable 68 awards at various film festivals and has been recognized by the Boston Society of Film Critics, European Film Awards and Gotham Awards, ultimately taking home the award for best documentary feature at the 2025 Oscars.

The Apprentice(not to be mistaken with the 2024 biopic of the same name, starring Sebastian Stan as a young Donald Trump) will be available to stream on Prime Video in the United States, starting on Mar. 10. The first season of the former NBC reality competition series, in which Trump famously uttered the words "You're fired" to boardrooms full of business hopefuls until only one candidate remained to become his next apprentice, will launch today, with six additional seasons arriving each Monday through Apr. 27.

As reported by Variety, the current U.S. President, who also served as an executive producer on The Apprentice in addition to his hosting duties, reflected fondly on his 14-season run on the show. "I look forward to watching this show myself – such great memories, and so much fun, but most importantly, it was a learning experience for all of us!" Trump said in a statement acknowledging...

Prime Video is to stream Seasons 1-7 of President Donald Trump’s competition show The Apprentice.

Each season of the show, which launched 20 years ago on NBC and popularized the phrase “You’re fired!”, will roll out weekly, with Season 1 launching today. Seasons will roll out until April 27.

The Apprentice, which comes from Emmy winner Mark Burnett and MGM Alternative, which is part of Amazon MGM Studios, will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in the U.S. only.

The program is considered a launch pad for Trump’s media personality in the States, starting back in January 2004 and averaging 20 million viewers in Season 1, which took 28 million for its finale. The series ran for 15 seasons in total, with Trump the host for the first 14. Arnold Schwarzenegger fronted the fifteenth and final run in 2017.

“The Apprentice is one of the best shows that I ever produced,...

It appears as though “The Apprentice” director Ali Abbasi has survived his stint without representation, as the filmmaker has now signed with UTA, according to multiple media reports.

The news comes two weeks after it was reported that Abbasi parted ways with CAA and Management 360 after an alleged January groping incident with an unnamed A-List actor.

“I made an over-familiar gesture — a slap on the rear — which I intended as playful and not in any sexual way whatsoever,” he told TheWrap last month. “I apologized to him on the spot, and the following day I made sure my apology was reiterated through my representatives.”

“The suggestion that I was dropped by my representation due to this interaction is false,” Abbasi added. “My decision to part ways was a long-term career decision that was not shaped by short term motivations.”

The director will continue to be represented by Lark in the U.

Ali Abbasi has signed with UTA for representation.

Abbasi’s fourth feature, “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova, premiered in Competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, marking his third Cannes selection. The film, which follows Donald Trump’s rise through the real estate industry in the ’80s with the guidance of lawyer Roy Cohn, earned a fair amount of attention this awards season despite its trouble finding mainstream distributors. It was subsequently nominated for two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, three BAFTAs, and three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Director.

Abbasi’s previous feature, “Holy Spider,” also premiered in Competition at Cannes, and Zar Amir-Ebrahimi won Best Actress for her performance. The film was also nominated for four European Film Awards.

His second feature, “Border,” won the Un Certain Regard Award at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling...

Ali Abbasi is moving to UTA. The filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated, young Donald Trump feature The Apprentice has signed with the agency, after departing CAA last month. His latest feature, which centers on the 1980s rise of Trump, earned a best actor nomination and a Golden Globe nom for Sebastian Stan’s work as young Trump, and Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Jeremy Strong’s performance as Trump mentor Roy Cohn.

The film earned strong reviews after debuting at Cannes last May, and the Iranian-born Abbasi landed an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his work on the project.

Abbasi’s agency move comes after he apologized last month for an incident at CAA’s Golden Globes party, but he said the incident had nothing to do with his departure from CAA. “I made an over-familiar gesture — a slap on the rear — which I intended as playful and not in any sexual way whatsoever,...

Exclusive: Ali Abbasi has signed with UTA. The filmmaker coming off The Apprentice will continue his career with the agency repping him in all areas in the U.S. and continues to be repped by Lark in the UK.

Abbasi last was repped by CAA. Deadline revealed that the filmmaker got caught up in a bad moment at a Golden Globes afterparty where, as he subsequently stated in an apology, what he considered a “playful slap on the rear” of an unnamed star he considered a friend made the actor very angry. Fallout ensued.

