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With just three weeks until the line-up for the Cannes Film Festival 2025 is announced on April 10,Screentakes a look at the films from around the world looking increasingly likely to debut on the Croisette.

North America

English-language auteurs Wes Anderson, Lynne Ramsay, Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch and Kelly Reichardt could all unveil their anticipated next films at the Cannes – and if they do, it will drum up the kind of red-carpet glamour Thierry Fremaux loves.

Two years after The French Dispatch played in Competition, Anderson looks a safe bet to return with The Phoenician Scheme, a spy comedy thriller featuring...

Brazil’s Caru Alves de Souza, a Berlin Crystal Bear winner for “My Name is Baghdad,” will unveil new movie project “A City for Christine” at Spain’s Malaga Festival where it weighs in as one of the highlights at its industry centrepiece strand, the Málaga Festival Fund Co-Production Event (Maff).

“A City for Christine” is written by Alves de Souza, selected as one of Variety’s Brazil: 10 Next Gen Talents to Track, and Nara Marinho, who teamed for the Berlin 2025-selected “Underage,” the series expansion on Alves de Souza’s 2013 feature debut of the same title.

The lead role of Christine will be played by Karina Buhr, a Brazilian singer-songwriter and percussionist who starred in “My Name is Baghdad,” a best film winner at Berlin’s 2020 Generation 14plus sidebar.

“A City for Christine” (“Uma cidade para Christine”) also unites Alves de Souza and Rafaella Costa, founder of Manjericão Filmes...

“Satisfied,” a documentary about Renée Elise Goldsberry’s life while creating her iconic onstage role in “Hamilton” and “Black Box Diaries” — the Oscar-nominated documentary about a director’s investigation into sexual assault — are part of the 2025 Athena Film Festival at Barnard College’s line-up.

Aff announced its narrative and documentary feature lineup ahead of the event taking place from March 6-9 on the Barnard campus in New York City. This year marks the festival’s 15th anniversary and comes with a partnership between Barnard’s Athena Center for Leadership and the Women and Hollywood initiative.

“Our 2025 festival marks 15 years of championing diverse, authentic narratives through a powerful, women-centered lens,” artistic director of Aff Melissa Silverstein said. “The impact of this endeavor is shaped by the creators who bring these stories to life, as well as the audiences who support and amplify their reach.”

Check out this year’s line-up below:...

Indian director Payal Kapadia’s festival favouriteAll We Imagine As Light is one of the many films backed at an early stage by the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf).

Underlining Hbf’s reach, Wei Liang Chiang and You Qiao Yin’s Cannes Camera d’Or winner Mongrel, Palestinian-Danish filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel’s To a Land Unknown, Trương Minh Quý’s Viet and Nam and Wang Bing’s Youth (Hard Times) and Youth (Homecoming) were other 2024 festival titles to receive development support from the fund.

At a time when industry finance is ever tighter, Hbf has received a welcome boost this year,...

Sofia, a 17-year-old volleyball star, leads Power Alley through a story of raw determination. Her world balances between athletic goals and hard truths. Lillah Halla shows Sofia’s experiences with measured intensity and strength, as she faces the clash between her own path and social restrictions. The film tracks her response to an unplanned pregnancy, representing fights for body rights, LGBTQ+ community bonds, and self-direction in restricted spaces.

São Paulo sets the scene, its volleyball court serving as both sports field and symbol. The film’s title refers to a risky cross-court shot, similar to Sofia’s own course: precise, strong, and meant to take back control from those who want to limit her choices. Sports create perfect pressure points in the story. The games bring extra weight to Sofia’s private and public fights, turning athletic skill into a bid for freedom against tight social rules.

The film weaves community support throughout its scenes.

Cannes Critics’ Week has picked the projects that will be part of the 11th edition of Next Step, a programme aimed at helping filmmakers whose short films played at Critics’ Week develop their feature debut.

