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“Satisfied,” a documentary about Renée Elise Goldsberry’s life while creating her iconic onstage role in “Hamilton” and “Black Box Diaries” — the Oscar-nominated documentary about a director’s investigation into sexual assault — are part of the 2025 Athena Film Festival at Barnard College’s line-up.

Aff announced its narrative and documentary feature lineup ahead of the event taking place from March 6-9 on the Barnard campus in New York City. This year marks the festival’s 15th anniversary and comes with a partnership between Barnard’s Athena Center for Leadership and the Women and Hollywood initiative.

“Our 2025 festival marks 15 years of championing diverse, authentic narratives through a powerful, women-centered lens,” artistic director of Aff Melissa Silverstein said. “The impact of this endeavor is shaped by the creators who bring these stories to life, as well as the audiences who support and amplify their reach.”

Check out this year’s line-up below:...

Finnish drama series project The Women I Think About At Night headed the winners at the TV Beats Co-Financing Market, part of the Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF).

Currently in development, comedy-drama The Women I Think About At Night follows a 40-year-old woman who reevaluates her life after her best friend becomes pregnant. It took the €50,000 Series Co-Production Development Award for most promising project, given as part of the Council of Europe’s Pilot Programme open to independent producers from Eurimages member states.

The 5x42-minute episode series is produced by Liisa Karpo for...

Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown, Gábor Reisz’s Explanation for Everything, Federico Luis’ Simon Of The Mountain and Minh Quý Trương’s Viet And Nam, were the winners of the four main competitive strands of this year’s Munich International Film Festival (Miff) which closed on Saturday July 6.

The festival’s biggest award, the €100,000 CineCoPro award, provided by Fff Bayern to be invested in a future co-production, was presented to François Morisset’s company Salaud Morisset, the German co-producer of To A Land Unknown.

The first narrative feature by Palestinian filmmaker Fleifel is a refugee drama about two Palestinians stranded in Athens.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds Of Kindness, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance and Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, are among the films that will screen in CineMasters, the main competition of this month’s Munich International Film Festival (Miff), taking place from June 28 to July in Germany.

Fourteen films are in the running for CineMasters’ €50,000 Arri Award which is presented to the producers of the best international film. Further titles include Jia Zhang-ke’s Caught By The Tides, Rúnar Rúnarsson’s When The Light Breaks, which premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section last month, as well as Jaione Camborda...

Griffin in Summer won the Founders Award for best U.S. narrative feature as well as two additional awards: special jury mention for new narrative director for Nicholas Colia and best screenplay in a U.S. narrative feature, which also went to Colia.

Meanwhile, Bikechess won Best International Narrative Feature, and Hacking Hate won Best Documentary Feature. Don’t You Let Me Go won the 12th annual Nora Ephron Award, and Come Closer and Witches topped the first Viewpoints Competition.

Additionally, Nnamdi Asomugha‘s The Knife won two awards: best cinematography in a U.S. narrative feature (Alejandro Mejia) and the best new narrative director award for Asomugha.

Some Rain Must Fall also won two awards.

A full list of this year’s winners follows.

More to come.

U.S. Narrative Competition

Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature: Griffin in Summer, director Nicholas Colia

Best Performance in a U.

Nicholas Colia’s Griffin in Summer swept the narrative features award categories at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, nabbing honors for best U.S. film and screenplay, as well as a special jury mention for new narrative director.

Colia’s feature debut stars Everett Blunck as an aspiring 14-year-old playwright who falls hard for his mother’s handyman and struggling performance artist, played by Owen Teague. The jury mentioned in its notes Thursday that the film “straddled the very thin line between heartwarming, tragic, hilarious and awkward” and that it “fills a void in the marketplace for films that touch on sophisticated themes while remaining family friendly. Never pandering, always fresh, full of relatable universal experiences while being incredibly specific and nuanced.”

Jasmine Bearkiller Shangreaux won for Best Performance in a U.S. Narrative Feature for Jazzy, by Morrisa Maltz, a follow-up to her 2023 The Unknown Country starring Lily Gladstone. The Killers...

