News

The Portuguese TV fiction sector is experiencing growth as it garners international visibility through co-productions and alliances with streamers and foreign broadcasters.

With a small domestic market – some 10 million inhabitants – Portuguese TV production is making a virtue of necessity. The region possesses a diversity of TV fiction offerings, ranging from commercial telenovelas to an increasing number of premium TV dramas, and is rapidly opening up to international partnerships.

In 2015, local indie producers got into TV fiction series via public broadcaster Rtp, a driving force behind the sector. That was then followed by private TV operators and later by global streamers.

“Portugal has changed a lot in the last few years,” says José Eduardo Moniz, general manager at Tvi, the country’s top private broadcaster.

“The transposition into Portugal of the European Union’s Audiovisual and Media Services Directive created the conditions for investment in local production,” argues Pedro Lopes, content...

Mongolian folk-metal act The Hu have released an instrumental version of their 2019 debut album The Gereg, available to stream below.

All 12 tracks from the original album have been digitally remastered in Dolby Atmos, giving full clarity to the band’s musical prowess. The Hu assert that the instrumental version offers an “all-new listening experience” and emphasizes sonic layers that may have not been as apparent on the original vocal mixes of the songs.

“The Gereg album is the first album that introduced the Hunnu Rock genre to the world and introduced us to the world,” said the band in a collective statement. “In both the deluxe and the original album of our first album, we used many different instruments and pieces. Therefore, releasing the instrumentals of the album makes me very happy and fulfilled. I am sure our fans will enjoy listening to all the different sounds.”

The Hu became...

Projects ‘The Elf’, ‘Truth Or Consquences’; festival film ‘Falling Into Place’ all receive plaudits.

International industry attendees have praised the European Genre Forum as a highlight of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff), which closed its 27th edition on Sunday, November 19.

The Forum is a pan-European development event organised with Imagine Fantastic Film Festival in the Netherlands and Fantastic Zagreb Film Festival, that closes its three-lab structure with a marketing and packaging lab in Tallinn.

As head of Montreal-based distributor Attraction Distribution, Xiaojuan Zhou travelled further than most to Estonia, finding the trip worthwhile. “The quality of the pitches was...

Jean-Jacques Annaud has worked with an impressive roster of actors across his 60-year career including big names such as Sean Connery, Tony Leung and Brad Pitt as well as Christian Slater and Jane Marsh, who were emerging talents when he cast them in The Name Of The Rose and L’Amant respectively.

Talking at a masterclass at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon on Sunday, the French director revealed how he found the casting process one of the most exhausting stages of making a film.

“I never write with an actor in mind because a character often evolves, someone that starts out as 60-years-old, may end up working better as a 35-year-old… I don’t want to ensnare myself. I wait until my ideas are clear,” said Annaud.

The director – whose varied filmography also spans the 1976 Africa-set Oscar winner Black and White In Color, The Bear, Enemy At The Gates, Wolf Totem...

White Friar stars Bafta winning-actress Anamaria Marinca who starred in Palme d’Or-winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.

WWII-set romantic thriller White Friar will be the first offspring of the inaugural Franco-Irish co-production pact signed in December in Paris and was officialised in Cannes by the film’s producers France’s Valentina Films and Ireland’s Max Films on Friday (May 19).

White Friar stars Bafta winning-actress Anamaria Marinca who starred in Palme d’Or-winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days alongside veteran French actor Jean-Marc Barr, known for Luc Besson’s Big Blue and Cannes Jury Prize-winning film Europa.

The film was written and directed...

A pair of actors who hail from Cannes Film Festival award-winning projects — Anamaria Marinca (Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) and Jean-Marc Barr (Lars Von Trier’s Europa) — are teaming to star in a new film that marks an official collaboration between France and Ireland.

The project is White Friar and will mark the feature directorial debut of actor-turned-filmmaker Ivan Murphy. Described as a romantic thriller, White Friar is inspired by the life of Father Tom Murphy, an Irish Catholic priest who also served as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force during WWII and his relationship with Eva Hofer, a Hungarian Jew living in Vienna. Per the official synopsis, the film “examines morality, sexuality and identity.”

Jean-Marc Barr

Ivan Murphy, who happens to be the grand nephew of Father Tom Murphy, penned the screenplay. He turned up in Cannes on Friday to sign the co-production agreement...

French president Emmanuel Macron is set to kick off a three-day trip to Beijing this week, a high-stakes diplomatic mission that will be a delicate balancing act between urging Chinese leader Xi Jinping to alter his stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and maintaining France’s trade priorities. The French delegation accompanying Macron will include dozens of people spread across two jetliners touching down in Beijing on Wednesday — and the French film industry will be among the constituencies represented in the group.

Veteran filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud will travel with Macron and attend various official functions, including the China-France state dinner hosted by Xi Jinping in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Thursday evening. During the trip, Annaud will also be promoting his most recent film, the 2022 disaster epic Notre-Dame on Fire, which is getting a nationwide China release on Friday. It will be the first French film...

Two of Portugal’s most international production houses – SPi, producer of the country’s first Netflix Original series “Gloria,” and Caracol Protagonista – are teaming to co-produce police drama series project “O Último Lobo” (“The Last Wolf”).

The show tells the true story of Franklim Lobo, one of the greatest European drug lords, exploring his rise, and the corruption in the Portuguese police in the late 1990s. Portuguese filmmaker Bruno Gascon, whose credits include “Carga” and “Shadow,” is the writer-director.

The eight-episode series focuses on Castilho, an honest police investigator with a dark past, who sees it as his personal mission to capture Lobo. He discovers during this investigation that what he defends is rotten, and that Portugal’s Judiciary Police – the national criminal investigation police agency – is an accomplice of the greatest Portuguese drug trafficker of all times.

Lobo, who came to be considered the baron of cocaine trafficking in Europe,...

“Better Days” is Hong Kong’s first Oscar submission to be nominated for best international feature film since 1993, but its nod has only inflamed political tensions at home. Many members of the Hong Kong public believe that “Better Days” does not represent them.

