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Somewhere around the end of the first trimester of the year 2020, the entire world abruptly halted due to a pandemic. This sudden stop in our daily routines—professional, personal, or otherwise—offered a welcome respite, allowing us to take a moment to breathe deeply and reset, either to continue our regular lives or to change altogether. However, this worldwide catastrophe and the confinement it entailed also caused many struggles, both personal and interpersonal, as the interruption of every and all activity meant the termination of the human workforce who could no longer fulfill their responsibilities in the new home-office modality.

The arts also suffered because of this. Particularly those that require mass attendance, namely theater, film, and music concerts, causing production delays, postponing scheduled events, or simply resigning to seeing a project be totally scrapped regardless of how advanced it was in its making. British theater director Simon Godwin was...

Annual critics’ lists are important, sure. But when the world’s most successful filmmaker picks a favorite movie, people listen.

At the AFI’s annual 50th Life Achievement Award event held April 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Steven Spielberg was among friends and collaborators who couldn’t refuse offering kudos to honoree Francis Ford Coppola. When Spielberg and fellow helmer George Lucas presented the AFI honor to Coppola, the Schindler’s List and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial director said onstage that Coppola’s 1972 Oscar-winning classic The Godfather was, to him, “The greatest American film ever made.”

Certainly, a solid choice (who wants to get metaphorically whacked like Sonny Corleone at the toll booth for saying otherwise?). And Spielberg did clarify his statement as The Godfather being the best American film, setting it apart from world cinema. While great directors frequently change up their top films, many have stated the ones that hold prime spots.

Celebrating the independent filmmaking spirit of NYC, the Lower East Side Film Festival returns this Thursday as the 15th edition runs through May 5. Featuring the Opening Night selection, the New York Premiere of Pete Ohs’ SXSW selection The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick, the lineup also includes Joel Vargas’ Sundance and New Directors/New Films selection Mad Bills to Pay, and Amy Landecker’s For Worse, starring Bradley Whitford, Nico Hiraga, Missi Pyle, Gaby Hoffmann, and Ken Marino. Ahead of this anniversary, we’re pleased to exclusively debut a new trailer celebrating 15 years of the festival.

John Fink said his SXSW review of The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick, “It might help to know the creative process going in. Tick was made collaboratively by its main cast: as Ohs explained during the SXSW premiere, they isolated on location at a country home where they...

Baltimore native John Waters is filmdom’s pencil-mustached titan of trash who has spent a lifetime of dumpster-diving into a vat of bad taste, sleaze, kinky gross-outs, over-the-top camp, maudlin melodramatics, sick jokes, taboo sexuality, vulgarity and bizarre personalities. At least he has a fabulous sense of humor. The director is a New York University film school dropout who instead became a scholar of transgressive, envelope-shredding cinema, influenced by the directorial likes of Herschell Gordon Lewis, Federico Fellini, William Castle, Douglas Sirk and Ingmar Bergman. Early on, Waters assembled a stock company of players from suburban Baltimore who he would the Dreamlanders, including Mink Stole and Edith Massey.

But Waters would find his true muse and favorite leading lady in his childhood friend, Glenn Milstead, a drag queen whose alter-ego was known as Divine. When Milstead died at age 42 from an enlarged heart in 1988, Waters' output went more mainstream, with...

Netflix’s latest Nordic noir, The Glass Dome, might not be the most riveting crime thriller out there, but the way it admixes several key socio-political issues plaguing Sweden with the core narrative surely deserves some praise. Be it by showing the true face of decrepit law enforcement, which is led by people who prey on those they are assigned to serve, or exploring the pervasive xenophobia and racism aggravated by the class divide, along with the environmental degradation caused by the profiteering upper strata of society, The Glass Dome acts as a critique of the country’s current situation. The cast, majorly comprising Swedish talents, did a remarkable job of capturing the thriller motifs while remaining faithful to the narrative’s demands of exploring key themes. This is your spoiler warning as discussion regarding the characterization and cast will inevitably involve major plot twists and revelations from the narrative.

Exclusive: Paris-based Mmm Film Sales has acquired international rights for A Second Life, starring Agathe Rousselle (Titane) and Alex Lawther (The End of the F**ing World) ahead of its Tribeca premiere.

Set against the backdrop of the Paris 2024 Olympics, thefollows the emotional journey of a hearing-impaired woman in her thirties navigating personal upheaval during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

It is Laurent Slama’s third feature after 2019 Netflix Original Paris Is Us and Roaring 20s (Années 20), which also premiered at Tribeca in 2021, winning the Best Cinematography.

Slama signed both two feature films under the pseudonym of Elisabeth Vogler, taken from Liv Ullmann’s character in Ingmar Bergman’s psychological drama Persona.