Since its creation 11 years ago, Next Step has accompanied the development of 96 feature projects, with 39 already completed. Recent Next Step alumni that stood out in the festival circuit include Molly Manning Walker with “How to Have Sex;” Chilean director Felipe Gálvez with “The Settlers;” Valentina Maurel with Locarno winner “I Have Electric Dreams;” as well as Matthew Rankin with Universal Language” which won Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award and represents Canada in the Oscar race.

In 2025, seven new features developed at Next Step are expected to roll out at major festivals, notably Morad Mostafa’s “Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore” which won Venice’s industry prize, Final Cut, for a film in post production. Next...

That Time of the Month: Halla Offers Ringside Seats to the Courts – Both On and Off

In one’s timeline, it’s the pre-adulthood teenage years that ought to be a moment to learn not curb your enthusiasm. Self-expression, embracing the torpedo speed changes and being careless at the time. You actually want to make mistakes but in Brazilian filmmaker Lillah Halla’s debut, this time period is yellow card level-high dangerous. Coming off the heals of Anita Rocha da Silveira’s Medusa (which also looks at the overreach from the religious right from the perspective of tomorrow’s youth), micro drama Levante (Power Alley) is a thorny look at the political and social snowball effects of unwanted pregnancy – think Citizen Ruth with even fewer option for female healthcare than Never Rarely Sometimes Always.…...

A star player gets pregnant and is harassed by the religious right in this tense and engaging film

Brazilian film-maker Lillah Halla has created a punchy drama about sisterhood and queer solidarity in the face of bigoted Bolsonaro-era attitudes. It’s an engaging watch, but it’s let down a bit by the convenient ending facilitated by a slightly unfocused melodramatic finale.

The setting is São Paulo, where a youth volleyball team is poised to win a championship. The star player is 17-year-old Sofía (Ayomi Domenica Dias), who is herself about to clinch a life-changing sports scholarship. But Sofía is pregnant, which could change everything – and there are serious legal obstacles to getting abortions in Brazil.

Brazil has selected Walter Salles’ well-received comeback feature I’m Still Here to represent it in the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards.

The picture stars Fernanda Torres as the real-life figure of Eunice Paiva, whose husband Rubens Paiva disappeared in the early years of the 1964-1985 Brazilian military dictatorship.

Torres’ mother Fernanda Montenegro, who is considered one of the greatest Brazilian actresses of all time, also briefly shares the Eunice Paiva role, appearing as the protagonist in her final years. They are joined in the cast by Selton Mello as Rubens Paiva.

Related: Best International Feature Film Oscar Winners Through The Years: Photo Gallery

The project also reunites Salles with his regular collaborator, the director Daniela Thomas, who takes an artistic producer credit.

The picture enjoyed a buzzy world premiere in Venice in Competition, receiving a 10-minute ovation and going on to win Best Screenplay for Heitor Lorega and Murilo Hauser.

Upcoming projects from Iranian filmmaker Behrooz Karamizade and Golden Bear-winning producer Bianca Oana are among 10 titles selected for the Full Circle Lab Nouvelle-Aquitaine Hessen workshop.

The first edition of the lab, which has been announced in Cannes and is organised by France’s Tatino Films, will host six projects in development and four in the editing stage. The Development Lab will support writing, co-production consultations and industry guidance while the First Cut Lab will supply expert feedback, guided by an experienced editing tutor.

From the selection, six are connected to the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in France and four with the Hessen region in Germany.

Exclusive: The Latino Film Institute has set its lineup for the 23rd Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, which will take place from May 29th through June 2nd at the Tcl Chinese Theatres in Hollywood.

Laliff will open with the critically acclaimed In the Summers, directed by Alessandra Lacorazza and starring René Pérez Joglar a.k.a Residente in his feature film debut, Sasha Calle, Lío Mehiel and Leslie Grace. Accolades include the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the U.S. Dramatic Directing Award for Lacorazza at the Sundance Film Festival.

The film tells the story of Violeta and Eva who, every summer, visit their loving but reckless father Vicente, who tries to atone for the past by creating a world of wonder for them to experience. But old wounds do not heal easily and despite the fun facade, Vicente’s battle with addiction gradually erodes the magic,...

Toshihiko Tanaka’s Rei won the top prize at the 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), taking home the €40,000 Tiger award at tonight’s closing ceremony (February 2).

