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.
Something you often hear cinephiles proclaim is that “Every year is a good year in film.” Well, that’s obviously true––if one pays attention and knows where to look––but then there are also years that are simply better. To me, 2023 has turned out to be one of those.
It’s a year where the top festivals like Cannes, Berlin, and Venice all overperformed with stellar lineups. Geographically speaking, American/UK cinema can be proud of its output while productions from the rest of the world, especially France, Japan, Latin America, didn’t disappoint either. It’s also a year where not only indie/arthouse films delivered, but (some) blockbusters dared to get smart too. Even the presumed Oscar contenders this season include legitimate masterpieces in the mix.
Something you often hear cinephiles proclaim is that “Every year is a good year in film.” Well, that’s obviously true––if one pays attention and knows where to look––but then there are also years that are simply better. To me, 2023 has turned out to be one of those.
It’s a year where the top festivals like Cannes, Berlin, and Venice all overperformed with stellar lineups. Geographically speaking, American/UK cinema can be proud of its output while productions from the rest of the world, especially France, Japan, Latin America, didn’t disappoint either. It’s also a year where not only indie/arthouse films delivered, but (some) blockbusters dared to get smart too. Even the presumed Oscar contenders this season include legitimate masterpieces in the mix.
- 12/29/2023
- by Zhuo-Ning Su
- The Film Stage
Jonathan Glazer’s harrowing Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest leads the nominations for this year’s European Film Awards (EFAs), picking up five nominations, including for best film and best director, in nominations announced via video on Tuesday.
Zone of Interest, the U.K. official entry for the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature category, also scored Efa nominations for best screenwriter, for Glazer, and best actress and best actor noms for leads Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel.
Hüller will be competing against herself in the best actress category, having picked up a second Efa nom for her starring role in Justine Triet’s courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall. The Palme d’Or winner recieved four Efa noms, including for best European Film, best director for Triet and best screenplay for Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari.
Other best European film nominees include Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama Io Capitano from Italy,...
Zone of Interest, the U.K. official entry for the 2024 Oscars in the best international feature category, also scored Efa nominations for best screenwriter, for Glazer, and best actress and best actor noms for leads Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel.
Hüller will be competing against herself in the best actress category, having picked up a second Efa nom for her starring role in Justine Triet’s courtroom drama Anatomy of a Fall. The Palme d’Or winner recieved four Efa noms, including for best European Film, best director for Triet and best screenplay for Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari.
Other best European film nominees include Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama Io Capitano from Italy,...
- 11/7/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 31st edition of London’s Raindance Film Festival will open with the U.K. premiere of British actor Jack Huston’s directorial debut “Day of the Fight.”
The film comes to Raindance fresh off its Venice debut, where Huston was honored by Variety as a breakthrough director.
The story of a once-renowned boxer who takes a redemptive journey through his past and present on the day of his first fight since he left prison stars Michael Pitt alongside a cast including Ron Perlman, Joe Pesci, and a cameo from Steve Buscemi.
The U.K. premiere of Isabel Coixet’s “Un Amor” will close the festival after it bows at San Sebastian. Based on Sara Mesa’s bestselling novel, Laia Costa plays a young woman who escapes her stressful life in the city and relocates to rural Spain. When she accepts a disturbing sexual proposal, it gives rise to an all-consuming and obsessive passion.
The film comes to Raindance fresh off its Venice debut, where Huston was honored by Variety as a breakthrough director.
The story of a once-renowned boxer who takes a redemptive journey through his past and present on the day of his first fight since he left prison stars Michael Pitt alongside a cast including Ron Perlman, Joe Pesci, and a cameo from Steve Buscemi.
The U.K. premiere of Isabel Coixet’s “Un Amor” will close the festival after it bows at San Sebastian. Based on Sara Mesa’s bestselling novel, Laia Costa plays a young woman who escapes her stressful life in the city and relocates to rural Spain. When she accepts a disturbing sexual proposal, it gives rise to an all-consuming and obsessive passion.
- 9/13/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
After a one-year hiatus, the much-missed El Gouna Film Festival (Oct. 13 – 20) is back and poised to make an increased impact. Joining beloved festival director Intishal Al-Timimi this time around is esteemed Egyptian producer-director Marianne Khoury in the artistic director position.
Khoury’s long-time championship of female filmmakers and themes finds an echo in the impressive first wave of programming just announced. Of the 19 features, 10 boast a distaff helmer or co-director.
