Wajda takes three young entrepreneurs and follows their greed and ambition to toxic capitalism’s logical conclusion in this queasily disturbing satire
Andrzej Wajda’s queasily compelling film from 1975, adapted by him from a novel by Wladysław Reymont, is an expressionist comic opera of toxic capitalism and bad faith, carried out by jittery entrepreneurs whose skills include insider trading, worker-exploitation and burning down failing businesses for the insurance. It is set in late 19th-century Łódź, a supposed promised land of free enterprise, whose night skies are shown by Wajda as more or less permanently red with factories set ablaze.
Our three gruesome heroes are Karol (Daniel Olbrychski) who is a Pole, Maks (Andrzej Seweryn) who is German, and Moryc (Wojciech Pszoniak) who is Jewish; this last being considered in these times effectively a separate nationality, and in fact the uneasy suspicion between these identities creates something a little like the mood in Danzig,...
Andrzej Wajda’s queasily compelling film from 1975, adapted by him from a novel by Wladysław Reymont, is an expressionist comic opera of toxic capitalism and bad faith, carried out by jittery entrepreneurs whose skills include insider trading, worker-exploitation and burning down failing businesses for the insurance. It is set in late 19th-century Łódź, a supposed promised land of free enterprise, whose night skies are shown by Wajda as more or less permanently red with factories set ablaze.
Our three gruesome heroes are Karol (Daniel Olbrychski) who is a Pole, Maks (Andrzej Seweryn) who is German, and Moryc (Wojciech Pszoniak) who is Jewish; this last being considered in these times effectively a separate nationality, and in fact the uneasy suspicion between these identities creates something a little like the mood in Danzig,...
- 4/10/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Tom Wilkinson, the English actor known for his roles in The Full Monty, Shakespeare in Love and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, died in his home on December 30. He was 75.
Wilkinson’s family confirmed his death in a statement to the media.
“It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30th,” the statement read. “His wife and family were with him. The family asks for privacy at this time.”
Wilkinson began his acting career performing in plays like William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Andrzej Wajda’s Smuga cienia. He then went on to act in roles for British television such as First Among Equals. Just over 20 years after his acting debut onstage, Wilkinson played a leading role in The Full Monty as Gerald Cooper.
Wilkinson has been awarded many accolades during his acting career, including a BAFTA Award,...
Wilkinson’s family confirmed his death in a statement to the media.
“It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30th,” the statement read. “His wife and family were with him. The family asks for privacy at this time.”
Wilkinson began his acting career performing in plays like William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Andrzej Wajda’s Smuga cienia. He then went on to act in roles for British television such as First Among Equals. Just over 20 years after his acting debut onstage, Wilkinson played a leading role in The Full Monty as Gerald Cooper.
Wilkinson has been awarded many accolades during his acting career, including a BAFTA Award,...
- 1/2/2024
- by Rose Anne Cox-Peralta
- Uinterview
Wilkinson died “suddenly at home” according to a statement on behalf of his family.
UK actor Tom Wilkinson, who starred in films including The Full Monty, Shakespeare In Love and Batman Begins, has died suddenly at the age of 75.
His death was confirmed in a statement shared by his agent on behalf of his family.
“It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30. His wife and family were with him. The family asks for privacy at this time,” read the statement.
Wilkinson received two Oscar nominations, for best...
UK actor Tom Wilkinson, who starred in films including The Full Monty, Shakespeare In Love and Batman Begins, has died suddenly at the age of 75.
His death was confirmed in a statement shared by his agent on behalf of his family.
“It is with great sadness that the family of Tom Wilkinson announce that he died suddenly at home on December 30. His wife and family were with him. The family asks for privacy at this time,” read the statement.
Wilkinson received two Oscar nominations, for best...
- 12/30/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
“I’m a big admirer of Gerard Depardieu,” said Emmanuel Macron candidly on the set of C’est à vous, the primetime TV magazine, when asked to comment on the downfall of Depardieu, the revered French actor who’s facing new sexual assault accusations and has crystallized a new tide of #MeToo in France.
“He’s an immense actor, who has delivered some of the most beautiful texts. He made France known, our greatest authors, our greatest characters, across the world,” said Macron. “I’ll say it as France president but also as a citizen, he makes France proud.”
Depardieu was indicted on Dec. 16, 2020 regarding allegations of rape and sexual assault tied to a 2018 lawsuit filed by actor Charlotte Arnould, but it took a bombshell investigative documentary, Complement d’Enquête, to provoke real outrage in France. In the documentary, which aired on Dec. 7, Depardieu is seen making crude, sexual and misogynistic jokes on footage,...
“He’s an immense actor, who has delivered some of the most beautiful texts. He made France known, our greatest authors, our greatest characters, across the world,” said Macron. “I’ll say it as France president but also as a citizen, he makes France proud.”
Depardieu was indicted on Dec. 16, 2020 regarding allegations of rape and sexual assault tied to a 2018 lawsuit filed by actor Charlotte Arnould, but it took a bombshell investigative documentary, Complement d’Enquête, to provoke real outrage in France. In the documentary, which aired on Dec. 7, Depardieu is seen making crude, sexual and misogynistic jokes on footage,...
- 12/21/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The fallout follows an incendiary investigative documentary Gerard Depardieu: The Fall Of The Ogre that aired earlier this month.
French actor Gerard Depardieu has been stripped of honours in France and abroad, and faces a new rape allegation from a Spanish author and journalist.
The fallout follows documentary Gerard Depardieu: The Fall Of The Ogre which aired in France on December 7 and featured footage of the actor making lewd comments to women in North Korea in 2018 and multiple accusations of sexual assault.
The Musée Grevin in Paris has removed a wax likeness of the actor that had been on display...
French actor Gerard Depardieu has been stripped of honours in France and abroad, and faces a new rape allegation from a Spanish author and journalist.
The fallout follows documentary Gerard Depardieu: The Fall Of The Ogre which aired in France on December 7 and featured footage of the actor making lewd comments to women in North Korea in 2018 and multiple accusations of sexual assault.
The Musée Grevin in Paris has removed a wax likeness of the actor that had been on display...
- 12/21/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Emmanuelle Debever, the first actor to have accused Gerard Depardieu of sexual assault, died in an apparent suicide after jumping from a bridge into the Seine river in Paris. Her death was announced in the media on Dec. 7, the day that a bombshell investigative documentary about Depardieu aired on French broadcaster France 2.
An investigation has been opened by Paris’ prosecutors to determine the causes of Debever’s death, Variety has confirmed. In a statement sent to Variety, the Paris’ prosecutors office said, “Debever was reported missing by her partner on Nov. 29 after leaving their home with a worrying note … The police was later alerted about a woman who jumped from a bridge into the Seine … She was found by paramedics who revived her and brought her to the hospital. The exact date of Debever’s death has not been revealed, but the prosecutors says it was “announced by the media on Dec.
An investigation has been opened by Paris’ prosecutors to determine the causes of Debever’s death, Variety has confirmed. In a statement sent to Variety, the Paris’ prosecutors office said, “Debever was reported missing by her partner on Nov. 29 after leaving their home with a worrying note … The police was later alerted about a woman who jumped from a bridge into the Seine … She was found by paramedics who revived her and brought her to the hospital. The exact date of Debever’s death has not been revealed, but the prosecutors says it was “announced by the media on Dec.
