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From Jacob Elordi’s new bearded look to Sean Penn’s red carpet debut with girlfriend Valeria Nicov, this year’s Marrakech Film Festival has been making headlines in mainstream media like it never did before. Yet, the event has existed for 21 years.

For over two decades, the festival has indeed played a pivotal role in fostering a new generation of filmmakers from the Arab world, especially Morocco, fueled by the ambition of Marrakech Film Festival director Melita Toscan du Plantier, a Paris-based producer, cinephile and straight shooter. The Marrakech adventure kicked off in 2001, when her late husband, Daniel Toscan du Plantier, an influential French producer, was asked by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI to help create the film festival. A year later, Hrh Prince Moulay Rachid took over as president of the festival and its foundation, and when Daniel Toscan du Plantier died abruptly in 2003, Melita took the reins.

The Match Factory will handle international sales for director Cherien Dabis’ decades spanning family saga “All That’s Left of You.”

Currently in post-production and by all accounts among the most anticipated projects presented at this year’s Atlas Workshops, the film follows three generations of a Palestinian family, tracking cycles of trauma beginning with the 1948 displacement from Jaffa and continuing through occupation, violence and present day heartbreak in the West Bank.

An acclaimed filmmaker and actor, Dabis stars as well, anchoring the film as a devastated mother to a teenaged son injured by an Israeli soldier. As her son’s life hangs in the balance, the grief-struck woman tries to make sense of her family and people’s heritage. Actors – and brothers – Saleh Bakri (“The Blue Caftan”) and Adam Bakri (“Omar”) co-star alongside father Mohammad Bakri, making the project a truly intergenerational portrait.

Produced by Pallas Film, Twenty Twenty Vision and Amp Filmworks,...

Feature film projects from The Blue Caftan filmmaker Maryam Touzani and Four Daughters director Kaouther Ben Hania are among 24 titles that have received a combined €6.78m in the latest session of Council of Europe co-production fund Eurimages.

The 24 feature films backed by Eurimages include four documentaries and one animation. 16 are to be directed or co-directed by women, representing over 75% of the total funding awarded.

Morrocan filmmaker Maryam Touzani’s Spanish language Calle Malaga was awarded €500,000. It’s the story of a 74-year old woman who belongs to the Spanish community of Tangier who has to leave her home but unexpectedly...

After breaking ground with his 2021 movie “Casablanca Beats,” which marked the first Moroccan feature to vie for a Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, filmmaker Nabil Ayouch (“Much Loved”) is achieving a new milestone with his latest movie, “Everybody Loves Touda,” which premiered at Cannes Premiere and is now eligible in all categories at the Oscars. It’s the first Moroccan film to do so.

“Everybody Loves Touda,” penned by Ayouch and his wife, the actor-turned-filmmaker Maryam Touzani (“The Blue Caftan”), tells the story a young poetess and singer known as a Shaeirat (Nisrin Erradi), who raises her deaf-mute son in a small Moroccan village. Hoping to give her son a better future and more opportunities in life, she moves with him to Casablanca where she faces setbacks. Erradi, who previously starred in Touzani’s feature debut, “Adam,” prepared for the part in “Everybody Loves Touda” for a...

Challenges and opportunities for distributors from the African continent were under the spotlight at the European Work in Progress (Ewip) platform and International Film Distribution Summit (Ifds) held in Cologne last week.

Speaking at a discussion about how to boost distribution of European and African works in both continents, Mike Strano, co-founder and COO of Kenyan online distributor Yakwetu, described the situation in Kenya where there are about 800,000-900,000 cinema visits a year with the average cinema-goer going four times a year.

“That means, you’re looking at an audience of 200,000 out of a total population of 56m,” he observed.

Palme d’Or winning director Ruben Östlund’s next film The Entertainment System Is Down has been awarded €500,000 in production support from Berlin-Brandenburg’s regional film fund.

It is one of 30 feature films and series projects, from directors such as David Wnendt and Ulrike Ottinger, to share more than €7.2m in Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (Mbb)’s latest funding round.

