International Female Directors Urge Academy Voters to Nominate ‘Bold and Diverse’ Films

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Fisher King, the leading Finnish company behind some of Scandinavia’s biggest scripted hits including “Bordertown” and “The Helsinki Syndrome,” has gone bankrupt amid challenges that have thrown the Scandinavian TV industry into turmoil. Beta Film, which acquired Fisher King in 2019 and subsequently launched the umbrella banner Beta Nordic Studios, said the company was declared bankrupt on Dec.

Marta Balaga Finnish director Tiina Lymi decided to “go big” for “Stormskerry Maja,” set in the 19th century. Based on a series of books by Anni Blomqvist, it has been selected for International Film Festival Rotterdam and Goteborg. “It had to be done this way.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent By now, even the most hardcore fans of French cuisine and “Chocolat” star Juliette Binoche can agree that Justine Triet‘s “Anatomy of a Fall” – rather than Tran Anh Hung’s “The Taste of Things” — was the one movie that could have given France its first Oscar win for best international feature in over 30 years, since Régis Wargnier’s “Indochine.” Over the last three decades, a number of French movies have earned Oscar recognition, but none have been the official French Oscar submission. Michael Haneke’s “Amour” earned five Oscar noms in 2013 and even won the best foreign-language Oscar but it represented Austria.

Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos was asked by an analyst on today’s Q4 earnings call if “the recent management departure” would impact the streamer’s future plans for making original feature films.

is upon us as the 2024 Oscar nominations will be announced at 8:30 a.m. ET by Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Playtime has boarded “The Devil’s Bath,” a period psychological thriller directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the Austrian filmmaking duo behind the critical and commercial hit “Goodnight Mommy.” The movie reteams Franz and Fiala with Ulrich Seidl, who also produced “Goodnight Mommy.” Set in rural Austria in 1750, “The Devil’s Bath” stars Anja Plaschg, the up-and-coming singer and composer known as Soap & Skin. Plaschg plays Agnes, a young married woman who feels oppressed in her husband’s world which is devoid of emotions and limited to chores and expectations. A pious and highly sensitive woman, Agnes falls into a deep depression, before committing a shocking act of violence that she sees as the only way out of her inner prison.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Dahomey,” a documentary directed by Cannes prizewinner Mati Diop (“Atlantique”) and slated for the Berlinale competition, will be represented internationally by Paris-based Les Films du Losange. The feature marks the directorial comeback of the French-Senegalese talent after winning the Grand Prize at Cannes with “Atlantique” in 2019.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Match Factory has secured the rights for Berlinale Competition title “Dying,” by German director Matthias Glasner. Wild Bunch will be distributing the film in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. Glasner credits include Golden Bear nominees “Gnade” (2012) and “Der Freie Wille” (2006).

So, here we are in mid-January, and though we’re staring down the barrel of a tough year ahead, it’s not all wintry doom and gloom on an international box office (and combined global) level. 

In the realm of zombie-themed films, a genre often filled with clichés and predictable plot lines, Handling the Undead aims to stand out as something different.

Abdallah Sima will be assessed by Senegal after picking up a hip injury during the African Cup of Nations.

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER “Blue Bag Life” — Lisa Selby (Director), Rebecca Lloyd-Evans (Director, Producer), Alex Fry (Producer) “Bobi Wine: The People’s President” — Christopher Sharp (Director) [also directed Moses Bwayo] “Earth Mama” — Savanah Leaf (Writer, Director, Producer), Shirley O’Connor (Producer), Medb Riordan (Producer) “How to Have Sex” — Molly Manning Walker (Writer, Director) “Is There Anybody Out There?” — Ella Glendining (Director) ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY “Anatomy of a Fall” — Justine Triet, Arthur Harari “Barbie” — Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach “The Holdovers” — David Hemingson “Maestro” — Bradley Cooper, Josh Singer “Past Lives” — Celine Song ADAPTED SCREENPLAY “All of Us Strangers,” Andrew Haigh “American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan “Poor Things,” Tony McNamara “The Zone of Interest,” Jonathan Glazer FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE “20 Days in Mariupol” — Mstyslav Chernov, Raney Aronson Rath “Anatomy of a Fall” — Justine Triet, Marie-Ange Luciani, David Thion “Past Lives” — Celine Song, David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon “Society of the Snow” — J.A. Bayona, Belen Atienza “The Zone of Interest” — Jonathan Glazer ANIMATED FILM “The Boy and the Heron” — Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” — Sam Fell, Leyla Hobart, Steve Pegram “Elemental” — Peter Sohn, Denise Ream “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” — Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K.

Alex Ritman The nominees for the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards are set to be revealed on Thursday, with Naomi Ackie and Kingsley Ben-Adir — both former BAFTA Rising Star nominees — making the announcement at 12 p.m. U.K. time (4 a.m.

The move in recent years to make the Oscars a truly global event in terms of the membership drive by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has paid off particularly well this year: Eligible voters from a record 93 countries submitting ballots in the Academy Awards’ nominating round, which ended Tuesday at 5 p.m. PT.

The British Film Institute has revealed the list of TV, film, and animation companies that have won funding from its latest £3.3M ($4.2M) Global Screen Fund payout.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Put your pencils down, and pass your ballots to the front. The nominations voting period for the 96th Academy Awards is now closed. The latest influences on the race came from the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes, where Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” topped both groups.

EXCLUSIVE: Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki has achieved his best global box office in a decade with Cannes Jury Prize winner Fallen Leaves which has racked up a total gross of $12.4M, according to figures released by its producers.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Newen Connect has closed a raft of sales on “Kina & Yuk,” a live action family adventure from the team behind “Ailo’s Journey,” ahead of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase. Directed by Guillaume Maidatchevsky (“Ailo’s Journey”), the feature is a wild arctic tale following two foxes who are separated by the melting polar ice and must overcome a number of dangers in the hope of being reunited and raise a family together. The movie was released in French theaters by UGC on Dec.

Stuart Miller True gender parity remains an unfulfilled goal in Hollywood as in the rest of the world. But over the past several years, the power and potential of women’s stories has finally begun to take deeper root in the entertainment industry.

Alex Ritman After just one weekend of international release, “Priscilla” — Sofia Coppola‘s biopic starring Jacob Elordi as Elvis Presley and Cailee Spaeny as The King’s (then) teenage bride “Priscilla” — has already hit several major milestones for arthouse streamer and distributor Mubi. Produced by Fremantle’s The Apartment, the film currently sits on a box office in excess of $20 million in the U.S., where A24 released the film on Oct.