The kudo-laden titles include “Anatomy of a Fall” from Justine Triet, “On the Adamant” from Nicolas Philibert, “Scrapper” by Charlotte Regan, “Stepne” from Maryna Vroda and “The Strange Path” from Guto Parente, which claimed every prize in Tribeca’s international competition.
Among the other buzzed-about auteur titles are Todd Haynes’ “May December” and Wang Bing’s epic documentary “Youth.” Emerging talents Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó offer dystopian hybrid-animation “White Plastic Sky,” while a robust documentary selection includes Tatiana Huezo...
Khoury’s long-time championship of female filmmakers and themes finds an echo in the impressive first wave of programming just announced. Of the 19 features, 10 boast a distaff helmer or co-director.
The kudo-laden titles include “Anatomy of a Fall” from Justine Triet, “On the Adamant” from Nicolas Philibert, “Scrapper” by Charlotte Regan, “Stepne” from Maryna Vroda and “The Strange Path” from Guto Parente, which claimed every prize in Tribeca’s international competition.
Among the other buzzed-about auteur titles are Todd Haynes’ “May December” and Wang Bing’s epic documentary “Youth.” Emerging talents Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó offer dystopian hybrid-animation “White Plastic Sky,” while a robust documentary selection includes Tatiana Huezo...
- 8/24/2023
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
According to Hungarian animator duo Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó, we have only a century until the dessicated, infertile dystopia of their animated festival hit “White Plastic Sky” becomes our reality. A few years ago, this grave and wistful film’s 2123 setting would have seemed hyperbolic, but the rapidity with which we seem to be hurtling toward environmental collapse recently makes its parched landscapes — it could be the surface of Mars but for the rusted hulls of ships jutting up like tombstones from arid lakebeds — seem only a mild exaggeration of the wastelands our literal grandchildren might have to call home.
Mirroring an animation style in which the somnolent characters are less expressive than the richly detailed, vanishing-point backgrounds however, it is harder to believe in Bánóczki and Szabó’s vision of transformation undergone in the human psyche in an equivalent time frame. In this 2123, life can only be supported...
Mirroring an animation style in which the somnolent characters are less expressive than the richly detailed, vanishing-point backgrounds however, it is harder to believe in Bánóczki and Szabó’s vision of transformation undergone in the human psyche in an equivalent time frame. In this 2123, life can only be supported...
- 8/23/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (Gff) has unveiled a first wave of international titles due to play at its upcoming comeback sixth edition, unfolding from October 13 to 20 after a one-year hiatus.
The selection features a number of high-profile festival titles including Justine Triet’s Cannes 2023 Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall, Berlinale 2023 Golden Bear winning documentary On the Adamant by Nicolas Philibert and Guto Parente’s Tribeca Film Festival break-out The Strange Path.
The line-up also showcases a host of buzzy first and second films including UK director Charlotte Regan’s Sundance 2023 Grand Jury Prize winner Scrapper and French filmmaker Delphine Deloget’s Cannes Un Certain Regard social drama All To Play For, starring Virginie Efira.
Respected Egyptian distributor and producer Marianne Khoury is overseeing the selection for the first time, following her appointment as artistic director earlier this year, working alongside long-time festival director Intishal Al Timimi.
The selection features a number of high-profile festival titles including Justine Triet’s Cannes 2023 Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall, Berlinale 2023 Golden Bear winning documentary On the Adamant by Nicolas Philibert and Guto Parente’s Tribeca Film Festival break-out The Strange Path.
The line-up also showcases a host of buzzy first and second films including UK director Charlotte Regan’s Sundance 2023 Grand Jury Prize winner Scrapper and French filmmaker Delphine Deloget’s Cannes Un Certain Regard social drama All To Play For, starring Virginie Efira.
Respected Egyptian distributor and producer Marianne Khoury is overseeing the selection for the first time, following her appointment as artistic director earlier this year, working alongside long-time festival director Intishal Al Timimi.
- 8/23/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
On Tuesday, Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing” opened the 2nd Evia Film Project, in the presence of the two-time Oscar-winning director.
The green initiative was launched by the Thessaloniki Film Festival last year to offer support to Northern Evia following the devastating 2021 wildfires. The event runs to June 24 with an enhanced program.
The films of this year’s edition are a mix of both classics and recent hits, feature films and documentaries. They have been selected to raise awareness, inform, incite to action, bring to light the repercussions of human-driven activities and mankind’s relation to the environment and, last but not least, praise nature’s magic.