Phlippe Bober’s Berlin-based Essential Filmproduktion received the €500,000 for Östlund’s second English-language production The Entertainment System Is Down, starring Daniel Brühl, Kirsten Dunst and Keanu Reeves. The long gestating project is set on a long-haul flight whose inflight entertainment system breaks down.

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 3, 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.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Morocco has selected Nabil Ayouch’s drama Everybody Loves Touda as its submission to the Best International Feature Film category of the 97th Academy Awards.

The feature sees Ayouch explore the country’s tradition of Sheikhat, a type of sung poetry performed by female performers which has its roots in 19th century rural communities. Once revered, these performers saw their status undermined amid the rural exodus of the 1970s, which saw them moving into bars and cabaret clubs.

Nisrin Erradi plays a young woman who with aspirations of reviving the once hallowed status of Sheikhat, but who finds herself instead performing in provincial bars under the gaze of lustful men.

Everybody Loves Touda was selected as Morocco’s submission by commission overseen by the Moroccan Cinema Centre.

It consisted of producer Souad Lamriki; producer-directors Layla Triqui, Asmae El Moudir, Driss Mrini and Driss Roukhe as well as Zine El Abidine Charafeddine,...

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 3, 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.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

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 3, 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.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Manrique, productora de ‘Celda 211’, ‘El Orfanato’ y ‘El Laberinto del Fauno’, dirige su primer largometraje. © TIFF

“Fin de Fiesta” (originalmente titulada “Una Luz al Mediodía”), la ópera prima de la productora Elena Manrique, tendrá su estreno mundial en el Festival Internacional de Cine de Toronto en la sección Discovery.

En “Fin de Fiesta”, la vida de una rica divorciada se ve alterada cuando una joven inmigrante senegalesa se refugia en su cobertizo de herramientas.

Protagonizan la película Edith Martínez-Val, Sonia Barba (“La Amiga de mi Amiga”) y Beatriz Arjona (“Operación Barrio Inglés”).

La directora ha expresado su entusiasmo: «Siempre es un momento muy especial la primera vez que una película sale al mundo y se expone a sus primeros espectadores. Fin de Fiesta empieza su andadura en Toronto, concretamente en Discovery que es una sección dedicada a primeras y segundas películas, con una mirada diversa y valiente. En...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) has invited 487 artists and executives to become members, with Sandra Huller, Justin Triet, Celine Song and Da’Vine Joy Randolph among the high profile invitees.

Also invited to join are actors Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Fiona Shaw, directors Alice Diop, David Yates and S S Rajamouli, and writers Arthur Harari and Tony McNamara.

Executives invited to join that branch of the Academy include British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts and Fifth Season co-CEOs Chris Rice and Graham Taylor.

Among those invited to join the costume designers branch are Holly Waddington and Małgorzata Karpiuk.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) has invited 487 artists and executives to become members, with Sandra Huller, Justin Triet, Celine Song and Da’Vine Joy Randolph among the high profile invitees.

Also invited to join are actors Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Fiona Shaw, directors Alice Diop, David Yates and S S Rajamouli, and writers Arthur Harari and Tony McNamara.

Executives invited to join that branch of the Academy include British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts and Fifth Season co-CEOs Chris Rice and Graham Taylor.

Among those invited to join the costume designers branch are Holly Waddington and Małgorzata Karpiuk.

Every summer, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invites a deluge of new members to join its ranks. Since #OscarsSoWhite back in 2015, the Academy has moved away from its elitist tendencies and toward embracing younger and more diverse artists and executives from all over the world. This year’s invited class is no exception.

If the invitees all accept Academy membership, the total members will number 10,910 and voting members 9,934. And with the addition of the 2024 members, 35 percent of Academy members identify as women, 20 percent of Academy members are from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities, and 20 percent of Academy members are from countries or territories outside the U.S.

As usual, a slew of Oscar nominees and winners are gaining admittance to the club (71 Oscar nominees and 19 winners), including actors Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Sandra Hüller, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”), costume designer Holly Waddington...

