News

"You don't have to do all of this weird s*!t to hang with us." Mubi has revealed the first official trailer for a sneaky thriller titled Lurker, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year (it made my Best of the Fest list). Lurker is the feature directorial debut of writer / director Alex Russell, who already made a name for himself writing for the "Beef" series and episodes of "The Bear" & "Dave" previously. This fantastic parasocial, paranoid film arrives to watch in the US in theaters this month. Starring Théodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Zack Fox, Havana Rose Liu, Wale Onayemi, Daniel Zolghadri, and Sunny Suljic. When a wannabe-famous nobody working at a clothing store surprisingly befriends a famous celebrity musician, he'll do anything (anything!!) to stay in his orbit and leech off of his fame. "A screw-turning psychological thriller made for the moment." Online fixation meets reality...

Lurker was previously reviewed by us at the Sundance Film Festival. Having now played Fantasia, Mubi will release it theatrically this month.

Plot: A retail employee (Théodore Pellerin) worms his way into the inner circle of a rising pop star, Oliver (Archie Madekwe) and will do whatever he needs to in order to stay there.

Review: Lurker is exactly the kind of movie I want to see when I hit Sundance. I went in knowing next to nothing about it other than the fact that some folks involved with The Bear had a hand in it. Days before its premiere, it screened for many of the Sundance volunteers, which is usually something they do when they know they have a real winner on their hands.

Sure enough, Lurker is a terrific blend of black comedy and psychological thriller, with it playing out as almost an evil, demented version of Almost Famous.

As the summer comes to an end, August delivers the season’s most eclectic lineup of films. From a few studio highlights to Cannes premieres to festival favorites some years back that are finally arriving, there are many worthwhile opportunities to beat the heat.

14. Harvest (Athina Rachel Tsangari; Aug. 1 in theaters and Aug. 8 on Mubi)

One of the most beautifully shot films of the year, courtesy of Sean Price Williams, Athina Rachel Tsangari’s period piece Harvest is rolling out this month. Savina Petkova said in her Venice review, “An unnamed village, an unknown time; somewhere in Britain, sometime in the Late Middle Ages, something is about to end. Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Harvest sees the twilight of an old social order, but is not mourning a paradise lost. That would be too simplistic a comparison for a filmmaker whose work has always succeeded in weaving the allegorical with the political,...

La 70ª edición de la Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid revela sus primeras películas a concurso. © Seminci

A varios meses de que la Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid (Seminci) levante el telón de su 70ª edición –que se celebrará del 24 de octubre al 1 de noviembre de 2025–, el certamen ya ha comenzado a perfilar su Sección Oficial con el anuncio de los ocho primeros títulos que competirán por la Espiga de Oro, el máximo galardón del Festival.

Luc y Jean-Pierre Dardenne abren esta primera tanda de confirmaciones con Recién nacidas (Young Mothers). Los hermanos belgas ganaron el premio al Mejor Guion en el Festival de Cannes 2025 con esta mirada luminosa sobre la vida de cinco madres adolescentes en un centro de acogida. Los Dardenne aspiran, así, a repetir la hazaña de 1996, cuando conquistaron la Espiga de Oro con La promesa.

Otra presencia destacada es la del cineasta Sergei Loznitsa,...

“Steve,” directed by Tim Mielants and starring Cillian Murphy, will open the Platform program for the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, the festival announced Monday.

Nine other films will compete alongside “Steve” in the annual section at TIFF, including Farnoosh Samadi’s “Between Dreams and Hope” and Yoon Ga-eun’s “The World of Love.”

The Platform section of TIFF celebrates up-and-coming directors, selecting 10 entries each year from filmmakers relatively early in their careers. One film entered in the competition wins the Platform Award, which comes with $20,000 Cad for the filmmaker.

A small jury selects the annual Platform Award winner. In 2025 (the 50th anniversary of TIFF), the jury will be chaired by Carlos Marqués-Marcet, who won the Platform Award last year for his film “They Will Be Dust.” Also on the panel are the Oscar-nominated actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste (whose latest Mike Leigh collaboration “Hard Truths” premiered in the Special Presentations section at...

Belgian filmmaker Tim Mielants’ feature Steve, starring Cillian Murphy, has been added to the Platform lineup for this year’s Toronto Film Festival.

Steve was among nine titles added to the Platform competition Tuesday morning. Those titles are: Farnoosh Samadi’s Between Dreams and Hope, Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani’s Bouchra, György Pálfi’s Hen, Pauline Loquès’ Nino, Bretten Hannam’s Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts), Milagros Mumenthaler’s The Currents, Yoon Ga-eun’s The World of Love, Valentyn Vasyanovych’s To the Victory! and Kasia Adamik’s Winter of the Crow.

The Platform jury will be headed by Carlos Marqués-Marcet, who won the 2024 Platform Award for They Will Be Dust. He will be joined by Oscar-nominated actor, writer, composer and director Marianne Jean-Baptiste, most recently at the festival in 2024 with Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, and Québécois filmmaker Chloé Robichaud, whose Sundance title Two...

