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Dea Kulumbegashvili’s powerful sophomore feature “April” opens up to a creature in a void, lit dimly enough for the viewer to observe its disfigured body. Offscreen, the sound of trickling water is mixed with children playing and cheering. The camera retains its position, unwaveringly static, observing the monstrosity achingly stagger in what sounds like puddles of water. It’s too dark to know what’s happening (or not), so the dread picks up as Kulumbegashvili lets the shot linger in the monster’s oblivion.

The creature (an alien? or a humanoid?) breathes painfully; perhaps it’s not an enemy, and it’s weak and scared and what escapes its mouth are pleas for help. It continues to stagger, achingly moving its limbs in unpredictably slow motions. Phlegmy breathing echoes in the dark, and so do children laughing and playing. Years of cheap horror movies have conditioned the average moviegoer for a gnarly jumpscare,...

As the 15th Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff) commences on April 18, the annual event is presenting an array of riches for cinephiles and industry professionals alike, marking a trifecta of milestones: the 130th anniversary of world cinema, the 120th anniversary of Chinese cinema, and the festival’s own 15th year.

Headlining this year’s Workshop & Masterclass series is a triumvirate of cinematic heavyweights. French acting legend Isabelle Huppert, who has appeared in over 100 films and earned multiple accolades including best actress at Cannes for “The Piano Teacher” and a Golden Globe for “Elle,” will explore “The Undercurrent Beneath the Ice” – an examination of her distinctive artistic approach that has made her a force in European cinema. The masterclass promises insights into her celebrated collaborations with directors like Claude Chabrol and Michael Haneke.

Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke, whose works like “Still Life” and “Ash Is Purest White” have earned him acclaim at Cannes and Venice,...

“From the Heart of Europe: Austria on Screen” promises to bring “an eclectic mix from hard-hitting drama to absurdist comedy” to the 2025 Glasgow Film Festival, which kicked off on Wednesday and runs through March 9.

Across 12 days, Scotland’s largest annual celebration of cinema will bring out such stars as James McAvoy, Ed Harris, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth, George MacKay and Formula 1 star Damon Hill, and screen 92 world, U.K. and Scottish premieres from 39 countries, including the Austrian showcase as part of this year’s country’s focus that puts a spotlight on new cinematic voices as well as legendary filmmaker Michael Haneke.

“We have been noticing over the past years that Austrian films were really starting to make waves on the festival circuit,” Christopher Kumar, the Glasgow Film Festival’s program coordinator tells THR.

The Glasgow team worked with the Austrian Cultural Forum in London, the Roland Teichmann-led Austrian Film Insitute,...

As the European Film Market kicks off Feb. 13 in Berlin with a new market head, Tanja Meissner, at the helm, this year’s buzziest titles suggest the industry will be looking toward tried-and-true genre fare and splashy, star-driven packages to thaw the winter chill.

Bankable stars are expected to heat things up in Berlin, with Ari Aster and A24’s “Eddington”, Guy Ritchie’s “Wife & Dog”, Ernest Dickerson’s untitled hitman thriller and Kantemir Balagov’s “Butterfly Jam” showcasing how marquee names remain a safe bet as uncertainty continues to reign in the theatrical market.

On the genre side of things, horror is still expected to scare up sales, with buyers looking to sink their fangs into Isabelle Huppert’s 16th-century vampire mystery “The Blood Countess” and Jacob Chase’s killer canine genre-bender “Bad Boy,” starring Ke Huy Quan and Lili Reinhart. Meanwhile, comedy could be making a comeback,...

24 years ago, Isabelle Huppert starred in an erotic psychological drama called The Piano Teacher, which won the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival, where Huppert also earned a Best Actress award (and her co-star Benoît Magimel won Best Actor). The Piano Teacher was based on a novel by Elfriede Jelinek – and now, Huppert and Jelinek are set to reteam for a vampire movie called The Blood Countess, where Huppert will be taking on the role of the title character, Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a 16th-century Hungarian serial killer!

Variety reports that German New Wave artist and filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger will be directing The Blood Countess and wrote the screenplay with Jelinek. Huppert will be playing Báthory as she awakens from her long beauty sleep and emerges from the underworld. She and her devoted maid (Birgit Minichmayr) embark on a baroque quest through Vienna to recover the red elixir of life.

Big names, high concepts, and crowd-pleasing thrills are the order of the day at this year’s European Film Market, where commercial fare is dominating over the usual arthouse prestige plays, reflecting an industry uncertain of the future of the theatrical business in the post-covid world. Action, horror, and comedy are leading the charge, with star-driven projects like Guy Ritchie’s Wife & Dog (Benedict Cumberbatch, Rosamund Pike), Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brien, A$AP Rocky), and Ernest Dickerson’s untitled hitman thriller (Samuel L. Jackson, Daveed Diggs) among the titles generating early buzz.