Ten films play at this year’s Evia Film Project, which are as follows:
The previously mentioned “Downsizing”; “We Come as Friends” by Hubert Sauper; Dimitris Trompoukis’ “Roots”; “White Plastic Sky” by Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó; Juliana Penaranda-Loftus, Brad Allgood and Graham Townsley...
The green initiative was launched by the Thessaloniki Film Festival last year to offer support to Northern Evia following the devastating 2021 wildfires. The event runs to June 24 with an enhanced program.
The films of this year’s edition are a mix of both classics and recent hits, feature films and documentaries. They have been selected to raise awareness, inform, incite to action, bring to light the repercussions of human-driven activities and mankind’s relation to the environment and, last but not least, praise nature’s magic.
Ten films play at this year’s Evia Film Project, which are as follows:
The previously mentioned “Downsizing”; “We Come as Friends” by Hubert Sauper; Dimitris Trompoukis’ “Roots”; “White Plastic Sky” by Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó; Juliana Penaranda-Loftus, Brad Allgood and Graham Townsley...
- 6/21/2023
- by Tara Karajica
- Variety Film + TV
Annecy — Opening under the pall of Thursday’s knife attack, – which prompted a spirited show of solidarity and communal defiance at its opening ceremony on Sunday – this year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival has never been bigger. Creativity is exploding, from “Spider-Verse” and beyond.
Animation is flowering in India and Africa.
Yet studio work, much courtesy of streamer orders, may rebound, but never return to the halcyon levels of the last few years. Theatrical for most animation titles has yet to return, moreover – save for extraordinary mega-blockbusters such as “Across the Spider-Verse” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” 10 takes on this year’s Annecy, the biggest animation festival on the world:
The Big Plays
Three – and nearly four – high-profile U.S. movies world premiere at Annecy: Disney’s “Once Upon A Studio,” a 100th anniversary celebratory short; DreamWorks Animation’s comedy fantasy “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken”; and Netflix’s...
Animation is flowering in India and Africa.
Yet studio work, much courtesy of streamer orders, may rebound, but never return to the halcyon levels of the last few years. Theatrical for most animation titles has yet to return, moreover – save for extraordinary mega-blockbusters such as “Across the Spider-Verse” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” 10 takes on this year’s Annecy, the biggest animation festival on the world:
The Big Plays
Three – and nearly four – high-profile U.S. movies world premiere at Annecy: Disney’s “Once Upon A Studio,” a 100th anniversary celebratory short; DreamWorks Animation’s comedy fantasy “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken”; and Netflix’s...
- 6/12/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Leading animation festival will open with Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds.
French director Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Wind is to open the Annecy International Animation Film Festival which runs from June 11-17.
The film – about two young sisters who discover a passage between this world and the extraordinary universe of The Kingdom of the Winds - is one of 11 titles selected for the festival’s official competition, where it will compete for the Crystal award.
Scroll down for full list
Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry’s Kensuke’s Kingdom – which is...
French director Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Wind is to open the Annecy International Animation Film Festival which runs from June 11-17.
The film – about two young sisters who discover a passage between this world and the extraordinary universe of The Kingdom of the Winds - is one of 11 titles selected for the festival’s official competition, where it will compete for the Crystal award.
Scroll down for full list
Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry’s Kensuke’s Kingdom – which is...
- 4/28/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Films Boutique, the Berlin-based company behind “Pacifiction” and “The Burdened,” has come on board three international movies slated for the Cannes Film Festival. These include a pair of films set for Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, “Terrestrial Verses” and “The Buriti Flower,” as well as “Tiger Stripes” which will bow at Critics’ Week.
“Terrestrial Verses,” directed by Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari, is the sole Iranian film premiering in the Official Selection. The movie marks the first collaboration between these two critically acclaimed directors.
Khatami previously wrote and directed “Oblivion Verses” which won best screenplay and the Fipresci prizes at Venice in 2017. Asgari, meanwhile, previously directed “Until Tomorrow” which premiered at Berlin last year, and presented two shorts at Cannes, “More Than Two Hours” in 2013 et “Il Silenzio” in 2016.
While the plot remains under wrap, the film’s title is a reference to a poet by famed Iranian Poet Forugh Farrokhzad.
“Terrestrial Verses,” directed by Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari, is the sole Iranian film premiering in the Official Selection. The movie marks the first collaboration between these two critically acclaimed directors.
