Sex, a provocative and candid look at constricting gender roles by Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud, has won the Europa Cinemas Label as best European film in the Panorama section of the 2024 Berlin Film Festival.
Jan Gunnar Roise and Thorbjorn Harr star in Sex as two married and ostensibly heterosexual chimney sweeps whose experiences lead them to question their supposedly fixed sexual and gender identities. The film was a critical hit in Berlin, with The Hollywood Reporter comparing its “gentle subversiveness” of the male character study to Joachim Trier’s twist on the traditional rom-com in the Oscar-nominated The Worst Person in the World. [Coincidentally, Worst Person in the World breakout Renate Reinsve was one of the big stars of the Berlinale this year, with two films in competition.]
The Europa Cinemas jury praised Sex as “fresh, original, and, above all, great fun,” adding: “Yes, it is a talky film, but we feel strongly that the open...
Jan Gunnar Roise and Thorbjorn Harr star in Sex as two married and ostensibly heterosexual chimney sweeps whose experiences lead them to question their supposedly fixed sexual and gender identities. The film was a critical hit in Berlin, with The Hollywood Reporter comparing its “gentle subversiveness” of the male character study to Joachim Trier’s twist on the traditional rom-com in the Oscar-nominated The Worst Person in the World. [Coincidentally, Worst Person in the World breakout Renate Reinsve was one of the big stars of the Berlinale this year, with two films in competition.]
The Europa Cinemas jury praised Sex as “fresh, original, and, above all, great fun,” adding: “Yes, it is a talky film, but we feel strongly that the open...
- 2/23/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In anticipation of the upcoming 95th Academy Awards, I conversed with Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson, whose sophomore film Beautiful Beings is Iceland’s official submission in consideration for the Best International Feature Category. The director shares thoughts on origins, inspirations, casting and his rehearsal process working with first time child actors. Having premiered his latest work at the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti program, Guðmundsson muses on his interests in mining the sometimes tragic and often devastating reality of preadolescence in a world of preoccupied and detached adults. Here is our conversation:
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- 4/25/2023
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
İlker Çatak’s The Teachers‘ Lounge, a German drama set in a primary school, has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film in the Panorama section of the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival.
Leonie Benesch (Babylon Berlin, Around the World in 80 Days) stars in The Teacher’s Lounge as an idealistic and ambitious young teacher who finds herself at odds with fellow teachers, parents and an inflexible and frustrating bureaucracy. Leonard Stettnisch, Eva Löbau, Michael Klammer, Anne-Kathrin Gummich, Kathrin Wehlisch, Uygar Tamer, and Özgür Karadeniz co-star.
“The film explores key subjects like the prevalence of bureaucracy in schools and issues of race and class, but above all it is a compelling rollercoaster of a drama,” the Europa Cinemas jury said in a statement.
The Europa Cinemas prize is backed the Europa Cinemas theatre network, an association of independent theater owners, representing more than 3,000 screens in over 700 cities across Europe,...
Leonie Benesch (Babylon Berlin, Around the World in 80 Days) stars in The Teacher’s Lounge as an idealistic and ambitious young teacher who finds herself at odds with fellow teachers, parents and an inflexible and frustrating bureaucracy. Leonard Stettnisch, Eva Löbau, Michael Klammer, Anne-Kathrin Gummich, Kathrin Wehlisch, Uygar Tamer, and Özgür Karadeniz co-star.
“The film explores key subjects like the prevalence of bureaucracy in schools and issues of race and class, but above all it is a compelling rollercoaster of a drama,” the Europa Cinemas jury said in a statement.
The Europa Cinemas prize is backed the Europa Cinemas theatre network, an association of independent theater owners, representing more than 3,000 screens in over 700 cities across Europe,...
- 2/25/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Diverse festival notables from Hannah Ha Ha to The Blue Caftan join a spattering of specialty horror titles led by Consecration, and the U.S. theatrical debut of Gaspar Noé’s controversial Irréversible: Straight Cut.
The last is presented by Altered Innocence, whose owner Frank Jaffe spoke with Deadline about why he wanted to give Noe’s unusual 2019 director’s cut — of the Argentinian/French director’s disturbing 2002 film Irreversible — a release Stateside. “It’s a film that needs to be seen. Or made available,” he said. StudioCanal approached him twice. “They said, ‘No one is brave enough to take on this film. Will you?’” And “there is an audience for it…Tickets are selling.”
Jaffe said he first watched Irreversible, or tried to, via Netflix mail order DVD when he was 14. “My dad made me turn it off halfway through.”
It had a big impact on him. He...
The last is presented by Altered Innocence, whose owner Frank Jaffe spoke with Deadline about why he wanted to give Noe’s unusual 2019 director’s cut — of the Argentinian/French director’s disturbing 2002 film Irreversible — a release Stateside. “It’s a film that needs to be seen. Or made available,” he said. StudioCanal approached him twice. “They said, ‘No one is brave enough to take on this film. Will you?’” And “there is an audience for it…Tickets are selling.”
Jaffe said he first watched Irreversible, or tried to, via Netflix mail order DVD when he was 14. “My dad made me turn it off halfway through.”