Genre filmmakers are also stepping up in a big way, with The Raid’s Iko Uwais launching a new production/sales outfit in Berlin for his brand of martial-arts madness, and horror entries like Bad Boy — starring Ke Huy Quan and Lili Reinhart — and the body-horror thriller...

An auteur-actor pairing to nearly match last week’s word of Johnnie To and Tony Leung comes via Variety, who tell us Ulrike Ottinger will direct Isabelle Huppert in The Blood Countess, a vampire feature based on the infamous Elizabeth Báthory from a script by Ottinger and Elfriede Jelinek (The Piano Teacher). Lars Eidinger (Irma Vep), Thomas Schubert (Afire), and Birgit Minichmayr (Everyone Else) will co-star; sales start at the European Film Market imminently.

The Blood Countess is described by “immersive and delightfully eccentric vampire mystery” that unfolds as “a highly visual, narrative scavenger hunt.” Here’s sales agent Magnify’s official synopsis

“[Madame Báthory] and her devoted maid (Birgit Minichmayr) embark on a baroque quest through Vienna to recover the red elixir of life. The book, if found and read by the vampire’s enemies, threatens their vampire realm. Hot on their heels are a vegetarian nephew (Thomas Schubert), his psychotherapist (Lars Eidinger), two vampirologists,...

Magnify has boarded “The Blood Countess,” a vampire mystery movie starring Isabelle Huppert as Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a 16th-century Hungarian serial killer.

Directed by renowned German New Wave artist and filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger, the movie is inspired by the life and legend of Countess Elizabeth Báthory. The screenplay was penned by Ottinger and Elfriede Jelinek, the Nobel Prize in Literature winner and acclaimed author of “The Piano Teacher.”

Huppert stars in the film opposite Birgit Minichmayr (“Daughters”), Lars Eidinger (“Dying”), Thomas Schubert (“Afire”) and André Jung (“The Forger”).

“The Blood Countess” is one of the hottest European projects to head to the EFM next week where Magnify’s sales team, led by Lorna Lee Torres, will be introducing the movie to buyers.

Huppert plays the Countess Elizabeth Báthory (aka ‘The Blood Countess’), as she awakens from her long beauty sleep and emerges from the underworld. “She and her devoted maid...

Let the buzz begin as this year’s Glasgow Film Festival will open with Tornado and close with Martin Robertson’s Make it to Munich, in what is another world premiere.

Undoubtedly a highlight each year in the film calendar Gff kicks off on February 26th until March 9th and is bursting with variety. Some highlights include the UK premiere of Long Day’s Journey into Night starring Jessica Lange & Ed Harris, Argentinian crime-caper Kill the Jockey and On Falling from Scottish filmmaker Laura Carreira.

The festival will play host to a number of UK premieres including The Return, Bob Trevino Likes It as well as Luckiest Man in America starring Paul Walter Hauser to name but a few.

In Conversation With returns with a star-studded line-up of Jessica Lange and Glasgow’s own, James McAvoy, who will take a look back on their careers.

As with true Gff tradition is...

Babygirl joins a set of films that depict activities sufficiently reckless that even discussing them at work potentially invites a conversation with Human Resources. Unlike The Piano Teacher or Secretary or Videodrome there is at least a sense of awareness of consequences. It is perhaps discomfiting in light of stories like The Assistant or Sorry/Not Sorry that these seem more likely to be borne by women even here, but discomfiture is the order of the day.

It starts with needs unmet, and graphically, the balance of lap and laptop and top at the bottom of what's not working. Nicole Kidman's central performance comes in a year where big names and big roles abound, but as much as Maria is about the voice, this is the world and the flesh. Graphically, if not viscerally, in word and deed and gesture.

Romy is a CEO. Her firm is...

The National Board of Review held its annual Awards Gala Tuesday, January 7 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. This year 246 films were viewed by a select group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers, professionals, academics, and students to celebrate the art of cinema from the last year.

Mikey Madison was honored with the Breakthrough Performance Award for her role in Sean Baker’s “Anora,” making her the most awarded actress of the current awards season thus far. Coming back to NYC from the Golden Globes on Sunday, Madison is still beaming with light as she makes her rounds on the awards circuit.

“I’ve met so many incredible women who I’ve admired for so long and have made wonderful friends, so I think that’s what I’ll take away from all of this,” she told IndieWire of what she takes away most from all of the circuit buzz and experiences.

Mikey Madison may be having her star-making moment, with recognition from multiple critics groups for her performance in Sean Baker’s “Anora,” as well as a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy at tonight’s Golden Globe Awards, but rather than revel, she’s taking time to pay homage to those who helped shape her own abilities. Taking a visit to New York’s Criterion Collection offices, Madison spent some time inside the Criterion Closet not only selecting goodies to take home, but acknowledging multiple performances that have stuck with her through the years, from Jackie Coogan in Charlie Chaplin’s “The Kid” to Jack Nicholson in Bob Rafelson’s “Five Easy Pieces.”

