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European Film Promotion has selected 20 rising European producers for the 26th edition of its Producers on the Move networking program, which runs during the Cannes Film Festival. Variety is the program’s main media partner.

The following producers are taking part: Blerina Hankollari (Albania), Andi G. Hess (Austria), Géraldine Sprimont (Belgium), Magdelena Ilieva (Bulgaria), Tamara Babun Zovko (Croatia), Daniel Mühlendorph (Denmark), Lionel Massol (France), Fred Burle (Germany), Claudia Sümeghy (Hungary), Deirdre Levins (Ireland), Francesca Andreoli (Italy), Kristele Pudane (Latvia), Klementina Remeikaitė (Lithuania), Vincent Quénault (Luxembourg), Bojana Radulović (Montenegro), Janne Hjeltnes (Norway), Agnieszka Wasiak (Poland), Carla Fotea (Romania), Eliza Jones (Sweden) and Thomas Reichlin (Switzerland).

They will take part in sessions designed to foster international co-productions, boost the exchange of experiences and help create new professional networks. Pre-festival kick-off online gatherings, which already started yesterday and are going to run until April 30, offer one-to-one speed meetings, roundtables and pitching sessions. All...

Chicago – The 41st edition of the Chicago Latino Film Festival (Clff) is coming to a close, and their final night film is “Reinas” on Monday, April 14th, 2025, at the Davis Theatre in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. This Closing Night screening is followed by a gala after party (at the nearby Dank Haus German American Cultural Center). For more information and tickets, click 41st Clff.

The 41st Clff continues through April 14th. For the weekend schedule, click Clff Final Weekend.

Closing Night Film of the 41st Clff is ‘Reinas’

Photo credit: ChicagoLatinoFilmFestival.org

Co-writer/director Klaudia Reynicke’s poignant coming-of-age drama is set in 1992 Peru during the “fujimorazo,” when President Alberto Fujimori assumed full legislative and judicial powers after dissolving his government. Elena plans to leave the country with her daughters Lucía and Aurora but needs Carlos, their absent father, to sign their departure permits. This gives Carlos the opportunity...

Klaudia Reynicke’s Reinas (Queens), a Peruvian-set period drama about a family navigating political turmoil, has won best film at the 2025 Swiss Film Awards, presented in Geneva Friday night. The Swiss-Peruvian-Spanish coproduction premiered at Sundance last year and won best film in the Kplus Generation children’s film sidebar of the Berlinale, as well as the audience award at the Locarno Film Festival.

Set during a tumultuous summer in Lima in 1992, Reinas chronicles the unsteady reunion between a father and his two daughters. Over the course of a series of slow summer days, the family begins to grow closer even as the country begins to fall apart as inflation skyrockets.

Reinas was Switzerland’s official entry for the Oscars and has been an international sales success, selling to more than 10 territories via world sales outfit The Yellow Affair.

David Constantin and Dimitri Krebs shared the best actor award for their...

In 1992, Peru existed in a state of suspension, trapped between political violence and economic collapse. The Shining Path insurgency and President Alberto Fujimori’s governmental crackdown created a backdrop of fear: curfews emptied streets, blackouts silenced homes, and food shortages tested the population’s endurance. Reinas immerses its characters in this unsettling environment, exploring the lingering impacts beyond visible conflict.

Director Klaudia Reynicke, a Swiss-Peruvian storyteller connected to this period, creates a narrative balancing personal experiences with wider social tensions. Her approach avoids dramatic spectacle, instead focusing on the quiet intimacy of familial struggle. The story centers on Elena, a mother seeking her estranged husband Carlos’s permission to emigrate to the United States with their daughters. This simple premise reveals complex human experiences of resilience and hope.

Reynicke’s narrative explores the spaces where human intentions collide with overwhelming circumstances. Political unrest remains a shadow, present yet not consuming.

Cinema Tropical, the premier presenter of Latin American cinema in the United States, has announced its annual list of the Best Latin American and U.S. Latinx Films of 2024. This year’s prestigious selection showcases 32 exceptional films—26 from across Latin America and six from U.S. Latinx filmmakers—representing a vibrant spectrum of contemporary storytelling. These films will compete for the 15th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards, with winners to be revealed on January 14, 2025, at a ceremony at Film at Lincoln Center in New York City.

The selected films span diverse genres, themes, and countries, highlighting the creative and cultural richness of Latin American cinema. Festival favorites such as La Cocina by Alonso Ruizpalacios, The Delinquents by Rodrigo Moreno, Pepe by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, and Sujo by Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero are among the contenders for top honors. The winners will be recognized in categories including Best Film,...