Although it was directed by Hong Kong’s Derek Tsang, produced by Jojo Yuet-chun Hui, and counts Hong Konger Lam Wing Sum among its three main screenwriters, “Better Days” features over a hundred Chinese cast members and one Thai, but no Hong Kong actors. It also unfolds in Mandarin, not Cantonese. Adapted from an eponymous Chinese novel, it is set in China’s Chongqing. Its examination of schoolyard bullying is set against the backdrop of the “gaokao,” the mainland’s brutal college entrance examination that doesn’t exist in Hong Kong.

“Even if ‘Better Days’ wins, I won’t feel much… it’s too far removed from the people of Hong Kong.

Chinese cinemas will open next week in regions at low risk for Covid-19 with a boost from a slew of Hollywood titles, including “The Pursuit of Happyness,” “Dolittle,” “Bloodshot,” and “Coco.”

China’s theaters have been closed for longer than any other country’s, having stayed dark — despite a brief attempt to reopen in March — since the lunar new year holiday in late January.

As of early Saturday morning in China, 22 films are set to hit theaters on Monday, the first day of reopenings, including U.S. films “Pursuit of Happyness,” “Coco,” and “A Dog’s Purpose.”

The others are all Chinese re-run titles, except for one new one: “A First Farewell,” a well-received arthouse title set in China’s Xinjiang region that screened as part of last year’s Generation Kplus selection at Berlin.

The opening day offerings include: blockbusters “Wolf Warrior 2,” “Monster Hunt,” “Wolf Totem,” “American Dreams in China,...

After giving hundreds of cinemas the green light to reopen on Saturday, China’s government has reversed the order indefinitely due to what many speculate are remaining fears about the current coronavirus pandemic.

Beijing’s Film Bureau put out a notice on Friday retracting their original plan and ordering all theaters to go back into shutdown, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The decision came just hours after the country was set to gradually reopen their cinemas.

No official explanation for the reversal was provided but according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, industry insiders speculate that the government was...

China is rereleasing two of the biggest films in cinema history as it reopens its theaters for the first time since going into lockdown in January due to the coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, box office juggernauts Avengers: Endgame and Avatar will both be rereleased in the country in the near future. Many of this year’s major films — including No Time to Die, Mulan and Wonder Woman 1984 — have been delayed by studios as Hollywood reckons with the pandemic.

All three of the other Avengers films, Christopher Nolan’s films Inception and Interstellar, and Chinese blockbusters Wolf Warrior 2,...

All four of the Disney-owned “Avengers” movies and James Cameron’s “Avatar” are being lined up for re-release in China when cinemas begin to re-open after the coronavirus outbreak dies down.

China Film Group, the state-owned giant that controls distribution of all revenue-sharing Hollywood movies, and also dominates physical distribution in the Middle Kingdom, last week contacted exhibitors with a list of 11 titles that it wants to re-release. It said it would add to the list in the following days.

That list now appears to include a phased release of Marvel’s four “Avengers” movies, with outings starting Thursday. Pixar animation hit “Coco” may also resurface imminently, said 1905.com, the website of state-owned broadcaster China Movie Channel. They will be allowed to play until May or June.

Contacted by Variety, sources close to Disney in Asia said the studio is not involved in the re-releases, and that these are matters decided on by China Film.

Over 500 movie theaters in China have reopened as of Saturday as new cases of the coronavirus in mainland China have crawled to nearly zero.

The numbers come from a report released by the Chinese ticketing service Mayoan (via the financial website Caixin) that says that as of March 21, 507 theaters in the country have resumed work, up 21 from the day prior, and had a return-to-work rate of 4.47%. The country also saw an increase at the box office of 125%, according to Mayoan.

Movie theaters have started by re-releasing older films in the country, including some of the highest performing movies ever at the Chinese box office. Among them are the 2017 action film “Wolf Warrior 2,” the 2019 sci-fi “The Wandering Earth” and the 2015 drama “Wolf Totem.” China is also releasing Nadine Labecki’s Oscar-nominated Lebanese drama “Capernaum,” the Best Picture winner “Green Book” and even “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

Also Read:...

’Wolf Warrior 2’, ’The Wandering Earth’ and ‘Capernaum’ are among the titles being screened to lure audiences back to cinemas.

A total of 507 cinemas had reopened in China as of Monday, March 23, representing 4.5% of theatres across the country, according to online ticketing agency Maoyan. However, box office revenues remain small.

China’s cinemas have been shuttered since January 23 to help prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, but are starting to slowly reopen as the country reports a huge decline in infection numbers. On March 22, China reported just 46 new cases, all but one attributed to travellers arriving from overseas.

Over the weekend,...

As the number of new cases of the coronavirus shows signs of abating in China, a smattering of cinemas re-opened in a handful of provinces across the country this weekend. On Friday, there were 486 movie theaters back at work, while Saturday the total was upped to 507, local reports say. This reps just 4.5% of the Middle Kingdom exhibition infrastructure and brought in an estimated $4,355 on Saturday, per ticketing platform Maoyan.

The biggest concentration of cinema-goers was in Xinjiang which had previously been the site of the first movie theater to open since the mainland shuttered all screens in January. The other provinces where theaters opened include Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Qinghai, Henan, Fujian and Guangdong.

More from DeadlineCAA Foundation, Thrive Global & Harvard T.H. Chan School Of Public Health Launch #FirstRespondersFirst InitiativeCoping With Covid-19 Crisis: MSNBC Senior Segment Producer Begs Closing Of 30 Rock For Health ReasonsEntertainment Industry Foundation Launches Covid-19 Response Fund...

There is a light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel, and it may shine on big screens. While the box offices in North America and Europe are shutting down in containment efforts, China’s theaters could reopen by the end of the month, according to Variety. The People’s Republic of China closed its theaters nationwide on Jan. 23.

The state-owned China Film Group, which oversees theaters, schedules film openings and produces movies, may reopen its Beijing offices as early as next week. The plan should see the country’s theaters begin opening doors by mid-to-late April.