“I really think it’s my favorite Nicholson performance,” said Madison of Rafelson’s film. “There’s just something about how he approaches this character, such a morally gray character,...

I’ve been seeing variations on the question above on comment boards and social media, and the answer is inevitably a resounding “No. Fucking. Way.” But let’s be clear about what the question really is, since it’s actually two questions at once. The fundamental thing that’s being asked is: Could “Babygirl,” an enthralling high-kink corporate drama, in which Nicole Kidman plays a girlboss who secretly yearns to be dominated and debased, and plays this all out with one of her young male interns…could a male director have gotten away with making that movie today? The answer everyone seems to agree on, with an underlying note of look-how-far-we’ve-come cultural pride, is no. I don’t necessarily disagree — though actually, in a way, I sort of do.

“Babygirl,” written and directed by the volcanically talented Dutch filmmaker Halina Reijn, is a gripping movie about a woman who...

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Venice Film Festival. A24 releases “Babygirl” in theaters December 25.

The worst thing your partner could possibly say to you after sex, after you’ve said “I love you,” is the dreaded “love you.” No “I.” And that’s not the most demoralizing response Romy (Nicole Kidman) has for an amorous confession by her husband Jacob (Antonio Banderas) in “Babygirl,” writer/director Halina Reijn’s provocative erotic dramedy that begins and ends with an orgasm. One of them is faked, but in between, this perversely funny and absorbing new film explores the pleasure gap between men and women, and how our inability to talk about sex limits our ability to just do it.

And there’s lots of sex here, with Kidman going raw inside and out for one of her top performances in a career built on risk-taking. That’s...

The hotly anticipated festival unveils its special screenings and also its Country Focus as part of the programme.

As in previous years the Special Event screenings are not to be missed where audiences can enjoy an immersive experience. Past highlights include a screening of The Blair Witch Project in the woods…

Running from February 26th to March 9th Gff takes over the Grand Ole Oprey for the 25th anniversary of Coyote Ugly. One of Glasgow’s most beloved venues, Cottiers, is set to play host for the screening of teen horror The Craft and Muriel’s Wedding.

The festival will once again mark the return of its Country Focus in From The Heart of Europe: Austria. It is set to be an eclectic programme featuring mockumentary Piggy Bank, drama Peacock and two of Michael Haneke’s classics The Piano Teacher and Hidden Caché.

This peek at next year’s festival builds...

Bernhard Wenger’sPeacockwill screen as part of a special focus on Austria taking place at the Glasgow Film Festival (Gff), running from February 26 to March 9, 2025 in Scotland.

It will be the final edition for festival director Allison Gardner after 30 years with the organisation.

Peacock,which screened first at the Venice Film Festival, is Wenger’s debut feature. It starsAll Quiet On The Western Frontactor Albrecht Schuch as a man working at a friend-for-hire scheme who grows to realise he can pretend to be anyone but himself.

Gff’s ’From The Heart of Europe: Austria on Screen’ programme will also showcase...

Nicole Kidman was going about her morning routine, focusing on getting her daughter off to school on Monday, when another, surprisingly, routine moment happened — she learned, for the 17th time, that she’d been nominated for a Golden Globe for acting.

This year, the nod is for her performance in Babygirl, the A24 sexual thriller that has Kidman as a high-powered CEO who risks her career and family when she begins an affair with a much younger intern, played by Harris Dickinson. Her vulnerable performance has already been awarded at this year’s Venice Film Festival and by the National Board of Review.

“To be still relevant in this world and this industry, working on the films that I love, feels wonderful,” Kidman told The Hollywood Reporter just after the Globes nomination was announced. “And to be in such an unusual film that still hasn’t been released [Babygirl is...

Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson steam up the screen in Babygirl, the new film from writer-director Halina Reijn. As part of preparation for the film, the Bodies Bodies Bodies director sent the two actors films that exemplify the best of Babygirl's shared genre. According to Entertainment Weekly, Rejin recommended 2001's The Piano Teacher, 1992's Damage, and 1988's Dangerous Liaisons to put the actors in the right headspace for production. Although Rejin set out to subvert erotic thriller expectations, it was important for the actors and filmmaker to intimately know the thing they're supposed to be subverting. Hence, Halina Reijn turned to the classics.

According to Dickinson, the director wasn't "interested" in showing straight-forward sex scenes, instead opting for "vulnerability" and "finding truth."

"Halina was never interested in showing explicit sex scenes. Showing sex on film can often be so corny and unnecessarily voyeuristic. It's more interesting to show the awkwardness of sex,...

The “Dreamgirls” team is getting back together.

Director Bill Condon has signed on to direct Amazon MGM Studios’ untitled George Clinton biopic, which will star Eddie Murphy as the Parliament-Funkadelic leader.

The script is currently being written by Virgil Williams, who co-wrote this year’s awards contender “The Piano Teacher,” based on an original draft by Max Werner. The project was initiated by Catherine Davis, a Clinton fan, who brought the idea to Murphy.

