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South Africa has gotten its Oscar contender in under the wire, picking Muneera Sallies’s music-themed drama Old Righteous Blues as its contender for the 97th Academy Awards in the best international feature category.

South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation (Nfvf) announced the pick, which was chosen by the South African Academy Awards Selection Committee. Sallies’ drama follows a young man who tries to unite his divided community through the power of music.

Ayden Croy stars as Hantjie Jansen, a young man who plays in his town’s Kerskoor (Christmas choir) who is passed over for the choir’s top job as trommelmajoor (drum major) when his uncle, Oom Jakwes (Ivan Abrahams) retires. The snub is a result of a decades-old feud going back to a choice by Croy’s father that split the fabulous Old Righteous Blues Kerskoor into two rival bands and has divided the community every since.

2006 hatte Gavin Hoods „Tsotsi” den Oscar in der Kategorie „Bester nicht-englischsprachiger Film“ zum bisher einzigen Mal nach Südafrika geholt. Jetzt wurde Muneera Sallies‘ Drama „Old Righteous Blues“ in zwischenzeitlich in „Bester internationaler Film“ firmierenden Kategorie eingereicht.

Oscarhoffnung aus Südafrika: „Old Righteous Blues“ (Credit: KykNet)

Die National Film and Video Foundation hat Muneera Sallies’ Drama „Old Righteous Blues” für Südafrika für eine Oscarnominierung in der Kategorie „Bester internationaler Film“ eingereicht.

Der Film erzählt die Geschichte eines jungen Mannes, der versucht, persönliche Grenzen zu überwinden und sich über die Geister der Vergangenheit zu erheben, um eine zersplitterte Gemeinschaft zu vereinen, indem er versucht, die einst glorreiche Old Righteous Blues Christmas Choir Band (Kerkskoor) wieder zu ihrer früheren Größe zu bringen.

Dabei muss er sich mit den langwierigen Folgen einer bitteren Fehde auseinandersetzen, die sein Vater zwei Jahrzehnte zuvor angezettelt hatte, den Chor in zwei Teile spaltete und die Gemeinde entzweite. 20 Jahre lang gab es Straßenschlachten,...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 2, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2, 2024.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

With “Deadpool and Wolverine” breaking box office records, “X-Men 97” winning over critics and audiences on Disney+ and Marvel Studios on the precipice of a full-blown live-action reboot, everything is coming up “X-Men.”

It’s easy to overlook the fact that “X-Men,” released in 2000, effectively kicked off the era of the modern superhero movie. It proved that you could take oversized characters and make them relatable and fun for modern audiences. And they have continued to delight ever since.

So, to celebrate our favorite mutants (and the milestones “Deadpool and Wolverine” are gamely crossing almost daily), we thought we’d rank every single “X-Men” movie, from the superpowered to the woefully underwhelming.

Snikt!

20th Century 14. “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (2009)

After the initial trilogy of movies, Fox decided to try and expand the “X-Men” universe. There were going to be a whole suite of “X-Men Origins” movies. In fact, some of the...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

February is the shortest month of the year but Prime Video is paying that no mind with its jam-packed list of new releases for February 2023.

This really is an uncommonly stuffed month on the Amazon streamer and it all starts with a handful of Amazon Originals. Amazon’s original offerings kick off with the release of Dave Franco-directed romcom Somebody I Used to Know on Feb. 10. That is followed by Carnival Row season 2 – a gritty fantasy crime drama is set in a world of steampunky fairies. The show stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevigne and this batch of episodes will be its swan song. Meanwhile The Consultant on Feb. 24 is a dark comedy workplace thriller starring Christoph Waltz.

The biggest hits this month, however, might just be some recent cinema faves. If February is for lovers, Amazon didn’t get the memo as there are quite a few horror movies of note here.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Oz) and Mustafa Shakir (Luke Cage) are set as leads opposite Charles Babalola in Showtime’s King Shaka drama series. Additionally, Terry Pheto (Tsotsi) and Lerato Mvelase (Justice Served) will recur in the series executive produced by Antoine Fuqua.