Khatami previously wrote and directed “Oblivion Verses” which won best screenplay and the Fipresci prizes at Venice in 2017. Asgari, meanwhile, previously directed “Until Tomorrow” which premiered at Berlin last year, and presented two shorts at Cannes, “More Than Two Hours” in 2013 et “Il Silenzio” in 2016.
While the plot remains under wrap, the film’s title is a reference to a poet by famed Iranian Poet Forugh Farrokhzad.
- 4/26/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Films Boutique are close to further deals in China and Italy.
Animated sci-fi film White Plastic Sky has scores sales in Europe and Asia by Films Boutique following its world premiere at last month’s Berlinale.
The Berlin-based sales agent has sold the Hungarian feature to Kmbo for France and Flash Forward Entertainment for Taiwan. Films Boutique is in talks for the feature at Hong Kong Filmart and deals in China and Italy are expected to close shortly.
Directed by Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó, the film is set in 2123 and follows one man’s risky attempts to save his...
Animated sci-fi film White Plastic Sky has scores sales in Europe and Asia by Films Boutique following its world premiere at last month’s Berlinale.
The Berlin-based sales agent has sold the Hungarian feature to Kmbo for France and Flash Forward Entertainment for Taiwan. Films Boutique is in talks for the feature at Hong Kong Filmart and deals in China and Italy are expected to close shortly.
Directed by Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó, the film is set in 2123 and follows one man’s risky attempts to save his...
- 3/15/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Impressively bleak animated Hungarian sci-fi feature White Plastic Sky imagines a grim dystopia a hundred years from now where, like in Soylent Green (1973), older people are harvested at age 50, turned into trees so that they can become food for the younger generation. Except in this movie, the high-tech cannibalism is no state secret waiting to be blurted out by Charlton Heston, but a fact of life universally accepted phlegmatically by all. It only becomes a problem for protagonist Stefan (Tamas Keresztes) when his wife Nora (Zsofia Szamosi) decides to undergo the “implantation” procedure at age 32, having lost the will to live since the death of their child.
Made using a striking blend of rotoscope-traced live actors and intricate CG-drawn background designs to build a richly detailed world, this could build a cult following off a warm reception in Berlin.
Rotoscoping is a technique that dates back to the earliest days...
Made using a striking blend of rotoscope-traced live actors and intricate CG-drawn background designs to build a richly detailed world, this could build a cult following off a warm reception in Berlin.
Rotoscoping is a technique that dates back to the earliest days...
- 2/28/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fifty years ago, the sci-fi thriller “Soylent Green” warned viewers of a distant future—the year 2022—where environmental catastrophe and over-population would cause such dire resource scarcity that the bodies of those who ended their lives voluntarily and with the government’s assistance were transformed into edible wafers to feed the masses.
In “White Plastic Sky,” a heady dystopian animated feature from Hungary, directors Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó depart from nearly the exact same premise, a reality a century from now where crops and animals no longer exist, but the solution to ensure humanity’s survival is no longer a matter of personal agency but of mandated duty for all citizens.
Continue reading ‘White Plastic Sky’ Review: Dystopian Animated Feature from Hungary Imagines a Future Where Our Bodies No Longer Belong To Us [Berlin] at The Playlist.
In “White Plastic Sky,” a heady dystopian animated feature from Hungary, directors Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó depart from nearly the exact same premise, a reality a century from now where crops and animals no longer exist, but the solution to ensure humanity’s survival is no longer a matter of personal agency but of mandated duty for all citizens.
Continue reading ‘White Plastic Sky’ Review: Dystopian Animated Feature from Hungary Imagines a Future Where Our Bodies No Longer Belong To Us [Berlin] at The Playlist.
- 2/17/2023
- by Carlos Aguilar
- The Playlist
The first few minutes of White Plastic Sky, the animated feature from Hungarian directors Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó that debuted at the Berlin Film Festival 2023, sketch a future world with echoes of past cinematic dystopias.
The world has been stripped of life, the soil poisoned, and all animals driven to extinction. Humanity survives under a huge geodesic dome (the plastic sky of the title) and has learned to feed on itself. At the age of 50, every citizen gets a special implant that turns them into a food source for the next generation. In a scene resembling the pod farms of the Matrix films, we see how implanted humans are transmogrified into a hybrid plant species, becoming trees that provide oxygen and food for those under the dome.