The movie is based on Clinton’s 2017 memoir “Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain’t That Funkin’ Kinda Hard On You?” According to the official release, “The film is the untold story of influential pioneer of funk and his tumultuous journey to founding musical collective Parliament-Funkadelic. Known for their outlandish sci-fi themes, surreal sounds and psychedelic shows, Clinton and his band’s wild road redefined music and culture.”

The project will be produced by Murphy via Eddie Murphy Productions,...

The acclaimed French actor answers your questions on Heaven’s Gate, Haneke and hindsight

François Ozon is a great director and 8 Women was a fantastic film. What brought you to work with him again for The Crime Is Mine? BenderRodriguez

I loved doing 8 Women and I just saw his last film in San Sebastián, When Fall Is Coming, and it’s really great. He’s very versatile. He goes from one style to the other, like a French Stephen Frears. The Crime Is Mine is more in the line of 8 Women. It’s a comedy, an adaptation of an old play that he turned into more contemporary material; something more feminist and more updated. He’s very vivid and he’s very, very, very fast, so when you work with him he gives you a certain kind of energy.

Having performed in such a wide range of films,...

Reflecting the breadth of her legacy across different continents, French actor Isabelle Huppert was celebrated by the likes of Alfonso Cuarón, Claire Denis, Alejandro Jodorowsky and François Ozon at the 15th edition of the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon where she received a sprawling career tribute on Oct. 18.

Huppert kicked off the festivities as she entered the 3000-seat auditorium dancing to the 1980’s disco beats of “Nuit de folie,” dressed in a shimmery champagne gown.

The joyful ceremony, emceed by Huppert’s longtime friend (and Cannes boss) Thierry Fremaux who runs the Lumiere Film Festival, was punctuated by live musical numbers ranging widely from Camelia Jordana’s singing a capella “I Will Survive,” to Julien Clerc performing his 1978 cult song “Ma Preference” by the piano, and French actor Sandrine Kiberlain playfully singing “Nuit de folie” which was said to be Huppert’s unexpected all-time favorite song.

The most vibrant homage...

Isabelle Huppert, the Oscar-nominated star of “Elle,” spoke candidly about her career choices and made the audience laugh with her self-deprecating humor at a masterclass held at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon.

The French actor, who is also being honored with the fest’s lifetime achievement Lumière prize, revealed that she had seen very few movies when she started acting some 50 years ago. But that didn’t prevent her from working with some of Europe’s most talented filmmakers, including Claude Chabrol, Michael Haneke and Paul Verhoeven.

“We didn’t go to cinemas as much back then,” she said during the on-stage conversation with Lumiere Film Festival’s boss Thierry Fremaux, who is also Cannes chief. Claire Denis (“White Material”) and Francois Ozon, who have directed Huppert in several films, were sitting on the front row.

“When I started making films, I had seen very few. I’ve still seen few by the way.

Useful as it may be for facts and stats, an actor’s Wikipedia page isn’t ever the go-to place for a complete, nuanced description of their thespian essence, and so it proves for Isabelle Huppert. “Known for her portrayals of cold, austere women devoid of morality, she is considered one of the greatest actresses of her generation,” states the introduction, in a strikingly selective encapsulation of over half a century on screen. Huppert can certainly do froideur and severity with flair — she’s imposing beyond the bounds of her diminutive frame in such rigorous, chill-carrying films as Claude Chabrol’s “La Cérémonie,” Michael Haneke’s “The Piano Teacher” and of course Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle,” though whether these complex, conflicted women are “devoid of morality” isn’t a call for any one web editor to make.

But it does Huppert an injustice to paint her, however admiringly, as some...

Watching “Babygirl” at the Venice Film Festival, I thought, “Isabelle Huppert is going to like this.” Here is a provocative movie, directed by Halina Reijn, starring Nicole Kidman as a corporate CEO engaging in kink and sexually submitting herself to a younger intern (Harris Dickinson). Kidman’s Romy cuts a powerful silhouette in the office by day, but by night, she’s on all fours being dominated in increasingly adventurous sexual encounters.

With Huppert as jury president, it was no surprise when Kidman won Best Actress, as Huppert famously stars in the darkly perverse “The Piano Teacher,” a movie Reijn’s script is surely in deep conversation with. In the 2001 Michael Haneke film, Huppert played a stoic music instructor who becomes sexually overpowered by a younger pupil. I went into “Babygirl” expecting the American version of “The Piano Teacher,” though Reijn’s film is more buoyantly sex-positive than sinisterly Freudian.

Isabelle Huppert joked that the 13-day shoot of Hong Sangsoo’s A Traveler’s Needs was “a super-production” by the Korean filmmaker’s usual standards.

The actor and director’s two previous collaborations, Claire’s Camera and In Another Country, took six and nine days to shoot, respectively, she recalled. Huppert was speaking onstage at the New York Film Festival with fest Artistic Director Dennis Lim, about A Traveler’s Needs. The film, which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize in Berlin last February, had its North American premiere in New York.