Rooted in actual events, King Shaka tells the story of the Zulu Empire founder Shaka (Babalola) and his unlikely rise to power, uniting multiple tribes across vast stretches of Africa in the early 19th century to transform his power into legend, on par with history’s most seminal figures. The outcast son of a Zulu Chief, Shaka is a visionary who is prophesized to become a king like none before him. In ferocious battles that test the body and soul, in alliances that test the bonds of love and friendship, a complex sociological system plays out that renders the human cost front and center, for the victors as well as the vanquished,...

Exclusive: Liam Neeson is set to star in thriller Thug, reuniting with his Cold Pursuit director Hans Petter Moland, who will direct the film for Sculptor Media and Electromagnetic Productions, with Mossbank and CAA handling sales at next week’s Cannes market.

Thug revolves around an ageing San Pedro gangster (Neeson) who attempts to reconnect with his children and rectify the mistakes in his past, but the criminal underworld won’t loosen their grip willingly. Tony Gayton wrote the screenplay.

Principal photography is slated for October, 2022, in Los Angeles.

Sculptor Media’s Warren Goz and Eric Gold are producing the movie alongside Roger Birnbaum (Rush Hour franchise) and Michael Besman (About Schmidt) for Electromagnetic Productions, and James Masciello’s Force Majeure (Copshop).

Executive producers are James Masciello, Matt Sidari and Mitchell Zhang of Raven, which has a slate financing and production partnership with Sculptor Media and is financing Thug.

Mossbank,...

In terms of international recognition, this week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced feature films eligible for consideration in the International Feature Film category for the 94th Academy Awards. Since the African continent first submitted a film for Oscar consideration in 1958, with Egyptian director Youssef Chahine’s “Cairo Station,” the number of African submissions for Best International Film Oscar consideration seems to be stabilizing at an average of around 10 annually. Eight films were submitted for the 2019 awards; 10 for 2020; and 12 for 2021, which marked a record. Ten submissions are in consideration for the upcoming 2022 ceremony.

The history of cinema on the African continent is expectedly complex and brief — unlike other artforms including music and literature, of which there are decades, if not centuries of rich history.

Due to restrictive colonialist structures and a Francophone/Anglophone divide, Africans weren’t always in a position to tell their own stories on film.

Drake was nominated for a pair of 2022 Grammy Awards when they were announced on November 23: Best Rap Album for “Certified Lover Boy” and Best Rap Performance for “Way 2 Sexy” featuring Future and Young Thug. But not anymore. Variety reported on December 6 that he has chosen to withdraw his own nominations. Since voting for winners also started on December 6, Drake won’t be replaced on the ballot by whoever finished sixth in the nomination voting. Those categories will simply be decided between the four remaining nominees.

SEEHow The Weeknd ended up with 3 Grammy nominations despite boycotting the awards

This is an especially unusual continuation of the saga of Drake’s contentious relationship with the Grammys. He has criticized the recording academy and the Grammys’ voting process many times in the past; he’s far from alone in that regard. When he won for “Hotline Bling” as a rap song, he...

It’s been more than 40 years since the Ivory Coast first won an Oscar for Best International Feature — then known as Best Foreign Language Film. Could the African nation win again for the critically acclaimed film “Night of the Kings”?

SEEKaouther Ben Hania (‘The Man Who Sold His Skin’) on her Tunisian International Feature Oscar contender: ‘This is not a classic refugee story’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“Night of the Kings” is only the third film submitted to the Oscars from the nation, though their success rate is pretty good given their infrequent entries. They won the award for the anti-war satire “Black and White in Color” (1976), the directorial debut of French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud, who went on to direct one other Oscar nominee, but representing France, “Betty Blue” (1986).

Ivory Coast didn’t submit another film for consideration for almost four decades. For 2015 they entered “Run” by director Philippe Lacôte. That film also dealt with unrest in the country,...

“Storytelling is a vehicle for empathy,” proclaims Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania about her Venice Film Festival award-winning film “The Man Who Sold His Skin.” “It’s the dream of any filmmaker to have this empathy for a character.” Watch our exclusive video interview with Ben Hania above.

