News

French filmmaker Jonathan Millet’s thriller Ghost Trail won El Gouna Film Festival’s $50,000 Golden Star award for best narrative film. The festival ran October 24-November 1.

Lead Adam Bessa also won best actor for his performance as a young man on a mission to track Syrian regime leaders in France, where he must confront his former torturer. The film world premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week sidebar.

The $25,000 Silver Star award went to Julien Colonna’s war drama The Kingdom, while Indian romantic drama Girls Will be Girls by Shuchi Talati won the $15,000 Bronze Star and the Fipresci award.

The latter...

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired global distribution rights for anthology film Disorder exploring Lebanon’s recent tumultuous years through the eyes of four directors.

The picture, which is due to premiere at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival later this month, brings together Lebanese writers and directors Lucien Bourjeily (Heaven Without People), Bane Fakih (Keep It Together), Wissam Charaf, and Areej Mahmoud (Beirut 6:07).

The launch comes as the global spotlight is on Lebanon due to the flare-up in the conflict between Israel and Shiite Muslim political party and militant group Hezbollah, which has resulted in close to 2,000 deaths, and also displaced more than 350,000 people over the last two weeks.

The feature is curated and produced Bechara Mouzannar under the banner of Unbranded, in collaboration with Nadine Labaki and Khaled Mouzanar who take executive producer credits. The trio previously collaborated on Labaki’s 2018 film Capernaum

Blending drama and dark comedy,...

Dubai-based Front Row Filmed Entertainment has secured world rights to Disorder, an anthology feature that explores Lebanon’s recent tumultuous years.

Blending drama and dark humour, the film comprises four shorts – The Group, Motherland, Don’t Panic, and A Piece of Heaven – directly respectively by Lucien Bourjeily, Bane Fakih, Wissam Charaf, and Areej Mahmoud.

Curated and produced by Bechara Mouzannar through his Beirut-based outfit Unbranded, the film is executive produced by Lebanese director and actress Nadine Labaki of Cannes award-winner Capernaum.

The film is set to premiere out of competition at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (Oct 24-Nov 1).

As well as handling world sales,...

Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired world rights to anthology film “Disorder,” which depicts different aspects of Lebanon’s recent turbulence and the toll taken by the country’s disarray on its new generations.

The timely portmanteau film comprises four shorts helmed by prominent Lebanese writers and directors: Lucien Bourjeili (“Heaven Without People”), Bane Fakih (“Keep It Together”), Wissam Charaf and Areej Mahmoud (“Beirut 6:07”).

The shorts, titled “The Group,” “Motherland,” “Don’t Panic” and “A Piece of Heaven,” feature top Lebanese talents such as Manal Issa (“The Swimmers”), Rodrigue Sleiman (“The Traveller”), Farah Shaer (“Heaven Without People”) and Hanane Hajj Ali (“Bab El Shams”).

“Disorder” will world premiere out-of-competition at Egypt’s upcoming El Gouna Film Festival.

Curated and lead-produced by prominent advertising exec Bechara Mouzannar – who is a former creative chief of ad agency Leo Burnett in the Middle East and Africa and now runs a production...

They join previously announced directors James Gray, Jessica Hausner and sound editor Mark Mangini.

French director Claire Denis and Greek cinematographer Phedon Papamichael have been confirmed as the final ‘Masters’ at the sixth edition of Qumra, the annual talent incubator event of the Doha Film Institute (Dfi), running March 20 to 25 this year.

They will join previously announced Us director James Gray, Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner and awarding winning sound editor Mark Mangini. The five ‘Masters’ give a master-class as well as one-on-one advice to select Dfi-supported projects invited to the event.

Denis, whose most recent credits include High Life and Let The Sunshine In,...

The La Film Festival has placed a heavy emphasis on diversity in its competition film slate, with 42% of the films directed by women and 39% helmed by people of color.

The 24th edition of the festival is also positioning itself as an event for unveiling lesser-known talent. It will take place Sept. 20-28 as it moves from its traditional June slot to the fall awards season.

The Los Angeles event follow the Venice International Film Festival, which begins in late August; the Telluride Film Festival, which runs over Labor Day; and the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, which starts on Sept. 6. The festival will end just as the New York Film Festival begins.

“Our mission of finding fresh new voices from different geographical and cultural axes remains true,” said L Film Festival director Jennifer Cochis. “These storytellers are united by their ability to transport, impact and inspire audiences with the power of their craft.