The Swiss-Peruvian-Spain co-production Queens, co-written and directed by Klaudia Reynicke, is set amidst the grueling reign of Alberto Fujimori’s dictatorship in the 1990s. During the social and political unrest, the story centers on the goings-on of an unconventional family living in Lima. Elena (Jimena Lindo) is a mother of two young daughters (Abril Gjurinovic and Luana Vega) who has chosen to accept a job offer in Minnesota to escape the country’s turmoil. However, she needs the legal signature of her estranged husband, Carlos (Gonzalo Molina), in order to take her children with her. When Carlos comes back into the picture, the girls, who don’t particularly enjoy his company, soon grow fond of him, complicating any chance of safety Elena has in store.

After premiering at Sundance, the film won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature in the Generation Kplus strand of Berlin. In Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival,...

When working together on “Queens,” a period piece set in 1992 Peru, director Klaudia Reynicke and her director of photography Diego Romero found themselves having to confront the country’s tense political climate. This especially came into focus when filming the street protest scenes.

Reynicke had to find a workaround when it came to featuring communist drawings on the walls: “That’s something you can’t do in Peru because people are still very traumatized by the terrorists who were Maoist. So we had to think of specific scenes that we had to bring to Europe and do post-production special effects,” she says.

The film, previously released as “Reinas,” is Switzerland’s entry in the Oscars International Feature race and follows two sisters (Abril Gjurinovic and Luana Vega) and their family who find themselves torn between leaving their home country and staying after their absent father, Carlos (Gonzalo Molina), re-enters their lives.

Deadline on Monday launched the streaming site for Contenders Film: International, its daylong showcase of movies in the conversation for this year’s International Feature Oscar race.

The casts, directors, writers and producers behind 13 movies joined Deadline’s reporters and editors at the virtual awards-season event Saturday for panel discussions about their films’ journeys to being submitted by their respective countries for the Academy Awards.

Click here to launch the livestream.

This year’s list of films includes 815 Pictures’ Old Fox (representing Taiwan), Dawson Films’ Waves (Czech Republic), FAMart Association’s Three Kilometers to the End of the World (Romania), Leyth Production and Hamzeh Mystique Films’ Take My Breath (Tunisia), Lizart Film’s Under the Volcano (Poland), Mavi Film’s Life (Turkey), Nexiko’s The Last Journey (Sweden), Outsider Pictures’ Queens (Switzerland), Sony Pictures Classics’ I’m Still Here (Brazil) and Kneecap (Ireland), Tanweer Productions’ Murderess (Greece), La Terraza Films’ Saturn Return...

Although Queens (Reinas) is Switzerland’s entry for the International Feature Oscar this year, the movie is actually set in Peru and told in Spanish. Director and co-writer Klaudia Reynicke, who left her native Peru at the age of 10, says the film helped her reconnect with her roots after spending most of her life in Europe and the U.S.

“I didn’t think it in a conscious way, but I had a need of going back to Peru and shooting something in Spanish,” she said during a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International awards-season showcase. “Now that I have done it,” Reynicke added, “I can see that it was actually very important this reconnection, something has changed. I guess cinema allows this, right?”

While Queens is not Reynicke’s own personal story, “it’s definitely very, very connected to it,” she said. The touching family drama — which also...

Just as the Oscar Best Picture race remains wide open as 2024 comes to an end, there’s a similar sense of excitement mounting about the breadth and range of films competing for Best International Feature Film. The submissions process found 85 of the 89 films presented eligible, but the real work starts now, in terms of whittling those down first to a shortlist of 15 and then to the final five.

Perhaps more so than in recent years, the diversity is eye-popping, ranging from action thrillers and personal dramas to intimate documentaries. The cross-section is well represented at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International showcase, which kicks off today beginning at 9 a.m. Pt.

Click here to launch the livestream.

As ever, this year’s lineup offers a snapshot of film festival highlights, taking us on a whistle-stop tour of the big five — Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Toronto — with titles that made an impact at events in Warsaw,...

Jessica Alba and Tracey Nyberg’s Lady Metalmark Entertainment has boarded “Queens,” Switzerland’s official selection for the international feature Oscar, as executive producer.

The film follows two teenage sisters living in Peru in 1992 as the country slides into political unrest. They are about to leave with their mother to live in the U.S. but they need their father to sign consent papers — he’s been absent for years but now he decides to win back his two “queens.”

Abril Gjurinovic, Luana Vega and Jimena Lindo star. The film won the Audience Award at this year’s Locarno Film Festival and the Grand Prix in Generation Kplus at the Berlinale, after world premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.

Reynicke, who co-wrote the screenplay with Diego Vega Vidal, drew on her own experience of leaving Peru as a young girl during a period of political turmoil in the early 1990s.