In “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” Sam (Yahya Mahayni), a Syrian refugee desperate to get to Europe to rescue his fiancée, agrees to being tattooed, selling off his body as a living work of art to be exhibited in a museum. He soon realizes that he has sold away more than just his skin. The film co-stars acclaimed Italian actress Monica Bellucci and Belgian actor Koen De Bouw and won Syrian-born leading man Mahayni the Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival last fall.

See 2021 Oscars shortlists in 9 categories: International Feature Film, Documentary Feature, Original Song, Score

“This is not a classic refugee story.

Organizations that give awards think every category is important. The American public, on the other hand, seems to only care about best picture, actor and actress.

However, to millions of people around the world, the most important category is the one devoted to movies that are not in the English language — what the Oscars call international feature film and what the Globes call foreign language.

For them, it’s not just about validation for one movie. Brillante Ma Mendoza, director of this year’s Philippines Oscar submission “Mindanao,” says, “An Oscar is more than a trophy,” adding that a nomination or win would be proof that “the whole Philippine film industry can stand with the best.”

Poland has been nominated three times in the past five years, including one win. Director Małgorzata Szumowska hopes the momentum carries to her film this year, “Never Gonna Snow Again.” After the award to Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Ida,...

Moonyeenn Lee, a legendary South African casting director and agent who cast films such as “Blood Diamond,” “Hotel Rwanda” and “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” died Saturday due to complications caused by the coronavirus in Johannesburg. She was 76.

Lee’s passing was confirmed by a representative in Johannesburg and announced on a Facebook page for her agency Moonyeenn Lee & Associates (Mla).

Lee was renowned in her native South Africa and boasted 47 years in the film industry, earning a lifetime achievement award named for Lionel Ngakane from the South African Film & Television Awards in 2017. She was also the first South African member of AMPAS and the Television Academy.

Also Read: Haruma Miura, Japanese Actor and Star of 'Attack on Titan,' Dies of Apparent Suicide at 30

Lee was also one of South Africa’s best-known agents through her company Moonyeenn Lee & Associates (Mla). In 2003, Lee was nominated to the National...

Moonyeenn Lee, the acclaimed South African agent and casting director who cast films such as the foreign-language Oscar winner “Tsotsi” and Oscar-nominated “Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom,” died in Johannesburg on Saturday due to coronavirus-related complications. She was 76.

Lee’s company, Moonyeenn Lee & Associates, announced the news in a statement on its Facebook page on Sunday. “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of the legendary South African agent and casting director, Moonyeenn Lee,” reads the statement.

“Moonyeenn’s passion for South African stories and local talent was well known. Over the years, she would travel around the world introducing producers and directors to South African actors. She would always do everything in her power to convince them to rather cast local actors over foreign actors. Her dedication eventually paid off as many international productions trusted her to cast locally.”

It continued: “Moonyeenn helped shape the lives of many actors,...

South African industry veteran cast films including ‘Tsotsi’, ‘Blood Diamond’ and ‘Hotel Rwanda’.

Renowned South African casting director and agent Moonyeenn Lee has died aged 76, following complications from coronavirus.

The industry veteran, who was Emmy-nominated for her work on Hulu series The Looming Tower and the 2016 adaptation of Roots, died in Johannesburg on July 18.

Lee was born in Johannesburg in 1944 and worked on the casting of films including Oscar-winner Tsotsi, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, and Eye In The Sky.

More recently, she was the casting director on Sundance award-winner This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection.

Veteran South African casting director and agent Moonyeenn Lee has died aged 76 in Johannesburg, following complications from the coronavirus.

Lee worked for almost five decades in the industry, building a formidable and illustrious career working on movies including The Bang Bang Club, Disgrace, Oscar-winner Tsotsi, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, Machine Gun Preacher, Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, Eye In The Sky, Mandela And De Klerk, Life, Above All and Black Panther.

She also carried out local casting on series including Homeland, The Prisoner, Warrior and The Hot Zone. She received Primetime Emmy nominations for Roots and The Looming Tower.

According to Lee’s associates she became the first South African member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Television Academy.

In 2003, Lee was nominated to the National Executive Committee of the Independent Producer’s Organisation and to the Film Board of Create South Africa. In the same year,...

The decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in November to disqualify Genevieve Nnaji’s “Lionheart” from the international feature Oscar race marred an otherwise promising awards season for Africa, which still saw its total number of submissions reach a record-breaking nine. The ensuing controversy brought filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay, into the fray, and prompted the Academy to defend its decision on the grounds that entries must be mostly filmed in a language other than English, Nigeria’s official language.

But the dust-up also served to underscore broader structural challenges for African filmmakers dreaming of Oscar glory. Production across the continent has been steadily rising, with such debutantes as Niger, Malawi and Mozambique recently entering the awards race. Yet most countries lack either the financial resources to mobilize a selection committee — an often expensive proposition — or the political resolve to pursue an award that many perceive as...

Earlier this month, the Academy announced that 93 countries submitted films for its International Feature Film category at the 92nd Academy Awards. Ten of these came from Africa, a new record for the continent.

It remains to be seen whether any of these titles will be shortlisted in order to make the final list of five nominees. Of the 10 films, Senegal’s “Atlantics,” Mati Diop’s 2019 Cannes Grand Prix winner acquired by Netflix, probably has the strongest chance.

The last time a film representing an African country won this category was South Africa’s “Tsotsi,” by Gavin Hood, at the 78th Oscars in 2006. It’s one of just three wins from African countries, which also include Algeria’s “Z” by Costa-Gavras in 1969 and the Ivory Coast’s “Black and White in Color” (“La Victoire en chantant”) by Jean-Jacques Annaud in 1976.

In 2018, eight submissions included African first-timers Mozambique (“The Train of Salt...

Mati Diop’s Atlantics, the feature debut that won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival this year, has been submitted by Senegal to compete for the 2020 International Feature Film Oscar.

The film already made history when Diop became the first black female director to be selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in Cannes, and could do so again by becoming the first project from Senegal to get nominated by the Academy for its foreign language prize.

Features submitted by African nations have been nominated in the category nine times before, with three wins: Z; Black And White In Colour; and Tsotsi.

Atlantics is a France-Senegal-Belgium co-production and was filmed in Wolof, a language primarily spoken in Senegal, as well as French and English. Producers are Les Films du Bal, Cinekap and Frakas. The movie depicts the blossoming love between young construction...

Films about young Africans trying to fulfill their dreams in the face of war, poverty, tradition and other forms of adversity have been submitted for Oscar consideration by three East African nations.

The selections by Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda to compete in the international feature film category reflect the relative youth of filmmaking in the region, which has never received an Academy Award nomination.

Ethiopia has chosen Jan Philipp Weyl’s “Running Against the Wind,” the story of two brothers whose lives take very different paths when they decide to follow their dreams – one to become an Olympic runner, the other a photographer. It features a cameo by gold medal-winning distance runner Haile Gebrselassie.

Shot in Ethiopia’s native language, Amharic, which Weyl speaks, the movie is an Ethiopian-German Co-Production produced by Negarit Film Academy & Productions and AC Independent Film in association with R&b Film. It’s Ethiopia’s...

Keira Knightley as “Katharine Gun” in Gavin Hood’s Official Secrets. Photo credit: Nick Wall. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.

Keira Knightley takes a break from period costumes to star in the true-story based political thriller Official Secrets, about a British intelligence specialist turns whistle-blower in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

South African writer/director Gavin Hood has built a reputation for thoughtful dramas focused on timely topics with ethical complexities, starting with the Oscar-winning Tsotsi. Hood has also directed action films like X_MEN Origins: Wolverine but he has recently offered up drama with serious subjects but featuring big enough stars to get the subject wide audience attention. In the Helen Mirren-starring Eye In The Sky, Hood spotlighted the complex human and ethical issues underlying drone strikes. This time Hood focuses on the case of a British intelligence analyst who decided the public...

After a very uneven summer, several new and recently released titles showed some positive results this weekend. It’s a opportunistic moment: The studios’ schedules are light and screens are more available before the onslaught of the top titles now playing at festivals.

Gavin Hood’s “Official Secrets” had a decent debut in New York and Los Angeles, and an atypical release of “Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins” in Texas also showed initial interest that could translate into other cities ahead.

