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International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)’s Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) has selected 15 feature film projects for its 2025 development support scheme, including new work by prize-winning directors such as Malaysia’s Amanda Nell Eu, Senegal’s Mamadou Dia, Syria’s Farida Baqi and Mongolia’s Xiaoxuan Jiang.

The 15 projects, which will receive a grant of €10,000 to support their development, were selected from more than 900 applications. The fund aims to support new and diverse voices from across the globe.

For the first time, the Hbf is backing a project from Tanzania, which joins projects from a number of territories rarely supported in the Fund’s history.

The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the projects that will receive this year’s grants from its Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), which supports films from less-developed regions. The fund picked 15 feature projects from more than 900 submissions, selecting work from filmmakers from across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.

This year’s selection includes the first Hbf-backed project from Tanzania, the satire Last Cow from director Amil Shivij, whose feature debut Tug of War screened in Toronto in 2021 and was Tanzania’s official Oscar submission. It was picked for this year’s Locarno film festival and will screen in the Open Doors sidebar.

Other African projects this year include Mwadia, a magic-realist drama on Mozambique’s colonial past and present trauma; the feature debut of documentary filmmaker Inadelso Cossa (The Nights Still Smell of Gunpowder); Tears, the debut feature from Rwandan director Moise Ganza; and Coumba, the...

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...

Critics’ Week Artistic Director Ava Cahen unveiled her fourth selection as head of the Cannes Film Festival parallel selection on Monday, ahead of the fest’s 64th edition running May 14-22.

The section run by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics will showcase 11 first and second features, seven of which play in competition, selected from 1,000 submissions. Another 13 short films will also be showcased, selected from 2,340 entries.

Deadline caught up with Cahen for some first impressions on the 2025 lineup.

Deadline: The section opens with Laura Wandel’s second feature Adam’s Interest, starring Ana Vartolomei as a mother whose son is admitted to hospital with signs of malnutrition. Why did you select this film for your opening?

Ava Cahen: Laura shook spectators with her first film [Playground]. There, we were at the level of a child. Here we are at the level of an adult. It has the same directorial mechanics,...

Japanese director Chie Hayakawa, whose “Plan 75” received a special mention at Cannes, has secured Indonesian powerhouse KawanKawan Media as a co-production partner for her upcoming film “Renoir,” it was revealed at the Hong Kong FilMart.

KawanKawan is collaborating with Japan’s Loaded Films, with Eiko Mizuno-Gray and Jason Gray serving as producers. Indonesia joins an already robust international co-production spanning Japan, France, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Hayakawa’s new film tells the poignant story of Fuki, a quirky and sensitive 11-year-old girl navigating a challenging summer during Japan’s late 1980s bubble economy. The coming-of-age drama follows Fuki as she copes with a terminally ill father and stressed-out working mother while encountering various adults dealing with their own struggles.

KawanKawan is the production company behind Makbul Mubarak’s Venice winner “Autobiography” and Amanda Nell Eu’s Cannes-winning “Tiger Stripes.”

“We are thrilled to work alongside Loaded Films on Chie Hayakawa’s ‘Renoir.

2024 was a breakout year for horror films from across the globe, the likes of which deserve just as much attention and accolades as any domestic genre achievements.

2024 has been a fascinating year for film. Still reeling from 2023’s SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes and pushed back release dates, movie audiences have continually embraced the safe and soothing nostalgia of franchise fare and superhero cinema. Nearly every film from 2024’s top ten highest-grossing titles are sequels, which is creatively frustrating on some level, but this trend hasn’t impeded the horror genre from making significant cinematic gains.

Horror has seen incredible success in 2024, whether it’s The Substance accruing five major Golden Globe nominations, Terrifier 3 and Smile 2 setting new franchise records, and the critical acclaim of original releases like I Saw the TV Glow, Abigail, and Cuckoo. These domestic horror movies all bring something original to the table,...

Hanoman Award

Hanoman Award is a feature-length competitive program for established directors and upcoming young talent who hold the future of Asian cinema. The first winner will be awarded a Golden Hanoman and runner-up will be awarded a Silver Hanoman.

Amanda Nell Eu, Gina S. Noer and Julien Rejl gave the Silver Hanoman to “Viet and Nam” by Vietnamese Truong Minh Quy and the Golden Hanoman to “HappyEnd” by Neo Sora.