The Japanese actor’s three-hour directorial debut explores human connection through a thirtysomething woman who embarks on a journey through the mountains and meets a deaf photographer. Tanaka also stars and produced the film which used mostly non-professionals and students in the cast and crew.

The jury, which included former IFFR director Marco Müller, said of the film: “[Tanaka’s] strength relies on a collaborative environment centred on the actors, an attention to the power of recitation – and,...

Tanaka Toshihiko’s “Rei” was awarded the Tiger Award, the top prize of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, on Friday. Toshihiko’s feature debut chronicles a woman in her early 30s employed in a corporate job in Tokyo who meets a deaf landscape photographer living deep in the mountains of Hokkaido.

Toshihiko worked with a cast and crew of mostly-non professionals and students and not only directed “Rei,” but also produced, edited and acted in the film. He takes home a prize worth €40,000 given by a jury comprised of “Sweet Dreams” director Ena Sendijarević, producer and historian Marco Müller, “Ebola Syndrome” director and screenwriter Herman Yau, pioneering “Bless Their Little Hearts” filmmaker Billy Woodberry and producer Nadia Turincev.

The jury called Toshihiko a “burgeoning film director who chose to develop his debut film in a loose and unbounded environment,” and whose strength lies in “a collaborative environment centered on the actors.

Running Jan. 19-Feb. 19, this year’s MyFrenchFilmFestival, an online showcase organized by France’s film-tv promotional body UniFrance, will mark its 14th edition with an accent on young talent, both in front of and behind the camera, and an emphasis on female empowerment.

With a mix of heritage docs like Agnès Varda’s “Jane B. for Agnès V.,” and a nine-film competition that spotlights auteurist animation like Alain Ughetto’s “No Dogs or Italians Allowed” alongside outré dramatic fare, the 11 features and 15 shorts that make up this year’s selection will be available on 80 partner platforms as well on MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, where all the shorts will be available to screen free of charge.

All films will be subtitled in 11 languages, including Arabic, English, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian, while the feature section will also be available for free in many Latin American, African and Middle Eastern territories.

“No...

Next Step, a program organized by Cannes Critics’ Week whose recent alumni include Molly Manning Walker (“How to Have Sex”), has unveiled the participants of its milestone 10th edition.

Spearheaded by Thomas Rosso, a producer turned artistic director, the workshop selects emerging directors who have had their short films play at Cannes’ parallel section, Critics’ Week, and helps to develop their feature debuts. Over the last decade, Next Step has supported the development of 88 projects, 29 of which have been completed and 13 of which will shoot in 2024.

The filmmakers selected to take part in this edition include Anton Bialas, a French-Swedish filmmaker (“Manta Ray”) developing “Femminielli,” about a baroque nightclub in Paris; Spain’s Irati Gorostidi (“Contadores”) with “Anekumen,” a drama set in 1978 at the end of Franco’s regime in Spain; Swiss helmer Jela Hasler with “To Put Out One Fire,” about a young and idealistic urbanist working in Zurich...

Fast-emerging Mexican auteur, delivering knowing and cross.grained takes on life in Mixtec communities, actress-turned-director Angeles Cruz’s “Valentina or the Serenity” walked off Saturday night with the top best picture award and best actress (Myriam Bravo) in a high-caliber main competition at this year’s Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival.

Best actor went to “Money Heist’s” Rodolfo de la Serna, for his weighty turn in Paramount Television Intl. Studios’ “The Rescue.”

The Rescue

Cruz’s win underscored the focus and value of Huelva. Despite funding challenges, Latin America’s big three – Mexico, Brazil and Argentina – alone produced 660 features in 2022. It is simply impossible for the media to pay sufficient attention to all but a highly select clutch of top titles.

“Ibero-American cinema is constantly evolving. Now, it is very easy to find great films, if not in budgetary terms, then in artistic ambitions,” Huelva director Manuel H. Martin told...

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has closed a deal with Reverso Films for the Spanish distribution of Lillah Halla’s “Power Alley.”