L.A.-based Outsider Pictures, a U.S. distribution hub for Spanish-language cinema, has snagged North American rights to three International Oscar entries to the 97th Academy Awards: Costa Rica’s “Memories of a Burning Body,” Spain’s “Saturn Return” and Switzerland’s “Queens” (Reinas”), directed by Peruvian-born helmer, Klaudia Reynicke.

In addition, it has picked up Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed” by Argentina’s Hernán Rosselli and Toronto Platform awardee “They Will Be Dust,” starring Chile’s Alfredo Castro and Spain’s Angela Molina.

“I think the recent acquisitions from Outsider reflect the exciting and challenging cinema being produced in Latin America and Spain. These may not be star driven or hugely commercial films, but like most independent cinema, they are labors of love, passion pieces that film-makers have worked so hard for and that any company would be proud to distribute,” said Outsider Pictures founder-ceo Paul Hudson.

The much-anticipated Swiss film Reinas, which has already garnered accolades at prestigious festivals such as Berlin, Locarno, and Sundance, is set to make its theatrical debut in the U.S. on November 29 and has a brand new trailer. Directed by Klaudia Reynicke-Candeloro, Reinas has been selected as Switzerland’s official submission for the 2025 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature category.

The film offers an emotional and nostalgic glimpse into the 1990s, centered around a family in Lima, Peru. The story follows two sisters, Lucia and Aurora, who, along with their mother, are preparing to leave the country. However, their departure hinges on the reluctant involvement of their estranged father, Carlos, who must step up to fulfill his role as a parent if he wishes to regain the love of his daughters.

Reinas has been described as a “nostalgic love letter for home” and a “persuasive historical record” by New Indian Express,...

Festival hits Anora, Emilia Perez and Maria, a new Stockholm Series strand for TV works, and a theme of ‘Men in Crisis’ are among the highlights of this year’s Stockholm International Film Festival (November 6-17), the programme of which has been announced today (October 9).

The international feature competition includes Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Berlin title La Cocina; RaMell Ross’ Telluride premiere Nickel Boys; and Gustav Moller’s Denmark-Sweden-France co-production Sons. It has an even split of 10 titles directed by women, and 10 by men.

Scroll down for the full list of Stockholm Competition titles

The 16-title documentary competition includes the world premiere of Garbo: Leave Me Alone,...

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...

Recent submissions for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards are quickly piling up. Jordan has entered My Sweet Land (Sheffield DocFest), Switzerland has chosen Klaudia Reynicke’s Reinas (Sundance premiere), the United Kingdom selected Sandhya Suri’s Santosh (Un Certain Regard), and India made the expected-unexpected choice of Kiran Rao’s Laapataa Ladies. Iran submitted Babak Lotfi Khajepasha’s In the Arms of the Tree, Argentina opted for Luis Ortega’s Kill The Jockey (Venice competition), and Mexico is backing Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez’s Sujo (a big Sundance winner). However, it’s the entries from Italy, Brazil, and France that are truly stealing the spotlight.…...

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...

Switzerland has picked Reinas, a Peruvian family drama from Swiss-Peruvian filmmaker Klaudia Reynicke, as its entry for the 2025 Oscars in the best international feature category.

The film is set during a summer in Lima in 1992 as a father tries to reconnect to his two daughters against the tumultuous political backdrop of a country in crisis.

Gonzalo Molina plays the father Carlos, a taxi driver and failed actor. Abril Gjurinovic and Luana Vega are his long-suffering daughters, Lucia and Aurora. During what they know might be their last summer together, Carlos struggles to rebuild family ties while around them, the country’s economy tanks, the victim of hyperinflation.

Reinas premiered in Sundance and screened at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix for best film from the Generation Kplus international jury.

Switerzland has picked up a total of five best international feature nominations and has won the Oscar twice.

A drama film from Switzerland called “Reinas” is preparing for its debut in North America, which could boost its chances of receiving an Oscar nomination. The movie tells the story of two sisters in Peru dealing with family issues. It has already earned praise on the international film festival circuit.

“Reinas” focuses on sisters Lucía and Aurora and their mother Elena. In 1992, their mother decides to leave Peru. This causes problems for the girls as they get closer to their father, who was not very involved before. The film explores the difficulties of family relationships and how migration affects people emotionally.

It was selected as Switzerland’s submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. This category honors the best movies made outside the United States with a primarily non-English dialogue. “Reinas” will screen next month at the prestigious Mill Valley Film Festival in California. Director Klaudia Reynicke...

Switzerland has picked Klaudia Reynicke’s family drama Reinas as its submission to the Best International Feature Film category of the 97th Academy Awards.