The Cillian Murphy-starring drama Steve, from director Tim Mielants and Netflix, will open the 2025 Platform competition at the Toronto Film Festival, organizers said Tuesday.

Adapted by Max Porter from his novella Shy, Steve has Oscar winner Murphy playing a headteacher during a pivotal day for students at a last-chance reform school and in a world that has left them behind. As Steve deals with his own trauma, he meets Shy (Jay Lycurgo), a troubled teen also caught between a dark past and an uncertain future.

Tracey Ullman, Simbi Ajikawo and Emily Watson also star in Steve, which will hit Netflix on Oct. 3. On Tuesday, Toronto unveiled in all 10 features for the festival section where international films outside of the Hollywood studio orbit compete.

There’s a rare international premiere in the section for Pauline Loquès Nino, which bowed in Cannes and has rising star Theodore Pellerin playing a young...

The Fantasia International Film Festival kicks off its 29th year this week. The Montreal-based festival is a haven for genre fans and films from all corners of the world. Horror, sci-fi and fantasy fans gather every year to celebrate some high-profile premieres, festival favorites, and smaller films just beginning to find their fans. There is something at this fest for everyone, and it’s always exciting to see what will be on offer.

Though it’s nearly impossible to cover every single inch of what Fantasia has to offer, we have put together a snapshot of some of our most anticipated films. Keep checking back for reviews over the course of the festival, as your next favorite film might be around the corner.

And for more details on the films screening at this year's Fantasia International Film Festival, visit: https://fantasiafestival.com/en

Influencers

In the sequel to his 2022 hit Influencer,...

Exclusive: UTA has signed rising Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin for representation in all areas.

This August, Pellerin will be seen starring in Lurker, the critically acclaimed feature directorial debut of Alex Russell, which was snapped up by Mubi for U.S. distribution and Focus Features for international following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it broke out as one of this year’s buzziest titles.

In the psychological thriller set in Los Angeles, the actor plays Matthew, a young retail clerk who cunningly inserts himself into the inner circle of a pop star (Archie Madekwe) with whom he’s become infatuated.

Upcoming, Pellerin will also be seen starring in Pauline Loquès’ debut feature Nino, a Parisian drama that premiered in competition at Cannes Critics’ Week, where the actor was awarded the Rising Star Award.

Pellerin previously starred as the Marquis de Lafayette in Apple TV+’s Franklin,...

Celine returns to Paris with its Spring 2026 collection, reaffirming its timeless vision of style, elegance, and lasting emotion.

On Sunday, 6 July 2025, Celine presented its Spring 2026 collection at the iconic 16 rue Vivienne, marking a deeply symbolic return both for the maison and its creative community. In a transformed world, this return to Paris was not merely geographical but also emotional. The collection became a silent manifesto of what Celine represents: quality, timelessness, and authentic style.

Alanis Morissette Naomi Watts Shishi Liu Theodore Pellerin V-bts Courtesy of Celine

Michael Rider clearly expressed the significance of this moment, describing it as a “complete joy” and a reaffirmation of values that are difficult to define but even harder to preserve. The collection offers not only a new wardrobe but also an attitude. It is a way of dressing that merges with the wearer’s life, capturing the moment without losing sight of the continuity of gestures,...

What’s the difference between love and obsession? Find out in the Lurker trailer below.

Described as “Nightcrawler for the social media generation,” the psychological thriller opens in theaters on August 22 via Mubi.

With an incisive view to contemporary culture, Lurker presents an exhilarating take on the music industry, the blurred line between friend and fan, and our universal search for validation.

When 20-something Los Angeles retail clerk and loner Matthew encounters rising pop star Oliver, he takes the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. But staying there isn’t easy.

With an entire entourage vying for attention, Matthew must prove himself to Oliver as more than just a follower. As their bond grows strained and mainstream fame appears within reach, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.

Théodore Pellerin (Beau Is Afraid) and Archie Madekwe (Saltburn) star with Zack Fox (“Abbott Elementary”), Havana Rose Liu (Bottoms), Wale Onayemi,...

Gold Derby's top news stories for June 5, 2025.

Nick Jonas is about to get Kiss-ed

Deadline is reporting that the youngest JoBro is set to play Kiss lead singer Paul Stanley in the upcoming biopic about the band, Shout It Out Loud. McG will reportedly direct the movie from a script by Darren Lemke. The other three members of Kiss have yet to be cast.

Willem Dafoe heads to the Basement

The four-time Oscar nominee is the tenant from hell (maybe literally?) in the first trailer for The Man in My Basement. Corey Hawkins plays the owner of the titular subterranean dwelling, which comes from a book by acclaimed novelist Walter Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress).

First look at Prime Video's spy series Butterfly

Daniel Dae Kim is blowing up something behind him, and he is not looking back. Images from the upcoming series Butterfly, based on the graphic novel by Arash Amel,...

