Movies

“Mariupolis 2” is a document of the war in Ukraine that’s as raw and real as they come. It was made by the Lithuanian filmmaker and anthropologist Mantas Kvedaravičius, who was killed, on April 2, during the siege of Mariupol (he was taken captive and shot by Russian soldiers). He had been making his film

Vértice 360, one of Spain’s top indie production-distribution companies, is expanding operations to Latin America, Italy and Portugal, as fruit of its ambitious plan to become a reference on the international film distribution scene. Part of the Squirrel Media group, the Madrid-based distributor is backing a first stage of its international expansion with the investment

The Empress is unimpressed. Introduced to us at the beginning of Marie Kreutzer’s sneaky and terrific Un Certain Regard premiere “Corsage,” submerged in a bathtub during one of her many self-imposed endurance training rituals, Duchess Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie in Bavaria, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, is holding her breath underwater for as long

Enrique Buleo’s “Still Life With Ghost,” Ana Asensio’s “The Goat Girl,” Gala Gracia’s “The Remnants of You” and Esteban Alenda Bros.’ “There Is Evil” are some of the film projects pitched at the spotlight event on Spanish cinema at Cannes’ Producers Network on Friday May 20. Five Spanish production companies– Un Capricho de Producciones, Quatre Films

James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” a deeply personal look at how the auteur became the auteur we, or at least the French, came to know and love, debuted to warm applause on Thursday. However, the film’s problematic depiction of racial inequalities in the Reagan era may turn off awards voters. Plus, Gray has hardly been a

Erotic love story “99 Moons,” which has its world premiere in Cannes’ ACID sidebar today, has kicked off international sales. Berlin-based M-Appeal is handling the rights to the film, which is directed by Jan Gassmann. Arthouse VOD platform Filmin has taken the rights in Spain, and arthouse distributor StraDa Films has taken the films for

Charlotte Le Bon, the Quebec-born actor and filmmaker who is presenting her feature debut, “Falcon Lake,” at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, has already enjoyed several careers. She moved to Paris over 10 years ago after a working as a model, and became an instant star with her hilarious comedy sketches that she delivered on a Canal

Toronto-headquartered animation outfit Paperboat Animation Studios has revealed a new slate. The slate is led by “Kabuliwala: Man from Kabul,” a 3D animated feature based on the classic short story by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. The story, which has already been adapted several times as live-action features, tells the story of the bond between a

James Gray spoke about the contemporary resonance of his Cannes competition film “Armageddon Time” at the press conference for the movie on May 20. Sitting next to Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong, Gray said he wrote the script of “Armageddon Time” before a series of events including the killing of George Floyd and said his

“One Fine Morning” sounds an innocuous title for a grownup relationship drama — destined, perhaps, to be confused on streaming menus with the George Clooney-Michelle Pfeiffer romcom “One Fine Day” — and in a sense, the mellow, melancholic cinema of French writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve is its own kind of comfort viewing. But as with many

Paapa Essiedu has appeared in fare as varied as Michaela Coel’s critically acclaimed drama “I May Destroy You” and crime series “Gangs of London” but his latest turn, as James in Alex Garland’s latest feature “Men,” may be his most unusual role yet. The opinion-splitting film – described by Variety as a “folk-horror bizart-house offering”

Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the Belgian directing duo behind “Bad Boys For Life” and Cannes’ Midnight Screening title “Rebel,” are developing “2000,” a film based on Dirk Bracke’s “Straks doet het geen pijn meer.” It will mark the pair’s return to Belgium after lining up “Ms. Marvel” for Disney+ and “Batgirl” for HBO

Lotfy Nathan, the director of Un Certain Regard title “Harka,” is set to make an elevated horror feature with the producers of “Armageddon Time.” Following the Cannes premiere of “Harka,” Nathan is moving forward with his sophomore film, which is tentatively titled “Son,” based on the apocryphal infancy gospel of Thomas, about the childhood of

“Spinning Gold” director Timothy Scott Bogart has set up his next projects on the heels of his musical biopic about his father, Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart. Bogart will produce the semi-autobiographical feature “North Star” from Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan (“My Left Foot,” “In the Name of the Father”), which tells the story of the

MK2 Films is shooting “Curiosity Room,” a remake of Wim Wenders’s cult 1982 documentary “Room 666,” during the Cannes Film Festival. Produced by MK Prods. in collaboration with the Cannes Film Festival, “Curiosity Room” will be directed Lubna Playoust, an actor (“The French Dispatch”) and filmmaker who notably helmed “Le Cormoran.” Following the same set

