Movies

Dedicated to the events of 2006 in Iraq, “Our River… Our Sky” – previously known as “Another Day in Baghdad” – shows people who suddenly don’t recognize their own country anymore. Trying to carry on with their normal routines, they are “acting life,” says director Maysoon Pachachi. As the conflict in Afghanistan rages on, the

Big Pharma are killers, and they take a resounding beating, in “Sweet Girl” — literally. An actioner about a father who responds to personal tragedy by going on a bloodthirsty rampage with his teen daughter in tow, Brian Andrew Mendoza’s feature debut is a giddily outlandish exploitation throwback, featuring Jason Momoa as a grieving bruiser

“Habit” stirred controversy (and a petition to block its release) last year when conservatives caught wind that Paris Jackson was cast as a female Jesus Christ in it, with a purported lesbian coupling adding to the blasphemous offense. Well, it turns out that was much ado about almost nothing: There is no such sex scene

“Annette,” the film written and scored by brothers Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks that won Leos Carax the best director at the Cannes Film festival, is unorthodox, so it may be fitting that it got its Los Angeles premiere at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery Aug. 18. The titular character of the film, a baby

Pietro Marcello, the critically acclaimed Italian filmmaker of the Venice prize-winning “Martin Eden,” has just started shooting “Scarlet” (“L’envol”), a French-language drama set in Northern Normandy. Orange Studio has acquired international sales rights to the film which will be distributed in France by Le Pacte. Charles Gillibert, whose Paris-based outfit CG Cinema previously delivered award-winning

Marvel fans will be getting a look at one of the up-and-coming heroes of the MCU earlier than expected. Dominique Thorne, who will star as the superhero Ironheart in her own Disney Plus series, will make her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” next year, Variety has confirmed. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige

“Europa” director Haider Rashid was shocked when he first read about the dangers encountered by migrants on the Balkan route, a well-trod passage from Turkey to Eastern Europe undertaken by many thousands of people hoping to reach the West each year. That shock became the genesis for “Europa,” which offers a glimpse into the life

With public health laws, travel regulations and COVID variants rapidly changing every day, putting together this year’s Edinburgh Intl. Film Festival has been no easy task. But with 2020’s edition of the festival having been cancelled due to the pandemic, the team behind the EIFF were determined to forge ahead despite lacking a creative director

Los Angeles prosecutors have indicted producer Harvey Weinstein for a fourth time, reviving a sexual battery charge that was thrown out by a judge last week. Judge Lisa B. Lench had dismissed the charge on statute of limitations grounds, finding that the grand jury had not considered evidence that would allow the charge to be

Female filmmakers need to make sure they can continue telling the kind of stories they want, said Croatian director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović during Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Talk. Kusijanović, who recently won the Camera d’Or at Cannes for her debut feature “Murina,” criticized the Oscars’ new diversity rules for encouraging a form of reverse engineering.

When Cynthia Erivo was approached by Searchlight Pictures to star in a remake of “The Rose,” one of the first things she did was email Bette Midler, who shot to fame for her portrayal of a rock star destroyed by drugs and alcohol in the original 1979 movie. “I guess I was just searching for

Asked in writing whether she could discuss the situation facing Afghan filmmakers after the Taliban’s reclamation of power last weekend, Diana Saqeb Jamal declines succinctly. “My only thought is we are fucked. Sorry.” The director, whose short film “Roqaia” (pictured) screened in Venice’s 2019 Horizons section, has been in Canada for months. A visit to

Like so many children of the 1990s, Nia DaCosta remembers being dared to say “Candyman” in the mirror five times. She was hanging out with friends between classes in the bathroom at elementary school. She had been told of the urban legend of the supernatural killer with a hook for a hand — who would

When Dianne Chadwick created the logo for the mysterious Ten Rings organization as the lead graphic designer for “Iron Man,” the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she never imagined that the studio would feature it center stage 14 years later. She also never figured the logo would be at the center of controversy.

