News

The production had to abandon plans to film in Palestine after the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war.

Saleh Bakri and Adam Bakri are to star in All That’s Left Of You, the upcoming drama from Palestinian-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis.

Salah is known for Cannes award-winner The Blue Caftan and recent Toronto title The Teacher, which plays in Competition at this year’s Red Sea International Film Festival, while brother Adam made his feature debut in Hany Abu-Assad’s Oscar-nominated Omar, going on to star in Asif Kapadia’s Ali And Nino and award-winning Toronto 2022 title A Gaza Weekend.

İsmet Ekin Koç, a well-known Turkish actor and musician, was born on June 21, 1992. After leaving Antalya, he pursued Business Administration (English) at Istanbul Bilgi University and began studying online education sociology as well.

Koç made his acting debut in the movie Senden Bana Kalan, an adaptation of the Korean movie A Millionaire’s First Love. He played the lead role of “Özgür Arıca” and won an Ayhan Işık Special Award for his performance. He then appeared as the one-eyed soldier “Mehmed” in the British movie Ali and Nino, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was based on Kurban Said’s novel (1937). Maria Valverde and Adam Bakri were the lead actors in the film.

Koç also starred in the film Bizim İçin: Şampiyon, which was based on the life story of jockey Halis Karataş. In addition, he produced and acted in the short film App.

Koç’s films Okul Tıraşı,...

Exclusive: McMafia and War & Peace star James Norton is officially launching London-based film and TV production firm Rabbit Track Pictures with former Black Bear head of TV Kitty Kaletsky.

The company will option, develop and produce projects and team up with third parties. Norton will also star in select projects. Kaletsky, who relocated to London this summer from La, will serve as head of film and TV at the firm, which is expected to make additional hires in coming months.

As previously revealed, the slate includes crime feature Chasing Agent Freegard, which is in the works with UK firms Great Point Media and The Development Partnership. Norton will star in the film and serve as an executive producer. That project comes from Captain Phillips co-producer Michael Bronner, and is based on the story of Robert Hendy-Freegard, who masqueraded as an MI5 agent and fooled several people into going underground for...

The third film from the Academy Award and BAFTA-winning team behind “Senna” and “Amy,” including director Asif Kapadia, “Diego Maradona” is culled from more than 500 hours of exclusive footage from Maradona’s personal archive with the full support of the man himself, an iconic footballer who won the prestigious FIFA Player of the 20th Century Award.

In July 1984, Diego Maradona arrived in Naples for a world-record fee. For seven years all hell broke loose. The world’s most celebrated football icon and the dangerous Italian city were a perfect match for each other. On the pitch, Diego Maradona was a genius. Off the pitch, he was treated like a god. The charismatic Argentine loved a fight against the odds and led Napoli to their first-ever title. It was the stuff of dreams. But there was a price: Diego could do as he pleased while performing miracles on the pitch but,...

04.27.17: This list is now final. While I may in the future see additional films that were released in the awards year of 2016, no more films will be added to this list. (I may add links to reviews of films listed here.)

This ranking includes only new theatrical releases viewed for the awards year of 2016 (for eligibility for the Academy Awards and the Ofcs and Awfj awards); some films released in the UK without Us releases (and so ineligible for those awards this year) may also be included, for my own bookkeeping purposes. Links go to my review. Numbers after each entry are Date First Viewed/NYC Release Date/London Release Date; year is 2016 unless otherwise noted.

worth paying multiplex prices for

[5 stars]

Arrival (10.10/11.11/11.10)

La La Land (10.07/12.09/01.13.17)

A Monster Calls (10.06/12.23/01.01.17)

The Lobster (07.16.15/05.13/10.16.15)

Zootropolis (aka Zootopia) (02.22/03.04/03.25)

A Bigger Splash (10.08.15/05.04/02.12)

Miss Sloane (11.20/11.25/05.12.17)

London Road (06.03.15/09.09/06.12.15)

The Girl with All the Gifts (07.26/02.24.17/09.23)

I, Daniel Blake...

