Pakistan Crescent Collective Hub Sets Cannes Debut (EXCLUSIVE)

Naman Ramachandran Cannes 2024 was a life-changing journey for Indian production designer-turned actor Anasuya Sengupta who won best actress at the festival’s Un Certain Regard strand for “The Shameless.” Sengupta made her acting debut alongside several of her friends in Anjan Dutt’s music-themed “Madly Bangali” (2009) and served as director’s assistant to Claire McCarthy in Australian production “The Waiting City” the same year. Kolkata native, Sengupta then moved to Mumbai, home to the vast Bollywood industry. She wasn’t impressed by Bollywood and became a noted production designer and artist instead.

CANNES – If you were to have asked us just 48 hours ago whether we believed Cannes would be sending another Best Picture nominee to the Academy Awards we would have been hesitant to answer yes. Now, following Sean Baker’s “Anorma” winning the Palme d’Or, it looks like Cannes’ Oscar streak will continue.

Sean Baker’s “Anora,” a comic but devastating Brooklyn odyssey about a sex worker who marries the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch, has won the Cannes Film Festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or.Baker accepted the prize with his movie’s star, Mikey Madison, watching in the audience at the Cannes closing ceremony Saturday. The win for “Anora” marks a new high point for Baker, the director of “The Florida Project.” It’s also, remarkably, the fifth straight Palme d’Or won by indie distributor Neon, following “Parasite,” “Titane,” “Triangle of Sadness” and last year’s winner, “Anatomy of a Fall.”“I don’t really know what’s happening right now,” said Baker.While “Anora” was arguably the most acclaimed film of the festival, its win was a slight surprise.

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired the North American rights for Gints Zilbalodis’s animated feature Flow, following an enthusiastic standing ovation at its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard on Wednesday.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cannes Film Festival president Iris Knobloch said she learned about the “power of cinema to carry messages, liberate speech and accomplish a duty of remembrance” from her parents, who are Holocaust survivors. Speaking at the Kering Women in Motion Talks at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, the Munich-born Knobloch said her parents took her to the movie theater several times a week.

“Yellowstone” star, 69, insisted that he “didn’t f–king cry” as it seemed he did when his new movie, “Horizon: An American Saga,” received an 11-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. Costner appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Tuesday after his trip to France and revealed what was going through his mind when he experienced the positive response to his Western feature. “I actually started walking my life backwards for a second,” he said.

Five years ago, Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi broke out internationally with the Oscar-nominated “Border,” a thorny little beast of a fable about love, complicity, and guilt. His latest prods at some of the same themes, although the thorny little beast at the center of “The Apprentice” is far from a fictional creature of fables.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sideshow and Janus films (“Drive My Car”) have acquired all North American rights to Payal Kapadia‘s “All We Imagine as Light,” the first Indian film to screen in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years. The movie will world premiere on Thursday, May 23. It’s also one of only four films in the Competition directed by a woman.

seven children at the premiere of his new Western movie, “Horizon: An American Saga” at the Cannes Film Festival. Costner, 69, was joined at the event Sunday by his daughters Annie, 40, Lily, 37, and Grace, 13, and his sons Cayden, 17, and Hayes, 15.His sons Joe, 36, and Liam, 26, were missing from the family reunion.Costner shares his three oldest kids with his first wife, Cindy Silva, whom he was married to from 1978 to 1994.

Naman Ramachandran British filmmakers Sean Cronin and Peter Stylianou’s latest feature, “Drained,” has wrapped post-production and is being sold by Cronin’s Magnificent Films at the Cannes Film Market. Cronin is also an actor who has appeared in “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” He has played villains in some 89 films, besides directing several titles. “Drained,” a vampire film, co-directed and produced by Cronin and Stylianou from a screenplay by Stylianou, follows Thomas, a jobless post-graduate artist who falls for Rhea, a mysterious woman who is revealed to be a vampire.

CANNES – There is nothing wrong with a three-hour movie. There have been absolute masterworks longer than 180 minutes.

The 20024 Cannes Film Festival is in full swing now, and it’s arguably been dominated by expensive passion projects that could be seen as vanity projects by their makers. The first one, Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited “Megalopolis,” landed yesterday to much consternation and mixed reviews; ours was positive, but still slightly baffled, and the film currently sits at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The publishing industry’s offensive against Spotify continues as the Mechanical Licensing Collective has filed legal action against the streaming giant’s U.S. division over its recent subscription offers that bundle music and audiobooks, resulting in a lower royalty.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Untamed Talent, the recently launched Arab world management and production company led by former Mister Smith Entertainment executive Antone Saliba is rebranding as 75East and bringing on board Shams Mohajerani, a former acquisitions executive at Cairo-based MAD Solutions, as its chief manager and producer. The change in name to 75East of the company, which launched last December with backing from Front Row Productions – a joint venture between leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment – is a geographical reference to the wider Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) region from Morocco to Pakistan, “reflecting the company’s commitment to representing talent beyond Arabic-speaking territories,” according to a statement.

Omnes Films has a goal. “Our mission is to fill a void in modern cinema,” says its website. “Our films are passionate, ambitious works made by friends that favor atmosphere over plot and study the many forms of cultural decay in the 21st Century. Whatever the subject or genre, we seek projects that are original in conception and feel like they’ve never been made before.” It sounds wildly ambitious, and maybe it is, but Cannes audiences will be the judge of that when two of its films — Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point by Tyler Taormino and Eephus by Carson Lund — premiere in Directors’ Fortnight.

Naman Ramachandran The Seattle-based Tasveer Film Festival has unveiled several high-profile partner sponsors for its inaugural South Asian film market, ahead of its launch at the Cannes Film Festival. The sponsors include Amazon, NBCUniversal Launch, Film Companion, credit union BECU, civil liberties organization ACLUWA, University of Washington South Asia Center and Bully Media. The newly rechristened Tasveer Film Festival & Market will take place Oct.

Naman Ramachandran Woman-focused streamer Herflix, the Female Film Club, female empowerment community Yes She Cannes and French management and production company Sisterland have teamed to launch female collective Her Club Cannes. Attended by some 250 invited film professionals, the event aims to highlight the power and importance of women in film.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Pinnacle Peak Pictures is bringing a slate of faith-based films to the Cannes market, including a new installment in the “God’s Not Dead” franchise. Entitled “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust,” the film will be released theatrically in the U.S. this fall, but, like the rest of Pinnacle’s slate, foreign territories are available to buyers.

Naman Ramachandran Indian streamer SonyLIV has unveiled the actors playing Pakistani leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah and his sister Fatima in its magnum opus series “Freedom at Midnight.” Based on the 1975 non-fiction book of the same name by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, the political drama delves into India’s independence movement, weaving together untold tales and critical moments from the era when the country’s then British colonial rulers partitioned the country into India and Pakistan in 1947. Formerly a member of the Congress party that the leaders of India’s independence movement, including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru also belonged to, Mohammed Ali Jinnah became the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the formation of Pakistan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Uncork’d Entertainment has pre-bought multi-territory rights to upcoming Argentinian-produced action-horror film “Eyes of the Abyss” ahead of its showcase in Cannes next week. Uncork’d has picked up the film, which is currently in post-production, for North America, the U.K. and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.