Film Analysis: HappyEnd (2024) by Neo Sora Interview With Neo Sora: The Casting Process Was Classical and Quite Abnormal for Japan Film Review: Viet and Nam (2024) by Minh Quy Truong Netpac Award

Netpac Award aims to read the diverse Asian perspectives from the first or second work of directors who hold the future of Asian cinema.

Arian Darmawan, Intan Paramaditha and Latika Padgaonkar gave the Netpac Award to “Ma – Cry of Silence” by The Maw Naing

Film Review: Ma- Cry of Silence...

Veteran Taiwanese producer Patrick Mao Huang unveiled several new projects at Busan’s Asian Contents and Film Market on Saturday. They are to be co-produced by his Taipei-based Flash Forward Entertainment.

Directed by Shen Ko-Shang (“Two Juliets”), “Deep Quiet Room” is a feature film. “After his pregnant wife Yi-ting unexpectedly committed suicide, Ming decides to take care of his father-in-law, only to find out the unbearable truth of Yi-ting’s family that leads to her death,” reads the synopsis. The project participated at the 2022 Mia Market in Rome, the 2022 Tokyo Gap-Financing Market and the 2020 Taipei Golden Horse Fpp Project Market.

“The Sleepless Girl,” by feature debutant François Chang, won the most creative project award at the 2019 Shanghai International Film Festival Market. “​As a Japanese girl, sleepless for 17 years, finally succumbs to slumber, the world teeters on the brink of catastrophe. Meanwhile, a Taiwanese YouTuber unravels a staggering revelation, thrust into a maelstrom of arduous decisions,...

Lion And Cubs

Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was recently in Locarno for a celebration, has teamed up with his sons Aryan Khan and AbRam as the voice cast of the Hindi-language version of Disney’s upcoming feature film “Mufasa: The Lion.”

The film is directed by Barry Jenkins and tells the story of the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, while also introducing an orphaned cub called Mufasa, a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline—and their expansive journey alongside an extraordinary group of misfits. The film has original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and an English voice cast of Aaron Pierre as Mufasa, Donald Glover as Simba and Braelyn Rankins as Young Mufasa.

The film will reach Indian theatres on Dec.20 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions.

Watch the trailer here:

Format Duo

Nippon TV has finalized a deal...

Singapore-based production company Akanga Film Asia has been set as the newly-launched Spanish Audiovisual Hub in Asia. It will seek to expand connections between the film, TV, animation and games industries of Spain and those in Asia.

Akanga is headed by Fran Borgia, a Spanish producer who has Asian film production credits including Boo Junfeng’s “Apprentice,” Yeo Siew Hua’s Locarno-winning “A Land Imagined,” Kamila Andini’s “Yuni” and Amanda Nell Eu’s “Tiger Stripes.”

The company was selected after a tender process initiated by the Economic and Commercial Office of Spain in Singapore, representing Icex Spain Export and Investment. Borgia is appointed as the “Consultant for the Audiovisual Sector of Spain in Asia” and will work closely with veteran producer and festival consultant Lorna Tee.

“The project aims to enhance Spain’s positioning as a production country and as a destination for filming, post-production of live-action and digital images,...

One of this year’s most hotly anticipated horror movies finally arrives in theaters this weekend, and it’s joined by seven other brand new horrors being unleashed in theaters and at home.

Here’s all the new horror releasing July 8, 2024 – July 14, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

Russell Crowe (The Pope’s Exorcist) stars in the new possession horror movie The Exorcism, which Vertical brought to Digital at home this week. You can rent the film for $19.99.

Joshua John Miller, who wrote 2015’s The Final Girls and also starred in films including Near Dark and And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird, directed The Exorcism.

Joshua John Miller also wrote the script with M.A. Fortin (The Final Girls). This one is personal for Miller, as his late father was the star of the best possession movie ever made.

“The Exorcism follows Anthony Miller (Crowe...

Roaring towards its 23rd edition, the Neuchatel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival (Nifff) built its reputation as a haven for outré fare, pulling in a reliable (and renewable) youth crowd eager for wild thrills and hard-to-source Asian titles, while becoming a fixture on the horror festival circuit as a lakeside home-away-from-home for a stable of filmmakers who return year and again.

For the past half-decade or so, the Swiss showcase has also branched outward, welcoming new faces and diverse voices into the mix, all while pairing a more expansive vision of fantasy and with an intersectional programing remit that explores sociological questions through genre – or, if you will, that sees in fantasy a more crystalline reflection of the wider world.

“Fantasy is the cinema of the margins, the cinema of the forbidden,” says Nifff director Pierre-Yves Walder. “It is the tool that underrepresented or minority communities use to tell their own stories,...