- 12/14/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Emmanuelle Debever, the French actress who was the first to accuse Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault, has died by suicide aged 60.
She passed away on December 7 after jumping into the Seine river, according to local news reports that were later confirmed by police officials, who have classified the death as suicide. Her death came on on the same day that a TV show documenting the sexual assault allegations against Depardieu was broadcast.
The program, part of France 2’s investigative news show Complément d’Enquête, included allegations from Debever. She accused Depardieu of assault during the filming of Andrzej Wajda’s 1982 period drama Danton.
This wasn’t the first time she’d made the allegations. In 2019, Debever wrote a short message on Facebook, accusing Depardieu of “sliding his fat paw under my skirt” as they rode in a carriage on set, adding: “I didn’t allow it to happen.”
Debever appeared in...
She passed away on December 7 after jumping into the Seine river, according to local news reports that were later confirmed by police officials, who have classified the death as suicide. Her death came on on the same day that a TV show documenting the sexual assault allegations against Depardieu was broadcast.
The program, part of France 2’s investigative news show Complément d’Enquête, included allegations from Debever. She accused Depardieu of assault during the filming of Andrzej Wajda’s 1982 period drama Danton.
This wasn’t the first time she’d made the allegations. In 2019, Debever wrote a short message on Facebook, accusing Depardieu of “sliding his fat paw under my skirt” as they rode in a carriage on set, adding: “I didn’t allow it to happen.”
Debever appeared in...
- 12/14/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
French actress Emmanuelle Debever, the first entertainer to accuse Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault, died by suicide Dec. 7, after jumping into the Seine river in Paris. She was 60.
First reported by the French newspaper Libération, Debever’s death has been confirmed by French authorities, who have classified it as a suicide.
Debever died on the same day as the TV broadcast of an investigative documentary into the various sexual assault allegations against Depardieu. The show, from the investigative news program Complément d’Enquête, teased the report last week with clips from an interview with actress Hélène Darras, who has filed an official complaint against Depardieu, claiming the French star sexually assaulted her on the set of the 2007 film Disco.
The TV documentary also included allegations from Debever, who accused Depardieu of assaulting her on the set of the 1982 film Danton, a period drama directed by Andrzej Wajda, in which Depardieu played Georges Danton.
First reported by the French newspaper Libération, Debever’s death has been confirmed by French authorities, who have classified it as a suicide.
Debever died on the same day as the TV broadcast of an investigative documentary into the various sexual assault allegations against Depardieu. The show, from the investigative news program Complément d’Enquête, teased the report last week with clips from an interview with actress Hélène Darras, who has filed an official complaint against Depardieu, claiming the French star sexually assaulted her on the set of the 2007 film Disco.
The TV documentary also included allegations from Debever, who accused Depardieu of assaulting her on the set of the 1982 film Danton, a period drama directed by Andrzej Wajda, in which Depardieu played Georges Danton.
- 12/14/2023
- by Valeria Verbaro
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Béla Tarr Set For European Film Awards Honor
Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr will receive the Honorary Award of the Academy President and Board at this year’s European Film Awards. Tarr is the sixth filmmaker to receive this recognition – earlier recipients are Manoel de Oliveira, Michel Piccoli, Sir Michael Caine, Andrzej Wajda, and Costa-Gavras. Tarr is best known for his 1994 feature Sátántangó, a 450-minute adaptation of the novel by László Krasznahorkai. The film won the Grand Prix of the Jury at the Budapest Hungarian Film Week and quickly reached cult status, often referred to as one of the most important films of the 1990s. This year’s European Film Awards take place in Berlin on December 9.
‘Aftersun’ Leads 2023 BAFTA Scotland Awards
Charlotte Well’s debut feature, Aftersun, leads this year’s BAFTA Scotland Awards with five nominations. The film has been nominated in the following categories: Actor Film, Actress Film,...
Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr will receive the Honorary Award of the Academy President and Board at this year’s European Film Awards. Tarr is the sixth filmmaker to receive this recognition – earlier recipients are Manoel de Oliveira, Michel Piccoli, Sir Michael Caine, Andrzej Wajda, and Costa-Gavras. Tarr is best known for his 1994 feature Sátántangó, a 450-minute adaptation of the novel by László Krasznahorkai. The film won the Grand Prix of the Jury at the Budapest Hungarian Film Week and quickly reached cult status, often referred to as one of the most important films of the 1990s. This year’s European Film Awards take place in Berlin on December 9.
‘Aftersun’ Leads 2023 BAFTA Scotland Awards
Charlotte Well’s debut feature, Aftersun, leads this year’s BAFTA Scotland Awards with five nominations. The film has been nominated in the following categories: Actor Film, Actress Film,...
- 10/11/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
BÉLA Tarr Gets European Film Honor
Legendary Hungarian director Béla Tarr will receive the Honorary Award from of the Academy President and Board at the European Film Awards on Dec. 9.
“With this award the European Film Academy wishes to pay special tribute to an outstanding director and a personality with a strong political voice, who is not only deeply respected by his colleagues but also celebrated by audiences worldwide,” the Academy said in a press release.
Previous recipients of the award include Manoel de Oliveira, Michel Piccoli, Michael Caine, Andrzej Wajda and Costa-Gavras. Tarr is best known for his films “Damnation” (1988), “Sátántangó” (1994), “Werckmeister Harmonies” (2000) and “The Turin Horse” (2011).
‘Tumse Na Ho Payega!’ Goes No. 1 In India
Disney and Hotstar film “Tumse Na Ho Payega!,” starring Ishawk Singh and Mahima Makwana, was the most-viewed film in the Indian Ott space between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8 with 4.6 million views.
The film tells the...
Legendary Hungarian director Béla Tarr will receive the Honorary Award from of the Academy President and Board at the European Film Awards on Dec. 9.
“With this award the European Film Academy wishes to pay special tribute to an outstanding director and a personality with a strong political voice, who is not only deeply respected by his colleagues but also celebrated by audiences worldwide,” the Academy said in a press release.
Previous recipients of the award include Manoel de Oliveira, Michel Piccoli, Michael Caine, Andrzej Wajda and Costa-Gavras. Tarr is best known for his films “Damnation” (1988), “Sátántangó” (1994), “Werckmeister Harmonies” (2000) and “The Turin Horse” (2011).
‘Tumse Na Ho Payega!’ Goes No. 1 In India
Disney and Hotstar film “Tumse Na Ho Payega!,” starring Ishawk Singh and Mahima Makwana, was the most-viewed film in the Indian Ott space between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8 with 4.6 million views.
The film tells the...
- 10/11/2023
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Tarr to receive Honorary Award of the European Film Academy president and board.
Hungarian director Béla Tarr is to receive the Honorary Award of the European Film Academy president and board at this year’s European Film Awards.
Béla Tarr is the sixth filmmaker to receive this recognition. Previous recipients were Manoel de Oliveira, Michel Piccoli, Michael Caine, Andrzej Wajda and Costa-Gavras.
Efa said it wished to pay special tribute to an “outstanding director and a personality with a strong political voice, who is not only deeply respected by his colleagues but also celebrated by audiences worldwide.”
Tarr made his...
Hungarian director Béla Tarr is to receive the Honorary Award of the European Film Academy president and board at this year’s European Film Awards.
Béla Tarr is the sixth filmmaker to receive this recognition. Previous recipients were Manoel de Oliveira, Michel Piccoli, Michael Caine, Andrzej Wajda and Costa-Gavras.