Reverso Films, which specializes in distributing emerging talents from Europe and Latin America, will launch the film this week at the Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival. After a festival run in generalist, social issue and LGBTQ+ festivals in Spain, the film will be released in 15-25 cinemas across the country, alongside special events and screening-debates with invited panellists.

“We are thrilled to bring this dynamic, female-driven film to cinemas across Spain. It is timely, energetic and powerful filmmaking from an exciting new female voice in cinema, which will speak to modern audiences,” said Sylvie Leray, managing director of Reverso Films.

“Power Alley,” which had its world premiere in Critics’ Week in Cannes, is a fast-paced drama set in Brazil. The film follows talented volleyball player Sofia, who discovers she is...

There’s “an enormous amount of fresh talent coming through, and those new voices, that for the most part don’t come from the U.S.,” CAA Media Finance’s said at San Sebastian’s Creative Investors Conference this September.

Getting noticed ia another matter. Global content spend has near doubled in a decade, from $136 billion in 2013 to $250 billion this year, according to Ampere Analysis.

The same cannot be seen of media coverage of new movies. Quite the reverse: At most outlets, it has radically declined.

Enter Huelva. They also often announce undoubted new talent to track, as Latin America has built film schools and passed film laws, creating a seemingly bottomless well of new talent.

Also taking in Luis Mandoki’s 17th fiction feature, Daniela Goggi’s fourth the second and third respectively from Renée Nader Messora and João Salaviza, Huelva’s 12 competition movies have very often won significant prizes at prominent festivals,...

The 49th edition of Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival, Spain’s largest confab for films from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, will honor Mexican star Cecilia Suárez with its City of Huelva Award.

With leading roles in Netflix’s “The House of Flowers” and HBO Latin America’s “Capadocia,” Suárez has also be seen in ABC’s drama “The Promised Land” and has worked on films by as Tommy Lee Jones (“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada”), James L. Brooks (“Spanglish”), Ernesto Contreras (“Párpados azules”), Antonio Serrano and Fernando Colomo (“Cuidado con lo que deseas”).

The new edition of Huelva runs Nov. 10-18.

Andalusia’s oldest film festival, Huelva will also grant a Light Award to Spanish actress Natalia de Molina, a two-time Goya winner, delivering acclaimed performance in films such as David Trueba’s “Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed” and Juan Miguel del Castillo’s “Food and Shelter.”

Another...

“A Batalha da Rua Maria Antonia,” directed by Vera Egito, nabbed the main Redentor prize for fiction film at the 2023 Rio de Janeiro International Film Fest which wrapped this year’s edition last weekend, consolidating its position as South America’s largest fest and world’s main showcase of Brazilian productions.

The fest held the world premieres of 40 Brazilian features and four TV series. Its competition, reflecting the country’s production strength, included 54 local features, selected from 318 submissions.

With a series of 21 long takes shot in 16 mm black and white film, “A Batalha da Rua Maria Antonia” (“The Battle”) depicts the true-life 1968 police massacre of Sao Paulo State University Philosophy School’s students who rose up in opposition to the military dictatorship then in place in Brazil.

Carolina Markowicz’s “Toll” scooped both best actress, for Maeve Jinkings, shared with Grace Passo of “O Dia que te conheci,” and actor...

Carolina Markowicz’s Toll earns four awards.

Vera Egito’s The Battle (A Batalha Da Rua Maria Antonia) won best fiction feature in the Première Brasil section at the 25th Rio International Film Festival closing ceremony.

As with most years, the ceremony showcased some of the strongest voices in Brazilian cinema. Unlike previous editions, however, the top winner received its world premiere at the festival and had not already enjoyed successful runs in international festivals like Cannes, Venice or Toronto.

The film’s title refers to Rua Maria Antônia, a street in the centre of Brazilian city São Paulo which...

Carolina Markowicz’s Toll earns four awards.

Vera Egito’s A Batalha da Rua Antônia (translated as The Battle Of Rua Antonia) won best fiction feature in the Première Brasil section at the 25th Rio International Film Festival closing ceremony on Sunday night.

