International Oscar Race: Switzerland Selects Rural Coming of Age Drama ‘Thunder’

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chilean indie Equeco, led by Pablo Calisto, is a triple threat at the 19th Santiago Int’l Film Festival (Sanfic), with three projects participating in the annual event running August 20-27. Vying for the top prize in the official competition is Equeco’s “Historia y Geografia,” which debuts its teaser trailer exclusively on Variety. Equeco is also embarking on its most ambitious project, “Il Cileno” by Sergio Castro San Martín, a historical drama in co-production with Italy’s Dispàrte, a Rome-based independent production company founded in 2015 by Alessandro Amato and Luigi Chimienti.

Naman Ramachandran The European premiere of Kristoffer Borgli‘s satire “Dream Scenario,” starring Nicolas Cage, will open the 19th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 28-Oct. 8).

Chile on Wednesday named the anti-colonialist Western The Settlers from first-time feature filmmaker Felipe Gálvez as its official entry for Best International Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards.

Estonia has selected the Sundance prize-winning doc Smoke Sauna Sisterhood as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.

Showtime has set a fall premiere for its limited series Fellow Travelers, starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey. Fellow Travelers will make its streaming debut on the Paramount+ with Showtime plan beginning Friday, October 27 before its linear debut on Sunday, October 29 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime. The series will also premiere on Paramount+ on October 27 in Canada and on October 28 in all the UK, Australia, Latin America, South Korea, Italy, Germany Switzerland and Austria.

World of Wonder has announced the drag queens who will compete in season one of “Drag Race Germany,” the first German iteration of the award winning “RuPaul’s Drag Race” franchise. The show is set to premiere on Sept.

Mark Zuckerberg is calling out rival billionaire Elon Musk for refusing to set a date for their much-hyped UFC-style cage match.

Elon Musk has some new details to share about his cage match against rival billionaire Mark Zuckerberg.

Elon Musk seemingly compared his eventual fight with Mark Zuckerberg to a face off between gladiators while updating his followers about organizing the event.

The bizarre cage match challenge between tech tycoons Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg just got a little stranger.

Hibernian manager Lee Johnson used Manchester United loanee Will Fish as a damning example to criticise his players following their Scottish Premiership opening day defeat by St Mirren last weekend.

is almost here — and more emotional than ever!TLC shared the trailer for the upcoming 11th season of the reality show on Tuesday, which opens with series star Whitney Way Thore tearfully eulogizing her mother, Barbara «Babs» Thore, who died on Dec. 7, 2022.«I don't know how we're gonna go one without her, but I know that she would want us to figure it out,» Whitney shares with the gathered mourners.After the emotional funeral, Whitney and her brother, Hunter, turn their attention to their father, Glenn, who is struggling after the loss of his wife.«It's like he's just lost,» Whitney shares with her brother.

Travis Scott is hitting the road for the first time since the 2021 Astroworld tragedy that left 10  attendees dead. 

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Up to $20 million could be pumped into independent film production in Switzerland thanks to revisions to the country’s Film Act, which will compel streamers such as Prime Video and Netflix to invest in the local film business. A roundtable during the Locarno Film Festival titled “Swiss Film Industry – New Film Act and New Opportunities” outlined the changes that would come into force in the new year with the implementation of the revised act.

Marta Balaga You can approach old classics just like new films, argued participants during Locarno’s Heritage Monday panel. “I talked to an exhibitor in Paris and they don’t consider repertory cinema to be different from contemporary cinema. They are collapsing both models into one and it’s very interesting,” said K.J.

Switzerland has selected Camille Jaquier’s coming-of-age period drama Thunder (Foudre) as its entry for the Best International Film category at the 2024 Oscars.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Swiss Films previewed four films to industry guests at a special event hosted by Locarno Pro, the industry section of Locarno Film Festival, showcasing generational range and genre diversity. The selection included the new film by Carmen Jaquier, the director of “Thunder,” which was announced this week as the Swiss entry in the international feature film category of the Academy Awards.

Marta Balaga Alliance 4 Development – a co-development initiative for film projects from Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland hosted by Locarno Pro – is ready to embrace a “variety of genres, themes and visions,” says project manager Francesca Palleschi. Among 11 titles selected for its 8th edition, emerging filmmakers will be featured alongside their more established colleagues.

Calvin Harris made a savage plastic surgery dig at music mogul and Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell during his appearance on The One Show today, Thursday 3 August. The Acceptable in the 80s hitmaker, who is engaged to radio DJ Vick Hope, was on the BBC One sofa to promote his latest dance-inspired track Desire, which he has collaborated on with Sam Smith. As Calvin, 39, chatted all things music and inspiration with hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp, the Scottish star couldn't resist a cheeky swipe at Simon.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Prime Video has acquired the Ancient Rome gladiator drama series “Those About to Die” in multiple European territories. The show is directed by “Independence Day” helmer Roland Emmerich and Marco Kreuzpaintner. The 10-episode first season will debut exclusively on Prime Video in Germany, the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, Andorra, Monaco, Luxembourg and Belgium.