As with Slama’s previous work, the film was shot entirely on location in Paris, with production taking place during the Olympics, at a time when most shoots in the city were on hold.

A Second Life is produced...

Darius Khondji says Ari Aster’s Eddington is going to be “very different from his other movies”, as he prepares to begin colouring the film ahead of what he claims will be a Cannes launch.

The acclaimed French-Iranian cinematographer spoke to Screen after his masterclass on Saturday, April 5 at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra lab.

With a cast including Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, Khondji says Eddington has “actors that I was dreaming to work with again.”

“It’s going to be very different from his other movies,” said Khondji. “Ari is a deep, strong filmmaker. He has the talent,...

Among the most legendary actresses of all time, Ingrid Bergman looms large. Bergman's career extended across decades, and she was able to work with some of the greatest filmmakers of all time, from Alfred Hitchcock to Michael Curtiz to Leo McCarey. And moreover, many of the films in her filmography are widely, and correctly, considered among the best English-language films ever made, from "The Bells of St. Mary's" and "Gaslight" to one of the most iconic American and World War II films ever, "Casablanca." Bergman, unsurprisingly, was well rewarded for her immense talent and acting craft, netting three Oscars (as well as being nominated four other times). That she wasn't even nominated for "Casablanca," a film that has a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes and walked away with the Best Picture Oscar, says something about how good she was and how not every one of her performances could get the golden statuette.

by Vu Luu

This review may contain spoilers.

A burglar’s life takes an unexpected turn when he stumbles upon a plaster statue of a woman. A special connection develops between the burglar and the elderly homeowner, who fervently asks the burglar to end his life to reunite with his deceased wife for eternity. This is the premise of “Bury Us in a Lone Desert“. Directed by Nguyễn Lê Hoàng Phúc, the 62-minute Vietnamese film competed at the Tiger Short Competition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in 2025. The 31-year-old editor-turned-filmmaker brings a bittersweet and quirky experience in which familiar genre elements are woven into an original drama.

Bury Us in A Lone Desert screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam

There aren’t many ups and downs to the narrative, apart from the fateful confrontation between the lowlife burglar (played by Psycho Neo) and the elderly homeowner (played by Lưu Đức Cường). The homeowner,...

You read that right, dear viewer. Netflix is adding no less than 38 movies and shows to their rotation this week. And if you think I'm giving a detailed synopsis of every new arrival, well... in the immortal words of Ms. Kimberly Wilkins, "Ain't nobody got time for that."

Holy Hannah. After last week, I'm used to a lighter workload. Granted, most of these properties aren't new, just new to Netflix. There are certainly a lot of classic films in the group, so I'll hit the highlights. Or at least a dozen of them. Maybe even a baker's dozen, lucky you.

Netflix closes out March with three original titles, then bombards us with 27 features on April Fool's Day. Unless they're doing some weird meta-promotion, and not releasing anything on April 1st. Speaking of April Fool's - I've included one fake title in the list. Hopefully, you'll be able to discover it without too much trouble.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Anora (Sean Baker)

Sean Baker’s Anora expands his filmmaking vision, pushing the writer-director-editor’s fifth consecutive story on sex workers into a higher plane of awards and commercial success. It’s a romantic comedy, a madcap dash around New York City, a movie ruminating on loss, love, and class disparity. Baker aims to put audiences through a ringer of emotional swings, ending with a desolation that’s been building in the background, easier to spot once the tinsel’s shimmer fades. With a true star-making performance from Mikey Madison and a deep bench of supporting actors, Anora whirls until suddenly it doesn’t, and all that’s left is earned, resonant silence from both its characters and audience. – Michael F.

Where...

Weird is wonderful. Weird is good. Weird films challenge expectations with disorienting elements like surreal imagery, non-linear plots, and dreamlike (or nightmarish) logic. So what defines 'weird?' Ambiguity, uncomfortable atmospheres, rejection of traditional narrative structures? The beauty of it lies in bypassing our rational mind and speaking directly to our subconscious. These films remain in our thoughts, revealing different meanings every time we watch them.

2019’s The Lighthouse, directed by Robert Eggers, owns its claustrophobic black-and-white cinematography, surreal mermaid visions, and descent into madness. Its obscure mythology and sexual imagery create an air of psychological horror and dread. Lead actors Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson deliver exceptional performances as isolated lighthouse keepers whose grip on reality deteriorates. With that in mind, if you like The Lighthouse, you'll love 1968'sHour of the Wolf.

Director Ingmar Bergman Ran So Others Could Walk

Directed by Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish classic Hour of the Wolf...

