WestEnd Films Boards ‘Untitled Judo’ Co-Directed By Guy Nattiv, Zar Amir Ebrahimi & Will Launch Sales At Berlin — EFM

Pet Shop Boys‘ Neil Tennant wrote and sent to the late Janice Long in the ’80s has been discovered at a record shop in Altrincham, Trafford.As BBC News reports, the frontman thanked the Radio 1 DJ for playing the synth-pop duo’s debut single ‘West End Girls’ in the note, which was found in a 12-inch vinyl edition of the track.The letter is dated “12 April, 1984” – three days after the song was released.Tennant, who worked as a journalist at Smash Hits at the time, provided some information on how he and bandmate Chris Lowe had recorded ‘West End Girls’ with producer Bobby Orlando after meeting him in New York.“We’ve now recorded over half an album and are due to go back to New York quite soon to finish it,” he continued in the unearthed letter.“Anyway, hope you like the 12″ I’ve enclosed and thanks for playing ‘West End Girls’ on Thursday. As far as I’m concerned, you’re now an honorary Pet Shop Girl!” See an image in the tweet below.A letter written by Pet Shop Boys star Neil Tennant, thanking Radio 1's Janice Long for playing the band's debut single (“West End Girls”) in 1984.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Veteran French docmaker Nicolas Philibert was the surprise winner of the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, taking the prize for his film “On the Adamant,” a poignant observational study of a Paris mental health care facility. He received the award from jury president Kristen Stewart, after the star offered an extended and plainly heartfelt ode to the film’s humanity and simplicity: “People have gone in circles for thousands of years trying to pin down what can be deemed art, who’s allowed to do it and what determines its value,” she said, citing the boundary-pushing nature of the festival, and namechecking such opposing philosophers on the matter as Aristotle, Barthes, Sontag and Beavis & Butthead, before concluding, “For all of us, you just know it when you see it.”

Guy Lodge Film Critic The official awards ceremony of this year’s Berlin Film Festival is under way, with Kristen Stewart’s jury set to announce their winners from the Competition selections. This post will be updated as they’re announced.Previously announced: AUDIENCE AWARDS Panorama Audience Award: “Sira,” Apolline TraoréSecond Prize: “The Burdened,” Amr GamalThird Prize: “Midwives,” Léa Fehner Panorama Documentary Audience Award: “Kokomo City,” D. SmithSecond Prize: “The Eternal Memory,” Maite AlberdiThird Prize: “The Cemetery of Cinema,” Thierno Souleymane Diallo

The competition winners of the 73rd Berlinale are about to start rolling in as the festival draws to a close Saturday evening.

Naman Ramachandran Berlin’s just concluded European Film Market (EFM), which had a physical edition this year after two online editions in 2021 and 2022 due to the pandemic, has reported “record results” according to the organizers. There were 230 stands and 612 companies from 78 countries and more than 11,500 market participants from 132 countries. Some 773 films were shown in 1,533 screenings, including 647 online screenings and 599 market premieres. The total number of buyers also rose to 1,302. 629 film projects were presented on the new Producers & Project Pages. “After the past two irregular years, we’re pleased to return to the physical in full force, and with a vibrant, bustling and strong market. The exhibition areas at Gropius Bau and the Marriott Hotel were sold out, and the exhibitors reported strong sales and good business. The decision to group all the market happenings together with the Berlinale Series Market and the market screenings at Potsdamer Platz, and to provide the industry with an efficient infrastructure, was extremely well-received by our market participants,” said EFM director Dennis Ruh.

Helen Mirren is a classic beauty on the red carpet for the premiere of her upcoming movie, Golda, during the 2023 Berlinale Film Festival in Germany on Monday (February 20).

Dame Helen Mirren ditched her signature bob for ageless platinum waves as she attended the Berlin premiere of Golda.The actress, who last year admitted to still loving her former boyfriend, Liam Neeson, stunned as she attended the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in Germany on Monday and was pictured with long flowing hair extensions. Helen, 77, sported an off-the-shoulder floor-length black dress that featured a low-cut ruffled neckline, which she paired with gold chandelier earrings as she walked the red carpet.

War is coming in Guy Nattiv’s Golda, onscreen and off. But despite the media’s best efforts to turn the casting of British, non-Jewish actor Helen Mirren as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir into an explosive example of cultural appropriation, both Nattiv’s direction and Mirren’s performance are low-key and careful enough to rise above the controversy. In retrospect, it does seem a little strange that no other candidate was deemed suitable, and the movie won’t do much extra business on account of Mirren’s star power, but those anticipating a tone-deaf disaster will be sorely disappointed.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Oscar-winning actor Helen Mirren refused to address the controversy around her casting as Israel’s iconic Prime Minister Golda Meir in Guy Nattiv’s biopic during the movie’s press conference at the Berlinale. When asked to comment on the backlash and the issue of authentic casting, Mirren left it to Nattiv and her co-star Lior Ashkenazi (“Footnote”) to stand up for her while she smiled shyly. Mirren is neither Israeli nor Jewish, and critics have argued that she shouldn’t have been cast as Israel’s most important female figure. Nattiv said that when he met Mirren, he instantly felt like he was in the presence of a “family member” — an “aunt” who had the “Jewish chops to portray Golda.”