As the 2024 Tribeca Festival comes to a close, the top film prizes have just been announced at an awards ceremony at Racket NYC. This year, the Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature went to “Griffin in Summer,” while “Bikechess” scored the prize of Best International Narrative Feature, and “Hacking Hate,” Best Documentary Feature. The competition categories include Feature Film, Short Film, Audio Storytelling, Immersive, Games, Viewpoints, Human/Nature, and Tribeca X.

“After a banner year of Tribeca programming, I do not envy our jurors’ task of selecting this year’s winners,” said Tribeca Festival Director and SVP of Programming Cara Cusumano. “I’m delighted to see they’ve chosen to honor a diverse, international, adventurous group of films that truly reflect the Tribeca spirit. We can’t wait to continue to follow and support all these films’ journeys into the world.”

The Audience Award winners will be announced at a later date,...

Naomi Ackie, Daniel Mays, Jonathan Pryce, Henry Lloyd-Hughes and David Tennant have joined the cast of Netflix and Amblin Entertainment’s “The Thursday Murder Club,” based on Richard Osman’s novel of the same name.

According to an official logline, the series follows, “a group of friends in a retirement home who gather to solve murders for fun, but find themselves caught in a real case. The four members of the club are played by Helen Mirren (ex-spy Elizabeth), Sir Ben Kingsley (ex-psychiatrist Ibrahim) Pierce Brosnan (former union activist Ron) and Celia Imrie (ex-nurse Joyce).”

Chris Columbus serves as writer, director and producer with Jennifer Todd. Holly Bario, Jeb Brody, Eleanor Columbus and Jo Burn executive produce.

Tribeca Festival 2024 Competition Winners Include ‘Griffin in Summer,’ ‘Bikechess,’ ‘Hacking Hate’

Tribeca Festival has announced the 2024 winners of its competition categories at an awards ceremony at Racket NYC. Top awards went to “Griffin in Summer,...

Arab distributor Mad Solutions has taken distribution rights for Arab world territories on French director Jonathan Millet’s “Ghost Trail,” ahead of the psychological thriller’s upcoming world premiere as the opening film of Cannes Critics’ Week.

“Ghost Trail” is being sold by French arthouse production and distribution giant MK2.

Inspired by real-life events, “Ghost Trail” is the story of a Syrian man named Hamid who is part of a secret group pursuing fugitive leaders who perpetrated horrors in the name of the Syrian regime during the country’s civil war.

“His mission takes him to France, on the trail of his former torturer whom he must confront. But with his judgment clouded by pressure, doubt and revenge, can he be certain of the righteousness of his own actions?” the provided synopsis reads.

Cannes Critics’ Week artistic director Ava Cahen has described “Ghost Trail” as a “thrilling sensory film in...

Upcoming animation from ’My Life As A Courgette’ director Claude Barras also among recipients.

Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude’s upcoming feature A Case History is one of 24 features to receive a share of €6.5m (6.87m) in the latest round of Eurimages co-production support funding.

The film, a co-production between Romania and Croatia, has received €150,000 and marks the Romanian filmmaker’s next feature after winning the Golden Bear in 2021 with Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn.

Produced by Ada Solomon and Adrian Sitaru of Bucharest-based 4Proof Film, the story will be told in two parts. The first follows a...

The Berlin International Film Festival is celebrating its opening today, on February 7, 2013 at 7.30 pm. After a few words of greeting from Minister of State for Cultural and Media Affairs Bernd Neumann and Governing Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit, the Festival will be officially opened by Jury President Wong Kar Wai (Hong Kong, China) and Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick. The International Jury – whose other members are Susanne Bier (Denmark), Andreas Dresen (Germany), Ellen Kuras (USA), Shirin Neshat (Iran), Tim Robbins (USA) and Athina Rachel Tsangari (Greece) – will also be introduced during the gala. Anke Engelke will again host the evening. This year’s music will be provided by Ulrich Tukur & Die Rhythmus Boys. 3sat will be broadcasting the opening live. Ziyi Zhang in Yi dai zong shi (The Grandmaster) by Wong Kar Wai Following the gala, Wong Kar Wai’s epic martial-arts drama The Grandmaster will have its international premiere. The director and his leading actors,...

Well-meaning comedy highlighting mutual respect for Turkish and German culture strikes a moralising tone

There are reserves of comic material in Europe that are scandalously under-exploited. In the cultural and political no man's land inhabited by millions of European residents whose parents were born elsewhere fiction in general, and films in particular, prefers to dwell on the tragic side, on its social drama.

