Last year’s industry program at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) placed great emphasis on the livelihood of documentarians as the industry sees budgets shrink and European funding bodies like public broadcasters invest less. Have things changed in the past year as the festival prepares for another edition? Unfortunately not, says Adriek van Nieuwenhuyzen, […]

Syndicado Film Sales has boarded documentary “Bright Future,” which has its world premiere at IDFA. Variety debuts the trailer here. The film is the directorial debut of Romanian archive researcher Andra MacMasters. “Bright Future” goes back to the summer of 1989 when thousands of young people from various nations gathered in North Korea for the […]

Director Piotr Winiewicz is very aware of the inflammatory potential of discussions about AI within the film community. Still, he hopes his IDFA-opening feature debut “About a Hero” will rise above the discourse to inspire much-needed conversation about the future of technology concerning artistic practices and creativity. “About a Hero” is a docufiction hybrid experiment […]

International Film Festival Rotterdam, which runs Jan. 30 – Feb. 9, has revealed the lineup of its Focus section. Retrospectives are given to the work of Croatian-German documentarian Katja Raganelli and Ukrainian auteur Sergii Masloboishchykov. The 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference, where the concept of the “Global South” was ignited, is marked with an […]

A 4K restoration of the 1981 film “Lion of the Desert” is to premiere at the Cairo Film Festival this week. Telling the story of Benito Mussolini’s attempt to defeat the Libyan rebellion against fascist Italian rule, the film stars Oliver Reed and Anthony Quinn and was produced and directed by Syrian-American filmmaker Moustapha Akkad. […]

Palestinian filmmaker Rashid Masharawi opens the Cairo Film Festival with the world premiere of his new film “Passing Dreams” — that most unlikely of genres: the Palestinian road movie. The film tells the story of Sami (Adel Abu Ayyash), a 12-year-old living in a refugee camp in the West Bank. His father is in jail […]

European Film Promotion, which gives a boost to films and talent from Europe, has revealed the jury for the 28th edition of European Shooting Stars, which showcases actors from the continent. The jury is comprised of five film professionals who will select 10 actors. They will then take part in a program at the Berlin […]

In November 2015, a staggeringly violent crime took place in the impoverished area of Mghila Mountain in Tunisia. A jihadist group attacked two young shepherds, killing one and forcing the survivor to carry a bloody message back to his family. The real-life case inspired Lotfi Achour’s harrowing drama “Red Path,” which played as part of […]

Taskovski Films Sales has picked up “Light Memories,” which will have its world premiere in the international competition section of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. In the film, which is the feature directorial debut of photographer Misha Vallejo Prut, photography, fractured memories and family secrets converge in an exploration of the effects of absent […]

Diagnosed with epilepsy, director Miles Levin refused to hide. Instead, he took an “emotional leap” with the upcoming feature “Under the Lights.” “The best movies come from journal entries you wouldn’t want anyone to read,” he says. “If you have a story that comes out of you with no risk whatsoever, it’s less likely to […]

Five years after his feature debut “All This Victory” took the Grand Prize and the audience award at Venice’s Critics’ Week, Lebanese filmmaker Ahmad Ghossein is gearing up to shoot his next film. The filmmaker’s sophomore effort, “The Side Effects of Trusting Life,” was selected as part of this year’s Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Agora Crossroads […]

Miles Levin’s drama “Under the Lights” received the coveted Polish Film Institute Award at the American Film Festival’s industry event U.S. in Progress, as well as $50,000 cash prize for post-production in Poland. “It has been an incredibly rewarding and inspiring project to work on. Miles is a force of nature with a clear vision […]

CGI-animated feature “The Super Elfkins” has been sold to several territories, following its international premiere at the American Film Market in Las Vegas. The film, which won the kids audience award at the Zurich Film Festival, is being sold by Sola Media. It will be released in German theaters by Tobis Film, one of the […]

A+E Global Media Group will partner with streaming platform operator Arré Studio to bring its global hit survival competition format “Alone” to India for the first time. “Alone,” which the New Yorker described as “the best reality show ever made,” sees contestants dropped one by one into the remote wilderness, where each must survive entirely […]

The Match Factory has launched sales for the new feature by acclaimed Mexican director Michel Franco, “Dreams,” at the American Film Market, and made a promo available for buyers. The film marks the second collaboration between the director and Jessica Chastain. Variety revealed in July that the Match Factory would be the sales agent on […]

Orwa Nyrabia, the artistic director of leading documentary festival IDFA in Amsterdam, will step down from his position on July 1, which is the end of his present term. Nyrabia commented: “I have always seen this great role as an artistic endeavor, as a responsibility much more important and critical than being merely a job. […]

Jesse Eisenberg picked up the Indie Star Award at Poland’s American Film Festival and met with the local audience to talk about sophomore directorial effort “A Real Pain.” “Two years ago, I was finishing the script. You start the very embarrassing process of begging producers to give you money to make it. When they asked […]

On Wednesday, world sales agency Beta Cinema hosts the market premiere of “John Cranko,” starring Sam Riley, at the American Film Market in Las Vegas. Variety speaks to the director Joachim A. Lang ahead of the screening and debuts the film’s international trailer (below). The film, based on true events, follows in the footsteps of […]

AFM might have moved to Las Vegas, but some things remain exactly the same, including Italy’s commitment to be seen as an attractive spot for international productions. “It’s a good opportunity to remind our colleagues that Italy has always been, and still is, a key player in our industry. Still, we want to improve even […]