Falling somewhere between a horror film and dark comedy about wellness crazes, The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick is, like director Pete Ohs’ previous Jethica, a film that suggests watching a play within a movie. Both features are difficult to discuss without spoilers––they seem to operate on a wavelength beyond genre boxes.

It might help to know the creative process going in. Tick was made collaboratively by its main cast: as Ohs explained during the SXSW premiere, they isolated on location at a country home where they would write three scenes at a time, film and analyze said scenes, and then move forward. The result is a kind of mumblecore version of an Ingmar Bergman film that feels both loose and heavily controlled. But if you’re not on the film’s wavelength it may feel like a disjointed mess. Like the wellness cures offered by...

French auteur Alain Guiraudie is exploring the implications of mercy in his new noir, “Misericordia.” The title, which literally translates to “mercy,” encompasses the “Stranger by the Lake” filmmaker’s interrogation into grief during a thriller set in the pastoral countryside.

Félix Kysyl stars as Jérémie, a man who returns to his hometown for the funeral of his beloved former boss, the village baker, and decides to stay for a few days with the man’s widow, Martine (Catherine Frot). Yet after a threatening former rival appears, leading to another mysterious disappearance, it seems as though Jérémie’s visit has unraveled the community.

The official synopsis reads: “Set in an autumnal, woodsy village in his native region of Occitanie, his latest follows the meandering exploits of Jérémie (Kysyl), an out-of-work baker who has drifted back to his hometown after the death of his beloved former boss, a bakery owner. Staying long after the funeral,...

“The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret.” — Henny Youngman

Boundaries are important in any relationship, much less a till-death-do-us-part union in which both parties are spies involved in highly classified operations for a British intelligence agency. Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp get it. They understand the need for a little space between the personal and the professional when the fate of the world is at stake. Which is why the director and screenwriter of Black Bag have devised an easy one-stop-shop solution for the couple at the center of their espionage thriller.

In many ways, Hour of the Wolf (1968) is just like many other films directed by Ingmar Bergman,one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. It stars two of his most frequent collaborators, Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann (the latter of whom was Bergman's partner at the time); it was filmed on the Swedish island of Fårö, where Bergman lived for much of his life; and its script was heavily inspired by Bergman's own life and relationships.

Even so, Hour of the Wolf is a unique entry in Bergman's acclaimed oeuvre for one simple reason: it's a horror film. While many of Bergman's films dealt with dark themes and featured Gothic imagery and foreboding atmospheres, Hour of the Wolf remains Bergman's only attempt to truly frighten his audience on a visceral level, taking heavy inspiration from his own nightmares. But Bergman didn't dabble in the horror genre just for shock value.

It's hard to believe that we're more than a decade removed from the last feature-length Muppet movie. In the spring of 2014, Disney released the final Muppets movie -- at least, the final one for now. "Muppets Most Wanted" was, like its 2011 predecessor "The Muppets," a fun, family-friendly homage to the Muppet movies of old. The 2011 film, starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams, was as much about the Muppets themselves as it was a reference-laden film riffing on the 1979 classic "The Muppet Movie." And just as "The Great Muppet Caper" sent Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and Miss Piggy to Europe for a rollicking heist movie, "Muppets Most Wanted" sent its gaggle of Muppet characters away from the United States for an adventure that ran them afoul of Interpol and the world's first and second greatest criminal masterminds. 

Muppet movies are also nothing if they're not delightfully self-referential, breaking the fourth wall with ease.

The late Burt Reynolds was a connoisseur of strong opinions. The man was known for speaking his mind, and what was on his mind was often unpredictable, entertaining, offensive, or otherwise wild. There was, for instance, that time he complained about the work of a then-up-and-coming Paul Thomas Anderson throughout the filming of "Boogie Nights," supposedly firing his agent because he hated the movie so much and only (slightly) changing his tune once he earned an Oscar nomination for his role. His opinions were just as colorful when it came to Greta Garbo (Per The Sun: she had "beautiful breasts"), Ingmar Bergman (To Esquire: "I'd rather be shot in the leg than watch an Ingmar Bergman picture"), and countless other celebrities with whom he crossed paths over his decades-long career.

With his reputation for airing grievances in mind, you'd be forgiven for imagining some beef might have existed between Reynolds...

Subhash K Jha revisits Farhan Alhtar and Vidya Balan’s Shaadi Ke Side Effects, which released in 2014.

“When I do something wrong, I say sorry to my wife. When my wife does something wrong…. I say sorry to my wife.”

One of the gems that flows out of Farhan Akhtar’s mouth while addressing the oldest question on the gender equation is: What does a woman really want in a marriage? Could it be the same things as a man? Maybe the route taken by the two individuals is different.