Comedies such as Bend it Like Beckham in Britain or La Première Etoile in France are few and far between. Almanya – Willkommen in Deutschland is an ambitious German film of comic intent which tells the story of three generations of a family whose grandfather left his village in Anatolia in the 1960s for work in the Ruhr. Actually the goal is even more ambitious, for director Yasemin Samdereli wants to promote mutual respect and the virtues of hybrid vigour. In a perfect world her message would slip...

Lasse Halstrom’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas, will open the 23rd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which runs from Jan. 5-15. The festival, which will screen 187 films from 73 countries, will close with Yasemin Samdereli’s Almanya, Welcome to Germany. “It’s a wide ranging line-up of highly accomplished and often provocative new films, coupled with an expanded archival section,” festival director Darryl Macdonald said. “I’m particularly delighted to be opening the festival with the U.S. debut of Lasse Hallstrom’s hugely engaging crowd-pleaser, Salmon Fishing in

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Chicago – Three crowd-pleasing films were selected by audiences at the 47th Chicago International Film Festival as their favorites of the year. A record 50 percent of festivalgoers participated in the selection of this year’s winners of the American Airlines Audience Choice Award.

Two pictures garnered the award for Best Narrative Feature. The first is French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius’ affectionate valentine to cinema, “The Artist,” which snagged the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for its lead, Jean Dujardin (who played the title role in Hazanavicius’ “Oss 117”). It’s a black-and-white, nearly silent romance with a talent-packed ensemble including John Goodman and Malcolm McDowell. The festival buzz has been so strong that some movie buffs have speculated about whether this could actually become a surprise mainstream hit. Regardless, this accolade has further solidified this film’s status as a top Oscar contender.

The Artist.

Photo credit: The Chicago International...

Still from Almanya

After some furious browsing through the festival booklet, I zeroed in on an Italian film The Salt of Life as my first film of the day. A very funny take on the middle- aged generation. A 50-something forced into early retirement is caught between a demanding mother and his own inability to attract young girls. Sort of like Shaukeen with just one lascivious gent.

Jahnu Barua’s first feature Aparoopa was part of the Indian Retrospective segment. A few discerning viewers chose it over other stuff playing elsewhere. Those that stayed till the end were rewarded with a warm Q & A with the director with cinematographer Binod Pradhan. Mercifully, the questions were meaningful and not ‘These are a few of my favourite things’. One question was on the unavailability of his other films. Barua mentioned that he’s working towards getting his films released on DVD. My fingers are crossed.

The 16th annual Stony Brook Film Festival wrapped over the weekend with a closing night screening of Yasemin Samdereli's German comedy "Almanya" and an awards ceremony where Michael Cuesta's "Roadie" took the top honor (Jury Award Best Feature). In other categories Ron Termaat's drama "Don't Touch My Children" won the Audience Choice Award and Kate Connor and Michael Worth's "Fort McCoy" nabbed the Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking award. Below find ...

By Christy Karras

(from the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival)

As the Seattle International Film Festival drew to a close, attendance — bolstered by cool weather and a multifaceted slate — broke the $1 million box-office mark for the second year in a row.

But Siff is not about money. Nor is it about the industry or about sales or about getting the next gig. It is, in everything it does, about connecting audiences with new films.

Despite its whopping 450 films and one of the festival circuit’s largest attendance figures, Siff retains the feeling of small-town intimacy indicative of this big city. Viewers and volunteers easily mingle with directors who praise the questions from fanatical audiences, many of whom compete for the title of most films seen during the fest’s 25-day run. There is an unofficial iron-butt club for those who have seen at least 100 films.

This year’s festival started with...

By Christy Karras

(from the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival)

As the Seattle International Film Festival drew to a close, attendance — bolstered by cool weather and a multifaceted slate — broke the $1 million box-office mark for the second year in a row.

But Siff is not about money. Nor is it about the industry or about sales or about getting the next gig. It is, in everything it does, about connecting audiences with new films.

Despite its whopping 450 films and one of the festival circuit’s largest attendance figures, Siff retains the feeling of small-town intimacy indicative of this big city. Viewers and volunteers easily mingle with directors who praise the questions from fanatical audiences, many of whom compete for the title of most films seen during the fest’s 25-day run. There is an unofficial iron-butt club for those who have seen at least 100 films.