"We all want the same thing... I just want it more." Mubi has revealed the first official trailer for a superb thriller titled Lurker, which premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year (it made it onto my Best of the Fest list). Lurker is the feature directorial debut of writer / director Alex Russell, who already made a name for himself writing the script for the "Beef" series as well as episodes of "The Bear" and "Dave" previously. He's made his mark with this one. This fantastic parasocial, paranoid film arrives to watch in the US starting this August. The film stars Théodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Zack Fox, Havana Rose Liu, Wale Onayemi, Daniel Zolghadri, and Sunny Suljic. When a wannabe-famous loser working at a clothing store befriends a famous celebrity musician, he'll do anything to stay in his world and leech off of his fame. "A screw-turning psychological thriller made for the moment.

Where does the boundary between lust, obsession, fandom, and devotion lie? Alex Russell’s directorial debut “Lurker” explores the twisted nature of celebrity in Los Angeles. The feature, which wowed at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, stars Théodore Pellerin as Matthew, a socially-obsessed videographer who becomes entangled with a rising pop star, Oliver (Archie Madekwe).

Zack Fox, Havana Rose Liu, Wale Onayemi, Daniel Zolghadri and Sunny Suljic co-star. Pat Scola was the cinematographer.

Russell has been known for his writing and supervising producing work on TV series “The Bear” and “Beef.” His debut “Lurker” became one of the most buzzed-about sales titles at Sundance; it was later acquired by Mubi.

“The characters in this movie are archetypes,” Russell told IndieWire earlier this year. “I’ve seen every character in this movie 10 times over. Relating to Matthew is very important because the movie is subjective in that way, whereas a lot of movies about an obsessive person,...

Earlier this year, JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray had the chance to watch Lurker, the boundary-pushing debut feature from writer/director Alex Russell, at the Sundance Film Festival. Describing the film as “a terrific blend of black comedy and psychological thriller” and “exactly the kind of movie I want to see when I hit Sundance,” Bumbray gave Lurker a 9/10 review that can be read at This Link. Recently, it was announced that film distributor Mubi (which is also a streaming service and production company) is planning to give Lurker a North American theatrical release on August 22nd – and now, with that date just two months away, a trailer for the film has dropped online. You can check it out in the embed above.

Here’s the official synopsis: When a twenty-something retail clerk encounters a rising pop star, he takes the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. But...

One of the most buzzed-about films to come out of Sundance and New Directors/New Films this year, Lurker marks the directorial debut from The Bear and Beef writer-producer Alex Russell. The cat-and-mouse thriller starring Théodore Pellerin, Archie Madekwe, Zack Fox, Havana Rose Liu, Wale Onayemi, Daniel Zolghadri, and Sunny Suljic has been set for an August 22 release from Mubi and now the first trailer has arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “When a twenty-something retail clerk encounters a rising pop star, he takes the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. But as the line between friend and fan blurs beyond recognition, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.”

Daniel Eagan said in our Nd/Nf preview, “The thirst for celebrity drives Lurker, a canny, mean-spirited look at a music industry driven by viral videos. Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a clerk in a clothing store, worms his...

Paris-based The Party Film Sales has locked major deals on “Nino,” Pauline Loquès’ drama starring rising Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin (“Lurker”), and Valéry Carnoy’s “Wild Foxes” starring Samuel Kircher.

Curzon has bought “Nino” following its world premiere at Cannes’ Critics Week where it won the Rising Star Award for Théodore Pellerin, as well as Valbonne Audience Award. The Party Film Sales has sold the critically acclaimed movie to Surtsey for Spain, Distri 7 for Benelux, K-Films for Canada, Andrews Film for Taiwan, Nachshon Film for Israel, Falcon Pt for Indonesia and Bookmyshow for India.

Pellerin stars in the film as a young man on a journey to reconnect with the world and himself in the streets of Paris, following the suggestion of his doctors. A generational portrait, “Nino” marks the feature debut of Loquès who previously directed the short “La vie de jeune fille.” The cast is completed by William Lebghil,...

Imagine walking into a doctor’s office for what you assume is a routine check and walking out with your life irrevocably altered. This is precisely the jarring entry point into Pauline Loquès’ debut feature, “Nino.” We meet Nino Clavel, a young man in his late twenties, as he navigates the sterile corridors of a hospital.

The news delivered is stark: throat cancer, linked to Hpv. There’s a chilling matter-of-factness to the consultation, almost an administrative error in tone, as if the weight of the words doesn’t quite register in the room’s acoustics. The clock starts ticking immediately: aggressive treatment, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, must commence in a mere three days.

Adding another layer of immediate pressure, Nino learns the treatment could render him infertile, forcing a weekend decision about sperm preservation. In these opening moments, Loquès masterfully shifts Nino’s world from the mundane to a sudden,...

A Useful Ghost, the debut feature from Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke that THR had featured as a hidden gem at Cannes, has won the Grand Prize at the 64th edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.

The absurdist fantasy comedy portrays a married couple where the wife dies of a respiratory illness caused by dust pollution, and then returns to the grieving husband as a ghost in the form of a vacuum cleaner. The Thai feature picked up the Grand Prix Ami Paris trophy as awards for the Critics Week section in Cannes were announced on Wednesday. The film stars Davika Hoorne and Witsarut Himmarat.

