News

Vieri Razzini, the respected critic, producer and writer who co-founded top Italian distribution label Teodora Film, has died in Rome. He was 82.

Born in Florence in 1940, Razzini was a champion of promoting cinema culture in Italy. Having started out as a screenwriter and film critic, he oversaw the classic cinema program of state channel Rai Tre for many years.

He was best-known internationally as the co-founder of Italian arthouse distribution label Teodora Film, which he created in 2000 with husband Cesare Petrillo, who survives him. It was ahead of its time for its special focus on Lgbtqi films and female directors.

The company would become a go-to destination for top auteur titles in Italy, with past releases including Oscar winners such as Susanne Bier’s In A Better World, Michael Haneke’s Amour and László Nemes’s Son Of Saul as well as cult films such as Sam Garbarski’s Irina Palm,...

Review by Peter BelsitoThe film is a deeply felt yet unsentimental, often wry look at a group of Jewish friends — all Nazi-era survivors — who, in 1946 Frankfurt, unite to sell high-end linens to raise the funds to emigrate to America. Not your typical Holocaust-inspired drama.

These clever door-to-door peddlers, led by David Bermann (a superb Moritz Bleibtreu), whose family’s once-thriving linen store was seized by the Nazis and now stands in ruins provide an interesting context in which the filmmakers build an interesting deeply felt story.

David is suspected of collaboration with the Nazis and is questioned by tough, cold and very attractive American Army investigator, Sara (Antje Traue), who suggeststhat David, whose parents and brothers perished at Auschwitz, may have been working with the Nazis.

These interrogation sessions give way to flashbacks of how the jokey David, while imprisoned in a concentration camp, was plucked by its loathsome...

Bye Bye Germany (Es war einmal in Deutschland) Film Movement Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Sam Garbarski Screenwriter: Michel Bergmann, Sam Garbarski, based on Michel Bergmann’s “Die Teilacher” and “Machloikes Cast: Moritz Bleibtreu, Antje Traue, Tim Seyfi, Mark Ivanir, Anatole Taubman, Hans Low, Pal Macsai, Vaclav Jakoubek Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 4/7/18 Opens: April […]

The post Bye Bye Germany Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Bye Bye Germany screens Wednesday, November 8th at 9:15pm and Friday November 10th as part of this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival. Both screenings are at The Plaza Frontenac.

In 1946 Frankfurt, David Bermann (Moritz Bleibtreu of “Run Lola Run” and “Munich”) and his Jewish friends have escaped the Nazi regime and are now dreaming of leaving for America. But how will they get the money in these tough postwar times? The smooth-talking businessman focuses on what the Germans now need most: fine bed linens nicely wrapped in amusing stories! The six talented entertainers go from home to home, praising housewives until the flattered ladies have no choice but to buy their irresistible items. Business flourishes and a bright new future can be seen on the horizon. But questions about Bermann’s past catch up with him: Could he have collaborated with the Nazis? The smart, uncompromising U.

Film Movement has acquired Sam Garbarski's Bye Bye Germany, a dramedy about Jewish businessmen in post-wwii Germany, for North America.

Moritz Bleibtreu (World War Z, Run Lola Run) stars in Bye Bye Germany as David Bermann, a smooth-taking huckster who, as the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust, concocts a plan to raise money to emigrate to the United States. He leads a group of similarly-minded Jewish businessmen as they struggle to make a buck while dealing with the trauma of what they just lived through.

The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival this year.

“Not...

Opening in Beverly Hills on April 26 and continuing to May 3, the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival will showcase contemporary and classic films highlighting the best in Jewish Cinema.Of the 27 films showing, 14 are Los Angeles premieres. One World Premiere, one North American Premiere and one U.S. Premiere make for some great discoveries.

An opportunity for film lovers to celebrate the rich tapestry of Jewish history, Jewish heritage and Jewish characters, the Opening Night Red Carpet Reception at Laemmle’s Ahrya Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills evening will honor one of the entertainment industry’s most beloved figures, Ed Asner, with the Los Angeles premiere of the documentary “My Friend Ed”, directed by Sharon Baker and executive produced by Liza Asner.