Director Saket Chaudhary raises some pertinent questions on the fake road signs that could lead to an aborted marriage. Not all of the winking homilies work. But the film holds together primarily because of the intelligent writing and the sharp and crisp way the two main actors interpret the parts of the two individuals in a marriage that has a lot going for it,...

Keanu Reeves. Probably one of the most popular actors in the industry today, who is loved by millions. He’s an unlikely icon in every sense and has helped define eras in Hollywood, from his teen days to his action-star period. The internet can’t seem to get enough of him, and his very image started the Sad Keanu posts, the wholesome Keanu memes, and the never-ending irresistible fandom.

For a person who’s famous for staying off-grid and low-key, nobody would’ve thought Keanu would turn from a cult hero to a guy who’s literally everywhere right now! The internet shouldn’t let us deviate from how talented an actor he is, and his versatility, especially; roles in comedies, romantic dramas, art-house films, and thriller/action flicks, has truly given new definitions to the range of his fan base.

In this article, we’ll be charting his growth...

A new six-part Swedish series, Faithless, adapted from an Ingmar Bergman screenplay, premieres on Sbs On Demand on Thursday, March 27, 2025. All episodes will be available at launch. Here’s the Lowdown: The series, based on a late-career screenplay by the legendary filmmaker Bergman, explores a story of love and betrayal. Originally a film directed […]

Ingmar Bergman’s Faithless Reimagined: New Series Hits Sbs On Demand This March...

The history of any important film festival is the history of the films and filmmakers they’ve showcased and championed: what’s their tally of breakthrough filmmakers and esteemed auteurs who have defined the past century of cinema?

This is why Berlin, Cannes and Venice, after nearly a century of annual unspoolings (as Variety likes to call them) retain their reputations and the vitality of their programming and festival operations.

There is a parallel history as well, one that charts the important fests’ cultural and economic impacts upon the communities and countries where they’re held.

The French film industry is a primary European powerhouse of collaborative private and public financing and film promotion, and it has coordinated beautifully for decades with the Cannes Film Festival. To the good fortunes of both.

Itay’s official cinematic and cultural organizations and departments have partnered effectively with the Venice Festival, even if...

Wes Craven's 1972 directorial debut, The Last House On The Left, is like a strong cup of coffee in the morning. The plot centers on a group of sadistic criminals who kidnap and assault two teenage girls and then leave them to die in the woods. They soon meet their reckoning, though, when they seek refuge with the parents of one of the girls, who eventually discover what they did to their daughter. The film is a reimagining of Ingmar Bergman's 1960 film, The Virgin Spring, but with a horror twist, that heightens the stakes of the rape-revenge story.

In his early 20s, Norwegian director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel held a variety of roles at a primary school, including substitute teaching, leading afterschool programs and working with children with disabilities. The experience was “very profound” and led him to meet “great people,” Tøndel said. It also allowed him to observe parents’ behavior.

Tøndel’s time working with kids preceded his feature filmmaking days, but he’s no stranger to the world of cinema: he’s the grandson of Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann. His debut feature trains its eye on the kind of school environment where he spent his early professional life.

“Armand,” which made the Oscars international feature film shortlist for Norway, opened in U.S. theaters on Friday and closely scrutinizes parental reactions to an extreme incident between kids. Renate Reinsve (“The Worst Person in the World”) plays Elisabeth, a single mother whose 6-year-old son Armand is accused...

Now in its 28th edition, the European Shooting Stars platform run by European Film Promotion brings another 10 promising European acting talents to the Berlin Film Festival, with the goal to help them build their careers internationally. From Feb. 14-17, the selected performers will participate in workshops and panels, as well as meetings with international journalists, producers and casting directors. The program culminates in a ceremony at the Berlinale Palast where they will each receive the European Shooting Stars Award.

This year’s Shooting Stars were selected by a jury comprised of Romanian director and screenwriter Radu Muntean, Swedish casting director Pauline Hansson, Swiss producer Amel Soudani, French actress and former Shooting Star Ludivine Sagnier and Montenegrin journalist and curator Vuk Perović. They were selected from candidates nominated by their national film promotion institutes and film centers.

What this year’s group of Shooting Stars has in common besides the potential...

In a tough Nordic market that is slowing recovering from the downfall of Viaplay and streamers scaling back on commissions, Miso Film, the Fremantle-owned Nordic powerhouse behind Tobias Lindholm’s “The Investigation” and “Those Who Kill,” isn’t just hanging in there; it’s thriving.

The banner is still helmed by its founding duo Peter Bose and Jonas Allen, who have produced a flurry of iconic series, including “Beck” and “Wallander,” as well as “Those Who Kill,” “Dicte” and “1864.” They’re now celebrating Miso Film’s 20th anniversary with a packed slate of high-end shows and films featuring top Scandinavian talent.