“I love doing it,” Huppert said of Sangsoo’s ultra-minimal productions, whose sets feature only a “tiny” camera, the director, his assistant and the actors. “It says so much about what it means to do a film. … It tells you how the cinema is flexible. It goes from the infinitely big – I was in Heaven’s Gate, for example – and it can be infinitely small.

She’s worked with most of the great names of European cinema, from Godard to Haneke, and on one of Hollywood’s greatest disasters. Now she’s ready for your closeup quizzing

France has quite a few grandes dames of cinema, with Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Adjani all very much in the game. But none can hold much of a candle to Isabelle Huppert, who is firing on all cylinders as she enters her 70s, in her sixth decade of headline acting performances. Tightly wound and fiery, while simultaneously self-contained and tough as nails, Huppert’s acting persona has been instrumental to a string of masterpieces – and even if the film around her isn’t that great, she’s always magnificent to watch.

With so many amazing credits, stretching back to the 1970s, it’s hard to pick out a few, but we’ll have a go: early...

Shocking violence is tempered by strange, silent sequences in a sophomore feature about an obstetrician under investigation, which has echoes of The Piano Teacher

Dea Kulumbegashvili is the much-admired Georgian director whose feature debut, Beginning, won golden opinions, though I confess to having been agnostic on the grounds of mannerisms that were a little derivative – some resemblances there to Carlos Reygadas and Michael Haneke.

Her follow-up movie, April, is now presented at Venice. That month has never seemed crueller. The high arthouse influences are still detectable, but Kulumbegashvili has mastered and absorbed them and has an evolving film-language of her own, though still involving extended static takes, long shots in which people have inaudible but important conversations in the far distance, and explicit moments of violence whose shock is tempered and complicated by strangely exalted, if bizarre, visionary sequences.

If only it were just the stars bringing heat to the Venice Film Festival.

This year’s Biennale on the Lido continues to be one of the hottest on record — incoming attendees, if you don’t have one of those Uv-fighting umbrellas, brace yourself. How Nicole Kidman, water-taxiing into the Lido for the world premiere of the psychosexual thriller “Babygirl,” arrived at Friday’s press conference in a black dress without an ounce of sweat is anyone’s guess. The room was hot, but then it got hotter. The Oscar-winning star showed up with the cast and crew, including co-stars Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, and Sophie Wilde, and writer/director Halina Reijn, for a presser heavy on questions on Kidman’s nudity in the film. As she explained to the press corps, she doesn’t get caught up in the “minutiae” of showing sexuality onscreen. Kidman’s turn in “Babygirl...

Having had a career that’s spanned over 50 years, Isabelle Huppert knows a thing or two about cinema. She’s done epic westerns like “Heaven’s Gate” and erotic dramas like “The Piano Teacher,” worked with legends like Jean-Luc Godard and Paul Verhoeven, but no matter the genre or person behind the lens, Huppert thinks her work is best seen, as intended, on the big screen. Ahead of serving as Jury President at the 81st Venice Film Festival this week, Huppert spoke to The New York Times for a recent interview, in which she shared her appreciation for what festivals offer to cinema’s lasting health and her optimism for the medium’s future.

“Festivals are more and more important,” Huppert said. “We all know that with the development of new ways of watching movies such as streaming platforms — which do have their virtues — movie theaters are somewhat threatened. So festivals...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Bam

The controversial, remarkable The Spook Who Sat By the Door plays in a new restoration.

Roxy Cinema

Fidelio, our four-film program with Chapo Trap House’s Movie Mindset, has an encore with Eyes Wide Shut on a spectacular 35mm print this Saturday; Amalia Ulman has programmed prints of The Piano Teacher and The Holy Girl.

Film at Lincoln Center

An essential restoration of Shinji Somai’s Moving continues.

Museum of the Moving Image

Erich von Stroheim’s Greed plays on 35mm with live accompaniment this Sunday; Alice in the Cities, Insiang, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and The Muppet Movie have screenings.

Paris Theater

“Big & Loud!” returns with 70mm prints of Vertigo and Boogie Nights, along with The Abyss, Close Encounters, and Days of Heaven.

Film Forum

A new restoration of Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy begins playing; Army of Shadows continues.

Margaret Menegoz, the head of French production company Les Films du Losange, who produced the movies of Michael Hanke, Wim Wenders and Éric Rohmer, among others, has died. She was 83.

The company issued a statement confirming that Menegoz died in Montpellier on August 7. They cited her “love of films and work, and her loyalty to her filmmakers that have become the hallmarks of Les Films du Losange,” describing Menegoz as “open-minded towards Europe and the international scene, which she particularly cherished.”

Menegoz led Les Films du Losange for close to 50 years, taking over at the company in 1973. She produced more than 60 films, including Haneke’s Amour, The White Ribbon and Cache, Wenders’ 1977 feature The American Friend, Volker Schlöndorff’s Swann in Love (1984), Agnieszka Holland’s Europa Europa (1990), Rohmer’s A Tale of Springtime (1990) and A Tale of Winter (1992), among many others.

