LeBron James, Naomi Osaka & Joel Embiid To Lead Selection Committee Of Second Annual Uninterrupted Film Festival

In Japan the very first few snowflakes begin to fall signaling the change of seasons. Another clue is we see young Takuya (Keitatsu Koshiyama) and his baseball-playing buddies taking those final swings at bat and moving on to ice hockey. That is basically how this quiet and lilting charmer of a coming-of-age story is introduced, and it sets the table perfectly for what is to follow.

Demi Moore is back on the red carpet in Cannes!

When Adi (Ciprian Chiujdea) is beaten up outside the one dance club in the village where he grew up, his father takes up the cudgels, chivvying the local police chief into finding out who did it. It would be obvious enough to anyone but dad Dragoi (Bogdan Dumitrache) that this is a straight-up case of gay-bashing, which would seem to signal that Emanuel Parvu’s Cannes Competition title Three Kilometers to the End of the World, a slice of Romanian life, will be a worthy but familiar story of a boy’s coming out to a hostile world. Indeed, bloodied Adi with his black eyes and traumatic lesions is soon being punished, locked in his room by his parents as his desperate mother prays to the icons on the wall for guidance. We have undoubtedly been down this donkey-track before. 

James Franco and his girlfriend Izabel Pakzad made a rare public appearance amid the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Tennis champion Naomi Osaka’s company Hana Kuma has boarded Leonardo Van Dijl’s debut feature “Julie Keeps Quiet” ahead of its world premiere on Saturday in Cannes Critics’ Week. The film is being sold by New Europe Film Sales. Osaka and her longtime agent and business partner Stuart Duguid’s Hana Kuma, an Emmy Award-nominated creative house, will serve as executive producers on the film.

Rithy Panh has dedicated the lion’s share of his career to interrogating the genocidal Khmer Rouge era in his native Cambodia, and it is no trivial obsession. Panh fled Phnom Penh when he was just 11, and after his family was devastated in the Killing Fields, he escaped to a Thai refugee camp at 15. Now 60, Panh has been committed to keeping the memory of the impact of Pol Pot’s tyrannical regime alive in documentary, narrative and animated film.

“Mommie Dearest” actress walked the red carpet at the premiere of the action film “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” starring Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy. She was joined by Laurent Bouzereau, 62, who is the director of her new documentary that is premiering at Cannes, and her son Liam Dunaway O’Neill, 43, who appears in the HBO doc.The Hollywood icon wore a black blazer over a white shirt with black pants.

As a #MeToo wave looked to rock the 77th Cannes Film Festival with rumors swirling that filmmakers with films at the event would be tagged, Thierry Frémaux emphasized his event isn’t about polemics, rather the picture that’s on the screen. If there are controversies during Cannes “we try to avoid them” he said today during an afternoon presser.

If cinema is somehow retracting, contracting, or diminishing, don’t tell the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival and all its many sidebars. Thank god for them because when you look at the Cannes 2024 line-up, cinema seems to be in great health and shape.

Robert De Niro.The off-shoot, appropriately titled De Niro Con promises to be a fitting tribute to the Oscar winner. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate 80 years of Robert De Niro, my dear friend and co-conspirator for the past 35 years, than by throwing a big bash for his fellow New Yorkers,” Tribeca co-founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal said in a statement.The extravaganza, which takes place from June 14-16, is a De Niro delight.And many famous co-stars and directors will be joining in.Film screenings include “A Bronx Tale” with an introduction by co-star Chazz Palminteri.“Jackie Brown” will be followed by a conversation between Quentin Tarantino and De Niro.Billy Crystal will be chatting with De Niro after a screening of “Analyze This.”“Silver Linings Playbook” will include a convo with director David O.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent One day after the “Sous les écrans la dèche” collective, made up of freelance festival workers, issued a call for a strike during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, organizers have issued a joint statement where they encouraged all parties to “come together around the bargaining table.” The statement, signed by the Cannes Film Festival as well as parallel sections Directors’ Fortnight, Critics’ Week and ACID, said they acknowledge the “difficulties faced by some of their staff” due to a reform of the “French unemployment insurance scheme,” and that they “hope that solutions will be found.” The organization is protesting against a looming labor reform that will see their unemployment indemnities slashed by more than half. The org brings together hundreds of workers at festivals, from projectionists to drivers and caterers, who are threatening to strike during Cannes which could potentially cause major disruptions.

Audrey Diwan‘s Emmanuelle has been announced as the opening film of the 72nd San Sebastian Festival, in competition.

Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival has revealed the full program lineup for its 34th edition. The festival champions 2SLGBTQ+ filmmakers from across the globe, and will showcase 106 films from 25 countries, including 30 feature films and 5 world premieres. The festival will take place May 24th to June 1st in Toronto, Canada at TIFF Lightbox as well as online. Inside Out’s Co-Head & Executive Director, Elie Chivi, and Co-Head & Artistic Director, Andrew Murphy, made today’s announcement. ​​ 

EXCLUSIVE: The Human Rights Watch Film Festival recently announced it’s closing down, and the future of Hot Docs remains uncertain at best. But there’s some hopeful news for the troubled film festival space: the return of the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York.

Naomi Osaka is a “Challengers” fan. The Japanese tennis player is the latest female player to show her support of Zendaya’s new film, which is set in the world of tennis.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Meryl Streep will receive the honorary Palme d’Or on the opening night of the 77th edition of Cannes Film Festival, Variety has learned. Luring the Oscar winner is yet another feat for this Cannes edition, which will bring together a flurry Hollywood legends. Notably, George Lucas will receive the honorary Palme d’Or during the closing ceremony; Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada” are playing in competition; and George Miller‘s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and Kevin Costner’s Western epic “Horizon, an American Saga” are playing out of competition.

There was a fleeting moment in the early and mid-00s when being selected for the Slamdance Film Festival could mean something for a filmmaker’s career. Sure, it wasn’t the same as being part of the more prestigious and larger Park City, Utah film festival, but the edgier offshoot event gave a voice to independent films that didn’t have an industry connection or agency influence to make the Sundance cut.

Greta Gerwig has her jury. This evening, the Cannes Film Festival revealed the rest of the nine-member jury filled with festival veterans and Academy members.

Actor Mohammed Elshehri belongs to a generation of emerging Saudi talents who first cut their teeth on YouTube and are now making their names in film and TV.

Just over six years have passed since Saudi Arabia announced the lifting of its 35-year cinema ban as part of a strategy to open up the country and move its economy away from a reliance on oil.