As with most years, the ceremony showcased some of the strongest voices in Brazilian cinema. Unlike previous editions, however, the top winner received its world premiere at the festival and had not already enjoyed successful runs in international festivals like Cannes, Venice or Toronto.

The film’s title refers to Rua Maria Antônia, a street in the...

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has closed multiple deals for Cannes Film Festival titles “Power Alley” by Lillah Halla, and “Let Me Go” by Maxime Rappaz, which are both female-led films.

Cannes Critics’ Week title “Power Alley,” set in Brazil, follows talented volleyball player Sofia who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of a career-defining game. Seeking an abortion, which is illegal in Brazil, she is confronted by a fundamentalist group who become fixated on stopping her. The film puts sisterhood and collective resistance at the forefront of the story.

“Power Alley” has been sold to Njuta Films, which will distribute in Sweden, September, which will handle the release in Benelux, Cineworx for Switzerland, and Leopardo Filmes for Portugal. The film was already sold to AX1 Films (U.K. and Ireland), and Øst for Paradis (Denmark).

M-Appeal also closed further deals for Cannes Acid title “Let Me Go,” starring Jeanne Balibar.

The German festival will take place from September 28 to October 7.

Inshallah A Boy by Jordan’s Amjad Al Rasheed, which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week, and Paradise Is Burning by the Swedish director Mika Gustafson, a Venice Horirzons debut earlier this month, will bookend this year’s Filmfest Hamburg, taking place from September 28 to October 7) as the opening and closing films.

The programme of 132 feature films includes the German premieres of Venice titles including Yorgos Lanthimos’ Golden Lion winner Poor Things, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist, and Sofia Coppola’s biopic Priscilla, and festival favourites from throughout the...

Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” has scored a Fipresci award in Cannes.

The jury of the International Federation of Film Critics praised the film “for its formal radicality, the complexity of the sound and score, and its contrast between the invisible atrocities behind the wall and a supposed paradise,” Fipresci stated on Saturday.

“By presenting the horror as something usual, and using everyday-like dialogues, it’s a reflection on ignorance as a disease that connects the past with the present.”

Glazer’s take on a Nazi family living next door to Auschwitz and enjoying it – loosely based on the novel by Martin Amis, who tragically passed away on May 19, just before the premiere – has been getting rave reviews at the French festival, becoming one of the frontrunners for this year’s Palme d’Or.

Christian Friedel stars as real-life SS officer Rudolf Höss, joined by Sandra Hüller playing his wife,...

Brazilian drama marks the directorial debut feature of Lillah Halla.

AX1 Entertainment has secured UK and Ireland distribution rights to Power Alley, the debut feature of Brazilian director Lillah Halla that is playing in Cannes Critics’ Week, in a deal with Berlin-based M-Appeal.

The feature has also been picked up for Denmark by Ost for Paradis.

The Brazil-set drama follows a young volleyball player who is faced with an unwanted pregnancy. Seeking an abortion, in a country where the procedure is illegal, she becomes the target of a fundamentalist group determined to stop her at any cost. The cast is led by Ayomi Domenica,...

How did John Cameron Mitchell become the head of this year’s Queer Palm award jury in Cannes? “Sexual favors,” he quips.

While the director of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” (which played out of competition at Cannes) is joking, sexuality is at the heart of one of the world’s most prestigious LGBTQ+ film awards. And with more anti-queer legislation being enacted around the world than at any time in recent memory, the attention it brings to films that humanize this scapegoated population is arguably more important than ever.

“The Queer Palm, the festival and any awards help to dignify work, so that it often can be distributed and sometimes celebrated in its own queer-phobic country,” says Mitchell, who helped start a queer dance night at the American Pavilion in 2004 and DJs when he’s in town. “[The trans-themed] ‘Joyland’ was banned in...

Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has closed two multi-territory deals for Bulgarian gay summer-romance film “Liuben,” directed by Venci Kostov.

The film has been acquired by Tla Entertainment for North America, France, U.K. and Ireland, and Cinemien for Germany, Austria, German-speaking Switzerland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Israel, Italy and Sweden.