Best known for his acclaimed, hit documentaries Amy and Senna (at least here in the United States), director Asif Kapadia actually began his career with narrative dramas. He returned to his roots this year at Sundance with Ali & Nino, a sweeping period epic set in around World War I. Picked up by IFC Films for a release this week, the first trailer has now arrived.

We said in our review, “There is nary a film genre more tried and true than the war-time romance. From Casablanca to Doctor Zhivago to The English Patient, the structure allows for a micro conflict injected into a macro scenario. From a script by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liasons, Atonement), adapted from the novel under the pseudonym Kurban Said, and directed by Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy), Ali and Nino strives for the status of epic but falls considerably short.”

Starring María Valverde, Mandy Patinkin, Adam Bakri,...

There is nary a film genre more tried and true than the war-time romance. From Casablanca to Doctor Zhivago to The English Patient, the structure allows for a micro conflict injected into a macro scenario. From a script by Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liasons, Atonement), adapted from the novel under the pseudonym Kurban Said, and directed by Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy), Ali and Nino strives for the status of epic but falls considerably short.

Starring Adam Bakri as Ali Khan Shirvanshir, a young Muslim Azerbaijani man who falls in love with Nino Kipiani (María Valverde), a Georgian princess, the film is set in and around Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan on the brink of the Bolshevik Revolution. The couple hopes to marry quickly, but the rumblings of war postpone everything. Nino’s parents (Mandy Patinkin and a woefully-miscast Connie Nielsen) are convinced the conflict will be over in months. Ali won’t have it,...

The young acting talent will be revealed during the opening weekend of next year’s Berlinale.

The European Film Promotion (Efp) has revealed the ten young actors that it has selected for the 2016 European Shooting Stars.

The list includes María Valverde, who had a role in Ridley Scott’s epic Exodus: Gods And Kings and has been cast in Asif Kapadia’s forthcoming romantic drama Ali And Nino.

Jella Hasse, who starred in Germany box office smash Fack Ju Göhte 2 and Atli Óskar Fjalarsson, who played a part in Rúnar Rúnarsson’s San Sebastian-winning Sparrows are also both on the list.

As is Kacey Mottet Klein, who plays the lead in Guillame Senez’s Keeper, which came away with the joint jury prize and best actress award at the 15th Marrakech International Film Festival on Saturday.

The selected group will be now be presented during the opening weekend of the 66th Berlin International Film Festival (February...

Shoot begins on adaptation of bestselling love story; Danish star Connie Neilsen also joins cast.

Homeland star Mandy Patinkin and Danish actress Connie Neilsen (Nymphomanic, ‘The Following’) have been confirmed for the cast of epic love story Ali & Nino.

The announcement came as director Asif Kapadia (The Warrior, Senna) today began principal photography on the film, an adaptation of Kurban Said’s best-selling novel.

Adam Bakri (Omar) and María Valverde (Exodus: Gods and Kings) star as the titular star crossed lovers. Patinkin and Nielson play Nino’s parents.

Other confirmed cast include Riccardo Scamarcio, Homayoun Ershadi, Fakhraddin Manafov, Assaad Bouab, Numan Acar and Halit Ergenc.

The screenplay is by Oscar-winner Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement), producer is Kris Thykier (Trash, Woman in Gold) and executive producer is Leyla Aliyeva.

Im Global will handle international sales.

Since its initial publication in 1937, Ali & Nino has been translated into 33 languages worldwide with nearly 100 reprints.

The story centres...

Maria Valverde (Exodus: Gods And Kings) has signed on to star in the coveted role of Nino in epic love story Ali & Nino. She will join the previously announced Adam Bakri (Omar) in director Asif Kapadia’s (Senna) big-screen adaptation of Kurban Said’s best-selling Azerbaijan-set novel about two star-crossed lovers.

The story begins in the melting pot of Baku at the turn of the 20th century. Ali is a Muslim, with his warrior ancestors’ passion for the desert; and Nino is a Christian Georgian girl with sophisticated European ways. The childhood sweethearts find their lives interrupted when WW1 breaks out and Baku’s oil becomes the focus of Russia’s vie for power. As the war plays out and control of the Caucuses changes hands, Ali and Nino find themselves swept up in Azerbaijan’s fight for independence.

Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons) has written the script, Kris Thykier (Trash...