HBO Documentary Films has bought worldwide television rights for Cannes Special Screenings title “All That Breathes.” The film is the only Sundance movie to screen as part of Cannes’ Official Selection this year — a feat all the more impressive given Cannes is not known for its documentary programming. In Park City, the film picked

India’s Mithila Palkar (Netflix’s “Little Things”) and Jaaved Jaaferi (“Sooryavanshi”) and Bangladesh’s Siam Ahmed (“Shaan”) have joined the cast of “In the Ring (Story of a Burqa Boxer).” Set in the female Muslim boxing community of Khidderpore, Kolkata, India, the film is a psychological thriller about Shama, a 17-year-old boxer who exchanges places with her

Un Certain Regard title “Return to Seoul” from French-Cambodian director Davy Chou caused an early stir by being one of the first Official Selection titles from this year’s Cannes to secure a U.S. release — through Sony Pictures Classics. That may be a reflection of Chou’s quest for authenticity in a bi-cultural tale about a

Berlin-based One Two Films, in Cannes this week with Ali Abbasi’s competition title “Holy Spider,” is prepping a new feature from writer-director Ido Fluk, the filmmaker behind 2016 Tribeca selection “The Ticket.” “Köln 75” tells the true story of Vera Brandes, who, in 1975 and at the age of 17, staged the famous Köln Concert

Two bills intended to strengthen safety on California movie sets stalled in the state legislature on Thursday, after Hollywood unions and major studios failed to agree on the best approach. Both bills — SB 829 and SB 831 — came in response to the shooting last October on the set of “Rust” in Santa Fe,

On Oct. 26, 1979, South Korean president Park Chung-hee was assassinated by the chief of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency — a coup that ended the autocrat’s 16-year grip on a country that has wrestled with corruption and scandal ever since. The still-mysterious circumstances of that inside job (which inspired 2005’s “The President’s Last Bang”)

Sixth months after Peter Samuelson and Jonathan Prince launched PhilmCo Media, the production banner is gearing up its first project “1660 Vine,” a musical film that producers hope to adapt as a Broadway show. “1660 Vine,” follows a group of influencers who move into a Hollywood apartment complex to help each other pursue social media

The story of Casablanca Records has been told by many — in books, articles and by the larger-than-life characters who lived through the salad days of mid- to late-1970s rock and disco music. Its ascent as a hit factory — home to KISS, Donna Summer, the Village People and Parliament Funkadelic — was short and

Amber Heard’s agent testified Thursday that she lost out on job opportunities amid the online backlash over her abuse allegations against ex-husband Johnny Depp. Jessica Kovacevic, Heard’s agent at WME, was the last of a series of witnesses called by Heard’s attorneys on Thursday. After spending several days defending her from Depp’s defamation claim, Heard’s

Give an animal a name, and it becomes a lot more difficult to send it to the glue factory. But people don’t stop using paste simply because they’ve made an equine friend. Named for the animal it follows from owner to owner, through various hardships and across national borders, “EO” is a damning polemic on

One day after dissident Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, members of the Ukrainian film industry took to the Croisette to call for a total boycott of Russian movie. Meanwhile, just steps away in the Palais des Festivals, the director’s long-awaited return to cinema’s grandest stage was overshadowed by

Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong made the end of the world seem pretty fabulous on Thursday night, hitting the Croisette for the Cannes Film Festival premiere of writer-director James Gray’s “Armageddon Time.” Gray’s semi-autobiographical film about growing up in 1980s Queens stars newcomers Banks Repeta (as the Gray surrogate) and Jaylin Webb (as his best

Paris-based international sales company The Party Film Sales has nabbed the rights for Antongiulio Panizzi’s hybrid documentary “The Girl in the Fountain,” a double portrait of icons Anita Ekberg and Monica Bellucci, which opened at the Torino Film Festival last November. The story of an actress devoured by her own icon, the film alternates between

Margot Robbie wants to rob. The actor is attached to star in a prequel to “Ocean’s Eleven,” a heist comedy about con artists who rob hundreds of millions from a Las Vegas casino. The upcoming film is still in development at Warner Bros. and has not been greenlit. Jay Roach, who previously worked with Robbie

10 exciting Spanish directors to track in 2022: GABRIEL AZORÍN “I’m interested in films that move from intimacy to mystery exploring language without being solemn,” says shorts director Azorín (“Greyhounds”). Backed by Spain’s Dvein Films and Filmika Galaika, “Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes,” his long-awaited first feature and a friendship tale straddling Roman and