Also, the French Touch Prize of the Jury for best first feature went to Chechen director Deni Oumar Pitsaev for Imago, a France-Belgium co-production. And the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor went to Canada’s Theodore Pellerin for his performance in French director Pauline Loques’ Nino.

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s “A Useful Ghost” has picked up Critics Week’s Grand Prize.

The film has been picking up fans among journalists since the premiere, intrigued by its absurd yet sweet story of a woman who dies from dust pollution and a husband who’s shocked to find out her spirit has been reincarnated – in a vacuum cleaner.

“A ghost-possessed vacuum cleaner might sound like standard horror fare, but in the hands of Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, it transforms into a sly commentary on pollution, power dynamics, and the cost of living crisis in Bangkok,” wrote Variety’s Naman Ramachandran earlier this week, with the director adding:

“Thailand is well known for horror cinema, and we also have a genre that might not travel abroad very much – horror comedy. But with this film, I try not to follow the conventions of both paths. One of my first ideas was...

Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s zany romantic drama A Useful Ghost has won the top prize at Cannes Critics’ Week.

The feature, which is the first Thai film to play in the parallel section for a number of years, won the inaugural Ami Paris Grand Prize.

This year’s jury was presided over by Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who was joined by Oscar-winning Judas and the Black Messiah UK actor Daniel Kaluuya, Moroccan journalist Jihane Bougrine, French-Canadian cinematographer Josée Deshaies and Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara.

A Useful Ghost co-stars top Thai actress, model and influencer Davika Hoorne as Nat, a woman who dies of dust pollution and then returns as a ghost in the form of a vacuum cleaner, determined to save her family from a similar fate.

The feature, which is the first Thai film to play in the parallel section for a number of years,...

Sometimes life does not turn out as we dreamed or dared to plan, but we still need to live it – it is the only one we have. Even advantages and privileges do not necessarily result in ease, luck or happiness: those born and raised in capital, metropolitan cities do not necessarily seize the opportunities theoretically presented to them, while being born to a “normal” family does not automatically result in learning how to communicate to the world and to forge relationships with others. The titular protagonist of Pauline Loquès’ Cannes Critics' Week-premiering debut feature Nino is technically an adult who has a job, a place to stay and friends to share his life with, but he still has a lot to learn in the wake of a potentially disastrous news.

All Nino wanted that...

The 64th Cannes Critics’ Week will open with Adam’s Interest by Belgian director Laura Wandel and close with Dandelion’s Odyssey, the animated feature debut by Japanese filmmaker Momoko Seto. This year’s edition, which runs May 14–22, includes seven feature films in competition and four presented out of competition.

Wandel’s new film follows a young mother, a malnourished child, and a hospital nurse, played by Anamaria Vartolomei and Léa Drucker. Shot with handheld camerawork, Adam’s Interest marks Wandel’s return after Playground, her 2021 feature that portrayed schoolyard bullying with stark realism. The film will screen as a special presentation.

Among the films selected for competition is Left-Handed Girl, the first solo feature by Taiwanese director Shih-Ching Tsou. Set in Taipei, the film centers on a single mother and her two daughters attempting to rebuild their lives. Sean Baker, known for The Florida Project and Tangerine, co-wrote, produced,...

Paris-based The Party Film Sales has boarded “Nino,” Pauline Loquès’ feature debut which stars rising Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin (“Lurker”).

Pellerin stars Nino, a young man on a journey to reconnect with the world and himself in the streets of Paris, following the suggestion of his doctors. “In three days, Nino will face a major challenge,” reads the enigmatic synopsis.

The cast is completed by William Lebghil, Salomé Dewaels and Jeanne Balibar. “Nino” is produced by Sandra da Fonseca at Blue Monday Productions, and co-produced by France 2 Cinéma. It was also pre-bought by Ciné+, Ocs and Disney+. The Party Film Sales will represent the film in international markets.

Estelle de Araujo and Samuel Blanc, co-heads of The Party Film Sales, said “Nino” “demonstrates an impressive maturity” for a first feature, and describes it as an “immensely delicate generational portrait.”

The pair praise Pellerin for delivering a “mesmerizing performance, all in subtlety.

Following last week’s unveiling of the Cannes 2025 lineup, the first sidebar slate has been unveiled with the Cannes Critics’ Week lineup. Particularly of note is the Opening Night film, Laura Wandel’s Playground follow-up Adam’s Interest starring Anamaria Vartolomei and Léa Drucker, as well as Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-Handed Girl, co-wrote and edited by Sean Baker, and Pauline Loquès’ Théodore Pellerin-led Nino.

See the lineup below via Screen Daily and learn more about each film in the lineup here.

Competition

A Useful Ghost (Thai-Fr-Sing-Ger)

Dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke

Kika (Belg-Fr)

Dir. Alexe Poukine

Sleepless City (Sp-Fr)

Dir. Guillermo Galoe

Nino (Fr)

Dir. Pauline Loquès

Reedland (Neth-Belg)

Dir. Sven Bresser

Imago (Fr-Belg)

Dir. Déni Oumar Pitsaev

Left-Handed Girl (Taiwan-Fr-us-uk)

Dir. Shih-Ching Tsou

Special screenings

Adam’s Interest (Belg-Fr) – Opening Film

Dir. Laura Wandel

Baise-en-Ville (Fr)

Dir. Martin Jauvat

Love Letters (Fr)

Dir. Alice Douard

Dandelion’s Odyssey (Fr-Belg) – Closing Film

Dir.

