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Filmmakers exiled or displaced from their home countries should not let perfection be the enemy of progress on new projects, according to speakers on a panel at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF).

“Maybe we need to change the strategy to release the films earlier, so that the message comes out faster, and not care so much about the quality,” said Latvian producer Uldis Cekulis, who has worked with Ukrainian filmmakers including Roman Bondarchuk, on 2015 documentary Ukrainian Sheriffs.

“What I observed with directors from Ukraine is a high level of self-censorship, to make everything the best,” said Cekulis, who recommended...

A scene from ‘Property’ – Fantastic Fest 2023

Director Daniel Bandeire’s Property starring Malu Galli took home top honors at the 2023 Fantastic Fest held in Austin, Texas. This year’s festival kicked off on September 21st and wraps up on September 28th.

“We were graced with wonderful films from around the world this year,” said Annick Mahnert, Director of Programming for Fantastic Fest. “Curating this diverse showcase of cinema for our esteemed jurors was a real privilege. With so many incredible perspectives represented, their job reviewing these fantastic movies was undeniably challenging. Their thoughtful and professional critiques of each work embody the cinematic excellence we love to champion at Fantastic Fest.”

2023 Fantastic Fest Winners

“Main Competition” Features

Best Picture: Property, directed by Daniel Bandeire

Best Director: Robert Morgan – Stopmotion

Honorable Mention: Animalia, directed by Sofia Alaoui

“Next Wave” Features

Best Picture: Sri Asih, directed by Upi Avianto

Best Directors: David Kapac...

Fantastic Fest is currently winding down in Austin, Texas, with two more days of blood-splattered programming unfurling at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar.

But before the festival concludes (with a closing-night screening of Nahnatchka Khan’s “Totally Killer”), TheWrap can exclusively reveal the winners from this year’s festival – in all of their gore-drenched glory.

“We were graced with wonderful films from around the world this year,” said Annick Mahnert, Director of Programming for Fantastic Fest, in an official statement. “Curating this diverse showcase of cinema for our esteemed jurors was a real privilege. With so many incredible perspectives represented, their job reviewing these fantastic movies was undeniably challenging. Their thoughtful and professional critiques of each work embody the cinematic excellence we love to champion at Fantastic Fest.”

Choosing the very best films of this year’s festival must have been though; not only were there a ton of...

New films by Zhuk, Paluyan and Kutsila among 17 projects to be presented in Belarus showcase at Film Academy launch on Friday.

New films by Darya Zhuk, Aliaksei Paluyan and Andrei Kustila are among 17 upcoming fiction and documentary projects by independent Belarusian filmmakers to be presented at the launch of the Belarusian Independent Film Academy at the EFM this morning.

Zhuk’s Until This Summer, which was one of the projects pitched at the 2021 edition of Connecting Cottbus East-West co-production market, follows three female protagonists whose paths overlap during one day in August 2020 which dramatically shifted the public’s perception of the ruling regime as unjust.