EXCLUSIVE: Multimedia mogul Lenard “Charlamagne Tha God” Mckelvey has boarded the documentary short In the Bubble with Jaime as an executive producer, ahead of its weekend premiere at the Montclair Film Festival.
11.10.2022 - 13:13 / deadline.com
A starry group of global talent has been set to join Paolo Sorrentino on the main jury for the 19th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival which runs from November 11-19 in the Moroccan city.
Alongside Sorrentino, who was named jury president last month, panelists are a host of award-winners including Danish writer/director Susanne Bier, Guatemalan-born U.S. actor and producer Oscar Isaac, British actor Vanessa Kirby, German actor Diane Kruger, Australian director Justin Kurzel, Lebanese director and actor Nadine Labaki, Moroccan director Laïla Marrakchi and French actor Tahar Rahim.
The international jury will award the Étoile d’Or to one of the 14 first and second feature films in the competition, which is dedicated to the discovery of filmmakers from around the world.
This will be a particularly significant edition for Marrakech as it marks the event’s first in-person iteration since 2019 after the pandemic led to its cancellation in 2020 and also scuppered hopes of a revival in 2021. The participation of such notable jurors signals a potential return to the high-profile of years past.
Marrakech was once a swank and multi-cultural affair that often drew Hollywood A-listers. It then experienced some growing pains, sitting out 2017 due to a reported lack of sponsorship and returning in 2018 under the stewardship of Christoph Terhechte as Artistic Director, who stepped down after two editions. Cannes Critics’ Week veteran Rémi Bonhomme was appointed Artistic Director in early 2020 and this year marks his first physical edition after working to keep the spirit of the event alive throughout this time with virtual iterations of its industry-focused Atlas Workshops project market.
EXCLUSIVE: Multimedia mogul Lenard “Charlamagne Tha God” Mckelvey has boarded the documentary short In the Bubble with Jaime as an executive producer, ahead of its weekend premiere at the Montclair Film Festival.
The 14th Annual Santa Fe International Film Festival has announced its juried award winners for the event which has run from Oct. 19-23.
Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age drama The Fabelmans has been announced as the opening film of 44th Cairo International Film Festival, running from November 13 to 22.
While already known as a respected novelist, playwright, theatre director, and screenwriter, French renaissance man Florian Zeller really put himself on the map with his directorial debut, “The Father,” in 2020, winning Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actors for Anthony Hopkins at the 93rd Academy Awards. Zeller follows that film up with “The Son,” which is actually not a sequel but stars Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Hugh Quarshie, and Anthony Hopkins once again.
Manori Ravindran International Editor Mark Rylance-led thriller “Inland” has been picked up for international sales by Paris-based sales agent Wide ahead of its BFI London Film Festival premiere. Produced by Black Twist Films, the film stars Rory Alexander, Mark Rylance and Kathryn Hunter and plays in the official selection of the U.K. festival. “Inland” is a modern folktale that explores the fractured identity of a young man after the mysterious disappearance of his mother. Guided by a father figure and old friends who care deeply, his journey through the dreamlike spaces of rural England brings him face to face with the loss that haunts him in ways he could never have expected.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi had his passport confiscated at the airport as he was about to board a flight to attend the BFI London Film Festival. Haghighi was expected to present there the U.K. premiere of his latest film, “Subtraction.” A BFI London Film Festival spokesperson confirmed the news to Variety and issued the following statement: “The Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi was due to travel to London today to support the UK premiere of his film Subtraction which is screening tomorrow at the BFI London Film Festival, but has been prevented from boarding his flight to the UK. He was turned away by authorities in Iran and has his passport confiscated. He has returned to his home in Tehran. We understand that no reason has been given to Mani Haghighi for the confiscation. The BFI London Film Festival supports Haghighi and all filmmakers in their freedom to make their films and present them around the world.
Michaela Zee editor Andy Garcia, Regina Hall, Tony Hale and Lisa Ann Walter are among the stars being honored at this year’s San Diego International Film Festival. In its 21st year, SDIFF will include the return of the Opening Night Film Premiere, the Night of the Stars Tribute and Culinary Cinema. The festival has also announced new additions to this year’s lineup, including the drama “She Said,” with Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, and “The Inspection,” starring Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union and Bokeem Woodbine. Garcia will receive the Gregory Peck Award, Hall will be presented the Virtuoso Award, Hale with the Fairbanks Award and Walter with the Virtuoso Award. As previously announced, Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) will receive the Spotlight Award following the screening of his upcoming drama film “Good News” on Oct. 23.
While your future planning probably only extends to Thanksgiving, the Sundance Film Festival is already thinking ahead to January, the 2023 edition of their festival. Today, the nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the first two films in the lineup for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and they are the 25th Anniversary and digital restoration screening of “SLAM” and the uncensored director’s cut and restoration of “The Doom Generation.” Directed by Marc Levin and written by Levin, Saul Williams, Sonja Sohn, and Richard Stratton, “SLAM” was first introduced to audiences at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered in the U.S.