For his distinguished body of work as an actor, and for his relentless commitment to activism and to preserving Jewish life.

Ed Asner

You know him best as Lou Grant,...

The experience of Jewish people in Germany after the Holocaust is the backdrop for the latest feature from director Sam Garbarski (Irina Palm).

Bye Bye Germany stars Moritz Bleibtreu (Run Lola Run, Woman in Gold) as David, a Jewish Holocaust survivor who starts up a linen business with other former concentration camp inmates, exploiting the guilt of their German customers to raise money to emigrate to America.

But U.S. officer Sara Simon (Antje Traue) is asking uncomfortable questions about David's wartime past, even suggesting he may have been a Nazi collaborator.

Bye Bye Germany will have its world premiere as a...

Stanley Tucci, Catherine Deneuve dramas join competition; TV dramas and Oleg Sentsov doc set to get world premiere.

The Berlin International Film Festival has finalised its competition and Berlinale Special strands.

Joining the festival in Out Of Competition berths are Stanley Tucci-directed Final Portrait and Catherine Deneuve drama Sage Femme.

James Gray’s The Lost City Of Z will have its interntional premiere while documentary The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov will have its world premiere.

Among TV world premieres are Amazon’s Patriot and BBC One’s SS-gb.

In total, 18 of the 24 films selected for Competitionwill be competing for the Golden and the Silver Bears. 22 of the films will have their world premieres at the festival.

For the third time, Berlinale Special Series will present a selection of TV series in the official programme. Six German and international productions will have their world premieres at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele this year...

Stanley Tucci, Catherine Deneuve dramas join competition; TV dramas and Oleg Sentsov doc set to get world premiere.

The Berlin International Film Festival has finalised its competition and Berlinale Special strands.

Joining the competition are

18 of the 24 films selected for Competition will be competing for the Golden and the Silver Bears. 22 of the films will have their world premieres at the festival.

The Berlinale Special will present recent works by contemporary filmmakers, documentaries, and extraordinary formats, as well as brand new series from around the world.

Berlinale Special Galas will be held at the Friedrichstadt-Palast and Zoo Palast. Other Special premieres will take place at the Kino International. Moderated discussions will follow the screenings at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele.

For the third time, Berlinale Special Series will present a selection of TV series in the official programme. Six German and international productions will have their world premieres at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele this year. Audiences...

The Berlin International Film Festival announced 13 additions to its 2017 line-up, including the international premiere of Danny Boyle’s hotly anticipated “Trainspotting” follow-up, “Trainspotting: T2,” and the world premiere of James Mangold’s “Logan,” the third in the growing “Wolverine” franchise, starring Hugh Jackman. Both films will play out of competition.

Read More: ‘Logan’ Trailer: Hugh Jackman’s Final Wolverine Movie Mixes The Superhero Genre With The Western

Hong Sangsoo’s “On the Beach Alone at Night” will make its world premiere at the festival, the latest from the idiosyncratic Korean director whose last film, “Right Now, Wrong Then,” garnered attention at festivals in 2016.

Other promising titles include the world premiere of “The Tin Drum” director Volker Schlöndorff’s “Return To Montauk,” starring Stellan Skarsgård, and “Viceroy’s House,” a period drama from the woman behind “Bend it Like Beckham,” Gurinder Chadha. The Austrian actor Josef Hader also will make...

X-Men spinoff and Trainspotting sequel to play Out of Competition.

A further 13 films have been invited to screen in the Competition and Berlinale Special section at the 67th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival.

The festival has added commercial clout to its Out Of Competition lineup in the shape of Danny Boyle’s T2 Trainspotting and X-Men spinoff Logan.

There are also competition berths for new films by Hong Sangsoo, Thomas Arslan, Volker Schlöndorff, Sabu, Álex de la Iglesia and Josef Hader.

Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha’s latest, Viceroy’s House, will have its world premiere out of competition at the festival. Starring Hugh Bonneville alongside Gillian Anderson, the period drama set in 1947 India depicts Lord Mountbatten, the man charged with handing India back to its people.

Also having its world premiered out of competition will be Álex de la Iglesia’s The Bar, a comedy-thriller about a group of strangers who get...

After an initial line-up that included Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope, Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party, and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, the Berlin International Film Festival have added more anticipated premieres. Highlights include one of two (maybe three) new Hong Sang-soo films this year, On the Beach at Night Alone, along with Volker Schlöndorff‘s Return to Montauk with Stellan Skarsgård and Nina Hoss, as well as the high-profile world premiere of James Mangold‘s Logan and the international premiere of Danny Boyle‘s T2: Trainspotting.

With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, check out the new additions below.

Competition

Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja (On the Beach at Night Alone)

South Korea

By Hong Sangsoo (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, Right Now, Wrong Then)

With Kim Minhee, Seo Younghwa, Jung Jaeyoung, Moon Sungkeun,...

Exclusive: The Match Factory is working again with Belgian director Sam Garbarski on international sales for his new feature film, starring Moritz Bleibtreu and Alba Rohrwacher.

Described by Garbarski as “a historical comedy, a comedy of life, more moving than humorous because it’s true”, Bye-Bye Germany (working title) reunites with the Cologne-based sales company after their previous collaboration on the Locarno 2013 title Vijay And I.

The film will also see him reunited with German actor Moritz Bleibtreu, the star of Vijay and I, as a Holocaust survivor with a remarkable secret.

The international cast includes Alba Rohrwacher as an Italian Jew with a Harvard degree who hunts down Nazis, Hungarian actor Pal Macsai (‘Terapia’), Anatole Taubmann (Quantum Of Solace), La-based Israeli actor Mark Ivanir (Schindler’s List, ‘Homeland’), the German Film Award-winning Swiss actor Joel Basman (We Are Young. We Are Strong.) and Berlin-based, Turkish-born Tim Seyfi (‘Spiral’).

Adapted by Michel Bergmann from his own novel...

Funds Mdm and Fff Bayern are providing more than $9.4m (€8.6m).

New films by Gore Verbinski, Steve Barron and Margarethe von Trotta are among the projects backed with more than $9.4m (€8.6m) by two German regional funds, Mdm and Fff Bayern, in their latest funding sessions.

Mdm stumped up $437,000 (€400,000) production support for Verbinski’s horror film A Cure For Wellness, which wraps shooting today (July 24) at the Hohenzollern Castle in Baden-Württemberg’s Hechingen, the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern.

The cast for the production by Blind Wink Productions, New Regency and Studio Babelsberg includes Dane deHaan, Mia Goth and Jason Isaacs, and 20th Century Fox is planning a Us theatrical release in September 2016.

A Cure For Wellness is the third major international project co-produced by Studio Babelsberg this year after serving as a partner on Eddie The Eagle, starring Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman, and for the fifth season of the Us series Homeland...

Pioneering woman director Lois Weber socially conscious drama 'Shoes' among Library of Congress' Packard Theater movies (photo: Mary MacLaren in 'Shoes') In February 2015, National Film Registry titles will be showcased at the Library of Congress' Packard Campus Theater – aka the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation – in Culpeper, Virginia. These range from pioneering woman director Lois Weber's socially conscious 1916 drama Shoes to Robert Zemeckis' 1985 blockbuster Back to the Future. Another Packard Theater highlight next month is Sam Peckinpah's ultra-violent Western The Wild Bunch (1969), starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine. Also, Howard Hawks' "anti-High Noon" Western Rio Bravo (1959), toplining John Wayne and Dean Martin. And George Cukor's costly remake of A Star Is Born (1954), featuring Academy Award nominees Judy Garland and James Mason in the old Janet Gaynor and Fredric March roles. There's more: Jeff Bridges delivers a colorful performance in...

International co-production and co-production markets around the globe will not be the same now following the news that the internationally respected German producer-distributor Karl Baumgartner has died at the age of 65.