This year’s festival started with...

“To Be Heard” and “Hot Coffee” win big at Seattle International Film Festival’s awards ceremony today at Seattle’s Space Needle.

See below for the full list of winners and runners-up:

Siff 2011 Competition Awards

Siff 2011 Best New Director

Grand Jury Prize

Gandu, directed by “Q” Kaushik Mukherjee (India, 2010)

Jury Statement: “We chose to give the prize to a movie that bowled us over with its kinetic, brash humor and style-hoping dexterity, a portrait of tortured youth that refreshingly pokes fun at adolescent self-centeredness while simultaneously exploring the anger, despondency and malaise of a generation.”

Siff 2011 Best Documentary

Grand Jury Prize

Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff (USA, 2011)

Jury Statement: “Going beyond a well-known headline that was the butt of many jokes, Hot Coffee makes dry legal boilerplate spring to life in portraying human dramas with tragic consequences. It makes us all question our simple assumptions – it’s a film that needs to be seen.

“To Be Heard” and “Hot Coffee” win big at Seattle International Film Festival’s awards ceremony today at Seattle’s Space Needle.

See below for the full list of winners and runners-up:

Siff 2011 Competition Awards

Siff 2011 Best New Director

Grand Jury Prize

Gandu, directed by “Q” Kaushik Mukherjee (India, 2010)

Jury Statement: “We chose to give the prize to a movie that bowled us over with its kinetic, brash humor and style-hoping dexterity, a portrait of tortured youth that refreshingly pokes fun at adolescent self-centeredness while simultaneously exploring the anger, despondency and malaise of a generation.”

Siff 2011 Best Documentary

Grand Jury Prize

Hot Coffee, directed by Susan Saladoff (USA, 2011)

Jury Statement: “Going beyond a well-known headline that was the butt of many jokes, Hot Coffee makes dry legal boilerplate spring to life in portraying human dramas with tragic consequences. It makes us all question our simple assumptions – it’s a film that needs to be seen.

The annual Stony Brook Film Festival released their full lineup for the 16th edition of their event. Kicking off the festival will be U.S. premiere of Maria Peters "Sonny Boy." Closing night will feature the East Coast premiere of "Almanya," a German film directed by Yasemin Samdereli. Highlights among the 34 films locked down include: the U.S. premieres of "Silence is Golden," "Don't Touch My Children" and "With Love from ...

"Ralf Huettner's sleeper hit Vincent Wants to Sea was the surprise best picture winner at the 61st German Film Awards, Germany's version of the Oscars." Scott Roxborough from Berlin for the Hollywood Reporter: "Florian David Fitz, who's better known as a TV performer here, won best actor for his starring performance in Vincent as a Tourette's sufferer who, once in his life, wants to see the ocean."

The Lolas, as these awards are called, have three categories for Best Film: Gold, which has gone to Vincent; Silver, which goes this year to Yasemin Samdereli's immigration comedy Almanya, also picking up the screenplay award (which Samdereli shares with her sister, Nesrin); and Bronze, presented to If Not Us, Who?, Andres Veiel's retelling of the love story between Gudrun Ensslin and Bernward Vesper and their breakup when Ensslin enters into her fateful relationship with Andreas Baader.

Tom Tykwer wins Best Director for Three,...

Something like the Turkish-German equivalent of East is East combined with its upcoming sequel West is West, the bittersweet comedy Almanya – Willkommen In Deutschland (Almanya – Welcome to Germany) follows both the immigrant experience for Turks coming into Germany in the 1960s as well as a reluctant family trip back to the homeland, as second and third generation immigrants discover their heritage at the behest of an ageing patriarch – a former ‘guest worker’, now a German citizen and the focus of this story.

The film is riotously funny from the outset, with broad physical comedy and exaggerated characterisations working to make a lot of satirical points, often using national stereotyping. The difference between this and an episode of Top Gear though is that Welcome to Germany almost certainly has its heart in the right place and uses these stereotypes to play up the stupidity of stereotypes themselves.

The Germans and Turks...

The Berlin International Film Festival, or if you prefer – the Berlinale, is one of the world’s leading film festivals, and something that’s definitely worth our attention.

