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Lina Soualem’s Spain-set family tale “Alicante,” Walid Messnaoui’s gangster Western “The Last Beast of Atlas” and Linda Lô’s search-for-identity drama “Lucky Girl” rank as buzz titles at the 7th Atlas Workshops, running Dec. 1-5 at the Marrakech Festival.

“Mud” director Jeff Nichols has already been announced as this year’s Workshops tutor.

They will also unveil first images from three of the most awaited movies from the Arab world – from “Amreeka” director Cherien Dabis and “The Yacoubian Building” helmer Marwan Hamed and Tarzan and Arab Nasser, behind Palestine Oscar entry “Gaza Mon Amour.”

Adding to this, however, are a slew of first or second features by young filmmakers hailing from Morocco, Africa and the Arab world who have already gained Academy Awards or big fest recognition, giving the 2024 Atlas Workshops one of the highest-caliber and exciting lineups of any development program this year.

“Arab and African cinema...

U.S. director Jeff Nichols has been named as the 2024 patron of the Marrakech International Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops, as the talent and project incubator also unveils the projects selected for this year’s edition.

Launched in 2018, the initiative has supported a raft of emerging and more established filmmakers and their projects, hailing from Morocco, the Arab world, and Africa.

Nichols – whose filmography includes 2011 Cannes Critics’ Week winner Take Shelter, Cannes Palme d’Or contenders Mud (2012) and Loving (2016) as well as more recent credit The Bikeriders – is the second announced patron.

The role was created last year, with Martin Scorsese due to kick off the inaugural patronship, but he was forced to cancel his Marrakech trip for personal reasons at the eleventh hour.

Nichols will take part in a number of sessions with selected projects in development and post-production. This year’s cohort of filmmakers will be known as the Class of Jeff Nichols.

Nigerian filmmaker Babatunde Apalowo, who won the Teddy Award at last year’s Berlin Film Festival for his gay romance “All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White,” is prepping his next feature.

“Londoner,” which won the Red Sea Film Fund Award for best fiction feature at the recently wrapped Durban FilmMart, is the story of a Nigerian man whose life unravels after he arrives in the U.K. to be reunited with his wife and daughter. Produced by Apalowo for his Polymath Pictures shingle and Pamela Drameh and Sarudzayi Marufu of Cato Street Productions, the film was also selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market earlier this year.

Apalowo’s sophomore feature is a loosely autobiographical film based on the director’s own struggle to “find a home away from home” after moving to the U.K. two years ago. The Lagos native had fled Nigeria’s dense,...

South African supernatural crime series “Acts of Man” took home the biggest cash prize Monday night at the Durban FilmMart award ceremony, while the documentaries “Africa AI” and “We Had the Moon!” were among the projects that took home multiple awards at the close of a spirited week in Durban.

“Acts of Man” scooped the Known Inner Circle Award, which was handed out by the recently launched venture from South Africa’s Known Associates Group (Kag) and Canada’s Inner City Films (Icf) and Circle Blue Entertainment (Cbe). The award included a cash prize of $10,000 for the show’s creators, Sheetal Magan and Sean Drummond.

The series follows two city detectives who are called to investigate a brutal ritualistic killing in a remote mountain town, where the shaken conservative community is convinced the devil is at work. As Variety previously announced, the show has already been boarded by Casey Walker of Toronto-based Cave Painting Pictures,...

Now in its 48th year, the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco once again celebrates LGBTQ stories and voices, starting with a free Juneteenth block party featuring movies and music. But the festival also screens “Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story” as the third annual recipient of the Out in the Silence Award on June 23 at the iconic Palace of Fine Arts. Directed by Michael Mabbott and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee and with executive producers including Elliot Page, “Any Other Way” is a documentary portrait of ’60s Black trans soul singer Jackie Shane, and it’s been acclaimed on the festival circuit so far with appearances at Hot Docs and SXSW. In celebration of Pride month and Juneteenth, IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the documentary below.

Why did R&b singer Jackie Shane, who died in 2019, disappear from the limelight after rousing audiences in the 1960s? That’s the question...

Before he had even shot a single frame in Lagos, director Babatunde Apalowo knew his film depicting two men falling in love would never see the inside of a cinema in Nigeria. He made it anyway.

The 37-year-old wrote and helmed “All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White” as a gay-themed love story produced under the Polymath Pictures banner.

For a Nollywood film, Apalowo’s directorial feature debut is an extremely testy on-screen exploration within an African country where homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment, flogging and death.

Apalowo tells Variety he was shocked a few years ago to hear from a friend that his former roommate at university was lynched for being gay.