The Cannes Critics’ Week, the festival sidebar focusing on directors’ first and second features, unveiled its 2025 lineup Monday.

Competition highlights include Left-Handed Girl, the solo directorial debut of Taiwanese filmmaker Shih-Ching Tsou, known for her long-standing collaboration with Anora director Sean Baker (Tsou co-directed 2004’s Take Out and was a producer on Baker’s Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket). Baker co-wrote and edited the Taipei-set urban melodrama, which centers on a single mother and her two daughters navigating life on the margins of the Taiwanese capital.

Also debuting in Critics’ Week is Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke with A Useful Ghost, a surrealist take on motherhood in which a woman reincarnates as a vacuum cleaner. Thai actress Mai Davika Hoorne leads the cast.

European features in competition include Pauline Loquès’ Nino, starring fast-rising Quebecois actor Théodore Pellerin (Lurker) as a young man adrift in the city after losing his...

Belgian director Laura Wandel’s child custody drama Adam’s Interest, starring Anamaria Vartolomei and Léa Drucker, will open the 64th Cannes Critics’ Week, which unveiled its 2025 selection today.

The second feature from Wandal after gritty childhood bullying drama Playground, the handheld camera-shot feature follows three characters in a paediatric ward: a helpless mother (Vartolomei), her malnourished son, and a nurse (Drucker).

The film, which premieres out of competition, is one of 11 first and second feature films, seven in competition, selected out of 1,000 submitted film for the upcoming edition running from May 14 to 22.

Another 13 short films selected from 2,340 submissions will be announced on April 17.

Competition

Competition seven titles include Taiwanese director Shih-Ching Tsou’s Taipei-set urban melodrama Left-Handed Girl. It marks a first solo feature for Tsou, a long-time collaborator of Sean Baker, who co-wrote and edited the work.

The tragicomedy follows the odyssey of a single mother and her...

Earlier this year, JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray had the chance to watch Lurker, the boundary-pushing debut feature from writer/director Alex Russell, at the Sundance Film Festival. Describing the film as “a terrific blend of black comedy and psychological thriller” and “exactly the kind of movie I want to see when I hit Sundance,” Bumbray gave Lurker a 9/10 review that can be read at This Link. Now, it has been announced that film distributor Mubi (which is also a streaming service and production company) is planning to give Lurker a North American theatrical release on August 22nd. Hopefully we’ll be seeing a trailer for this one very soon.

Here’s the official synopsis: When a twenty-something retail clerk encounters a rising pop star, he takes the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. But as the line between friend and fan blurs beyond recognition, access and proximity...

Hot off the success of The Substance, Mubi will release Lurker in theaters on August 22.

The announcement comes with new stills of stars Théodore Pellerin (Beau Is Afraid) and Archie Madekwe (Midsommar), pictured above and below.

The parasocial, paranoid thriller follows a 20-something retail clerk who encounters a rising pop star, taking the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. As the line between friend and fan blurs beyond recognition, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.

“The Bear” and “Beef” writer-producer Alex Russell makes his feature directorial debut from his own script.

Havana Rose Liu (Bottoms), Sunny Suljic (The Killing of a Sacred Deer), Daniel Zolghadri (Y2K), and Zack Fox (“Abbott Elementary”) round out the cast.

High Frequency Entertainment, MeMo, Arts & Sciences, Twin Pictures, and Case Study Films produce.

Lurker premiered to critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in January. It’s set...

Exclusive: The Substance distributor Mubi has announced a North American release date for Lurker, its Sundance cat-and-mouse thriller starring Théodore Pellerin (Beau Is Afraid) and Archie Madekwe (Saltburn), also unveiling a pair of new stills, which you can view above and below.

The film is set to hit theaters on August 22, opening against Lionsgate’s indie Sydney Sweeney vehicle Americana and Vertical’s thriller Eden from Ron Howard.

World premiering to critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival, where it notched one of this year’s few deals, Lurker watches as a 20-something retail clerk encounters a rising pop star, taking the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. As the line between friend and fan blurs beyond recognition, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.

Set to close out New Directors/New Films in New York City after making its international premiere at the Berlinale,...

Looking for bold new work from first- and second-time feature filmmakers? Look no further than New Directors/New Films, the New York City festival that annually highlights them. Now in its 54th year, New Directors/New Films (Nd/Nf) returns to New York April 2 through 13, hailing from the Museum of Modern Art and Film at Lincoln Center.

Sarah Friedland’s debut feature, “Familiar Touch,” will open the festival with its New York premiere. The drama centers on a dementia-suffering octogenarian Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant), who has a surreal experience after relocating to an assisted-living facility. The film nearly swept the 2024 Venice Film Festival Orizzonti Competition, winning Lion of the Future, Best Director, and Best Actress for Chalfant.