The Swiss-Spanish-Peruvian coproduction is set in Peru in 1992 as the country undergoes social and political upheaval.

Against this backdrop Lucía and Aurora’s single mother Elena is drawing up plans to leave the country with her daughters. The decision sees the girls grow closer to their previously absent father, as the impending farewell from home and family draws ever nearer.

The Oscar campaign in North America will be launched with a screening at the Mill Valley Festival in California in October, with director Reynicke and producer Britta Rindelaub in attendance.

Outsider Pictures Distribution will release the film in the U.S. and Puerto Rico on November 29, at the same time as a release in Canada by Films We Like.

Reinas originally world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year,...

The Locarno Film Festival, taking place in the picturesque town in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, always shines a light on arthouse voices, whether new or established. And it showcases Swiss films worth audiences’ attention.

That will be the case again during Locarno77, taking place Aug. 7-17, soon after Switzerland also took center stage at the 2024 Cannes Film Market where the Alpine nation was the country of honor.

Among the Swiss fare featured at Locarno this year are such Cannes hits as Laetitia Dosch’s Dog on Trial, and Swiss animator Claude Barras’ Savages, which are screening in the Piazza Grande lineup along with the world premiere of Swiss director Simon Jaquemet’s Electric Child, the international premiere of U.S.-Swiss filmmaker Freddy Macdonald’s Sew Torn and the Swiss premiere of Swiss-Peruvian filmmaker Klaudia Reynicke’s Reinas.

Meanwhile, Locarno’s international competition includes the Swiss entry Der Spatz im Kamin...

Klaudia Reynicke’s Berlin prize-winning family drama Reinas has sold around the world, including to the US, ahead of it screening in the Piazza Grande section of next month’s Locarno Film Festival.

The feature, directed by Swiss-Peruvian Reynicke, has sold to Outsider Pictures (US), Films We Like (Canada), Penny Black Media (worldwide airlines), Ads Service, Estinfilm (Estonia), Belas Artes Grupo (Brazil), Falcon Pictures (Indonesia) and Arsenal Filmverleih.

Distribution in Switzerland will be handled by Filmcoopi, BTeam Pictures in Spain and Tondero Distribución in Peru, releasing early in September in Switzerland and Spain and late August in Peru. Reinas will...

Taking place August 7-17, the official selection for the 77th Locarno Film Festival has been unveiled, featuring a stellar-looking slate of highly anticipated films. Highlights include Hong Sangsoo’s second feature of the year, By the Stream, starring Kim Minhee, Kwon Haehyo, and Cho Yunhee; Ramon Zürcher’s The Sparrow in the Chimney, Wang Bing’s second part of his Youth trilogy, Youth (Hard Times), as well as new films by Radu Jude, Bertrand Mandico, Courtney Stephens, Ben Rivers, Gürcan Keltek, Denis Côté, Kevin Jerome Everson, Fabrice Du Welz (featuring Abel Ferrara!), and many more. Also of particular note is the world premiere of Tarsem Singh’s restored cut of The Fall, which features a slightly different edit as he recently noted.

Giona A. Nazzaro, Artistic Director of the Locarno Film Festival said, “We are very excited and happy with our selection for Locarno’s 77th edition, which we believe...

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival will debut 17 world premieres, including new works by Hong Sang-soo and Wang Bing, as part of its 2024 competition program. This year’s event runs from August 7 – 17.

The festival announced its competition lineups this morning. The Hong Sang-soo feature is titled Suyoocheon (By The Stream) and stars Kim Minhee, Kwon Haehyo, and Cho Yunhee. The Wang Bing feature is a France, Luxembourg, and Netherlands co-production titled Hard Times. Scroll down to see the full Locarno competition lineup, which also includes new titles from Ben Rivers, Mar Coll, and Christoph Hochhäusler.

The festival today also announced that French acting veterans Mélanie Laurent and Guillaume Canet will receive the event’s honorary Excellence Award Davide Campari at the opening ceremony on August 7. Previous recipients of the award include Riz Ahmed and Aaron Taylor Johnson.

Locarno’s separate Piazza Grande lineup features 18 titles, including Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig,...

The Yellow Affair has sold Janis Pugh’s debut Chuck Chuck Baby to a slew of territories, including Dark Star Pictures in North America and Studio Soho for UK-Ireland.

The Edinburgh premiere, which also played at Toronto, has also sold to Scandinavia and Baltics (NonStop), Germany and Austria (Salzgeber), Spain (Yoda Films) and for airlines (Aardwolf).

LA-based Dark Star Pictures has a theatrical release planned for this summer.