It had a big impact on him. He...
- 2/10/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s dreamy “Beautiful Beings,” which is Iceland’s entry for the Oscars this year, is about what used to be called juvenile delinquents; it observes a group of boys with little or ineffectual parental supervision as they test each other and comfort each other and get into trouble. The pace is languorous, and the Icelandic settings are so lovely that the problems the boys have tend to seem less important or troubling than they should.
Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason) lives in what is described by the other boys as a “bum’s house,” but the red and blue exterior of his home is gorgeous, and though the inside isn’t too clean, the soft light coming from the windows and the swaying curtains in the breeze make it look inviting. Balli is being bullied at school, and a boy hits him in the face with a burned tree branch,...
Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason) lives in what is described by the other boys as a “bum’s house,” but the red and blue exterior of his home is gorgeous, and though the inside isn’t too clean, the soft light coming from the windows and the swaying curtains in the breeze make it look inviting. Balli is being bullied at school, and a boy hits him in the face with a burned tree branch,...
- 1/20/2023
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
Four young boys come of age in Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s textured yet maudlin kitchen-sink drama Beautiful Beings. Guðmundsson’s sophomore feature (and Iceland’s Oscar submission) oddly mashes together the bleak nihilism of a Larry Clark feature with flashes of magical realism, never really synthesizing the two competing styles. While compelling in individual scenes, especially as the boys navigate their increased anger at the world, Beautiful Beings ultimately whiplashes between too many ideas and subplots to create a coherent thematic through line.
We begin following Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason), a young boy who is brutally bullied at school. After a particularly violent incident in which he is beaten with a tree branch, he makes the local news and is forced to wear a face mask to cover up his injuries. At this point the narrative switches to Addi (Birgir Dagur Bjarkason), the one who assaulted Balli. Addi takes an interest in the quiet boy,...
We begin following Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason), a young boy who is brutally bullied at school. After a particularly violent incident in which he is beaten with a tree branch, he makes the local news and is forced to wear a face mask to cover up his injuries. At this point the narrative switches to Addi (Birgir Dagur Bjarkason), the one who assaulted Balli. Addi takes an interest in the quiet boy,...
- 1/18/2023
- by Christian Gallichio
- The Film Stage
Legal docudrama Saint Omer was voted Best Picture at the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which announced this year’s juried award winners today.
Saint Omer wins for its ability “to expertly interrogate issues of society, culture, race, and gender,” the festival release stated. “Alice Diop, as screenwriter and director, delivers a film that explores different dynamics of Black women in contemporary France, drawing empathetic lead performances from Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanga. By harnessing the skills of her technical team, Diop turns Saint Omer into a shrewd, cogent, ambitious, and overwhelming film which teases a metafictional awareness while remaining clear-eyed and unsentimental.”
The Palm Springs festival took place from January 5-16 and screened 134 films from 64 countries, including 27 premieres. The lineup includes 35 of the International Feature Film Oscar submissions.
The jury award categories included the Fipresci Prize for films...
Saint Omer wins for its ability “to expertly interrogate issues of society, culture, race, and gender,” the festival release stated. “Alice Diop, as screenwriter and director, delivers a film that explores different dynamics of Black women in contemporary France, drawing empathetic lead performances from Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanga. By harnessing the skills of her technical team, Diop turns Saint Omer into a shrewd, cogent, ambitious, and overwhelming film which teases a metafictional awareness while remaining clear-eyed and unsentimental.”
The Palm Springs festival took place from January 5-16 and screened 134 films from 64 countries, including 27 premieres. The lineup includes 35 of the International Feature Film Oscar submissions.
The jury award categories included the Fipresci Prize for films...
- 1/15/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
The big winner at the Stockholm International Film Festival 2022 was Holy Spider, directed by Swedish-Danish-Iranian Ali Abbasi.
Complete list of winners below
The film won the Bronze Horse for Best Film, while lead actor Mehdi Bajestani was named Best Male Actor for his role as serial killer Saeed Hanaei. The film was based on the true story of the so-called ‘Spider-Killer’ who targeted sex workers and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran. The film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating the crimes.
In presenting Abbasi with his award, the jury said of Holy Spider:
“A groundbreaking film that is done not only with enormous courage but with mastery that leaves us breathless; our insides both speechless and wanting to cream. A punch in the gut for systematic belief systems that oppress rather than support. An eye opener and a most emotional cinematic experience that awakens internal revolutions in us.
Complete list of winners below
The film won the Bronze Horse for Best Film, while lead actor Mehdi Bajestani was named Best Male Actor for his role as serial killer Saeed Hanaei. The film was based on the true story of the so-called ‘Spider-Killer’ who targeted sex workers and killed 16 women from 2000 to 2001 in Mashhad, Iran. The film depicts a fictional female journalist investigating the crimes.
In presenting Abbasi with his award, the jury said of Holy Spider:
“A groundbreaking film that is done not only with enormous courage but with mastery that leaves us breathless; our insides both speechless and wanting to cream. A punch in the gut for systematic belief systems that oppress rather than support. An eye opener and a most emotional cinematic experience that awakens internal revolutions in us.