Hollywood’s biggest names jetted to London to celebrate film and fashion at the 2022 BFI London Film Festival. Jessica Chastain, Vanessa Kirby and more dazzled Us with vibrant gowns, skintight frocks and tailored suits.
Hamptons International Film Festival is underway in full swing and has already seen a host of famous faces in attendance.The Long Island-based fest runs from Oct. 7 until Oct.
Japanese director Naomi Kawase will preside over the international jury of the 44th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival, running November 13 to 22.
Manori Ravindran International Editor New York’s South Asian International Film Festival has appointed Chayan Sarkar as its new president. A filmmaker, entrepreneur and festival director, Sarkar is also the founder of the Indian International Film Festival of Queensland in Australia. He takes over from SAIFF founder Shilen Amin, who will step down as president, but will remain a member of the festival’s board of directors. Sarkar joins SAIFF as the festival enters its 19th year as a leading film festival in the U.S. for new cinema from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, and within the Indian diaspora. In recent years, SAIFF has become increasingly influential as a platform for South Asian cinema, both in the U.S. and internationally. Fourteen of India’s submissions for the international feature film Oscar have had their North American premieres at the festival.
Naman Ramachandran Oscar and Venice-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras (“Citizenfour,” “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”) and fellow filmmakers Georgia Oakley (“Blue Jean”), Roberto Minervini (“What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?”) and Ondi Timoner (“Last Flight Home”) were among those who protested against the imprisonment of Iranian filmmakers and other incarcerated artists around the world, and to demonstrate support for the tenacious women of Iran who are challenging for their freedom at the BFI London Film Festival on Monday. They joined festival director Tricia Tuttle, producer Madeleine Molyneaux (“Gospel Hill”); actors Aurélia Petit (“Saint Omer”) and Taki Mumladze (“A Room of My Own”); actor and writer Mariam Khundadze (“To Batumi and every single memory”); writer Morgan M. Page (“Framing Agnes”); industry leaders Tabitha Jackson, Clare Binns and Jason Wood; and other festival delegates in a moment of solidarity and reflection.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Marrakech International Film Festival will make a big comeback this year with a star-studded jury, including Oscar Isaac (“Scenes from a Marriage”), Vanessa Kirby (“The Son”), French actor Tahar Rahim (“The Serpent”), Australian director Justin Kurzel (“Nitram”) and Danish director Susanne Bier (“The Undoing”). Lebanese director and actor Nadine Labaki (“Caparnum”), German actor Diane Kruger (“Inglorious Basterds”) and Moroccan director Laïla Marrakchi (“Marock”) complete the high-profile jury. As previously announced, Paolo Sorrentino, the Oscar-winning director of “The Great Beauty” and “The Hand of God,” will preside over the jury, which spans 10 countries from four continents.
Italian producer Lorenzo Mieli gave a spirited and often humorous rundown of his career as a producer working with directors such as Luca Guadagnino and Paolo Sorrentino during a keynote talk at the London Film Festival Monday.
Katie Reul editor The annual Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF) came to a close Saturday evening, concluding an 11-day event by screening the year’s top honorees at Háskólabíó alongside the award-winning Austrian drama “Vera.” Victors in the New Visions category, which exclusively features debut and sophomore films from filmmakers, are among the works which earned an on-screen reprisal. Winners include Golden Puffin recipient “Rodeo,” continuing the film’s early success in the awards circuit at festivals like Cannes and Champs-Élysées. “I spent five years writing what became ‘Rodeo,'” director Lola Quivoron previously told Varietyin regard to her feature debut. “I wanted to create a true fiction tale and weave in elements of genre, gangsterism and a bit of western. The idea was to make a film that had an aesthetic and a cinematic dimension.”
The strengths and possibilities of cinematic language were heavy on Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s mind as he sat down for a keynote ‘screen talk’ at the London Film Festival on Sunday afternoon.
K.J. Yossman “White Noise” director Noah Baumbach spoke about his career highlights – and low points – as well as his creative partnership with Greta Gerwig during the BFI London Film Festival on Friday afternoon (Oct. 7). Asked about the eight-year gap between making “Mr. Jealousy” and “The Squid and the Whale,” Baumbach quipped: “I thought, you know what? I really needed about eight years off.” “No, it wasn’t by design, it was by accident,” he quickly clarified. “I sort of had two careers in a way. I had this early career very quickly and I was really figuring it all out as I was doing it. I had never really been on a movie set before I made ‘Kicking and Screaming.’ But I had this sense of how a movie should be and what I wanted a movie to be. And then after ‘Mr. Jealousy’ [the way] I experienced it at the time is that I was having trouble getting things made. I think, also, I didn’t really know what I wanted to make. And I think maybe, in some ways, my ambitions sort of exceeded my ability.”