Newcomer Amanda Nell Eu's body-horror coming-of-age flick, “Tiger Stripes,” has been the hot topic of Southeast Asian horror in the last year. Eu won the Cannes Critics' Week Grand Prize, and her first feature garnered laurels since at the Asian Film Awards, Fantasia, Neuchatel, Pingyao, and more. The film had also represented Malaysia for its Best Foreign Language Film entry to the 2023 Oscars – but had to do so under intense scrutiny. Domestic theatrical release of “Tiger Stripes,” which follows Zaffan's (played by the tenacious Zafreen Zairizal) first encounter with puberty, faced strict censorship. The Malaysian release in turn removed scenes like a rambunctious TikTok dance, an explicit shot of period blood, and schoolgirls trying on a friend's bra for the first time.

Now, in the advent of “Tiger Stripes'” US premiere, we had the fortune to speak to Eu over Zoom. Over the course of the half-hour, we exchanged horoscopes (we're both Sagittariuses!

Filmmakers in Malaysia are predicting more arrests and criminal investigations if the government pushes through proposed guidelines to the country’s censorship system and expands the remit of the Film Censorship Board (Lfp).

Malaysia has in recent years gained itself an intolerant reputation after numerous bans or restrictions on Hollywood and Asian films that have been widely released elsewhere. These have included Pixar’s “Buzz Lightyear” and Marvel’s “Thor: love and Thunder,” apparently due to their LGBT subplots or characters, and 2017 Indian blockbuster “Padmaavat” on religious grounds.

But the Freedom Film Network says that by expanding film censorship the government is undermining the development of the local, Malaysian, film industry that authorities proclaim to support.

“Filmmaking is now a dangerous vocation in Malaysia and far from the internationally competitive industry the Prime Minister imagines,” the organization said this week in an open letter. “With the new Lpf guidelines we...

Your browser does not support the video tag.

Director Amanda Nell Eu spoke with MovieWeb's Greg Archer about the new film Tiger Stripes, which is released June 14, 2024. The first among her friends to hit puberty, 12-year-old Zaffan discovers a terrifying secret about her body. Ostracized by the community, Zaffan fights back, learning that to be free, she must embrace the body she feared.

One of the most acclaimed horror movies of the year, A24’s I Saw the TV Glow heads home this week, and it’s joined by three other horror movies as well as an anthology TV series.

Here’s all the new horror released June 10 – June 16, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

First up, Gravitas Ventures released G.S. Foxwood’s horror film Wild Eyed and Wicked on VOD outlets this past Tuesday, June 11. The film blends elements of horror, familial drama, and fantasy to “create a unique, emotionally powerful, and terrifying experience.”

Molly Kunz (Widows, The Irrational), Michael X. Sommers (Sense8), Stefanie Estes (Soft & Quiet), and Colleen Camp (Clue) star in the indie horror film Wild Eyed and Wicked.

Wild Eyed and Wicked follows Lily Pierce (Kunz) in her attempt to strike back at the medieval creature that’s haunted her family for generations.

Tiger StripesImage: Dark Star Pictures

Horror has historically, and quite aptly, been the genre of choice for exploring the whirlwind of physical and emotional sensations inherent to experiencing one’s first menses. There’s the 1970 Czech dark fantasy hallmark Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders, Stephen’s King’s novel...

Zafeen Zairizal shines in the lead role, showcasing depth beyond her years in the unique coming-of-age film, Tiger Stripes. Amanda Nell Eu's direction and Jimmy Gimferrer's cinematography create stunning visuals that draw audiences in. Despite its rushed ending and unanswered questions, Tiger Stripes cleverly intertwines body horror with themes of female empowerment.

The coming-of-age genre has seen a wide variety of approaches to the formula, ranging from the more lighthearted My Girl to the Oscar-winning Moonlight, though they most typically take a grounded and straightforward route to the story. Then along comes Tiger Stripes, the body horror movie that was Malaysia's entry for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars following its acclaimed debut at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Melding gut-wrenching body horror with unique parallels between puberty and transformation, writer-director Amanda Nell Eu's feature debut is thoughtful and intriguing, even if it doesn't fully soar.

Tiger Stripes...

Our Summer Horror Preview 2024 is here! The 2024 slate of summer horror releases looks packed, which is excellent news, considering the year has gotten off to a sluggish start for the genre at the box office. Not only is the release schedule so stacked that it’s guaranteed to keep us distracted while we wait for Halloween, but this summer also brings some of the year’s most anticipated titles from MaXXXine to Alien: Romulus and Longlegs.