And if you thought we were going to miss this spectacle – you were wrong, because we’re also curious to find out who will return home with the Golden and Silver Bears statues!

The 2011 Berlin film festival opens tonight with the Coen brothers‘ Western remake True Grit, so let’s get started.

We all know, this remake of a 1969 classic Western, is already a nominee in even 10 categories, including best picture for the upcoming Oscar. And, by the way the filmmaking team Joel and Ethan Cohen also earned Oscar nods as best director.

The remake is already out in North America and so is not eligible for prizes at the closing ceremony on February 19, but it will screen out of competition today.

Matt Damon in Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's True Grit The Berlin Film Festival runs Feb. 10-20. In competition: A Torinoi Lo (The Turin Horse), Bela Tarr Bizim Buyuk Caresizligimiz (Our Grand Despair), Seyfi Teoman Coriolanus, Ralph Fiennes El premio (The Prize), Paula Markovitch Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (Nader and Simin, A Separation), Asghar Farhadi Les contes de la nuit (Tales of the Night), Michel Ocelot Lipstikka, Jonathan Sagall Margin Call, J. C. Chandor Saranghanda, Saranghaji Anneunda (Come Rain Come Shine), Lee Yoon-ki Schlafkrankheit (Sleeping Sickness), Ulrich Koehler The Forgiveness of Blood, Joshua Marston The Future, Miranda July Un Mundo Misterioso (A Mysterious World), Rodrigo Moreno V Subbotu (Innocent Saturday), Alexander Mindadze Wer wenn nicht wir (If Not Us, Who?), Andres Veiel Yelling to the Sky, Victoria Mahoney Out of competition: Almanya, Yasemin Samdereli Les femmes du 6eme etage (Service Entrance), Philippe Le Guay Mein bester Freund (My Best Enemy...

Officials from the 61st Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday unveiled the Competition program for this year’s event. It includes 22 films, 16 of which will be competing for the awards.

In addition there will be two special screenings: In solidarity with the convicted Iranian director Jafar Panahi, his film “Offside” will be presented on Feb. 11, the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. Also, the European premiere of Werner Herzog’s 3-D documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” will be shown as a special screening in the Berlinale Palast.

The winner of the Golden Bear will be announced at the festival awards ceremony on Feb. 19.

The following is the complete Berlinale Competition program.

“A Torinói Ló” (“The Turin Horse”) Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland

Directed by Béla Tarr

With János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos

World premiere

“Almanya – Willkommen in Deutschland” (“Almanya”) Germany

By Yasemin Samdereli – debut film

With Vedat Erincin, Fahri Yardin, Aylin Tezel,...

The 61st Berlin International Film Festival has finalised its Competition programme – including 22 diverse films, 16 of which will be competing in the awards.

The Competition programme contains a wide-range of films from countries all over the globe; ranging from USA drama Margin Call, by Jc Chandor to France’s Les femmes du 6ème étage, by Philippe Le Guay.

Adding to the Programme, there will be two special screenings, showcasing the films of acclaimed directors Jafar Panahi and Werner Herzog.

Panahi’s Offside will be presented on February 11, to coincide with the anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, while Werner Herzog’s 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams will be shown at the Berlinale Palast.

The 61st Berlin International Film Festival runs from 10 - 20 February, with the awards ceremony taking place on 19 February.

The winner of the Golden Bear will be shown as the closing film.

The contenders:

A Torinói Ló by Béla Tarr...

The Kevin Spacey/Jeremy Irons/Demi Moore financial drama joins 22 films in total, 16 of which will be competing for the Silver Bear. Unknown, the new Liam Neeson thriller with January Jones, will premiere Out of Competition at next month’s 61st Berlin Film Festival. That’s only fitting considering the Warner Bros movie was shot there. The 14 new films announced today join the 8 previously announced, including Opening Film True Grit and Coriolanus. Berlin Film Festival will run between February 10-20. The festival will also be staging 2 special screenings. Jafar Panahi’s Offside will be shown on February 11 out of solidarity of the jailed Iranian director. And Werner Herzog will premiere his 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams about prehistoric cave painting. In Competition A Torinói Ló (The Turin Horse) Hungary/France/Germany/Switzerland By Béla Tarr (Satantango, Werckmeister Harmonies) With János Derzsi, Erika Bók, Mihály Kormos World premiere Almanya -...