The 2024 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival opened Nov. 8 with a screening of “Queen of the Ring,” writer-director Ash Avildsen’s biopic of female wrestler Mildred Burke starring Emily Bett Rickards, Josh Lucas, Walton Goggins and Gavin Casalegno. Marking the festival’s 39th year, the film commenced ten days of programming across seven South Florida venues, […]

Todd Haynes will preside over the jury of the upcoming 75th Berlin International Film Festival. It will mark the first headed by Tricia Tuttle, the former head of the BFI London Film Festival, The American director, screenwriter and producer has a long-established close rapport with the Berlinale given that his feature film debut “Poison” received the fest’s […]

For the first time in more than a decade, the Cairo Film Festival will open for business. Now kicking off its 45th edition, the Egyptian event has remained a key cultural and artistic showcase for the region and for the wider Middle East and North Africa world – but Cairo has gone without a market […]

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has removed Russian director Boris Guts’ “Deaf Lovers” from its Standing with Ukraine program after “serious backlash,” according to festival director Tiina Lokk. In a release, Lokk said the Estonia-Serbia co-production, which will still world premiere in Tallinn’s official competition, has received negative reactions from both Ukrainians and Russians, even […]

After going dark last year due to the war in Gaza, the Cairo Film Festival now returns with a super-sized program and a more humanist remit. Running Nov. 13 – 22, this bulked out edition aims for wider international visibility and greater attendance, all while keeping the projectors running longer than ever before. “We have […]

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. […]

“This film is important, but the most important [thing] for us right now is to bring the hostages back home and for the Israel-Middle East conflict to stop as fast as possible,” says Nir Bergman, one of Israel’s most esteemed filmmakers, in a conversation with Variety about his Tallinn competition entry “Pink Lady.” Bergman, whose […]

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 the light of current world events, defiance will be in sharp relief at the 48th Göteborg Film Festival, which runs Jan. 26 – Feb. 4, 2025 Under the banner “Focus: Disobedience,” the festival will highlight themes of civil resistance and pose such questions as: “When does rebellion become a moral obligation? When can it […]

Indonesia’s JAFF Market is set to welcome two Australian projects at its JAFF Future Project platform, marking a collaboration with Adelaide Film Festival (AFF). The inaugural JAFF Market takes place alongside the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (JAFF) in Yogyakarta from Dec. 3-5. The partnership, backed by the Australian Government, brings “Raesita Grey” from Katrina Irawati Graham […]

Italian indie thriller “The Contract,” starring Kevin Spacey as a character named “The Devil,” is set to world premiere at the Cairo Film Festival this week, without Spacey on the red carpet in the Egyptian capital’s Opera House. In the film, Spacey plays a role that has been described in promotional materials as somewhat akin […]

Steve McQueen is no longer attending the opening night screening of his new film “Blitz” at Camerimage Film Festival over comments the festival director made about women cinematographers. He was also set to receive the outstanding director award at the event. “Having read Marek Zydowicz’s op-ed concerning female cinematographers, I have decided not to attend […]

Joshua Oppenheimer is tired. The two-time Academy Award nominee isn’t simply spent at the tail end of an exhausting week for the American body politic. Nor has he tossed and turned his way through countless sleepless nights, doomscrolling through the nightmare scenarios of what a second Trump administration could mean for Americans’ civil rights, the […]

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 […]

The 2024 LA Skins Fest has announced its 13-section program, which includes a lineup of narrative, documentary, and animated films. Among the films screening are “Kenji,” a short film by Billy Luther. The film follows the life and work of Japanese photographer, Kenji Kawano, explored through his extraordinary five decade long journey documenting the WWII […]

Viola Davis will be honored by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival, where the Oscar winner and four-time nominee will also be holding a master class highlighting her career. On Monday, the festival — which will run Dec. 6 to 14 in Jeddah, on the Red Sea’s eastern shore — announced the main lineup of […]

Covered with laurels for his recent series “Soviet Jeans” (audience award at Series Mania 2024) and for his features “Modris” (Latvia’s Oscar submission 2014) and “Oleg” (Cannes Director’s Fortnight entry 2019), Latvian writer/director Juris Kursietis is competing at Tallinn’s Black Nights Film Festival’s Official Selection with “The Exalted,” due to world premiere Nov. 14. The […]

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 […]