Jessica Alba, Lily Gladstone, Greta Lee, Catherine O’Hara, and S.S. Rajamouli, director of “Rrr,” are among the 487 artists and executives invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. With all expected acceptances, AMPAS membership will rise to 10,910 from 10,817 last year, with 9,934 members eligible to vote in the upcoming 97th Oscars in 2025—an increase from last year’s 9,375.

This year’s invitees include 44% women, a 4% increase from 2023, and 41% from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities, marking a significant 7% rise. The actors, casting directors, costume designers, documentary, executives, makeup artists and hairstylists branches have invited more women than men. The actors, directors, documentary, and writers branches mainly comprised artists from underrepresented communities.

The directors branch features the most impressive array of filmmakers from both international and domestic spheres, such as Lila Avilés (“Totem”), Jayro Bustamante (“La Llorona”), Jd Dillard (“Devotion”), Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”), Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that it is extending invitations to 487 to join the membership ranks of the Oscar organizer. If all accept, it will bring the Academy’s total membership to 10,910, of which 9,934 would be voting members.

This year’s list across 19 branches include 2024 Oscar winners Da’Vine Joy Randolph from The Holdovers; Poor Things costume designer Holly Waddington and production design team James Price, Shona Heath and Zsuzsa Mihalek; 20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov, War Is Over! producer Brad Booker; The Zone of Interest sound duo Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn; the Godzilla Minus One VFX team Tatsuji Nojima, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Takashi Yamazaki; American Fiction writer-director Cord Jefferson; and Anatomy of a Fall writing duo Justine Triet and Arthur Harari.

Jefferson and Triet are among eight names on the list who were invited to more than one branch (noted...

Kanopy – the no-fee, ad-free film and TV show streaming service that’s available to some 45 million people in the United States with a library card and through more than 85% of large American colleges and universities – is featuring movies selected by GLAAD in celebration of Pride Month in June. The GLAAD Pride Month Picks include films that feature “fair, accurate and inclusive LGBTQ+ representation” as part of the service’s full Pride Month collection of 107 movies and documentaries.

GLAAD is the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer media advocacy organization. Its Pride Month choices (including the 2023 Oscar Best Picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once”) are below:

“The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (1994) “The Aggressives: The World of Lesbian Subculture” (2005) “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” (2022) “Bodies Bodies Bodies” (2022) “The Blue Caftan” (2022) “But I’m a Cheerleader” (1999) “Call Her Ganda” (2018) “Changing the Game” (2019) “Everything Everywhere All at Once...

Rising Moroccan filmmaker Maryam Touzani, whose latest movie “The Blue Caftan” won a flurry of awards and was shortlisted in the Oscar’s international feature race, is set to make her Spanish-language debut with “Calle Malaga.”

Jean-Christophe Simon’s Films Boutique will handle International sales on the project. “Calle Malaga” reteams Touzani and Films Boutique for the third time, having previously collaborated on arthouse hits “Adam” and “The Blue Caftan.”

A character-driven film written by Touzani, “Calle Malaga” revolves around Maria Angeles, a 74-year old woman who belongs to the Spanish community of Tangier and enjoys the quietness of her life in the colorful Moroccan costal town. When her daughter decides to sell her home, she is forced out against her will. She sets off to reclaim her home and furniture that have been sold to a vintage dealer. Through this encounter, she unexpectedly rediscovers the possibility of love and sensuality.

The very title of “Everybody Loves Touda” poses a kind of challenge to viewers. If everybody loves Touda, dare you not? Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch’s forthright musical drama certainly doesn’t permit much room for dissent. From first gilded frame to last, the film is besotted with its eponymous heroine, a fiery small-town singer aspiring to the status of ‘Sheikhat’ — a revered class of diva versed in the poetic traditions of historical Aita music. With scene after scene conceived to emphasize Touda’s strength of character and depth of talent, it’s just as well star Nisrin Erradi is sufficiently magnetic not to buckle under the weight of the film’s devotion to her.

