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Chile’s Los Bunkers, one of the most admired of Latin America’s rock bands, has signed on to score “The Last Witness” (“El Ultimo Testigo”), a doc feature portrait of Luis Poirot, a Chilean photographer who has snapped many key events and figures in the country’s history from Salvador Allende to the estallido outburst of social protests in 2019, and beyond.

Some of Poirot’s earliest photos, all black and white, capture Allende on his successful 1959 presidential campaign trail, Poirot appointed its official photographer. He took illicit shots of Chile’s presidential Palacio de la Moneda days after Allende died there in a military coup d’etat, its windows gutted by Chilean Air Force strafing. He also snapped Nobel prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda at his Isla Negra beachside home.

Directed by Catalan documentarian-journalist Francesc Relea (“Serrat y Sabina: el símbolo y el cuate”), “The Last Witness” captures Poirot shooting...

Francesc Relea’s “The Last Witness,” Alejandra Carpio’s “Concert for a Single Voice” and Martín Boulocq’s “Criminal Body” feature in an expanded Sanfic Industria Ibero-American Work In Progress, one of the industry centerpieces at the 20th Santiago Intl. Film Festival in Chile.

Usually eight entries, titles were increased to 10 this year, Gabriela Sandoval, Sanfic Industry told Variety, given that submissions were up 50% on 2023.

That reflects the post-pandemic recovery of production in Latin America, plus the ever larger appeal of profile at Sanfic Industria, the key summer film industry event in the region.

With Sanfic Industria’s Sanfic Morbido Lab showcasing the powerful build in genre across Spain and Latin America, including this year new projects from Caye Casas and Guillermo Amoedo, Sanfic Ibero-American Wip has genre movies, whether sci-fi “The Clearing” or the movie shot in “Criminal Body.”

Featuring five women directors, the Ibero-American Wip underscores the last-decade...

Updated with amended description of documentary My Sweet Land. Sheffield DocFest, the U.K.’s premiere nonfiction film festival, today revealed the full lineup for its 31st edition running June 12-17. Among the highlights: the world premiere of Tilda Swinton’s feature directorial debut, The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze, co-directed by Bartek Dziadosz.

In the film, premiering in International Competition, Swinton and Dziadosz “travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought – for adults and young people alike.” Swinton previously directed segments in the documentaries The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (2016) and The New Ten Commandments (2008).

‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’

Sheffield 2024 will not lack for star power. In addition to Oscar winner Swinton, Idris Elba and the team behind the upcoming National Geographic Documentary series Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color...

Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Laetitia Eido, Chris Petrovski, Alex Pettyfer, Nina Bergman, Nick Moran, Olga Kurylenko | Written by George Mahaffey | Directed by Jesse V. Johnson

Ben Malloy is the CIA’s Chief of Station for The Baltics. Or at least he was until, in the film’s opening minutes, his wife Farrah, who was also in the intelligence business, is killed by an explosion. Six months later he’s unable to get over her death and his son Nick blames him for his mother’s death and won’t return his calls.

The final straw however comes when the agency calls him in for questioning, trying to frame her as a double agent and freezing him out. He decides to head back to Budapest to look for answers on his own. While John, his former assistant and now his replacement, brushes him off, Farrah’s former boss Hitchens points him in...

Four Black and Global Majority producers from the UK are participating in the European Film Market’s Equity & Inclusion Pathway as well as the market’s general activities in an initaitive supported by the British Film Insitute (BFI).

Carol Harding, Luke Oliveira-Davies, Lorine Plagnol and Tolu Stedford are all looking for partners for their projects.

Harding is a Bafta TV-nominated producer of Vicarious Productions seeking financing for her second feature project Final Breath which is in advanced development with Gfm Films. She produced her first feature, 2018’s Piotr Szkopiak’s The Last Witness starring Alex Pettyfer, Talulah Riley and Michael Gambon,...

From the moment he stepped into the esteemed role of Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series, Michael Gambon became a significant fixture in the magical world. After the passing of Richard Harris, he embodied the wise and profound principles of Hogwarts with a grace that endeared him to fans old and new.

After the final Harry Potter film, Gambon’s career trajectory soared, taking on diverse roles that highlighted his versatility and depth as an actor. Here’s a closer look at the captivating journey that Gambon embarked upon after his Harry Potter days.

Here’s what Michael Gambon has done post ‘Harry Potter’

In the initial pair of films, the wise and elderly principal of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, was portrayed by Harris. After Harris died in 2002, Michael Gambon took the mantle and remained the character until the series’ grand conclusion.

Time has flown since the last Harry Potter film hit the screens,...

