Movies

France’s Tamasa Distribution has acquired a number of new films and classic titles, including works by Volker Schlondörff, Signe Baumane, Alain Cavalier and Jean-Louis Bertucelli. The Paris-based distributor secured Schlondörff’s new documentary “The Forest Maker,” a portrait of Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo, who has found a way to grow trees in the most barren areas

Brendan Fraser’s awards season with “The Whale” continued over the weekend at the Mill Valley Film Festival, where he was on hand for a screening of the film and to accept the annual event’s lifetime achievement award. Speaking to SFGATE on the red carpet (via Entertainment Weekly), Fraser issued a humorous apology to the city

U.S. film writer and director James Gray (“Little Odessa”, “Two Lovers”, “The Immigrant”, “Armageddon Time”) drew several laugh-out-loud moments from a packed theatre during a masterclass at the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon.   In a disarmingly honest conversation laced with humorous self-deprecation, the Venice Silver Lion Winner (“Little Odessa”, 1994) opened up about his love

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks Int’l has snapped up worldwide rights to Portugal’s first stop motion animated feature “My Grandfather’s Demons,” the debut animated pic by Nuno Beato. According to FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud, it was able to outbid other contenders for the toon, which had its world premiere at Annecy. “One of the hardest tasks for

Homecoming, a patriotic rescue movie, dominated the mainland China box office for the third successive weekend. Overall numbers remained anemic in the first full week after the National Day holiday period, sometimes referred to as a ‘Golden Week’. “Homecoming” garnered $12.1 million (RMB85.6 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy and research

The films of legendary Greek writer-director Theo Angelopoulos – whose “Eternity and a Day” won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 1998 – are being screened at a two-month tribute in the Hammer Museum’s Billy Wilder Theater near the UCLA campus in Westwood. The career retrospective opened on October 14 and will continue through December

Netflix has come on board for the second year to support the Short Film Camp, a film industry training program for professionals from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. The SFC is led by Purin Pictures, a film funding body backed by the Purin Foundation. The event, running for ten days (Dec. 2-12, 2022) in Bangkok,

While the Busan International Film Festival was busily hailing a return to normality the slump at South Korea’s commercial box office deepened dramatically over the most recent weekend. Cinemagoing nationwide was worth only $4.20 million between Friday and Sunday, the lowest weekend total since April and a time before Korean cinemas shed their COVID restrictions.

Though his movies have made billions at the box office and he’s been awarded pretty much every major accolade, from the Oscars to the Emmys to a Grammy, Ron Howard has achieved an honor even more rare: He’s maintained his reputation as one of the nicest guys in the business. It’s why the team behind

Paramount’s R-rated thriller “Smile” continues to beat box office expectations in North America and beyond. Over the weekend, the horror movie added $16.3 million at the international box office, boosting its overseas tally to $66.4 million. Globally, “Smile” has grossed $137.5 million, a killer result for a film with a $17 million production budget. It’s

The 66th annual British Film Institute (BFI) London Film Festival announced winners Saturday evening for a competition group representing a diverse selection of stories ranging from period pieces to eerie thrillers. Writer-director Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage,” was recognized with the festival’s highest honor — the best film award — continuing the historical drama’s festival praise after

“Halloween Ends” slayed the box office competition, collecting $41.25 million from 3,901 North American theaters in its opening weekend. The movie had a softer start than expected (projections were closer to $50 million to $55 million) but it’s still impressive considering its simultaneous release on Peacock likely cut into ticket sales. It’s the first movie

Jalmari Helander’s WWII action thriller “Sisu” has made good on its upbeat reception at Toronto Midnight Madness – Variety called it “outrageously entertaining” – winning the top award at this year’s Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia which is showing, like genre itself, clear signs of expansion.  The over 70,000 tickets sold at 2022’s Sitges were 10%

A restored version of Iván Zulueta’s ground-breaking 1979 film “Arrebato” (“Rapture”) is screening at the Lumière Festival’s International Classic Film Market (MIFC) in Lyon, France, thanks to Los Angeles distributor Altered Innocence and Madrid’s Mercury Films. The cult film, considered a milestone in Spanish cinema from the post-Franco years, is seen as metaphor for how

30 years after Japanese moviegoers first heard “The Flower of Carnage,” the theme song of Toshio Fujita’s “Lady Snowblood” sung by star Meiko Kaji, it came to mainstream Western audiences via Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill.” Kaji’s sweet, clear voice sings about a “woman who walks at the brink of life and death,” and Uma Thurman

The Lumière Festival’s International Classic Film Market (MIFC) in Lyon, France, is celebrating its 10th edition this year with a wide-ranging program focusing on bolstering classic film distribution, the prospects of new commercial territories, film education and a focus on Spain’s heritage film sector. The MIFC, which runs Oct. 18-21, kicks off with a keynote

Is there a better way to prove the virtue of the cinematic experience than to get 5,000 people on their feet giving a film a standing ovation?  Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux did just that on the opening night of his 14th Lumière Film Festival in Lyon with Louis Garrel’s romantic comedy “The Innocent.” 