“There are similarities in our story to Soylent Green or Logan’s Run, similar motifs to other high-concept, or hardcore science fiction,” admits Bánóczki,...
The world has been stripped of life, the soil poisoned, and all animals driven to extinction. Humanity survives under a huge geodesic dome (the plastic sky of the title) and has learned to feed on itself. At the age of 50, every citizen gets a special implant that turns them into a food source for the next generation. In a scene resembling the pod farms of the Matrix films, we see how implanted humans are transmogrified into a hybrid plant species, becoming trees that provide oxygen and food for those under the dome.
“There are similarities in our story to Soylent Green or Logan’s Run, similar motifs to other high-concept, or hardcore science fiction,” admits Bánóczki,...
- 2/17/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sales
Chris O’Dowd (“Puffin Rock”), Amy Huberman (“Derry Girls”), Beth McCafferty and Eva Whittaker (“Wolfwalkers”) lead the voice cast of “Puffin Rock and the New Friends,” the film based on the TV series “Puffin Rock.”
Following their collaboration on Oscar nominees “Song of the Sea” and “The Breadwinner,” WestEnd Films is teaming again with Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon and Northern Ireland’s Dog Ears on the film and is launching sales at Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM), where first footage will be shown to buyers.
“Puffin Rock and the New Friends” sees Oona, Baba, May and Mossy joined by a new characters Isabelle, Phoenix and Marvin. When the last Little Egg of the season disappears under mysterious circumstances, Oona and her new friends race against time to bring the Little Egg home before a big storm hits Puffin Rock and puts the entire island in danger.
The film...
Chris O’Dowd (“Puffin Rock”), Amy Huberman (“Derry Girls”), Beth McCafferty and Eva Whittaker (“Wolfwalkers”) lead the voice cast of “Puffin Rock and the New Friends,” the film based on the TV series “Puffin Rock.”
Following their collaboration on Oscar nominees “Song of the Sea” and “The Breadwinner,” WestEnd Films is teaming again with Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon and Northern Ireland’s Dog Ears on the film and is launching sales at Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM), where first footage will be shown to buyers.
“Puffin Rock and the New Friends” sees Oona, Baba, May and Mossy joined by a new characters Isabelle, Phoenix and Marvin. When the last Little Egg of the season disappears under mysterious circumstances, Oona and her new friends race against time to bring the Little Egg home before a big storm hits Puffin Rock and puts the entire island in danger.
The film...
- 2/13/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Slate includes features in Competition, Encounters, Forum and Panorama sections
Berlin-based sales outfit Films Boutique has unveiled a six-title Berlinale slate, including Zhang Lu’s competition title The Shadowless Tower as well as features playing in the festival’s Encounters, Forum and Panorama sections.
Films Boutique is representing two films playing in Encounters: Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann’s The Klezmer Project and Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó’s White Plastic Sky.
It is also handling director Claire Simon’s Forum documentary Our Body and Amr Gamal’s Panorama film The Burdened.
Rounding out Films Boutique’s EFM slate is Jessica Woodworth’s Luka,...
Berlin-based sales outfit Films Boutique has unveiled a six-title Berlinale slate, including Zhang Lu’s competition title The Shadowless Tower as well as features playing in the festival’s Encounters, Forum and Panorama sections.
Films Boutique is representing two films playing in Encounters: Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann’s The Klezmer Project and Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó’s White Plastic Sky.
It is also handling director Claire Simon’s Forum documentary Our Body and Amr Gamal’s Panorama film The Burdened.
Rounding out Films Boutique’s EFM slate is Jessica Woodworth’s Luka,...
- 2/1/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
2023 truly begins taking shape with next month’s Berlinale, which will run from February 16 to February 26 and feature more than a few of our most-anticipated films this year. Among them are Christian Petzold’s Afire (Roter Himmel), starring new muse Paula Beer; Hong Sangsoo’s In Water, which will appear in the Encounters section; and Philippe Garrel’s The Plough, once known as La lune crevée starring his three children Louis, Esther, and Lena, and (judging from the still) his first color feature since 2011’s A Burning Hot Summer. Meanwhile: Angela Schanelec will return with Music, and––six years after the wonderful Person to Person––it’s nice spotting a new feature from Dustin Guy Defa, The Adults.
Find the lineup below and head back next month for our coverage of the festival headed by Kristen Stewart’s jury.
Competition
20,000 Species of Bees (Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren)
The Shadowless Tower (Zhang...