Efa said it wished to pay special tribute to an “outstanding director and a personality with a strong political voice, who is not only deeply respected by his colleagues but also celebrated by audiences worldwide.”
Tarr made his...
- 10/11/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Hungarian director Béla Tarr will receive the Honorary Award of the European Film Academy president and board at the 36th European Film Awards in Berlin on Dec. 9.
“With this award the European Film Academy (Efa) wishes to pay special tribute to an outstanding director and a personality with a strong political voice, who is not only deeply respected by his colleagues but also celebrated by audiences worldwide,” Efa said on Wednesday. “Béla Tarr is the sixth filmmaker to receive this recognition – earlier recipients were Manoel de Oliveira, Michel Piccoli, Sir Michael Caine, Andrzej Wajda and Costa-Gavras.”
Born in Hungary, the auteur started experiments in filmmaking at the age of 16. His feature debut, Family Nest. In 1982, The Prefab People received a special mention at the Locarno Film Festival. Tarr followed that up with Almanac of Fall (1984) and Damnation, which was nominated for the first European Film Awards in 1988.
One of Tarr’s best-known films is Sátántangó,...
“With this award the European Film Academy (Efa) wishes to pay special tribute to an outstanding director and a personality with a strong political voice, who is not only deeply respected by his colleagues but also celebrated by audiences worldwide,” Efa said on Wednesday. “Béla Tarr is the sixth filmmaker to receive this recognition – earlier recipients were Manoel de Oliveira, Michel Piccoli, Sir Michael Caine, Andrzej Wajda and Costa-Gavras.”
Born in Hungary, the auteur started experiments in filmmaking at the age of 16. His feature debut, Family Nest. In 1982, The Prefab People received a special mention at the Locarno Film Festival. Tarr followed that up with Almanac of Fall (1984) and Damnation, which was nominated for the first European Film Awards in 1988.
One of Tarr’s best-known films is Sátántangó,...
- 10/11/2023
- by Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Robby Müller: Living The Light director Claire Pijman will do a Q&a with Andrea Müller-Schirmer following the 2:30pm screening at Metrograph on Sunday, October 1 Photo: Claire Pijman
Claire Pijman’s resourceful and enlightening documentary, Robby Müller: Living The Light (with a score by Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan’s Sqùrl), is a big part of the series, Robby Müller: Remain in Light, at Metrograph that celebrates the legendary cinematographer, who died in 2018. Films by Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Sara Driver’s When Pigs Fly, Andrzej Wajda’s Korczak, Alex Cox’s Repo Man, Peter Bogdanovich’s Saint Jack, William Friedkin’s To Live And Die In LA, and Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People will all be shown.
Claire Pijman with Anne-Katrin Titze on Robby Müller and Wim Wenders’ Buena Vista Social Club: “That’s how I got to know him, and since then we stayed...
Claire Pijman’s resourceful and enlightening documentary, Robby Müller: Living The Light (with a score by Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan’s Sqùrl), is a big part of the series, Robby Müller: Remain in Light, at Metrograph that celebrates the legendary cinematographer, who died in 2018. Films by Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Sara Driver’s When Pigs Fly, Andrzej Wajda’s Korczak, Alex Cox’s Repo Man, Peter Bogdanovich’s Saint Jack, William Friedkin’s To Live And Die In LA, and Michael Winterbottom’s 24 Hour Party People will all be shown.
Claire Pijman with Anne-Katrin Titze on Robby Müller and Wim Wenders’ Buena Vista Social Club: “That’s how I got to know him, and since then we stayed...
- 9/27/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Animated feature world premiered at Toronto earlier this month.
Poland is submitting animated featureThe Peasants as its candidate for best International feature film for next year’s Academy Awards.
Co-directors Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman used the same painting animation technique as in their previous film Loving Vincent forThe Peasants.
The Peasants had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month, with international sales being handled by New Europe Film Sales.
Last weekend saw The Peasants win its first ever audience prize in Poland when festival-goers at the Polish Film Festival...
Poland is submitting animated featureThe Peasants as its candidate for best International feature film for next year’s Academy Awards.
Co-directors Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman used the same painting animation technique as in their previous film Loving Vincent forThe Peasants.
The Peasants had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month, with international sales being handled by New Europe Film Sales.
Last weekend saw The Peasants win its first ever audience prize in Poland when festival-goers at the Polish Film Festival...
- 9/25/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Closing ceremony of festival in Gdynia sees Polish film community speak up against “awful hatred” directed at Holland in recent weeks.
Pawel Maslona’s second feature Scarborn (Kos) won the Grand Prix - Golden Lion at the 48th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia whose closing ceremony saw the Polish film community express their solidarity with Agnieszka Holland in the light of the vociferous political campaign against her and her film The Green Border.
In his acceptance speech, Maslona spoke out against the “awful hatred” directed at Holland in recent weeks and noted that, despite Poland being a country with a strong Christian faith,...
Pawel Maslona’s second feature Scarborn (Kos) won the Grand Prix - Golden Lion at the 48th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia whose closing ceremony saw the Polish film community express their solidarity with Agnieszka Holland in the light of the vociferous political campaign against her and her film The Green Border.
In his acceptance speech, Maslona spoke out against the “awful hatred” directed at Holland in recent weeks and noted that, despite Poland being a country with a strong Christian faith,...
- 9/25/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
The list of directors who put their trust in Robby Müller could constitute a nice history of post-war cinema. A retrospective of films on which he served as Dp reflects accordingly––so’s the case with Metrograph’s “Robby Müller: Remain in Light,” which starts on Friday, September 29, and for which we’re glad to debut the trailer.
Contained therein are bits and pieces of what Metrograph attendees can anticipate. The series will offer a chance to see (among others) 24 Hour Party People, Alice in the Cities, The American Friend, Barfly, Breaking the Waves, Dead Man, Down by Law, Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, Kings of the Road, Korczak, Living the Light – Robby Müller, Mystery Train, Repo Man, Saint Jack, To Live and Die in L.A., When Pigs Fly, The Wrong Move, and Paris, Texas. The opening night will be anchored by “a panel on Müller’s continued influence on filmmaking,...
Contained therein are bits and pieces of what Metrograph attendees can anticipate. The series will offer a chance to see (among others) 24 Hour Party People, Alice in the Cities, The American Friend, Barfly, Breaking the Waves, Dead Man, Down by Law, Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, Kings of the Road, Korczak, Living the Light – Robby Müller, Mystery Train, Repo Man, Saint Jack, To Live and Die in L.A., When Pigs Fly, The Wrong Move, and Paris, Texas. The opening night will be anchored by “a panel on Müller’s continued influence on filmmaking,...
- 9/21/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
With her enigmatically titled Woman Of… (Kobieta z..), Malgorzata Szumowska returns from the magical satire of Never Gonna Snow Again to trenchant social realism, recounting a journey lasting half a lifetime, of sacrifice, sorrow and resilience.
Written and directed in collaboration with regular cinematographer and creative partner Michal Englert, this is a rare close-up of an older trans woman making tough choices in a majority Catholic country that remains legislatively and socially hostile. The film’s compassionate gaze and stirring performances make it an illuminating window into gender recognition in an unaccommodating environment.
Like many dramas focused on a highly specific community and developed out of extensive interviews, Woman Of… doesn’t entirely escape the feel of a representational project that ticks all the required boxes in a not entirely seamless narrative. However, that doesn’t make it any less sincere or moving, not only in the principal character’s...