This guide covers the highlights of what’s already been announced, but as always, expect a handful of streaming, Digital, and VOD releases to pop up over the next few months as well.

Here are 24 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Summer 2024…

Under Paris – June 5 (Netflix)

French filmmaker Xavier Gens (Mayhem!, Frontier(s)) ensures this summer is stuffed to the gills with shark horror. This time, a shark swims into...

Cold Blows The Wind: "Lion Heart Distribution is proud to be releasing Eric Williford' startling new indie thriller Cold Blows The Wind on VOD on July 2nd.

When a husband and wife (Victoria Vertuga and Danell Leyva) find their night blown wildly off-course, they're forced to band together in order to survive in the most extreme of circumstances."

---

Tiger Stripes: "Zaffan (12) is a rebellious and carefree girl until she starts to experience horrifying physical changes to her body. Struggling to maintain being normal at school, Zaffan is in denial of her inevitable changes and tries to cover herself. Zaffan’s friends however attack her, when all hysteria breaks loose — one by one teenage girls drop to the floors in fits, turning it into a spread of mass hysteria across the school.

Rumors of a dark figure in the toilets have caused fear to take over the primary school,...

Puberty and junior high have absolutely no business happening at the same time and yet here we are. One of lifes earliest horrors can lead to plenty of shame and awkwardness, both of which arent in the least bit helped by the stigma surrounding those intensely difficult years. Perhaps thats why filmmakers and authors have so often focused their stories on that unpleasant time in a young persons life and the universal experience that affects us all. The latest horror helmer to do so is Amanda Nell Eu, who makes her directorial debut with the Malay-language movie, Tiger Stripes. Collider can now share an exclusive sneak peek spotlighting the terrors of Zaffan's (Zafreen Zairizal) early teenage years as she is bullied by other girls in her class.

Indonesia’s KawanKawan Media has boarded Singaporean filmmaker Nelson Yeo’s sophomore feature “The Drought,” it was announced at the Cannes Film Festival.

Yeo’s debut feature “Dreaming & Dying” debuted at last year’s Locarno Film Festival where it won the Golden Leopard – Filmmakers of the Present and Best First Feature awards.

A dystopian horror-dark comedy set in a time of an uninhabitable drought, “The Drought” follows Kai as he struggles with his retracting genitals and his wife, Ling, who demeans him for this impotency. Their widowed neighbor, Daming, grieves over the death of the last of his three sons, while his mother devises a secret plan for another grandson.

The project participated at the Philippines QCinema project market last year, where it won a prize.

Lead producers are Singapore’s Momo Film Co.’s Tan Si En and Sophia Sim who produced “Dreaming & Dying,” and Yeo’s award-winning shorts “Dreaming,...

The first time Donna Langley came to the Cannes Film Festival she was a junior executive working on 1999’s “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”

“I had just been promoted and I was fortunate enough to get picked to come on this trip to be part of the support team, and it was great! It was very different to this experience, I will say,” Langley said, eliciting a laugh from the well-heeled crowd at the Kering Women in Motion dinner, held at the Place de la Castre high above the Croisette. “[But] we had the time of our lives. We were just in so much awe to be in the cinema capital of the world.”

Indeed, the chairman of NBC Universal Studio Group no longer needs to share an apartment with four other young women — especially not one situated behind the fancy hotels. After all — and as Cannes president Iris Knobloch...

On Sunday night, May 19, under a starry Cannes night, Kering held their Women In Motion dinner bestowing NBCUniversal Studios Group chairman and chief content officer Dame Donna Langley with the Women In Motion Award, and Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu was presented the Young Talent Award. Langley is the first British woman to run a major Hollywood studio, and Kering awarded these women for their ability to expand opportunities and networks for women and people of color in the film industry.

Held at Place de la Castre in Cannes, the event drew celebrities who attended in the name of women making breakthroughs in film. Notable names in attendance were Julianne Moore, Uma Thurman, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Michelle Yeoh, Lily Gladstone, Zoe Saldaña, Eva Green, Judith Godrèche and directors Greta Gerwig and Justine Triet.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter before the dinner, actress and producer Salma Hayek, wife of Kering...

It seemed appropriate that the location for the annual Women in Motion dinner in Cannes should be at Place de la Castre, atop Suquet Hill where victors of yore could survey their domain. It was certainly the case that honored guest Dame Donna Langley had captured the castle.

