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Nicholas Pryor, the busy character actor who portrayed Tom Cruise’s father in Risky Business and Kathleen Robertson’s dad on Beverly Hills, 90210 during a career that spanned seven decades, has died. He was 89.

Pryor died Monday of cancer at his home in Wilmington, North Carolina, his wife, actress Christine Belford, told The Hollywood Reporter.

In a note to be delivered to THR after his death, he wrote: “Nicholas Pryor was enormously grateful to have been, for nearly 70 years, a working actor.”

From 1997-2002, Pryor played the former spy Victor Collins on the General Hospital spinoff Port Charles, culminating a long career in daytime soap operas that included stints on The Secret Storm, The Edge of Night, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, All My Children and Another World.

Pryor recurred on Fox’s Beverly Hills, 90210 as A. Milton Arnold, the chancellor of California University and father of Robertson’s Claire Arnold,...

Portuguese film distributor Midas Filmes has picked up a slew of new acquisitions, including Nanni Moretti’s upcoming “Three Floors,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria” and Daniele Luchetti’s “The Ties,” which opened this year’s Venice Film Festival.

The Lisbon-based company, which is taking part in this year’s International Classic Film Market (Mifc) focus on Portugal in Lyon, France, has also recently picked up Belgian helmer Lucas Belvaux’s “Home Front,” starring Gérard Depardieu; “The Woman Who Ran,” by Hong Sang-Soo; and “Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue,” Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke’s documentary about a local literature festival in Shanxi, China, which premiered at this year’s Berlinale.

Launched in 2006, Midas Filmes has released more than 60 films and boasts a DVD catalog of more than 200 films. Catalog titles and classics play major roles in the distributor’s repertoire, some 85% of which comprises international films, about 10% Portuguese titles and 5% U.

Festival spearheaded by Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux set to run in Lyon October 10 to 18.

France’s Lumière Film Festival will host 23 titles from the Cannes Film Festival’s special 2020 Official Selection at its 12th edition running October 10 to 18 in Lyon.

The festival spearheaded by Cannes delegate general Thierry Frémaux, in his other role as head of the Institut Lumière, is pushing on with the 2020 edition in the face of rising Covid-19 restrictions in France following a surge in cases in the country.

The Lumière showcase represents just under half the 56 titles selected for Cannes’s special 2020 Official Selection that it...

The short answer is strong local films and major state subsidies.

Mourir Peut Attendre, which translates as ‘Dying Can Wait’ is the French title for the James Bond film No Time To Die, and unexpectedly apt.

As in the rest of the world, French exhibitors had high hopes for the new Bond title as the only major US production left on the release calendar for this autumn, as they battle to stay afloat in the face of historically low admissions and a lack of crowd-drawing blockbusters.

The move of the Bond film to April 2021 is a huge blow but unlike...

Festival to go ahead as a physical event with guests including Thomas Vinterberg and Francois Ozon.

Rome Film Fest has revealed the programme and plans for its 15th edition, which is set to go ahead as a physical event with digital elements from October 15-25.

A total of 24 films and documentaries will comprise the official selection, most of which have proved critically-acclaimed at festivals such as Toronto, with nine having previously received a Cannes 2020 label.

Scroll down for line-up

These include three titles from Steve McQueen’s Small Axe anthology: Mangrove; Lovers Rock; and Red, White And Blue. The...

“Parasite” dominated the 2020 Oscars early this year, becoming the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture as well as victories for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film. That fact that is was the first South Korean film ever to compete for an Academy Award opens the door to plenty of other firsts.

“Parasite’s” triumphs will likely lead to more global titles competing beyond the designated category for foreign productions. It was just the 12th non-English film to compete for Best Picture in 92 years and the third this decade, following 2012’s French-language “Amour” and 2019’s “Roma” from Mexico.

Why did Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which pitted two contemporary families — one poor and barely scrapping by, the other filthy rich and spoiled — against one another as the well-to-do parents and their children are played by the other clan as one by one they pretend to be...

The Shoot the Book adaption market — a staple at the Marché du Film since 2014 and a rising player on the global film scene — continues to evolve.

As the program — a joint initiative between publishing trade group Scelf (Société Civile des Editeurs de Langue Française) and the publicly funded Institut Français — continues to host curated pitch sessions at markets in Cannes, Shanghai and Los Angeles, it will also look to expand its B2B rendezvous component that was introduced last year.

“Our ambition is very simple,” says Scelf director Nathalie Piaskowski. “We want to entrench and entwine the two events. We want to make the rendezvous a fixture — and export it to other markets and festivals.”

And so on June 25, Shoot the Book will kick off this year’s edition with a morning pitch session — spotlighting 10 literary properties selected by an industry jury — and return in the afternoon for a three-hour...

French sellers will market premiere a number of Cannes 2020 label titles.

MK2 Films is launching Carine Tardieu’s romantic drama The Young Lovers, starring Fanny Ardant opposite Melvil Poupaud as a 70-year-old woman who embarks on an affair with a married doctor 25 years her junior, and Ratatouille screenwriter Jim Capobianco’s stop-motion animation feature The Inventor about the life of Leonardo da Vinci, featuring Stephen Fry and Daisy Ridley in the voice cast. It will also market premiere Cannes 2020 titles The Big Hit by Emmanuel Courcol and Israeli filmmaker Nir Bergman’s father-and-son tale Here We Are.