The second weekend of “Brittany Runs a Marathon,” with its slower release pattern, had a positive result but it’s still unclear as to how well it will crossover. Similarly, “The Peanut Butter Falcon” is already showing strong grosses as it moves past the 1,000 theater mark. Among other recent openers, “Miles Davis: The Birth of the Cool” had an excellent Los Angeles opening to match its initial New York date.

Filmmaker Gavin Hood is at his best when he gets political. The less said about his superhero outing X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the better, while Ender’s Game underwhelmed. However, after his breakthrough Tsotsi, efforts like Rendition, though especially Eye in the Sky and now Official Secrets, show how engaged he is when he’s passionate about a cause. Here, telling the true story of a British whistleblower in the lead up to the 2003 Iraq War, he’s found a terrific vehicle for his talents. The film is angry, urgent, and effortlessly well made. Hitting theaters this week, it’s a mature and serious work that’s well worth your time. The movie is a political thriller, based on the true story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), a member of British Intelligence who leaked classified documents in an attempt to stop the 2003 invasion of Iraq. A longtime effective and loyal intelligence office,...

Keira Knightley leads an all-star British cast in Official Secrets, a riveting, if not sometimes pedantic, political thriller.

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History moves quickly these days, which is perhaps one of the reasons why Official Secrets, a political drama set in the lead up to the Iraq War, already feels like the ancient kind. It's not, of course. The beginning of the century was not that long ago and the effects of the decision to invade Iraq are still being felt today, a reality that makes this just-period film vital political viewing for anyone unfamiliar with Katharine Gun and the courageous choice she made in trying to stop the Iraq War before it started.

Official Secrets stars Knightley as real-life whistleblower Katharine Gun, a former translator for Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters. In 2003, Gun leaked an intelligence memo detailing the Nsa's request to Britain for help in collecting compromising...

Kayti Burt Jun 13, 2019

Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, and Ralph Fiennes star in the real-life story of British whistleblower Katharine Gun.

Keria Knightley is an actress often associated with period dramas—a choice, she told BBC News while promoting her film Colette, because it's where she finds the "strongest roles"—but her latest film, while technically a period drama, takes place much more recently than the films we usually think of as falling into that category.

The movie is called Official Secrets, and it tells the story of British whistleblower Katharine Gun (played by Knightley), a civilian translator at the Government Communications Headquarters intelligence office in the U.K., who leaked top-secret information to the press concerning illegal activities by the United States of America in their push for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Official Secrets has a killer cast. In addition to Knightley, it stars Matt Smith, Matthew Goode,...

The Newport Beach Film Festival, which kicks off April 24 and continues through April 27, will honor five talented artists who will be on hand to accept their awards. The event kicks off opening night with the West Coast premiere of Sundance indie hit “Luce,” a provocative racial drama from director Julius Onah starring Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth and rising star Kelvin Harrison Jr. The fest closes with the world premiere of “Part of Water,” a documentary about local lifeguard hero Ben Carlson who lost his life saving a drowning swimmer in 2014.

Between those bookends, Nbff screens the Ted Bundy crime drama “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,” starring Zac Efron as the notorious serial killer; “Official Secrets,” Gavin Hood’s political thriller starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes; and the world premiere of “The Tony Alva Story,” which chronicles the life of the skateboarding legend.

The fest and Vans...

Ex-dna Films and Bentley exec Tom Winchester to lead NBCU-backed drama producer.

Tom Winchester has been named UK president of NBC Universal International Studios-backed drama house Heyday Television.

The former DNA Films and TV creative director and Bentley Productions head of development will lead Heyday Television UK as president from January 2019.

He will work closely with company founder David Heyman, who launched Heyday TV as a joint venture with Nbcuis, to grow a slate of high-end scripted series.

Winchester has already moved to hire former Sky Drama development editor Anna Hargreaves, who has been named development executive.

The hires...

For the second straight year, a record eight African films were submitted to the Academy for consideration, vying for a chance to bring home just the third statue for the continent in the nearly 50 years since Costa-Gavras won for the Algerian-French political thriller “Z.”

This year’s submissions aren’t likely to get the buzz of 2017 hopefuls “Felicité,” which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize in Berlin for Franco-Senegalese helmer Alain Gomis, or fest darling “The Wound,” by South Africa’s John Trengove. Both were shortlisted for the Oscar but failed to make the final cut.