Miso recently premiered Tomas Alfredson’s “Faithless,” an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s movie, in competition at Toronto Film Festival, and they’re now six-episode series based on Linn Ullmann’s bestselling novel “The Cold Song” and “Royal Blood,” a sprawling historical project set in 1807 when royal...

One of the most influential auteurs of all time, John Ford is an icon of the Golden Age of Hollywood whose filmography has had an invaluable impact on the history of cinema. Ford began his directorial career in 1917, amassing 147 credits as a director throughout his nearly fifty years working in Hollywood. A filmmaker of immense range, Ford excelled at making war movies, comedies, crime dramas, documentaries, adventure films, and period pieces. However, it is Ford's prowess within the Western genre that truly made him a legend. During his career, Ford directed 56 Westerns, many of which rank among the greatest Westerns ever made.

Ford holds the Academy Award record for most wins for Best Director, winning for The Informer, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green Was My Valley, and The Quiet Man. Ironically, Ford never won an Academy Award for any of his iconic Westerns. In 1973, Ford became the inaugural recipient...

In Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice, the distance from hope to despair is a short jump—a chasm crossed with the help of something so immediate as a television transmission. As his birthday celebration winds down on a gloomy summer evening in remote Sweden, retired intellectual Alexander (Erland Josephson) tiptoes half-drunk into his living room to find a group of friends and family bewitched by the soft blue glow of a TV set’s screen, out of which emanates an announcement of nuclear conflict.

The warning winds down, the TV is turned off, and the mood descends—first into stunned silence, then into outright hysteria, and then into a kind of sedated anxiousness from which the film never quite resurfaces. In certain contexts, this dramaturgical pivot might register a bit maudlin, but in 2018, when Twitter and cable news provide an endless gushing stream of outrages, the film’s evocation of...

It’s the laugh that gets you.

Roughly halfway through Armand, the debut feature from Norwegian filmmaker Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, we watch someone fall apart. A mother has been called into a parent-teacher conference. Her name is Elisabeth, she’s an actor of some renown, and is now largely associated with a tragedy that left her husband dead. Elisabeth has no idea why she’s been summoned to her child’s school. Soon, the parents of another student arrive. It seems that Armand, the woman’s son, threatened one of his peers.

Editor’s Note: This review was originally published during the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. IFC Films releases “Armand” in theaters on February 7, 2025.

Renate Reinsve, the marvelous Norwegian with just over a decade on the scene, emerged as one of the best actors of her generation through one key performance: in Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” as a shiftless, drifting millennial without a compass. But her character, Julie, was at least always relentlessly curious, much like Reinsve herself, who won Best Actress at Cannes in 2021 for the film.

She’s back at the festival with “Armand,” a claustrophobic and surreal classroom drama from writer/director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, who’s also the grandson of Swedish cinema giants Liv Ullmann and Ingmar Bergman. Like his grandparents’ own medium-defining work, Ullmann Tøndel’s directorial debut is an intimate character study told in close-ups and breakdowns, as single mother Elisabeth (Reinsve...

You can expect anything from Wei Shujun, the Chinese helmer behind the hypnotizing noir “Only The River Flows” (2023), and the wicked dramedy about the preparations for a film shooting – “Ripples of Life” (2021). He has already proved that each of his projects is unique and incomparable to others. “I Dreamed A Dream” which screens in the Harbour programme of IFFR, a deadpan docu-fiction about five rappers who were invited to participate in a film shoot on an exotic island without the slightest idea what the whole gig is all about, seals that verdict.

I Dreamed A Dream is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

Summoned to join the project that is supposed to boost their careers and bring them some financial gain, nothing goes the way the young musicians were expecting. The filmmaker who goes by the name of Godod is absent, and his assistant supervises them. He is their proper shadow,...

Armanddirector Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel is the grandson of nine-time Oscar nominated Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and two-time Oscar nominated acting icon Liv Ullmann. If you think that gives you some idea of what you’re getting with Armand, you’d only be half right. Ullmann Tøndel’s pressure cooker drama contains elements that draw a direct line to the existential themes, finely composed visuals, and character intimacy of his grandparents’ all-time classics. But Ullmann Tøndel, in taking a promising first step towards establishing himself as a director to watch, adds bits of satirical humor, commentary on modern institutional failings, and nail-biting tension. It’s a mix that pays increasingly fewer dividends as it rolls along, but the ride is never less than provocative and completely immersive.

In Armand, which won the Caméra d'Or for best first feature at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Ullmann Tøndel keeps the proceedings primarily limited to...