As a dramatic construction, however, Touda is more fabulous than she is intrinsically fascinating, characterized predominantly by determined ambition and glittering, show-must-go-on resolve. Ayouch’s script, written in collaboration with his wife and fellow filmmaker...

Cannes Critics’ Week has appointed French producer Sylvie Pialat as president of the jury for its upcoming edition after Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who was originally announced for the role, was forced to cancel for personal reasons.

French director Iris Kaltenbäck has also been been named as a new jury member. Her first film The Rapture premiered to acclaim in Critics’ Week last year. The drama, starring Hafsia Herzi as a midwife who passes off her best friend’s newborn child as her own, won the Prix Sacd.

Previously announced members of the jury include Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (Augure by Baloji, My New Friends, Haven of Grace), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej (The Blue Caftan, Our Mothers, Casablanca Beats), and Canadian film critic and journalist Ben Croll.

Producer Pialat spent the first part of her cinema career collaborating with her husband Maurice Pialat, co-writing the screenplays for a number of...

Cannes’ Critics Week has rounded out the jury for its 63rd edition running running May 15-23.

The previously announced Spanish writer-director-producer Rodrigo Sorogoyen will preside over the festival’s parallel selection dedicated to first and second features alongside Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire, French producer Sylvie Pialat, Belgian director of photography Virginie Surdej, and Canadian journalist and film critic Ben Croll.

Sorogoyen is known for psychological thriller The Beasts which premiered in the Cannes Premiere strand in 2022 and won nine Goya awards, plus 2019 drama Mother, 2018 Spanish-French thriller The Realm, 2016 crime thriller May God Save Us, 2013 romantic drama Stockholm, and 2008’s 8 Dates co-directed with Peris Romano.

Cannes Critics’ Week has unveiled the jury members for its upcoming 63rd edition, who join previously announced jury president Rodrigo Sorogoyen.

They are Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (Augure by Baloji, My New Friends, Haven of Grace), French producer Sylvie Pialat (Timbuktu, Staying Vertical, The Whistlers), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej (The Blue Caftan, Our Mothers, Casablanca Beats), and Canadian film critic and journalist Ben Croll.

The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.

Sorogoyen and his jury will decide the winners of the Semaine de la Critique Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for best actor and actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery for best short film.

The traditionally compact selection of 11 features, seven in competition, and a competitive and non-competitive shorts line-up,...

Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (“Augure by Baloji,” “My New Friends”), French producer Sylvie Pialat (“Timbuktu,” “Staying Vertical”), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej and Canadian film critic, journalist and frequent Variety contributor Ben Croll have been named on the jury for the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival.

The four will now join Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who last week was named Critics’ Week jury president, with the group set to choose the sidebar competition’s award winners, including the Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star award for best actor or actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film.

The 2024 Critics Week lineup is set to be unveiled on April 15, four days after the Cannes official selection is announced on April 11.

Last year, Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening” director Audrey Diwan presided over a Critics...

Awards season is not over just yet.

The GLAAD Media Awards went down inside the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Thursday, a ceremony that saw trophies handed out to winners across film, TV, music and media. Wayne Brady hosted the star-studded event at which Oprah Winfrey took home a Vanguard Award presented by Chilli Pepper and Paola Presta, and Niecy Nash-Betts was honored with a Stephen F. Kolzak Award for LGBTQ visibility from pal Sharon Stone.

In categories announced from the stage, Showtime’s steamy political drama Fellow Travelers starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey from creator Ron Nyswaner took the top prize as outstanding limited or anthology series. The Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, which introduced a gay soccer star this past season, bested the competition in the outstanding comedy series category. The Trace Lysette-starrer Monica from IFC Films was honored as outstanding film in limited release,...

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall continued its prize-winning run on Monday at France’s 29th Lumière Awards clinching Best Film and Best Screenplay, while its German star Sandra Hüller won Best Actress.

The Lumières fete the best films, performances and technical achievements of French cinema across 13 categories.

The French equivalent of the Golden Globes, they are voted on by the Académie des Lumières which is made up of France-based international journalists representing 36 countries.