“Our cinema is preparing to re-open, but we haven’t been formally told when exactly we can officially resume,” Broadway Cinematheque programmer Yang Yang told Variety. “It’s unlikely a nation-wide directive to re-open will come down from the film bureau, because every province and region is at a different stage of epidemic prevention,...

China Film Group, the country’s state-owned distributor, is getting together plans to revitalize movie theaters as they start reopening in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. All theaters in China shut down in late January to help stop the spread of the virus, but now some locations are starting to reopen as the country’s amount of new coronavirus cases decreases. Per Variety, the China Film Group is planning to re-release blockbuster titles to encourage moviegoers to come back to the theaters. The distributor’s plan includes four Chinese blockbusters: “American Dreams in China,” “Wolf Totem,” “Wolf Warrior 2,” and “The Wandering Earth.” The latter two titles are a pair of the highest-grossing movies in China film history.

The one title that will probably shock U.S. moviegoers but makes perfect sense in China is Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book.” The 2018 biographical drama is best known in the States...

China’s main state-owned distributor plans to issue a batch of half a dozen films, from which cinemas will keep all income, in order to get the country’s exhibition sector back on its feet after long closures due to coronavirus, it has said.

China Film Group on Tuesday detailed its selection of titles in a statement addressed to cinema operators and managers nation-wide circulating online and reported in the Chinese press.

They include four Chinese blockbusters: Peter Chan’s 2013 “American Dreams in China,” 2015’s “Wolf Totem,” directed by France’s Jean-Jacques Annaud, and two of the country’s highest grossing films of all time, the patriotic titles “Wolf Warrior 2” and sci-fi adventure “The Wandering Earth.”

The announcement mentioned one foreign film, Lebanese director Nadine Labaki’s 2018 Cannes Jury Prize-winner “Capernaum.” Two others, Oscar-winner “Green Book” and heart-warmer “A Dog’s Purpose,” produced by Alibaba-backed Amblin Partners, are also apparently on the list.

Bid to stimulate local cinemas after months of closure.

Warner Bros had not confirmed at time of writing that a restored version of Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone will get a release in China as part of an effort to stimulate local theatres when they reopen after months of closure due to coronavirus concerns.

Screen understands the title has not been dated yet although a 3D and 4K version of the fantasy adventure has been approved by Chinese sensors.

Chinese social media platform Weibo announced the development early on Thursday. Warner Bros had not returned calls at time of writing.

As China looks to re-open its cinemas, possibly by the end of this month, Warner Bros today announced on its official Weibo account that Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone is to return to the market, though no date has been set. This follows our report yesterday that Hollywood studios have been approached to bring catalog films back to the Middle Kingdom as it works to get back on its feet after being shuttered since the Lunar New Year due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“Magic is coming!” says WB’s Weibo post, in what will be a remastered 4K 3D version. Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone (which is also known as Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone overseas) was originally released in 2001 and went on to make over $978M worldwide. The Potter movies have grown in popularity in China as the market has expanded. Harry Potter And The Deathly...

Wild Bunch TV, 68productions team on new production with agent Jeff Berg.

French director Jean-Jacques Annaud is set to direct an international drama series about pioneer filmmaker Alice Guy, the first woman to direct a fiction film in the late 1890s who then went on to set up one of the first studios in the Us.

Paris-based Wild Bunch TV and 68Productions and talent agent Jeff Berg are partnering on the series, adapted from the 2015 autobiography Alice Guy by French writer Emmanuelle Gaume.

It will be the second foray into TV for Wolf Totem and The Name Of The Rose...

Wild Bunch TV, 68productions team on new production with agent Jeff Berg.

French director Jean-Jacques Annaud is set to direct an international drama series about pioneer filmmaker Alice Guy, the first woman to direct a fiction film in the late1890s who then went to set up one of the first studios in the Us.

Paris-based Wild Bunch TV and 68Productions and talent agent Jeff Berg are partnering on the series, adapted from the 2015 autobiography Alice Guy by French writer Emmanuelle Gaume.

It will the second foray into TV for Wolf Totem and The Name Of The Rose director Annaud...

Beijing Juben Productions has taken over rights to the popular “Wolf Totem” novel from China Film Group and is working on a sequel to be delivered in 2021 or Chinese New Year 2022. It also has a zombie film up its sleeve, as well as a British co-production about Shakespeare and a Chinese drama with half an eye on Cannes.

The firm, whose Mandarin name “Juben” translates to “script,” was founded by producer Luna Wang in 2013 and employs a team of ten. It focuses on artistic films with mainstream commercial potential and has mostly worked with early-career directors.

One of its first projects was 2013 comedy “American Dreams in China,” by Peter Chan Ho-sun who is this week head of the competition jury at the International Film Festival Macao.

Juben went on to back “12 Citizens,” a 2014 Chinese remake of “12 Angry Men,” and last year’s “Ayka,” which was shortlisted for the Oscars...

Chinese distributor Phoenix Entertainment Group has bought all China rights to the Italian comedic drama “The Sweeties” from Germany-based Media Luna New Films.

The movie is the second feature from director Francesco Ghiaccio and stars Valeria Solarino, Vinicio Marchioni and four young newcomers in their acting debut. It deals with issues of bullying and body-shaming through the story of three overweight girls who decide to become synchronized swimming champions after a video of them in their swimsuits embarrasses them online.

It was written by Marco D’Amore, also known for his turn as an actor in the TV series “Gomorrah.” It is distributed in Italy by VisionDistribution. It premiered at the Giffoni Film Festival earlier this year.

Phoenix Entertainment is one of China’s bigger production and distribution companies, and has jointly produced films such as “Wolf Totem” and “This Is Not What I Expected,” the 2017 romantic comedy starring Takeshi Kaneshiro and Zhou Dongyu.

Chinese-based companies Meridian Entertainment and Base FX are shopping “Skyfire” at Cannes, China’s first big-budget disaster movie, about a volcanic eruption. The film is directed by British helmer Simon West and stars Britain’s Jason Isaacs, Wang Xueqi (“Iron Man 3”), Shawn Dou (“Wolf Totem”) and Hannah Quinlivan (“Skyscraper”).

