News

Films Boutique has acquired French and international rights to “Pigskin” (“Peau de cochon”), a 2004 film directed by Philippe Katerine, a French musician, actor and filmmaker who took part in the Olympics’ opening ceremony. Films Boutique will relaunch the film in the fall festivals for its 20th birthday.

Katerine stars in the film opposite French singer Dominique A, film critic Thierry Jousse and Helena Noguerra. Katerine won the Cesar for best actor in a supporting role in Gilles Lellouche’s box office hit “Le Grand Bain” in 2019. He’s also been celebrated as a musician and was crowned Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique, French equivalent to the Grammy awards in 2020. He previously performed “Moustache” on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show.

More recently, Katerine played the Greek God Dionysus in the controversial scene which was interpreted by some as a satirical take on Leonardo da Vinci’s religious painting “The Last Supper.

Like her fellow documentarian Frederick Wiseman, Claire Simon is drawn to institutions, and the human flow that keeps them running. Where many of Wiseman’s films favor a big picture, a systemic view, Simon often works in more intimate close-up, picking out faces and personalities from a larger institutional community. That warmly sociable approach serves the veteran French filmmaker well in “Elementary,” the latest of several Simon documentaries to be set in and around a place of learning — in this case, a diversely attended public elementary school in the outer-Paris suburb of Ivry-sur-Seine, also the backdrop for her 2018 high-school portrait “Young Solitude.”

Looking on with keen attention but little obstruction as the school’s staff and student body negotiate daily challenges of education, communication and conflict, “Elementary” is a gentle, good-humored film, but not a toothless one — making as it does an unspoken but resonant plea for France’s squeezed...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSThe Little Mermaid.A generative AI start-up has been accused of stealing the voices of actors for its subscription service.IATSE expects to schedule additional days of bargaining with AMPTP in June, but has vowed not to extend its contract past July 31.With Incaa defunded by Argentine president Javier Milei, Ventana Sur is in talks to relocate from Buenos Aires to Uruguay for its sixteenth edition.As the Italian film industry continues to wait on a divided government to make production tax credits available, anticipating modest cuts, a new law in the Czech Parliament would more than double the existing cap on their incentives. Meanwhile, industry insiders in Poland urge a newly elected government to increase their rebate...

From the opening moments of Elementary (Apprendre), Claire Simon establishes a quiet respect for her primary-school-aged subjects. The camera stays low, framing the excited, nervous and eager faces of students on the first day of class at Makarenko Public Elementary School in the Parisian suburb of Ivry-sur-Seine. As the mother of one particularly shy student speaks to a teacher, Simon, assuming the perspective of the young kid, tilts her camera upward to look at the pair.

Elementary, which premiered at Cannes as a special screening, marks Simon’s return to Ivry-sur-Seine and the subject of student lives. Before last year’s Our Body, her unflinching documentary about healthcare in France, the director documented the rough social dynamics of kindergartners in Récréation (1998) and the competitive admissions process at France’s La Femis filmmaking academy in The Graduation (2016). And in 2018’s Young Solitude, Simon intimately observed the valences of adolescent angst and...

Veteran French director Claire Simon, whose doc Elementary is premiering as a Special Screening, is developing a film about Nobel prizewinning writer Annie Ernaux with the working title You Talk Of Ourselves.

The feature doc will look at the reaction of high school and university students to Ernaux’s work. It has been commissioned by La Grande Librarie, the French TV show with a huge influence on book sales in France,

Simon is also preparing two fiction projects. I Am My Father, inspired by the memory of her father and an untitled children’s film about a boy living with his disabled father.

European production and sales studio Vuelta Group has bought German producer Telepool from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook.

The deal, struck through Vuelta subsidiary SquareOne, will see a combined business operating under the SquareOne banner. SquareOne and Vuelta Group Germany CEO Al Munteanu will lead the banner, with Michael Heyd serving as CFO and COO.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but the combined group will boast a library of over 1,200 titles such as Drive, Intouchables, Olympus Has Fallen, Transporter 3 and the recently released One Life. It will form part of the growing Vuelta Group, which in July last year we revealed had formed through the acquisitions of SquareOne, Paris-based international sales firm Playtime Group and Nordic distributor-producer Scanbox.

Vuelta Group Chairman Jeromt Levy, who launched the group with $50M backing from an unnamed U.S. private equity firm, announced the news today along with Munteanu.

German distributor-producer SquareOne Entertainment, part of rising European film studio Vuelta Group, has acquired German film and TV production, distribution and licensing company Telepool, which was owned by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook.