In other key prizes, Thomas Cailley won Best Director for Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard opener The Animal Kingdom, while Arieh Worthalter won Best Actor for his performance in Cédric Khan’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight opener The Goldman Case.

Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, which was nominated in six Lumière categories, is on an award-winning streak.

The movie swept the board at the European Film Awards in Berlin last December...

Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal in ‘All of Us Strangers’

All of Us Strangers, The Color Purple, Fellow Travelers, The Last of Us, and Our Flag Means Death (which was just canceled by Max) received nominations for the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. The annual awards recognize fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues in the media, and this year’s list includes 310 nominees.

“For 35 years, the GLAAD Media Awards has provided the global stage for LGBTQ creators, alongside industry talent and leaders to be celebrated and supported. At a time when the LGBTQ community is under attack by false narratives and misinformation, when less than half of American say they are familiar with transgender and nonbinary people, and when one in five Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ, this year’s nominees powerfully reflect the realities of LGBTQ existence today, in our communities and around the globe,...

For the third year in a row, Don Mancini’s “Chucky” television series has landed a GLAAD Media Awards nomination for “Outstanding Drama” series, and this year Chucky’s joined by a handful of other horror properties that were seen on screens big and small last year.

The full list of nominations for the GLAAD Media Awards 2024 – the 35th annual! – have been announced today, with this year’s winners being announced starting March 14.

The organization previews, “Join GLAAD for the largest, most legendary LGBTQ celebration in the world in 2024. Honoring those in the media who have shown exemplary achievements for fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of the LGBTQ community and the issues that affect our lives, the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards promises to deliver a sparkly mix of red carpet arrivals, iconic main stage moments, and an impactful message that demonstrates the value of representation and inclusion of LGBTQ...

GLAAD has announced the nominees for its 35th annual GLAAD Media Awards, with Variety earning two nods for outstanding online journalism (Tiana DeNicola’s piece on Michaela Jaé Rodriguez) and magazine overall coverage.

Other nominees include “All of Us Strangers,” “And Just Like That…,” “Bottoms,” “The Color Purple,” “Deadloch,” “Despierta America,” “Everything Now,” “Fellow Travelers,” “Heartstopper,” “Kokomo City,” “The Last of Us,” “Our Flag Means Death,” “Red, White and Royal Blue,” “Rustin,” “Sin Huellas,” “Ted Lasso” and “Yellowjackets.” These are a total of 310 nominees across 33 categories.

The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair, accurate and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues.

“For 35 years, the GLAAD Media Awards has provided the global stage for LGBTQ creators, alongside industry talent and leaders, to be celebrated and supported. At a time when the LGBTQ community is under attack by false narratives and misinformation, when less than half of Americans say they...

On the heels of picking up a Governors Award at Monday night’s Emmys telecast, GLAAD has unveiled the nominees for the 35th annual GLAAD Media Awards.

It’s a huge list that singles out 310 nominees across 33 categories including some standouts of awards season like films All of Us Strangers and The Color Purple and buzzy TV shows Fellow Travelers starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey and The Last of Us toplined by Pedro Pascal. Beyoncé’s name is also in the mix, thanks to special recognition for her concert documentary, Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce from AMC Theatres. It’s not a new experience for the superstar as she was moved to tears in 2019 while accepting GLAAD’s Vanguard Award alongside Jay-Z.

All of Us Strangers, American Fiction, Anyone But You, The Blackening, Bottoms, The Color Purple, It’s a Wonderful Knife, Knock at the Cabin, Moving On and Shortcomings...

Two days after the Television Academy honored GLAAD with its 2023 Governors Award at the Primetime Emmys, the group has released the nominees for the 35th annual GLAAD Media Awards. See the full list below.

The winning LGBTQ stories and artists will be honored at GLAAD’s dual 2024 ceremonies ceremonies March 14 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills and May 11 at the Hilton Midtown in New York City. The 33 categories span film, TV, music, theater, podcasts, video games, comic books and journalism.