Amour received 5 Oscar nominations in 2013, including a nomination for Menegoz for best feature.

Margaret Menegoz, who led iconic French film company Les Films du Losange for close to 50 years, producing the films of Éric Rohmer, Michael Haneke and Wim Wenders among others, has died at the age of 83.

The German and French film producer was born in Hungary in 1941. Her family, which was of German origin, was expelled from the country in the wake of the 1945 Siege of Budapest, and Menegoz grew up in Germany.

Menegoz entered the film industry as an editor and then connected with the French independent filmmaking scene via her documentarian husband Robert Menegoz, who she met at the Berlin Film Festival in the early 1970s.

She took the reins of Les Films du Losange in 1975, having been originally hired as an assistant on co-founder Rohmer’s 1976 German-language film Marquise Of O, co-starring Edith Clever and Bruno Ganz.

Rohmer and Barbet Schroeder had created the company in 1962, but with...

Iconic French actress Isabelle Huppert will be honored at this year’s Lumière Festival in Lyon with the prestigious Lumière Award for her contribution to cinema.

“Her career encompasses an immense part of the history of contemporary cinema,” the Institut Lumière, which oversees the festival, said of the French star of Elle, 8 Women and The Piano Teacher.

The institute gave just a sampling of Huppert’s more than 155 acting credits, which include collaborations with such French directing legends as Claude Chabrol, Claire Denis, François Ozon and Bertrand Tavernier, as well as international filmmakers including Michael Haneke, Paul Verhoeven and Hong Sang-soo. Her few U.S. films include Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate (1980), David O. Russell’s I Heart Huckabees (2004) and Frankie (2019) by Ira Sachs.

Huppert’s Lumière Award will take its place alongside a trophy case of other honors, including two Cannes best actress prizes — for Violette Noziere (1978) and...

Isabelle Huppert has been announced as this year’s recipient of the Lumière Award at the 16th edition of the classic film-focused Lumière Festival in Lyon this fall.

“Her career encompasses an immense part of the history of contemporary cinema,” the Institut Lumière, which oversees the festival, declared of the French actress.

The institute cited some of the top directors she has worked with across her more than 155 acting credits including French directors Claude Chabrol, with whom she made seven features early on in her, as well as Jean-Luc Godard, Claire Denis, Bertrand Tavernier, Diane Kurys, Maurice Pialat, Catherine Breillat, Michel Deville, François Ozon and André Téchiné.

Internationally, Huppert has also collaborated with Joseph Losey, Marco Ferreri and Michael Haneke, Michael Cimino’s Brillante Mendoza, Hong Sang-soo and Paul Verhoeven, with whom she clinched a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in his 2017 thriller Elle.

The actress has also...

Beloved French actor Isabelle Huppert will receive the Lumière Award in the city of Lyon in October.

Created by Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux, the Lumière Film Festival celebrates classic and contemporary cinema each fall. The Lumière Award honors a leading figure in the world of cinema and their entire body of work.

Huppert succeeds German director Wim Wenders who was awarded the prize in 2023. Former recipients include Tim Burton, Jane Campion, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Francis Ford Coppola, Ken Loach, Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda, Pedro Almodóvar, Miloš Forman, the Dardenne brothers and Wong Kar-wai, among others.

“It’s a great honor for me to receive the Lumière Award. It’s a magnificent prize, and so is its festival. It’s an award that bears the name of the inventors of cinema! Receiving it fills me with joy and pride,” said Huppert.

A prolific actor who shoots an average...

Isabelle Huppert will receive the 16th annual Lumiere Award at Lyon’s classic film-focused Lumiere Festival set to run October 12-20.

The prolific French actress will be honoured for her career during the week-long celebration of heritage film complete with a parallel classic film market run by Cannes’ Thierry Fremaux that typically draws a host of acclaimed talent from across the globe.

Huppert has earned two best actress prizes at Cannes for Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher and Claude Chabrol’s Violette, plus 16 Cesar nominations and two wins. She earned an Academy Award nomination and won the Golden Globe...

For the past three years, the American Cinematheque has presented “Bleak Week,” an annual festival devoted to the greatest films ever made about the darkest side of humanity. This year, the festival will not only be unspooling in Los Angeles June 1 – 7 — with special guests including Al Pacino, Lynne Ramsay, Charlie Kaufman, and Karyn Kusama — but will travel to New York for the first time with a week of screenings at the historic Paris Theater starting June 9.

“We are honored to co-present ‘Bleak Week: New York’ in partnership with one of the most beautiful movie palaces in the world,” Cinematheque artistic director Grant Moninger told IndieWire. “This year, over 10,000 people will attend ‘Bleak Week: Year 3’ in Los Angeles, proving that audiences are hungry for such powerful and confrontational cinema. Many people thought they were alone in their desire to explore films with uncomfortable truths, but the truth is that they are part of a large community,...