The news was announced Wednesday by Vuelta Group chairman Jerome Levy and CEO of SquareOne and Vuelta Group Germany Al Munteanu.

Munteanu will spearhead the newly combined entity under the SquareOne banner with Michael Heyd serving as CFO/COO.

The newly combined SquareOne entity will boast a library consisting of over 1,200 titles such as “Drive,” “Intouchables,” “The Olympus Has Fallen,” “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” “Imitation Game,” “Lone Survivor,” “Book Club,” “Transporter 3,” “King Richard,” “Maurice the Tomcat” and the recently released “One Life” among others.

“For over 60 years, Telepool has been one of the leading global content houses and we are proud of the work we did with the company,” said Westbrook CEO Kosaku Yada.

Films Boutique has taken world sales rights to documentary “Elementary,” directed by Claire Simon, ahead of the film’s world premiere in the Special Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival.

The film was shot at the Makarenko public elementary school on the outskirts of Paris. “Children want to learn and to be cheered while teachers know they do not only teach, they also educate,” according to a press statement. “With care, tenacity and effort, children are trained to become not only responsible citizens but also human beings.”

Simon previously directed the documentary “Our Body” (Notre Corps), which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2023 and was nominated for a César as best documentary in 2024. The film was also part of the Documentary Film Selection of the European Film Awards in 2023.

Jean-Christophe Simon, CEO of Films Boutique, said: “Following the fantastic international reception of ‘Our Body’ last year, we are...

It can be a fine line between goodbye and good riddance. Carlo Chatrian might have breathed a sigh of relief when his tenure as Berlinale’s creative director came to an end this February, yet wherever the festival goes from here, his reign will be warmly remembered. Not least for Encounters, the sidebar he instituted, which fast became a home and launching pad for films too daring or challenging for the competition proper. This year’s edition opened with a film that felt like a legacy pick: in 2022, Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher became the first documentary to win the top prize, and Beckermann returned this year with Favoriten, a work that itself seemed to echo and engage with another gem of the Chatrian reign, Mr. Bachman and His Class, a film about a multi-cultural classroom in a German high school. Beckermann’s film moves that concept to the most diverse neighborhood in Vienna,...

The Cannes Premiere section stocked up on films from France with Alain Guiraudie’s Misericorde among the mix, the Out of Competition section added a Canuck oddity from Winnipeger Guy Maddin and co., the Midnight Section Screenings landed Nicolas Cage starring The Surfer by Lorcan Finnegan and Sergei Loznitsa once again drops a docu film on the Croisette with an item in the Special Screenings section. Here are nineteen titles that dropped this morning:

Cannes Premiere

“C’est Pas Moi,” Leos Carax

“En Fanfare” (“The Matching Bang”), Emmanuel Courcol

“Everybody Loves Touda,” Nabil Ayouch

“Le Roman de Jim,” Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu

“Misericorde,” Alain Guiraudie

“Rendez-Vous Avec Pol Pot,” Rithy Panh

Out Of Competition

“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” George Miller

“Horizon, an American Saga,” Kevin Costner

“Rumours,” Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Guy Maddin

“She’s Got No Name,” Chan Peter Ho-Sun

Midnight Screenings

“I, the Executioner,” Seung Wan Ryoo

“The Balconettes...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook.NEWSThe Delinquents.The start of the Academy Awards ceremony was delayed by hundreds of protestors obstructing the red carpet to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.Asghar Farhadi has been cleared of plagiarism charges by an Iranian court after allegations were leveled by a former student, who accused him of stealing the idea for A Hero (2021) from her documentary on the same subject, produced in his 2014 filmmaking workshop.Meanwhile, Alexander Payne has been accused of plagiarizing The Holdovers (2023) “line-by-line” from a screenplay by Simon Stephenson he appears to have read on spec.Thailand is planning to reform its national film industry as part of a “soft power” program, which may include increased production funding, more rebates for foreign productions, and a reduction of state censorship domestically.

Thomas Cailley’s fantasy drama The Animal Kingdom topped the nominations for France’s César Awards, which were announced in Paris on Wednesday.

The drama picked up 12 nominations with Justine Triet’s Oscar hopeful Anatomy Of A Fall coming in second with 11 nominations, followed by Jeanne Herry’s All Your Faces, which nine, and The Goldman Case, with eight.

Set in a world where human beings start transmuting into animals, The Animal Kingdom world premiered as the opening film of Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2023 and went on to make $8.5M at the box office last fall.