- 11/19/2022
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
Iceland’s entry for the Best International Feature Oscar is a tense, tender portrait of teenage boyhood. The second feature from writer-director Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson (Heartstone), Beautiful Beings world premiered in Berlin Panorama, where it won the Europa Cinemas Label.
Awards continue for this hard-hitting yet sensitive film featuring a compelling turn from newcomer Birgir Dagur as Addi, a boy who befriends the bullied Balli (Áskell Einar). Alongside nuanced performances from its young cast, it also features a strong adult supporting cast including Icelandic star Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Trapped) as an abusive stepfather.
After inviting Balli into his little gang, Addi begins to experience predictive dreams, alerting him of his neighbors’ secrets and warning of danger. But Addi still struggles to prevent his hot-headed friend Konni (Viktor Benóný) from getting into trouble.
It’s an involving story that builds in time for quiet contemplation alongside its nerve-wracking moments. Addi frequently...
Awards continue for this hard-hitting yet sensitive film featuring a compelling turn from newcomer Birgir Dagur as Addi, a boy who befriends the bullied Balli (Áskell Einar). Alongside nuanced performances from its young cast, it also features a strong adult supporting cast including Icelandic star Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Trapped) as an abusive stepfather.
After inviting Balli into his little gang, Addi begins to experience predictive dreams, alerting him of his neighbors’ secrets and warning of danger. But Addi still struggles to prevent his hot-headed friend Konni (Viktor Benóný) from getting into trouble.
It’s an involving story that builds in time for quiet contemplation alongside its nerve-wracking moments. Addi frequently...
- 11/7/2022
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
Festival runs November 9-20.
The Stockholm International Film Festival will present 130 films from 50 countries, opening on November 9 with Sweden’s international Oscar submission, Boy From Heaven by Tarik Saleh.
Political thriller Boy From Heaven premiered in competition at Cannes where it was awarded best screenplay.
Actor Fares Fares will receive the Stockholm Achievement Award on opening night. His credits include Easy Money, Safe House, Westworld and Chernobyl.
The Stockholm Visionary Award will go to Sam Mendes who will present the Nordic premiere of Empire Of Light.
Other notable selections include Luca Guadagnino’s Bones And All; Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King...
The Stockholm International Film Festival will present 130 films from 50 countries, opening on November 9 with Sweden’s international Oscar submission, Boy From Heaven by Tarik Saleh.
Political thriller Boy From Heaven premiered in competition at Cannes where it was awarded best screenplay.
Actor Fares Fares will receive the Stockholm Achievement Award on opening night. His credits include Easy Money, Safe House, Westworld and Chernobyl.
The Stockholm Visionary Award will go to Sam Mendes who will present the Nordic premiere of Empire Of Light.
Other notable selections include Luca Guadagnino’s Bones And All; Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King...
- 10/13/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 9/21/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: The Icelandic Film and Television Academy has selected Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s Beautiful Beings as Iceland’s official entry in the Best International Feature Film category for the 2023 Academy Awards.
The coming-of-age drama world premiered in Berlin Panorama this year, where it won the Europa Cinemas Label and then went on to play over 30 festivals, winning eight awards to date. It is currently selected for the European Film Awards’ longlist.
The feature is Guðmundsson’s second film after his award-winning debut feature Heartstone.
Set in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, the drama follows Addi, a teenage boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who adopts a bullied kid into his group of violent misfits.
When the boys’ own aggressive behavior escalates toward life-threatening situations, Addi starts to experience a series of dreamlike visions. Will his newfound intuition guide him and his friends toward a safer path, or will they dive further into violence?...
The coming-of-age drama world premiered in Berlin Panorama this year, where it won the Europa Cinemas Label and then went on to play over 30 festivals, winning eight awards to date. It is currently selected for the European Film Awards’ longlist.
The feature is Guðmundsson’s second film after his award-winning debut feature Heartstone.
Set in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik, the drama follows Addi, a teenage boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who adopts a bullied kid into his group of violent misfits.
When the boys’ own aggressive behavior escalates toward life-threatening situations, Addi starts to experience a series of dreamlike visions. Will his newfound intuition guide him and his friends toward a safer path, or will they dive further into violence?...
- 9/20/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
New Europe Film Sales has added U.K. distributor Signature Entertainment to the slew of global buyers won over by Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s “Beautiful Beings,” which has racked up awards from Poland, Bulgaria, Italy and Taiwan, since its first bow at the last Berlinale Panorama.
Earlier deals were closed with the U.S. (Altered Innocence), Hungary (Vertigo), Benelux (Arti Film), Germany/Austria (Salzgeber), Spain (Filmin), and Cee (HBO).
Billed by Variety reviewer Jessica Kiang as an “Icelandic coming-of age, radiant with violence and tenderness,” Guðmundsson’s drama revolves around a young boy raised by a clairvoyant mother who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders.
“It’s about the importance of parental support and guidance and how that can influence youngsters and their decision-making,” said the director.
Guðmundsson is among a handful of standout Icelandic voices on New Europe Film Sales’ roster, together with Hlynur Pálmason and Valdimar Jóhansson,...