Known affectionately by friends and colleagues alike as ¨Baumi¨, Baumgartner hailed from the South Tyrol, but was ¨ at home¨ in different countries and cultures, working with film-makers on projects located in some of the seemingly most inaccessible or logistically nightmarish parts of the planet.

Hearing him recount the making of Bakhtiar Khudojnazarov’s Luna Papa at one of the countless co-production panels with his tales of the shooting being stopped by floods washing the set away, the outbreak of civil war and being evacuated by the Red Cross floods, one often wondered whether he purposely looked for such challenges.

Not to speak of the challenge of putting such delicate and time-consuming co-production structures together involving tried-and-tested production partners, public funders and broadcasters from across Europe and beyond...

Beginning in 1986, the Berlin International Film Festival has presented the Berlinale Camera to film personalities or institutions to which it feels particularly indebted and wishes to express its thanks. This year, during the 64th edition of the festival, producer and distributor Karl “Baumi” Baumgartner will be awarded the prestigious Berlinale Camera.

Karl Baumgartner is one of Germany’s leading producers and independent distributors. In his capacity as producer, he has brought world cinema to German audiences expanding their horizons in terms of what cinema from abroad can provide.

In 1982, together with Reinhard Brundig, he launched Pandora Film Distribution and it developed into one of the most important companies in the field of art house cinema. Pandora Film discovered filmmakers such as Andrej Tarkovsky, Jim Jarmusch, Sally Potter, Kim Ki Duk, and Aki Kaurismäki, as well as many others. With Jane Campion’s The Piano in 1993, Karl Baumgartner celebrated his first great success as distributor. It was followed by Emir Kusturica’s Palme d’Or winning Underground (1995), executively produced by Pandora Film.

As a producer, Karl Baumgartner has participated several times in the Berlin International Film Festival – in the Competition with the films Super 8 Stories by Emir Kusturica (out of competition, 2001), My Sweet Home by Filippos Tsitos (2001), Sam Garbarski’s Irina Palm (2007), and Jasmila Žbanić’s Na putu (On the Path, 2010). His most recent contribution to the Berlinale Competition was as co-producer of Kebun binatang (Postcards from the Zoo, 2012) by Edwin and Layla Fourie (2013) by Pia Marais.

The Berlinale Camera will be awarded to Karl Baumgartner at 4.00 pm on February 8, 2014 at the CinemaxX 9. It will be followed by the film Boheemielämää (La vie de bohème, 1992) by Aki Kaurismäki who, together with Festival Director Dieter Kosslick, will give a speech in Karl Baumgartner’s honor.

The Berlinale Camera has been awarded since 1986. Until 2003, it was donated by Berlin-based jeweller David Goldberg. From 2004 through 2013, Georg Hornemann Objects, a Dusseldorf-based atelier, sponsored the trophy, which goldsmith Hornemann redesigned for the Berlinale in 2008: Modelled on a real camera, the Berlinale Camera now has 128 finely crafted components. Many of these silver and titanium parts, such as the swivel head and tripod, are movable.

In more Berlinale news, two new episodes of House of Cards to be shown on festival closing day.

The award will be presented to Baumgartner after laudatory speeches by Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick and Aki Kaurismäki on Feb 8 before a screening of Kaurismäki’s 1991 film La Vie de Bohème.

In 1982, Baumgartner and Reinhard Brundig founded the distrubution company Pandora Filmverleih in Frankfurt, which became one of the leading players in the world of interational arthouse cinema, discovering such talents as Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurimäki, Sally Potter, Andrei Tarkovsky and Kim Ki Duk.

Pandora’s move into production has seen the company backing films by Emir Kusturica (Underground), Sam Garbarski (Irina Palm), Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre), Sergey Dvorstevoy (Tulpan), Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive), Claire Denis (Bastards), and, most recently, Fatih Akin (The Cut), to mention just a handful.

Apart from Cologne-based Pandora Filmproduktion, Baumgartner is also a partner with Thanassis Karathanos in Pallas Film, which...