Find the lineup below and head back next month for our coverage of the festival headed by Kristen Stewart’s jury.
Competition
20,000 Species of Bees (Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren)
The Shadowless Tower (Zhang...
- 1/23/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Berlin International Film Festival unveiled the competition lineup for its 2023 edition on Monday morning, naming the 18 movies that will compete for the coveted Gold and Silver Bears at the 73rd Berlinale.
Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian presented a very international and arthouse-heavy lineup, with a strong focus on politically-charged cinema.
In a late addition, Superpower, Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman’s documentary on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian invasion of the country and the ongoing war, will have its world premiere in Berlin’s out-of-competition Berlinale Special section. The doc, made for Vice Studios, Aldamisa Entertainment and Fifth Season, is being sold internationally by Fifth Season.
Berlin 2023, taking place a year after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, will have a major focus on Ukraine. Even the festival’s official pin will be in the Ukraine colors of blue and yellow.
In competition, German auteur...
Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian presented a very international and arthouse-heavy lineup, with a strong focus on politically-charged cinema.
In a late addition, Superpower, Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman’s documentary on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian invasion of the country and the ongoing war, will have its world premiere in Berlin’s out-of-competition Berlinale Special section. The doc, made for Vice Studios, Aldamisa Entertainment and Fifth Season, is being sold internationally by Fifth Season.
Berlin 2023, taking place a year after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, will have a major focus on Ukraine. Even the festival’s official pin will be in the Ukraine colors of blue and yellow.
In competition, German auteur...
- 1/23/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
White Plastic Sky
With an earlier track record that includes Sundance short Les Conquerants in ’12 and Clermont-Ferrand’s Leftover ’16, Hungarian filmmaker tandem Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó moved into features with White Plastic Sky – an animated film described as a dystopian eco-fantasy. There’ll be 2D and 3D and rotoscoping involved but what is uber cool is that the filmmakers got help from geologists, botanists and meteorologists to write the screenplay. A young couple living in a barren, post-apocalyptic Budapest in the year 2121, struggle for food and life. This is a co-production between Hungarian Salto Films (Orsolya Sipos and József Fülöp) and Slovakian Artichoke (Juraj Krasnohorsky).…...
With an earlier track record that includes Sundance short Les Conquerants in ’12 and Clermont-Ferrand’s Leftover ’16, Hungarian filmmaker tandem Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó moved into features with White Plastic Sky – an animated film described as a dystopian eco-fantasy. There’ll be 2D and 3D and rotoscoping involved but what is uber cool is that the filmmakers got help from geologists, botanists and meteorologists to write the screenplay. A young couple living in a barren, post-apocalyptic Budapest in the year 2121, struggle for food and life. This is a co-production between Hungarian Salto Films (Orsolya Sipos and József Fülöp) and Slovakian Artichoke (Juraj Krasnohorsky).…...
- 1/6/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Films Boutique has boarded “White Plastic Sky,” the animated feature debut of Tibor Bánóczki and Sarolta Szabó, the duo behind the critically successful shorts “Les Conquerants” and “Leftover.”
A dystopian eco-fantasy, “White Plastic Sky” is set in a near future, where the last humans live in an artificial dome with a very high price for survival: At the age of 50, they are implanted with a special seed turning them into a tree that will provide oxygen and food for the community. A young man, Stefan, supports this system until the day his wife Nora gives her life up for voluntary implantation. Driven by his love, Stefan decides to break the rules of this society in order to save her.
The project combines 2D and 3D and used a rotoscoping technique allowing the animators to trace over live action footage to create animation frames. Although the animated feature is filled with fantasy,...
A dystopian eco-fantasy, “White Plastic Sky” is set in a near future, where the last humans live in an artificial dome with a very high price for survival: At the age of 50, they are implanted with a special seed turning them into a tree that will provide oxygen and food for the community. A young man, Stefan, supports this system until the day his wife Nora gives her life up for voluntary implantation. Driven by his love, Stefan decides to break the rules of this society in order to save her.
The project combines 2D and 3D and used a rotoscoping technique allowing the animators to trace over live action footage to create animation frames. Although the animated feature is filled with fantasy,...
- 6/15/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
“Rise of the Raven”
Producers: Robert Lantos (Serendipity Point Films) and Tibor Krsko
Showrunner: George Mihalka
Synopsis: An epic drama series about Janos Hunyadi, a fearless warrior who defeated the vast Ottoman army and defended Europe in 1456 at the Battle of Belgrade. The 10-hour series, based on the bestselling novels by author Bán Mór, is expected to be the biggest-budget Hungarian show ever.