The Animal Kingdom and Anatomy of a Fall are competing in eight categories spanning Best Film, Director, Original Screenplay, Male Revelation, Editing, Sound, Cinematography and Production Design.

The high nomination count for Herry’s ensemble drama All Your Faces was thanks to the fact it dominated the Supporting Actress category with separate nominations for cast members Leila Bekhti,...

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall was named best film of the year at France’s Lumiere Awards on Monday evening.

Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari also took home the best screenplay award and lead Sandra Hüller earned the prize for best actress at the 29th edition of the awards, considered to be France’s version of the Golden Globes and voted on by international correspondents from 36 countries.

The courtroom drama about a woman on trial for her husband’s death in the French Alps was nominated in six categories, but Lumiere voters spread their votes across the board...

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall continued its prize-winning run on Monday at France’s 29th Lumière Awards clinching Best Film and Best Screenplay, while its German star Sandra Hüller won Best Actress.

The Lumières fete the best films, performances and technical achievements of French cinema across 13 categories.

The French equivalent of the Golden Globes, they are voted on by the Académie des Lumières which is made up of France-based international journalists representing 36 countries.

In other key prizes, Thomas Cailley won Best Director for Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard opener The Animal Kingdom, while Arieh Worthalter won Best Actor for his performance in Cédric Khan’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight opener The Goldman Case.

Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, which was nominated in six Lumière categories, is on an award-winning streak.

The movie swept the board at the European Film Awards in Berlin last December...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

The very act of making a top ten list each year is an absurd yet worthwhile exercise, as frustrating as it is always valuable to reflect on the overall state of cinema in a given year, an art I’ve dedicated much of my adult life to. While I’m about to complain about the process I would be offended if my editors here at The Film Stage didn’t ask me to contribute. As always, thanks Jordan for keeping me around for another year!

For some, life is about the ones that got away––I feel this acutely as I almost passed on Claire Simon’s Our Body, a rewarding documentary with a final scene that nearly broke me emotionally––for the very reason that I...

As we continue to explore the best in 2023, today we’re taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, features, podcasts, news, and trailers, check out the highlights below and return for more year-end coverage as well as a glimpse into 2024.

Most-Read Reviews

1. Body Parts

2. The Exorcist: Believer

3. Barbie

4. Beau Is Afraid

5. Priscilla

6. Suzume

7. Hypnotic

8. No Hard Feelings

9. The Zone of Interest

10. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Most-Read Interviews

1. Claire Simon on Capturing the Female Body and What Sets Her Apart From Frederick Wiseman

2. “I Don’t Think Directors Should Be Amenable”: Erik Messerschmidt on Shooting The Killer and David Fincher’s Simple Process

3. Richard Kelly on Creative Heartbreak, Political Cinema, and Future Projects

4. Christopher Blauvelt on May December, Formatting for Netflix and 35mm, and Life Lessons from Harris Savides

5. Brandon Cronenberg on Infinity Pool,...

No reasonably intelligent person imagines an artist’s statement about the horrors in Gaza would, in fact, end those horrors, but there are always limits to what one can take and hopes for what one could do. It might even be said that, as observers of the world and human behavior, filmmakers are especially inclined to recoil. When I interviewed Pedro Costa last month he spoke, unprompted, of a situation that’s only grown worse: “It’s very clear that we cannot stand images anymore. I can’t. I can’t. The images of the world for me [Exhales] I can’t. I turn my eyes, and I’m sure you do the same. It’s unbearable.” When I spoke with Anthony Dod Mantle a couple of weeks later it, again, emerged––vis-a-vis The Zone of Interest, whose own cinematographer alluded to it the next day. It’s difficult being a person in the world,...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2023, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

I love going to the movies every year, but I really loved going to the movies this year. I saw Knock at the Cabin in Providence, I saw May December in Tallinn. I saw Enys Men in a small theater at Village East where it felt like everyone in the audience turned against the film but me. Somehow I liked Equalizer 3 despite loathing the other two. The worst movie I saw in theaters was Fast X, which I watched on an edible that put me to sleep during a set piece. I missed out on seeing Magic Mike’s Last Dance with some friends who wound up running into Christopher Nolan going to see Skinamarink. I loved breaking Yom Kippur fast during The Beast (out next year—I...