The festival closes with the post-Sundance New York debut of the stylish “Lurker,” directed by Emmy-winning “Beef” and “The Bear” writer and producer Alex Russell. Théodore Pellerin stars as a retail worker who becomes...

Canadian director Philippe Lesage sits somewhere along the spectrum between François Truffaut and Richard Linklater when tracing the process of growing up. Since moving into narrative filmmaking with 2015’s The Demons, Lesage has pulled largely from the same group of young actors and followed their gradual progression from youth toward adulthood. The filmmaker tells me he plans to shoot a follow-up to 2018’s Genesis, following Théodore Pellerin’s Guillaume a decade after the film, but quips, “It’s not a sequel because I don’t expect that many people who have seen the previous films.”

Perhaps more audiences will come to discover Lesage’s filmography after seeing his latest work, Who by Fire. Four out of the film’s 10 actors return from previous collaborations with the director in this clash of generations that plays out in the secluded woods of rural Canada. Fault lines emerge across age, gender, status, professional attainment,...

After showcasing work from the likes of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Kelly Reichardt, Pedro Almodóvar, Souleymane Cissé, Jia Zhangke, Spike Lee, Lynne Ramsay, Michael Haneke, Wong Kar-wai, Agnieszka Holland, Denis Villeneuve, Luca Guadagnino, and more, New Directors/New Films is back for their 54th edition, taking place from April 2-13 at Film at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art. The 2025 lineup has now been unveiled, including Sarah Friedland’s Opening Night selection Familiar Touch, Alex Russell’s Closing Night selection Lurker, as well as more acclaimed features such as Invention, Drowning Dry, Fiume o morte!, No Sleep Till, Two Times João Liberada, Timestamp, and more.

Dan Sullivan, 2025 Nd/Nf Co-Chair and Flc Programmer, says, “The lineup for this year’s edition of New Directors/New Films inevitably reflects the uncertainties and tragedies of our global situation in 2025, yet it also evinces the sheer resilience of cinema and the...

The 54th annual New Directors/New Films festival is almost here. IndieWire can unveil this year’s lineup of the beloved program from theMuseum of Modern Art and Film at Lincoln Center. The 2025 New Directors/New Films (Nd/Nf) will take place April 2 – April 13.

Sarah Friedland’s debut feature “Familiar Touch” will open the festival with its New York premiere. The drama centers on octogenarian Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant) who has a surreal experience after relocating to an assisted-living facility. The feature earned three awards in the 2024 Venice Film Festival Orizzonti Competition, including the Lion of the Future, Best Director, and Best Actress for Chalfant.

Nd/Nf will close with the New York premiere of buzzy Sundance 2025 film “Lurker,” directed by “Beef” and “The Bear” writer and supervising producer Alex Russell. Théodore Pellerin stars as a retail worker who becomes obsessed with an up-and-coming musician (Archie Madekwe). “Lurker” is Russell’s feature directorial debut.

For a film literally called “Lurker,” Archie Madekwe’s casting in Alex Russell’s chilling directorial debut about fame and fandom came about through a spot of, well, lurking.

The fast-rising British star — one of the few survivors from Emerald Fennell’s aristocratic “Saltburn” murders — had actually submitted a tape for the role of Matthew, the shop assistant/fawning superfan who manages, through near excruciating-to-watch persistence, to insinuate himself into the entourage of music star Oliver.

“I honestly thought I crushed the tape,” he tells Variety. Naturally, the actor then heard nothing back, and in the years that followed, as the project went through various iterations, simply figured it wasn’t to be. As it turned out Russell — best known as a writer on “Beef” and “The Bear” — hadn’t even seen his recording.

But he had spied Madekwe in a Los Angeles coffee shop.

“When we met, he said to me,...

Focus Features has bought international rights to “Lurker,” Alex Russell’s directorial debut about clout-chasing and the dark side of fame that became one of the standouts hits from this year’s Sundance, Variety has learned.

Arthouse distributor Mubi had already picked up the film for the U.S. out of the festival in a rumored mid-seven-figure deal, as Variety reported.

A tense feature about an ambitious hipster and the rising pop star he exploits, “Lurker” stars Théodore Pellerin as Matty, a lowly clerk at a high-end sneaker and apparel store in Los Angeles. When his favorite singer (“Saltburn” star Archie Madekwe) saunters in, Matty starts cozying up to the social media star. Before long, he’s installed himself in a world of hedonism and opportunity — and he can stay, as long as he manages the pecking order of the entourage and the fickle demands of celebrity. Everything that can go wrong does,...

The democratization of celebrity in the 21st century has accelerated the process of audience capture: Tell fans what they want to hear and reap the rewards. Lurker portrays an even more contemporary permutation of this feedback loop by dismantling the presumed hierarchy of its participants. The artist and audience member are coequal—and codependent—in this perceptive drama about a parasocial relationship that enters the realm of reality.