Anne Beresford, Adam Partridge, Andrew Gillman and Peggy Cafferty produced the UK feature. The cast includes Louise Brealey, Annabel Scholey, Sorcha Cusack, Celyn Jones and Emily Fairn.

Chuck Chuck Baby takes place in the present day,...

Generation, the Berlin Film Festival sidebar for children and youth films, has announced this year’s winners unveiling the picks from both the Generation 14plus (for teen and older viewers) and the youth jury for the Generation Kplus (kids and tweens) sections.

Sasha Nathwani’s coming-of-age drama Last Swim, about an Iranian-British teen confronting a major life decision, took the Crystal Bear for best film in the Generation 14plus section, with Kim Hye-young’s It’s Okay!, about an orphaned young dancer, winning the top prize for Generation Kplus. Both prizes were awarded by youth juries of young filmgoers.

In its statement, the 14plus jury called Last Swim “a story about the beauty of life and of things coming to an end. It is a film that does not shy away from portraying the messy and consuming feelings that can arise when you know your dreams may not be fulfilled. However,...

It may not match last year’s sheer quantity in competition strands, but Spain still boasts a high quality presence at the Berlinale. Following, highlights the festival and EFM:

“Every You Every Me,” (Michael Fetter Nathansky)

A factory worker strives to reconnect with her distant husband, exploring the rediscovery of love within the complexities of relationships. From Contando Films, Studio Zentral, Network Movie and Nephilim, a German-Spanish production.

“Cura Sana,” (Lucía G. Romero)

Produced by Escac Films, this Generation 14plus premiere delves into sisters’ lives shaped by ancestral violence, exploring deep familial bonds and lasting impact of abuse.

“Deprisa, Deprisa,” (Carlos Saura)

A classic: Set to a memorable flamenco-pop score, four young Madrid delinquents pull robberies, snort heroin, steal cars the film capturing the raw energy youth and their vague, but visceral sense of ‘liberty.’ A restoration of a seminal work.

“The Human Hibernation,” (Anna Cornudella)

A sci-fi exploration of siblings undergoing hibernation,...

Outside its Market, of the eleven Spanish films elected for this year’s Berlin Film Festival, five have Catalan involvement, a testament to the significant investment and creative nurturing that occurs there. Below are those five and market highlights:

“Cura Sana” (Lucía G. Romero)

Produced by Escac Films, a Generation 14plus short delving into sisters’ lives shaped by ancestral violence, exploring deep familial bonds and the lasting impact of abuse.

“The Human Hibernation” (Anna Cornudella)

A sci-fi exploration of siblings undergoing hibernation, with only the sister awakening, blurring the lines between human and animal. A narrative of survival and awakening by Catalunya’s Joponica Films and Valladolid’s Batiak Films.

“Memories Of A Burning Body,” (Antonella Sudasassi Furniss)

A Berlin Panorama player, unraveling the repressed dimensions of womanhood, produced by Playlab Films and Costa Rica’s Substance Films. Sales: Bendita Film Sales.

“Reinas,” (Klaudia Reynicke)

In 1992 Lima, Lucia, Aurora, and...

Over the last seven years or so, the ever more capitalized Catalan industry, much based in capital Barcelona, has driven into domestic co-production with other parts of Spain. One result: an exciting new generation of young directors and producers, often women, which have scored a Berlin Golden Bear (Carla Simon’s “Alcarràs”) and best lead performance.

The Catalan film-tv industry is now, however, in the throes of a gathering industry makeover which is showing its first fruits. One driver, as so often in Europe, is public sector funding.

In 2019, total allocated Catalan government audiovisual funding stood at €12.6 million ($13.7 million). It rose to €40.8 million ($44.5 million) in 2022 and will rise again to an estimated €50 million ($54.5 million) in 2024, if the Catalan Parliament approves the budget, says Edgar Garcia, director of the governmental culture industry unit Icec.

In response to ramped-up funding, Catalonia industry has grown vibrantly. 130 execs and talent, representing 80 companies, attend 2024’s Berlin Film Market.

Writer/director Klaudia Reynicke has drawn on her own life for her latest film Reinas, which focuses Elena (Jimena Lindo) and her daughters teenager Aurora (Luana Vega) and her younger sister Lucía (Abril Gjurinovic), as they prepare to relocate from early-90s Peru to the US. Their departure relies on the girls’ estranged dad Carlos (Gonazalo Molina) signing the paperwork that allows them to go, which sees him re-enter his daughters’ lives at the 11th hour. Reynicke explores the reconnection that begins to be established with his children, just as he also realises he is about to let them go for good.

Catching up with Reynicke ahead of her film’s premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival she explained to what degree she drew on her own experience of emigrating from Peru.