Israeli director Guy Nattiv has defended his casting of non-Jewish actress Helen Mirren as iconic Israeli Prime minister Golda Meir in his biopic Golda, which world premieres at the Berlin Film Festival on Monday.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Vanessa Redgrave and Freida Pinto have boarded the family feature “The Boy at the Back of the Class,” based on the acclaimed children’s book. Directed by Stephen Herek (“101 Dalmations”), the film centers on a mysterious new boy called Ahmet who joins nine-year-old Alexa’s school. As Alexa learns that he is a refugee, separated from his family, she will do anything she can to help. With the adults out of the way, Alexa and her school friends come up with a daring plan to reunite Ahmet with his family – the start of an adventure that will take them all the way to Buckingham Palace. The film is penned by “A Street Cat Named Bob” screenwriter Tim John. Adam Rolston and David Braithwaite at Studio Pictures are producing. Nicola Pearcey of Picnik Entertainment and Paul Grindey are executive producing. Casting director is BAFTA nominee Carolyn McLeod.

K.J. Yossman Skin is a subject Israeli-American director Guy Nattiv touches on frequently in his work. He has directed no fewer than two (unrelated) films titled “Skin,” one feature-length, one short. The former, which premiered in Toronto in 2018, saw Jamie Bell win rave reviews as a white supremacist who tortuously has his tattoos lasered off after managing to break away from the Neo-Nazi cult that raised him. The latter, which Nattiv produced alongside his wife, Jaime Ray Newman, won the Oscar for live action short in 2019. Now Nattiv returns with “Golda,” his first feature since Toronto and another character study, this time of Israel’s fourth prime minister, Golda Meir, who is played by Helen Mirren. The film, which also stars Liev Schreiber and Camille Cottin, is set during the 1973 Yom Kippur war, when a coalition of Arab states launched a surprise attack on Israel on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International One of the hottest packages at the EFM has been taken off the table for international. Sources tell Variety that Prime Video has snapped up all international rights, excluding the U.S., to Justin Kurzel’s “The Order,” which stars Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult in a story about the titular white supremacist organization that operated in the 1980s. The project is penned by Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated writer Zach Baylin (“King Richard”), who based the screenplay on Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s book “The Silent Brotherhood.” Published in 1989, the book details the activities of the radical-right hate group The Order, which was one of the most sinister organizations to emerge in America since the Ku Klux Klan.

There is a particular kind of audacity reserved for the wealthy and the well-meaning. Multi-award-winning actor and humanitarian Sean Penn co-directs “Superpower” with Aaron Kaufman, known mostly for his commercial work and his collaboration with writer-director Robert Rodriguez.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Berlinale red carpet on Saturday became a protest platform against Iran’s repressive regime when a group of Iranian filmmakers and talents, joined by jury president Kristen Stewart, chanted “Women, Life, Freedom!” and demanded the release of imprisoned journalists and an Iranian rapper. Actress Golshifteh Farahani, who is also on the jury; “Holy Spider” actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi; and “The Siren” director Sepideh Farsi were among dozens of Iranian film professionals participating in the protests hosted by Berlinale co-directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian. Protesters with signs demanded freedom for female Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi who are behind bars, accused of “conspiring against national security” for being the first to report on Mahsa Amini’s death, and for the release of dissident Iranian hip hop artist Toomaj Salehi who has been accused of spreading propaganda and could face the death penalty.

Kristen Stewart joined Iranian filmmakers in a demonstration showing solidarity for Iran’s Women Life Freedom protests on the red carpet of the Berlin Film Festival on Saturday.

Hello and welcome back to your weekly International Insider. Berlin’s back and with most of our team in the German capital, it’s Jesse Whittock here bringing you the latest from the worlds of TV and film.

Christopher Vourlias Athens-based Heretic has acquired worlds sales rights for “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” the latest film from Berlinale Golden Bear winner Radu Jude (“Bad Luck Banging or Looney Porn”), who is serving on the international jury at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Divided into two parts, Jadu’s latest follows an overworked and underpaid production assistant who must drive around the city of Bucharest to film the casting for a workplace safety video commissioned by a multinational company. In the film’s second half, one of her interviewees makes a statement that ignites a scandal, forcing him to re-invent his story to suit the company’s narrative.

Kristin Stewart said she was feeling the full weight of the responsibility of being jury president at the Berlin Film Festival at the opening jury press conference on Thursday.