A teenage girl’s search for belonging brings her under the spell of a far-right eco-fascist group in Sunniva Eir Tangvik Kveum’s timely debut feature “Nipster,” which will be presented during a showcase of upcoming Nordic projects at Helsinki’s Finnish Film Affair. Taking its name from a slang term for Nazi hipsters, “Nipster” follows Chris (Saga […]

As the newly minted head of Finnish Film Affair, Alisha Hasan brings fresh energy and a globally minded perspective to the annual industry event, which runs parallel to the Helsinki International Film Festival. Hasan, who assumed the post in April, joined FFA from Finnish animation house Gutsy Animations, where she was head of marketing. She […]

After a scandal-plagued month that called the legitimacy of the Greek Oscar selection process into question and threatened to torpedo the country’s chances at the 97th Academy Awards, Greece has selected Eva Nathena’s historical drama “Murderess” for the international feature film race. Out of the 26 eligible films, “Murderess” is the only one left standing, […]

Not long after he’s canned from his job as an intergalactic trucker for the biggest nuclear waste disposal company in Eastern Europe, Ukrainian Everyman Andriy Melnyk is blinded by a flash of light as his clunky cargo ship hurtles across the galaxy. When he comes to, his robot assistant, Maxim, informs him that the Earth […]

Somali Canadian recording artist K’naan Warsame makes his feature directorial debut at the Toronto Film Festival with “Mother Mother,” which world premieres Sept. 6 in the festival’s Discovery section. The film is set on a lonely farm in rural Somalia, where a widowed camel farmer, Qalifo (Maan Youssouf Ahmed), lives with her college-age son, Asad […]

When Russian troops invaded Ukraine in the early hours of Feb. 24, 2022, documentary filmmaker Olha Zhurba was seized by an “apocalyptic feeling” that life as she knew it had come to an end. Her first impulse was to take her camera onto the streets of Kyiv to record history as it unfolded. “I just […]

A traditional way of life in the rural hinterlands of South Africa is put to the test when an upscale development arrives on the region’s doorstep in “Carissa,” the feature debut of writing-directing duo Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar, which premieres Sept. 5 in the Horizons strand of the Venice Film Festival. The film is […]

At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be much common cause between Pablo Larraín’s anticipated Maria Callas biopic, “Maria,” starring Angelina Jolie as the titular opera singer, and Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist,” a 215-minute epic about a Holocaust survivor forging a new life in America. Though both films will premiere on the Lido at this […]

Argentine filmmaker Gastón Solnicki is cooking up his latest feature, “The Souffleur,” which he’ll be presenting during the Venice Gap-Financing Market, which runs Aug. 30 – Sep. 1. The film tells the story of Lucius Glantz, an American who’s managed the same international hotel in Vienna for 30 years. When he discovers one day that […]

Mexican filmmaker Elisa Miller (“Hurricane Season”) is teaming up with “Roma” producer Nicolás Celis and his Pimienta Films on a legal drama-cum-psychological thriller that the duo is pitching this week at the Venice Production Bridge’s Gap-Financing Market, which runs Aug. 30 – Sept. 1. “Legítima” is based on the remarkable true story of Yakiri Rubio, […]