Cannes Film Festival president Iris Knobloch struck the right note when when she remarked to the NBCUniversal Studio Group Chair and Chief Content Officer, and other guests, that “you are sometimes introduced as one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, but in reality you are one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, regardless of gender.”

And it’s true.

Knobloch continued, ”Yes, women can be great leaders, just like you. Yes, woman can be successful, just like you. Yes, women can take risks, just like you. And yes, women can manage 10-figure budgets, just like you.”

(L-r) Bryan Lourd, Salma Hayek,...

Disney’s “Kingdom of The Planet of the Apes” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £3.8 million ($4.7 million), according to numbers from Comscore.

Universal’s “The Fall Guy” dropped down to second place with £948,970 and now has a running total of £6.7 million. In third place, in its third weekend, Warner Bros.’ “Challengers” collected £333,281 for a total of £4.7 million.

In fourth position, in its fifth weekend, Studiocanal’s “Back to Black” earned £211,408 for a total of £11.2 million. Rounding off the top five was Sony’s “Tarot,” which read the cards to the tune of £140,983 in its second weekend and now has a total of £923,013.

The only other debut in the Top 10 was Trafalgar Releasing’s opera recording “Madama Butterfly,” which bowed in ninth place with £96,727.

The mid-week releases coming up include Trafalgar’s “Transformers: 40th Anniversary Event,” where episodes of the animated 1984 series will be screened alongside original voice-over talent,...

First-time feature filmmaker Amanda Nell Eu takes on puberty for “Tiger Stripes,” the critically acclaimed feature that won the Grand Prize of Critics’ Week during the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.

Set in a rural Malaysian village, “Tiger Stripes” follows 12-year-old Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) as she discovers a terrifying secret about her body. Ostracized by her community, Zaffan fights back, learning that to be free she must embrace the body she feared, emerging as a proud, strong woman, all while trying to balance her mother (Jun Lojong) and father’s (Khairunazwan Rodzy) expectations.

The film is shot on phones and incorporates TikTok, with Jimmy Gimferrer serving as cinematographer. “Tiger Stripes” made history at Cannes 2023 by being the first feature from a Malaysian female director to play at the festival.

The IndieWire review called “Tiger Stripes” a “well-made, eminently watchable illustration of the ‘monster’ that so many young girls are told to see themselves as.

In a celebration of talent and cinematic excellence, Kering and the Festival de Cannes have announced Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu as the recipient of the prestigious 2024 Women In Motion Emerging Talent Award. This accolade, decided upon by Swiss director and 2023 awardee Carmen Jaquier, underscores the burgeoning influence of female directors in the film industry. The award, which includes a €50,000 grant, is designed to support the creation of the recipient’s next film project.

Women In Motion

The official presentation of the award is set to take place during the esteemed Women In Motion dinner in Cannes. Here, industry giants including Dame Donna Langley, Chairman of the NBCUniversal Studio Group and Chief Content Officer, will be present to celebrate the achievements of women in film. Both the Women In Motion Emerging Talent Award and the Women In Motion Award will be presented by François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering,...

Tiger Stripes, about a girl who turns into a jungle cat when her periods start, was chosen by Malaysia as its Oscar entry. But they wanted cuts. Amanda Nell Eu relives a ‘painful and comedic’ experience

The director Amanda Nell Eu has always been a bit of a rebel, she says over video chat from her home in Kuala Lumpur. “When I was a teenager, I was sometimes labelled a monster by my parents and teachers. I probably wasn’t the most obedient child.” Now Eu has turned the horrors of puberty into an actual horror movie. Tiger Stripes is her feature debut, a funny and political film with a whopping air punch of girl power. Set in a conservative Muslim school, it mixes body horror with Mean Girls energy and a sprinkle of Malaysian folklore.

Eu cast her trio of leading girls during lockdown, putting adverts on Instagram and...

Last year the Critics’ Week section introduced us to first and second features from the likes of Vladimir Perišić, Iris Kaltenbäck, Amanda Nell Eu, Amjad Al Rasheed and Marie Amachoukeli. In 2024, Ava Cahen’s team viewed 1050 feature films have loaded up the competition (and Special Screenings section) with eleven features. France is unsurprisingly the dominant representation country with five selections and three co-productions. Opening with Jonathan Millet‘s Les Fantômes (aka Ghost Trail) which was coined as a Cairo Conspiracy meets the surveillance world of The Lives Of Others this stars Adam Bessa, Tawfeek Barhom, Julia Franz Richter, Hala Rajab and unfolds in modern-day Strasbourg.…...