“Just as ‘The Wandering Earth’ was the breakout film for the sci-fi genre, we hope ‘Skyfire’ can do the same for the disaster genre,” Meridian’s CEO Jennifer Dong told Variety. “The China market is finally sufficiently large that it can support the making of a big-budget special effects film like this one just for the local market, yet this kind of VFX-heavy film is also something that viewers worldwide can understand and appreciate. We hope we’ve shot a Chinese film for a global audience.”

The film tells the story of people at a tropical resort who get caught up in a volcanic explosion.

John Collee (l) with Anthony Maras.

John Collee is not only among Australia’s most successful screenwriters, his strike rate of scripts-to-screen is the envy of most of his peers.

The co-creator of Happy Feet, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Tanna and Hotel Mumbai, Collee estimates that one in every three or four feature scripts he’s written has been produced.

He’s not boasting but his batting average compares well to that of Guillermo del Toro. The writer-director of The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth and The Hobbit trilogy recently revealed on social media he had spent years developing 10 films which did not get made.

“Sometimes projects can be taken off you and written by someone else and your name is taken off then, but to have involvement in one of three films I’ve written is a pretty good record,” Collee tells If.

Jean-Jacques Annaud – recipient of this year’s EnergaCamerimage Director Duo Award along with his collaborator, Dp Jean-Marie Dreujou – always knew he wanted to be a filmmaker. Born during World War II, the future director got his first Brownie camera at age 7, and his first 35mm still camera at 10. By the time he turned 11, he was shooting 8mm films. “I didn’t want to play with my friends when I got home from school,” he recalls. “I immediately went to edit my films.”

After receiving diplomas from France’s two top film schools – now known as the Louis Lumiere school and La Femis – his teachers offered him up as an assistant to commercial producers, launching him into a career as director of more than 400 TV spots – after which he segued into feature films.

His collaborations with Dreujou include “Two Brothers” (2002), a poignant tale of two tigers struggling against captivity and human...

Europe’s mainstay fest for cinematography, newly rechristened EnergaCamerimage, launched its 26th edition and a week of 241 film screenings in the Polish town of Bydgoszcz on Saturday with a guest appearance by Roman Polanski.

The controversial but seminal director of classics such as “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown” took the stage to honor a longtime colleague, cinematographer Witold Sobocinski, with a lifetime achievement award for his luminous lensing. The pair, who shared stories from film school in Poland under the former communist regime, worked together in 1988 on “Frantic,” the Paris-set thriller starring Emmanuelle Seigner, now Polanski’s wife.

The master lenser also filmed “The Wedding” and the Oscar-nommed “The Promised Land,” both directed by Andrzej Wajda.

Fest director Marek Zydowicz credited Sobocinski with influencing a generation of cinematographers, noting he continues to teach at the Lodz film school that has set dozens of future directors and camera people on their professional paths.

Sorcery and delusions of power are the dominant themes of “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings,” the third and most spectacular of the Chinese franchise about a real-life sleuth of the Tang dynasty. This time the hero uncovers a court conspiracy in which conjurers of illusions play a deadly role, a pretext for director Tsui Hark to run amok with visual effects while slipping in his usual political innuendoes about Machiavellianism and mind-control. On the level of pure popcorn entertainment, there’s not a thing one can fault the 3D megabuster for, and it should steamroll other domestic competition in the summer domestic market while satisfying Tsui’s longtime followers.

At 68, the Hong Kong genre maestro’s childlike imagination and technical inventiveness seems inexhaustible. The script, co-written by Tsui with Chang Chialu, who also teamed up for the last two chapters of the franchise (“Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom...

Exclusive: Zhang Meng’s remake of Guiseppe Tornatore’s Stanno Tutti Bene stars Zhang Guoli.

Hong Kong’s Edko Films has added Zhang Meng’s Everybody’s Fine, a remake of Guiseppe Tornatore’s Stanno Tutti Bene, to its Berlin slate.

Zhang Guoli (Back To 1942) stars as a widower who embarks on a road trip to reconnect with his four adult children and discovers that their lives are far from perfect. The children are played by Chen He (Running Man), Yao Chen (Monster Hunt), Shawn Dou (Wolf Totem) and Ye Qianyun.

Scripted by Liu Ya and Song Xiao, the film is a more commercial turn for Zhang Meng, who is known for arthouse fare such as The Piano In A Factory.

Tornatore’s 1990 original starred Marcello Mastroianni and a 2009 Hollywood remake featured Robert De Niro as the concerned patriarch.

Edko is also launching sales on romantic comedy Finding Mr Right 2, which reteams director Xue Xiaolu and actors...

'The Peanuts Movie': 2016 Best Original Score Oscar contender along with 111 other titles. Oscar 2016: Best Original Score contenders range from 'Mad Max: Fury Road' to 'The Peanuts Movie' Earlier this month (Dec. '15), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made public the list of 112 film scores eligible for the 2016 Oscar in the Best Original Score category. As found in the Academy's press release, “a Reminder List of works submitted in the Original Score category will be made available with a nominations ballot to all members of the Music Branch, who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award.” The release adds that “to be eligible, the original score must be a substantial body of music that serves as original dramatic underscoring, and must...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 112 scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures released in 2015 are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 88th Academy Awards.

The eligible scores along with their composers are listed below, in alphabetical order by film title:

“Adult Beginners,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer

“The Age of Adaline,” Rob Simonsen, composer

“Altered Minds,” Edmund Choi, composer

“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer

“Anomalisa,” Carter Burwell, composer

“Ant-Man,” Christophe Beck, composer

“Beasts of No Nation,” Dan Romer, composer

“The Big Short,” Nicholas Britell, composer

“Black Mass,” Tom Holkenborg, composer

“Bridge of Spies,” Thomas Newman, composer

“Brooklyn,” Michael Brook, composer

“Burnt,” Rob Simonsen, composer

“By the Sea,” Gabriel Yared, composer

“Carol,” Carter Burwell, composer

“Cartel Land,” H. Scott Salinas and Jackson Greenberg, composers

“Chi-Raq,” Terence Blanchard, composer

“Cinderella,” Patrick Doyle, composer

“Coming Home,” Qigang Chen, composer

“Concussion,...

