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Cannes competition title Loveless wins best international film.

Films by Andrey Zvyagintsev, Pedro Pinho and Tom Lass were among the winners at the 35th Filmfest München which came to a close on Saturday evening with a gala awards ceremony before the German premiere of Lone Scherfig’s Their Finest with actor Bill Nighy and producer Stephen Woolley in attendance.

The €50,000 Arri/Osram award for the best international film in the CineMasters sidebar went to Zvyagintsev’s Cannes competition film Loveless which opened in Russian cinemas through Wdssr on June 1 and will be released in Germany by Wild Bunch.

Producers Alexander Rodnyansky and Serguey Melkumov accepted the award in Munich from the hands of the international jury comprising German director Valeska Grisebach (whose latest feature Western premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in May), producer Markus Zimmer, and actress Nastassja Kinski.

This is the second time Zvyagintsev received the Munich award after his previous feature Leviathan had won...

The French Sales Agent, Theatrical Distribution and Production company based out of Paris comes to the fest with a pair of items (Cristian Jimenez's Bonsai and Liza Johnson's Return) but Rezo also got a pair of must sees in Julie Delpy's 2 Days in New York (which we could technically find at Tiff and will once again back a Stéphane Brize project -- his A Few Hours of Spring is currently in pre-production. Khodorkovsky by Cyril Tuschi - Completed Le Tableau by Jean-François Laguionie - Post-Production Resistance by Amit Gupta - Post-Production Return by Liza Johnson - Completed 2 Days In New York by Julie Delpy - Post-Production A Few Hours Of Spring by Stéphane BRIZÉ - Pre-Production BONSÁI by Cristian Jimenez - Completed Magic Valley by Jaffe Zinn - Completed Neon Flesh (Carne De Neon) by Paco Cabezas - Completed Prey (Proie) by Antoine Blossier - Completed Amigo by John Sayles...

David of Victim of the Time reporting from the 54th BFI London Film Festival.

I'd like to stick some exciting star sightings into my little introduction here, but sadly the only famous body part I've laid eyes on (so far) is Freida Pinto's head. Before we get to the enticing capsules -two starkly different Foreign Film Oscar contenders and one harrowing prison drama that trumps them both - a bit on one of the highlights so far:

Meek’s Cutoff feels like the natural evolution of Reichardt’s attitude towards her filmmaking – it is broader than but not indistinct from her previous films, an experiment in how starkly different elements (of plot, of acting, of character) can be understood in the low-key shooting style many admire her for.More on Meek's here.

Now about that harrowing prison drama...

It’s part of the festival experience to overload your schedule,...

It’s a cliché in prison movies (or any films involving incarceration) that you get to know the bad guys right away. In writer/director Philip Koch’s debut movie Picco, which plays like a cross between the 2001 German psychological shocker Das Experiment (remade this year as The Experiment) and the 1979 British classic drama Scum, the interesting thing is that you never know who’s going to turn nasty, or why.

Mike Leigh’s Another Year, Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, Joanna Hogg’s Archipelago, Alexei Popgrebsky’s How I Ended This Summer, Kelly Reichhardt’s Meek’s Cutoff, Xavier Beauvois’ Of Gods and Men, Catherine Breillat’s The Sleeping Beauty and Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives are also competing. It’s the 2nd year that the BFI London Film Festival has run an awards ceremony. Actress Patricia Clarkson chairs this year’s Best Film jury, which includes actor Gabriel Byrne, costumier Sandy Powell and director Shekhar Kapur. Jacques Audiard's powerful crime drama, won Best Film last year. Best British Newcomer will choose from writer/director Richard Ayoade (Submarine), writer/director Clio Barnard (The Arbor), producer Michelle Eastwood (In Our Name), actor Conor McCarron (Neds), producer Tracy O'Riordan (The Arbor), actor Craig Roberts (Submarine),actress Manjinder Virk (The Arbor) and writer...

Cologne, Germany – "Picco," a hard-hitting prison drama from debut director Philip Koch, has won the German Independence Award at the 17th Oldenburg Film Festival.

The drama is based on a real-life event in a German youth prison where inmates tortured and killed a cellmate.

"A portrait of a true hell on earth," is how the Oldenburg International Jury, headed by actress Deborah Kara Unger, described "Picco," calling the film "clear and heartbreaking in any language."

Oldenburg's regular film fans preferred the lighter fare of Paul Gordon's "The Happy Poet." The comedy about a man trying to set up an organic heath food stand won Oldenburg's audience award.

Germany's leading indie film fest wrapped Sunday night with the world premiere of "Pound of Flesh," a drama directed by Tamar Simon Hoffs and starring Timothy Bottoms, Whitney Able and Malcolm McDowell.

