Berlin Film Festival Chiefs Talk 2022 Edition: Industry Screenings Plan; Reduced Program; Rising Covid Cases In Germany

Jamie Lang The Red Sea Film Festival has announced that its second edition will run Dec. 1-10 this year, after its 2021 inaugural event saw nearly 140 films from 67 countries in 34 languages screen for more than 30,000 ticket holders and over 3,100 accredited industry guests.

Honorable Mentions: Ultrainocencia (Dir: Manuel Arija)Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize: Forget Me Not (Dir: Olivier Bernier)Honorable Mention: Fury (Dir: Krzysztof Kasior)Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize: Killing the Eunuch KHAN (Dir: Abed Abest)Honorable Mentions: Retrograde (Dir: Adrian Murray)Unstoppable Feature Grand Jury Prize: Straighten Up And Fly Right (Dir: Kristen Abate and StevenTanenbaum)Honorable Mentions: Selahy (My Weapon) (Dir: Alaa Zabara)Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Ratking (Dir: Eric Colonna)Honorable Mention: See You, Garbage! (Dir: Romain Dumont)Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize: The Ritual to Beauty (Dir: Shenny de Los Angeles and MariaMarrone)Honorable Mention: Walls Cannot Keep Us From Flying (Dir: Jonathan Haff Mehring)Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Chameleon (Dir: Ima Iduozee and Jaamil Olawale Kosoko)Honorable Mention: Compositions for Understanding Relationships (Dir: David De La Fuente)Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize: I’m Here (Dir: Julia Orlik)Honorable Mention: Oldboy’s Apples (Dir: Brad Hock)The AGBO Fellowship, presented by Joe and Anthony Russo, Award Winner: Ethan Eng, director ofTherapy DogsSlamdance Acting Award: Hannah Lee Thompson of Hannah Ha HaHonorable Mention: Batel Moseri of BrachaGeorge Starks Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner: Sasha Levinson, director of Sylvie of the SunshineStateCreativeFuture Innovation Award: My Parent, Neal (Dir: Hannah Saidiner)Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: The Civil Dead (Dir. Clay Tatum)Audience Award for Documentary Feature: Iron Family (Dir.

IFC Films has nabbed U.S. rights to “Fire,” the new drama from celebrated French director Claire Denis. The pact marks the first major domestic deal of the Berlinale 2022 competition.World premiering next week at the Berlin Film Festival, “Fire” is headlined by two of France’s biggest stars, Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”) and Vincent Lindon (“Titane”).

Shalini Dore Features News EditorMultihyphenate M. Night Shyamalan is eager to get started on his role as the Berlin Film Festival’s competition jury president.“Part of going to film festivals and seeing these movies is I’m with the very best storytellers that are telling the most different and original stories in their own way,” Shyamalan said.

Chris Willman Music WriterSheryl Crow, Nick Cave, King Crimson, Dio, XXXTentacion, Tanya Tucker, Chumbawamba, Courtney Barnett, Cesária Évora and Mojo Nixon — together again for the first time: These are some of the highly diverse subjects of a slate of music documentaries (or, in the case of Tierra Whack, a fictional film) set to unspool at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin March 11-20.The 16 movies represented in the “24 Beats Per Second” lineup are nearly all world premieres, in a film festival that skews toward SXSW’s original roots as a pure music festival by always carving out a special category for features that chronicle musicians or music scenes.The music doc coming into the festival with probably the highest level of fan anticipation is , which promises to have director Sabaah Folayan offering “a sensitive portrayal” of a precocious, highly controversial, Soundcloud-based rapper “whose acts of violence, raw musical talent and open struggles with mental health left an indelible mark on his generation before his death at the age of 20.” While many of the festival entries are looking for a sale from their exposure at SXSW, “Look at Me!” is already set to stream on Hulu this summer. Joining the artist profiles in the film lineup are documentaries about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story,” by co-directors Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern, and rubber bridge guitars, in “Really Good Rejects,” a film that will have producer Aaron Dessner talking about using them on Taylor Swift’s recent folkier albums.Some of the films promise to be complete life and career chronicles, like those devoted to Crow, Barnett and Dio.

Naman Ramachandran Producer and financier Anton (“Greenland,” “The Night House”) has hired Leslie Chen as senior VP, international distribution and sales and has elevated consultant Louis Balsan to executive VP, international distribution and acquisitions. They will be part of Anton’s German office and will report into Paris-based Cécile Gaget, president of international production and distribution.

Shalini Dore Features News EditorThe Miami Film Festival returns this year with a hybrid event that includes nine premieres, with three films bowing in special red carpet presentations from March 4-13 in the Florida city. The festival had previously announced that “The Good Boss” would open the event while “Plaza Catedral” would be the closer.

EXCLUSIVE: The Berlin Film Festival and accompanying European Film Market may be all about the big screen but, over the past few years, the Berlinale Series has been growing in stature. Series Head Julia Fidel has watched as the barriers between film and TV have broken down and more and more stars, writers and execs behind the biggest movies have chosen to helm TV projects.