The 10 movies vying for the Outstanding Film – Wide Theatrical Release prize are All of Us Strangers, American Fiction, Anyone but You, The Blackening, Bottoms, The Color Purple, It’s a Wonderful Knife, Knock at the Cabin, Moving On and Shortcomings.

On the TV side, the Outstanding Drama Series race will be among 9-1-1: Lone Star, The Chi, Chucky, Doctor Who, Good Trouble, Grey’s Anatomy, Quantum Leap, Riverdale, Station 19 and Yellowjackets.

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

In all honesty, the films of 2023 should take a backseat to the images we are seeing every day in Gaza, where journalists and average citizens have been recording and documenting a daily assault on their homes and livelihoods by the Idf. Whatever fakery we watched and enjoyed in the cinema this year should always be kept in perspective in importance with images that are real and actually happening right now. The Palestinians who have documented these important images have been targeted and killed with intent and purpose to silence what their photos and videos are showing and saying.

List of journalists who have been killed.

The below is of lesser note:

Best First Watches:

Angel’s Egg La belle noiseuse Centipede Horror Charley Varrick Coffy Crimson Gold...

France’s awards season has officially kicked off with Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” landing six nominations at the Lumières Awards, including best film and director.

The courtroom drama, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, is the season’s frontrunner. The Lumières are voted on by Paris-based correspondents working for foreign outlets across 36 countries.

Sandra Huller, who stars in the film as a German novelist put on trial after her French husband dies mysteriously, is nominated for best actress, while Milo Machado Graner, who plays her astute, low-vision son, is nominated for best male newcomer.

“Anatomy of Fall” has been on a roll, garnering a raft of international prizes at the European Film Awards, Gothams, as well as Los Angeles and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, along with four Golden Globe nominations for best film, screenplay, actress and foreign film. The movie that was...

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall is the frontrunner for France’s Lumiere awards, the country’s answer to the Golden Globes, with 6 nominations, including for best film and best director.

The courtroom drama, starring Sandra Hüller as a writer who may have murdered her husband, won the Palme d’Or in Cannes this year and swept the European Film Awards on the weekend, taking 5 trophies, including best film. Anatomy of Fall, a Neon release in the U.S., has been nominated for 4 Golden Globes.

Tran Anh Hung’s foodie period drama The Taste of Things, which was picked over Anatomy of a Fall as France’s country’s official Oscar contender in the best international feature category, received just one Lumiere nom, for best cinematography.

Another French courtroom drama, Cedric Kahn’s The Goldman Case, picked up 5 Lumiere noms, tying with Thomas Cailley’s sci-fi tale The Animal Kingdom.

The Lumieres are voted on by international correspondents from 36 countries.

Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning Anatomy Of A Fall leads the nominations for France’s Lumiere awards, nominated in six categories, including best film and best director.

Cedric Kahn’s courtroom drama The Goldman Case and Thomas Cailley’s The Animal Kingdom, have each received five nominations.

All three films have been nominated in the best film category alongside Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer that earned four nominations and Clément Cogitore’s Son of Ramses with three.

The filmmakers of all five of those titles have also been nominated for best director.

The production had to abandon plans to film in Palestine after the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war.

Saleh Bakri and Adam Bakri are to star in All That’s Left Of You, the upcoming drama from Palestinian-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis.

Salah is known for Cannes award-winner The Blue Caftan and recent Toronto title The Teacher, which plays in Competition at this year’s Red Sea International Film Festival, while brother Adam made his feature debut in Hany Abu-Assad’s Oscar-nominated Omar, going on to star in Asif Kapadia’s Ali And Nino and award-winning Toronto 2022 title A Gaza Weekend.

Nabil Ayouch, a leading Moroccan filmmaker whose latest movie as a producer “The Blue Caftan” became the first Moroccan film to ever make it to the Oscars shortlist, is wrapping up his next directorial effort, “Everybody Loves Touda.”

Now in post-production, “Everybody Loves Touda” follows the journey of a strong-willed woman, along the lines of some of Ayouch’s best known films, such as “Much Loved” and “Razzia,” which played at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight and Toronto, respectively. The movie will mark Ayouch’s directorial follow up to “Casablanca Beats,” which competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021 and marked the first Moroccan feature to vie for a Palme d’Or.