The third annual Ajyal Youth Film Festival presented by the Doha Film Institute (November 29 to December 5) showcases feature films from 20 countries and a series of short film programs in Katara, Qatar.

Fatma Al Remaihi, Festival Director and CEO of the Doha Film Institute, says: “By providing young people with access to international cinema, filmmakers from around the world, and the space to discuss their ideas and develop critical thinking, Ajyal empowers the youngest members of our community and develops their understanding of the world around them.”

Academy Award nominated director, Hany Abu-Assad and Arab Idol champion Mohammed Assaf, whose life story "The Idol" is based on, will attend the Opening Night and will participate in a special ‘In Conversation’ session about bringing Assaf’s life story to the big screen and highlight the power of combining music and cinema and the challenges facing Arab artists today.

Read more about "The Idol" and an interview with Hany Abu-Assad at its debut at Tiff 2015.

Aside from the daily public screenings of local and international films other events are the popular "Made in Qatar"; Sony Cinema Under the Stars; Family Weekend; the Doha Giffoni Youth Media Summit ; special events and exhibitions; the Sandbox interactive digital playground; school screenings; and the Ajyal Competition, where hundreds of young jurors between the ages of 8 and 21 will watch and discuss shorts and features and decide on the winning films. competition line-up.

The popular "Made in Qatar" section features 17 films -- nine narrative shorts and eight documentaries by local talent.

More than 500 young people from the ages of 8 to 21 make up the Ajyal Competition Jury which will watch and analyze a dynamic program of films in three competitive sections followed by discussions and events including panels, workshops and Q&A sessions with filmmakers.

Each of the three Ajyal Juries are made of 24 international jurors from 12 countries including Australia, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Serbia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The jury awards a Best Film prize to their favorite short and feature-length film, for a total of six awards. The directors of the winning films are awarded funding toward their next film, so jurors are empowered to support and promote future content that is relevant and important to them in a proactive way.

Mohaq means ‘New Moon’ in Arabic, and these are Ajyal’s youngest jurors, aged 8 to 12. These jurors will watch one program of short films and four feature-length films, marking the first year that competitive feature films are included in this category. They are: "Celestial Camel" (Russia) by Yury Feting about a young sheepherder living in the desolate Kalmyk Steppe, who sets off on an epic journey after his father is forced to sell the family’s beloved camel calf; "The Greatest House in the World" (Guatemala, Mexico) by Ana V. Bojórquez and Lucía Carreras - a film about the never-ending circle of life told through the story of a young girl in the isolated highlands of Guatemala; "Paper Planes"(Australia) by Robert Connolly - a tale of friendship, creativity and the bonds of family which centers around an 11-year-old boy with an exceptional talent for creating paper airplanes; and "Phantom Boy" by Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol (France, Belgium) an animated film about an 11-year-old boy whose illness allows him to have out-of-body experiences and mysterious powers.

Ajyal’s jurors aged 13 to 17 are the Hilal jury – the term means ‘Crescent Moon’ in Arabic. Five feature films and a program of shorts make up this jury’s film selection. The feature films competing in this section are: "Lamb" (France, Ethiopia, Germany, Norway, Qatar) by Yared Zeleke, a portrait of a young Ethiopian boy trying to find his way in the world; "Landfill Harmonic" (U.S.) directed by Brad Allgood and Graham Townsley and recent audience award winning documentary at Napa Valley Film Festival, that tracks the astounding rise of a Paraguayan youth orchestra whose members live next to one of South America's largest landfills and make their instruments from recycled materials; "Mina Walking" (Canada, Afghanistan), a multiple award winning documentary by Yosef Baraki, a powerful tale of a 12-year-old girl in war-torn Afghanistan struggling to make ends meet for her family; "Scarecrow " (The Philippines) by Zig Madamba Dulay which explores the complicated relationship of social injustice and familial expectations through the story of a young mother in a rural town; and " Wolf Totem" (China, France) by Jean-Jacques Annaud. Set against the backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution 1967, it is the story of a two young Chinese students who are sent on a research assignment with the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia and become fascinated by the wolves that roam the plains.

The most mature of Ajyal’s juries, Bader (Arabic for ‘Full Moon’) jurors are aged 18 to 21 and will select their favorite films from five features and two programs of short films. The feature films vying for top honors in this section are: "An" (Japan, France, Germany) by Naomi Kawase is a drama about a lonely baker whose life is reinvigorated when he hires an elderly woman with a special culinary skill; "The Second Mother " (Brazil's submission for Oscar nomination) by Anna Muylaert which is an exploration of the bond between mothers and their children told through the story of a housekeeper in Sao Paulo (Read review and interview with director Anna Muylaert here); "Taxi" (Iran), winner of Fipresci and Golden Bear Awards in Berlin 2015, by Jafar Panahi in which the celebrated Iranian director places himself in the driver’s seat of a cab, taking fares to their destinations in a wonderful portrait of contemporary Iran; "Very Big Shot" (Lebanon, Qatar), a bold and insightful dark comedy by Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya that skewers political corruption and the media circus that goes with it; and "Walls" (Spain) - a documentary by Pablo Iraburu and Migueltxo Molina that follows several subjects on both sides of three contemporary international borders, demonstrating that the people on each side of the barriers are not as different as they may believe.

In addition to the three competitive sections, the Festival’s youngest audiences under the age of 8 years will also vote for their favorite film with the help of their parents who will determine the Parents’ Choice Award in the Bariq program. Bariq films are selected to satisfy the excitement and curiosity of young children and are suitable for the whole family. This year’s program features a collection of eight short films and will also include a special outdoor cine-concert on the Katara esplanade by the Festival Tout-Petits Cinéma from Paris, with four films accompanied by live music by pianist Anthony Boulc’h and saxophonist Fanch Minous.

