Middleburg Film Festival Preview: ‘Rustin,’ ‘Saltburn’ Among Buzzy Titles Headed to Virginia

EXCLUSIVE: Stars Collective, a Los Angeles-based film finance and mentorship arm, has announced the launch of Stars Asian International Film Festival – a new capsule film showcase to take place in Los Angeles November 12-16. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has announced the bulk of its lineup from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), signaling that the event is forging ahead with its third edition despite the Israel-Hamas war that has caused cancellations of several movie celebrations across the Arab world. The fest’s third edition, set to run Nov.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Pia Lundberg, a Swedish film industry veteran, is set to succeed Jonas Holmberg as the new artistic director of Göteborg Film Festival, Scandinavia’s leading film-TV event. Lundberg most recently served as counsellor for cultural affairs at the Embassy of Sweden in London for the last five years.

Rustin, which honors the deceased civil rights leader, the National Black Justice Coalition renewed its call for a “Black Heritage Stamp” honoring Bayard Rustin’s contributions to the Civil Rights Movement.NBJC wants the postal service to unveil the stamp in February 2024, traditionally commemorated as Black History Month.“Bayard Rustin was the mentor of well-known civil rights leaders and chief organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Justice,” NBJC wrote in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.“Because of his identity as an openly same-gender loving man, he has been denied the recognition he deserves. Sadly, too few know about the life and legacy of Bayard.

Naman Ramachandran Sarvnik Kaur’s documentary “Against the Tide” has won the Golden Gateway Award at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. The film previously won awards at Sundance, Sydney and Seattle. Diwa Shah’s San Sebastian winner “Bahadur: The Brave” received Mumbai’s Silver Gateway Award.

Agora, the industry section of Greece’s Thessaloniki International Film Festival, kicks into gear this weekend with an eye on expansion as industry head Angeliki Vergou and her team introduce a series of changes to the established event.

Ava Duvernay‘s Origin and Matthew Heineman‘s American Symphony were among the top winners at the Virginia Film Festival, the four-day Charlottesville event that ran from Oct. 25-29.

Greece’s Thessaloniki International Film Festival returns this evening for its 64th edition with a screening of The Pot-au-Feu (The Taste of Things), the latest film by French-Vietnamese director Trần Anh Hùng. 

Kino Lorber has launched a new subscription streaming outlet, Kino Film Collection.

Indian actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas talked about how she was warned away from doing female-centric films when working in Hindi cinema, as well as her ambitions to expand her portfolio in the U.S., in a  conversation with fellow Indian actress Bhumi Pednekar at Mumbai Film Festival today. 

Very little has been heard from Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya since her buzzy 2017 Cannes title Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts. 

“Ticket sales have gone up 27%, and we’re only at the midway point, so I’m quite happy,” Ando Hiroyasu, Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF) Chairman, told Deadline as he shuttled between engagements at this year’s busy and buzzy comeback edition. 

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Cord Jefferson’s satirical comedy “American Fiction” has won the Audience Award for narrative film at the Middleburg Film Festival. Proving to be a true crowd-pleaser, it’s the third audience prize for the MGM title on the festival circuit following the Toronto and Mill Valley Film Festivals (at the latter it tied with “Rustin”).

Ellise Shafer Daniel Kaluuya world premiered his feature directorial debut, “The Kitchen,” at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday night, calling it “one of the best days of my life.” Kaluuya was on hand alongside his co-director Kibwe Tavares, producer Daniel Emmerson and several of the film’s actors, including “Top Boy” star Kane Robinson and newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman. Set in a dystopian London where all social housing has been banned, the film follows the residents of a community called the Kitchen who must fight to save their home. Speaking before the premiere, Kaluuya and Tavares explained that it’s taken nearly a decade to bring the Netflix film to the screen.

EXCLUSIVE: The BFI London Film Festival closes Sunday with the world premiere of The Kitchen, a movie set in a dystopian London where an impoverished community is forced to fend for themselves in ramshackle apartment blocks. It marks the feature directorial debut of Oscar- winning actor Daniel Kaluuya and architect-turned-filmmaker Kibwe Tavares.

The Wrestler, directed by Bangladeshi-Canadian filmmaker Iqbal H. Chowdhury, and September 1923, from Japan’s Tatsuya Mori, picked up the New Currents Awards as Busan International Film Festival wrapped a busy 28th edition on October 13. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Solids by the Seashore,” “The Berefts” and “House of the Seasons” were all multiple winners of the Vision Awards at the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday evening. Another winner was “Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Film Club,” a documentary celebrating Korea’s early cinephiles, who include “Parasite” director Bong Joon-ho. The Vision Awards precede the main New Currents Competition and the Jiseok Competition prizes which will be presented on Saturday at the festival’s closing ceremony.FIPRESCI Award“That Summer’s Lie” Dir. Sohn Hyun-lok.

The co-heads of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, which was rescheduled at the eleventh hour this week due to the Israel-Gaza crisis, have vowed that the event will go ahead in some shape or form.

Monsoon Wedding and A Suitable Boy filmmaker Mira Nair has been announced as the Head of Jury for the South Asia Competition at this year’s Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival (October 27-November 5). 

Cailee Spaeny dazzles while promoting her new film Priscilla at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival on Monday (October 9).