“I was 10 years...

I’d rather die than betray a Peruvian

A tender promise between two sisters holds the key to the heart of Klaudia Reynicke’s Sundance entry, Reinas. Betrayal underpins every dynamic on screen, from the personal drama of an ex-husband’s betrayal of his family following an uncomfortable divorce or the wider drama of Peru betraying its people following the government collapse in the early 1990s. Reynicke’s focus is not the economic turmoil but the small, human stories that are tragically caught in its midst.

Carlos (Gonzalo Molina) is a father and ex-husband struggling to make ends meet working as a taxi driver by day and a security guard by night. His wife, Elena (Jimena Lindo), is a prospering single mum thriving in her work and faces the opportunity of a lifetime to escape the difficulties of Peruvian life for the relatively high life of the USA. For Elena to bring her daughters,...

Off-roading in a sand dune located outside Lima with a borrowed car, Carlos (Gonzalo Molina) only cares about whether or not his two daughters, in the back seat, are having a good time. He won’t admit it, but this jack of all trades — and definitely master of none — doesn’t have much to offer them in the way of financial or home stability. Carlos’ only contribution are the memories he hopes will evoke a positive image of him in the future.

Therein lies the emotional crux of Swiss-Peruvian director Klaudia Reynicke’s poignantly subdued period drama “Reinas,” Spanish for “queens” and the way Carlos refers to his girls. Set in 1992, against the backdrop of social unrest and economic collapse in Peru — when the national currency has devalued greatly, and the insurgent organization Shining Path continues to carry out attacks — the narrative grapples with how two separated parents, neither of them ill-intentioned,...

“Reinas,” the latest from director Klaudia Reynicke, is a quiet but vivid tale of summer days in Lima, Peru. The script, which Reynicke co-wrote with Diego Vega, depicts a family drama against a backdrop of political chaos.

Set in 1992, just after the country’s president sent military officials to shut down Congress, heralding an era of unrest, the film focuses on a small but fractured family’s attempts to understand each other.

Continue reading ‘Reinas’ Review: A Sensuous Summer Set During Peru’s Self-Coup [Sundance] at The Playlist.

Klaudia Reynicke’s compact feature Reinas deals in intimate moments with an understated charm.

The film, which premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance, takes place in Lima during a tumultuous summer in 1992 and chronicles an unsteady reunion between a father and his two daughters. It’s a quiet study of paternal redemption, much like In the Summers, another one of this year’s festival offerings. Here, as in Alessandra Lacorazza’s debut, the complexities of a seemingly simple relationship reveal themselves over the course of slow summer days. Reynicke (Love Me Tender, Il Nido) shapes a moving character study of a family trying to ground itself against the backdrop of a shaky political landscape.

An excerpted television news report from the ’90s functions as a prologue, detailing a country in crisis. Peru’s minister of the economy announces that in the next 24 hours, the price of milk...

The opposing forces of reconnection and separation create a tension that runs through Klaudia Reynicke’s family drama. Elena (Jimena Lindo) is on the cusp of relocating herself and her two daughters, teenager Aurora (Luana Vega) and the younger Lucía (Abril Gjurinovic), from the turmoil of early-90s Peru to the US, although the older girl, in particular, is less than keen on the idea.

Before they can leave, the children’s estranged father Carlos (Gonazalo Molina) has to sign the relevant paperwork leading him to re-enter their orbit just as they are about to exit his for good. Reynicke, who, writing with Diego Vega, draws on her own emotional experience of leaving Peru as a 10-year-old. They treat this situation in a nuanced way, so that even if Carlos has become something of a stranger to his children he is not presented as a monster and Elena is gently encouraging in terms of.

In the midst of the chaotic Alberto Fujimori dictatorship, two girls and their mother plan to leave Lima for the United States, but they first attempt to reconnect with the estranged father. Such is the premise of Reinas, the third feature film by Klaudia Reynicke. A proper emulation of 1992 Lima was of particular importance to the filmmakers. Below, cinematographer Diego Romero Suarez-Llanos dives deep into the lighting schemes the filmmakers used to pull it off. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer […]

The post “Light Cannot and Should Not Limit the Movements of the Actors”: Dp Diego Romero Suarez-Llanos on Reinas first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In the midst of the chaotic Alberto Fujimori dictatorship, two girls and their mother plan to leave Lima for the United States, but they first attempt to reconnect with the estranged father. Such is the premise of Reinas, the third feature film by Klaudia Reynicke. A proper emulation of 1992 Lima was of particular importance to the filmmakers. Below, cinematographer Diego Romero Suarez-Llanos dives deep into the lighting schemes the filmmakers used to pull it off. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer […]