2023 had its fair share of memorable scores and music. Any year with new work from Joe Hisaishi and Mica Levi is going to be one for the books, but the last 12 months also gave us Robbie Robertson’s swan song and a Dev Hynes/Paul Schrader collaboration. In terms of performance, Bradley Cooper conducting the London Philharmonic was irresistible, but no more so than Talia Ryder’s opening number in The Sweet East or the hero of Fallen Leaves experiencing his moment of clarity while listening to a Swedish synth group. Maybe the best musical performance I saw in a movie this year comes at the beginning of Nicolas Philibert’s On the Adamant, a documentary about a psychiatric care center that sits on the river Seine and provides a port for inner storms. The singer’s name is François, an angular, middle-aged man who growls a raw rendition of...

France’s awards season has officially kicked off with Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall” landing six nominations at the Lumières Awards, including best film and director.

The courtroom drama, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, is the season’s frontrunner. The Lumières are voted on by Paris-based correspondents working for foreign outlets across 36 countries.

Sandra Huller, who stars in the film as a German novelist put on trial after her French husband dies mysteriously, is nominated for best actress, while Milo Machado Graner, who plays her astute, low-vision son, is nominated for best male newcomer.

“Anatomy of Fall” has been on a roll, garnering a raft of international prizes at the European Film Awards, Gothams, as well as Los Angeles and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, along with four Golden Globe nominations for best film, screenplay, actress and foreign film. The movie that was...

As various critics groups and awards bodies dole out their top films of the year, it can be hard to parse which ones are actually worth paying attention to. Following our top 50 films of 2023, one such list has arrived today with Film Comment’s annual end-of-year survey. Revealed at a special live talk last night, Todd Haynes’s May December, Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up, and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon grabbed the top three spots, while Eduardo Williams’s The Human Surge 3, Lisandro Alonso’s Eureka, and Víctor Erice’s Close Your Eyes topped the best undistributed films.

“It speaks to the ongoing vitality of cinema as an art form, as well as the discernment of our critics in the year of ‘Barbenheimer,’ that this year’s top films represent some of the most boundary-pushing, complex movies of recent times—three new classics from contemporary masters,...

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall is the frontrunner for France’s Lumiere awards, the country’s answer to the Golden Globes, with 6 nominations, including for best film and best director.

The courtroom drama, starring Sandra Hüller as a writer who may have murdered her husband, won the Palme d’Or in Cannes this year and swept the European Film Awards on the weekend, taking 5 trophies, including best film. Anatomy of Fall, a Neon release in the U.S., has been nominated for 4 Golden Globes.

Tran Anh Hung’s foodie period drama The Taste of Things, which was picked over Anatomy of a Fall as France’s country’s official Oscar contender in the best international feature category, received just one Lumiere nom, for best cinematography.

Another French courtroom drama, Cedric Kahn’s The Goldman Case, picked up 5 Lumiere noms, tying with Thomas Cailley’s sci-fi tale The Animal Kingdom.

The Lumieres are voted on by international correspondents from 36 countries.

Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning Anatomy Of A Fall leads the nominations for France’s Lumiere awards, nominated in six categories, including best film and best director.

Cedric Kahn’s courtroom drama The Goldman Case and Thomas Cailley’s The Animal Kingdom, have each received five nominations.

All three films have been nominated in the best film category alongside Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer that earned four nominations and Clément Cogitore’s Son of Ramses with three.

The filmmakers of all five of those titles have also been nominated for best director.

On Monday night, November 27, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, the Gotham Awards presented the winners at their 33rd annual event. “All of Us Strangers” went in with a leading four bids, followed by “Past Lives,” “The Zone of Interest” and the TV limited series “Beef” with three apiece. But who prevailed? Scroll down for the full list, updated throughout the night.

The nominations were decided by panels of film and television critics, journalists, festival programmers and film curators. The winners were then selected by juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors and others directly involved in filmmaking. That makes these awards unique and often results in surprising winners like “The Rider” for Best Feature in 2018 over the higher-profile “The Favourite,” or Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”) for Best Lead Performance in 2022 over eventual Oscar winners Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) and Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”). So a...

Cinema Eye Honors, a group the recognizes excellence in the artistry and craft of nonfiction filmmaking, announced the nominees for its 17th annual awards on Thursday, November 16th. The seven films nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Feature are “20 Days in Mariupol,” “32 Sounds,” “The Eternal Memory,” “Four Daughters,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” “Kokomo City,” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.” Ceh will present the winners at the annual awards ceremony to be held on January 12, 2024.

Leading the pack with six overall nominations is “Kokomo City,” a debut film from director D. Smith about the lives of four black trans sex workers. Smith was nominated for Outstanding Debut and Outstanding Direction. The film’s other three nominations were for Cinematography and Sound Design, as well as among The Unforgettables selection.