Written and directed in collaboration with regular cinematographer and creative partner Michal Englert, this is a rare close-up of an older trans woman making tough choices in a majority Catholic country that remains legislatively and socially hostile. The film’s compassionate gaze and stirring performances make it an illuminating window into gender recognition in an unaccommodating environment.
Like many dramas focused on a highly specific community and developed out of extensive interviews, Woman Of… doesn’t entirely escape the feel of a representational project that ticks all the required boxes in a not entirely seamless narrative. However, that doesn’t make it any less sincere or moving, not only in the principal character’s...
- 9/8/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
There will come a time, perhaps not even too far from now, when films like “Woman Of…” may feel, if not old hat, at least familiar, part of a genre unto itself: not a coming-of-age story but a coming-of-self one, tracing the particular life stages of identifying oneself as transgender, accepting oneself as such, and finally living that truth out loud. Spanning decades in its closeup portrait of a Polish trans woman traveling that trajectory in a social climate hostile to her very existence, Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s heart-on-sleeve film isn’t aiming to be revolutionary — there’s an old-fashioned melodramatic heft to its episodic construction, setting its heroine’s tale in a pointedly mainstream context. But it still represents a bold gesture of cinematic allyship, drawing attention as it does to Poland’s dire record on LGBT rights.
Those merits will serve this Venice competition premiere well on the festival circuit,...
Those merits will serve this Venice competition premiere well on the festival circuit,...
- 9/8/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert’s transgender drama Women Of world premieres in Competition at the Venice Film Festival on Friday.
As ever the filmmaking team – who have been working together for more than two decades on titles such as Mug, In The Name Of and French-language drama Elles – are pushing boundaries in their native Poland.
Set against the backdrop of the country’s transition from communism to capitalism, Woman Of follows protagonist Aniela Wesoły across the course of 45 years as she seeks to live freely as a trans woman in a small provincial town.
The film charts Wesoly’s journey with her wife, as the couple navigate her transition in an environment where it is neither recognized nor accepted.
“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time. The first impulse was 20 years ago when Michal [who is also a cinematographer] filmed one of the first [transition] surgeries,” says Szumowska.
“But there...
As ever the filmmaking team – who have been working together for more than two decades on titles such as Mug, In The Name Of and French-language drama Elles – are pushing boundaries in their native Poland.
Set against the backdrop of the country’s transition from communism to capitalism, Woman Of follows protagonist Aniela Wesoły across the course of 45 years as she seeks to live freely as a trans woman in a small provincial town.
The film charts Wesoly’s journey with her wife, as the couple navigate her transition in an environment where it is neither recognized nor accepted.
“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time. The first impulse was 20 years ago when Michal [who is also a cinematographer] filmed one of the first [transition] surgeries,” says Szumowska.
“But there...
- 9/8/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski, whose sixty-year career in cinema has included the highest honors of the Berlin, Venice and Cannes film festivals, received an invitation to attend China’s Shanghai International Film Festival earlier this year while he was in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards, where his latest movie, Eo, was nominated for an Oscar. Skolimowski says he accepted the surprise invite — which included serving as Shanghai’s jury president for the festival’s 30th-anniversary edition — for reasons both “very private and a little sentimental.”
Skolimowski, 85, revealed those reasons on stage Friday at the Shanghai Grand Theater, during the festival’s opening ceremony.
“My father was born in North East China over 100 years ago, where my grandfather, the famous Polish architect, Kazimierz Skolimowski, devoted himself to designing the urban plan for one of the great cities 1,000 kilometers from here,” Skolimowski said during his brief remarks before the mostly Chinese crowd.
Skolimowski, 85, revealed those reasons on stage Friday at the Shanghai Grand Theater, during the festival’s opening ceremony.
“My father was born in North East China over 100 years ago, where my grandfather, the famous Polish architect, Kazimierz Skolimowski, devoted himself to designing the urban plan for one of the great cities 1,000 kilometers from here,” Skolimowski said during his brief remarks before the mostly Chinese crowd.
- 6/13/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bill Hader appears on my screen from Los Angeles, unshaven, a little groggy and in an uncluttered white room. Faced with this pixelated version of him, I’m instantly reminded of his role in the 2008 Judd Apatow-produced romcom Forgetting Sarah Marshall, for which he appeared almost exclusively on video call, in the days before Zoom was a thing. “It was such a novelty back then,” he says, that furrowed brow unmistakeable. “It was like, ‘Whoa, this is new.’”
Saturday Night Live’s erstwhile Man of a Thousand Faces is here on my laptop to talk about his greatest creation, Barry Berkman, a marine turned assassin turned aspiring actor in the HBO comedy-drama Barry, which Hader writes and directs as well as playing the title character. The show has won multiple Emmys; critical adulation; obsessive fans. What began as an apparent riff on the hitman-with-a-heart-of-gold trope has evolved over four...
Saturday Night Live’s erstwhile Man of a Thousand Faces is here on my laptop to talk about his greatest creation, Barry Berkman, a marine turned assassin turned aspiring actor in the HBO comedy-drama Barry, which Hader writes and directs as well as playing the title character. The show has won multiple Emmys; critical adulation; obsessive fans. What began as an apparent riff on the hitman-with-a-heart-of-gold trope has evolved over four...
- 4/22/2023
- by Patrick Smith
- The Independent - TV
Ann Green de Toth, a screenwriter and film industry veteran who worked alongside her husband André de Toth on several projects, has died. She was 82.
De Toth died March 3 after her third battle with cancer in Toluca Lake, California, her family announced.
In 1969, she entered the industry, working with producer Jeffrey Selznick and director Andrzej Wajda, as they prepared for their film, Heart of Darkness. After marrying producer André de Toth in 1983, she worked with him on El Condor, The Todd Killing, Click of the Hammer, Prelude and Fugue for Lovers, The Silent Nine, The Professor and The Fighting Temeraire, among many other films.
De Toth also served, alongside the Ministry of Defense (Navy), as a research/production assistant on The Dangerous Game, a documentary with Hrh The Prince of Wales (aka King Charles), who was the captain of the HSM Bronington at the time.
She was a member of...
De Toth died March 3 after her third battle with cancer in Toluca Lake, California, her family announced.
In 1969, she entered the industry, working with producer Jeffrey Selznick and director Andrzej Wajda, as they prepared for their film, Heart of Darkness. After marrying producer André de Toth in 1983, she worked with him on El Condor, The Todd Killing, Click of the Hammer, Prelude and Fugue for Lovers, The Silent Nine, The Professor and The Fighting Temeraire, among many other films.
De Toth also served, alongside the Ministry of Defense (Navy), as a research/production assistant on The Dangerous Game, a documentary with Hrh The Prince of Wales (aka King Charles), who was the captain of the HSM Bronington at the time.
She was a member of...
- 3/18/2023
- by Christy Piña
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: The Kinoteka Polish Film Festival has set the lineup for its 21st edition, running March 9 — April 27 at venues across London.
The festival will open at the Institute of Contemporary Arts with the UK Premiere of Polish filmmaker Damian Kocur’s debut feature, Bread and Salt.
Inspired by true events, the pic follows Tymek, a young and talented student of the Warsaw Academy of Music who returns to his provincial hometown for vacation. Upon his return, he discovers that the central meeting point for local youth is a newly created kebab bar. Tymek witnesses a growing conflict between the shop workers, who are Arabs, and his friends from the neighborhood, leading to a conflict that will turn out to be tragic. The film debuted at Venice last year.
