Josh Brolin and Sophie Thatcher to Receive Top Honors at Sun Valley Film Festival

Charna Flam The Sun Valley film festival announced Emilio Estevez is set to receive the Pioneer Award at the festival’s upcoming pioneer party.  Estevez joins previously announced Sun Valley film festival honorees including Variety‘s 10 Producers to Watch, Josh Brolin, Sophie Thatcher and Nina Yang Bongiovi, who are set to receive the Vision Award, the Rising Star Award and the Variety Creative Impact Award in Producing, respectively.  On March 31, Estevez will receive his Pioneer Award, and on April 1, will host a special screening of his 2011 feature, “The Way.” 

Charna Flam The ReelAbilities Film Festival returns for its 15th year, as the largest film festival in the U.S. dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation for the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with disabilities. The festival announced Academy Award winner Troy Kotsur as the 2023 Spotlight Award recipient, as well as listed the festival’s lineup, which includes 10 features and 24 shorts, from nine countries. Features include “Unidentified Objects,” “Being Michelle,” “Jasmine Is a Star,” “No Ordinary Campaign,” “Pushing Boundaries,” “The Quiet Epidemic,” “Shadow,” “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” “Upside Down” and “Okay! (The ASD Band Film).” The 24 shorts are divided into five categories: Out of the Box, Mental Health, Family Friendly, The Art of Living and With an Edge. The entire schedule can be found here.

is once again one of the most talked-about films in 2023, in large part thanks to one of its former child stars, Ke Huy Quan, who has made a major Hollywood comeback with . In the 1985 film directed by Richard Donner, written by Chris Columbus and based on a story by Steven Spielberg, Quan plays Richard «Data» Wang, a spy fanatic obsessed with making his own gadgets who is one of several kids living in a coastal Oregon town attempting to save their homes from foreclosure by searching for the long-lost fortune of legendary pirate One-Eyed Willy.During his emotional speech for his historic Best Supporting Actor Oscar win on Sunday for his role in, Quan personally thanked his co-star Jeff Cohen, who later became his lawyer and negotiated his deal for Cohen played Chunk in. Quan was in tears as he thanked Cohen, calling him his «Goonies brother for life.»The longtime friends later happily posed at the after-party alongside Ana de Armas.Back in January when Quan received an Oscar nomination, Cohen — who's a partner at entertainment law firm Cohen Gardner LLP — shared a heartfelt message for him on Twitter.«Could not be more proud of and excited for my Brother, Ke Huy Quan,» he wrote while sharing pictures of the two, including a throwback on of them on the set.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Asian premiere of Soi Cheang’s “Mad Fate” is just one of three locally-produced movies that have been set as the opening and closing titles of the upcoming Hong Kong International Film Festival. “Mad Fate” is joined in the festival opening slot on March 30 by “Elegies,” Ann Hui’s documentary portrayal of the topography of contemporary local poetry, which will have its world premiere. The closing film, another world premiere, is “Vital Sign,” an affecting drama directed by Cheuk Wan-chi and starring Louis Koo, Yau Hawk-sau, and Angela Yuen, which will wrap up proceedings on 10 April. In total, the festival has programmed some 200 films from 64 countries and territories. These include nine world premieres, six international premieres, and 67 Asian premieres.

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) will open with two local films – Soi Cheang’s noir thriller Mad Fate and the world premiere of Ann Hui’s Elegies, a documentary about contemporary local poetry.

EXCLUSIVE: UTA has signed rising star Sinqua Walls for representation in all areas.

Katie Reul editor Will Smith won the NAACP Image Award for outstanding actor in a motion picture for his performance in “Emancipation” on Saturday night, marking his first award win since his infamous incident at the 2022 Oscars in which he slapped Chris Rock onstage. Smith was not present at the ceremony to accept his award in person. Set in 19th century Louisiana, Smith portrays a runaway slave who embarks on a treacherous journey to Baton Rouge while thwarting off violent plantation owners. “Emancipation” was inspired by an 1863 photograph known as “Whipped Peter,” which depicts a once-enslaved individual with severe lacerations on his back. The image’s circulation placed the brutality of slavery in front of the eyes of the American public.