Related Content Critical Analysis: Prior Nominees Canada and Australia

Even as recent years have showcased a wealth of burgeoning talent in sub-Saharan Africa, moviemaking on the continent remains a challenge, and few countries find the resources to produce Oscar-worthy candidates year after year. Tellingly, it took funding from five countries to power “Felicité...

Screen’s regularly updated list of foreign language Oscar submissions.

Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the first submissions for best foreign-language film are now being announced.

Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.

Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.

Submitted films must be released theatrically...

Screen’s regularly updated list of foreign language Oscar submissions.

Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the first submissions for best foreign-language film are now being announced.

Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.

Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.

Submitted films must be released theatrically...

Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’s “Sew the Winter to My Skin,” about a real mid-century outlaw and his Robin Hood-style exploits, is South Africa’s submission for the foreign-language Oscar race. The movie, which world premiered in the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, was selected by the National Film & Video Foundation (Nfvf) on Friday.

Written and directed by Qubeka, “Winter” is an adventure epic inspired by the story of John Kepe, who eluded authorities in South Africa’s rugged Boschberg Mountains for 12 years as he stole from wealthy white landowners and gave to the black poor. His exploits made him a folk hero to his own people and a public enemy in the eyes of the apartheid government.

The selection committee lauded what it described as “an unmistakable, bold South African voice that tackles historical and contemporary issues, in both South Africa and the world.” Describing Qubeka’s cinematic technique as “visionary and bold,...

When Doug Mankoff started Echo Lake Entertainment 20 years ago he knew that, for an independent producer-financier, it would be easy to miss the mark. “The bull’s-eye was always really hard to hit, and it’s just gotten smaller and smaller,” says Mankoff of the indie film space, where one failure could mean financial ruin.

After building up clout in the festival markets and with titles like 2001’s Peabody-winning Things Behind the Sun, the financier and production company found itself at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival with three titles (Tsotsi, Water and 12 and Holding). President Andrew Spaulding,...

When Doug Mankoff started Echo Lake Entertainment 20 years ago he knew that, for an independent producer-financier, it would be easy to miss the mark. “The bull’s-eye was always really hard to hit, and it’s just gotten smaller and smaller,” says Mankoff of the indie film space, where one failure could mean financial ruin.

After building up clout in the festival markets and with titles like 2001’s Peabody-winning Things Behind the Sun, the financier and production company found itself at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival with three titles (Tsotsi, Water and 12 and Holding). President Andrew Spaulding,...

Friends and colleagues of the late sales and production vet Robbie Little will celebrate the former Little Film Company Co-President on Saturday 30 from 2.30pm at the Ahrya Fine Arts Laemmle Theater in Beverly Hills.

Little died unexpectedly en route to the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The well-liked Brit launched his sales and marketing outfit with his wife Ellen, and executive-produced the company’s first film, Tsotsi, which won the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.

Previously, the well-traveled exec established First Look Media to package finance and distribute movies in the domestic market. As President and Co-Chairman of First Look Media, he created First Look Home Entertainment, the company’s video/DVD distribution division, which grew into a well known indie label.

Over the span of his career, he worked on movies including Waking Ned Devine, An American Haunting, Before Night Falls, Titus, Illuminata, The Prophecy film franchise,...

Memorial service set for June 30 in Beverly Hills.

Friends and family will convence on June 30 in Los Angeles to celebrate the life of indie film pioneer, producer and sales agent Robbie Little

The event follows a gathering that took place in Cannes last month following Little’s sudden death en route to the festival and market.

The invitation to the June 30 celebration bears the legend ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ – the famous anthem of Liverpool Football Club, whom the Liverpool-born independent film champion, Afm co-founder, and co-founder of The Little Film Company had supported his entire life.

The service will...

Robbie Little, a familiar and well-loved figure at film markets who founded the Little Film Company with his wife Ellen, died en route to Cannes this May.

Robbie Little

Robbie Little’s Celebration of Life

will be held Saturday, June 30 at 2:30pm

at Ahrya Fine Arts Laemmle Theater

8556 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Robbie and his wife Ellen worked on financing, producing and distributing more than 300 films, including Waking Ned Devine, The Secret of Roan Inish, Mrs. Dalloway and Before Night Falls.