Abbasi’s apology rang sincere – the incident shows it is best to not overindulge at these Hollywood parties and that you can’t die of embarrassment. This has a good chance to become a teaching moment for Abbasi, and a footnote in what has so far otherwise been a stellar career for the Iran-born filmmaker. Despite...

Exclusive: Producer Daniel Bekerman and his Scythia Films have signed with WME for representation.

Bekerman served as the EP on The Wedding Banquet, which premiered at Sundance this year, directed by Andrew Ahn and starring Lily Gladstone and Bowen Yang.

Bekerman’s recent projects include Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice starring Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong, which received three BAFTA and two Golden Globe nominations along with Oscar nominations for Stan and Strong. He also had Endless Cookie, which premiered at this year’s Sundance; I Object, directed by Oscar-nominee Andrew Niccol, starring Anna Faris and Karl Urban, and Close to You, directed by Dominic Savage starring Elliot Page. Bekerman also produced Sundance-winner The Witch, Cold Copy featuring Tracee Ellis-Ross and Bel Powley, and Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut Falling.

He also executive produced three films that premiered at Sundance 2024; including Love Me, starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, My Old Ass,...

Jacques Audiard’sEmilia Pérez was named best French film of the year at the 50th César awards on Friday night (February 28), taking home seven awards from 12 nominations.

The Mexico-set musical crime thriller that won the jury prize and shared best actress award at Cannes Film Festival last May also earned a best director and adapted screenplay prize for Audiard and awards for cinematography, original music, visual effects, and sound. The film has sold some 1.2million tickets at the French box office since its August 2014 release for Pathé.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Stars Karla Sofia Gascon and...

Jacques Audiard’sEmilia Pérez was named best French film of the year at the 50th César awards on Friday night (February 28), taking home seven awards from 12 nominations.

The Mexico-set musical crime thriller that won the jury prize and shared best actress award at Cannes Film Festival last May also earned a best director and adapted screenplay prize for Audiard and awards for cinematography, original music, visual effects, and sound. The film has sold some 1.2million tickets at the French box office since its August 2014 release for Pathé.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Stars Karla Sofia Gascon and...

Exclusive: Bankside has inked a slew of sales on Ido Fluk’s Köln 75 following its Special Gala premiere at the Berlinale this month.

The largely well-received film has sold to Bulgaria (Beta), Canada (Level Film), Czech/Slovak (Aqs), Eastern Europe excluding Poland (HBO), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery), France (Metopolitan), Hungary (Budapest Film), Israel (Naschon/Red Cape), Italy (Lucky Red), Middle East (Front Row), Scandinavia (Sf Studios), South Korea (The Coup) and Spain (Selecta Vision).

Alamode Film holds distribution rights for German-speaking Europe and will be releasing the film in March on more than 200 screens, September Film for Benelux and Madness for Poland. Discussions are ongoing for distribution in both UK and U.S.

The English and German-language pic tells the story behind one of the best-selling jazz records of all time, Keith Jarrett’s 1975 Köln Concert, how it almost didn’t happen, and how one formidable German teenager, Vera Brandes,...

The international film community is in uproar over the summoning of Iranian filmmakers Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha to court in their native country amid the production and distribution of their 2024 Berlin Film Festival feature My Favourite Cake.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (Icfr) has reiterated its unequivocal support for Moghadam and Sanaeeha, currently awaiting the start of their trial with Iran’s Revolutionary Court on Mar. 1.

The charges leveled against them concern the production and distribution of their My Favourite Cake, a movie about a woman in Tehran who rediscovers her desires in a country where women’s rights are heavily restricted.

Authorities first raided the offices of the film’s editor in 2023, the Icfr said, with Moghadam and Sanaeeha “under continuous scrutiny of the Iranian regime.” The Iranian government’s persecution efforts led to a travel ban for the directors, which meant they could not attend...

After delays due to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles, the 2025 Oscar nominees were finally announced. All the speculating and prognosticating has come to this moment, and now we transition from predicting who will be nominated to who will win. Emilia Pérez leads all nominees with 13 nominations, followed by The Brutalist and Wicked with 10 apiece.

For those at home who want to watch as many contenders as possible before the 97th Academy Awards ceremony on March 2, we've compiled a complete list of where to watch every nominated film. Many 2025 Oscar nominees are still in theaters, but most are available to stream. We'll add more streaming or theatrical information as it becomes available, but here's where to watch them.