“Our residence was small rooms with bunk beds. It’s difficult to move around in that small physical space and not get to know people well. Yet I never knew he was gay.

Following on the heels of a successful post-pandemic reboot one year ago, the Joburg Film Festival kicks off its sixth edition on Feb. 27, with the glitzy capital of South Africa’s media and entertainment industry showcasing a selection of top talents from the host country and across the African continent.

The event opens with the world premiere of Gordon Main’s apartheid-era documentary “London Recruits,” a film that sheds light on a pivotal moment in the South African liberation struggle, and wraps March 3 with the premiere of “Snake,” a psychological thriller from veteran filmmaker Meg Rickards.

After returning to Johannesburg cinemas last year for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, this year’s edition looks to grow the event’s footprint, increasing the number of festival venues as well as the amount of films on offer, with a program that includes more than 60 titles from 30-plus countries.

If there was one puzzle from the 2023 Venice Film Festival, it concerned Caleb Landry Jones and the actor’s curious decision to conduct all his press arrangements for the Luc Besson thriller “Dogman” with a Scottish accent. As was later revealed, the Australian had taken a quick break from shooting U.K. drama “Harvest” on location in Scotland and was staying in character for the duration of his brief Italian detour.

Alongside honing Landry Jones’ vocal abilities, “Harvest,” being directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari (the Greek director’s first English-language film) and based on the book by Jim Crace, also marks the beginning of a new chapter for one of the U.K.’s best-known indie production companies.

Sixteen Films, co-founded by Ken Loach and producer Rebecca O’Brien in 2002, has been behind every film by the beloved and iconoclastic director over the last two decades, including “The Wind That Shakes the Barley,...

Italy’s Coccinelle Film has scored multiple sales on German director Veit Helmer’s gay love story “Gondola,” which world premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

“Gondola” is the dialogue-free tale of two female cable car attendants who fall in love as they face each other going up and down the remote mountains of Georgia. It has been sold by the Rome-based distributor to France (Destiny Distribution); Australia and New Zealand (Bonsai Films); Japan (Moviola); Spain (Reverso Films); and South Korea (Entermode Corp.)

“Gondola” – which will have its domestic theatrical release in Germany through Jip Film & Verleih in March – is having its market premiere at the upcoming European Film Market.

Helmer is well known on the international festival circuit for funny, fable-like films with little or no dialogue such as “Tuvalu”; the Azerbaijan-set “Absurdistan,” which went to Sundance in 2008; and “The Bra,” which launched from Tokyo in 2018.

“There are...

The Berlin Film Festival, which runs Feb. 15-25, has revealed the lineup of its Berlinale Co-Production Market.

Producers of 34 film projects from 27 countries will be pitching to potential financing and co-production partners at the 21st Berlinale Co-Production Market, which runs Feb. 17-21. Seventeen projects are directed by women. There were 318 submissions, a slight increase from last year.

Eighteen of the projects are already partly financed with budgets ranging between Euros 600,000 and Euros 5 million ($5.47 million). Among the directors whose new works are likely to spark interest are Ukrainian filmmakers Kateryna Gornostai, who won a Crystal Bear for “Stop-Zemlia” in 2021, and Antonio Lukich, the director of “Luxembourg, Luxembourg,” which played in Venice in 2022, Italy’s Andrea Pallaoro, Serbian director and actor Mirjana Karanović, and the Chinese-Japanese directing duo Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka.

The Berlinale Directors section features three brand-new projects by directors who have had films at the Berlinale in the past: “Alma” from Sally Potter,...

Co-Production Market will support 34 feature film projects from around the world.

The 2024 Berlinale has selected 34 feature film projects for its Co-Production Market, including Sally Potter’s Alma.

The festival has also chosen 202 Berlinale Talents, and 14 titles for its Forum Special strand.

Scroll down for the full list of Co-Production Market projects

The 34 feature projects in the Co-Production Market hail from 27 countries, and were selected from 318 submissions – a slight increase on 2023.

Potter’s Alma follows a family battling survivor guilt and sibling rivalries while on an expedition to scatter the ashes of an archaeologist. It will be produced by Christopher Sheppard...

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the 34 projects, hailing from 27 countries and selected from 318 submissions, that will be showcased at its Berlinale Co-Production Market, running from February 17 to 21. (scroll down for full list)

The 18 projects in the official selection include upcoming works from Ukrainian directors Kateryna Gornostai (Stop-Zemila) and Antonio Lukich as well as Italian filmmaker Andrea Pallaoro (Monica), Turkey’s Burak Çevik (Hesitation Wound), Serb director and actor Mirjana Karanović (A Good Wife) and Chinese-Japanese directing duo Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka (Stonewalling).