Little executive produced Tsotsi, which won the 2006 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar for South Africa.

He was the co-president of The Little Film Company, an worldwide film sales and marketing company that he founded with his wife of 44 years, Ellen. Little also executive-produced and sold the Leo Tolstoy drama The Last Station, The Eye of the Storm starring Charlotte Ramping and Geoffrey Rush, Scott Glenn vehicle The...

UTA Independent Film Group is handling North American sales to Animortal Studios’ “Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires,” a stop-motion action-horror-comedy movie directed by Mike Mort.

World premiering June 12 in Annecy’s Official Selection, “Chuck Steel” pays tribute to the look and feel of 1980s’ live-action movies.

Set in 1986, the film follows a cop-on-the-edge who doesn’t play by the rules and finds his work cut out for him when the L.A. Governor reduces the licensing hours for clubs and bars, triggering a sudden spate of high profile assaults in the city.

“Chuck Steel” marks the first feature project entirely developed and produced at Animortal’s stop-motion toon studio and VFX facility in South Wales’ Bridgend, which has also hosted some of the sets for Wes Anderson’s Berlinale winner “Isle of Dogs.”

British thesps Jennifer Saunders (“Absolutely Fabulous”) and Paul Whitehouse (“Ruddy Hell! It’s Harry and Paul...

The film is a 1980s-inspired, action-horror-comedy filmed entirely in stop-motion.

Animortal Studio, the Wales-based stop-motion animation production and VFX outfit launched in 2014, has completed its debut feature Chuck Steel: Night Of The Trampires.

The film is a 1980s-inspired, action-horror-comedy filmed entirely in stop-motion. It has secured a world premiere at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival next month.

Written and directed by Mike Mort, who also voiced many of the characters, Chuck Steel: Night Of The Trampires was shot using digital stills cameras and was produced using a crew of 150 people, with 27 separate units either shooting or prepping simultaneously in the company’s studio,...

Robbie Little, a familiar and well-loved figure at film markets who founded the Little Film Company with his wife Ellen, has died.

“Thank you, Sydney, for this loving tribute. You know, I remembered at some point that Robbie had called me around 1 am my time to say that he was up and getting ready to leave (and he sounded fine). So I realized he must have been awake and not asleep when he died so I e-mailed the police officer who found him and he confirmed to me that Robbie was on the floor and not in bed. It must have happened very fast because he didn’t have time to call for help. Love, Ellen”

Ellen Little became concerned when she had not heard from him four hours after he was to arrive in Cannes and called the hotel where he was staying in London. When they said he had checked out,...

Tsotsi executive producer and The Little Company co-president Robbie Little has died. Little was in London on his way to the Cannes Film Festival at the time; the cause of death has not yet been determined. He was 73.

Little is perhaps best-known for executive producing Tsotsi, which won the 2006 best foreign language film Oscar for South Africa. He was also well-known to the film world as the co-president of The Little Film Company, a worldwide film sales and marketing shingle that he founded with his wife of 44 years, Ellen, and whose first film was Tsotsi. At the...

Industry veteran Robbie Little, co-president of The Little Film Company, has died unexpectedly en route to the Cannes Film Festival. Little passed away in London of a suspected heart attack, his colleagues and friends have confirmed to Deadline.

Little launched his well-known sales and marketing outfit with his wife Ellen, and executive produced the company’s first film, Tsotsi, which won the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.

Previously, the well-traveled and well-liked exec established First Look Media to package finance and distribute movies in the domestic market. As President and Co-Chairman of First Look Media, he created First Look Home Entertainment, the company’s own video/DVD distribution division, which grew into a well known indie label.

Over the span of his career, he worked on movies including Waking Ned Devine, An American Haunting, Before Night Falls, Titus, Illuminata, The Prophecy film franchise, and Antonia’s Line (winner of...

Fixture of independent film world had been planning to attend Cannes with Mrs Lowry & Son.

Robbie Little, the British producer, co-president of The Little Film Company and stalwart of the independent world, has died unexpectedly in London en route to Cannes.