Forty feature films including 24 world premieres highlight the official La Film Festival competition lineup in the fest’s move into the crowded fall festival corridor, away from their previous early-summer perch.

Among the movies in competition is the highly regarded Swedish film Border (Grans) from director Ali Abbasi, a Neon pickup out of Cannes that took the top prize in that festival’s No. 2 competition, Un Certain Regard. It is listed as a “California Premiere,” which means it likely will show up first in Telluride, Toronto or both before Laff, which runs September 20-28. It will play in the World Fiction Competition across a field of categories that also include U.S. Fiction, Documentary, La Muse, Nightfall. Short Films, and Episodes: Indie Series from the web.

“Our mission of finding fresh new voices from different geographical and cultural axes remains true,” Laff Director Jennifer Cochis said. “These storytellers are united by their ability to transport,...

For its 24th edition, Film Independent’s newly configured Los Angeles Film Festival has revealed its first fall lineup (September 20 – 28), the second under the leadership of Festival Director Jennifer Cochis. The date moves Laff into awards season and direct competition with AFI Fest (November 8 – 15), the last of the fall festivals. This year’s Laff program includes 40 feature films, 41 short films, and 10 short episodic works representing 26 countries. Across the competition categories 42 percent of the films are directed by women and 39 percent are directed by people of color.

The festival remains committed to a diverse lineup of feature films, shorts and episodic series for its U.S. Fiction (“original voices with distinct visions from emerging and established American independent filmmakers”), Documentary (“character-driven non-fiction films from the U.S. and around the world”), World Fiction (“unique fiction films from around the world by emerging and established filmmakers”), La Muse (“fiction and documentary films...

For its 24th edition, Film Independent’s newly configured Los Angeles Film Festival has revealed its first fall lineup (September 20 – 28), the second under the leadership of Festival Director Jennifer Cochis. The date moves Laff into awards season and direct competition with AFI Fest (November 8 – 15), the last of the fall festivals. This year’s Laff program includes 40 feature films, 41 short films, and 10 short episodic works representing 26 countries. Across the competition categories 42 percent of the films are directed by women and 39 percent are directed by people of color.

The festival remains committed to a diverse lineup of feature films, shorts and episodic series for its U.S. Fiction (“original voices with distinct visions from emerging and established American independent filmmakers”), Documentary (“character-driven non-fiction films from the U.S. and around the world”), World Fiction (“unique fiction films from around the world by emerging and established filmmakers”), La Muse (“fiction and documentary films...

Our critics' picks of this week's openings, plus your last chance to see and what to book now

• Which cultural events are in your diary this week? Tell us in the comments below

Opening this weekTheatre

Big and Small

Cate Blanchett plays Lotte, a continuing optimist in a bleak world where she struggles to make a connection with her family and others. Sydney Theatre Company with its award-winning production of Botho Strauß's surreal play. Barbican, London (020-7638 8891), Friday until 29 April.

Miss Julie

Maxine Peake plays the troubled 19th-century aristocrat who wanders into the kitchen and the bed of her father's valet, Jean, one delirious midsummer's eve. David Eldridge adapts Strindberg's troubling play, which caused a scandal when it was first produced. Royal Exchange, Manchester (0161-833 9833), Wednesday until 12 May.

Film

This Must Be The Place (dir. Paolo Sorrentino)

Paolo Sorrentino's English-language debut has Sean Penn as a retired goth rocker living in Dublin.

From Lorca and Euripides in a festival of chaos to breathtaking circus in a cathedral, our critics pick the best theatrical experiences of the spring

A Marvellous Year for Plums

Long before Iraq, Britain's 1956 invasion of Suez divided the nation and destroyed the reputation of the Pm. In those days it was Sir Anthony Eden, described by a colleague as "half mad baronet and half beautiful woman" and now played by Anthony Andrews in a new piece by Hugh Whitemore. Mb Chichester Festival theatre (01243 781 312), 11 May to 2 June. cft.org.uk

Posh

Time should have given new traction to Laura Wade's play about an elite Oxford dining club filled with arrogant young toffs who presume they are born to rule. First seen at the Royal Court shortly before the last election, it was thought by some to offer an exaggerated portrait of upper-class swagger. Now Lyndsey Turner's production, with many of the original cast,...