A senior jury of three eminent figures from the local and regional industry will determine the winners of the competitive section comprising feature films from 20 countries and a series of short film program with two awards being presented for Best Short Narrative Film and Best Short Documentary Film. The 2015 jury members are film producer Bassam Al Ibrahim (Qatar), who is the CEO of Innovation Films and co-founder of ILoveQatar.net; film actress, director and producer, Ahd (Saudi Arabia), internationally renowned for her performance in Haifaa al-Mansour’s " Wadjda;" and respected veteran journalist and media personality, Marcel Ghanem (Lebanon).

Fatma Al Remaihi said: “It has been another productive and inspiring year for filmmaking in Qatar and this year’s Made in Qatar selection indicates the rapid growth and diversity that we are witnessing in the Qatari film industry."

The films in the 2015 Ajyal Youth Film Festival Made in Qatar section are:

Made in Qatar Program 1, Wednesday 2nd December

"To My Mother" by Amina Al Bloshi

"Light Sounds" by Karem Kamel

"Her Majlis" by Najla Al Khulaifi, Dana Al Mesnad and Nayla Al Thani

"The Palm Tree" by Jassim Al-Rumaihi

"Yellow Nights" by Abdulla al Mulla

"If They Only Knew" by Sana Al-Ansari

"Heart of the House" by Gabrielle Sol

"The Notebook" by Amna Albinali

Made in Qatar Program 2, Friday 4th December

"Charlie" by Ali Ali

"Immortalizing Memories" by Mostafa Sheshtawy

"Asfoora" by Mayar Hamdan

"Good as New" by Jaser Alagha

"I Choose Islam" by Noor Al-Tamimi, Silma Suba and Zac J. Hollo

"Mariam" by Zainab Ayon

"Time" by Yassine Ouahrani

"Man of the House" by Khalifa AlMarri

"Veganize It!" by Khalid Salim

Closing night will be the world premiere of animated feature film "Bilal" (UAE/2015), a new animated feature film made with funding from the Doha Film Institute and produced by Dubai-based Barajoun Studios. Involving creative talents from 22 countries, "Bilal " by Directors Ayman Jamal and Khurram Alavi is an inspiring adventure story of faith, hope and self-discovery. Inspired by the real-life story of Bilal Bin Rabah, the film's cutting edge animation technology, impeccable research and high production values will resonate with audiences across generations. The cast and crew of the film will be in attendance for the premiere including the directors of the film and cast members Andre Robinson ("Despicable Me 2") and Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje ("Lost", "The Bourne Identity", "Game of Thrones") who voice the young and adult Bilal respectively.

The Ajyal Family Weekend will feature the regional premiere of Marking the Un International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Ajyal 2015 will present in a regional first, an inclusive cinema experience specially ‘transadapted’ to suit audiences with different abilities, a special screening of Al Rayyan Productions animated short "Hero and the Message" (Qatar/2012). Guests will be able to view the film through sound alone, with special subtitles for people who have difficulty understanding speech. This inclusive version of the film has been developed with the support of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and is the result of a collaboration between the Doha Film Institute and the Translation and Interpreting Institute at Hamad Bin Khalifa University who are spearheading the development of transadapted content in the Gulf region.

Fatma Al Remaihi, “Since our first edition, animated films have formed a core part of the Ajyal program and I am delighted that this year, we will premiere three incredibly diverse examples of the artform... from three corners of the globe.”

"Bilal" (UAE/2015) In a dreamlike vision, mysterious dark riders mounted on demonic black horses bear down upon a village. Nearby, little Bilal dreams of being a great warrior as he gallops along on his hobbyhorse. The riders come closer – are they real? Or are they just a figment of the youngster’s extraordinary imagination? Suddenly, Bilal’s dream becomes a nightmare. The men on horseback kill his mother and take him captive along with Ghufaira, his sister, and they are soon sold as slaves to Umayya, the wealthiest merchant in all of Arabia. Bilal never forgets this terrible day, which haunts his sleep for years to come. But the echoes of his mother’s gentle voice stay with him, a constant reminder that to break free of the chains that enslave him, he must forge his own destiny.

"The Good Dinosaur" (USA/2015), the latest feature from the award-winning Pixar Animation Studios and the team behind beloved Pixar classics "Finding Nemo" and "Inside Out" and will feature a special ‘kids red carpet’ for all families and young people from the community to participate and to be transported to a world where dinosaurs walk the Earth. Directed by Peter Sohn, the film screens on December 4th and presents an alternate history where the asteroids that wiped out these ancient reptiles never hit our planet.

"Hero and the Message" (Qatar/2012) tells the fantastic tale of a Qatari brother and sister who travel back in time to witness the founding events of the State of Qatar. Produced by Al Rayyan Productions, the top-notch animated short directed by Pawel Borowski was created to celebrate Qatar’s National Day in 2012, and screens on December 3rd.

"When Marnie Was There" (Japan/2014), screening on December 4 is one of the final anime sensations from Ghibli Studios and is based on the novel When Marnie Was There by Joan G. Robinson. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the film is about a young girl Anna who explores a long- abandoned villa and meets a mysterious blonde girl only she can see.

The head of Le Vision Pictures announced to a high-powered Beverly Hills crowd on Monday a deal to distribute Gods Of Egypt in China and unveiled the inaugural 10-strong slate from Los Angeles-based off-shoot Le Vision Pictures USA.

It is the latest splashy show of cross-cultural intent from China in less than a week after Bona Film Group’s $235m investment in the Fox slate and Bruno Wu’s $1.6bn film and TV fund.

Le Vision Pictures CEO Zhang Zhao, who also serves as vice-chairman of parent tech company Letv, outlined a self-styled ‘G2’ philosophy he said was founded on openness and connectivity.

According to insiders Zhao is expected to reveal further deals on Lionsgate titles in due course. Le Vision released Expendables 2 and 3 in China.