In more Berlinale news, two new episodes of House of Cards to be shown on festival closing day.

The award will be presented to Baumgartner after laudatory speeches by Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick and Aki Kaurismäki on Feb 8 before a screening of Kaurismäki’s 1991 film La Vie de Bohème.

In 1982, Baumgartner and Reinhard Brundig founded the distrubution company Pandora Filmverleih in Frankfurt, which became one of the leading players in the world of interational arthouse cinema, discovering such talents as Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurimäki, Sally Potter, Andrei Tarkovsky and Kim Ki Duk.

Pandora’s move into production has seen the company backing films by Emir Kusturica (Underground), Sam Garbarski (Irina Palm), Aki Kaurismäki (Le Havre), Sergey Dvorstevoy (Tulpan), Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive), Claire Denis (Bastards), and, most recently, Fatih Akin (The Cut), to mention just a handful.

Apart from Cologne-based Pandora Filmproduktion, Baumgartner is also a partner with Thanassis Karathanos in Pallas Film, which...

Exclusive: German outfit boards Jim Jarmusch titles.

The Match Factory has secured rights to six Jim Jarmusch titles.

The haul includes Permanent Vacation, Stranger Than Paradise, Down By Law, Mystery Train, Night on Earth and Dead Man.

“We are proud to handle these masterpieces of one of the greatest contemporary directors” said Michael Weber, managing director of The Match Factory. “It is a delight to have our library grow with Jim Jarmusch. Jarmusch’s films are timeless, as proven by their ongoing demand and interest“.

“I am so proud to have my films represented by Michael Weber and the Match Factory team, and to be in the company of filmmakers I admire such as Aki Kaurismäki and Fatih Akin,“ added Jarmusch.

The Match Factory’s Afm slate includes Sam Garbarski’s Vijay And I, David Wnendt’s controversial Wetlands and Soren Kragh-Jacobsen’s The Hour of the Lynx.

The deal was negotiated between Michael Weber and ICM Partners...

Exclusive: The Match Factory has signed a raft of deals for Sam Garbarski’s Vijay And I and David Wnendt’s Wetlands ahead of their world premieres in Locarno.

Garbarski’s romantic comedy, starring Patricia Arquette, Moritz Bleibtreu and Danny Pudi, has been sold to the Cis and Baltic states (Project Manometr) and Taiwan (Encore Film), with negotiations currently underway for “a number of territories“, including Italy and Korea.

The world premiere of the Belgium-Luxembourg-Germany co-production is due to be held on Locarno’s Piazza Grande open-air venue on Thursday evening (Aug 8) after the presentation of a Pardo alla carriera to Italian actor-director Sergio Castellitto, who starred in Vijay And I co-producer Pandora Film’s Mostly Martha which premiered on the Piazza Grande in 2001.

In addition, sales have been finalised on Wnendt’s Wetlands to Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Austria (Filmladen) and for a pan-Scandinavian deal (Future Film), with further deals under negotiation.

The adaptation...

I have been invited to Locarno this year and am looking forward to going once more.

It is an amazing locale at the Swiss tip of Italy's Lago Maggiore. While the town sure looks old Italian to me people there tend to speak German.

Very charming. Their grand outdoor theater in a big piazza is rare in our film world and quite magnificent. I look forward to the films and seeing old friends.

Just announced the 20-film competition lineup features 18 world premieres and represents 16 countries, while the Piazza Grande selections run from big budget to art house films.

The Locarno Film Festival, in its first edition under the new artistic director Carlo Chatrian, on Wednesday revealed an eclectic and international lineup.

The 8,000-seat Piazza Grande, the largest silver screen in Europe and Locarno’s signature venue, this year illustrates the mixed genres Locarno traditionally features, with a lineup that includes Quentin Dupieux’s crime comedy Wrong Cops, with a cast that includes celebrity goth Marilyn Manson.

