John Wilson to Be Special Guest at Visions du Réel Documentary Film Festival

Interim boss John O'Shea will be taking charge of the Republic of Ireland's friendly games in March. The former Manchester United player turned coach has been picked by the Football Association of Ireland to lead the team.

Hairspray director John Waters is set to begin production on his first film in 20 years, according to reports.As per World of Reel, Aubrey Plaza will take the lead in Liarmouth – an adaptation of Waters’ book of the same name that was released in 2022.The book was described by publishers on its release as a “hilariously filthy tale of sex, crime, and family dysfunction” and was subtitled, “A Feel-Bad Romance.”Liarmouth focuses on a compulsive liar and scammer Marsha Sprinkle who splits from her partner Daryl and steals from both her daughter and her mother.The project was first announced in 2022 via Deadline, but appears to have been delayed due to last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes.Waters’ last film in the director’s chair was 2004’s A Dirty Shame, which starred Tracey Ullman, Johnny Knoxville and Selma Blair.Waters broke through with cult films like Pink Flamingos and Polyester before films like Hairspray, Cry-Baby and Serial Mom made him a household name.Last year, Waters named Ari Aster’s dark comedy Beau Is Afraid as the best film of 2023.The director shared his annual list of favorite movies of the year with Vulture, placing the A24 film at the very top.“A superlong, super-crazy, super-funny movie about one man’s mental breakdown with a cast better than Around the World in 80 Days: Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, Parker Posey, Nathan Lane, and Amy Ryan,” Waters wrote.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Swiss investment firm Crédit des Alpes is launching a new film financing division called The Film Bond, which offers an online tool that it claims reduces standard costs of completion bonds that most indie producers need to get their projects off the ground. A completion bond is simply a guarantee that a film’s production will be completed on time and on budget.

Winners have been announced at the 74th Berlin Film Festival, with Dahomey by French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop scooping the coveted Golden Bear prize as the best film of the festival’s International Competition. Scroll down for the full list of winners, which were revealed Saturday evening at the Berlinale Palast.

Martin Scorsese was at the Berlinale this week for the first time in a decade. His presence to collect an honorary Golden Bear was a reminder of the festival’s glories of yesteryear.

For a time, it seemed like an auteur war was about to break out over Adam Sandler, with some of America’s most revered directors vying to find the right role for the comedian. It was rumored, but never confirmed, that Quentin Tarantino imagined him a key role while writing Inglourious Basterds, although this might have been wishful thinking from critics who saw the talented Sandler heading in the same direction as John Travolta until Pulp Fiction saved him from a lifetime of Look Who’s Talking movies. In the end, Paul Thomas Anderson got there first, with Punch Drunk Love (2002), although the glow of a bona fide arthouse hit didn’t last long, and Jack and Jill still happened less than ten years later.

It’s not often that a doc about the transformative power of cinema will deliberately use bad clips of the movies it’s talking about, but that’s part of the point of this insightful, sprawling film, corralled by director David Hinton. Though the masterpieces made by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger at the height of their big-screen, Technicolor powers were visually impeccable, their subversive emotional power could still pack a punch through a 16-inch TV screen, even from the most scratched, butchered, and washed-out black-and-white prints.

EXCLUSIVE: Beloved French actor Omar Sy stars in the debut feature from longtime producer Brandt Andersen in The Strangers’ Case, a searing and international ensemble that is world premiering at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday. Watch an exclusive clip above.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Locarno Film Festival has formed an advisory board for its industry side and recruited a roster of top indie industry figures including former Amazon Studios film executive Ted Hope, Bobby Allen, who is senior VP of content at Mubi, and former European Film Market chief Beki Probst as members. Locarno’s industry advisory board will be headed by Nadia Dresti, the former head of the prominent Swiss indie cinema event’s market side who has been with Locarno intermittently for roughly 30 years with an interlude for a few years as head of marketing for Fox Switzerland.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sony Pictures has bought international rights to “Materialists,” Celine Song’s follow up to “Past Lives” which is nominated for best picture and original screenplay at the Oscars. The worldwide deal for “Materlialists” excludes certain territories. A24 will handle the U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent U.S. specialty distributor Shadow Distribution has taken North American rights to Italian director Giorgio Diritti’s ethnic cleansing drama “Lubo,” toplining Franz Rogowski, from Italy’s True Colours.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will open the 15th annual TCM Classic Film Festival on Thursday, April 18 with a 35mm screening of the classic neo-noir Pulp Fiction (1994). Two-time Academy Award nominee John Travolta will attend to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film. 

Right from the start, there is no doubt where we are. Narrow, gray streets in the dim daylight of winter, peat hills between cramped villages, a crow sitting on a church spire: this is western Ireland in the ’80s, when the Celtic Tiger was yet to roar and jobs were scarce, divorce was illegal, condoms available only on prescription and central heating unknown.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Copenhagen documentary film festival CPH:DOX, whose 21st edition runs from March 13-24, has unveiled the films nominated across all six award categories. The selection features 66 films in competition, among which 47 are world premieres, 17 international premieres and two European premieres.

EXCLUSIVE: National Geographic Documentary Films is bringing Bobi Wine: The People’s President back to the big screen in some major markets Friday for President’s Day weekend.

Christopher Vourlias Gordon Main’s apartheid-era documentary “London Recruits” has been tapped as the opening film at the sixth Joburg Film Festival, which takes place Feb. 27 – March 3 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The film sheds light on a pivotal moment in South Africa‘s history, when the struggle against the apartheid government in South Africa developed a new secret weapon.

New York’s Museum of the Moving Image has revealed the full lineup for First Look 2024, the 13th edition of the festival that showcases “new and innovative international cinema,” both fiction and nonfiction.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Paris-based sales and production outfit Totem Films has closed a slew of sales ahead of the Berlinale premieres of their Competition title “My Favourite Cake,” and the Panorama opening film “Crossing.” Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha‘s “My Favourite Cake” sold to Cherry Pickers for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Arizona for France, Triart for Sweden, Cineworx for Switzerland and BIR for Turkey. Levan Akin‘s “Crossing” sold to Imagine for Benelux, New Story for France, Lucky Red for Italy, Avalon for Spain and Cineworx for Switzerland. As announced previously, a multi-territory deal was also signed with Mubi.

was the special guest of the Black Eyed Peas — the freaking Black Eyed Peas — when the “I Gotta Feeling” foursome headlined the Super Bowl XLV halftime show in 2011.How will.i.am, Fergie and crew could ever relegate Usher to a backup role on the biggest stage in music is enough to make anybody go “OMG”?But 13 years after Usher swooped in and upstaged the Peas, justice was finally served when the singer had his own career moment on Sunday.This time around — midway through the showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas — it was will.i.am.

Usher headlined the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show and we have everything you need to know about that energetic set, including the setlist and special guests.