Earlier deals were closed with the U.S. (Altered Innocence), Hungary (Vertigo), Benelux (Arti Film), Germany/Austria (Salzgeber), Spain (Filmin), and Cee (HBO).
Billed by Variety reviewer Jessica Kiang as an “Icelandic coming-of age, radiant with violence and tenderness,” Guðmundsson’s drama revolves around a young boy raised by a clairvoyant mother who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders.
“It’s about the importance of parental support and guidance and how that can influence youngsters and their decision-making,” said the director.
Guðmundsson is among a handful of standout Icelandic voices on New Europe Film Sales’ roster, together with Hlynur Pálmason and Valdimar Jóhansson,...
- 8/25/2022
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
The first 30 titles in the running for the EFAs have been announced.
The first 30 titles in the running for the 2022 European Film Awards have been revealed with a second wave of titles due to be announced in September.
Scroll down for first selection of films
The titles include Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness, Carla Simón’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Alcarras and Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-winner Belfast. Also selected is Colm Bairéad’s The Quiet Girl, which is Ireland’s submission for the best international feature Oscar.
Further Cannes award winners to make the first...
The first 30 titles in the running for the 2022 European Film Awards have been revealed with a second wave of titles due to be announced in September.
Scroll down for first selection of films
The titles include Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness, Carla Simón’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Alcarras and Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-winner Belfast. Also selected is Colm Bairéad’s The Quiet Girl, which is Ireland’s submission for the best international feature Oscar.
Further Cannes award winners to make the first...
- 8/18/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Polish-born Dagmara Domińczyk, who stars in “Succession” as Karolina Novotney, the head of PR for Waystar Royco, embraces her Eastern European heritage in the upcoming animation “My Love Affair With Marriage.” Directed by Signe Baumane, also behind 2014’s “Rocks in My Pockets,” the film – inspired by Baumane’s turbulent past relationships – will premiere at Tribeca and Annecy.
New Europe Film Sales is handling sales at the Cannes Market, alongside Un Certain Regard title “Godland,” Berlinale premieres “Beautiful Beings” and “A Piece of Sky,” as well as two other animations, “The Peasants” and “Yuku and the Himalayan Flower.”
The actor, who voices main character Zelma, torn between traditional views on marriage, a women’s role and her own happiness, felt “an instant connection” with the Latvian animator.
“We understood each other. We both come from the Eastern Bloc – it’s something we have in our genes, in our DNA. For Signe,...
New Europe Film Sales is handling sales at the Cannes Market, alongside Un Certain Regard title “Godland,” Berlinale premieres “Beautiful Beings” and “A Piece of Sky,” as well as two other animations, “The Peasants” and “Yuku and the Himalayan Flower.”
The actor, who voices main character Zelma, torn between traditional views on marriage, a women’s role and her own happiness, felt “an instant connection” with the Latvian animator.
“We understood each other. We both come from the Eastern Bloc – it’s something we have in our genes, in our DNA. For Signe,...
- 5/24/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Titles include Sundance Jury prize winner ‘Utama’
Transilvania International Film Festival has unveiled the 12 films that will screen in its official competition.
Each title competing for the Transilvania Trophy will receive its Romanian premiere at the 21st edition of the festival, which is set to take place in the city of Cluj-Napoca.
The line-up features Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s Utama, a Bolivian drama about an indigenous couple trying to survive a drought, which took home the Jury prize at Sundance Film Festival early this year.
Other titles include the directorial debut by French filmmaker Vincent Maël Cardona - Magentic Beats.
Transilvania International Film Festival has unveiled the 12 films that will screen in its official competition.
Each title competing for the Transilvania Trophy will receive its Romanian premiere at the 21st edition of the festival, which is set to take place in the city of Cluj-Napoca.
The line-up features Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s Utama, a Bolivian drama about an indigenous couple trying to survive a drought, which took home the Jury prize at Sundance Film Festival early this year.
Other titles include the directorial debut by French filmmaker Vincent Maël Cardona - Magentic Beats.
- 5/19/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Writer-director Tinna Hrafnsdóttir’s critically acclaimed Icelandic psychological-mystery drama “Quake” has sold to Juno Films for North America and the U.K. as well as to Njuta Films for Sweden.
British-French production, distribution and sales company Alief is presenting the film at the upcoming Cannes Marché du Film.
Anita Briem stars as Saga, a single mother fighting to keep her young son while trying to piece together her life after losing her memory. Afraid of being considered unable to take care of her child, Saga attempts to hide her state from others as she searches for answers and recovers long repressed memories.
“‘Quake’ is a taut mystery-thriller that masterfully spirals toward a cathartic, emotionally satisfying resolution,” said Elizabeth Sheldon, Juno Films’ president and CEO. “The stunning cinematography reflects a barren cold landscape that in turn reflects the emotionally frigid familial relationships in a film that keeps you guessing — until the very end — what is true.
British-French production, distribution and sales company Alief is presenting the film at the upcoming Cannes Marché du Film.
Anita Briem stars as Saga, a single mother fighting to keep her young son while trying to piece together her life after losing her memory. Afraid of being considered unable to take care of her child, Saga attempts to hide her state from others as she searches for answers and recovers long repressed memories.
