It’s hard to remember now, but it was only a few short years ago that Netflix was just a shiny new cog in the film industry, and not one of its most powerful engines. But a lot can change in a little while, especially when you’ve got a disruptive new distribution platform, a seemingly infinite supply of money, and an aggressive desire to change Hollywood forever. Starting with 2015’s “Beasts of No Nation,” Netflix began transforming the movie business in much the same way as it had already transformed the television business, financing and distributing — and later also acquiring — its own features.
The move immediately made an impression, with documentary “Winter on Fire” landing the company’s first Oscar nomination. In 2016, Netflix began swooping up some of the most exciting independent films around. In 2017, the company leveraged “Mudbound” to major awards consideration, and made a splash at the...
The move immediately made an impression, with documentary “Winter on Fire” landing the company’s first Oscar nomination. In 2016, Netflix began swooping up some of the most exciting independent films around. In 2017, the company leveraged “Mudbound” to major awards consideration, and made a splash at the...
- 2/23/2018
- by David Ehrlich, Eric Kohn, Kate Erbland, Jude Dry, Michael Nordine, Anne Thompson, William Earl and Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Last week, in response to the news that Netflix had finally cracked the Cannes competition lineup (a breakthrough that inspired the Federation of French Cinemas to question if a movie that skips theaters should even be considered “a cinematographic work”), I wrote about the streaming giant and how they’ve performed as a distributor. My conclusions were, uh, not super favorable. Criticizing the company’s penchant for pricing out the competition, hoarding the hottest indies on the festival circuit, and burying them on their site without the benefit of a proper release, I argued that Netflix isn’t a distributor so much as “a graveyard with unlimited viewing hours,” and that “it doesn’t release movies, it inters them.” It’s a problem that extends to the well-funded features that Netflix produces themselves, a problem that’s only going to get worse as those titles continue to get better.
See MoreNetflix Keeps Buying Great Movies,...
See MoreNetflix Keeps Buying Great Movies,...
- 4/24/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Our 22 Favorite Movies Directed by Women in 2016Looking to support great female-directed films? Start here.
Over the years, we’ve heard from our readers that one of the most important things we can do is to help you discover movies that may have slipped by mainstream audiences. And often just as important, our readers ask that we highlight voices that are in the minority in Hollywood. While we’re known for not taking ourselves very seriously, we take this part of our work seriously. Because as many studies have shown, there are some voices that aren’t as well-represented as others. Them’s the facts.
Beyond that, our team has a passion for seeking out and celebrating films directed by women. This is where we often find, as you’re about to see in this list, some of the most unique and interesting stories in the whole of cinema. Another thing we hear often from readers is...
Over the years, we’ve heard from our readers that one of the most important things we can do is to help you discover movies that may have slipped by mainstream audiences. And often just as important, our readers ask that we highlight voices that are in the minority in Hollywood. While we’re known for not taking ourselves very seriously, we take this part of our work seriously. Because as many studies have shown, there are some voices that aren’t as well-represented as others. Them’s the facts.
Beyond that, our team has a passion for seeking out and celebrating films directed by women. This is where we often find, as you’re about to see in this list, some of the most unique and interesting stories in the whole of cinema. Another thing we hear often from readers is...
- 1/18/2017
- by Film School Rejects
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
“You’ve got clit, I like that.” It’s an unusual expression, but it’s enough to convince Dounia (the sensational Oulaya Amamra) — a Muslim teenager living in a low-income housing project outside of Paris — to drop out of vocational school and commit herself to a life of crime. After all, it’s probably better than any compliment she’s ever received before, and all the more meaningful coming from Rebecca (Jisca Kalvanda), the baddest drug dealer in the banlieue. In a film that flips gender conventions on their ass, a film where the girls are tough and the guys are eye candy, balls would only get in the way.
But this is no simple story of girl power. In fact, it’s arguably less concerned with feminism than it is with the financial realities that impede it from taking root. A vital and volatile debut that has ultimately has...
But this is no simple story of girl power. In fact, it’s arguably less concerned with feminism than it is with the financial realities that impede it from taking root. A vital and volatile debut that has ultimately has...
- 11/17/2016
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
"You have to dare to be rich." Netflix has debuted a trailer for a French film titled Divines, which won the Golden Camera (or Camera d'Or) at the Cannes Film Festival - the top prize for a first-time filmmaker. Uda Benyamina directs this coming-of-age film about a teen from the slum streets of Paris who meets a dancer that changes her life. Oulaya Amamra stars as Dounia, the girl at the center of the story, with Déborah Lukumuena, Kevin Mischel, Jisca Kalvanda, Yasin Houicha, Majdouline Idrissi & Bass Dhem. I always admire French coming-of-age films because they have contain a unique perspective on growing up that's different than what I'm used to, and there's always something to pick up. This looks like a great film. Here's the official Us trailer (+ poster) for Houda Benyamina's Divines, direct from Netflix's YouTube: The funny, suspenseful and often emotional drama tells the story of Dounia,...