“I want the Piazza Grande selection to feature a sampling of what the festival has to offer in its various sections and tributes, and I think we made a big step in this direction,” said Chatrian, a veteran festival programmer and author who took over direction of the lakeside festival after the unexpected departure of Olivier Pere last year.

Mr. Morgan’s Last Love, a drama from Sandra Nettelbeck that stars Michael Cain as a retired professor who finds a connection with a young Parisian woman.

We’re the Millers, a comedy from Rawson Marshall Thurber with a cast that includes Jennifer Aniston and Ed Helms.

Also scheduled to screen in the picturesque Piazza Grande: 1981 classic Rich and Famous, part of the festival’s retrospective dedicated to director George Cukor (the film's star, Jacqueline Bisset, will be in Locarno to introduce the film)

Werner Herzog’s great Fitzcarraldo, the director’s 1982 biopic about Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald that will screen as part of the festival’s homage to Herzog, who will be honored with a lifetime achievement prize.

The Piazza Grande will also feature an Italian film -- La Variabile Umana (The Human Factor), the feature film debut from acclaimed documentary maker Bruno Oliviero -- for the first time in six years.

The festival previously announced that much-heralded blockbuster 2 Guns, from Baltasar Kormákur -- which stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg -- would open the festival August 7.

The competition lineup, which includes 18 world premieres and two international premieres, is nearly as varied as the selection showing in the Piazza Grande.

Among the highlights: E Agora? Lembra-me (What Now? Remind Me) from Portugal’s Joaquim Pinto, the director’s touching and vibrant telling of his battle with HIV.

Albert Serra's Historia de la Meva Mort (Story of My Death), which had been tabbed by the European press as a likely Cannes selection.

Real, the first film from Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa in five years.

U Ri Sunhi (Our Sunhi) by South Kore's acclaimed Sangsoo Hong.

Sangue (Blood) from Italy’s Pippo Delbono, which explores Italy’s Red Brigade insurgency.

Short Term 12, a remake of a 2008 short (both directed by Destin Cretton), is the only U.S. film screening in competition.

“There’s an intriguing mix of young director and first time works with more experienced talent in the competition lineup,” Chatrian said. “I’m eager to see how the public will react to these films we’ve chosen.”

Piazza Grande selections:2 Guns by Baltasar Kormákur (United States)Vijay and I by Sam Garbarski (Belgium/Luxembourg/Germany)La Variabile Umana (The Human Factor) by Bruno Oliviero (Italy) Wrong Cops by Quentin Dupieux (United States)We’re the Millers by Rawson Marshall Thurber (United States)The Keeper of Lost Causes by Mikkel Nørgaard (Denmark/Germany/Sweden)Les Grandes Ondes (Longwave) by Lionel Baier (Switzerland/France/Portugal) Rich and Famous by George Cukor (United States)Gabrielle by Louise Archambault (Canada)L’Experience Blocher by Jean-Stéphane Bron (Switzerland/France)Gloria by Sebastián Lelio (Chile) Mr. Morgan’s Last Love by Sandra Nettelbeck (Germany/Belgium)Blue Ruin by Jeremy Saulnier (United States)About Time by Richard Curtis (United Kingdom)Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog (Germany/Peru) Sur le Chemin de l’École by Pascal Plisson (France) International competition lineup:Când se lasă seara peste Bucureşti sau metabolism (When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism) by Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania) E Agora? Lembra-me (What Now? Remind Me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)Educacão Sentimental (Sentimental Education) by Júlio Bressane (Brazil)El Mudo by Daniel and Diego Vega (Peru/France/Mexico) Exhibition by Joanna Hogg (United Kingdom)Feuchtgebiete by David Wnendt (Germany)Gare du Nord by Claire Simon (France/Canada)Historia de la Meva Mort (Story of My Death) by Albert Serra (Spain/France) L’Étrange Couleur des Larmes de Ton Corps (The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears) by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (Belgium/France/Luxembourg)Mary, Queen of Scots by Thomas Imbach (Switzerland/France) Pays Barbare by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi (France)Real by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Japan)Sangue (Blood) by Pippo Delbono (Italy/Switzerland)Short Term 12 by Destin Cretton (United States) Shu Jia Zuo (A Time in Quchi) by Tso chi Chang (Taiwan)Tableau Noir (Black Board) by Yves Yersin (Switzerland)Tomogui (Backwater) by Shinji Aoyama (Japan)Tonnerre by Guillaume Brac (France) U Ri Sunhi (Our Sunhi) by Sangsoo Hong (South Korea)Une Autre Vie by Emmanuel Mouret (France)...