Yes, we’re still in the warming glow of award season, but new movies never stop. Happily there are exciting new films to check out this February, including Cannes winners, cryptocurrency heists, cute little furry creatures, and some psychedelic horror.

Armand

When You Can Watch: February 7

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (Limited)

Director: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel

Cast: Renate Reinsve, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Øystein Røger

Why We’re Excited: This Norwegian psychological drama premiered at Cannes, earning a Caméra d’Or for first-time feature director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (grandson of Ingmar Bergman), pegged as one of ten European filmmakers to watch in 2015 by European Film Promotion. The story was inspired by the character of Elisabeth, Armand’s mother (Reinsve from The Worst Person in the World), who is called into school when her six-year-old threatens his classmate. The confrontation and ensuing revelations invite reflection on the way we form opinions about...

Confined entirely to the after-hours hallways and classrooms of a Norwegian elementary school, Armand at first unfolds like a courtroom drama sans the courtroom. On one side is Elisabeth (Renate Reinsve), a high-strung actress who thunders through the hallways in heels that make her tower over the meek teacher, Sunna (Thea Lambrechts Vaulen), who acts as a mediator. On the other are the icy Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and husband Anders (Endre Hellestveit), who allege that Elisabeth’s child, Armand, assaulted their son.

Shot on stark 16mm, Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s film slowly unfurls the details of a difficult situation careening toward a bureaucratic trainwreck. The school has no precedent to rely on, no procedures to consult. What follows is a clash of egos, the strangeness and ambiguity of the incident heightened by the fact that we never see the children at all.

Throughout, we only have secondhand information to...

While Swedish classic Ingmar Bergman is known for his psychological dramas that explore the intricacies of human behavior, he also made a bunch of comedies, musical films, and one horror movie. Titled Hour of the Wolf, the 1968 film is simultaneously a Gothic tale, a psychological examination of a tortured mind, and a grim story of a relationship in trouble. The story revolves around Johan (Max von Sydow), an artist, and his wife Alma (Liv Ullmann), whose life deteriorates after Johan begins having visions of strange figures whom he becomes so familiar with, he gives them names and sketches them. What follows can be interpreted in many ways, including as a cautionary tale about literal monsters or an allegory about demons residing inside an artistic mind. But at its core, Hour of the Wolf is also a strangely realistic depiction of a dysfunctional relationship.

Robert Eggers had been working on making Nosferatu for many years until the film officially premiered in late 2024. As that paid off, he detailed his inspiration for the gothic horror.

Nosferatu was a longtime passion project for Eggers, who had been a fan of the 1922 silent German film since he was a child. He wanted to make the movie right after his directorial debut, 2015's The Witch, but decided to wait. Speaking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Eggers revealed the surprising Tim Burton inspiration he had for Nosferatu.

Related'Makes Me Ill': Nosferatu Director Explains Why He Will Never Make Contemporary Films

Robert Eggers also set a "ceiling" for the kinds of films he's willing to direct.

Speaking about his early influences, Eggers explained around the 18:41 mark that Tim Burton's Batman Return was a huge inspiration. "Tim Burton and I think, it's kind of crazy, I...

“When you work with great producers like Patrik [Andersson] and Jakob [Abrahamsson], you can do anything, even under the current difficulties in documentary filmmaking,” British filmmaker Lorna Tucker tells us from her home in London.

Tucker, a relatively new figure in indie British filmmaking, makes a distinction with documentary filmmaking because she has just launched her latest feature Garbo: Where Did You Go?, a doc on the life of screen legend Greta Garbo.

The film was co-produced by Abrahamsson and Andersson’s Stockholm-based Mylla Films in collaboration with head producer Embankment Films. The project is the first international co-production from Mylla — a sign of the company’s growing ambitions and resources. Andersson and Abrahamsson launched the company in 2022 and have quickly become two of the buzziest figures in Scandinavian cinema. In a sign of their popularity, Göteborg Film Festival head Pia Lundberg even name-checked the duo during a recent pre-festival interview with us.

If the four-year gap between Frank Ocean’s debut studio album Channel Orange and his follow-ups Endless and Blonde felt long, it’s now been over double the wait to see if another album will ever materialize from the wunderkind artist. We now have a major update on Ocean’s creative output, but rather than a new album in the works, he’s started shooting his directorial debut.

Variety reports David Jonsson has landed the lead role of Ocean’s directorial debut, which Ocean also wrote and is now shooting in Mexico City. While no plot details have arrived, a bit more digging reveals the current title is Philly and shooting actually began in mid-December. As seen below, Ocean was also spotted in Mexico City this past summer shooting footage. Earlier rumors suggested A24 and Taylor Russell were involved in the project, but that has yet to be confirmed.

It...

