American French Film Festival Cancels October Edition Amid Strikes

Dear Jassi arrives with echoes of Madonna’s 1989 hit “Dear Jessie” and its sugary promise of pink elephants and lemonade, but none of that turns out to be forthcoming in Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s beautiful and brutal sixth feature. Instead, we have perhaps the most disturbing bait-and-switch since George Sluizer’s original iteration of The Vanishing, a Punjabi Juliet-meets-Romeo story that’s much harsher that any so-far-filmed version of West Side Story and a whole lot funnier. This dissonance takes a while to reveal itself, but when it does, the shock is visceral. The fact that almost everything is true is the killer blow, and the shockwave of that reverberates through the poignant final credits, a static shot that forces the audience, or maybe just simply dares them, to think about what they’ve just seen.  

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is back after a one-year hiatus with a rich mix of Arabic and international titles launching into the Middle East and plenty of promising projects from Arab countries set to be unveiled to prospective partners at its CineGouna industry side. The event launched in 2017 by Egyptian telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris – whose brother Samih built the El Gouna resort in a swathe of desert near the tourist town of Hurghada 250 miles south of Cairo – was put on pause in 2022 ostensibly due to the country’s economic crisis following five editions during which fest co-founder Amr Mansi and chief Intishal Al Timimi had managed to rapidly put El Gouna on the international festival map while also making it a favourite with the local crowd.

Would you like a silent action film with little to no dialogue, or would you like the return of action-giant John Woo to the stage of American action cinema? And hey, how about both? Because that’s what you’ll get in Lionsgate’s “Silent Night,” a nonstop, action-packed thrill ride starring Joel Kinnaman (“The Killing,” “RoboCop,” “Suicide Squad”), with Catalina Sandino Moreno (“Barbarians,” “The Affair”), and Grammy award-winning musician and actor Scott Mescudi (aka “Kid Cudi”)  READ MORE: Fall Film Preview: 60+ Most Anticipated Movies To Watch “It was a very smart script, and the story really touched me [because] I have three children,” Woo, whose legendary action bonafides include 1989’s “The Killer” and 1997’s “Face/Off,” told Entertainment Weekly this week.

Carole Horst Tucked in the beautiful countryside north of San Francisco, Mill Valley has been home to artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, and all sorts of dreamers. Thus it makes sense that the local film festival, celebrating 46 years, has programmed the best of the fest circuit and buzzy premieres — and mixed it up with art and music events. The event runs Oct.

Sharareh Drury Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival GEMS has announced the full lineup for its 2023 festival, which will run from Nov. 2-5. The 10th edition of the fest will feature 26 films from 14 countries, all taking place at MDC’s Koubek Center and Silverspot Cinema.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Turkey’s Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, the country’s top international film event, has been canceled due political pressure following a storm of controversy prompted by the presence of an explosive documentary in the lineup. The doc, titled “Decree” and directed by Nejla Demirci, is about the plight of a doctor and a teacher who were fired from their government jobs under a state of emergency declared after a failed attempted coup on July 15, 2016, in Turkey.

International execs from Unifrance, MK2 and TrustNordisk kicked off the annual Zurich Summit on Saturday to discuss the importance of film festivals when promoting a title and if fests are drifting away from what works in cinemas. 

The 61stNew York Film Festival opens Friday on a high note, with advance sales of passes and tickets at kickoff up 50% from last year, which was a record-breaking fest. It’s also a day of heavy rains and flooding in New York City.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter As New York Film Festival’s artistic director, Dennis Lim has become adept at multitasking. “Sometimes, I have to introduce one film and then run across the street to moderate a Q&A for different film,” he says. “If I have an hour or two free, I will sneak into a cinema and watch something as a way to hide out.” This year, he’ll be bouncing around Manhattan’s Upper West Side to host some of the buzziest movies from Cannes and Venice, like Todd Haynes’ soapy romantic drama “May December,” Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro” and Sofia Coppola’s “Elvis and “Me” adaptation “Priscilla.” NYFF will also showcase the world premiere of Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie’s genre-defying series “The Curse” and the Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal-led sci-fi story “Foe.” Ahead of the 61st edition, which takes place from Sept.

EXCLUSIVE: The London Indian Film Festival is expanding. 

Baz Luhrmann has been named president of the Features Competition jury at the upcoming Red Sea International Film Festival. This third edition of the event runs from November 30-December 9 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The American French Film Festival (TAFFF), which had been due to take place in L.A. from October 18 to 22, has been shelved due to the writers and actors strikes.

EXCLUSIVE: Everybody mingles at Telluride. I have this abiding memory of Bill Kramer, CEO of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at the festival’s opening-day brunch set atop a mountain in the San Juan range of the Rockies, bounding over to Cannes Palme d’Or winner Justine Triet and Sandra Hüller, her sublime lead star in the prize-winning movie Anatomy of a Fall.

Maja Hoffmann has been officially confirmed as President of the Locarno Film Festival following a vote at an Extraordinary General Assembly on Wednesday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Steven Yeun has bucked stereotypes and carved a new niche as sexy Asian leading man with his roles in “Burning” and “Beef.” Justin Chon transitioned from a supporting role in “Twilight” to directing “Gook,” “Jamojaya” and half of Apple TV+’s “Pachinko.” And Busan-born Daniel Dae Kim has expanded from “Lost” and “Hawaii” to becoming one of Hollywood’s leading producers. The stateside successes of Korean-born and Korean American talent are growing and are worth celebrating. But the Busan International Film Festival’s planned party is being dialed down a notch under the impact of the twin writers’ and SAG Actors strikes in the U.S. Busan’s ‘Special Program in Focus: Korean Diasporic Cinema’ will go ahead with a screening schedule including six films, public talk sessions that include Oscar-winning actor Youn Yuh-jung, Lee Isaac Chung, director of Oscar-winning film “Minari,” and John Cho, the Seoul-born “Star Trek” and “Searching” star.

EXCLUSIVE: The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival announced the lineup for the 32nd edition of North America’s longest-running all doc festival, a slate that includes several world premieres and a slew of Academy Award-contending films. In addition, Hot Springs announced Oscar-winning actress Mary Steenburgen, an Arkansas native, will serve as honorary chair of the event in the resort town located in the scenic Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas.

A first-time filmmaker has claimed the top prize at the 19th Annual Camden Film Festival in Maine, one of the country’s foremost all-documentary festivals.

The People’s Choice Award from the just-wrapped 2023 Toronto Film Festival has gone to American Fiction . First Runner Up is Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. Second Runner Up was Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy And The Heron . The Documentary Award went to Mr. Dressup: The Magic Of Make-Believe, ,and the Midnight Madness winner was Dicks: The Musical.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson’s satire of race and media, captured the Toronto International Film Festival’s people’s choice award, bolstering its Oscars chances. TIFF’s people’s choice award is considered to be among the best predictors of eventual awards success, though the 2023 festival hosted a weaker lineup than most years due to the writers and actors strikes that saw some prominent contenders skip a Canadian premiere. In the past, winners of the prize such as “Green Book,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Nomadland” went on to be named best picture at the Academy Awards.

Organizers of the Camden International Film Festival in coastal Maine are moving ahead with regular programming today, as Hurricane Lee – downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone – aims further north towards Nova Scotia.