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Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSPoison.Former talk show host and current digital media emperor Conan O’Brien will host the 97th Academy Awards. He has previously hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards and the White House Correspondents dinner, twice apiece, as well as the Fifth Annual NFL Honors ceremony in 2016.Director Todd Haynes is set to head the jury of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February. Haynes’s feature film debut, Poison (1991), won the festival’s Teddy Award.The UK arthouse theater chain Curzon Cinemas has been sold to the New York investment company Fortress for $5 million as part of a foreclosure auction of assets owned by Cohen Realty Enterprises. The Curzon group reportedly believes that Fortress is “more likely to invest...

Universal’s animated newcomer “The Wild Robot” seized control of the U.K. and Ireland box office, launching to a robust £3.2 million ($4.2 million) in its debut frame, according to numbers from Comscore. The family-friendly feature led fresh releases that energized weekend ticket sales.

Paramount’s horror sequel “Smile 2” flashed into second place with £2 million in its opening weekend, while Studiocanal’s Dinald Trump film “The Apprentice” clocked in at third with £749,149.

Paramount’s “Transformers One” demonstrated staying power in its sophomore session, adding £639,554 to reach a cumulative total of £2.7 million. Signature Entertainment’s slasher entry “Terrifier 3” held steady at fifth, collecting £562,616 for a running cume of £2.2 million.

Warner Bros.’ “Joker: Folie à Deux” continued to dance at the box office in its third frame, conducting another £501,000 to waltz past £9.7 million in total receipts. The studio’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” showed remarkable legs in its seventh week, conjuring £469,407 to push its cumulative haul to £24.6 million.

The most surprising thing about “Matt and Mara” — Kazik Radwanski’s sharply engaging indie drama about former sweethearts reconnecting — is how chaotic it feels, despite its understated tone. This starts with how quickly it flings you into its premise, disorienting you right alongside married creative professor teacher Mara Walsh (Deragh Campbell) when a man from her past, the quick-witted novelist Matt Johnson (Matt Johnson), pops up out of nowhere to say hi right outside her classroom, just a few seconds into the runtime.

The movie’s broad strokes resemble Celine Song‘s Oscar-nominated immigrant drama “Past Lives,” which, while masterful, left some viewers wanting a version of that film where its lovelorn leads actually get together, or at least move in that direction. They’re wrong, but have nonetheless been rewarded, as “Matt and Mara” scratches that particular itch. However, Radwanski’s Toronto-set story isn’t quite a linear, didactic affair drama either,...

"They go away and you still have to live your own life..." The Cinema Guild in NYC has revealed an official trailer for an indie film titled Matt and Mara, an unconventional and awkward romantic comedy made by acclaimed filmmaker Kazik Radwanski. This premiered at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival earlier in the year, and it also played at the Melbourne Film Festival in Australia. A young professor struggles in her marriage, only to meet Matt, a friend from her past who wanders onto her university campus. When Mara's husband unexpectedly cancels plans to drive her to an out-of-town conference, Matt accompanies Mara on the trip instead. Along the way, the tension surrounding their undefined relationship slowly grows... The film stars Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson (also known as the director of BlackBerry and other great Canadian films). In a world of cheesy romcoms, here's one that is so honest & so real,...

Exclusive: Here’s your first official look at Kazik Radwanski’s Matt And Mara starring Matt Johnson (Blackberry) and Deragh Campbell (Anne at 13000 Ft.), which opens September 13 at the IFC Center in New York.

The pic, which debuted at this year’s Berlinale, follows Mara (Deragh Campbell), a young creative writing professor, who reunites with Matt (Matt Johnson), a charismatic, free-spirited author from her past, a chance encounter threatens to spin her life in a thrilling new direction. Bonded by their history and shared interests, the two grow closer, while Mara contends with her strained marriage to an experimental musician. When her husband unexpectedly cancels plans to drive Mara to a conference out of town, Matt accompanies her instead and the pressure in their undefined relationship slowly builds.

Matt And Mara is Kazik Radwanski’s fourth film. His previous credits include Anne At 13,000 Ft (2019), which premiered at The Toronto International...

A drama about an Iranian human rights activist and a documentary about the hacking of queer indie pop duo Tegan and Sara are among the films that have been added to the lineup of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, which unveiled its Centrepiece section on Tuesday to kick off a second week of programming announcements.

The 43 films come from filmmakers representing 41 countries, with 18 of the titles receiving their world premieres at TIFF. Those premieres include “Seven Days,” a film about an imprisoned Iranian activist directed by Ali Samadi Ahadi and written by Mohammad Rasoulof, a filmmaker who was himself sentenced to flogging and prison by Iranian authorities; “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life,” a romantic comedy from French writer-director Laura Piani; “The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos,” a debut from the Nigerian filmmaking group known as the Agbajowo Collective; and Erin Lee Carr’s “Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara,...

Steven Soderbergh’s spooky ghost story Presence — starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan and newcomer Callina Liang — will receive its international premiere as part of the Centerpiece sidebar at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival.

Soderbergh first screened Presence at Sundance earlier this year, some 35 years after the debut of his breakout film, Sex, Lies and Videotape, in Park City. In all, TIFF’s Centerpiece section, previously known as Contemporary World Cinema, unveiled 43 films from 41 countries on Tuesday.

There’s world premieres for Marcelle Lunam’s rom com Addition, starring Teresa Palmer and Joe Dempsie; Erin Lee Carr’s documentary Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, a Hulu title about the Canadian pop duo falling victim to identity theft; French director Laura Piani’s Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, with a Frederick Wiseman cameo; Sofia Bohdanowicz’s Measures for a Funeral, written by actor Derah Campbell; and Algerian director Merzak Allouache’s Front Row,...

Cinema Guild has secured U.S. distribution rights for “Matt and Mara,” directed by Kazik Radwanski and starring Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson.

The film debuted in the Encounters section at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year and closed the Jeonju International Film Festival in May.

The narrative follows Mara (Campbell), a creative writing professor, whose life takes an unexpected turn when she reconnects with Matt (Johnson), an author from her past. As their relationship develops, Mara navigates the complexities of her strained marriage to an experimental musician. When her husband unexpectedly cancels plans to drive Mara to a conference out of town, Matt accompanies her instead and the pressure in their undefined relationship slowly builds.

Campbell and Johnson reunite for the film after their roles in Radwanski’s “Anne at 13,000 ft.”

The deal was brokered by Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly and the film’s producers, Medium Density Fibreboard Films.

South Korea’s Jeonju International Film Festival (May 1-10) has revealed the full programme for its 25th edition, which will include a series of screenings to mark the 10th anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster.

The festival will comprise 232 films from 43 countries, opening with Sho Miyake’s romantic drama All The Long Nights and closing with Kazik Radwanski’s Canadian drama Matt And Mara. Both screened at the Berlinale in February.

Among the line-up are six films to commemorate the sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16, 2014, in which more than 300 people died, most of them high school students on a field trip.