Miso Film, Svt, and Film i Väst have partnered to adapt Linn Ullmann’s novel ‘The Cold Song’ for television.

Plans for the series were announced this afternoon at the Goteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision sidebar.

Mikael Marcimain (Blackwater) will direct the six-episode series, which is a co-production between Fremantle’s Miso Film, Svt, Film i Väst, and Northern European public service broadcasters through the New8 initiative. Fremantle is handling international sales.

Filming will start on the Swedish west coast this fall. The series is slated for release on Svt in the fall of 2026. As part of Svt’s New 8 collaboration, the series will premiere across the Nordics, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Described as a “gripping and suspenseful drama,” the show follows Siri, a restaurant owner, and her husband novelist Jon, who lead a busy life in Stockholm with their two daughters. Every summer, they seek tranquillity...

The ever-growing capabilities of AI remain to be a hot-button topic in the arts as the technology has been used to alter images, sound, music and even create completely new footage. Coca-Cola would recently come under fire for producing a holiday commercial using AI generations. Other projects like the posters for Civil War and the opening credits of Marvel’s Secret Invasion have received criticism for employing the technology at the expense of possible artists in the industry who could have also created the pieces of work.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, actress Glenn Close recently shared her thoughts when she appeared at a gala fundraiser that saluted Sundance Institute icon Michelle Satter last Friday. Close revealed that she had been reading Yuval Noah Harari’s book Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI. She would describe the book as “incredible” and “more terrifying than anything I’ve read.

Cinema is a profound language of emotion and storytelling; few understand this as deeply as Denis Villeneuve. His curated selections for the Criterion Collection reveal a director’s intimate connection with transformative filmmaking. These choices span decades and continents, showcasing films that challenge narrative conventions, explore human complexity, and push artistic boundaries. Villeneuve’s picks are not mere recommendations but a masterclass in cinematic appreciation—each film is a testament to storytelling’s power to illuminate the human experience.

1. Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieślowski)

Kieślowski’s masterpiece represents cinematic poetry in motion. Denis Villeneuve is captivated by its meticulous artistic synthesis—the delicate interplay between visual composition, emotional narrative, and musical score. The film explores grief through a devastatingly intimate lens, tracking a woman’s journey of loss and eventual emotional reconstruction. Its visual language transcends traditional storytelling, creating a symphonic experience that moves viewers at a profound, almost cellular level.

Storyboards by more than 50 famed filmmakers and animators including Martin Scorsese, Hayao Miyazaki, Federico Fellini, Steven Spielberg, Wes Anderson, and Alfred Hitchcock are set to go on display in an exhibition organised by Italy’s Prada Foundation.

The show, titled “A Kind of Language: Storyboards and Other Renderings for Cinema,” will kick off Jan. 30 in Milan at the Prada Foundation’s Osservatorio outpost and then travel to Prada’s Rong Zhai space dedicated to cultural activities in Shanghai in Nov. 2025.

Prada Foundation “Storyboards” exhibit – which comprises more than eight hundred mood boards, drawings, sketches and other items created between the late 1920s and 2024 – is curated by U.S. academic Melissa Harris, who is editor-at-large of Aperture Foundation. The show is designed to create an immersive experience by mimicking the working environment of a storyboard artist with drafting tables and an open layout.

“For many, storyboarding is an integral part of...

Fernanda Torres and Karla Sofía Gascón made history on Thursday as the first pair of Best Actress Oscar nominees for non-English language performances in nearly 50 years. Torres stars in Sony Pictures Classics’ I’m Still Here from Brazil, while Gascón leads in Netflix’s Emilia Pérez from France. This marks the fourth time two actors have been nominated for non-English roles for different movies in the same year. They will compete against Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Mikey Madison (Anora), and Demi Moore (The Substance). Both films are cited for Best International Feature and Best Picture while Emilia Pérez became the most-nominated international movie with 13 mentions.

In the Walter Salles‘ political biopic, Torres portrays Portuguese-speaking human rights activist Eunice Paiva, who searches for her missing husband, politician Rubens Paiva, during the Brazilian Military Dictatorship in 1971. Torres’ only precursor recognition was at the Golden Globes, where she surprised in Best Drama Actress. Despite missing at the Critics Choice,...

Robert Eggers is working on a 13th century werewolf horror movie.The 'Nosferatu' filmmaker - who has already tackled vampires with his recent blockbuster hit - is moving onto another horror creature as he continues to explore the genre.According to the Hollywood Reporter, he has co-written upcoming film 'Werwulf', which will be his next big screen flick.The movie - which will be backed by Universal's art house branch Focus Features - is set to be released on Christmas Day, 2026 in a similar move to 'Nosferatu'.Eggers has reunited with 'The Northman' collaborator Sjón for the script, with details being kept under wraps.However, insiders told the outlet the story will be set in 13th century England, with dialogue "true to the time period".Translations and annotations will be provided for those who don't understand Old English, but Eggers has now decided against shooting...