See Key dates for Best Documentary Feature contenders

Also earning nominations for their debut film was Mstyslav Chernov...

“Kokomo City,” D. Smith’s documentary about four trans Black women in New York and Georgia, led all films in nominations for the 17th annual Cinema Eye Honors, the New York-based awards designed to spotlight all facets of nonfiction filmmaking.

The film received six nominations, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature and Outstanding Direction. Mstyslav Chernov’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” Maite Alberdi’s “The Eternal Memory” and Sam Green’s “32 Sounds” followed with five nominations each.

In the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature category, “Kokomo City,” “The Eternal Memory,” “20 Days in Mariupol” and “32 Sounds” were joined by “Four Daughters,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”

Matthew Heineman’s “American Symphony” received nominations for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Score, making Heineman the third-most-nominated filmmaker in Cinema Eye history. With 12 nominations overall, he now trails Steve James and Laura Poitras by one.

While many...

The Cinema Eye Honors for achievement in nonfiction and documentary films and series has announced nominees for the 17th awards ceremony. “Kokomo City” from D. Smith led the nominees with six. “20 Days in Mariupol,” “32 Sounds” and “The Eternal Memory” each received five nominations. The nominees for outstanding fiction feature also include “Four Daughters,” “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” and “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”

Outstanding direction nominees include Maite Alberdi for “The Eternal Memory,” Sam Green for “32 Sounds,” Kaouther Ben Hania for “Four Daughters,” Smith for “Kokomo City,” Claire Simon for “Our Body” and Wim Wenders for “Anselm.”

The Cinema Eye 2024 Awards Ceremony takes place on Jan. 12 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem.

Full list of nominees follows.

2024 Cinema Eye Honors Nominations

Outstanding Nonfiction Feature

20 Days in Mariupol

Directed by Mstyslav Chernov

Produced by Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson Rath...

Exclusive: Cinema Guild has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Deborah Stratman’s well-received latest Last Things, which premiered in the New Frontiers section at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

The film will open theatrically in New York at Anthology Film Archives on January 12 on a 35mm print before expanding across the country. The film’s broad synopsis reads: Last Things looks at evolution and extinction from the perspective of the rocks and minerals that came before humanity and will outlast us. With scientists and thinkers like Lynn Margulis and Marcia Bjørnerud as guides and quoting from the proto-Sci-fi texts of J.H. Rosny, Deborah Stratman offers a stunning array of images, from microscopic forms to vast landscapes, and seeks a picture of evolution without humans at the center.

After Sundance, Last Things went on to play Berlin and NYFF and picked up prizes at Dokufest Kosovo and Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival.

For the second year in a row, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) launches against the backdrop of a major war. Last year, the festival took place at the height of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine, this year it runs as the Israel-Hamas War rages. Asked about the significance of IDFA being an openly political festival, artistic director Orwa Nyrabia says it is “very important to our filmmaking community, to our audiences and to our festival team and staff.”

Speaking to Variety just before the opening of the festival’s 36th edition, which runs Nov. 8-19, Nyrabia highlights how people are currently trying “not to take sides in a cheap way, to understand more and to discuss better.” The artistic director opened the festival’s press conference by acknowledging the fighting in Israel and Gaza, and emphasizing how he believed “this would have been much better” if we “all...

2023 has been yet another excellent and eye-opening year for documentary filmmaking, but you probably wouldn’t know it from the rather muted role that non-fiction cinema has played in the discourse over the last 11 months. Sundance was typically replete with major work like “Milisuthando,” “Kokomo City” and “The Disappearance of Shere Hite,” but many of these unconventional highlights struggled for distribution, while the usual array of music biodocs (e.g. “Little Richard: I Am Everything”) and environmental panic attacks (“Deep Rising”) failed to make the same impression that similar festival premieres have made in the past.

The rest of the calendar has largely continued that trend, with critical favorites like Claire Simon’s “Our Body” and “De Humani Corporis Fabrica” relegated to the margins while “After Death” — a faith-based, fact-free work of pseudoscience from the distributor behind “Sound of Freedom” — became the highest-grossing documentary of the year.

The good news,...

Veteran French editor Dominique Auvray says there’s an essential intuitive element to her work. The woman who created the sound for “Paris, Texas” and cut such films as “No Fear, No Die,” “L’Amour Fou,” and “Hu-Man” says her career has been built around one key ability: Tuning in to your eyes and ears.