“Liuben,” which has its world premiere at Guadalajara Intl. Film Festival in June, is the first openly gay film from Bulgaria. Roma actors, who are usually absent from Bulgarian cinema, play lead roles in the film.

The film follows Victor, 27, who returns to his childhood home in Bulgaria for his grandfather’s funeral, and decides to stay for the summer. While reconnecting with his father and the village way of life, he unexpectedly finds love in the form of Liuben, an 18-year-old Roma boy. Despite their differences, and the conflicts around them, Victor and Liuben find refuge in each other.

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has released the first-look trailer (below) for the suspense filled drama “Power Alley,” from Brazilian director Lillah Halla, ahead of its world premiere in Cannes’ Critics’ Week sidebar.

The gripping drama is set in Brazil, where abortion is illegal. Talented volleyball player Sofia (Ayomi Domenica Dias) discovers she is pregnant at a crucial moment, jeopardizing her career plans. Intent on deciding her own fate, Sophia tries everything possible to get an illegal abortion, but has to contend with an increasingly sinister fundamentalist group determined to stop her — but Sophia, her team and all those who love her, refuse to give up.

The film explores the topic of abortion rights and self-determination head on, focusing on the power of the team – who are stronger together – in standing up to injustice.

The film is Halla’s debut feature, following her short film “Menarca,” which was selected for Cannes...

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has closed a deal for German distribution rights for “Let Me Go” with Alamode Film, ahead of the film’s world premiere as the opening film of Cannes Acid sidebar next week.

“Let Me Go” (Laissez-Moi), the debut feature by Swiss director Maxime Rappaz, is set in a remote Swiss mountain village, where Claudine (Jeanne Balibar) lives a life dedicated to taking care of her son. Every Tuesday, however, she has an afternoon to herself and goes to a nearby hotel to meet men passing through. She pursues her desires in a carefully controlled way, so as not to interfere with her life, but when she meets Michael (Thomas Sarbacher) everything changes.

Rappaz worked with acclaimed DoP Benoît Dervaux (collaborator of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne) to capture the Swiss mountain landscape in a timeless way. Echoing the circumstances of the film’s female lead, the mountain...

Berlin-based sales agent M-Appeal has come on board to sell “Power Alley,” the debut film by Brazilian filmmaker Lillah Halla, which will world premiere in Cannes’ Critics’ Week, it was announced Tuesday.

Set in Brazil, where abortion is illegal, “Power Alley” is a suspense-filled drama tackling one of society’s most divisive issues.

The story follows star volleyball player Sofia who is faced with an impossible scenario on the eve of her championship game. Pregnant and panicked, Sofia seeks an illegal abortion but unwittingly becomes a target instead. As the town’s herd-mentality turns violent, Sofia risks being consumed by the fervor – but neither Sofia nor those who love her are willing to surrender.

“The conflict of [the film] deeply affects our protagonist personally, but that does not make it an individual drama only,” Halla said. “After all, it’s not only about desiring. It’s about the (non-) annihilation of one’s desires.

After Cannes Film Festival announced its main lineup last week, the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week sidebars have unveiled their slates. Now in its 55th edition, Directors’ Fortnight features Hong Sangsoo’s second feature of the year, In Our Day, while Sean Price Williams’ The Sweet East, Michel Gondry’s The Book of Solutions, Bertrand Mandico’s She Is Conann, and more.

“The Directors’ Fortnight was born when a community of directors came together with the desire to create an independent space that would encourage the emergence of free filmmaking regardless of geographical provenance or any other limiting criteria,” said Julien Rejl, Artistic Director of the Directors’ Fortnight. “At the heart of the creation of the Directors’ Fortnight was the singular quality of a work of art and the impossibility of pigeonholing it. We have chosen to present 30 films to you which, through their own unique language, embody a spirit...

The 2023 Cannes Critics Week lineup has officially been unveiled.

Hot off of the world premiere of first-time filmmaker Charlotte Wells’ Oscar-nominated “Aftersun,” this year’s Critics Week marks seven highly-anticipated feature debuts from directors like Amanda Nell (“Tiger Stripes”) and Jason Yu (“Jam”).