From its very opening, Lee Doo-young’s “The Last Witness” grabs the audience. What begins as unabating optimism about the 1980s soon shrivels into the successive images of murder, before we are thrust into the thick of the investigation at a breakneck speed. Restored by the Korean Film Archive back in 2002 after formerly being heavily censored, this adaptation of Kim Seong-jeong’s novel is one that truly stands the test of time.

Central to the film is the detective Oh Byeong-ho (Ha Myung-joong). At first, he appears rather hapless and lethargic, claiming to his boss that he is incompetent. Nevertheless, he is assigned what appears to be a rather timid case, the murder of the brewery owner Yang Dal-soo (Lee Dae-kun). It is a crime in which Oh’s superiors want sorted, and it appears, at least on a surface level, to be one that will cause few issues.

Participant and French sales agent MK2 Films have teamed up to jointly represent worldwide rights to Rahul Jain’s documentary feature “Invisible Demons.” The feature film will have its world premiere at Cannes in the cinema for the climate special section.

In “Invisible Demons,” Jain explores the dramatic consequences of India’s growing economy and what it means on the broader world stage.

Using Jain’s experimental style and strong visuals, the documentary zooms in on the situation in New Delhi, where climate change is impacting the daily lives and health of 30 million locals.

Set for July 12, the premiere will mark the Cannes debut of Jain, a rising filmmaking who made his critically acclaimed debut feature with “Machines,” which won Sundance’s best cinematography award in 2017. “Machines” went on to nab 17 international awards at more than 160 festivals.

Rob Williams, Participant’s VP of content sales, and Fionnuala Jamison, MK2 Films’ MD,...

With each new project, Alex Pettyfer has been moving further from his early days in Hollywood as a teen heartthrob. With last year's The Strange Ones (review), and The Last Witness earlier this year, he has re-emerged as a more mature performer and Back Roads presents yet another side to the actor: director.

Adapted from Tawni O'Dell's best-selling novel of the same name by O'Dell herself and acclaimed writer/director Adrian Lyne, Back Roads stars Pettyfer as Harley Altmyer, a young 20-something who has been left to care for his three younger sisters after his mother is convicted of murderi...

Our resident VOD expert tells you what's new to rent and/or own this week via various Digital HD providers such as cable Movies On Demand, FandangoNOW, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play and, of course, Netflix. Cable Movies On Demand: Same-day-as-disc releases, older titles and pretheatrical Annihilation The Last Witness   Digital HD: Rent from $4-$7 or own from $13-$20 (HD may cost more than Sd). Check with your favorite Digital HD provider to see if the same movies listed above on cable Mod are also...

Soviet secret police began a series of mass executions circa 1940 of Polish citizens they knew would reject foreign occupation upon WWII’s completion. Some of the resulting graves were discovered in the Katyn Forest three years later with more found elsewhere totaling 22,000 bodies. Because of the diplomatic relations necessary to join the Allied nations with the “enemy-of-my-enemy” Ussr, official word on the Katyn massacre stated Nazi Germany was to blame. This lie was crafted with obvious intentions: America and Britain needed to placate Joseph Stalin and the Soviets needed Poland to retain a modicum of good will towards their new rulers by manufacturing a worse villain. Writer/director Piotr Szkopiak’s grandfather was one of the innocents murdered and The Last Witness is his way of honoring their memory.

He and co-writer Paul Szambowski have built their historical fiction as a means of exposing the horrific lengths all these different...

In April and May of 1940, the Soviet Union carried out the mass murder of Polish military officers. Originally covered up and blamed on Nazi soldiers, it wasn't until the 1990s when Russia first admitted to the crime which ended with 22,000 officers buried in mass graves in the Katyn forest.

Writer/director Piotr Szkopiak's grandfather was among those murdered and for 15 years he has been working on a feature film about the events which have come to be known as the Katyn Massacre. That film is The Last Witness.

The movie unfolds a few years after the close of WWII. Alex Pettyfer stars as Stephen Underwood, a reporter investigating a string of mysterious suicides which he believes to be related. His investigation leads him to a refugee camp and a man with knowledge that the...

"He dragged you into all of this, not me." Momentum has debuted a trailer for a post-wwii thriller titled The Last Witness, from director Piotr Szkopiak. In the film, Alex Pettyfer stars as an "ambitious young journalist" who uncovers the true story of a horrific slaughter of 22,000 Polish officers during WWII, shot by Stalin's secret police shortly after the Nazi invasion of Poland. The film seems to feature flashbacks in addition to the main storyline set later on, with Pettyfer trying to uncover the truth. The full cast includes Michael Gambon, Talulah Riley, Robert Wieckiewicz, and Will Thorp. This seems quite good, but oddly it's going out straight-to-vod without any festivals premieres, so I'm not too sure. Take a look below. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Piotr Szkopiak's The Last Witness, direct from YouTube: An ambitious young journalist (Alex Pettyfer) uncovers the horrific slaughter of 22,000 Polish officers during the Second World War.