- 10/5/2016
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Houda Benyamina made an auspicious debut at the Cannes Film Festival this year, winning the Camera d’Or (read: best first film) for “Divines.” That was enough to attract the attention of Netflix, who will make the film available to stream next month. Watch its first trailer below.
Read More: Netflix’s Big Narrative Play: Why the Company Is Loading Up on Small Movies This Fall
While you’re here, avail yourself of the film’s official synopsis as well: “The funny, suspenseful and often emotional drama tells the story of Dounia, a tough, but naive teenager who sees getting rich or dying trying as her most viable option in life. Set in a ghetto near Paris where drugs and religion reign supreme, Dounia is hungry for her share of power and success. Enlisting the help of her best friend she decides to follow the footsteps of a respected and successful neighborhood dealer.
Read More: Netflix’s Big Narrative Play: Why the Company Is Loading Up on Small Movies This Fall
While you’re here, avail yourself of the film’s official synopsis as well: “The funny, suspenseful and often emotional drama tells the story of Dounia, a tough, but naive teenager who sees getting rich or dying trying as her most viable option in life. Set in a ghetto near Paris where drugs and religion reign supreme, Dounia is hungry for her share of power and success. Enlisting the help of her best friend she decides to follow the footsteps of a respected and successful neighborhood dealer.
- 10/5/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Netflix, in case it wasn’t already clear, wants to have something for everybody. So, if you dig Kevin James, they’ve got you covered. If you like prestige TV, they’re one of the leaders in the game. And if foreign cinema is more to your taste, next month the streaming service is delivering one of the more buzzworthy titles of this year’s Cannes Film Festival with “Divines.”
Winner of the Caméra d’Or, the film from Houda Benyamina stars Oulaya Amamra, Déborah Lukumuena, Kévin Mischel, Jisca Kalvanda, Yasin Houicha, and Majdouline Idrissi, and tells the story of Dounia, who wants to rise out of the Paris ghetto where she lives, but of course, best laid plans never quite turn out the way you expect.
Continue reading Teenagers Strive For Power & Success In New Trailer For Cannes Winner ‘Divines’ at The Playlist.
Winner of the Caméra d’Or, the film from Houda Benyamina stars Oulaya Amamra, Déborah Lukumuena, Kévin Mischel, Jisca Kalvanda, Yasin Houicha, and Majdouline Idrissi, and tells the story of Dounia, who wants to rise out of the Paris ghetto where she lives, but of course, best laid plans never quite turn out the way you expect.
Continue reading Teenagers Strive For Power & Success In New Trailer For Cannes Winner ‘Divines’ at The Playlist.
- 10/5/2016
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Quick takes from the 60th London Film Festival, with public screenings from October 5th-16th, 2016.
Spaceship
I’m not much of a fan of experimental films, but there’s a quality of dreamy questing in Spaceship, the feature debut of British writer-director Alex Taylor, that I found intriguingly wistful. The teenagers who live around an army base in suburban England whisper stories about alien abductions, and then Lucidia (Alexa Davies) goes missing in a dazzle of colors and flashing lights, as witnessed by a friend. Her lonely widower father, Gabriel (Antti Reini), searches for her and her friends speculate about where she has gone, but this isn’t a science-fiction mystery, and no one seems particularly worried about her. The plotlessness and general lack of specific response to Lucidia’s disappearance becomes an avant-garde fug that frustrated me, but I quite enjoyed the overall sense of Lucidia’s friends and...
Spaceship
I’m not much of a fan of experimental films, but there’s a quality of dreamy questing in Spaceship, the feature debut of British writer-director Alex Taylor, that I found intriguingly wistful. The teenagers who live around an army base in suburban England whisper stories about alien abductions, and then Lucidia (Alexa Davies) goes missing in a dazzle of colors and flashing lights, as witnessed by a friend. Her lonely widower father, Gabriel (Antti Reini), searches for her and her friends speculate about where she has gone, but this isn’t a science-fiction mystery, and no one seems particularly worried about her. The plotlessness and general lack of specific response to Lucidia’s disappearance becomes an avant-garde fug that frustrated me, but I quite enjoyed the overall sense of Lucidia’s friends and...
- 10/4/2016
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
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