The festival will close with a gala screening of the 1977 film Top Dog (Wodzirej) at the Cine Lumiere in South Kensington. Causing...
The festival will open at the Institute of Contemporary Arts with the UK Premiere of Polish filmmaker Damian Kocur’s debut feature, Bread and Salt.
Inspired by true events, the pic follows Tymek, a young and talented student of the Warsaw Academy of Music who returns to his provincial hometown for vacation. Upon his return, he discovers that the central meeting point for local youth is a newly created kebab bar. Tymek witnesses a growing conflict between the shop workers, who are Arabs, and his friends from the neighborhood, leading to a conflict that will turn out to be tragic. The film debuted at Venice last year.
The festival will close with a gala screening of the 1977 film Top Dog (Wodzirej) at the Cine Lumiere in South Kensington. Causing...
- 2/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Hungarian director Judit Elek addressed the biggest controversy of her career at Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam.
Answering Variety’s question during the launch of “The Lady from Budapest,” a new book dedicated to her legacy, Elek opened up about a scene from her film “Memories of River,” which she still views as “essential” despite accusation of animal cruelty.
In the film, inspired by an actual anti-Semitic incident back in the 1880s, as well as a trial for “ritual murder,” several sheep were burnt alive in front of the camera.
“The beginning of the film is extremely brutal, because we are talking about a pogrom. The scene [depicting] sheep in flames, burning, is a representation of several millions of Jews perishing,” she noted.
“When the day came when we had to shoot the scene of Jákob’s [a shepherd played by Zoltán Mucsi] house being set on fire, it had to be done in one take.
Answering Variety’s question during the launch of “The Lady from Budapest,” a new book dedicated to her legacy, Elek opened up about a scene from her film “Memories of River,” which she still views as “essential” despite accusation of animal cruelty.
In the film, inspired by an actual anti-Semitic incident back in the 1880s, as well as a trial for “ritual murder,” several sheep were burnt alive in front of the camera.
“The beginning of the film is extremely brutal, because we are talking about a pogrom. The scene [depicting] sheep in flames, burning, is a representation of several millions of Jews perishing,” she noted.
“When the day came when we had to shoot the scene of Jákob’s [a shepherd played by Zoltán Mucsi] house being set on fire, it had to be done in one take.
- 1/29/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
French actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu plays chic French boss Sylvie Grateau, the nemesis of Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), in Netflix’s ‘Emily in Paris’.
With sophisticated outfits and a Machiavellian management style, she nearly steals the show.
While ‘Emily in Paris’ had propelled her to global fame, Leroy-Beaulieu is a veteran of French films and TV, having worked with renowned filmmakers such as Roger Vadim, Coline Serreau and Philippe Le Guay as well as Andrzej Wajda, James Ivory and Robert Altman, reports ‘Variety’.
The actress revealed that she had a blast playing her character’s dark sides.
Philippine told ‘Variety’ that her character is more vulnerable than she is mean.
“It’s like Darren. When you meet him for the first time, he’s very cold, but in fact he’s like many people who are highly sensitive: He protects himself. In a way, Darren and Sylvie have a lot in common.
With sophisticated outfits and a Machiavellian management style, she nearly steals the show.
While ‘Emily in Paris’ had propelled her to global fame, Leroy-Beaulieu is a veteran of French films and TV, having worked with renowned filmmakers such as Roger Vadim, Coline Serreau and Philippe Le Guay as well as Andrzej Wajda, James Ivory and Robert Altman, reports ‘Variety’.
The actress revealed that she had a blast playing her character’s dark sides.
Philippine told ‘Variety’ that her character is more vulnerable than she is mean.
“It’s like Darren. When you meet him for the first time, he’s very cold, but in fact he’s like many people who are highly sensitive: He protects himself. In a way, Darren and Sylvie have a lot in common.
- 12/27/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu plays chic French boss Sylvie Grateau, the nemesis of Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), in Netflix’s “Emily in Paris.” With sophisticated outfits and a Machiavellian management style, she nearly steals the show. In real life, Leroy-Beaulieu emanates the same strength and determination as Sylvie, but she can usually be found on her scooter zipping around Paris in biker boots (albeit chic ones). While “Emily in Paris” has propelled her to global fame, Leroy-Beaulieu is a veteran of French film and TV, having worked with renowned filmmakers such as Roger Vadim, Coline Serreau and Philippe Le Guay, as well as Andrzej Wajda, James Ivory and Robert Altman. Audiences also know her from another hit Netflix series, “Call My Agent!,” in which she had a recurring role. The actor is turning 60 next year, but she’s never been busier or more popular.
How did you land this part in “Emily in Paris”?
One day,...
How did you land this part in “Emily in Paris”?
One day,...
- 12/26/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: French-Italian actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu has signed with David Unger’s Artist International Group for management.
Leroy-Beaulieu currently stars alongside Lily Collins in Darren Star’s hit Netflix series Emily in Paris, which returns for its third season on December 21. The actress there plays Sylvie, the fierce French boss of Emily (Collins) at the Parisian marketing firm, Savoir. She is otherwise best known for appearing in three seasons of the acclaimed comedy-drama Call My Agent! from Netflix and France 2.
Leroy-Beaulieu launched her career on the stage before making her screen debut in Roger Vadim’s Surprise Party. She then went on to star in the Academy Award-nominated Three Men and a Cradle, for which she received a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actress. Other notable credits include starring in Andrzej Wajda’s Les Possédés, Philippe Le Guay’s Les Deux Fragonard, and Robert Enrico’s and Richard T. Heffron’s La Révolution Française.
Leroy-Beaulieu currently stars alongside Lily Collins in Darren Star’s hit Netflix series Emily in Paris, which returns for its third season on December 21. The actress there plays Sylvie, the fierce French boss of Emily (Collins) at the Parisian marketing firm, Savoir. She is otherwise best known for appearing in three seasons of the acclaimed comedy-drama Call My Agent! from Netflix and France 2.
Leroy-Beaulieu launched her career on the stage before making her screen debut in Roger Vadim’s Surprise Party. She then went on to star in the Academy Award-nominated Three Men and a Cradle, for which she received a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actress. Other notable credits include starring in Andrzej Wajda’s Les Possédés, Philippe Le Guay’s Les Deux Fragonard, and Robert Enrico’s and Richard T. Heffron’s La Révolution Française.
- 12/14/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
“Cinema is not pages and it’s not minutes: it’s the way you look at the minute that passes,” Syrian director Ameer Fakher Eldin is talking about the 55-page script of “Yunan,” his follow up to “The Stranger” (Al Garib), which played at Venice Days in 2021. Eldin knows from the experience of editing his first film that one page doesn’t equal one minute. “It’s a two hour film,” he says.
Eldin’s second feature is due to film in the first half of 2023 and is currently being presented at this week’s Red Sea Souk Project Market of the Red Sea Film Festival. Iconic figure of New German Cinema Hanna Schygulla and Syrian actor Bassem Yakhour have both been cast in the production. They join Lebanese actor Georges Khabbaz (“Capernaum”), and German actor Sibel Kekilli, from “Game of Thrones” and Fatih Akin’s “Head On.”
Filming will...