A total of 18 world premieres feature in the main Competition line-up of this year’s Locarno Film Festival.Scroll down for full lists

The programme for the 66th Locarno Film Festival has been unveiled and was compiled with “diversity” in mind, according to new artistic director Carlo Chatrian.

“The only categorical imperative was to work with diversity, take it to extremes,” said Chatrian.

“For years, the festival’s policy has been to position its mission of discovery within a programme that includes mainstream cinema, but only of the kind that, despite its high production values, is not just pure spectacle, the kind that doesn’t see entertainment and intelligence as incompatible.”

As previously announced, the Swiss festival will open at the open-air Piazza Grande on August 7 with the international premiere of 2 Guns, the action film starring Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington as cops, directed by Baltasar Kormakur (The Deep).

Other films to screen at the 8,000 seater venue include...

Three titles that should receive a lot of attention in this year's fest are: Jorge Michel Grau's contempo cannibal film to break out We Are What We Are (see pic), and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson's Sound of Noise – a high risk film because it mixes genres together like someone grabbing whole bunch of leftovers from the fridge. - The kings of the Croisette – Wild Bunch have got titles coming out of all orifices that they just supplied the fest with the last minute addition of Ken Loach's Route Irish. Earlier in the year they had one of the best comedies of the year in Four Lions play in Sundance (which has yet to be picked up for the North American market) and the steamy Rome in Room should fog up the Market Screenings. Three titles that should receive a lot of attention in this year's fest are:...

The kings of the Croisette – Wild Bunch have got titles coming out of all orifices that they just supplied the fest with the last minute addition of Ken Loach's Route Irish. Earlier in the year they had one of the best comedies of the year in Four Lions play in Sundance (which has yet to be picked up for the North American market) and the steamy Rome in Room should fog up the Market Screenings. Three titles that should receive a lot of attention in this year's fest are: Jorge Michel Grau's contempo cannibal film to break out We Are What We Are (see pic), and Johannes Stjärne Nilsson's Sound of Noise – a high risk film because it mixes genres together like someone grabbing whole bunch of leftovers from the fridge. Already causing a stir is the social commentary docu film by agitator Sabina Guzzanti – Italian politicians beware.

Yet another film we reported on way back November.

Jiro Taniguchi's popular manga "A Distant Neighborhood" (Harukana Machi e) has been adapted for the screen in Europe by German director Sam Garbarski. The film has played in Cannes, but this is the first footage we've seen. It's kind of a Replay scenario for those of you who've read that book and it looks mighty fine.

Synopsis:

Thomas is in his 50s, married, a family man, worn down by the tedium of his life. Returning from a business trip, he takes the wrong train and ends up unexpectedly in the town where he grew up, and to which he has not returned for years. He visits his mother?s grave and is overwhelmed by memories of her, and of his father who disappeared without trace, on the eve of his birthday, 40 years ago. Overcome by dizziness, Thomas collapses, unconscious.

Coming to,...

We've been clocking this little ditty for some time now, and while I've been waiting for footage, I figured it was time to throw some stills up. Although there's not much to see, the story sounds fascinating and the manga (by Jirô Taniguchi) it's based off is apparently quite popular. Supposedly there might be some alcoholism in here as well, but I can't verify if that's translated to the big screen. Oddly enough, Sam Garbarski's next film Vertraute Fremde has a similar theme, that of a man awakening as a much younger version of himself.