“‘Quake’ is a taut mystery-thriller that masterfully spirals toward a cathartic, emotionally satisfying resolution,” said Elizabeth Sheldon, Juno Films’ president and CEO. “The stunning cinematography reflects a barren cold landscape that in turn reflects the emotionally frigid familial relationships in a film that keeps you guessing — until the very end — what is true.
- 5/12/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
New Europe Film Sales has announced the first sales for Cannes Un Certain Regard-selected “Godland,” directed by Iceland’s Hlynur Pálmason.
The film was picked up in France by Jour2Fete, and the movie was also acquired by three distributors that worked on Pálmason’s Cannes Critics’ Week title “A White, White Day” – Benelux rights were sold to Imagine, Poland was picked up by New Horizons Association and Australia/New Zealand was picked up by Palace.
The film is set in the late 19th century, when a young Danish priest travels to a remote part of Iceland to build a church and photograph its people. But the deeper he goes into the unforgiving landscape, the more he strays from his purpose, the mission and morality.
The film is produced by Denmark’s Snowglobe in collaboration with Iceland’s Join Motion Pictures, in co-production with France’s Maneki Films, Film I Väst & Garagefilm in Sweden,...
The film was picked up in France by Jour2Fete, and the movie was also acquired by three distributors that worked on Pálmason’s Cannes Critics’ Week title “A White, White Day” – Benelux rights were sold to Imagine, Poland was picked up by New Horizons Association and Australia/New Zealand was picked up by Palace.
The film is set in the late 19th century, when a young Danish priest travels to a remote part of Iceland to build a church and photograph its people. But the deeper he goes into the unforgiving landscape, the more he strays from his purpose, the mission and morality.
The film is produced by Denmark’s Snowglobe in collaboration with Iceland’s Join Motion Pictures, in co-production with France’s Maneki Films, Film I Väst & Garagefilm in Sweden,...
- 4/29/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Altered Innocence has picked up all U.S. rights to Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s second feature film “Beautiful Beings,” which was an official selection in the Panorama section of Berlinale this year. A theatrical release is planned for early next year.
The follow-up to the critically acclaimed “Heartstone” is an exploration of the deep bonds of adolescent friendship disrupted by penchants for violence with one foot placed in the realm of the supernatural.
The film centers on Addi, a boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders. Left to their own devices, the boys explore aggression and violence but also learn about loyalty and love. As the group’s behavior escalates toward life-threatening situations, Addi begins to experience a series of dreamlike visions.
In Jessica Kiang’s review for Variety, she writes: “Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s beautiful and cruel second...
The follow-up to the critically acclaimed “Heartstone” is an exploration of the deep bonds of adolescent friendship disrupted by penchants for violence with one foot placed in the realm of the supernatural.
The film centers on Addi, a boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders. Left to their own devices, the boys explore aggression and violence but also learn about loyalty and love. As the group’s behavior escalates toward life-threatening situations, Addi begins to experience a series of dreamlike visions.
In Jessica Kiang’s review for Variety, she writes: “Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s beautiful and cruel second...
- 4/14/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Drama
“Floodlights,” a feature-length single drama for BBC Two and BBC iPlayer tells the story of Andy Woodward, the former professional soccer player whose revelations about the sexual abuse he suffered as a youth player sent shockwaves throughout the industry. In 2016, Woodward went public about sexual abuse by his youth coach, Barry Bennell. After doing so, hundreds more men, many also victims of Bennell, found the courage to speak up about their experiences of abuse, lifting the lid on a national scandal in the U.K.’s most popular sport.
Gerard Kearns (“The Last Kingdom”) portrays Woodward and the cast also includes Jonas Armstrong (“Hollington Drive”), Morven Christie (“Lockwood & Co”) and Steve Edge (“Benidorm”).
“Floodlights,” made with the full cooperation of Woodward, is written by BAFTA-winning screenwriter, Matt Greenhalgh and directed by BAFTA-nominated Nick Rowland (“Calm With Horses”). It is produced by Expectation, part of BBC Studios’ portfolio of indies...
“Floodlights,” a feature-length single drama for BBC Two and BBC iPlayer tells the story of Andy Woodward, the former professional soccer player whose revelations about the sexual abuse he suffered as a youth player sent shockwaves throughout the industry. In 2016, Woodward went public about sexual abuse by his youth coach, Barry Bennell. After doing so, hundreds more men, many also victims of Bennell, found the courage to speak up about their experiences of abuse, lifting the lid on a national scandal in the U.K.’s most popular sport.
Gerard Kearns (“The Last Kingdom”) portrays Woodward and the cast also includes Jonas Armstrong (“Hollington Drive”), Morven Christie (“Lockwood & Co”) and Steve Edge (“Benidorm”).
“Floodlights,” made with the full cooperation of Woodward, is written by BAFTA-winning screenwriter, Matt Greenhalgh and directed by BAFTA-nominated Nick Rowland (“Calm With Horses”). It is produced by Expectation, part of BBC Studios’ portfolio of indies...