“Everybody Loves Touda” tells the story a young poetess and singer known as a Shaeirat, who raises her deaf-mute son in a small Moroccan village. Hoping to give her son a better future and more opportunities in life, she moves...

Maryam Touzani’s “The Blue Caftan,” a drama revolving around the love between a closeted man and his wife, has sold more than 500,000 tickets around the world.

The Arabic-language movie, which world premiered at Cannes in 2022 and won the Fipresci prize, has sold the most admissions overseas than any other Moroccan film in recent history, according to French promotion org Unifrance. “The Blue Caftan” was particularly successful in France, where it sold 214,000 admissions, followed by the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Japan.

Produced by leading Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch, “The Blue Caftan” stars Lubna Azabal (“Incendies”) and Saleh Bakri.

Touzani’s follow-up to Un Certain Regard title “Adam,” “The Blue Caftan” tells the story of Halim and Mina, a married couple running a traditional caftan store in one of Morocco’s oldest medinas. In order to keep up with the commands of the demanding customers, they hire Youssef. The talented apprentice...

Other signatories include Isabelle Adjani, Jacques Audiard and Michel Hazanavicius.

More than 500 leading figures from the French film and cultural industries have signed a letter calling for a silent march on Sunday (November 19) in Paris in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Marion Cotillard, Melanie Laurent, Isabelle Adjani, Nathalie Baye, Jacques Audiard, Christophe Honore and Michel Hazanavicius are among the actors, filmmakers, agents and producers who have called for “a silent march of solidarity, humanism and peace”. The initiative was organised by Le Collectif Une Autre Voix (Another Voice) and spearheaded by the group’s President Lubna Azabal, a Belgian...

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...

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...

The Teacher, the feature debut of British-Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi that recently had it world premiere in Toronto, has been acquired by Front Row Filmed Entertainment for the Middle East and North Africa.

The deal marks the second collaboration between Nabulsi and Front Row, with the Dubai-based banner having distributed and globally sold her previous short film The Present to Netflix, prior to it landing an BAFTA award and an Oscar nomination.

Set and shot in the West Bank city of Nablus and staring Saleh Bakri (Alam, The Blue Caftan) and Imogen Poots (The Father, HBO’s I Know This Much Is True), The Teacher follows the story of a Palestinian school teacher as he struggles to reconcile his life-threatening commitment to political resistance with his emotional support for one of his students and the chance of a new romantic relationship with a British volunteer worker. Sawsan Asfari (Hany Abu-Assad...

Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has boarded Mena distribution of Palestinian drama The Teacher, which enjoyed a buzzy world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival over the weekend.

The acquisition marks the company’s second collaboration with British-Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi.

It previously distributed her Oscar-nominated and Bafta-winning short film The Present, selling it to streaming giant Netflix prior it buzzy 2021 awards season run.

The Teacher is produced by Sawsan Asfari (Huda’s Salon), Osama Bawardi and Nabulsi.

Saleh Bakri (The Blue Caftan) stars as a Palestinian school teacher, struggling to reconcile his life-threatening commitment to political resistance with his emotional support for one of his students and the chance of a new romantic relationship with a British volunteer worker, played by Imogen Poots.

The film was shot entirely in the West Bank in the city of Nablus.

“The Teacher” opens with text informing the viewers that the film was “Inspired by True Events.” Most obviously, this refers to the case of Gilad Shalit, an Israel Defense Forces soldier whose imprisonment by Palestinian militants and 2011 release in exchange for over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners is lightly fictionalized during the movie. But more broadly, it speaks to the film’s commitment to portraying the struggles of living in Palestine in a time of perpetual strife, where violence and displacement is a constantly looming threat and justice feels constantly out of reach.

Although Shalit’s capture and release inspired the backbone of Farah Nabulsi’s debut feature, his counterpart in the film, Nathanial Cohen, is a mere plot device spoken about more than he’s glancingly seen. Our protagonist is instead completely fictional Basem, a Palestinian man who teaches English at a small boys school. At his job he’s stern but gentle,...