The Cannes Critics’ Week, the parallel film festival sidebar organized by the French film critics’ union, has unveiled its 2024 selection.

The psychological thriller Ghost Trail, the first feature from acclaimed French shorts director Jonathan Millet, will open the 2024 sidebar. Adam Bessa (star of 2022’s Un Certain Regard winner Harka) plays the lead in the manhunt drama about a man pursuing his former torturer, using only his sensory memories to guide him.

The competition lineup includes Brazilian drama Baby from director Marcelo Caetano, a portrait of a young outsider growing up in São Paulo; Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace, which looks at the lives of Chinese immigrants in Queens; and the Egyptian/French/Danish/Qatari/Saudi Arabian drama The Brink of Dreams about a group of girls from the disenfranchised Christian Copts who defy tradition and set up an all-female street theater troupe.

Baby

Other competition titles include Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass,...

Cannes Critics’ Week, spotlighting first and second features, has unveiled the competition and special screenings selection for its 63rd edition running May 15-23.

Scroll down for full list of titles

Artistic director Ava Cahen, now in her third year in the position, announced the selection of 11 features chosen from 1,050 films screened. Seven films will vie for four top prizes in competition, chosen by a jury led by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Nine are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and three are directed or co-directed by women.

The sidebar will open with French director Jonathan Millet...

Cannes’ Critics Week has rounded out the jury for its 63rd edition running running May 15-23.

The previously announced Spanish writer-director-producer Rodrigo Sorogoyen will preside over the festival’s parallel selection dedicated to first and second features alongside Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, French producer Sylvie Pialat, Belgian director of photography Virginie Surdej, and Canadian journalist and film critic Ben Croll.

Sorogoyen is known for psychological thriller The Beasts which premiered in the Cannes Premiere strand in 2022 and won nine Goya awards, plus 2019 drama Mother, 2018 Spanish-French thriller The Realm, 2016 crime thriller May God Save Us, 2013 romantic drama Stockholm, and 2008’s 8 Dates co-directed with Peris Romano.

Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (“Augure by Baloji,” “My New Friends”), French producer Sylvie Pialat (“Timbuktu,” “Staying Vertical”), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej and Canadian film critic, journalist and frequent Variety contributor Ben Croll have been named on the jury for the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival.

The four will now join Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who last week was named Critics’ Week jury president, with the group set to choose the sidebar competition’s award winners, including the Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star award for best actor or actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film.

The 2024 Critics Week lineup is set to be unveiled on April 15, four days after the Cannes official selection is announced on April 11.

Last year, Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening” director Audrey Diwan presided over a Critics...

Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen (Stockholm, The Realm, Madre, The Beasts), who was nominated for the best international film honor at Italy’s David Di Donatello Awards, has been named jury president of this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week, the festival sidebar run by the French film critics union that focuses on first and second features from up-and-coming directors.

In a social media clip shared Friday, Sorogoyen called the jury duty “a great responsibility.”

Rodrigo Sorogoyen sera le Président du Jury de la 63e Semaine de la Critique ! À cette occasion, le réalisateur de "Que Dios nos perdone", "El Reino" ou encore "As Bestas" a un message pour vous.

#sdlc2024 #rodrigosorogoyen #Cannes2024 @semainecannes pic.twitter.com/XOBeKDGmhp

— AlloCiné (@allocine) April 5, 2024

Originally set up by an association of French film critics in 1962, Critics’ Week is the oldest nonofficial Cannes sidebar. The section is credited with discovering some of the biggest names in independent and art house cinema,...

Spanish writer-director-producer Rodrigo Sorogoyen has been named President of the Jury of the 63rd edition of Cannes’ Critics’ Week, the festival’s parallel selection dedicated to first and second features running May 15-23.

Watch Sorogoyen announce the news below.

Sorogoyen praised Critics’ Week for providing “vital support to cinema, new voices, and new ways to tell stories” and that without such voices, “there would be no new cinema. They’re the ones that make it live and make it work.”

He said his role as jury president is “a big responsibility which I look forward to.”

The multiple Goya award-winning...

Censoring Streamers

Malaysia’s Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has said that he plans to hold meetings with the Communications Ministry with a view to extending the remit of the country’s Film Censorship Board (Lpf) to video streamers. Currently, the Lpf has jurisdiction over theatrical releases, but not content carried on the internet.