Little, who served alongside his wife Ellen, was a widely admired, deeply experienced and beloved figure in the film industry. At the time of his death he was working with producer Debbie Gray on the Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave drama Mrs Lowry & Son and The More You Ignore Me, and was planning to continue talks with international buyers on the Croisette.

Fixture of independent film world had been planning to attend Cannes.

Robbie Little, the British producer, co-president of The Little Film Company and stalwart of the independent world, has died unexpectedly in London en route to Cannes.

Little, who served alongside his wife Ellen, was a widely admired, deeply experienced and beloved figure in the film industry. At the time of his death he was working with producer Debbie Gray on the Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave drama Mrs Lowry & Son and The More You Ignore Me, and was planning to continue talks with international buyers on the Croisette.

Little...

<em>Tsotsi</em> executive producer and The Little Company co-president Robbie Little has died. Little was in London on his way to the Cannes Film Festival at the time; the cause of death has not yet been determined. He was 73.

Little is perhaps best-known for executive producing <em>Tsotsi</em>, which won the 2006 best foreign language film Oscar for South Africa. He was also well-known to the film world as the co-president of The Little Film Company, a worldwide film sales and marketing shingle that he founded with his wife of 44 years, Ellen, and whose first film was <em>Tsotsi</em>. At the company, Little also ...

Actress will take role of Katharine Gun, who leaked an email to the Observer about Us spying plans, in new film

Her story has been all but forgotten in the years since the 2003 Iraq war ended, overshadowed by more recent, flashier tales. Now a new film, starring Keira Knightley and Matt Smith, will put Gchq whistleblower Katharine Gun back in the spotlight – and in doing so ask audiences the question: where do your true loyalties lie?

“I found Katharine’s story fascinating,” says director Gavin Hood, known for the Helen Mirren thriller Eye in the Sky and the acclaimed South African crime drama Tsotsi. He will begin filming Official Secrets in March, with a planned release date later this year.

Sierra/Affinity to launch sales at Efm. Spy thriller set to begin production on March 12 in Yorkshire, England.

Keira Knightley, fresh from the triumphant world premiere and sale of period drama Colette in Sundance, will shift gears and star as British intelligence whistle-blower Katharine Gun alongside Matt Smith in Official Secrets, Mark Gordon and eOne announced on Monday (February 12).

Sierra/Affinity will launch international sales at the Efm this week in all territories excluding Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, Germany, Benelux and Spain, where eOne distributes directly. CAA and UTA Independent Film Group represent Us rights.

Official Secrets has been in the works for years with various cast members coming and going, however a reconstituted version has finally come together for the Efm ahead of a scheduled March 12 start date in Yorkshire, England.

eOne will oversee production and finances with Screen Yorkshire and producer Melissa Shiyu Zuo through her Gs Media.

Gavin Hood will direct...

One of the earliest 2016 releases to be included in our big annual awards-season event The Contenders Presented By Deadline is Eye In The Sky, a March opener that poses moral and ethical questions about the use of drone technology in modern warfare. In front of a packed audience of Oscar and key guild voters last month at the DGA theater, Oscar-winning director Gavin Hood (Tsotsi) talked with me about the relevance of his film, which appeared at The Contenders as part of…...

Exclusive: Robbie Little has picked up worldwide sales rights to the dystopian drama by husband-and-wife team Alex Helfrecht and Jörg Tittel ahead of its international premiere at Tallinn Black Nights next month.

Agyness Deyn stars alongside Jonathan Pryce, Fiona Shaw, Greta Scacchi, Ross Partridge, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and feature debutant Lorenzo Allchurch.

Philip Munger and Teun Hilte produced The White King, which relocates the Romanian setting of György Dragomán’s award-winning novel to a totalitarian regime in a nameless locale, where a young boy sets out to find his imprisoned father.

The film will play in the First Features Competition at Tallinn Black Nights in Estonia, which runs from November 11-27. It received its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Robbie Little, co-president of The Little Film Company, said, “Alex and Jörg are tremendously impressive filmmakers who along with their producers, Philip Munger and Teun Hilte, have managed to put together an incredibly talented cast and...