Joseph Baxter Mar 27, 2019

Killing Eve Season 2 is set for more audacious bloodshed on BBC America.

Killing Eve impressed audiences with its stylistically subversive, thrilling, hilarious and terrifying spy story that also happens to be from a female perspective. BBC America obviously knew it had something special on its hands from the get-go, renewing Killing Eve for a second season before the first season even began airing!

Killing Eve showcases the dark, yet irreverent, rivalry between Sandra Oh’s unassuming MI5 pencil-pusher, Eve Polastri, and Jodie Comer’s psychopathic assassin, Villanelle — and it's been groundbreaking.

Indeed, the inagural season of the series reaped awards season accolades, nabbing a 2019 Golden Globes “Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama” win for Sandra Oh, as well as a “Best Television Series – Drama” nomination. Plus, it earned 2018 Primetime Emmy nominations for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series” for Oh, and “Outstanding...

Talulah Riley and Michael Gambon co-star.

UK sales outfit Gfm has closed two key deals on its Second World War political thriller The Last Witness, with eOne picking up Us rights and Signature Films taking the film for the UK.

Piotr Szkopiak’s film stars Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four), Talulah Riley (Westworld) and Michael Gambon (Gosford Park), The Last Witness follows a journalist who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy concerning the execution of 22,000 Polish military and civilians by Stalin’s secret police. Carol Harding produced.

The deal was struck by Gfm’s Fred Hedman Dylan Wilcox for eOne and Elizabeth Williams for Signature, which has also picked up UK rights from Gfm to the animated feature Here Comes The Grump, voiced by Ian McShane, Lily Collins and Toby Kebbell. Producers are Anima Studios, Mexico and Prime Focus.

Kirsten Howard Jul 12, 2017

Katja Herbers will play a guest called Grace in Westworld season 2, which is set to start shooting later this month...

Westworld season 2 update

Westworld season 2 may not be arriving until next year, but work is getting underway on it very soon indeed.

See related Fargo season 3 episode 1 review: The Law Of Vacant Places

EW reports that "season 2 will start filming this month." And when it does, there will be a new face among the cast.

Katja Herbers - seen in The The Leftovers, The Americans, and Manhattan - has signed up to play Grace, "a seasoned guest in Westworld whose latest visit comes at the park’s darkest hour." She's probably not a host, then.

Here's a pic of Herbers...

Also, creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have had a long chat about the second season over at Variety's Remote Controlled podcast.

“It’s an ambitious season,...

Exclusive: Talulah Riley joins cast of political thriller now underway in UK.

Shoot is underway in the West Midlands, England, on political thriller The Last Witness, starring Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four).

Talulah Riley (Westworld) has joined the production alongside Robert Wieckiewicz (In Darkness), Piotr Stramowski (Pitbull), Henry Lloyd Hughes (Now You See Me 2) and Michael Gambon (Harry Potter). Director is Piotr Szkopiak (The Coroner).

Pettyfer plays Stephen Underwood, a journalist who uncovers the horrific murder of 22,000 Poles under Stalin’s instructions, though for many years the blame for the killing was placed on the Nazis.

At the time, information about the Katyn Massacre, as it came to be known, was covered up by both the British and Us governments in view of the delicate relationship with Russia during and after the war.

Riley plays Jeanette Mitchell, a Junior Commander in the Auxiliary Territorial Service who is also Underwood’s lover.

The film is...

Exclusive: Gfm Films to launch world sales on post-war thriller about the mass murder of 22,000 Poles.

Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four) is to lead cast in post-wwii thriller The Last Witness alongside Robert Wieckiewicz (In Darkness) and Michael Gambon (Harry Potter).

In writer-director Piotr Szkopiak’s (The Coroner) feature, Elvis & Nixon actor Pettyfer will play Stephen Underwood, a journalist who uncovers the horrific murder of 22,000 Poles under Stalin’s instructions, though for many years the blame for the killing was placed on the Nazis.

At the time, information about the Katyn Massacre, as it came to be known, was covered up by both the British and Us governments in view of the delicate relationship with Russia during and after the war.

Shoot is due to commence November 7, 2016 in locations throughout the UK. Carol Harding will produce and Krzysztof Solek and Pettyfer will co-produce.

UK sales outfit Gfm will launch the project at this week’s Afm in...