Speaking at the Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival this week, the longtime collaborator with seminal French director and author Marguerite Duras said, “I think the first thing when you are an editor, you have to look and to listen. And to listen at the same time to your heart and your head. And to listen to the director. And to listen to what the images say, you know.”

Auvray says she approached her work on the definitive Duras films “Le Camion,” “Woman of the Ganges” and “Le Navire Night” this way, and is still listening...

“All of Us Strangers”, del director Andrew Haigh, encabeza las nominaciones a los premios Gotham.

Ayer se anunciaron los nominados a los Gotham Awards, marcando así el comienzo de la temporada de premios. Los Premios Gotham son un conjunto de premios cinematográficos que honran lo mejor del cine independiente estadounidense. La 33ª edición anual de los Gotham Awards tendrá lugar el 27 de noviembre de 2023. Aquí os dejamos con la lista de los nominados de esta edición:

Mejor PELÍCULA

Past Lives, Celine Song

Passages, Ira Sachs

Reality, Tina Satter

Showing up, Kelly Reichardt

A Thousand and One, A.V. Rockwell

Mejor PELÍCULA Internacional

All of us strangers, Andrew Haigh, Reino Unido

Anatomía de una caída, Justine Triet

Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos

Tótem, Lila Avilés

La zona de interés, Jonathan Glazer

Mejor INTERPRETACIÓN Principal

Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Origin

Lily Gladstone, The Unknown Country

Greta Lee, Past Lives

Franz Rogowski, Passages

Babetida Sadjo, Our Father,...

The 2023 Gotham Awards have marked a significant shift in the landscape of film recognition, embracing a diverse range of films and performances that challenge the traditional boundaries of indie cinema. With the removal of a longstanding budget cap, the awards have opened their doors to big-budget studio and streamer fare, while still maintaining a strong indie flavor.

Related: 75th Primetime Emmy Awards Nominations List 2023

Andrew Haigh‘s “All Of Us Strangers” has emerged as a frontrunner, leading the nominations with nods in several major categories including Best International Feature, Best Screenplay, and Outstanding Lead and Supporting Performances. This metaphysical drama delves into the complex journey of a gay man coming to terms with his past, showcasing the power of introspective storytelling.

The indie spirit of the Gotham Awards is further highlighted by Celine Song’s “Past Lives” and Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” both of which have received...

The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced today the nominations for the 33rd Annual Gotham Awards! This list includes 20 feature films, 11 series, and 30 performances in 10 award categories. Each nomination represents what the group deems a high point in 2023 across aspects of the entertainment spectrum. The nominations were announced live from Cipriani Wall Street by Jeffrey Sharp, award-winning film producer and the Executive Director of The Gotham, and Kia Brooks, Deputy Director of The Gotham.

“We are proud to announce this year’s Gotham Award nominees and look forward to celebrating these amazing storytellers in a few weeks. The Gotham Awards in many ways reflects the industry and community we serve. Seen by this year’s nominees, storytelling knows no boundaries as our industry continues to find new audiences across the globe,” Sharp said about the upcoming celebration.

While there are several outstanding performances nominated across the board, a few highlights...

A short wretch and slight taste of bile comes upon realizing we are firmly in “awards season,” that time of disgrace and degradation recently portended by the first round of Look Upon My Suffering Narratives––Bradley Cooper took two hours to apply a fake nose, but is that braver than Michael Fassbender never blinking?––and established, now, by the announcement of Gotham Award nominees. Credit where it’s due, though, that this voting body gives a mite more attention to films of substance and note: leading the pack are Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, while a director nod went to Raven Jackson for All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, Cristian Mungiu earned a screenplay nomination, and Franz Rogowski might win a best actor prize.

One can find the nominations below, while many are now streaming:

Best Feature

Passages –– Ira Sachs,...

All Of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh led the Gotham Awards Nominations today, with some love for Celine Song’s Past Lives and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, and with a Best Performance nod to Ryan Gosling for Barbie after the indie-centric awards removed a longstanding budget cap on eligibility, an opening for big-budget studio and streamer fare to submit for consideration.

All Of Us Strangers was nominated for Best International Feature, Best Screenplay and Outstanding Lead and Supporting Performances for Andrew Scott and Claire Foy. Past Lives was nominated for Best Feature, Breakthrough Director, and Outstanding Lead Performance by Greta Lee.

The disappearance of the decade-old budget cap, which had been set most recently at $35 million, is the biggest change this year. The Gotham Film & Media Institute, announcing the shift last summer, said it was meant “to broaden our reach in terms of recognition and accessibility to the wider community.