The value exchange is clear from the moment in Alex Russell’s film where Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) steals an Av jack at the clothing store where he works to blast a song meant to resonate with rising music star Oliver (Archie Madekwe). Instead of professing his deep knowledge of Oliver’s work, Matthew plays dumb and lies that his selection of the song, which inspired the artist, was just pure coincidence. Mistaking the artificial meet-cute for an authentically serendipitous connection, Oliver invites...

Move over Eve Harrington and Rupert Pupkin, we have a new fame-obsessed sociopath for the age of social media clout. Played with squirmy panache by Théodore Pellerin, Matthew – the anti-hero of Alex Russell’s Lurker – seems destined to worm his way into cineaste consciousness with a needy smile and a series of awkward proposals. The fame-hungry, cringe-inspiring young man enters the film’s narrative running, and rarely takes a break as he manipulates and sabotages those around him – as well as himself – in increasingly unpredictable fashion.

In Matthew’s mind, “fan” is a dirty word. He wants to be part of rising musician Oliver’s (Archie Madekwe) entourage – a friend, certainly, and the more he thinks about it, a collaborator. Matthew becomes part of the world at breakneck pace, and soon finds himself doing anything he can to remain within it.

At a time when streaming services ask screenwriters...

“The Substance” distributor Mubi has acquired Sundance favorite “Lurker” following a highly competitive bidding war and will release the movie in theaters later this year. The film will receive its international premiere at the 2025 Berlinale.

The film, which made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, tells the story of a retail employee who infiltrates the inner circle of a music artist on the verge of stardom. But, “as he gets closer to the budding music star, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.”

Writer and director Alex Russell has been part of major shows like “Dave” and “The Bear,” but “Lurker” marks his feature directorial debut.

“It was already such a privilege to show our movie at Sundance last week. I’m honestly still reeling and recovering from that experience” said director Russell in an official statement. “To have found such an ideal...

Riding momentum from its five Academy Award nominations for “The Substance,” boutique movie distributor Mubi has picked up another buzzy indie film for the U.S. market.

“Lurker,” a tense feature about an ambitious hipster and the rising pop star he exploits for fame and community, has been snapped up by Mubi following this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Screening in the fest’s premiere section, Mubi took “Lurker,” written and directed by Alex Russell, in a competitive situation for a mid-seven-figure price tag.

Exact numbers weren’t disclosed but one person with knowledge of the deal told Variety that the sale represents a significant domestic theatrical release commitment from Mubi. The indie distributor previously released “The Substance” and “Decision to Leave.”

Rising star Théodore Pellerin plays Matty, a lowly clerk at a high-end sneaker and apparel store in Los Angeles. When his favorite singer (Archie Madekwe of “Saltburn”) saunters in,...

This year’s edition of the Sundance Film Festival felt a touch bittersweet to me. You see, Sundance is on the verge of relocating, with it increasingly unlikely that it will continue in Park City past the 2026 festival edition. Having been going to Sundance since 2010 (where does the time go), I must admit I felt a little sad sitting in some of the classic Sundance spots this year, like the Holiday Village Cinemas (where all the press screenings are) and the classic Eccles theatre, as after next year that might be the end of their run as premium Sundance spots. I’ve seen so many classics in these theatres, and it will be a shame to bid adieu to Park City.

Oh well, at least we have the 2026 edition to look forward to. As it is, the 2025 edition turned out to be the best edition of the festival since it was rocked by the pandemic.

Using the lens of fame, L.A.-based writer/director Alex Russell explores why the need to belong brings out the worst behavior in some men in his debut feature film “Lurker.” Life for Matthew, a retail worker, gets an unexpected boost when rising music artist Oliver comes into his store and ends up inviting him to come hang with him and his crew. Matthew’s initial encounters with them are understandably awkward since Oliver and his boys, not to mention Shai, the one woman in their crew who serves as gatekeeper and fixer, are a tight-knit group who were around him pre-fame. As Matthew eases into a role as Oliver’s videographer, they get into a rhythm. But when Oliver begins to pull away from Matthew, the thought of no longer being in their circle is something Matthew cannot bear — and goes to great lengths to avoid.

“Lurker” doesn...

“I’m not a fan,” snaps Matthew, the master manipulator in the guise of a harmless nobody eager to soak up some of the refracted rays of celebrity in Lurker. Once he has penetrated the inner circle of emerging pop star Oliver, a fan is the most insulting thing you could call him. Proximity gives Matthew — played by Théodore Pellerin with an evil innocence from which you can’t look away — the illusion of being a best friend, a bro, a creative collaborator to the mononymous singer. Everyone in his entourage wants to bask in Oliver’s glow, but nobody wants it as badly as Matt.

Alex Russell, a writer on The Bear, Beef and Dave making an assured feature directing debut, clearly knows the Los Angeles music scene, with its aspirational strivers and anointed supernovas, its hangers-on, its calculating opportunists and, yes, its lowly fans for whom an all-access...

Alex Russell is already an Emmy-winning writer and producer, but with “Lurker,” he steps into the director’s chair — and he got some advice from Baz Luhrmann before he did it.

The film, which made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, tells the story of a retail employee who infiltrates the inner circle of a music artist on the verge of stardom. But, “as he gets closer to the budding music star, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.”