Alien: Romulus

Director Fede Alvarez's extension of/homage to the Alien franchise is nominated for Best Visual Effects. It's available to stream on Hulu.

Anora

Writer-director Sean Baker’s empathic...

As awards season finally wraps up, a treat was on offer in the second to last weekend of events. This year, the Screen Actors Guild Awards fell after final Oscar voting had ended, meaning that attendees at Sunday night’s show seemingly felt much freer to discuss who and what they think will win at the Academy Awards on March 2.

Given the momentum built off of its wins at the PGA Awards, DGA Awards, Critics Choice Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and a Best Actress win for star Mikey Madison at the BAFTA Awards, there was strong notion that not only was “Anora” the favorite for Best Ensemble, but that the film’s young star was set to beat “The Substance” actress Demi Moore for Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture in an upset.

Of course, that did not happen, with the ceremony once again reminding everyone...

Mikey Madison as Ani and Mark Eydelshteyn as Ivan in ‘Anora’ (Courtesy of Neon)

Anora continues to pick up speed heading into the Oscars, scoring Critics Choice Awards and DGA wins and snagging a Best Feature win at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Anora also captured Best Director (Sean Baker) and Best Lead Performance (Mikey Madison) wins. A Real Pain and Didi each earned two awards during the February 22, 2025 Spirit Awards ceremony hosted by Aidy Bryant.

On the television side, Baby Reindeer dominated with three wins. The critically acclaimed limited series took home the Best Lead Performance (Richard Gadd), Best Supporting Performance (Nava Mau), and Best Breakthrough Performance (Jessica Gunning) wins. Other television winners included Shogun and How to Die Alone.

2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominees and Winners

Best Feature

Winner: Anora

Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow

Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary,...

Award-winning director Ali Abbasi has responded to reports that he was dropped by both the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Management 360. The reports of separation from the two agencies come after allegations that the filmmaker, who directed The Apprentice, inappropriately touched an A-list actor at a Golden Globes after-party last month. Abbasi asserts that his separation from the management companies is unrelated to the groping incident.

In a statement to People, Abbasi shared:

"The suggestion that I was dropped by my representation due to this interaction is false. My decision to part ways was a long-term career decision that was not shaped by short-term motivations. I believe in taking accountability for my actions; I made a mistake, I apologized and have learned a valuable life lesson. I remain grateful for the incredible work of our cast, crew and supporters on 'The Apprentice,' and I hope the focus stays on their achievements.

Ali Abbasi is addressing an alleged groping incident.

The incident reportedly happened at CAA’s 2025 Golden Globes party. Sources said to Deadline that the 44-year-old The Apprentice director aggressively groped an A-list, CAA-repped actor while inebriated.

One day after the news broke, he issued a statement on social media.

“I want to address the recent articles about me directly and openly. I fully understand that my action made someone uncomfortable, regardless of my intent, and for that I am truly sorry,” he began.

Keep reading to find out more…

“I had spent time with the person concerned on multiple occasions and had reason to think we had a friendly relationship. When I saw him at the Golden Globes party, I was excited to reconnect. I made an over-familiar gesture-a slap on the rear-which I intended as playful and not in any sexual way whatsoever. I quickly realized I had misjudged the situation.

Film Independent handed out its 2025 Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon (February 22), in a Santa Monica ceremony that saw Anora claim three prizes for best feature, director Sean Baker, and lead performance Mikey Madison in the gender-neutral category.

Sean Wang’s Didi took two prizes for best first feature and first screenplay, whileGints Zilbalodis’s Latvian animation Flow won international film and No Other Land was named best documentary. A Real Pain also nabbed two awards for screenplay and supporting actor Kieran Culkin.

While it is too late for the Spirit Awards to have any bearing on the Oscars next weekend...

When Sean Baker (Anora) won best director at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, he took the opportunity to reflect on the current state of independent film and said the industry needed to change to keep that genre of films alive.

“Indie film is struggling right now, more than ever,” Baker told the audience in a lengthy speech. “Gone are the days of DVD sales that allow for greater risk to be taken on challenging films. That revenue stream is gone, and the only way to see significant back-end is to have a box office hit with profits that far exceed what any of our films will ever see, unless you are Damien Leone and strike gold with a franchise like Terrifier. But as we all know, that’s an extreme rarity for me, and I think for many of my peers. If we’re lucky, the average number...