Alberto Barbera has extended his contract with the Venice International Film Festival and will remain on as artistic director on the Lido through 2026.

The board of directors of La Biennale di Venezia, the umbrella organization that runs the Venice festival, approved the two-year contract extension, unveiling the decision on Friday.

In a statement, the board said in his time as festival head, Barbera had been successful in “discovering and launching new talents on the international stage, in spreading and advancing the culture of cinema, and in expanding audiences” at the world’s oldest film festival.

“I felt an immediate understanding with Alberto Barbera and I have great respect for the expertise, professionalism, and passion he has demonstrated in the years that he has directed the Venice Film Festival, which have enhanced the prestige of the oldest film festival in the world. I am extremely pleased that La Biennale will continue down this path with him,...

French actress Isabelle Huppert (Paul Verhoeven’s Elle, Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher) will serve as the president of the international jury of the competition at the 81st Venice International Film Festival, which takes place Aug. 28-Sept. 7.

The jury will decide on the Golden Lion for best film, as well as other official awards.

The decision on the jury head was made by the board of directors of the Biennale di Venezia based on the recommendation of the director of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera.

“There is a long and beautiful history between the festival and I,” Huppert said. “Becoming a privileged spectator is an honor. More than ever, cinema is a promise. The promise to escape, to disrupt, to surprise, to take a good look at the world, united in the differences of our tastes and ideas.”

Barbera lauded Huppert as “an immense actress, demanding, curious and of great generosity.

Upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog TV spin-off Knuckles isn’t just about a cartoon echidna; it’s also a character study, according to its exec producer.

Move over Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, or Isabelle Huppert in The Piano Teacher. When it comes to character studies, it’s in a Sonic The Hedgehog TV series you’ll find the human condition most soulfully laid bare.

This is according to executive producer and Toby Ascher, who’s talked to Paste about his upcoming series Knuckles, coming soon to Paramount+. It’ll feature Idris Elba as the titular cartoon echidna who first appeared in 2022’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2. The six-part limited series, Ascher says, allows he and his creative team to “really do character studies.”

“We got really excited about the idea of expanding our characters in our world into television, specifically, because it gives us a platform to really do character studies,...

Bernardo Bertolucci’s Nc-17 masterpiece “The Dreamers” is receiving a 4K restoration re-release to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The film made history as the first Fox Searchlight Nc-17 theatrical release in 2004, with then-president Peter Rice comparing “The Dreamers” to Bertolucci’s other infamously controversial film, “Last Tango in Paris.”

Bertolucci said at the time that “The Dreamers” being released stateside in its original cut was a relief, adding, “After all, an orgasm is better than a bomb.”

“The Dreamers” premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2003 and had its U.S. debut at Sundance 2004. Future Bond cast member Eva Green made her credited big screen debut (after a bit part in “The Piano Teacher”) with the erotic psychological drama following a trio of cinephile students in 1968 Paris during the riots. Michael Pitt and Louis Garrel co-starred alongside Green.

The newly-restored version of the feature does not yet have a U.

One of the greatest names in French cinema, Isabelle Huppert has expressed her wish to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The popularity of the MCU has attracted many stars to the superhero bandwagon. It looks like the superhero universe has also intrigued the 71-year-old actress. However, she has a condition to join the MCU- to play a “pure villain”.

Isabelle Huppert in Elle

Isabelle Huppert is known for playing grim and unemotional characters. She can be an interesting choice if the MCU considers her request to play a villain. Films like Avengers: Infinity War and The Dark Knight have proved to us that a formidable villain plays a crucial role in elevating a movie’s standard.

Isabelle Huppert wants to make her Marvel debut as a villain

The MCU

While Marvel has made many superstars like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth, veteran legends like Anthony Hopkins, Kurt Russell,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

A retrospective of Denis Villeneuve’s work also brings the director’s programming choices, among them films by Godard, Resnais, Cassavetes, and Wong Kar-wai.

Roxy Cinema

Bob Fosse’s Star 80, The Piano Teacher, The Pillow Book, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and End of Night all play on 35mm.

Anthology Film Archives

As retrospective of Haitian cinema continues, films by Hollis Frampton and Ernie Gehr play Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Film Forum

“Sapph-o-rama” continues with films by Nicholas Ray, Jonathan Demme, Lizzie Borden, and more; a 4K restoration of Pandora’s Box has begun a run; a print of The Third Man continues, while the Harold Lloyd film Hot Water shows on 35mm this Sunday.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of snubbed performances brings films by Scorsese, Elaine May, Jonathan Demme, and Gus Van Sant...

Isabelle Huppert isn’t always an actress who disappears into her roles because, like perhaps her American counterpart Meryl Streep, her presence is already iconic and bigger than the screen itself. But in Jean-Paul Salomé’s “La Syndicaliste,” she goes full Hitchcock-blonde, bangs and all, to play Irish whistleblower Maureen Kearney. A trade unionist who exposed corruption at multinational nuclear powerhouse Areva in 2012, Kearney was violently assaulted in her own home after she brought to light secret dealings with China, but police and press didn’t believe her, and she was accused of staging her own attack.