However he used Monday night at the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills to tell a high-powered crowd including Zhang Yimou (pictued at right with Zhao at a previous event) about the 10 titles...

The head of Le Vision Pictures announced to a high-powered Beverly Hills crowd on Monday a deal to distribute Gods Of Egypt in China and unveiled the inaugural 10-strong slate from Los Angeles-based off-shoot Le Vision Pictures USA.

It is the latest splashy show of cross-cultural intent from China in less than a week after Bona Film Group’s $235m investment in the Fox slate and Bruno Wu’s $1.6bn film and TV fund.

Le Vision Pictures CEO Zhang Zhao, who also serves as vice-chairman of parent tech company Letv, outlined a self-styled ‘G2’ philosophy he said was founded on openness and connectivity.

According to insiders Zhao is expected to reveal further deals on Lionsgate titles in due course. Le Vision released Expendables 2 and 3 in China.

However he used Monday night at the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills to tell a high-powered crowd including Zhang Yimou (pictued at right with Zhao at a previous event) about the 10 titles...

The head of Le Vision Pictures announced to a high-powered Beverly Hills crowd on Monday a deal to distribute Gods Of Egypt in China and unveiled the inaugural 10-strong slate from Los Angeles-based off-shoot Le Vision Pictures USA.

It is the latest splashy show of cross-cultural intent from China in less than a week after Bona Film Group’s $235m investment in the Fox slate and Bruno Wu’s $1.6bn film and TV fund.

Le Vision Pictures CEO Zhang Zhao, who also serves as vice-chairman of parent tech company Letv, outlined a self-styled ‘G2’ philosophy he said was founded on openness and connectivity.

According to insiders Zhao is expected to reveal further deals on Lionsgate titles in due course. Le Vision released Expendables 2 and 3 in China.

However he used Monday night at the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills to tell a high-powered crowd including Zhang Yimou about the 10 titles on the initial slate and recap two announcements...

Ahead of the official company launch in Los Angeles on Monday the fledgling Us branch of China’s Le Vision Pictures has unveiled two major partnerships.

Los Angeles-based Le Vision Pictures USA is teaming up with Dark Horse Comics to adapt and develop slate of six original Chinese graphic novels.

The partners will adapt the Chinese-language titles into English-language versions and line up feature adaptations on: The Path To Immortality, The Descendants Of Straw Mountain, Gods Of China, The Naughty Queen, Magical Days and P.A.I.U. - Paranormal Activity Investigation Unit.

Le Vision Pictures USA also unveiled a two-film deal with The Lion King director Rob Minkoff (pictured) and producing partner Pietro Ventani of Flying Tigers Entertainment to co-develop and produce the live-action comedy Silkworms and animation Wolf Totem.

Silkworms tells of two bumbling monks sent to ancient China by the Holy Roman Emperor to steal the closely guarded secret of Chinese silk production. [link...

Le Vision Pictures USA has inked a deal with director Rob Minkoff and his producing partner Pietro Ventani to co-develop and produce a pair of features under their Flying Tigers Entertainment. The two-picture pact covers the live-action comedy Silkworms and the animated feature Wolf Totem. Silkworms revolves around two bumbling monks sent to ancient China by the Holy Roman Emperor to steal the closely guarded secret of Chinese silk production. Based on Lü Jiamin's novel, W…...

Titles in competition include animation Phantom Boy [pictured], Ethiopian drama Lamb, Brazilian Oscar submission The Second Mother and Jafar Panahi’s Berlinale winner Taxi Tehran.

The Doha Film Institute has announced the competition line-up for the third edition of the Ajyal Youth Film Festival (Nov 29 - Dec 5), comprising feature films from 20 countries as well as a series of short film programmes.

The jury will be made up of more than 500 young people, aged 8-21, who will watch a programme of films under three competitive sections - Mohaq, Hilal, and Bader - followed by discussions and events including panels, workshops and Q&A sessions with filmmakers.

Each of the three Ajyal Juries will award a Best Film prize to their favourite short and feature-length films, for a total of six awards. The directors of the winning films are awarded funding toward their next film.

The jury includes 24 international jurors who will travel to Doha for the event from 12 countries...

Exclusive: Company will also launch new films from Lee Tamahori, Bouli Lanners and Sylvie Verheyde at Afm.Wild Bunch has boarded Cuban director Alejandro Brugues’s Antonio Banderas-starring New Faith about an American couple whose marriage-saving trip to Cuba lands them in a web of lies, violence, sexual intrigue and deadly double-crossings. “In reality both partners have separate hidden agendas, the dream trip quickly degenerates and the film tips into a genre movie in the vein No Country for Old Men and Blood Simple,” said Wild Bunch co-head Vincent Maraval. Banderas has signed to play a shady American expat fixer who crosses the couple’s path. Casting of the couple is expected to be announced during the Afm this week. It is a second feature for Brugues, whose debut political zombie thriller Juan of the Dead put him on the map as a talent to watch and won several including Spain’s Goya Award for Best...

Carol, Suffragette and Rams also among 15 titles in competition at cinematography festival.

The titles in the running for the main competition at the 23rd Camerimage (Nov 14-21), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography, have been revealed.

A total of 15 films will vie for the Golden Frog, Silver Frog and Bronze Frog awards, to be awarded to those titles representing the greatest achievements in cinematography at the festival, held in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz.

13 Minutes (Ger)

dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel, cin. Judith Kaufmann

The 33 (Chile)

dir. Patricia Riggen, cin. Checco Varese

Brooklyn (Can-uk-Ire)

dir. John Crowley, cin. Yves Belanger

Carol (UK-us)

dir. Todd Haynes, cin. Ed Lachman

I Saw The Light (Us)

Marc Abraham, cin. Dante Spinotti

Mad Max: Fury Road (Aus)

dir. George Miller, cin. John Seale

The Midwife (Fin)

dir. Antti J. Jokinen’, cin. Rauno Ronkainen

Rams (Den-Ice)

dir. Grímur Hákonarson, cin. Sturla Brandth Grøvlen

The Red Spider (Cze-Slo-Pol)

dir. Marcin Koszałka...