“The School of Courage”
Producers: Judith Csernai and Dariusz Jablonski
Writer: Gábor Krigler
Synopsis: Amidst the horrors of World War II, hundreds of Polish children find refuge in a most unlikely place: a grammar school on the shore of Lake Balaton. But the impending Nazi occupation of Hungary threatens to shatter this idyll, and when the daughter of a leading member of the resistance arrives at the school, a secret agent finds himself in a race against time to save the students.
“The Grandson” (pictured)
Producer: Tamás S.
Producers: Robert Lantos (Serendipity Point Films) and Tibor Krsko
Showrunner: George Mihalka
Synopsis: An epic drama series about Janos Hunyadi, a fearless warrior who defeated the vast Ottoman army and defended Europe in 1456 at the Battle of Belgrade. The 10-hour series, based on the bestselling novels by author Bán Mór, is expected to be the biggest-budget Hungarian show ever.
“The School of Courage”
Producers: Judith Csernai and Dariusz Jablonski
Writer: Gábor Krigler
Synopsis: Amidst the horrors of World War II, hundreds of Polish children find refuge in a most unlikely place: a grammar school on the shore of Lake Balaton. But the impending Nazi occupation of Hungary threatens to shatter this idyll, and when the daughter of a leading member of the resistance arrives at the school, a secret agent finds himself in a race against time to save the students.
“The Grandson” (pictured)
Producer: Tamás S.
- 9/5/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
“Sorya,” “Starseed,” and “Caramel’s Words” are among 55 projects from 16 countries set to be pitched at this year’s Cartoon Movie, Europe’s leading animated feature co-production event.
The 23rd edition will move totally online, running March 9-11.
Part of an In Development showcase, “Sorya” is directed by Denis Do, an Annecy Fest best feature film winner for “Funan.” That debut depicted the brutality of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime. In “Sorya,” in contrast, he takes a more intimate approach, following a Cambodian teen woman arriving in Phnom Penh to work in a textile factory, flirting with dreams of becoming a singer, flirting with singing stardom and finally trying to find some stability in her life. Special Touch Studios’ Sébastien Onomo produces. “Funan” composer Thibault Kientz Agyeman will create the film’s the score.
French highlights also take in Pierre Földes’ “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” (produced by Cinema Defacto), Sarah Van Den Boom...
The 23rd edition will move totally online, running March 9-11.
Part of an In Development showcase, “Sorya” is directed by Denis Do, an Annecy Fest best feature film winner for “Funan.” That debut depicted the brutality of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime. In “Sorya,” in contrast, he takes a more intimate approach, following a Cambodian teen woman arriving in Phnom Penh to work in a textile factory, flirting with dreams of becoming a singer, flirting with singing stardom and finally trying to find some stability in her life. Special Touch Studios’ Sébastien Onomo produces. “Funan” composer Thibault Kientz Agyeman will create the film’s the score.
French highlights also take in Pierre Földes’ “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” (produced by Cinema Defacto), Sarah Van Den Boom...
- 2/1/2021
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Latest round will support 20 fiction, one animation, and five documentary films.
New projects from Danish director Niels Arden Oplev and Portugal’s Miguel Gomes are among the 26 selected in the latest Eurimages co-production support funding round.
The 26 films have been awarded a total of €6.1m (£5.5m). 52% are directed by women, with those projects receiving €2.5m (£2.3m) – 41% of the total funding.
Arden Oplev’s new film Rose will receive €280,000, and is a co-production between Norway and his native Denmark. Oplev’s previous features include 2009’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and last year’s Daniel.
Also included is Gomes’ Savagery,...
New projects from Danish director Niels Arden Oplev and Portugal’s Miguel Gomes are among the 26 selected in the latest Eurimages co-production support funding round.
The 26 films have been awarded a total of €6.1m (£5.5m). 52% are directed by women, with those projects receiving €2.5m (£2.3m) – 41% of the total funding.
Arden Oplev’s new film Rose will receive €280,000, and is a co-production between Norway and his native Denmark. Oplev’s previous features include 2009’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and last year’s Daniel.
Also included is Gomes’ Savagery,...