The post “Light Cannot and Should Not Limit the Movements of the Actors”: Dp Diego Romero Suarez-Llanos on Reinas first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In Reinas, director Klaudia Reynicke (Love Me Tender) returns to her childhood home of Lima to tell the story of a mother and her two daughters attempt to reconcile with the estranged father before seeking greener pastures in the United States. Below, editor Paola Freddi, whose previous credits include the Venice premieres A Espera (2015) and Monica (2022), discusses her collaboration with Reynicke and how she approaches her craft. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]

The post “A Fundamental Quality for the Editor is to Investigate the Director’s Unconscious”: Editor Paola Freddi on Reinas first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In Reinas, director Klaudia Reynicke (Love Me Tender) returns to her childhood home of Lima to tell the story of a mother and her two daughters attempt to reconcile with the estranged father before seeking greener pastures in the United States. Below, editor Paola Freddi, whose previous credits include the Venice premieres A Espera (2015) and Monica (2022), discusses her collaboration with Reynicke and how she approaches her craft. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]

The post “A Fundamental Quality for the Editor is to Investigate the Director’s Unconscious”: Editor Paola Freddi on Reinas first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

While not quite autobiographical, Klaudia Reynicke’s third feature, “Reinas,” which world premieres at Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, taps her own childhood memories of leaving her home in Peru for another country.

The Swiss-Peru-Spain co-production is set in the summer of 1992 when social and political unrest is roiling Lima, prompting Elena (played by Jimena Lindo), a mother of two young girls, to accept a job offer in the U.S. However, she needs the consent of her estranged husband (Gonzalo Molina) to take their daughters abroad. The girls, who barely know their father, are reluctant and wary at first but warm up to him, complicating matters further as conflicting emotions jeopardize their plans.

“It’s not exactly my story but the feelings are,” said Reynicke, who left for Switzerland with her mother at the age of 10 and had to adjust from living in a crowded family-packed house to...

The Berlinale has completed the lineup for its Panorama, Generation, Forum and Forum expanded sections, with new films from Levan Akin and Andre Techine, plus the debut feature of US playwright Annie Baker.

Swedish filmmaker Akin, who scored an international hit in 2019 with And Then We Danced, will open the Panorama strand with Crossing, about two people travelling from Georgia to Istanbul in search of a young transgender woman.

Scroll down for the full list of Panorama, Generation and Forum features

Also among the 31 films in Panorama are My New Friends from French filmmaker Techine, starring Isabelle Hupert, Hafsia Herzi...

Latino Filmmakers Network on Thursday revealed its programming activities for the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, a lineup that includes a series of panel discussions, networking events and a reception January 19 at the United Airlines Lodge on Main Street in Park City, designed to facilitate collaboration and connection within the diverse filmmaking community.

The January 19 event runs 2-5 p.m. Mt. See the schedule below.

Founded by filmmaker and producer Maylen Calienes, Lmn has promoted diversity and empowered Latino voices in the film industry, fostering a community of filmmakers who represent Latino stories. Through the years, the network has provided a platform for emerging and established Latino filmmakers to showcase their unique perspectives, creating a lasting impact on the landscape of cinema.

“Sundance inspired me to embark on a mission – the creation of the Latino Filmmakers Network,” Calienes said. “Our aim has been clear from the start: to shine a spotlight...

The Yellow Affair has boarded world sales on Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Competition title “Reinas,” directed by Klaudia Reynicke. Variety has been given access to the trailer (below).

The film is set in Lima in the summer of 1992. Lucia, Aurora and their mother Elena are about to leave. They are apprehensive about saying goodbye to a country, to family and friends, but above all to Carlos, a father and ex-husband who has all but disappeared from their lives.

In the midst of Peru’s social and political chaos, this announced departure will give rise to contradictory feelings, reviving old regrets and generating new illusions. Facing the uncertainty of their future head on, their frustrations and fears are mixed with excitement and expectation, as the family faces the difficult truth about the losses this departure implies.

The Yellow Affair says the film is a “beautiful, dramatically intense and ultimately heart-warming film...

Girls Will Be Girls To Premiere At Sundance Film Festival 2024: Here’s Everything You Should Know About Chadha & Ali Fazal’s Debut Production! ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha’s debut production, ‘Girls Will Be Girls,’ a female-led drama written and directed by debutante Shuchi Talati, is set to premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival 2024. The film will be screened in the World Dramatic Feature category, marking an extraordinary achievement for producers as well as the director. ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ is one of 16 films chosen to participate in the competitive category of the renowned Film Festival.