Eldin’s second feature is due to film in the first half of 2023 and is currently being presented at this week’s Red Sea Souk Project Market of the Red Sea Film Festival. Iconic figure of New German Cinema Hanna Schygulla and Syrian actor Bassem Yakhour have both been cast in the production. They join Lebanese actor Georges Khabbaz (“Capernaum”), and German actor Sibel Kekilli, from “Game of Thrones” and Fatih Akin’s “Head On.”
Filming will...
- 12/5/2022
- by John Bleasdale
- Variety Film + TV
It was as early as 2010, as he likes to tell it, when Polish animator and visual artist Tomasz Bagiński lobbied his friend Andrzej Sapkowski to make a movie. Sapkowski is the author of “The Witcher” series of fantasy novels, and Bagiński — already Oscar-nominated for his short film “The Cathedral” — had dreams of taking the series to the big screen.
Among the project’s early boosters was Platige Image, the Polish animation, VFX and post-production studio that Bagiński joined in 2004. When Netflix swooped in to acquire the rights to “The Witcher” in 2017, the company was tapped to executive produce alongside L.A.-based Hivemind. The Polish studio also became one of several houses to handle special effects for the series, earning an Emmy nomination for its VFX work on what has gone on to become one of Netflix’s biggest international hits.
“The Witcher” has proven to be not only a...
Among the project’s early boosters was Platige Image, the Polish animation, VFX and post-production studio that Bagiński joined in 2004. When Netflix swooped in to acquire the rights to “The Witcher” in 2017, the company was tapped to executive produce alongside L.A.-based Hivemind. The Polish studio also became one of several houses to handle special effects for the series, earning an Emmy nomination for its VFX work on what has gone on to become one of Netflix’s biggest international hits.
“The Witcher” has proven to be not only a...
- 9/12/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Australian Film, Television and Radio School
Australia’s preeminent screen arts and broadcast school benefits from a beautiful setting in one of the most pleasant parts of Sydney, as well as a wealth of industry lecturers and connections to the country’s working film and TV world. Notable alumni include last year’s Oscar best director nominee Jane Campion (Power of the Dog) and Black Widow filmmaker Cate Shortland, in addition to a slew of past Oscar nominees and winners in technical categories, like David White (sound editing for Mad Max: Fury Road), Andrew Lesnie (cinematography for The Lord of the Rings) and Tony McNamara (best original screenplay with The Favourite).
Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica (Mexico)
Mexico’s most prestigious film school prides itself on the gender parity of its student body (a goal it first achieved in 2020) and its track record in turning out world-class professionals,...
Australian Film, Television and Radio School
Australia’s preeminent screen arts and broadcast school benefits from a beautiful setting in one of the most pleasant parts of Sydney, as well as a wealth of industry lecturers and connections to the country’s working film and TV world. Notable alumni include last year’s Oscar best director nominee Jane Campion (Power of the Dog) and Black Widow filmmaker Cate Shortland, in addition to a slew of past Oscar nominees and winners in technical categories, like David White (sound editing for Mad Max: Fury Road), Andrew Lesnie (cinematography for The Lord of the Rings) and Tony McNamara (best original screenplay with The Favourite).
Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica (Mexico)
Mexico’s most prestigious film school prides itself on the gender parity of its student body (a goal it first achieved in 2020) and its track record in turning out world-class professionals,...
- 8/5/2022
- by Scott Roxborough, Etan Vlessing, Patrick Brzeski and Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSJafar Panahi.Having been detained last week for protesting the arrest of fellow Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad, Jafar Panahi has now been ordered to serve six years in prison. Ahead of this development Eric Kohn reported on the broader situation in Indiewire. “Maybe they will come for all of us one by one,” says one anonymous filmmaker who is quoted in the article.Martine Marignac, a producer of vital films by Jacques Rivette, Chantal Akerman, Leos Carax, Jeanne Balibar, Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, and others, has died aged 75.The juries have been announced for the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival. Julianne Moore will head up the main jury, supported by filmmakers Audrey Diwan, Leonardo di Costanzo, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and Mariano Cohn, plus actor Leila Hatami and author Kazuo Ishiguro.
- 7/20/2022
- MUBI
One of many good things to be said about “Eo,” surely the wackiest movie in competition at Cannes this year, is that you would have no idea it was made by an 84-year-old filmmaker in only his fourth movie since the fall of the Soviet Union. A master of the aesthetically liberated New Polish Cinema — fellow alum include Krzysztof Kieślowski, Agnieszka Holland, and Krzysztof Zanussi — Jerzy Skolimowski last won plaudits on the Croisette in the late ’70s and early ’80s for a string of British-made dramas starring the likes of John Hurt and Jeremy Irons. Horror film “The Shout,” with Alan Bates, took the Grand Prix jury prize in 1978. “Moonlighting,” in 1982, won best screenplay here. New York Times critic Vincent Canby called it “one of the best films ever made about exile.”
“Eo” is not like any of those, even if it does have something to say about exile.
Told...
“Eo” is not like any of those, even if it does have something to say about exile.
Told...
- 5/20/2022
- by Adam Solomons
- Indiewire
French actor Isabelle Huppert is set to receive the Berlin Film Festival’s Honorary Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in February. Her films will also be honored as part of a special Homage section.
Huppert will be awarded the prize for lifetime achievement. In conjunction with the awards on Feb. 15 at the Berlinale Palast, the festival will screen her latest movie, Laurent Larivière’s “À propos de Joan” — unveiled on Wednesday in the fest’s first batch of titles — as a special gala premiere.
Huppert has a longstanding relationship with Berlin, and has starred in seven competition films to date. She was first a guest in Berlin with Jacques Doillon’s “La vengeance d’une femme” before appearing in Francois Ozon’s “8 Femmes” as an unprepossessing woman who emerges in the end as a confident beauty. The ensemble cast was awarded a Silver Bear for outstanding artistic accomplishment.
Huppert will be awarded the prize for lifetime achievement. In conjunction with the awards on Feb. 15 at the Berlinale Palast, the festival will screen her latest movie, Laurent Larivière’s “À propos de Joan” — unveiled on Wednesday in the fest’s first batch of titles — as a special gala premiere.
Huppert has a longstanding relationship with Berlin, and has starred in seven competition films to date. She was first a guest in Berlin with Jacques Doillon’s “La vengeance d’une femme” before appearing in Francois Ozon’s “8 Femmes” as an unprepossessing woman who emerges in the end as a confident beauty. The ensemble cast was awarded a Silver Bear for outstanding artistic accomplishment.
- 12/16/2021
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Dubbed the “Polish Marilyn Monroe,” the late actor and singer Kalina Jędrusik used to electrify the audiences of the Polish People’s Republic with her risqué outfits, performance in Andrzej Wajda’s Oscar-nominated “The Promised Land” or unconventional relationship with husband, writer Stanisław Dygat. But “Autumn Girl” – which screens this week in the Polish Competition of the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival – named after one of her songs, “Jesienna dziewczyna,” refuses to show Jędrusik as yet another woman defined and destroyed by her sexualized image.
“They didn’t want it to be a film in which the main character is a victim,” says cinematographer Weronika Bilska, who joined the female-heavy crew led by director Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, who co-wrote the script alongside Patrycja Mnich. The film was produced by Renata Czarnkowska-Listoś and Maria Gołoś for Re Studio, with Next Film handling local distribution.
“Kasia would always say that she wanted to make something cheerful,...