Cologne, Germany -- The next generation of German directors likes a bit of rough.

Nominations, announced today, for the First Steps Award for debut films, includes unflinching looks at drug abuse, prison violence and religious unrest.

Philip Koch's "Picco," which debuted in Cannes and is being sold by France's Rezo Films, is a harrowing tale of a juvenile delinquent systematically tortured and killed by his cellmates in a German prison. Oliver Kienle's "Bis aufs Blut" follows two friends and drug dealers who survive the hell of youth prison and emerge ready to make one final deal. And Burhan Qurbani's "Shahada," a competition entry at the Berlin Festival this year, sets the religious ferment of Germany's Muslim community against the background of a hostile, often violent, Berlin.

The other two nominees for First Step's feature length film prize provide some relief: Sebastian Stern's "Die Hummel" (Bumblebee) is...

Cologne, Germany -- Two of Europe's most distinctive female film talents, German actress Sibel Kekilli and Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic, will be honored with the top two awards at this year's Munich Film Festival.

Kekilli takes Munich's best actress prize for her comeback role in Feo Aladag's "When We Leave," where she plays a Muslim woman rejected by her family after she defies her abusive husband. Kekilli's performance has already earned her honors in Tribeca and at this year's German Film Awards, where she took the best actress nod.

Zbanic's latest, "On the Path," has won Munich's top prize, the Bernhard Wicki Award. The film also focuses on the plight of a woman struggling with her Muslim heritage. In this case it is an urbanite Bosnian whose husband embraces Islamic fundamentalism.

In case anyone didn't get Munich's feminist message, the festival will also give a special, honorary award to Iranian filmmaker Shirin Neshat,...

Last year the sales/production/distribution company hit a triple (in the prize category) with Dolan's I Killed My Mother, this year they move up a section into the Ucr with Heartbeats (see pic above). Worth noting in the sales department is Antoine Blossier's debut horror film Prey (which I was hoping would find a spot in Cannes this year) and Julie Delpy is calling up her parents for a sequel to her rom com, 2 Days in Paris. with 2 Days in New York. - Rezo started off the year by grabbing international headlines with their controversial doc film about ordinary folk playing with kilowatts in a social experiment designed game show. Now they hit the Croisette once again by pairing off with wunderkid Quebecois helmer Xavier Dolan for 2 in 2. Last year the sales/production/distribution company hit a triple (in the prize category) with Dolan's I Killed My Mother,...

Rezo started off the year by grabbing international headlines with their controversial doc film about ordinary folk playing with kilowatts in a social experiment designed game show. Now they hit the Croisette once again by pairing off with wunderkid Quebecois helmer Xavier Dolan for 2 in 2. Last year the sales/production/distribution company hit a triple (in the prize category) with Dolan's I Killed My Mother, this year they move up a section into the Ucr with Heartbeats (see pic above). Worth noting in the sales department is Antoine Blossier's debut horror film Prey (which I was hoping would find a spot in Cannes this year) and Julie Delpy is calling up her parents for a sequel to her rom com, 2 Days in Paris. with 2 Days in New York.  Heartbeats (Les Amours Imaginaires) by Xavier Dolan - Completed Magic Valley by Jaffe Zinn - Post-Production Picco by Philip Koch -...

The artistic directors of both Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine de realisateurs) and Critics' Week (La Semaine de la critique) have stated they did not want to pick from Sundance titles. "We try to show films that don't pass through Sundance first", Critics Week’s Artistic Director Jean-Christophe Berjon said, “although U.S. indie entries are well represented this year." "I wanted to change things up and not take any Sundance films unless they were exceptional," said Frederic Boyer said in an interview. Considering how many Sundance titles went to the Berlinale, and that Cannes is 6 months later, singling out Sundance is somewhat odd. We in Us already know that Sundance has a certain sort of American film, and that other films are continually being made that might be just as good but not to the taste of Sundance programmers or simply not timed for the Sundance slot. That the two Cannes...

Sorry, we're a day late on this one, been busy, but there's some great stuff coming our way, that is if you like arthouse fare.

Among other things will be a story about two violent teenage girls in France called Des filles en noir, along with Christoffer Boe's incredible looking Everyting will be fine (trailer).

There's a couple more gems we'll be reporting on shortly.

Full list after the break.