- 3/29/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Travel within Europe is returning to normal as the coronavirus pandemic winds down. The same is not yet true in Asia, where some countries are behind the pandemic curve – Hong Kong is currently closed to all travel from nine countries – making FilMart’s online market a viable way of connecting film industry buyers and sellers without the quarantine and testing hassle.
Eight European sales companies make their FilMart debuts this week on the Europe! Umbrella! stand at this year’s third virtual edition of the Hong Kong rights market. In total, 25 European sales outfits, hailing from eight countries have signed up to use the European Film Promotion-operated platform within a platform.
For Asian distributors which did not make it to Berlin and the European Film Market the umbrella allows them to dip into several Berlinale titles where rights in Asia are still available.
These include Coproduction Office’s Berlin competition...
Eight European sales companies make their FilMart debuts this week on the Europe! Umbrella! stand at this year’s third virtual edition of the Hong Kong rights market. In total, 25 European sales outfits, hailing from eight countries have signed up to use the European Film Promotion-operated platform within a platform.
For Asian distributors which did not make it to Berlin and the European Film Market the umbrella allows them to dip into several Berlinale titles where rights in Asia are still available.
These include Coproduction Office’s Berlin competition...
- 3/13/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Who knows why a sight as pitiful as 14-year-old Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason), the unwashed, neglected child of an abusive stepfather and a largely absent mother, inspires a protective instinct in some kids, and a vicious one in others? Who knows why, at times, a protector can himself become a bully? Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s beautiful and cruel second feature boasts an outstanding juvenile ensemble cast. But almost more than it stars any of them, it stars the ebbs and swells of an inescapable legacy of heteronormative male violence, that fills childhoods with dark, shameful corners that no pale, bright splashes of Icelandic sun can ever warm. In the end, boys will beat boys.
Balli is fleeing another day of peer humiliation and adult inattention at school when three of his schoolmates catch up with him and administer a thrashing so bad it makes the local news and forces him...
Balli is fleeing another day of peer humiliation and adult inattention at school when three of his schoolmates catch up with him and administer a thrashing so bad it makes the local news and forces him...
- 2/24/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish director Carla Simón has won the Golden Bear, the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival, for her second feature “Alcarràs,” a moving drama about a Catalan farming family facing eviction from their land. She received the prize from jury president M. Night Shyamalan, capping a strong night for female filmmakers. Full report to follow.
Official Competition
Golden Bear for Best Film: “Alcarràs,” Carla Simón
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “The Novelist’s Film,” Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear Jury Prize: “Robe of Gem,” Natalia Lopez Gallardo
Silver Bear for Best Director: “Fire,” Claire Denis
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Meltem Kaptan
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: “Before, Now and Then (Nana),” Laura Basuki
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Laila Stieler
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “Everything Will Be Ok,” Rithy Panh
Special Mention: “A Piece of Sky,...
Official Competition
Golden Bear for Best Film: “Alcarràs,” Carla Simón
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: “The Novelist’s Film,” Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear Jury Prize: “Robe of Gem,” Natalia Lopez Gallardo
Silver Bear for Best Director: “Fire,” Claire Denis
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Meltem Kaptan
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance: “Before, Now and Then (Nana),” Laura Basuki
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: “Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush,” Laila Stieler
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: “Everything Will Be Ok,” Rithy Panh
Special Mention: “A Piece of Sky,...
- 2/16/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Aligning itself with the bleaker coming-of-age films, Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson’s Beautiful Beings takes on the glamour and the anxieties that define teenagehood. Through the 39-year-old’s lens, the brutality and camaraderie of these formative years blend seamlessly while conjuring a contemplation of friendship, violence, and abuse that is as humanistic as it is unsettling.
The place is Iceland, and the time, probably not today considering social media’s absence and some rather old-school technology. We meet the film’s protagonist in Addi (Birgir Dagur Bjarkason) as he mockingly calls a victim of bullying, and incidentally his schoolmate Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason) “some total nerd” when the latter makes the news after having been brutally assaulted by his peers. Addi may not be a bad guy after all, though - he and his friends, Konni (Viktor Benóný Benediktsson) and Siggi (Snorri Rafn Frímannsson), later take Balli under their wing. Addi also possesses a peculiar vision-involving.
The place is Iceland, and the time, probably not today considering social media’s absence and some rather old-school technology. We meet the film’s protagonist in Addi (Birgir Dagur Bjarkason) as he mockingly calls a victim of bullying, and incidentally his schoolmate Balli (Áskell Einar Pálmason) “some total nerd” when the latter makes the news after having been brutally assaulted by his peers. Addi may not be a bad guy after all, though - he and his friends, Konni (Viktor Benóný Benediktsson) and Siggi (Snorri Rafn Frímannsson), later take Balli under their wing. Addi also possesses a peculiar vision-involving.
- 2/12/2022
- by Antoni Konieczny
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Spanish outfit scooped up rights to Aga Woszczyńska’s Toronto title Silent Land and Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s Reflection.
Spain’s Reverso Films has scooped up rights to Aga Woszczyńska’s Toronto title Silent Land and Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s Reflection, both being sold by Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales at the EFM.