While the story was widely publicized in Europe, Huppert herself wasn’t familiar with Kearney’s case. Kearney, forced into confessing to fabricating the assault after a brutal and longwinded police custody, eventually retracted her statement and was cleared of charges. But “La Syndicaliste,” even if you know the story, still plays...

Kristina Klebe is raising funds for her new movie Nyx on Indiegogo, which combines elements of a psychological thriller, relationship drama, and horror film. The plot follows Mia Nox, a renowned pianist who suffers a spinal injury and finds herself in a wheelchair, leading to a dark and complex story about love and art. Nyx aims to shed light on spinal shock syndrome, a little known condition resulting from high-impact trauma that can have physical, psychological, and emotional effects.

Kristina Klebe is currently raising funds for her new movie Nyx on Indiegogo. The movie is described as having "the visuals of a psychological thriller, the naturalistic acting of a relationship drama and the sound design of a horror film." Klebe will serve as writer, director, actor, and producer on the project, while the other members of the film's cast consist of Byron Clohessy, Robert Clohessy and Kim Director. As per Klebe's pitch:

"So,...

Building on the foundation of her debut, The Dancer, a decorative biopic of Folies Bergere alumnus and fin de siècle bohemian Loie Fuller, French director Stephanie di Giusto returns to the 19th century with Rosalie, another feminism-informed story about a sensuous, unusual woman ahead of her time.

However, the subject here is not a specific historical personage, but a composite of various people from the time who all have the same condition as the eponymous heroine: a tendency to grow hair all over her body, or hirsutism, the condition that creates so-called “bearded ladies.” Both a matter-of-fact speculation on how a husband and a small town would react to someone like this in their midst (spoiler alert: not great, at least at first), and a barely disguised parable about intolerance, Rosalie offers a very watchable, offbeat slice of period drama. The writing gets a bit melodramatic and clunky in the last act,...

Modern Films has shared an exclusive look at the trailer for the political thriller ‘La Syndicaliste.’

Based on the true story of Maureen Kearney, a trade union organiser in the French nuclear industry who became both a victim and suspect in a shocking scandal. Starring Isabelle Huppert in an electrifying performance as Kearney.

Maureen Kearney (Isabelle Huppert) was the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders tooth and nail to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs. Her life was turned upside down when she was

violently assaulted in her own home. The investigation was carried out under pressure: the subject was sensitive. Suddenly, new elements created doubt in the minds of the investigators, and at first a victim, Maureen became a suspect.

Bleak Week just got a whole lot bleaker.

The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles has set the second edition of its “Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair” series, and this year’s guest of honor will be none other than Béla Tarr, Hungarian master of plumbing the nadirs of the human experience from his last feature “The Turin Horse” to his beloved epic “Sátántangó,” about a farming village in crisis. IndieWire can announce that Tarr will make a rare appearance in the U.S. beginning June 6 at the Aero Theatre for a series of Q&As.

“Hi LA! It will be nice to see you again, after a very long time. I am curious how you are now and what is going on in the town! I hope we will have a good meeting and we will spend a good time together. See you there!” said the filmmaker in a statement shared with IndieWire.

The 76th Cannes Film Festival announced this morning that its closing night film in, oh, just about five weeks will be Pixar’s latest innovative animated film, “Elemental.” The movie is directed by Peter Sohn, whose only other feature credit as director is 2015’s “The Good Dinosaur.” Sohn has been a part of Pixar, working in some capacity as an animator or story developer on most of their titles, going back to 2003. Job security at that shop!

“Elemental”’s premise is a forbidden love between anthropomorphic representations of Fire and Water in Element City. How this will make any kind of logical sense is beyond me, but have you seen how much money the “Cars” franchise has earned? I think it’s best not to worry too much about realism and, following water’s lead, go with the flow.

The voice cast is led by Leah Lewis of “The Half of It...

Sure, Donald Glover tapped into his own cringe hook-up encounters for “Swarm,” but he also looked to films “King of Comedy” and “The Piano Teacher” for the unhinged Prime Video series.

“Bro, we steal everything. Anything that works, we will take it. I’ll leave it at that,” Glover told Vulture.

“Swarm” centers around super fan Dre (Dominique Fishback) and her bloodthirsty obsession and subsequent devotion to a pop star.

Surprisingly, it was Isabelle Huppert’s haunting performance in Michael Haneke’s 2001 drama “The Piano Teacher” that inspired Glover to craft the role of Dre. Huppert plays a piano instructor who partakes in self-mutilation and has a voyeuristic sadomasochistic affair with her student, played by Benoît Magimel.

“Isabelle Huppert in ‘The Piano Teacher’ was the most interesting character study I’d seen in a minute. Me and my brother were like, ‘Well, who is that now? Who’s a young version of that?...