Arab independent films are enjoying a resurgence in terms of festival and commercial success affirms Antoine Khalife, the Red Sea Film Festival’s director of Arab programs and film classics, citing the example of Egyptian thriller “Flight 404,” which has grossed over $4 million in Saudi Arabia this year. Khalife praises the modern spirit of recent […]

In just four years, the Red Sea Souk has become the largest film market in the Arab world. Nested within the dates of the Red Sea Film Festival and under the banner of the Red Sea Film Foundation, this year’s industry program at the Souk has been expanded to five days and will run from […]

Production-distribution powerhouse Constantin Film has unveiled the cast for its crime-drama series “Smilla’s Sense of Snow,” and the first-look images from the show. The series stars Filippa Coster-Waldau, Elyas M’Barek and Henry Lloyd-Hughes. Other cast members include Morten Suurballe, Amanda Collin, Set Sjöstrand and Alexandre Willaume. The series is directed by BAFTA winner Amma Asante. […]

“Home” is the theme of the 4th edition of the Red Sea Film Festival as it returns to its original location, but in a sleek custom-built venue, in the recently renovated Al-Balad district in Jeddah, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Kaleem Aftab, the fest’s head of international programming, says that home is a fitting theme […]

Focus, the end-of-year meeting place for the international production community, returns Dec. 10 to 11 in London. The 10th edition remains free to attend for industry professionals and gathers thousands of attendees across film, TV, advertising, animation, games and XR. “Last year was our biggest event by quite a margin,” says Jean-Frederic Garcia, managing director […]

As countries improve tax incentives and develop larger numbers of qualified crews and state-of-the-art facilities, Europe has become a buzzing international production hub for film and TV. With a wealth of options to choose from, how are line producers deciding where to shoot? And how are service providers attracting clients? “It doesn’t take a lot […]

Justine Triet, who is best-known for Oscar and Palme d’Or-winning courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall,” says she could have become a lawyer, if she had not veered into filmmaking to dissect reality using a somewhat forensic approach. In a wide-ranging conversation held Saturday by Triet at the Marrakech Film Festival with “Anatomy of a Fall” producer and […]

Sales agent Syndicado has boarded Irish debut filmmaker Myrid Carten’s “A Want in Her,” which had its world premiere earlier this month in IDFA’s International Competition section. In the documentary, Carten returns from London to Ireland to look for her troubled mother Nuala. Once a successful social worker, Nuala suffered a mental breakdown after the […]

Television host Gregg Wallace is to step down as the presenter of the U.K. version of “MasterChef,” which airs on public broadcaster BBC, while allegations of historical misconduct are investigated. Wallace, who has been a co-host and judge on the cooking show since 2005, is “committed to fully co-operating throughout the process,” the show’s production […]

“The Brutalist” cinematographer Lol Crawley will be honored with the Robby Müller Award at the 54th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which runs Jan. 30 – Feb. 9. The award acknowledges the “artistry of an exceptional image maker,” and is given in collaboration with the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers and Andrea Müller-Schirmer, the […]

Streaming giants are a force to be reckoned with in the race for the 52nd International Emmys, organized by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, as they approach the awards on Nov. 25 in New York. Nominees for drama series include Season 2 of Prime Video’s Argentine thriller “Yosi, the Regretful Spy,” based […]

When Polish cinematographer Michal Dymek first read the script for “The Girl With the Needle” – the winner of this year’s Camerimage main prize – he says he could instantly see the scenes in his mind: stark, shadowy images of a decrepit Danish slum, where sweatshop workers during World War I bend over creaking machinery. […]

Jurors at the EnergaCamerimage cinematography fest say the Golden Frog main competition films have been remarkably varied and inspiring in the event’s 32nd edition. The 12 competing films “were radically different from each other,” said “Barbie” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, whose directorial debut, “Pedro Paramo,” is also screening at the […]

The 45th edition of the Cairo Film Festival concluded with the top prize, the Golden Pyramid Award, going to Bogdan Mureșanu’s “The New Year That Never Came.” The black comedy, which previously won the Horizons sidebar at the Venice Film Festival, is set in 1989 during the festive season that immediately precedes the downfall of […]

Mohamed Subahi’s documentary “Madaniya” captures an uprising that would lead to the toppling of Omar Al-Bashir’s 30-year rule in Sudan. These months of protest are told through the perspectives of participants in a sit-in organized in front of the Central Command of the Army in Khartoum. “I choose my characters as normal people,” Subahi tells […]

Maciej J. Drygas’ “Trains” won Best Film in the International Competition at this year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, with Miguel Coyula’s “Chronicles of the Absurd” taking the Best Film in the Envision Competition.  “Trains” is a journey through the 20th century told entirely through archival footage. The jury of the International Competition, comprising Juliana […]

“Spring Came on Laughing,” the only Egyptian film in competition at the Cairo Film Festival, is the debut feature of Noha Adel. It is rich in music and messy, full of noisy life, taking the form of a series of conversations between women where a drama rapidly escalates into a jumble of tragedy and dark […]

In a modern world where work creeps further and further into one’s personal life, eating away at time and energy alike, it is a familiar feeling to realize you don’t have as much time as you would like for a partner. Chinese director Chouwa Liang currently feels that pressure, although her partner’s notion of time […]

Dutch documentarians Peter Lataster and Petra Lataster-Czisch are veterans on their home turf of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam — where they won Best Dutch Film in 2014 and 2022 — but this year brought a career highlight for the renowned duo: introducing their latest doc “All Is Well” at the beautiful Tuschinski cinema […]