AMC Networks genre streamer Shudder has dropped a first trailer for U.K.’s writer-director Ruth Platt’s “Martyrs Lane.” A tragic ghost story, the feature world premieres today at Canada’s Fantasia Festival before being released on Shudder on Sept. 9. One day after its Fantasia bow, “Martyrs Lane” receives its U.K. premiere on Aug. 20 at the

In a utopian Manila in a not-too-distant future, strange rolling blackouts cast an almost impenetrable darkness over city streets. When people start to go missing during the night, strict curfews are issued with equally strict punishments levied against those that would violent them. Award-winning Philippine filmmaker Dodo Dayao’s “Midnight in a Perfect World,” making its

WaZabi Films, the Montreal-based sales agent launched by Anick Poirier and Lorne Price, has boarded horror comedy “Red Wings,” one of buzziest and most singular titles at early August’s Frontières Co-Production Market. Created by executive producer Rhiannon Aarons, a publisher/co-editor on Bob Flanagan’s book “The Book of Medicine,” and Dana Hammer, author of novels such

Tending to his beloved cows is what keeps Lawrence MacEwen going. The 80-year-old and his family have farmed the fabulously named Isle of Muck (located in the Inner Hebrides off the coast of Scotland) for the last 60 years. But time has taken its toll on Lawrence, his farming methods, and the precarious community he

After making its North American Premiere in the Fantasia Film Festival’s Camera Lucida sidebar, Seth A. Smith’s dystopian sci-fi thriller “Tin Can” was picked up by Canada’s levelFILM for domestic distribution. In the film, a new fungal disease called Coral is spreading rapidly across the planet. Parasitologist Fret is working on a possible treatment when

Few have seen the cloistered politics of a witches’ coven, and “King Knight” serves to show there’s a lot more comedy and dancing than one might expect. This modern and absurd comedy posits a simple solution for overcoming self-acceptance and fear in relationships: Just try it out, man. “King Knight” is written and directed by

Perry Blackshear, writer-director of “They Look Like People” and “The Siren,” has returned with genre bending “When I Consume You,” a suspenseful twist on revenge and courage in the face of helplessness. Siblings Daphne and Wilson Shaw brave the long shadow of childhood trauma together in a fight with a demon stalker hellbent on their

Berlin-based sales agency Picture Tree Intl. has kicked off sales for action biopic “Chasing the Line,” about the Austrian skiing champion Franz Klammer, which will make its world premiere at the Zurich Film Festival. PTI has closed its first deal on the film with Praesens Film taking rights for Switzerland, and will launch its international

The Zurich Film Festival has unveiled its lineup of Gala Premieres, including the world premieres of Florian Gallenberger’s relationship comedy “It’s Just a Phase, Honey,” and Andreas Schmied’s skiing champion biopic “Chasing the Line,” as well as a German-language territories premiere for Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” which will close the festival. The Gala section

Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” will headline the 65th BFI London Film Festival’s gala this October. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”), Kirsten Dunst (“Spider-Man”) and Jesse Plemons (“The Irishman”). Kodi Smit-McPhee (“Let Me In”) also stars. Campion, an Academy Award and Palm d’Or Award winner, will attend the gala, which

Marvel Studios released a second and final trailer for Chloé Zhao’s “Eternals,” hitting the big screen on Nov. 5. The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s latest space outing follows an immortal alien race, called the Eternals, who have secretly lived on Earth for thousands of years and possess different powers and abilities, including super strength and the

Like the terror attacks on Sept.11, 2001, COVID-19 is a topic that will inevitably become the subject matter of hundreds, if not thousands, of documentaries over the next several decades. Even now, just 18 months after the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. began and during a time when the delta variant is making COVID cases

Any red carpet premiere for a Marvel Studios movie is an over-the-top event, and the gala opening for “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” on Monday night was no exception. Disney shut down Hollywood Blvd. in front of the El Capitan Theater, where throngs of costumed (and masked) fans crowded the sidewalks on

One of the first major in-person gatherings for the documentary industry is gearing up in Maine, where next month’s Camden International Film Festival’s Points North Institute has unveiled the doc makers and projects selected for its artist programs. The programs include the Points North Fellowship, North Star Fellowship, 4th World Media Lab and LEF/CIFF Fellowship.

Cinedigm Corp has acquired all U.S. and Canadian rights to “Distancing Socially,” a quarantine comedy premiering on digital and on demand on Oct 5. Starring Alan Tudyk, Sarah Levy, Rory Scovel, Andy Buckley and Jim O’Heir, the film was shot during lockdown using remote technology. Written and directed by Chris Blake, “Distancing Socially” explores love, friendship

Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Work in Progress section is about to witness a miracle thanks to Tinatin Kajrishvili’s third feature “Citizen Saint,” about small-town miners suddenly discovering that their protector has literally come down from the cross and into their lives. Produced by Lasha Khalvashi, Denis Vaslin and Borislav Chouchkov, the upcoming film is a