New Europe is also reporting a Romanian pre-sale to Follow Art Distribution for Dorota Kobiela’s hand-painted animated feature. The Peasants. The ambitiousu film will be Kobiela’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent.
Meanwhile Japan’s Skouil and the former Yugoslav...
Spain’s Reverso Films has scooped up rights to Aga Woszczyńska’s Toronto title Silent Land and Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s Reflection, both being sold by Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales at the EFM.
New Europe is also reporting a Romanian pre-sale to Follow Art Distribution for Dorota Kobiela’s hand-painted animated feature. The Peasants. The ambitiousu film will be Kobiela’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent.
Meanwhile Japan’s Skouil and the former Yugoslav...
- 2/12/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Spanish outfit scooped up rights to Aga Woszczyńska’s Toronto title Silent Land and Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s Reflection.
Spain’s Reverso Films has scooped up rights to Aga Woszczyńska’s Toronto title Silent Land and Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s Reflection, both being sold by Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales at the EFM.
New Europe is also reporting a Romanian pre-sale to Follow Art Distribution for Dorota Kobiela’s hand-painted animated feature. The Peasants. The ambitiousu film will be Kobiela’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent.
Meanwhile Japan’s Skouil and the former Yugoslav...
Spain’s Reverso Films has scooped up rights to Aga Woszczyńska’s Toronto title Silent Land and Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s Reflection, both being sold by Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales at the EFM.
New Europe is also reporting a Romanian pre-sale to Follow Art Distribution for Dorota Kobiela’s hand-painted animated feature. The Peasants. The ambitiousu film will be Kobiela’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent.
Meanwhile Japan’s Skouil and the former Yugoslav...
- 2/12/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
The trailer for Gu∂mundur Arnar Gu∂mundsson’s teen drama “Beautiful Beings” has debuted ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday. The film, which plays in Panorama, is being sold by Jan Naszewski’s New Europe Film Sales.
“Beautiful Beings” was shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, the cinematographer on Oscar winner “Another Round,” and “Victoria,” for which he won a Silver Berlin Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
Gu∂mundsson is a name to watch after the warm reception for his first film, “Heartstone,” which premiered in Venice Days in 2016, winning the Queer Lion prize, and also played at Toronto in the Discovery section. The film won prizes at festivals in Chicago, Dallas, Warsaw, Thessaloniki, Seville, Copenhagen, Göteborg and Tromso.
“Beautiful Beings” centers on Addi, a boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders.
“Beautiful Beings” was shot by Sturla Brandth Grøvlen, the cinematographer on Oscar winner “Another Round,” and “Victoria,” for which he won a Silver Berlin Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.
Gu∂mundsson is a name to watch after the warm reception for his first film, “Heartstone,” which premiered in Venice Days in 2016, winning the Queer Lion prize, and also played at Toronto in the Discovery section. The film won prizes at festivals in Chicago, Dallas, Warsaw, Thessaloniki, Seville, Copenhagen, Göteborg and Tromso.
“Beautiful Beings” centers on Addi, a boy raised by a clairvoyant mother, who decides to adopt a bullied misfit into his gang of outsiders.
- 2/11/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
For his sophomore feature, “Beautiful Beings,” playing in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama, Icelandic helmer-writer Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson returns to the subject of his prize-winning first feature “Heartstone” (2016): fraught adolescent friendships and difficult family lives. In “Beautiful Beings,” a horrendously bullied youth forms a tentative rapport with a trio of tough outsiders. Together, the boys experiment with aggression and violence, but also learn about loyalty and love.
The action is captured with a shooting style that blends naturalism and lyricism, using mostly first-time young actors. To find his characters, Gudmundsson put out an open casting call across the country. “We wanted to get every kid in Iceland that has a dream of being in a film to show up. A lot of kids auditioned and we managed to find our main cast,” he says.
But creating the performances he wanted required work, Gudmundsson admits. “The rehearsal period was long.
The action is captured with a shooting style that blends naturalism and lyricism, using mostly first-time young actors. To find his characters, Gudmundsson put out an open casting call across the country. “We wanted to get every kid in Iceland that has a dream of being in a film to show up. A lot of kids auditioned and we managed to find our main cast,” he says.
But creating the performances he wanted required work, Gudmundsson admits. “The rehearsal period was long.
- 2/10/2022
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Stockholm-based production house Hobab whose buzzy Cannes Directors’ Fortnight “Clara Sola” was snapped by New-York-based Oscilloscope Laboratories, is ramping up its ambitions, with female-led projects.
“Our vision is to combine arthouse sensitivity with mainstream appeal, and to help talents – both Nordic and international – grow with care,” said Nima Yousefi, producer and joint owner with Peter Krupenin.
Pedigree European shingles Finland’s Tuffi Films, Denmark’s Toolbox and Italy’s Intramovies have boarded as co-producers Hobab’s next Swedish feature drama “Sisters,” from first-time fiction helmer Mika Gustafson.
Ruben Öslund’s former alumna at Göteborg’s Valand Academy, Gustafson had her international break with the short film “Mephobia,” followed by the doc-biopic “Silvana,” about rapper and feminist icon Silvana Imam.