Thomas is in his 50s, married, a family man, worn down by the tedium of his life. Returning from a business trip, he takes the wrong train and ends up unexpectedly in the town where he grew up, and to which he has not returned for years. He visits his mother?s grave and...

Berlin -- Diana Elbaum and Jani Thiltges -- veteran producers from two of Europe's tiniest countries -- are the joint winners of this year's Prix Eurimages.

The prize, now in its third year, honors excellence in European co-production and takes its name from the European Council's Euroimages co-production subsidy fund.

Through her Entre Chein et Loup production house in Belgium Elbaum has co-produced European art house fare ranging from Marina de Van's psychodrama "Don't Look Back" starring Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci to the Pierre Paul Renders' comedy "Mr. Average" (2006) to the period drama "Saint-Cyr" (2000) featuring Isabelle Huppert. From his base in Luxembourg, Thiltges and his Samsa Film operation have delivered some 40 features, among them Ben Sombogaart's Oscar-nominee "Twin Sisters" (2002) and action comedy "Jcvd" starring Mr. Muscles from Brussels himself, Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Elbaum and Thiltges also helped form, together with Patrick Quinet, Sebastien Delloye and Claude Waringo,...

Just a couple of blockbusters this week, one of which we've seen most of already. For everybody else, there is a strong selection of international art house pics to go with a couple of homegrown indies.

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"(500) Days of Summer"

Longtime music video director Marc Webb turned down a lot of horror remakes and teen comedies to make his feature debut with this unconventional recitation of a relationship that doesn't work out. Joseph Gordon-Levitt co-stars as Tom, a poker-faced field mouse rejected by the love of his (comically young) life, the idiosyncratic Summer (Zooey Deschanel), and neurotically dissects the minutia of their courtship as he struggles to figure out what went wrong.

Opens in limited release.

"Death In Love"

Having spent much time developing functional follow-ups ("Dusk Till Dawn 2," "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights") since helming...

COLOGNE, Germany -- Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or-winning abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Paul Verhoeven's WWII thriller Black Book and Sam Garbarski's dark comedy Irina Palm are among the titles the European Film Academy has selected in its initial list of nominees for this year's European Film Prize.

The 1,800 members of the EFA will use the list of 42 films to select the official nominees in seven main categories. The nominations will be announced Nov. 3 at the Sevilla Film Festival.

The 2007 EFA long list is a typical catch-all of the critically acclaimed and/or financially successful European productions of the past year.

Opulent big-budget productions including Olivier Dahan's Edith Piaf biography La Vie en Rose and Tom Tykwer's literary adaptation Perfume: The Story of a Murderer butt up against art house fare exemplified by Austrian director Ulrich Seidl's Import/Export or The Banishment from Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev.

Unlike in previous years, there is no consensus frontrunner, despite the presence of Oscar winners The Queen and The Last King of Scotland in the nominations list.

And in another departure, no one European country dominates the nominations. No nation, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. -- which produce the bulk of films in Europe -- has more than three films in the nominations list.

Another interesting development is the rise of Central and Eastern Europe. Some of the most talked-about films come from the EU's newest members, including Mungiu's 4 Months, Serbian thriller The Trap by director Srdan Golubovic and Jiri Menzel's Czech-language drama I Served the King of England.

The winners of the 20th annual European Film Awards will be announced Dec. 1 in Berlin.

• 57th Berlin Film FestivalFebruary 8 to 18, 2007Countdown: updateCountdownClock('February 8, 2007'); Berlin, Germany Festival LinkOn February 8 the curtain will rise in Berlinale Palast for the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. Throughout the following ten days, the festival will show 373 films on some 50 cinema screens all over the city. At the growing European Film Market, the festival's business fair, more than 700 films will be presented to the industry. International guests, stars on the red carpet, packed theaters, hot debates, and wild parties - the Berlinale will play Berlin like no other event on the calendar does. Yet, it is a festival not only of the masses, but also of the many: of the many who in months of hard work organized the programme and provided the infrastructure, and of the many who are busy behind the scenes to keep the festival buzzing. Of course, it will again be a festival of stars,

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