Malaysia has been notable in demanding cuts – sometimes refused by rights holders – to imported and local films, especially where they touch on religion or homosexuality, even tangentially. Hollywood films “Thor” and “Lightyear” were both banned. Last year, local director Amanda Nell Eu denounced the censored cut of her prize-winning film “Tiger Stripes.”

Speaking in parliament, Saifuddin said “the Lpf will not approve the screening of any films that promote LGBTQ, communism, Islamophobia, and those conflicting Islamic beliefs.”

VFX Investment

Japanese broadcaster TBS Holdings has announced “a significant capital investment” in Megalis a Tokyo-based VFX production company...

Oscar winner Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s formalist arthouse drama Evil Does Not Exist won the best film prize Sunday night at the Asia Film Awards in Hong Kong.

The Japanese film industry had a big night overall at the 17th edition of the awards ceremony, which was hosted this year in Hong Kong’s gleaming new Xiqu Centre, part of the city’s $2.7 billion West Kowloon Cultural District development. Japanese festival favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda won best director for his mystery drama Monster, while the great Koji Yakusho took best actor for Wim Wender’s moving minimalist drama Perfect Days. Hamaguchi’s chief collaborator on Evil Does Not Exist, Eiko Ishibashi, won best music and the Kaiju critical and commercial sensation Godzilla Minus One claimed both best visual effects and best sound.

In many ways, it was Zhang Yimou’s night, however. The venerated Chinese director took the stage twice, once to...

Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” was Sunday evening named as the best picture at the Asian Film Awards.

The 17th edition of the prizes was held at the Xiqu Centre, part of the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.

While “Evil Does Not Exist” and Korean blockbuster “12.12: The Day” had dominated the nominations with six each, including those in the best film category, the prizes on Sunday were much more evenly distributed. No title collected more than two prizes.

Outside, crowds failed to be muted by the March drizzle, though VIP guests were given escorts with purple umbrellas.

Filmmaker and industry attendance was also robust. Those spotted on the red carpet and pre-event cocktails included: Lee Yong Kwan (former chair of the Busan film festival), Tom Yoda, Udine festival heads Sabrina Baracetti and Thomas Bertacche, Anthony Chen, Stanley Kwan, Rina Damayanti, Hong Kong distributor Winnie Tsang,...

Tamara Tatishvili is going full steam into her first edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which runs Jan. 25 – Feb. 4, following her appointment as the head of the festival’s funding arm, the Hubert Bals Fund. She started full-time in early January.

“I will use the festival to connect to professionals outside of IFFR, hosting informal think tank meetings with industry professionals, producers and sales agents within a close environment to see what their observations and ideas are, and how this could feed into the future thinking strategies of Hubert Bals Fund,” she tells Variety.

She went on to emphasize the importance of festivals from a funder’s point of view. “Festivals are key platforms to connect the stories funds help create to audiences. Audience engagement is a key topic. Funders and producers believe films need to be made to reach audiences. It’s how you create impact and how...

‘Snow Leopard’, ‘Paradise’, ‘The Goldfinger’ and ‘Godzilla Minus One’ also land multiple nods.

South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.

Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.

Scroll down for full list of nominations

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...

Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, and the period action pic 12.12: The Day, from Korea, lead the nominations at this year’s Asian Film Awards.

Both films received six nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. Directed by Kim Sung-soo, whose credits include Asura: The City Of Madness and The Flu, 12.12: The Day is set against the backdrop of the real-life military coup of 1979, which resulted in an eight-year military junta in South Korea. The cast includes Hwang Jung-min (The Wailing), Jung Woo-sung (Asura: The City Of Madness), and Lee Sung-min (The Spy Gone North). Released on November 22, the film sailed past the 12 million admissions mark at the Korean box office over the Christmas holiday period, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2023 in the market.

Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist — which debuted out of Venice — follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live...

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we’ll shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week, we’re talking to Reno Studios, a digital studio launched in Taipei in 2017, initially handling VFX for Taiwanese films, and now also bringing work from international clients including Netflix, EuropaCorp, Saudi-owned Mbc Group and India’s Zee to Taiwan. Deadline sat down with co-founders Peter Huang and Tomi Kuo, and Executive Producer/Senior VFX Supervisor Christopher Chen, to talk about how the company has grown, their future plans, and why Taiwan is an ideal destination for VFX and Virtual Production.

Despite being known internationally for its semiconductor and computer hardware industries, Taiwan is not the first destination that springs to mind in the Asia Pacific when it comes to VFX and digital production. Australia and New Zealand have traditionally...