Sarah Palin was spotted dining at a New York restaurant on Wednesday (January 26) after it was revealed she had tested positive for COVID-19 just two days earlier. The 57-year-old former Alaska governor, who is not vaccinated against the coronavirus, ate outdoors with a group of friends at the Italian hot spot Elio’s, making it her second visit to the establishment since Saturday, when she dined indoors without presenting a vaccination card. On Tuesday, she also dined at another eatery called Campagnola, per the Daily Mail. With the two most recent outings, the failed VP candidate appeared to be flouting local health and safety measures, which call for positive coronavirus cases to isolate for at least five days.

Glasgow Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 2022 edition, which runs March 2-13.

Berlin Film Festival organizers on Wednesday said they have further updated their Covid regulations ahead of the fest, which kicks off February 10.

The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival has confirmed its various juries, including who will be joining M. Night Shyamalan to award the International Competition prizes.

Wilson Chapman editorThe Miami Film Festival has announced its opening and closing titles for its upcoming 39th edition.The festival, which showcases works from filmmaker’s in the Ibero-American diaspora, will premiere and end with two films listed on the Oscar shortlist for international feature film. “The Good Boss” (El Buen Patrón), a comedy written and directed by Spain’s Fernando León de Aranoa, will open the festival, which will close with “Plaza Catedral,” the sophomore narrative feature of Panamanian director Abner Benaim.“The Good Boss” stars Javier Bardem as Blanco, the owner of a family business up for consideration for a local award for business excellence. Determined to win the award, Blanco begins meddling in the lives of his employees, setting off a chain of events that leads to shocking repercussions.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentBerlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian on Wednesday unveiled the full lineup for the fest’s 72nd edition which he is hellbent on holding as an in-person event despite the global spread of the omicron variant, even after other top fests such as Sundance and Rotterdam have thrown in the towel and gone online.Chatrian spoke to Variety about the selection and what he expects his “exercise in resistance,” as he has called it, to be like on the ground in Berlin.Yes. Despite everything that is happening, the willingness and desire to be part of the festival on the part of production companies, sellers, actors and directors is very strong. I was even moved a couple of weeks ago when they told me that Paolo Taviani, who is 91, really wants to come at any cost. I think filmmakers are pining to be reconnected [with audiences] and the Berlinale even more than other festivals gives that sense, because you are at the center of a city.

The lights may be dim at the Eccles Theater and Park City's Main Street will have fewer cinephiles packing the snowy sidewalks when the Sundance Film Festival begins its 44th edition Thursday night. But if 2021 proved anything, it's that the world's premier independent film festival is more than its ski town locale.This year Sundance is back online and armed with nine days of high profile documentaries about everyone from Kanye West and Princess Diana to Lucille Ball and Bill Cosby, buzzy first films from knowns and unknowns, virtual gatherings and filmmaker Q&As.

While somewhat arbitrary and beholden to what’s finished, what’s available, and what’s ready, film festivals tend to have good years and bad years, depending. And well, after several good years, where the Berlin Film Festival has re-established itself as a significant player in the world cinema film festival sweepstakes, the Berlinale has really upped the ante in 2022 with a terrific line-up.

Naman Ramachandran REFRESH THIS PAGE FOR UPDATES FROM 11AM CETThe 72nd edition of the Berlin Film Festival is revealing the films in the Competition and Encounters strands, as well as the not-yet-announced films of the Berlinale Special section. The festival will go ahead as an in-person event, albeit with seating capacity in movie theaters reduced to 50% and without any parties or receptions.

The 72nd Berlin International Film Festival is revealing its Competition line-up this morning from 11am CET, refresh this page for updates.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFrench auteur Alain Guiraudie’s political drama “Nobody’s Hero” has been set as the opener of the 2022 Berlin Film Festival’s multifaceted Panorama strand, which has announced its full lineup.The latest feature from Guiraudie, who is best known for his 2016 “Staying Vertical,” takes place in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, where a terrorist attack triggers some paranoid dynamics involving a young homeless man, a middle-aged sex worker and her married lover who have taken refuge in a building. The film’s cast comprises actor-director Noémie Lvovsky, Jean-Charles Clichet and Doria Tillier.The ten-title Panorama Dokumente strand, which runs concurrently with the feature films, comprises previously announced transgender-themed doc “Nel Mio Nome” (“Into My Name”) by Italian director and producer Nicolò Bassetti.

“Ticket to Paradise,” a romantic comedy starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, has suspended production in the Queensland state of Australia due to rising COVID cases in the region.An individual with knowledge confirmed production on “Ticket to Paradise” was temporarily suspended, but could not comment on specifics in terms of a time frame. A source also says that a limited number of COVID cases were reported on the film, but that production was suspended due to the rising number of cases in the Queensland area.