“They didn’t want it to be a film in which the main character is a victim,” says cinematographer Weronika Bilska, who joined the female-heavy crew led by director Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, who co-wrote the script alongside Patrycja Mnich. The film was produced by Renata Czarnkowska-Listoś and Maria Gołoś for Re Studio, with Next Film handling local distribution.
“Kasia would always say that she wanted to make something cheerful,...
- 11/13/2021
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDario Argento's Dark GlassesFollowing his appearance in Gaspar Noé's Vortex, Dario Argento returns to directing with Dark Glasses, his first feature since Dracula 3D (2012). Starring Asia Argento and Andrea Zhang, the thriller follows a serial killer, a blind sex worker, and a 10-year-old Chinese boy in Rome's Chinese community. John Woo is also set to make a return to Hollywood with Silent Night, a "no dialogue" action film about a father (played by Joel Kinnaman) who seeks to avenge his son's death. Film Labs, a "worldwide network of artist-run film laboratories," now has a new website! The website includes more than 500 films made at artist-run film labs from Vancouver to South Korea, as well as technical resources and distribution information. Dancer, choreographer, theatrical director, and filmmaker Wakefield Poole has died. A pioneer of the gay pornography industry,...
- 11/3/2021
- MUBI
The U.S. lineup for films coming to Mubi this September has been announced, featuring some of my personal favorites of the last few years, notably Philippe Lesage’s severely overlooked coming-of-age drama Genesis, John Gianvito’s Helen Keller documentary Her Socialist Smile, Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten’s formally thrilling Slow Machine, and Robert Greene’s documentary Bisbee ’17, as well as Jia Zhangke’s latest release Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue.
Also in the lineup is Bill Forsyth’s delightful Gregory’s Girl, Ari Folman’s hybrid feature The Congress, and Manoel de Oliveira’s Visit, or Memories and Confession, which was made in 1982, and only allowed to screen after his death.
See the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
September 1 | Yellow Cat | Adilkhan Yerzhanov | Festival Focus: Venice
September 2 | Visit, or Memories and Confessions | Manoel de Oliveira | Rediscovered
September 3 | Slow Machine | Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten | Mubi Spotlight
September...
Also in the lineup is Bill Forsyth’s delightful Gregory’s Girl, Ari Folman’s hybrid feature The Congress, and Manoel de Oliveira’s Visit, or Memories and Confession, which was made in 1982, and only allowed to screen after his death.
See the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
September 1 | Yellow Cat | Adilkhan Yerzhanov | Festival Focus: Venice
September 2 | Visit, or Memories and Confessions | Manoel de Oliveira | Rediscovered
September 3 | Slow Machine | Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten | Mubi Spotlight
September...
- 8/21/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Andrzej Wajda’s most celebrated film in the West is a serious thriller about doubt and corruption in a Poland ‘liberated’ by the Soviet Union. It has a cerebral script and a hero with a hipster attitude befitting a window of relative freedom briefly given to Polish filmmakers. Touted as the James Dean of the Eastern Bloc, the dashing Zbigniew Cybulski cuts an image as clean as J.F.K.. But his character, an assassin working for the reactionaries, undergoes a crisis of conscience. The miracle is that the Party censors allowed any doubt as to what our hero’s path should be. Given a stylized, almost expressionist B&w look, Wajda’s masterpiece is an intelligent thinkpiece that lays off the direct propagandizing.
Ashes and Diamonds
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 285
1958 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 103 min. / Popiól I Diament / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 24, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzewska,...
Ashes and Diamonds
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 285
1958 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 103 min. / Popiól I Diament / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 24, 2021 / 39.95
Starring: Zbigniew Cybulski, Ewa Krzyzewska,...
- 8/14/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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Criterion Collection has a slew of new releases coming your way to amp up your list of summer movie must-haves. Criterion specializes in restoring and distributing “important classic and contemporary” films from around the world. And with a catalog of over 1,400 ranging from avant-garde to Westerns, film noir to science fiction, their impressive selection has something for even the toughest movie critic. These specialized movies are complete with revamped rare finds, as well as exclusive in-depth commentary, and fascinating analysis.
Below, check out new Criterion Collection pre-orders for the month of July and August. Click here for more Criterion Collection movies to add to your film vault.
“La Piscine”
Release Date: July 20
Buy:...
Criterion Collection has a slew of new releases coming your way to amp up your list of summer movie must-haves. Criterion specializes in restoring and distributing “important classic and contemporary” films from around the world. And with a catalog of over 1,400 ranging from avant-garde to Westerns, film noir to science fiction, their impressive selection has something for even the toughest movie critic. These specialized movies are complete with revamped rare finds, as well as exclusive in-depth commentary, and fascinating analysis.
Below, check out new Criterion Collection pre-orders for the month of July and August. Click here for more Criterion Collection movies to add to your film vault.
“La Piscine”
Release Date: July 20
Buy:...
- 7/15/2021
- by Angel Saunders
- Indiewire
365 Days probably wasn’t the film Poland was hoping would be its global calling card. After decades of art house acclaim from the likes of Andrzej Wajda (Man of Iron), Agnieszka Holland (In Darkness), Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida, Cold War), Jan Komasa (Corpus Christi) and Malgorzata Szumowska (Never Gonna Snow Again), the first Polish film that truly broke though to become a worldwide, mainstream success was a soft-core erotic thriller.
Blame the pandemic. Blame Netflix. Directed by Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes, and based on the Fifty Shades of Grey-style trilogy by Polish writer Blanka Lipinska, 365 Days was produced primarily for the local ...
Blame the pandemic. Blame Netflix. Directed by Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes, and based on the Fifty Shades of Grey-style trilogy by Polish writer Blanka Lipinska, 365 Days was produced primarily for the local ...
365 Days probably wasn’t the film Poland was hoping would be its global calling card. After decades of art house acclaim from the likes of Andrzej Wajda (Man of Iron), Agnieszka Holland (In Darkness), Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida, Cold War), Jan Komasa (Corpus Christi) and Malgorzata Szumowska (Never Gonna Snow Again), the first Polish film that truly broke though to become a worldwide, mainstream success was a soft-core erotic thriller.
Blame the pandemic. Blame Netflix. Directed by Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes, and based on the Fifty Shades of Grey-style trilogy by Polish writer Blanka Lipinska, 365 Days was produced primarily for the local ...
Blame the pandemic. Blame Netflix. Directed by Barbara Bialowas and Tomasz Mandes, and based on the Fifty Shades of Grey-style trilogy by Polish writer Blanka Lipinska, 365 Days was produced primarily for the local ...
The Criterion Collection have unveiled their August 2021 lineup and while it’s a bit of a lighter month with only four releases, there are a few stand-outs. Hirokazu Kore-eda’s greatest achievement After Life, which imagines the single memory one would take with them into eternity, will arrive in the collection.
D. A. Pennebaker’s immersive documentary Company, exploring the making of Stephen Sondheim’s musical, is also coming in August. Michael Snydel and Kyle Turner recently discussed the film on Intermission, and one can listen to the conversation below.
Andrzej Wajda’s landmark Polish war drama Ashes and Diamonds will receive a Blu-ray upgrade and, lastly, just in time for No Time to Die, Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation will mark another Netflix release for Criterion. Here’s hoping the promised release of Mati Diop’s Atlantics and the potential debut of Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind...