The Ticp has previously funded titles including Cannes award-winner ‘Tiger Stripes’ and ‘The Settlers’.

A Taiwanese international funding scheme that backed Cannes award-winners Tiger Stripes and The Settlers looks set to shift its focus to more mainstream projects as part of a rethink of the programme.

The Taiwan International Co-funding Program (Ticp) was launched in January 2021 by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (Taicca) and offered international features, TV series, animation and documentaries up to 30% of a production budget with a cap of $300,000.

However, three years into the scheme, its strategy is being revised to encompass more commercial titles, include more...

Taiwan’s government has suspended its Taiwan International Co-funding Program (Ticp) in a move that appears to signal a change in direction towards more mainstream projects.

The decision has prompted concern among Taiwan’s production community, as the fund was being accessed to set up a wide range of international co-production projects, many of which have secured slots at top international film festivals including Berlin, Venice and Cannes.

When contacted by Deadline, Taiwan Creative Content Agency (Taicca), which manages the fund, offered the following statement:

“To enhance international joint funding and co-production opportunities and to meet the demands of international investments, Taicca has undertaken discussions to revise and optimize the investment initiatives based on the experience of Taiwan’s International Co-funding Program (Ticp). This strategic move aims to attract a broader spectrum of large-scale investment projects, fostering more collaborations between Taiwan and the global community.”

Launched in January 2021, Ticp provides...

Denmark

The Promised Land

Mads Mikkelsen stars in this Nordic Western as a low-born military man determined to tame the wild Jutland heath, whatever the costs. Touching on themes of class, racism and labor exploitation, it’s an old-fashioned period romp with stunning set pieces, plenty of romance and a satisfying villain in Simon Bennebjerg’s scene-chewing aristocrat Frederik De Schinkel.

Finland

Fallen Leaves

In his first film in six years, Aki Kaurismäki serves up a slender but deeply satisfying slice of blue-collar romance. Jussi Vatanen and Alma Pöysti star as lonely souls yearning for love, kept apart by a series of obstacles both tragic and farcical. Touching, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, this Finnish gem might be the little awards contender that could.

Malaysia

Tiger Stripes

Amanda Nell Eu’s subversive story about a girl confronting the horrors of puberty could become Malaysia’s first-ever Oscar nominee. The film...

The third Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia put a spotlight on movies from the Middle East and North Africa region.

It also presented an opportunity to bring together six filmmakers with strong cinematic voices for the first-ever Hollywood Reporter roundtable at the fest, in partnership with Neom.

Among those participating in the roundtable were two past Oscar nominees and four hopefuls for the 2024 best international feature Oscar.

Representing Saudi Arabia was Ali Alkalthami, whose Mandoob, a satirical drama exploring the class divide, screened in the Red Sea festival’s competition. Tunisia’s Kaouther Ben Hania, an Oscar nominee in 2021 for The Man Who Sold His Skin, brought Four Daughters, an experimental documentary-drama hybrid in which professional actors re-enact a family’s devastating experience of loss and that won the doc award in Cannes, to the fest’s Arab Spectacular lineup. It is also Tunisia’s submission...

Every year since its creation in 1956, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) invites the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The category was previously called the Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed in April 2019 to Best International Feature Film, after the Academy deemed the word “Foreign” to be outdated.

The award is presented annually by the Academy to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. For the 96th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must be first released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was October 2, 2023, and 92 countries submitted a film. The 15-film shortlist will be announced on December 21, 2023, followed by the official nominations on January 23, 2024.

Here are this edition's Asian Submissions for Best International Feature Film.

With her debut feature “Tiger Stripes,” Malaysian writer-director Amanda Nell Eu joins an exciting group of directors who provide subversive takes on genre and body horror. Julia Ducournau and “Raw” comes to mind, as do Agnieszka Smoczynska and “The Lure” and John Fawcett and “Ginger Snaps” — like David Cronenberg before them.

Eu, an Ma graduate of the London Film School, blends Malaysian folklore with heightened realism and a large dollop of “Mean Girls” in the story of a tween going through changes wrought by puberty and alterations in her friendship group. World premiering at the Cannes Critics Week, it came away with the Grand Jury Prize for best feature and has been collecting additional kudos ever since. It represents Malaysia in the Oscar international feature competition.

Bold 12-year-old Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) is the natural leader among her group of gal pals, all currently seniors at their religious primary school. She...