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As the fall festival season winds down, the temperature will be heating up next month in Durban, South Africa, where the 17th Durban FilmMart takes place from Oct. 9 – 12. This year’s event arrives amid surging hopes but lingering anxieties for an African industry at a crossroads. For the continent’s filmmakers, there’s plenty of […]
The ever-expanding Madrid-based confab, Iberseries & Platino Industria, is pivoting towards even more B2B activities, said its co-director Samuel Castro of the event, which is expected to surpass last year’s 2,500 accreditations. “Over the past few years, we’ve focused a lot on fairly one-way conversations with speakers talking to an audience but we’re now also […]
Harnessing its might with a merged All3 Media for the first time at a market, Banijay Entertainment hits Mipcom 2026 with the biggest presence of any company in the world, with its stand in front of the steps of the Palais des Festivals now rebaptized Banijay House, and a formidable combined lineup. One example of […]
Anna Kendrick, who is at the Zurich Film Festival for the European premiere of Lauren Miller Rogen’s “Babies,” spoke briefly about her next directorial project, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.” Back in June, it was announced that Kendrick would direct the Netflix film, adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid’s best-selling novel. “Obviously, over the moon […]
Naomi Watts waited a long time to become a star. “It was a grind. That 10 years before I met David, I became so locked up and I felt worthless. My agent pulled me aside and she said: ‘We need to have a heart to heart. Honey, you are too intense. You are freaking people […]
Martin McDonagh is taking a stand with “Wild Horse Nine.” “This is probably my most political film. That’s why I find it very exciting to be releasing this monster into the world,” he said at the Zurich Film Festival. “I feel like, in the modern day, there’s perhaps a little too much artistic neutrality, or […]
French filmmaker Marine Atlan’s lauded debut film “La Gradiva” proved the big winner at the 30th Queer Lisboa – International Queer Film Festival, taking the best feature film and Audience Awards. A sweeping portrait of the vicissitudes of youth, the film, which also won the top prize at the Cannes Critics’ Week, follows a group […]
CEO of FilmNation Entertainment Glen Basner was feted by “Conclave” director Edward Berger as he received this year’s Game Changer Award at the Zurich Summit. During the hour-long talk that celebrated the accolade, the exec fondly recalled working with Berger, spoke about buzzy upcoming releases, and revealed that FilmNation will expand its slate for 2027. […]
There has not been a single major industry event in the last three months where major producers and execs have not brought up the phenomenon of Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms” and Curry Barker’s “Obsession.” The two films, directed by 20-something-year-olds who came from YouTube, exploded all box-office expectations while ushering in droves of Gen Z audiences […]
Mubi CEO Efe Cakarel praised Lance Oppenheim’s “Primetime” while in a rare public appearance at the Zurich Summit. Talking about the phenomenon of young audiences returning to cinemas, the exec said that when he hears about a $20 million opening weekend for a film like Oppenheim’s Venice hit, it is “incredible.” “You look at the […]
Finnish-Somali director Naima Mohamud’s debut feature, “Halima,” was named Best Fiction Project at the Finnish Film Affair. It’s not the first award for the film, which has consistently generated buzz also outside of the country. But it’s the first Finnish feature film directed by a Black woman. Produced by It’s Alive Films, No-Office Films and […]
Box-office hit “100 Litres of Gold” – last year’s Finnish Oscar submission – is getting a sequel, downing additional “200 Litres of Gold” as the boozy saga about Finnish beer sahti continues. “In the first one, the sisters were making sahti for their sister’s wedding. Now, they are making it for the Finnish Sahti Championship. […]
The sound of rubber sneakers screeching against hard floor inundates the corridors of a sports center tucked in the suburbs of Zurich. It is then cut by the thudding of a heavy metal door. Tucked in the corner of a four-by-four boxing ring is Anthony Ippolito, wearing a thick cream pullover, a neatly pressed shirt […]
A year after announcing AI actress Tilly Norwood at Zurich Film Festival’s Summit, Particle 6 founder and Norwood creator Eline van der Velden returned to the Swiss event to look back at the backlash her creation has faced since. Asked if she could have ever predicted the furore around Norwood, van der Velden said not […]
Blessed by warm but hardly sweltering late summer sun — and no typical Basque txirimiri drizzle so common to other editions — the 74th San Sebastián also marks the last under festival director José Luis Rebordinos, who since 2011 has brought stability, sponsors, industry build and a close relationship to Cannes. Fittingly enough, the hallmark […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — RioFilme, the film and TV company of Rio de Janeiro City, will launch a call for proposals amounting to R$100 million ($20 million) for film and TV show production, development, distribution and international co-productions, Leonardo Edde, president of RioFilme, told Variety. RioFilme will unveil Oct. 1 the incentive package, the […]
In 2025, Walter Salles made history when he won Brazil with “I’m Still Here” its first-ever Oscar for a Portuguese-language film directed by a Brazilian, beating “Emilia Pérez” for Best International Film. Mere weeks after that historic night, Brazil doubled down on that momentum, with Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent” winning a rare two […]
Off the Fence (OTF), the leading storytelling media group and co-producer of Oscar-winning documentary “My Octopus Teacher,” has boarded Viviane D’Avilla’s “Let Us Be.” The documentary, which world premiered at Raindance and will have its Latin American premiere at the Rio Film Festival, follows the lives of intersex individuals across the world. D’Avilla’s directorial debut […]
No one likes ticks – least of all “Tick Fever” director Sebastian Granskog. “Every Finn has learned to live in fear of ticks since the summers of their childhood. It’s a tiny insect that latches onto your body, breaks through your skin, starts drinking your blood and grows bigger as it takes what it wants […]
If you ever attended a major film festival in the last three decades, chances are you came across an auburn-haired woman sporting fashionable big glasses and pristinely curated outfits from some of Brazil’s most exciting up-and-coming fashion designers. This is Ilda Santiago, the artistic director of Brazil’s leading Rio Film Festival. The programming veteran has […]