The 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival, which aims to provide a space to gather, celebrate, and engage with risk-taking artists who are committed to bringing their independent visions to audiences through independent storytelling, will take place from January 18–28, 2024, in Park City, Utah.

Speaking about the film, producer Richa Chadha earlier said,...

Daniel Hoesl’s Veni Vidi Vici, Klaudia Reynicke’s Reinas and Thea Hvistendahl’s Handling the Undead are among the ten titles selected for the needle in a haystack section of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Here are the globe-trotting titles:

Brief History of a Family / China, France, Denmark, Qatar — A middle-class family’s fate becomes intertwined with their only son’s enigmatic new friend in post one-child policy China, putting unspoken secrets, unmet expectations, and untended emotions under the microscope. Cast: Feng Zu, Keyu Guo, Xilun Sun, Muran Lin. World Premiere.…...

Exclusive: Hollywood management and production company The Gotham Group has launched a new international division and appointed long-time manager and producer Justin Littman as its head.

The appointment see Littman join The Gotham Group partners roster alongside Peter McHugh, Julie Kane-Ritsch, Lindsay Williams, Jeremy Bell, Eric Robinson, Lee Stollman, Rich Green, and Matt Shichtman.

“We’re thrilled to have Justin leading The Gotham’s Group’s surging international client roster,” said The Gotham Group Founder and CEO Ellen Goldsmith-Vein.

“This initiative underscores our ability and intention to expand the boundaries of our business, to tap into the creative minds of artists around the globe to create entertainment for audiences everywhere,” said Goldsmith-Vein.

Littman said the time was ripe for such a move.

“International voices are driving a huge part of the conversation in film and TV,” he said. “The Gotham Group is excited to launch a dedicated department to focus on these artists,...

BrandAudio, the originators, curators, and producers of the Locarno Film Festival podcast series Futurespectives, requested the festival to cease using the Futurespectives name and format for any future podcast episodes due to the festival’s cancellation of its agreement.

After more than two years of close collaboration between the Locarno Film Festival and BrandAudio, the festival abruptly notified BrandAudio less than a month before festival start that they had unilaterally decided to cancel their co-production partnership and agreement with BrandAudio. As a result of the cancellation, the festival no longer held the rights to carry on using the Futurespectives name and format without BrandAudio due to its co-production agreement.

“We found the festival’s unexpected and abrupt cancellation of our valued co-production relationship most peculiar, and it’s certainly not in keeping with what had been an exceptionally positive, friendly, and future driven two-year long collaboration. We also found such...

Spain has found a place on the global film industry’s radar as an attractive market for co-producing projects, boosted by its bigger-than-ever-public-sector funding.

The trend comes in a moment of maturity for its audiovisual industry, with competitive tax incentives and the emergence of fresh talent, often female, whether directors or producers. Unlike U.S. indie producers, hard hit by streamers pulling back, European counterparts still have public sector financing.

But to make movies of any artistic ambition, which might justify that funding and break out to foreign sales and a theatrical release, producers are looking overseas more and to other parts of Spain for production partners.

Co-production is booming. Only last year, Spain co-produced 70 films, beating its average production for the period 2018-2022 of 256 titles, according to Spanish film agency Icaa.

Icaa’s selective aid for movie production reached €20 million (21.48 million). Of that, a minimum 5 went to support minority co-productions.

Credits included ‘Happy As Lazarro’ and ‘Bread And Tulips’.

Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani, the long-term producer of Alice Rohrwacher, has died after a long illness. She was in her 60s.

Soudani, who hailed from the Italian-speaking Swiss canton of Ticino, founded Lugano-based company Amka Film in 1988 with her Algerian filmmaker husband Mohammed Soudani. It takes its name from the first names of their daughters Amel and Karima.

The couple had strong ties with Africa and many of their early productions were made on the continent including Ivorian director Roger Gnoan M’Bala’s 1993 comedy Au Nom Du Christ, which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival,...

Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani, who through her Amka Films shepherded prizewinning films by prominent directors from nearby Italy, such as Alice Rohrwacher and Silvio Soldini, as well as by emerging talents in Switzerland and Africa, has died after a struggle with brain cancer.

She was in her mid 60s, though her exact age was not immediately verifiable. Soudani’s death was announced on Sunday by several Swiss media outlets and by the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland’s preeminent film event, with which Soudani had a long rapport.

Born in Locarno, the lakeside town in the Italian-speaking portion of Switzerland, Ticino, Soudani founded Amka Films in 1988 with her Algerian husband Mohammed Soudani, a former professional soccer player turned documentary director.

The previous year, in 1987, while attending the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, Soudani had been profoundly struck by the film “Ablakan,” the first work by Roger Gnoan M’Bala...