Few American filmmakers of the last 40 years await a major rediscovery like Hal Hartley, whose traces in modern movies are either too-minor or entirely unknown. Thus it’s cause for celebration that the Criterion Channel are soon launching a major retrospective: 13 features (which constitutes all but My America) and 17 shorts, a sui generis style and persistent vision running across 30 years. Expect your Halloween party to be aswim in Henry Fool costumes.

Speaking of: there’s a one-month headstart on seasonal programming with the 13-film “High School Horror”––most notable perhaps being a streaming premiere for the uncut version of Suspiria, plus the rare opportunity to see a Robert Rodriguez movie on the Criterion Channel––and a retrospective of Hong Kong vampire movies. A retrospective of ’70s car movies offer chills and thrills of a different sort

Six films by Allan Dwan and 12 “gaslight noirs” round out the main September series; The Eight Mountains,...

Charades and UTA Independent Film Group have boarded “Mother, Couch,” the high-profile feature debut of Niclas Larsson, which has just dropped its first-look image, shared in exclusivity with Variety.

An all-star cast is led by Taylor Russell, Ewan McGregor, Ellen Burstyn, Rhys Ifans, Lara Flynn Boyle and F. Murray Abraham and now Lake Bell.

Charades will handle international sales, with UTA selling the film for the U.S. “Mother, Couch” is set to world premiere at September’s Toronto Intl. Film Festival, bowing in its Special Presentations section. It then segues for its European premiere at the San Sebastian’s New Directors competition.

Produced by Lyrical Media (“How to Blow Up a Pipeline”), Fat City, launched last year by Sara Murphy and Ryan Zacarias, and Suris/Bishop Films, New York-based and specializing in development. It is co-produced with Sweden’s high-flying regional production fund Film I Vast and Denmark’s Snowglobe,...

The fantasy title follows a group of siblings stuck in an isolated house in a forest.

Italy-based sales agency Tvco has acquired worldwide rights to Michele Jacob’s debut feature The Lost Children.

The fantasy title premiered as the opening film of the Proxima competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival this month.

The Lost Children follows a 10-year-old girl and her three siblings who find themselves abandoned in an old house, where they realise they must take care of themselves amidst mysterious monsters and tunnels where time is lost.

Belgian filmmaker Jacob previously made 2020 short July 96, which played at...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is expanding its membership.

According to a press release, the organization that hands out Oscars each year at the Academy Awards has extended invitations to join the Academy to 398 artists and executives who have made notable contributions to the motion picture industry.

“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang in a joint statement.

Read More: The Academy Announces 2024 Oscars Date As Well As Submission Deadline

There are some big names and familiar faces among the invitees, including musicians Taylor Swift and David Byrne, and numerous actors, ranging from Selma Blair to Keke Palmer to “Elvis” Oscar nominee Austin Butler.

“Everything Everywhere All At Once” Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan, Daniel Kwan, and Daniel Scheinert, recent acting nominees Austin Butler, Paul Mescal, and Stephanie Hsu, and bold-face names for the extremely online like Taylor Swift, Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. The Weeknd), and Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav were among the 398 people announced as new members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday.

“The academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said academy CEO Bill Kramer and academy president Janet Yang in a joint statement.

This year’s class of new members is heavy on 2022 breakouts, like the aforementioned Kwan and Scheinert – invitees in both the directors’ brand and the producers’ branch. In keeping with academy practice,...

It’s that time of year again — the break between Cannes and the fall festivals, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences makes its membership invitations. The Oscars group said today that it has extended offers to 398 artists and execs — one more than last year — who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to motion pictures.

The list includes actors, directors, writers, producers, musicians, executives, artist reps, publicists and below-the-liners such as casting directors, cinematographers, costume designers, film editors, makeup artists and hairstylists, production designers and sound pros.

“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a statement. “They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide.”

As usual, the invitees include newly minted Oscar winners,...