While the Academy has accepted 81 submissions for the foreign language Oscar, it rejected the initial would-be entry for China.  The country's first swing was for China Film Co's big-budget Mongolian wilderness adventure "Wolf Totem" (Columbia Pictures, September 11), the 13th feature from French director Jean-Jacques Annaud ("Quest for Fire"), who shot in Mandarin and Mongolian. In 1976, Annaud won the foreign Oscar for France for Africa-set "Black and White in Color," which brought him as a young man to Cameroon, so he understood "Wolf Totem," which is based on a 2004 bestseller by Jiang Rong, about city dwellers discovering a strange landscape. In the film two young Beijing students are sent to live among the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia.  Read More: How Jean-Jacques Annaud Made Mongolian Survival Tale 'Wolf Totem' (Exclusive Video) China had reason to be confident in their choice, which...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed its final list of 81 submissions for the Foreign Language Oscar race at the end of last week with at least one surprise in the mix that I’ve now gotten to the bottom of. China had been expected to submit Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Wolf Totem as its entry, and indeed it did. But the film was quietly disqualified under Academy Awards rules Section II, E: "The submitting country must certify that creative control of the…...

Entries for the Best Foreign-Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.

Submissions for the Best Foreign-Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards are coming in and will continue until October, when the full list of eligible submissions will be revealed.

Last year, a record 83 countries submitted features and the eventual winner was Polish feature Ida, directed by Pawel Pawlikowski.

This year’s nominations must be submitted by Oct 1.

Nine finalists will be shortlisted, which will be whittled down to five nominees that will be announced on Jan 14, 2016.

The 88th Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Feb 28, 2016.

Afghanistan: Utopia, Hassan Nazer

Albania: Bota, Iris Elezi, Thomas Logoreci

Austria: Goodnight Mommy, Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz

Bangladesh: Jalal’s Story, Abu Shahed Emon

Belgium: The Brand New Testament, Jaco Van Dormael

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Our Everyday Life, Ines Tanović

Brazil: The Second Mother, Anna Muylaert

Bulgaria: The Judgement, Stephan Komandarev

Cambodia:...

The annual awards which close China’s Hundred Flowers Film Festival, were held this year in Changchun, Jilin Province. Here is the list of winners:

Best Original Screenplay: Li Qiang (The Golden Era)

Best Editing: Yu Boyang (The Taking of Tiger Mountain)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Ang Xu, Yujiao Li, Jinglong Han (12 Citizens)

Best Sound: Jing Tao (Coming Home)

Best Chinese Opera Film: Female Governor in the Tang Dynasty

Best Cinematography: Zeng Jian (Phurbu & Tenzin)

Award for Low Budget Feature: Nuo Ri Ji Ma

Best Music: Hao Weiya (Phurbu & Tenzin)

Best Animation: Monkey King: Hero is Back

Best Art Direction: Quan Rongzhe (Wolf Totem)

Best Director: Tsui Hark (The Taking of Tiger Mountain)

Best Directorial Debut: Jianbin Chen (A Fool)

Best Supporting Actor: Yi Zhang (Dearest)

Best Actor: Zhang Hanyu (The Taking of Tiger Mountain)

Best Picture: Wolf Totem (Jean-Jacques Annaud)

Best Supporting Actress: Deng Jiajia (Silent Witness)

Best Actress:...

In order to make his 13th movie "Wolf Totem" without CG wolves, Jean-Jacques Annaud ("Quest for Fire," "Wings of Courage"), who has made a career out of shooting with animals in exotic locations, had to grow wolf cubs--as he did with "The Bear"-- over two to three years and train them to trust humans. The production had to wrangle 480 technicians, 200 horses, nearly 1,000 sheep, and 50 trainers and handlers, including armed guards and local farmers. Annaud dreaded filming one sequence involving an aerial drone filming 200 horses and 25 wolves running together in a blizzard at night, which was more difficult and dangerous than you can imagine. "Digital can’t capture the soul or the instinct of an actor - human or animal," says Annaud, who prefers to use CG for post-production fixes. He's never happier than when he's working with his crew on remote terrain away from the comforts of home. It's when he.

Following its 2015 choice, Philippe Muyl’s The Nightingale, China has once again entered a film by a French director for best foreign language film

For the second year running, China has nominated a film by a French director as its official submission for the best foreign language film Academy award. Wolf Totem, adapted from the popular 2004 novel by Lu Jiamin (writing pseudonymously as Jiang Rong), was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, and follows The Nightingale, directed by Philippe Muyl, which was China’s official entry for the 2015 race.

Related: Wolf Totem review – lupine thrills and pack mentality

Continue reading...

South Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan recently announced their submissions to the Oscars for the Best Foreign Language Film. Since 2008, when ‘Departures’ won the award, none of the later contestants has been nominated. This year though, at least the Taiwanese entry has high hopes.

The Korean Film Council (Kofic) submitted The Throne, a Joseon-era movie concerning king Yeong Jo, who locked his son, Prince Santo, in a chest, leaving him to die from asphyxiation. Directed by Lee Joon Ik, whose 2006 costume drama, The King and the Clown was also submitted, the film features Song Kang Ho as the king. The Throne was released in Korea in September 16.

The Motion Pictures Producers Association of Japan submitted 100 Yen Love, about a slacker girl, her relationship with a boxer and her taking up of boxing. Masaharu Take directs and Sakura Ando is the main lead, in a role that has netted her Best Actress...

French director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s period epic Wolf Totem was widely believed to be China's submission for this year’s foreign-language Oscar, but it appears the race isn't over just yet. While at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke revealed that producers are lobbying for his latest feature, Mountains May Depart, to be submitted instead. “I’ve heard rumors that Wolf Totem has been confirmed as the representative. But I feel that couldn’t be right. It’s not over until October 1,” Jia told the South China Morning Post in Toronto. China's Film Bureau, part of

read more...