Italy’s storied Titanus studio, producers of myriad golden era Cinema Italiano works, is getting a reboot and reviving its production side with several projects in development, including a contemporary sequel of Dario Argento’s supernatural chiller “Phenomena.”  Established in 1904 by Gustavo Lombardo, Titanus was a true Italian major, which during the 1960s forged a partnership

At a time when heritage cinema is booming – thanks to outstanding progress in conservation standards and a growth in demand – Lyon’s Lumière heritage film festival Lumière is playing a leading role in uncovering long-forgotten cinematic gems.  “Dans la Nuit” (“In the Night”), widely considered one of the last, if not the last major French silent

Rome’s MIA, a market dedicated to international TV series, feature films, animation and documentaries, wrapped its eighth edition on Saturday on a positive note boasting a 20% rise in attendance compared with 2021, having attracted more than 2,400 registered industry execs from 60 countries, more than half of which from Italy. However, the pandemic was

South Indian cinema A-lister Prithviraj Sukumaran is an integral part of the cast of “Salaar,” starring Prabhas (the Baahubali franchise) and directed by Prashanth Neel (the K.G.F. franchise). Though he was approached for the role more than 18 months ago, Sukumaran nearly could not do the film because he was busy with Jordan and Algeria

“The Inspection” writer-director Elegance Bratton is living out a prayer. “I was in a homeless shelter on my way to joining the Marine Corps, give or take a few years. I didn’t even necessarily understand exactly what I was praying for,” Bratton tells Variety, thinking back to 20 years ago. “I had gotten the job

After a 14-year uphill battle, Mexican auteur Guillermo del Toro was finally able to share his dream project with an audience as “Pinocchio” (officially titled “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”) had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. Taking the stage before the premiere, del Toro spoke of his connection to the story: “I

The settlement that will allow production to resume on “Rust” has stirred complicated feelings among the film’s crew, with some saying they would not return to the project while others support the decision. The producers announced on Oct. 5 that they plan to resume production in January, more than a year after Alec Baldwin shot

“Halloween Ends” may be the last we see of Laurie Strode and Michael Myers, but the horror series still kills at the box office. Universal’s slasher finale is off to a strong start, projecting a $43.4 million opening from 3,901 theaters. Even with “Halloween Ends” receiving a simultaneous streaming debut on Peacock, the film has

The possessive claim in the title “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” is a gutsy one. There’s confidence — some would even say arrogance — in filming an oft-told story at least as old as the hills, and suddenly branding it as your own: Even two auteurs as ballsy as Francis Ford Coppola and Baz Luhrmann didn’t

Mel Gibson can be called to testify against Harvey Weinstein at the producer’s upcoming Los Angeles rape trial, a judge ruled on Friday. Prosecutors want to call the actor to support the allegations of Jane Doe 3, who claims that Weinstein sexually assaulted her after she gave him a massage at his hotel in 2010.

Award-winning filmmaker and acclaimed visionary Jeff Barnaby passed away in Montreal on Oct. 13, following a year-long battle with cancer. The 46-year-old, who was born and raised on the Mi’gmaq community of Listuguj, is widely celebrated as redefining Indigenous cinema with elements of magical realism, body horror and sci-fi. According to a release announcing Barnaby’s

Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne have found success as the showrunners of Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” but before they resurrected Middle Earth it was the Starship Enterprise they tried to get off the ground. McKay and Payne wrote a “Star Trek Beyond” sequel for director S.J. Clarkson that would’ve

High Octane Pictures’ “Izzy Lyon: The Unspun Truth,” an absurd mockumentary about a famous sign spinner, is set for digital release on November 4th. The film stars comedians David Koechner, Greg Proops, Phil LaMarr, Lang Parker and Kym Whitley. Following the murky life of famed sign spinner Izzy Lyon, the film picks up twenty years