The 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards have wrapped! And now we know, as the full winners list for the Spirit Awards has been revealed, just how much momentum “Anora” has going into the Oscars: a lot. It already got the most Spirits nominations with six, and it ended up winning Best Feature, Best Director for Sean Baker, and Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison.

Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Performance for “A Real Pain,” which also won Best Screenplay. “No Other Land” won Best Documentary, and the extraordinary animated film “Flow” won Best International feature.

“Baby Reindeer” collected the most prizes on the TV side with Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series going to Richard Gadd, Jessica Gunning won Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series, and Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series went to Nava Rau. “Shogun” won Best New Scripted Series.

Host Aidy Bryant...

Anora continued its February roll through awards season, dominating the 40th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday with wins for Best Feature, Best Director for Sean Baker and Best Lead Performance for star Mikey Madison.

In winning for top feature, Anora beat out fellow Oscar Best Picture nominees Nickel Boys and The Substance along with Sing Sing and I Saw the TV Glow. Baker prevailed in the director race over another Academy Award nominee, onetime favorite Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, as well as Ali Abbasi (The Apprentice), Alonso Ruizpalacios (La Cocina), and Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw the TV Glow). And Madison, on the heels of her BAFTA win last week, knocked off her chief Best Actress competition at the Oscars, Demi Moore — setting the stage for a SAG Awards showdown Sunday night.

The victories by Anora and Baker at the Indie Spirits are anything but a surprise, as...

The best in independent film and new television shows were honored at the 2025 Independent Spirit Awards and we have the full winners list here.

Anora and I Saw the TV Glow led the film nominations with five nods each while Shogun led the television nominations with five nods as well.

In the end, Anora and Baby Reindeer led their respective categories with three wins each!

Make sure to check out the recap of every celeb who attended the event and take a look at our Best Dressed list as well.

Keep reading to find out more…

Scroll down for the full list of winners…

Best Feature

Anora – Winner

Producers: Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan

I Saw the TV Glow

Producers: Ali Herting, Sam Intili, Dave McCary, Emma Stone, Sarah Winshall

Nickel Boys

Producers: Joslyn Barnes, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, David Levine

Sing Sing

Producers: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Monique Walton...

The 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards — the top awards event for the independent film and television community — were handed out on Saturday from the beach in Santa Monica, Calif.

The ceremony, hosted by Saturday Night Live vet Aidy Bryant for the second year in the row, was streamed live on the IMDb and Film Independent YouTube channels at 5 pm Et, and across other social platforms.

More from TVLineSAG Awards 2025: The Penguin, Shōgun and Only Murders in the Building Among TV WinnersNAACP Image Awards: Quinta Brunson, Jennifer Hudson and Fight Night Win BigWriters Guild Awards 2025: Shōgun, The Penguin and Hacks...

The 40th annual Independent Spirit Awards took place in Santa Monica on Feb. 22, with Aidy Bryant as host for the second year in a row.

“Anora” was the biggest winner of the day, being named best feature while Sean Baker and Mikey Madison took home individual trophies for best director and lead performance. “Baby Reindeer” also won big, with Richard Gadd, Nava Mau and Jessica Gunning clinching the awards for lead, supporting and breakthrough performance, though “Shogun” won best new scripted series. And Sean Wang’s “Dìdi” clinched both awards in the debut film category: best first feature as well as best first first screenplay.

See the full list of winners below.

Best Feature

“Anora” (Winner)

“I Saw the TV Glow”

“Nickel Boys”

“Sing Sing”

“The Substance”

Best First Feature

“Dìdi” (Winner)

“In the Summers”

“Janet Planet”

“The Piano Lesson”

“Problemista”

John Cassavetes Award – Given to the best feature made...

“Anora” won Best Feature at the the 40th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, which took place on Saturday afternoon in Santa Monica and was hosted for the second year in a row by Aidy Bryant. “Anora’s” Indie Spirit win follows its recent triumphs at the DGA and PGA awards and boosts its chances for Oscar glory next week. “Anora” also won Best Director for Sean Baker and Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison. Repeating her victory at the BAFTAs, Madison beat Demi Moore, who had been considered the solid frontrunner.

In many ways, the Indie Spirit Awards followed a pattern it has shown in recent years: Anytime its voters can give a statuette to an Oscar-nominated film or performance, they do. This year’s Spirit nominations included Oscar nominees in seven different categories — and in every one of those categories, the Academy-approved entry won.

Aside from the three big wins for “Anora,...