The lineup kicks off with opening night film “Ama Gloria,” directed by French filmmaker Marie Amachoukeli, who previously won Cannes’ Camera d’Or for 2014’s “Party Girl” which Amachoukeli co-directed with Claire Burger and Samuel Theis. (Critics Week allows for both first and second films in its lineup.) “Ama Gloria” centers on six-year-old girl Cléo who copes with her nanny Gloria leaving to return to Cape Verde.

The closing night film is Erwan le Duc’s “La fille de son père,” billed as a “bittersweet comedy about paternity and filiation with a poetic and off-beat angle.” Le Duc previously helmed “Perdrix”; Nahuel Perez Biscayart and Céleste Brunnquell star as father and daughter.

Cannes Critics’ Week Artistic Director Ava Cahen has unveiled the line-up for the 62nd edition of the parallel sidebar focused on first and second films, running May 17 to 25.

The compact selection will showcase 11 features, seven in Competition, and four as Special Screenings. Full details of the line-up can be found here. The short film line-up will be announced in the coming days.

This is Cahen’s second Selection as Artistic Director after a successful inaugural year in the role in 2022, topped by award-winning titles Aftersun, Alma Viva, Dalva and La Jauria.

Deadline talked to Cahen about the challenges of getting her second Selection over the line as well as some of the themes and trends to have emerged in the process.

Deadline: It’s your second Selection as Artistic Director after your well-received inaugural 2022 line-up. Did you find the process more difficult or easier this year?

Ava Cahen: It was different,...

Cannes Critics’ Week, a parallel film festival sidebar selected by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, has unveiled its 2023 selection of 11 features, including seven competition titles and four special screenings.

The section focuses on first and second features from emerging directors. The 62nd edition runs alongside the main Cannes festival May 17-25.

This year’s competition lineup includes two Asian horror movies: the Korean horror film Sleep (Jam) from first-time director, and former Bong Joon Ho assistant, Jason Yu, and Tiger Stripes from Malaysian director Amanda Eu. The former features Parasite star Lee Sun-kyun and Train to Busan‘s Jung Yu-mi as newlyweds whose lives descend into horror triggered by the husband’s strange behavior while asleep. Tiger Stripes, which draws inspiration from Southeast Asian folklore, is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old girl whose body starts to change in alarming and horrifying ways as she hits puberty.

Physical changes...

The lineup for the 2023 Cannes Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique) has been announced. See also the full lineup of the Official Selection.No Love Lost (Erwan Le Duc, 2023).Competition - FEATURESPower Alley (Lillah Halla)Il pleut dans la maison (Paloma Sermon-Daï)Inshallah A Boy (Amjad Al Rasheed)Jam (Jason Yu)Lost Country (Vladimir Perisič)Le ravissement (Iris Kaltenbäck)Tiger Stripes (Amanda Nell Eu)Special Screenings - FEATURESThe (Exp)erience Of Love (Ann Sirot and Raphaël Balboni)Vincent Must Die (Stéphan Castang)Opening FILMAma Gloria (Marie Amachoukeli)Closing FILMNo Love Lost (Erwan Le Duc)...

Sidebar devoted to first and second films runs May 17-25.

Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar devoted to first and second films, has unveiled the selection for its 62nd edition running May 17-25.

Scroll down for full list of titles

A selection committee led by Ava Cahen, now in her second year in the position, chose 11 titles from 1,000 films screened and seven were selected for the competition.

All of the films in selection are world premieres. Seven are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and six are directed by women, including four of the seven films in competition.

Rolling off a successful edition that premiered Charlotte Wells’ celebrated film “Aftersun” with Paul Mescal, Cannes Critics’ Week is back with an international lineup spanning South Korea and Malaysia to France and Jordan, among others.

The Critics’ Week sidebar runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival, and focuses on first and second films. Under the leadership of artistic director Ava Cahen since last year, the lineup will boast 11 feature films chosen from 1,000 submitted movies.