Directors' Fortnight

"All Good Children," U.K., Alicia Duffy

"Benda Bilili!," France, Renaud Barret, Florent de la Tullaye (opening film)

"Cleveland vs. Wall Street," Switzerland-France, Jean-Stephane Bron

"Des filles en noir," France, Jean-Paul Civeyrac

"Everything Will Be Fine," Denmark-Sweden-France, Christoffer Boe

"Illegal," Belgium-Luxembourg-France, Olivier Masset-Depasse

"The Invisible Eye," Argentina-France-Spain, Diego Lerman

"Joy," Brazil, Marina Meliande, Felipe Braganca

"Le quattro volte," Italy-Germany-Switzerland, Michelangelo Frammartino

"Leap Year," Mexico, Michael Rowe

"The Light Thief," Kyrgyzstan, Aktan Arym Kubat

"Lily Sometimes," France, Fabienne Berthaud...

La Mirada invisible (The Invisible Eye) - Diego Lerman. Winner of the Sundance/Nhk Int. Filmmakers Award and part of Cannes' Atelier de la Cinefondation, this is set in 1982's Buenos Aires, close to the end of the military dictatorship and focuses on the tensions between teachers and students. Picco - Philip Koch. German debut from Koch is actually based on true events, Picco is the first picture to shed light on the every-day life of youth prison inmates in Germany and shows in a gripping and merciless way that the contemporary judiciary system is by no means able to properly re-educate these lost youths... - La Mirada invisible (The Invisible Eye) - Diego Lerman Winner of the Sundance/Nhk Int. Filmmakers Award and part of Cannes' Atelier de la Cinefondation, this is set in 1982's Buenos Aires, close to the end of the military dictatorship and focuses on the tensions between teachers and students.

The lineup for the 2010 edition of Directors’ Fortnight has been announced. There are eleven first films in the lineup which will compete for the Camera d’Or prize which goes to a first film from across all the sections.

In 2010 Directors’ Fortnight, the Carrosse d’Or award will be awarded to Agnes Varda, the celebrated woman auteur-director of the french independant cinema. The Carrosse d’or (Golden Coach) Prize is a tribute to a director chosen from the international filmmaking community for the innovative qualities, courage and independent-mindedness of his or her work. Since its creation in 2002, this prize has been given to Jacques Rozier, Clint Eastwood, Nanni Moretti, Sembene Ousmane, David Cronenberg, Alain Cavalier, Jim Jarmusch and Naomie Kawasé in 2009.

Directors’ Fortnight will run from May 13 to 23 on the sidelines of the official selection at Cannes International Film festival.

Feature films

(* denotes films competing for Caméra d'Or Prize)

Alegria,...

In the list we find three items on my "Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of the Year in: Fabienne Berthaud's Pieds nus sur les limaces (see pic of Diane Kruger above), Cam Archer's Shit Year and Alistair Banks Griffin's debut film, Two Gates Of Sleep. Also included in the section is a doc-essay film from Michelangelo Frammartino that I'll be itching to see as well. Of the veteran auteurs, we have works from Christoffer Boe, Jean-Paul Civeyrac, old school High School doc filmmaker Frederik Wiseman and look for the Rolling Stones to be on hand for Stephen Kijak's Stones In Exile.. - You can say that there'll be plenty of virgins in this year's Director's Fortnight section. Quickly looking at the list of 22 feature films, Frédéric Boyer's very first edition appears to be heavy on first time works - exactly half of the section are newbies.

You can say that there'll be plenty of virgins in this year's Director's Fortnight section. Quickly looking at the list of 22 feature films, Frédéric Boyer's very first edition appears to be heavy on first time works - exactly half of the section are newbies. In the list we find three items on my "Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of the Year in: Fabienne Berthaud's Pieds nus sur les limaces (see pic of Diane Kruger above), Cam Archer's Shit Year and Alistair Banks Griffin's debut film, Two Gates Of Sleep. Also included in the section is a doc-essay film from Michelangelo Frammartino that I'll be itching to see as well. Of the veteran auteurs, we have works from Christoffer Boe, Jean-Paul Civeyrac, old school High School doc filmmaker Frederik Wiseman and look for the Rolling Stones to be on hand for Stephen Kijak's Stones In Exile. Here are...

Paris -- Cam Archer's sophomore film, "Shit Year," starring Ellen Barkin will be among the films screening in the 42nd annual Directors' Fortnight during the Festival de Cannes.

The sidebar's new artistic director, Frederic Boyer, announced the eclectic lineup Tuesday in Paris.

In "Shit Year," Barkin plays a has-been Hollywood actress who has an affair with a much younger actor, played by Luke Grimes. Alistair Banks Griffin will also represent the U.S. in the sidebar with his first feature, "Two Gates of Sleep," starring Brady Corbet, about two brothers who embark on a difficult journey to honor their dying mother's final request.

The Directors' Fortnight will open and close with a French accent this year. Renaud Barret and Florent de la Tullaye's documentary about an orchestra made up of disabled people "Banda Bilili!" was picked as the opening-night film. The sidebar will close with a more glitzy red carpet premiere,...