- 7/6/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
Doc & Film International has boarded Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti’s feature debut “Deux” which is being produced by France’s Paprika Films, Luxembourg’s Tarantula and Belgium’s Artémis.
The movie started shooting Oct. 1 and stars German veteran actress Barbara Sukowa (“Lola,””Rosa Luxemburg”), Martine Chevallier (Pas son genre”) and Léa Drucker (“Custody”).
“Deux” follows two retired women, Nina et Madeleine, who are secretly in love with each other, and are believed to be simple neighbors as they live in the same building. One event causes them to separate abruptly while the daughter of Madeleine discovers her mother’s secret life. The two women will seek to reunite in spite of challenges.
Meneghetti wrote the script with Malysone Bovorasmy, in collaboration with Florence Vignon and Marion Vernoux. Meneghetti previously directed three shorts, “Undici,””l’Intruso” and “La Bête.”
Sophie Dulac Distribution will release “Deux” in France. Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin and Laurent Baujard...
The movie started shooting Oct. 1 and stars German veteran actress Barbara Sukowa (“Lola,””Rosa Luxemburg”), Martine Chevallier (Pas son genre”) and Léa Drucker (“Custody”).
“Deux” follows two retired women, Nina et Madeleine, who are secretly in love with each other, and are believed to be simple neighbors as they live in the same building. One event causes them to separate abruptly while the daughter of Madeleine discovers her mother’s secret life. The two women will seek to reunite in spite of challenges.
Meneghetti wrote the script with Malysone Bovorasmy, in collaboration with Florence Vignon and Marion Vernoux. Meneghetti previously directed three shorts, “Undici,””l’Intruso” and “La Bête.”
Sophie Dulac Distribution will release “Deux” in France. Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin and Laurent Baujard...
- 10/2/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The low-budget initiative’s previous titles include Zsófia Szilágyi’s ‘One Day’, in Critics’ Week at Cannes.
The Hungarian National Film Fund’s low-budget Incubator Program, aimed at enabling young first-time directors to make their first films, has greenlit several new features.
They include Grosan Cristina and Nóra Rainer-Micsinyei comedy drama Things Worth Weeping For, Hajni Kis’ relationship drama A Pack Of Our Town, Nándor Lőrincz and Bálint Nagy’s drama The Last Bus, Márton Szirmai’s animation Where Did I Ruin It? and Judit Oláh’s drama The Camp.
Through Incubator, similar in ethos to the UK’s iFeatures initiative,...
The Hungarian National Film Fund’s low-budget Incubator Program, aimed at enabling young first-time directors to make their first films, has greenlit several new features.
They include Grosan Cristina and Nóra Rainer-Micsinyei comedy drama Things Worth Weeping For, Hajni Kis’ relationship drama A Pack Of Our Town, Nándor Lőrincz and Bálint Nagy’s drama The Last Bus, Márton Szirmai’s animation Where Did I Ruin It? and Judit Oláh’s drama The Camp.
Through Incubator, similar in ethos to the UK’s iFeatures initiative,...
- 5/11/2018
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Barring any late additions or surprises, the full lineup for the 2012 edition of the Sundance Film Festival (January 19 through 29) is now complete. We've seen the the Competition and Spotlight, Park City at Midnight, Next <=> and New Frontier lineups, the Premieres and the Documentary Premieres. Today's the festival's unveiled its Short Film program. Once again, straight from the release:
U.S. Short Films
This year's 32 U.S. short films were selected from 4,083 submissions.
U.S. Narrative Short Films
’92 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card (Director: Todd Sklar, Screenwriters: Todd Sklar, Alex Rennie) — Jim and Dave are brothers who haven't spoken in years and don't like each other very much, but are forced to come together for a week when their dad dies in Kansas City. A limited edition 1992 Skybox Series Alonzo Mourning rookie card is a point of contention.
The Arm (Directors and screenwriters: Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos, Jessie Ennis) — In an...
U.S. Short Films
This year's 32 U.S. short films were selected from 4,083 submissions.
U.S. Narrative Short Films
’92 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card (Director: Todd Sklar, Screenwriters: Todd Sklar, Alex Rennie) — Jim and Dave are brothers who haven't spoken in years and don't like each other very much, but are forced to come together for a week when their dad dies in Kansas City. A limited edition 1992 Skybox Series Alonzo Mourning rookie card is a point of contention.
The Arm (Directors and screenwriters: Brie Larson, Sarah Ramos, Jessie Ennis) — In an...
- 12/6/2011
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.