can be found here.MAIN COMPETITIONGolden Bear for Best Film: “On the Adamant” (“Sur l’Adamant”), Nicolas PhilibertSilver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “Afire” (“Roter Himmel”), Christian PetzoldSilver Bear Jury Prize: “Bad Living” (“Mal Viver”), Joao CanijoSilver Bear for Best Director: Philippe Garrel, “The Plough”Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: Sofia Otero, “20,000 Species of Bees”Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: Thea Ehre, “Till the End of the Night”Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: Angela Schanelec, “Music”Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Hélène Louvart for the cinematography of “Disco Boy”ENCOUNTERSBest Film: “Here,” Bas DevosBest Director: “The Echo,” Tatiana HuezoSpecial Jury Award: “Samsara,” Lois PatiñoSpecial Jury Award: “Orlando, My Political Biography,” Paul B. PreciadoGWFF Best First Feature Award: “The Klezmer Project,” Leandro Koch, Paloma SchachmannSpecial Mention: “The Bride,” Myriam U.

Guy Lodge Film Critic The official awards ceremony of this year’s Berlin Film Festival is under way, with Kristen Stewart’s jury set to announce their winners from the Competition selections. This post will be updated as they’re announced.Previously announced: AUDIENCE AWARDS Panorama Audience Award: “Sira,” Apolline TraoréSecond Prize: “The Burdened,” Amr GamalThird Prize: “Midwives,” Léa Fehner Panorama Documentary Audience Award: “Kokomo City,” D. SmithSecond Prize: “The Eternal Memory,” Maite AlberdiThird Prize: “The Cemetery of Cinema,” Thierno Souleymane Diallo

The competition winners of the 73rd Berlinale are about to start rolling in as the festival draws to a close Saturday evening.

Makoto Shinkai’s latest pic Suzume is the first Japanese animated picture to play in competition at Berlin in two decades. However, Shinkai told a press conference in Berlin that a successful festival run has never been high on his list of priorities.

A cottage in the woods: isolated, idyllic and unavoidably reminiscent of some half-forgotten fairy tale. Unfortunately, Leon (Thomas Schubert) is not a country person. When his friend Felix’s car breaks down on the forest road on the way to the family holiday house where they both plan to work in peace and quiet, all Leon can hear are unnerving crackles in the undergrowth. Wild boar. Leon is definitely not a wild boar kind of guy.

Doctor Zhivago, Casablanca, Amour. Over the decades, cinema has produced some fictional love stories of enduring beauty and resonance. But for sheer emotional force, even those classics may not rival the true love story told in The Eternal Memory.

Steven Spielberg was presented with the Berlin Film Festival’s Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement by U2 frontman Bono, who made a surprise appearance at the rousing special ceremony on Tuesday.

Danish actor Nikolaj Lie Kaas is best known for his work on-screen with filmmakers such as Lars von Trier and Anders Thomas Jensen, but he’s in Berlin this week with Agent, his first project as a writer-director.

Holly Jones The stars are aligning on political thriller “The Chauffeur’s Son,” a six-part series from acclaimed Spanish creative duo Isaki Lacuesta and Isa Campo.  It is one of five projects that has pulled down a muscular €1.5 million ($1.6 million) grant from Catalonia’s ICEC film-TV aimed at ensuring potential production partners that the series can bring series money to the table. It comes after the two which won two Golden Shells at San Sebastian, for “The Double Steps” (2011) and “Between Two Waters” (2018), have demonstrated their chops for directing broad audience drama series, directing and in Campo’s case writing two episodes in Movistar+’s series “Offworld,” a Variety 2022 Best International TV Series.    

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Berlin Film Festival has returned to its first fully in person edition since 2020. But this year, the Berlinale has come back with a vengeance, and added something that it wasn’t especially known for in its pre-pandemic days: star power. Indeed, it’s been hard not to bump into a famous person in the German city — almost giving this previously mostly auteur driven gathering a vibe that more closely resembles the latest versions of Sundance or Toronto. Artistic director Carlo Chatrian told Variety Sunday that A-list names help raise awareness for the festival’s core mission – to celebrate movies and encourage audiences to return to theaters.

Israeli film producer Yoav Roeh spoke passionately at the Berlin Film Festival on Sunday about the threat to freedom of speech in Israel under a proposed overhaul of the country’s judiciary by Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government.

Marta Balaga Director: Vita Maria Drygas Producer: Vita Żelakeviciute Production companies: Drygas Film Production Sales: Dogwoof Documentary is a journey to places devastated by military conflicts, seen through the eyes of thrill-seeking tourists. (Generation 14plus) Director: Asaf Saban

Sydney Sweeney passed through the Berlin Film Festival Saturday evening alongside playwright and director Tina Satter to debut their new feature Reality.