D. A. Pennebaker’s immersive documentary Company, exploring the making of Stephen Sondheim’s musical, is also coming in August. Michael Snydel and Kyle Turner recently discussed the film on Intermission, and one can listen to the conversation below.
Andrzej Wajda’s landmark Polish war drama Ashes and Diamonds will receive a Blu-ray upgrade and, lastly, just in time for No Time to Die, Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation will mark another Netflix release for Criterion. Here’s hoping the promised release of Mati Diop’s Atlantics and the potential debut of Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind...
- 5/18/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Severin continues to impress with their incredible box set releases and their latest announcement was an instant pre-order for me: a collection of five remastered Christopher Lee movies and a rarely seen, Christopher Lee-hosted, anthology horror TV series:
(Los Angeles, CA) On May 25th, Severin Films is releasing a box set of buried gems from one of cinema’s most seminal figures - Sir Christopher Lee. He remains one of the most beloved horror/fantasy icons in US/UK pop culture history, but Christopher Lee delivered several of the most compelling, acclaimed and bizarre performances of his entire career in 1960s Europe. The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee brings together five of these Lee classics - the 1964 gothic shocker Crypt Of The Vampire; the 1964 cult hit Castle Of The Living Dead co-starring an unknown Donald Sutherland; 1962's celebrated Sherlock Holmes And The Deadly Necklace; 1967's lurid favorite The Torture Chamber Of Dr.
(Los Angeles, CA) On May 25th, Severin Films is releasing a box set of buried gems from one of cinema’s most seminal figures - Sir Christopher Lee. He remains one of the most beloved horror/fantasy icons in US/UK pop culture history, but Christopher Lee delivered several of the most compelling, acclaimed and bizarre performances of his entire career in 1960s Europe. The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee brings together five of these Lee classics - the 1964 gothic shocker Crypt Of The Vampire; the 1964 cult hit Castle Of The Living Dead co-starring an unknown Donald Sutherland; 1962's celebrated Sherlock Holmes And The Deadly Necklace; 1967's lurid favorite The Torture Chamber Of Dr.
- 2/12/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
India’s Oscar entry is screening from Jan 27, 3pm UK time.
Screen International has partnered with film market platform Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.
This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.
The upcoming screenings are listed below, with more titles set to be added during this year’s awards season.
The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available for 24 hours after the start time.
Click here to RSVP or fill out the form below
For more...
Screen International has partnered with film market platform Archipel Market on an exclusive series of screenings focused on the international feature awards race.
This initiative is designed to enable each country to organise an event around their submission.
The upcoming screenings are listed below, with more titles set to be added during this year’s awards season.
The screenings are open to awards voters and industry professionals and will be available for 24 hours after the start time.
Click here to RSVP or fill out the form below
For more...
- 1/24/2021
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
KilI It And Leave This Town is a deeply personal, unconventional and moving hand-drawn animation from artist-turned-animator Mariusz Wilczynski, who explores subjects including grief and childhood in his feature debut.
“I wouldn’t say it was biographical; it’s a tale based on emotions I had to deal with and things that happened in my life. It came from a deep feeling of sadness I was going through when my parents passed away,” Wilczynski says during the film’s panel at Contenders International. “I realized there was no tomorrow. I was left with a lot of remorse, unfinished conversations, and mistakes I wanted to make up for. This is what the film does.”
As we hear, the project began as a short film and, as it grew in the director’s head, underwent a remarkable 12-year journey to become a feature. “At some point the film outsmarted me,” says Wilczynski.
“I wouldn’t say it was biographical; it’s a tale based on emotions I had to deal with and things that happened in my life. It came from a deep feeling of sadness I was going through when my parents passed away,” Wilczynski says during the film’s panel at Contenders International. “I realized there was no tomorrow. I was left with a lot of remorse, unfinished conversations, and mistakes I wanted to make up for. This is what the film does.”
As we hear, the project began as a short film and, as it grew in the director’s head, underwent a remarkable 12-year journey to become a feature. “At some point the film outsmarted me,” says Wilczynski.
- 1/9/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
The 93rd Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on April 25, 2021, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California. They were originally set for February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it...
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
The 93rd Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on April 25, 2021, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California. They were originally set for February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it...
- 9/15/2020
- by Ben Dalton¬Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
The 93rd Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on April 25, 2021, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California. They were originally set for February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it...
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
The 93rd Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on April 25, 2021, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California. They were originally set for February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it...
- 9/15/2020
- by Ben Dalton¬Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
How much healing can a good massage provide? A fast-fading hour or so of relaxation, or a more sustained sense of general well-being and peace with the world, so long as it’s topped up with repeat appointments? In “Never Gonna Snow Again,” a searching, cryptic satire of bourgeois insularity in modern Poland, the magic hands of an immigrant Ukrainian masseur are tasked with easing a litany of woes, from middle-class guilt to climate change anxiety to terminal cancer — though no one thinks to ask him about his own interior aches and pains. After last year’s moody but mildly received English-language diversion “The Other Lamb,” prolific Polish auteur Malgorzata Szumowska returns to home turf in this Venice competition entry, and the result is her most compelling and hauntingly realized film to date.
With a run of variously provocative, distinctively styled films through the 2010s — including the Juliette Binoche starrer...
With a run of variously provocative, distinctively styled films through the 2010s — including the Juliette Binoche starrer...
- 9/7/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Igor Luther worked on the fragmentary essay titled Self-Portrait where he looks back on his own fruitful professional career and turbulent private life. Slovak producer and director Ivan Ostrochovský, who revealed his latest fiction feature Servants at this year's Berlinale, is continuing in his producing efforts. After co-producing the experimental docu-pic Frem and Petr Zelenka’s dramedy Droneman (read the news), one of the projects he is currently working on as a producer is a documentary with the working title Self-Portrait, centred on the most acclaimed Slovak cinematographer, Igor Luther, who passed away at the beginning of June 2020. Luther commands a glowing filmography, having lensed Juraj Jakubisko’s The Years of Christ and Birdies, Orphans and Fools, Alain Robbe-Grillet’s The Man Who Lies and Eden and Afterwards and serving as DoP on films by Michael Haneke, Wolfgang Staudte, Andrzej Wajda, Aleksandar Petrović and a fruitful collaboration with Volker Schlöndorff with whom.
Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
The 93rd Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on April 25, 2021, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California. They were originally set for February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it...
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
The 93rd Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on April 25, 2021, at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California. They were originally set for February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it...
- 8/11/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
Director Agnieszka Holland pulls off a difficult task — her true-life Holocaust tale neither trivializes the horror nor glamorizes individualized victims at the expense of the big picture. Marco Hofschneider is the inexperienced German teenager who by strange quirks of fate becomes a staunch Stalinist in a Communist school, then a Nazi war hero and candidate for Hitler Youth honors and adoption by a Nazi officer… if he can avoid being uncovered as a Jew in hiding. It sounds tasteless but it’s not — the true story of Solomon Perel reveals the ‘fluidity’ of ideology when survival is on the line. Our young hero must keep ‘becoming’ what he pretends to be. With André Wilms, René Hofschneider and Julie Delpy as a rabid Hitlerite.
Europa Europa
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 985
1990 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 9, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Marco Hofschneider, André Wilms, René Hofschneider, Julie Delpy,...
Europa Europa
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 985
1990 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 112 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 9, 2019 / 39.95
Starring: Marco Hofschneider, André Wilms, René Hofschneider, Julie Delpy,...
- 4/25/2020
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
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