Out of these 11 movies, seven are feature debuts and six are directed by women. Among them is the opening night film, “Ama Gloria,” directed by French helmer Marie Amachoukeli, who previously won Cannes’ Golden Camera for “Party Girl” which she co-directed with Claire Burger and Samuel Theis.

“Ama Gloria” tells the story of Cléo, a six-year old girl who sees her beloved nanny, Gloria, leave town to return to Cape Verde.

This 62nd edition will wrap...

Cannes Critics’ Week has announced the selection for its 62nd edition, running from May 17 to 25.

The parallel Cannes section will screen 11 features, seven in competition, and four as special screenings, selected from 1,000 submissions. Scroll down for the full list.

The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.

Stories of couples, parenthood, family relationships and friendships unfolding against difficult political or societal realities abound in this year’s line-up.

In Competition, Brazilian director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley (Levante) follows a budding teenage volleyball champion who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of an important championship and then comes up against Brazil’s abortion ban.

Blocked in her attempts to seek an illegal termination, the girl’s future seems to be in everyone’s hands but hers, until help comes from an unexpected quarter.

The prize is an extension of Critics’ Week Next Step programme helping filmmakers progress from shorts to features.

UK director Molly Manning Walker has won the €5,000 Critics’ Weeks Next Step prize for her upcoming first feature How To Have Sex.

In its third edition, the prize is an extension of the Critics’ Week Next Step programme aimed at helping filmmakers whose shorts have previously played in the parallel section to make their debut feature.

The first two winners were Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti with The Woodcutter Story and French director Camille Degeye with Sphinx.

This year’s jury was made up of Carole Baraton,...

Films from Nsu German History X director Christian Schwochow, BeTipul star Shira Geffen, 7 Days in Havana director Santiago Mitre and The Full Monty producer Uberto Pasolini are among the titles set for this year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market.

The co-pro market, which will see 600 international producers and financiers to come together to explore new partnerships, will host 37 feature film projects. Notably, 20 female filmmaker, 49% of selected titles, are represented.

Schwochow is hosting Je Suis Karl, which is produced by Germany’s Pandora Film Produktion; Geffen has A Responsible Adult, a family drama set against the backdrop of Israel’s mythical Masada plateau with Israel’s Marker Films; Mitre is shopping Petite Fleur from France’s Maneki Films and Argentina’s La Uniòn de los Rìos, and Pasolini is directing Nowhere Special from UK’s Red Wave Films.

The 20 female filmmakers include Marcela Said from Chile, Elina Psykou from Greece, Júlia Murat from Brazil,...

The festival’s 25th edition will feature a contribution from Ai Weiwei and competition titles including Whiplash, Nightcrawler and Foxcatcher.

The Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 5-16) is to present its Achievement Award to Us actress Uma Thurman.

The Kill Bill star will will visit Stockholm to receive the prestigious Bronze Horse and meet the audience during an exclusive “Face2Face”.

Thurman will also take part in the inauguration ceremony, which will include the unveiling of an ice sculpture by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

Weiwei was a Stockholm jury member last year but since he wasn’t allowed to leave China, he sent an empty chair named ”The Chair for Non-attendance” as symbol of his absence.

He is still not allowed to leave China so will send a design that will be portrayed in the form of a large ice sculpture symbolising this years’ Spotlight theme - Hope.

Brazil

The festival will focus this year on Brazil...

The 9th annual Wndx Festival of Moving Image will showcase new experimental media from all over the world — including short films, installations and live cinematic performances — at several locations across the city of Winnipeg on September 24-28.

Special events at Wndx this year include the fest’s annual One Take Super 8 Event, where 30 filmmakers will screen their in-camera edited masterpieces for the first time along with the audience. Plus, there’s a two-part celebration of the work of Denis Côté, featuring his two films Joy of Man’s Desiring and Bestiaire, with the filmmaker in attendance.

There will also be a live film performance by filmamker Karl Lemieux with sound artists Roger Tellier-Craig and Alexandre St-Onge; and Freya Björg Olafson’s dance/film hybrid HYPER_.

Short films to be on the lookout throughout the fest include Mike Olenick‘s Red Luck, which won the Best Looking Film award at the...