The Official Selection projects are already partly financed and have budgets between 600,000 and five million euros.

The Berlinale Directors section showcasing new projects from festival habitués in the early funding stages includes Sally Potter’s upcoming production Alma about a family on an expedition to scatter the ashes of an archaeologist.

Two projects by Andreas Fontana and Fradique have also been selected as part of the Rotterdam-Berlinale Express initiative,...

Christian Cooke’s directorial debut ‘Embers’ is among the world premieres.

The UK premieres of Jack Huston’s Day Of The Fight and Isabel Coixet’s Un Amor will respectively open and close the 31st Raindance Film Festival, which will take place in London from October 25 – November 4.

Day Of The Flight launched in Horizons at Venice earlier this month, It is the directorial debut of UK actor Huston and stars Michael Pitt, Ron Perlman and Joe Pesci in a story about a once-renowned boxer on his first day out of prison.

Coixet’s latest feature Un Amor stars Lai Costa...

The 31st edition of London’s Raindance Film Festival will open with the U.K. premiere of British actor Jack Huston’s directorial debut “Day of the Fight.”

The film comes to Raindance fresh off its Venice debut, where Huston was honored by Variety as a breakthrough director.

The story of a once-renowned boxer who takes a redemptive journey through his past and present on the day of his first fight since he left prison stars Michael Pitt alongside a cast including Ron Perlman, Joe Pesci, and a cameo from Steve Buscemi.

The U.K. premiere of Isabel Coixet’s “Un Amor” will close the festival after it bows at San Sebastian. Based on Sara Mesa’s bestselling novel, Laia Costa plays a young woman who escapes her stressful life in the city and relocates to rural Spain. When she accepts a disturbing sexual proposal, it gives rise to an all-consuming and obsessive passion.

Frameline announced the full program for the 47th annual San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

Running June 14-24, with a streaming encore to follow from June 24-July 2, Frameline47 returns with nearly 90 film screenings, including 12 world, 16 North American, and 9 U.S. premieres. In celebration of the Festival’s 47th iteration, Frameline will host 47 screenings at the Castro Theatre, which equates to an average of four screenings per day throughout the 11-day event.

This announcement comes on the heels of Frameline’s recent unveiling of three marquee presentations: the Opening Night film, Andrew Durham’s FairyLand, which will feature an in-person appearance from producer Sofia Coppola; the Oakland Centerpiece, Hannah Pearl Utt’s Cora Bora, featuring Hacks star Megan Stalter; and the Pride Kickoff film, Jordan Danger’s God Save the Queens, featuring drag icon Alaska, who will perform during the afterparty at Oasis.

The 47th iteration is set to be Northern...

Frameline has announced the full program for the 47th annual San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival (Frameline47). Running June 14 through 24, with a streaming encore to follow from June 24 through July 2, Frameline47 returns with nearly 90 film screenings, including 12 world, 16 North American, and 9 U.S. premieres.

Frameline will host 47 screenings at the historic Castro Theatre and other venues throughout the Bay Area. This announcement comes on the heels of Frameline’s recent unveiling of three marquee presentations: the Opening Night film, Andrew Durham’s Sundance favorite “Fairyland,” which will feature an in-person appearance from producer Sofia Coppola; the Oakland Centerpiece, Hannah Pearl Utt’s “Cora Bora,” featuring “Hacks” scene-stealer Megan Stalter; and the Pride Kickoff film, Jordan Danger’s “God Save the Queens,” featuring RuPaul drag icon Alaska, who will perform during the afterparty at Oasis.

This year’s iteration is set to be Northern California’s largest film festival in 2023, according to Frameline.

Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has acquired world rights to Nigerian director Babatunde Apalowo’s gay-themed drama “All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White,” ahead of the film’s Berlin Film Festival launch.

“All the Colours” is the feature film debut of Apalowo, who was born in Ogbagi-Akoko, Nigeria, and is U.K.-based. Pic is world premiering in Berlin’s Panorama section. Apalowo also wrote and produced the restrained and tender drama about two men named Bambino and Bawa who meet in Lagos during a photography competition and immediately hit it off. During long trips exploring the city they develop a deep affection for each other. But in a society which considers homosexuality taboo, they feel the pressure of social norms.

Five years ago, the Nigerian government signed the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, which essentially bans gay relationships.

Coccinelle, which is run by sales agent Francesca Breccia,...