Due to start lensing in June, “Sisters” is penned by Gustafson with actor-screenwriter Alexander Öhrstrand, seen in “The Bridge” and “The Hunt for a Killer.”
The coming of age story follows...
“Our vision is to combine arthouse sensitivity with mainstream appeal, and to help talents – both Nordic and international – grow with care,” said Nima Yousefi, producer and joint owner with Peter Krupenin.
Pedigree European shingles Finland’s Tuffi Films, Denmark’s Toolbox and Italy’s Intramovies have boarded as co-producers Hobab’s next Swedish feature drama “Sisters,” from first-time fiction helmer Mika Gustafson.
Ruben Öslund’s former alumna at Göteborg’s Valand Academy, Gustafson had her international break with the short film “Mephobia,” followed by the doc-biopic “Silvana,” about rapper and feminist icon Silvana Imam.
Due to start lensing in June, “Sisters” is penned by Gustafson with actor-screenwriter Alexander Öhrstrand, seen in “The Bridge” and “The Hunt for a Killer.”
The coming of age story follows...
- 2/2/2022
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Berlinale Series Market, Co-Production Market name selections.
The world premiere of French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero will open the Panorama section at next month’s Berlin International Film Festival, marking the first time the director has screened at the event.
Nobody’s Hero is one of 16 world premiere additions to the Panorama strand, joining the 13 titles confirmed last month for a complete list of 29 films.
Scroll down for the full list of new titles
The film takes place after a terrorist attack in Clermont-Ferrand in France, and centres on a likeable man in his mid-thirties, an older...
The world premiere of French filmmaker Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero will open the Panorama section at next month’s Berlin International Film Festival, marking the first time the director has screened at the event.
Nobody’s Hero is one of 16 world premiere additions to the Panorama strand, joining the 13 titles confirmed last month for a complete list of 29 films.
Scroll down for the full list of new titles
The film takes place after a terrorist attack in Clermont-Ferrand in France, and centres on a likeable man in his mid-thirties, an older...
- 1/18/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The program announcements continue for the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival this week, with the full Panorama line-up now confirmed.
Adding to the initial titles unveiled back in April are films including Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero, which opens the strand this year.
Also confirmed today were the titles that will participate in the Berlinale Series Market and Co-Pro Series event this year.
Taking part in Berlinale Series Market Selects will be The Fear Index, the upcoming show from Left Bank Pictures that is set to star Josh Hartnett, as well as projects from Keshet, Viaplay and Globo. See the full lists below.
Tomorrow, Berlin chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will unveil the 2022 Competition line-up at an event that kicks off at 11Am Cet.
Panorama Additions:
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm
Germany
by Cem Kaya
World premiere / Panorama Dokumente
Baqyt (Happiness)
Kazakhstan
by Askar Uzabayev
with Laura Myrzakhmetova,...
Adding to the initial titles unveiled back in April are films including Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero, which opens the strand this year.
Also confirmed today were the titles that will participate in the Berlinale Series Market and Co-Pro Series event this year.
Taking part in Berlinale Series Market Selects will be The Fear Index, the upcoming show from Left Bank Pictures that is set to star Josh Hartnett, as well as projects from Keshet, Viaplay and Globo. See the full lists below.
Tomorrow, Berlin chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will unveil the 2022 Competition line-up at an event that kicks off at 11Am Cet.
Panorama Additions:
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm
Germany
by Cem Kaya
World premiere / Panorama Dokumente
Baqyt (Happiness)
Kazakhstan
by Askar Uzabayev
with Laura Myrzakhmetova,...
- 1/18/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
French auteur Alain Guiraudie’s political drama “Nobody’s Hero” has been set as the opener of the 2022 Berlin Film Festival’s multifaceted Panorama strand, which has announced its full lineup.
The latest feature from Guiraudie, who is best known for his 2016 “Staying Vertical,” takes place in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, where a terrorist attack triggers some paranoid dynamics involving a young homeless man, a middle-aged sex worker and her married lover who have taken refuge in a building. The film’s cast comprises actor-director Noémie Lvovsky, Jean-Charles Clichet and Doria Tillier.
The ten-title Panorama Dokumente strand, which runs concurrently with the feature films, comprises previously announced transgender-themed doc “Nel Mio Nome” (“Into My Name”) by Italian director and producer Nicolò Bassetti. Elliot Page has come on board as executive producer to support the doc which observes gender transition from a female to a male identity of four characters within a...
The latest feature from Guiraudie, who is best known for his 2016 “Staying Vertical,” takes place in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, where a terrorist attack triggers some paranoid dynamics involving a young homeless man, a middle-aged sex worker and her married lover who have taken refuge in a building. The film’s cast comprises actor-director Noémie Lvovsky, Jean-Charles Clichet and Doria Tillier.
The ten-title Panorama Dokumente strand, which runs concurrently with the feature films, comprises previously announced transgender-themed doc “Nel Mio Nome” (“Into My Name”) by Italian director and producer Nicolò Bassetti. Elliot Page has come on board as executive producer to support the doc which observes gender transition from a female to a male identity of four characters within a...
- 1/18/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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