SXSW Film & TV Festival Taps Claudette Godfrey as Director After Janet Pierson Steps Aside

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.

The mammoth cast of Rian Johnson’s murder mystery sequel, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, sidestepped spoilers and jumped over plot lines as they presented their film Sunday morning at a London Film Festival press conference.

Emma Corrin showcased her edgy sense of style as she stepped out to the My Policeman premiere during 66th BFI London Film Festival at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday. The actress, 26, wore a multicoloured one-shoulder mini dress with an abstract spray paint design. Screen star Emma's ensemble finished high above her knee, with the garment tied on her shoulder with a crimped length of material fanning out to the side.

Janelle Monáe was fashionably late as she strolled onstage at the BFI Southbank, where she headlined the London Film Festival’s final major keynote ‘screen talk’ Friday afternoon. 

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.

MK2 Managing Director Fionnuala Jamison was the focus of the London Film Festival’s second ‘spotlight’ industry talk Wednesday, during which she provided insights on navigating the international film market, including how regional prejudices can impact how films are sold.

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.

The 16th Film London Production Finance Market opened Tuesday morning with a keynote talk featuring BFI CEO Ben Roberts who spoke at length about his 10-year funding plan for British cinema and the financial issues hitting the industry, including the recent shuttering of the Edinburgh Film 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.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor Los Angeles City Council president Nury Martinez resigned her post as president Monday after recordings of her making racist remark at a meeting were revealed on Sunday. However, she did not resign her position on the city council, the L.A. Times reported. On Sunday, the news broke that an October 2021 meeting between Martinez, fellow councilmembers Kevin De Leon and Gil Cedillo, and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera was secretly recorded and posted to Reddit. During the meeting, Martinez could be heard making remarks about city council member Mike Bonin’s young adopted son, who is Black. The group also discussed redistricting of city council districts while disparaging other councilmembers.

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.

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.

The Highlands of Scotland are the perfect backdrop for Andrew Cumming’s prehistoric genre piece The Origin, a survivalist horror that also works as a thoughtful human drama as its core cast of six fight for their lives against a violent, unseen creature. The Origin had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.

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.”

Janet Pierson, the longtime VP and director of the SXSW Film & TV Festival, is stepping down from her role running the annual Austin festival, the organization said Wednesday. Her longtime deputy Claudette Godfrey, the Film Festival Programming Director, will take over beginning with the 2023 edition.

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film & TV Festival’s long-time director Janet Pierson will now shift to a new emeritus role and will turn over leadership of the festival to her deputy Claudette Godfrey.Pierson, who has led SXSW Film & TV for the past 15 years, will now become Director Emeritus, which will still allow her to contribute as a programmer for the 2023 festival, and where she will also be honored by SXSW for her contributions to the festival and entertainment space over the years. Godfrey, currently the fest’s programming director, is now the new VP, Director of Film & TV, stepping into Pierson’s shoes.

Emma Thompson, Stephen Graham, and Lashana Lynch passed through the London Film Festival on Wednesday, where they discussed their new film Matilda The Musical, directed by Matthew Warchus.

Manori Ravindran International Editor BFI festivals director Tricia Tuttle is stepping down from the role after 10 years. This month’s edition of the London Film Festival will be her last in the post. Tuttle has, for the last five years, led as director the BFI London Film Festival as well as BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival. She was previously deputy head of festivals from 2013 to 2017. She will remain in the role through to early 2023, while the BFI recruits for a new festivals leader. Tuttle leaves the festival during what’s shaping up to be one of its strongest editions yet: the festival has more world premieres than ever this year, with headline films including Matthew Warchus’ “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical,” Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” and Asif Kapadia’s “Creature.”