Many in Hollywood have been critical of AI-created work, but “Raging Bull” and “Taxi Driver” screenwriter Paul Schrader is not on that list. The screenwriter and director took to Facebook to praise the technology, specifically ChatGPT.

“I’M Stunned,” Schrader wrote last Friday. During his post, he noted he asked ChatGPT for “an idea for Paul Schrader film.” He then repeated the request for Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Harmony Korine, Ingmar Bergman, Roberto Rossellini, Fritz Lang, Martin Scorsese, F.W. Murnau, Frank Capra, John Ford, Steven Spielberg and David Lynch.

“Every idea chatgpt came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out,” Schrader wrote. “Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?”

The “American Gigolo” director’s post was met with criticism on his Facebook account. “You should try not using ai. Might work out for you,...

Critically acclaimed writer and director Paul Schrader has defended the use of artificial intelligence when writing screenplays for movies. Schrader is best known for writing classic movies such as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ. In recent years, Schrader has directed several movies. Some of Paul Schrader's best movies include First Reformed, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay, The Card Counter, and Master Gardener. Schrader's recent comments are surprising since many writers have criticized the use of AI for writing screenplays.

In a Facebook post, Schrader claims that AI is capable of coming up with great ideas. He explains that he asked ChatGPT to come up with ideas for films from several different filmmakers, including himself, Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, and Martin Scorsese. He believes the ideas that ChatGPT came up with were great, and doesn't understand why writers should waste...

Paul Schrader has been in the industry long enough to have helped form the New Hollywood, see the rise of the blockbuster, the indie takeover of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, and everything in between. Now, as AI continues to make its move on the business, Paul Schrader has some thoughts: he loves it!

Paul Schrader recently took to Facebook to declare his support for AI, particularly when it comes to developing story ideas. “I’M Stunned. I just asked chatgpt for “an idea for Paul Schrader film.” Then Paul Thomas Anderson. Then Quentin Tarantino. Then Harmony Korine. Then Ingmar Bergman. Then Rossellini. Lang. Scorsese. Murnau. Capra. Ford. Speilberg. Lynch. Every idea chatgpt came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out. Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?” If only Paul Schrader...

As the debate and tension over AI in filmmaking rages on, Paul Schrader, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, has weighed in with his controversial take on the matter. The AI boom of the last few years has affected and shook almost every industry. But, the creative arts could be one of the worst hit, as major studios are looking to embrace the technology as a faster, cheaper way of producing movies without the need for human minds. As a result, most actors, directors, and writers are adamantly against the technology, with AI being a major talking point of 2023's joint WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. But, Schrader's viewpoint differs from most.

Schrader recently wrote a post on Facebook where he detailed his experience using the generative AI platform, ChatGPT. "I'm Stunned," the surprisingly positive post began. Schrader said he asked ChatGPT to come up...

Artificial intelligence has become a major component in all new technology, facilitating some features further. However, people working in a creative environment have since denounced the use of AI platforms, including the film industry.

As AI becomes a bigger part of everyone's day-to-day life, the entertainment industry is interested in using its perks, too. In a new post on Facebook, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Paul Schrader, who wrote the scripts for films like 1976's Taxi Driver and 2017's First Reformed, has just revealed that he has tried out ChatGPT for movie ideas. Even more so, the filmmaker was impressed with the results and how they were accurate to his special requests.

I'm Stunned. I just asked chatgpt for "an idea for Paul Schrader film." Then Paul Thomas Anderson. Then Quentin...Posted by Paul Schrader on Friday, January 17, 2025

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Paul Schrader is sounding off in support of using ChatGPT to come up with ideas for films. In a recent Facebook post, the “Taxi Driver” writer and “First Reformed” director said he asked the AI platform to generate plots for movies by famous filmmakers, including himself, and was impressed by the results.

“I’M Stunned,” Schrader wrote. “I just asked chatgpt for ‘an idea for Paul Schrader film.’ Then Paul Thomas Anderson. Then Quentin Tarantino. Then Harmony Korine. Then Ingmar Bergman. Then Rossellini. Lang. Scorsese. Murnau. Capra. Ford. Speilberg [sic]. Lynch. Every idea chatgpt came up with (in a few seconds) was good. And original. And fleshed out. Why should writers sit around for months searching for a good idea when AI can provide one in seconds?”

The post prompted plenty of backlash from Schrader’s followers, with responses including: “Paul is everything ok?,” “I think Paul has been hacked” and “Jesus Paul…...