Russell has been part of major shows like “Dave” and “The Bear,” but “Lurkers” marks his feature directorial debut. Sitting down at TheWrap’s Sundance Studio presented by World of Hyatt, he revealed that Luhrmann actually gave him some lasting writing advice that he put to work in the project.

“He wrote it in my notebook, and it said something like, when you’re...

In writer-director Alex Russell’s remarkably impressive feature-length debut, Lurker, a rando, a fan-turned-stan, and an obsessive narcissist with sociopathic tendencies, Matthew Morning (Théodore Pellerin), finds himself perfectly situated to leverage a supposedly chance meeting with an up-and-coming pop star with an outsized ego and narcissistic tendencies of his own, Oliver (Archie Madekwe), at the no-frills, up-market LA boutique where Matthew works. It’s a match made in cult of personality/celebrity heaven. When two narcissists meet, egos inevitably collide, metaphorical battle lines drawn, allies won and lost, and winners and losers apportioned according to their relentlessness and willingness to use any means necessary to "win." Just as inevitably, power structures shift, often in surprising or...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

A transfixing morality tale cleverly turned on its head, “Lurker” opens with an overture: its protagonist, Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), goofing around for a camcorder wielded by a friend. When the person holding the camera jokingly asks Matthew where he sees himself in five years, Matthew replies sincerely. “I already have everything I want,” he says, stealing a glance into the lens.

Rewind to the before times, when Matthew is living with his grandma and working as a retail employee at a hip clothing store in Los Angeles. In walks Oliver (Archie Madekwe), a pop music artist famous enough to cause a murmur among the store patrons. Matthew, abuzz with anticipation, pops on a track that impresses the VIP, and the next thing he knows he’s being folded into the small, sycophantic entourage of not-quite friends and not-quite collaborators fortunate enough to accompany Oliver on his excursions.

So begins a...

“Lurker” is a tight, nifty, and unsettling little parable of the pathology of fame in our time. It tells the story of Matthew (Théodore Pellerin), a nobody who works in one of those bare-bones L.A. clothing boutiques, and how he insinuates himself into the inner circle of Oliver (Archie Madekwe), a budding pop star who has legions of screaming fans but is trying to leap to the next level. (He still rides around in a tour bus.) Matthew becomes Oliver’s bro, his hanger-on, his social-media camera buddy. And Matthew is grateful for the attention — so grateful, in fact, that he’ll do anything, and stop at nothing, to keep it coming.

Thirty years ago, a premise like this one might have been the fuel for a conventional Hollywood thriller. But Alex Russell, the writer-director of “Lurker,” works with a highly accomplished jittery cell-phone-camera aesthetic that makes the entire...

Théodore Pellerin plays a parasocial obsessive who craves proximity to fame in writer/director Alex Russell’s impressive, uneasy debut feature “Lurker,” premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Set in a present-day Los Angeles where everyone is defined not by who they are but by what they do, “Lurker” follows Matthew (the rising and wonderful Canadian actor Pellerin), who becomes obsessed with pop star Oliver (Archie Madekwe) after a chance encounter. Oliver ropes Matthew into his social orbit in ways that start to feel exploitative, potentially to use him as a videographer to document his rising success (a level of fame Oliver himself is becoming uncomfortable with).

But their relationship becomes much more parasitic and toxic — and even homoerotic — in Russell’s tense and absorbing film, one of the most buzzed-about debuts playing Sundance.

“The characters in this movie are archetypes,” Russell, known for his writing and supervising producing work...

Hollywood is heading up the mountain for what’s possibly one of the final Sundance Film Festivals to be held in the posh ski-resort town of Park City. It’s a place that’s hosted its fair share of all-night bidding wars, where films ranging from “Reservoir Dogs” and “Napoleon Dynamite” to “Brooklyn” and “The Big Sick” landed massive deals before going on to box office, and in some cases, Oscar glory. But it’s also been the setting of some frenzied sales that didn’t always pay off, like “Happy, Texas”or “Blinded by the Light.”

Sundance has already announced the festival is considering decamping Utah for Ohio or Colorado in 2027. Even if it does stay in the state, the focus of the festival will shift to Salt Lake City, which is better positioned than Park City to host the crowds that the celebration of movies attracts. So will...

Following last week’s lineup announcement, the Berlinale 2025 has now fleshed out its slate with the Competition, Special, and Perspectives sections. Highlights include the world premieres of Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott; Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25; Hong Sangsoo’s What Does that Nature Say to You; Michel Franco’s Dreams starring Jessica Chastain; Lucile Hadžihalilović’s The Ice Tower starring Marion Cotillard; and Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s Hot Milk with Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw, and Vicky Krieps.

The festival will also include international premieres from Julia Loktev, Mary Bronstein, Kahlil Joseph, and more. In terms of omissions for films that potentially could have been a strong fit: there’s no Steven Soderberg’s Black Bag, Wes Anderson’s German production The Phoenician Scheme, nor Berlinale regular Christian Petzold, who wrapped Miroirs No. 3 only a few months ago.

Check out the lineup...