Charades is running...

2020 has seen the cancellation of many film festivals around the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though Cannes, one of the most prestigious festivals, won’t be going ahead they have compiled 2020’s Official Selection.

Comprising of 56 films that would have been selected to play at this year’s festival, the selection is made up of features from filmmakers that have been selected at least before, newcomers, documentary’s and animations.

Amongst the line-up is Steve McQueen’s ‘Lovers Rock’ and ‘Mangrove’ which McQueen has dedicated to George Floyd.

“I dedicate these films to George Floyd and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere,” said McQueen. “‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.’ Black Lives Matter.”

Others amongst the line-up include Wes Anderson’s highly anticipated ‘The French Dispatch,...

The selection includes films from Wes Anderson, Naomi Kawase and two Steve McQueen projects.

The Cannes Film Festival has announced its special 2020 Official Selection.

Festival President Pierre Lescure and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux revealed the line-up at a press conference in Paris, held without journalists this year.

With the 2020 physical festival cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Official Selection titles will be “supported” by Cannes as they screen in autumn festivals and beyond.

The 56-strong line-up includes Wes Anderson’s French Dispatch; two Steve McQueen projects - Mangrove and Lovers Rock; Maïwenn’s DNA; Naomi Kawase’s True Mothers; Thomas Vinterberg...

A bit earlier today, in lieu of the actual fest, the Cannes Film Festival announced what their Official Selections would have been. Of course, these movies won’t actually be playing at Cannes, but they will be showing at other festivals around the world over the next handful of months. It would have been an interesting crop of titles, all lumped together in the south of France, and this afternoon, we’re going to take a look at a few of them, as the lineup is being rolled out. Some of the highlights here seem to include Ammonite (starring Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet), Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, Pixar’s Soul, and a pair of new works from Steve McQueen (Lover’s Rock as well as Mangrove). There’s also films like Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut Falling, which played at the Sundance Film Festival, plus much more.

Pixar’s “Soul,” Wes Anderson’s star-packed “The French Dispatch” and Steve McQueen’s “Mangrove” and Lover’s Rock” are among the 56 movies which will receive a Cannes 2020 label as part of the festival’s eclectic Official Selection.

Also included in this year’s lineup, are Cannes regulars such as Francois Ozon’s anticipated “Summer 85,” Naomi Kawase’s “True Mothers” and Maiwenn’s “DNA.”

The other celebrated filmmakers who will receive the Cannes 2020 label are Jonathan Nossiter with “Last Words,” Im Sang-soo with “Event” and Thomas Vinterberg with “Another Round.” As many other titles on this year’s lineup, these films were initially tipped for the festival before it canceled its physical edition in April and sticked with the French Riviera-set fest for various reasons, ranging from loyalty to distribution/marketing strategy. For instance, “Summer 85,” which marks Ozon’s follow up to his Berlin Golden Bear winning “By The Grace of God,...

Parent company Jour2Fête will retain existing name for French distribution activities.

Paris-based film company Jour2Fête is rebranding the merged sales operations of its recent acquisition Doc & Film International and in-house sales team under the banner of The Party Film Sales.

Jour2Fête’s French theatrical distribution business will continue to operate under its existing name.

Sarah Chazelle and Etienne Ollagnier’s Jour2Fête acquired Paris-based Doc & Film International last October, following the departure of its long-time CEO Daniela Elstner for French cinema agency Unifrance to take up the role of managing director.

Under the deal, the aim was to merge the existing staff,...

DVD Playhouse—April 2009

By

Allen Gardner

Milk (Universal) Sean Penn deservedly captured his second Best Actor Oscar (and Dustin Lance Black a statuette for his original screenplay) in director Gus Van Sant’s portrait of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in the U.S. Alternately heartbreaking, infuriating and very funny, a film that both captures a bygone era and is still very timely. Fine support from Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, James Franco and Emile Hirsch. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.

Slumdog Millionaire (20th Century Fox) The Best Picture of 2008 is a kinetic, clever audience-pleaser about a determined lad (Dev Patel) from the slums of Mumbai, who has his chance at literal and financial redemption as a contestant on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Best Director Danny Boyle dazzles...

It seems Liongate is coming out with a new collection of DVD releases under the banner of it being "The Lost Collection: The best movies you totally forgot about".

The horror side of this collection will include the likes of Slaughter High, Repossessed, and My Best Friend is a Vampire. Would it really be the worst thing in the world if Repossessed had remained lost and forgotten?

April 14th, 2009, is the date that Lionsgate will reintroduce the world to these allegedly "best movies you totally forgot about". For those that need their minds refreshed...

Slaughter High is a 1986 slasher starring the lovely Caroline Munro as one of several high school class reunion attendees being stalked by a former bullied classmate seeking bloody vengeance for the awful prank they pulled on him back in their formative years. The DVD release will be the R-rated cut of the film.

The inclusion of...