On October 24 the Gotham Awards announced their official nominations for their 33rd annual event. Led by “All of Us Strangers” with four bids and followed by “Past Lives” and “The Zone of Interest” with three, the nominees were presented by Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director of the Gotham Film and Media Institute, and Kia Brooks, Deputy Director at the Gotham Film and Media Institute, via Variety’s YouTube channel. The awards ceremony for the winners will take place on Monday, November 27, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. Scroll down for the full list.

Sharp said in a statement, “We are proud to announce this year’s Gotham Award nominees and look forward to celebrating these amazing storytellers in a few weeks. The Gotham Awards in many ways reflects the industry and community we serve. Seen by this year’s nominees, storytelling knows no boundaries as our industry continues to...

Past Lives, A Thousand and One and All of Us Strangers are among the top film nominees for the 2023 Gotham Awards.

Past Lives and A Thousand and One are both up for best feature, breakthrough director (Celine Song for Past Lives and A.V. Rockwell for A Thousand and One) and best lead performance (Greta Lee for Past Lives and Teyana Taylor for A Thousand and One).

Other best feature nominees are Ira Sachs’ Passages, which is also up for best lead performance (Franz Rogowski); Tina Satter’s Reality; and Kelly Reichardt’s Showing Up.

All of Us Strangers, meanwhile, scored a leading four nominations, the most of any film. The Searchlight title is up for best international feature, best screenplay (writer-director Andrew Haigh), best lead performance (Andrew Scott) and best supporting performance (Claire Foy).

In the TV categories, Beef leads with three nominations, with Anne Rice’s Interview with The Vampire,...

U.S.-based distributor Cinema Guild has acquired North American rights to the newly-restored 4K version of Somai Shinji’s 1993 classic “Moving” from French sales agent MK2 Films.

The Japanese coming-of-age drama won the best restored film award, the top prize in Venice Classics, when it premiered at the Biennale in September.

Cinema Guild, which also released restorations of Somai’s “Typhoon Club” (1985) and “P.P. Rider” (1983) earlier this year, will open the film in theaters in the U.S. and Canada in 2024.

When her parents split and her father Kenichi moves out of their family home, Renko (Tabata Tomoko), a bright and energetic 6th grade girl, is left alone with her mother, Nazuna, in Kyoto. As Nazuna sets out new rules for their life together, Renko makes plans of her own, and sees to it that any changes happening in her family happen on her terms.

Since its premiere...

José Luis Cienfuegos is in his first year as festival director, joining after stints in Gijon and Seville.

José Luis Cienfuegos is ready to launch his first edition as director at one of Spain’s oldest film events, Valladolid International Film Week (October 21-28) also known as the Seminici.

Previously in charge of the Gijón and Seville film festivals, Cienfuegos’ Valladolid is embracing new voices and has enhanced industry activities as it continue the work of finding new audiences for independent cinema while debating film heritage in the 21st century.

He talks to Screen about this year’s programme and...

Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival has unveiled the program for its 27th edition, which will take place in the Czech city of Jihlava between Oct. 24-29. The festival will showcase 357 films in both competitive and non-competitive sections, with 115 world premieres, 22 international premieres and 17 European premieres.

This year’s program touches on themes of artificial intelligence and new technologies, the changing planetary climate, migration, transformation of the democratic system and society, as well as the search for new paths to freedom and happiness.

Festival director Marek Hovorka says of the concept of this year’s edition: “The world in which we live is rapidly changing, and this year’s Ji.hlava brings images of these transformations. The films in the program are thematically and formally very diverse, allowing us to recognize and contemplate the world’s transformation.”

Works related to the theme of this year’s Ji.hlava include Sophie Compton...

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam is beginning to fill out its lineup leading up to IDFA’s 36th edition next month. The largest all-documentary festival in the world today announced selections for the Competition for Short Documentary and the IDFA Competition for Youth Documentary, along with the films selected for the Best of Fests section and the “Signed” section, a new addition to the IDFA program.

One hundred films so far have now announced as part of the 2023 festival, which runs from Nov. 8-19 in the Dutch capital. “In addition, IDFA Forum, the festival’s iconic co-production and co-financing market has expanded to a total of 64 projects, including seven by Ukrainian filmmakers,” the festival announced. Full details on all the announced films are below.

The newly created “Signed” section is described as inviting audiences “to discover the new cinematic adventures of the most interesting contemporary filmmakers. The first selection...

Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam uses familiar spaces as microcosms of society. After capturing her subjects in one setting, such as a mall in Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) and the protagonist’s home in Delphine’s Prayers (2021), her narrative-feature debut Mambar Pierrette foregrounds the eponymous tailor and love for her complex family while attempting to make ends meet in Douala. She asserts a determined work ethic in her sewing, attracting a breadth of customers just large enough for Pierrette and co. to get by.

Unlike Mbakam’s past works, Mambar Pierrette puts Mambar across multiple settings: a store; her mother; and her divorced, abusive spouse’s residence. These voyages are laborious and aimed at improving her children’s lives. Her independent fashion work is what makes her kids fulfill their dreams. As her children and their friends play and mingle outside, Pierrette fatigues herself from her job and works in a living...

Selection includes Nicolas Philibert’s Golden Bear winner ‘On The Adamant’.

The 14 feature documentaries in the running for the 2023 European Film Awards (EFAs) have been announced.

Scroll down for full list of titles

They include Nicolas Philibert’s On The Adamant, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in February. The film follows the daily lives of patients and caregivers at a central Paris psychiatric centre, which has a unique structure floating in the Seine river. French filmmaker Philibert previously won the best European documentary prize at the EFAs in 2002 with To Be And To Have (Être Et Avoir...

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

It isn’t too common for subjects in observational documentaries to turn to the camera and say, “I love cinema.” It’s even less common for this to happen as the subject in question lays on a medical table ready to be pulled under by anaesthesia and be operated on. None of the many, many subjects filmed by director and cinematographer Claire Simon in her new film Our Body (Notre corps) seem to mind all that much that a camera is gazed upon them in trying times. Filming through the gynaecological ward of a hospital in her home of France, her subjects often bare their souls as well as their flesh in the pursuit of landing upon something remarkably humane.

This is why I love cinema, and especially documentaries.

A renowned filmmaker in French cinema for her social realism across many storytelling modes, Claire Simon has crafted documentaries (such as depicting the admissions process for a prestige film school in 2016’s The Competition) and lesser-known largely scripted narratives (such as 2008’s God’s Offices and 2021’s I Want to Talk About Duras). Her films imbue a profound understanding of how systems confined people across all levels of its pecking order and how they don’t let it obstruct their journey.

Her most recent, nearly three-hour-long documentary, Our Body, captures Simon, and female, and transgender and gender non-conforming (Tgnc) patients seeking medical care at Paris’ Hôpital Tenon. While it can be scary for them to go to a doctor due to systemic discrimination, Simon delivers a visceral, emphatic portrait of patients undergoing cathartic surgeries and cooperating with surgeons for a more admirable future that is beneficial for their health.

Ahead...

Our Body.Few filmmakers capture the world with as passionate a sense of exploration and generosity as the French director Claire Simon. I first encountered Simon’s work at the True/False Film Festival, in 2015, where she was given a retrospective. In her documentary feature Mimi (2002), a middle-aged Franco-Jewish woman, Simon’s friend, tells the story of her parents and her own life, including crucial tales of amorous infatuation and enduring love. Love marked by the cruelties and devastation of war, such as the capturing of Mimi’s father by the Gestapo, because he was so hungry during the war that he slayed a donkey to eat its flesh; or another story, the most tragic one, of how a tiny piece of white bread—a luxury in wartime—for which Mimi’s father begged so ardently, led to his demise. Through her bodily gestures, her delicate features ignited with the bright flame of passionate recollection,...

Claire Simon cites Frederick Wiseman’s Hospital (1970) and Near Death (1989) as key inspirations for her latest film, and for much of its 168-minute runtime Our Body does function, à la Wiseman, as a study of an institution––in this case the various units of a public Parisian hospital where women receive all manner of care, including treatment for pregnancy, fertility, gender transition, cancer, and end-of-life needs. Simon and her all-female crew observe their subjects in close-up; except for occasional establishing shots in hallways and the garden courtyard, the camera’s seldom more than a few feet from the women and one trans man, their companions, and the doctors, nurses, and technicians who perform their jobs with uncommon professionalism and grace. That the camera is likely capturing an idealized version of the daily grind of modern healthcare––every person we see has signed a waiver and is presumably putting on their...

Exclusive: Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights for Portuguese director Pedro Costa’s short film The Daughters of Fire, following its buzzy world premiere in Cannes this year.

Set against the backdrop of Costa’s stomping ground of the Atlantic Ocean island of Cape Verde, the film follows three sisters who are separated by the eruption of the local Fogo Volcano.

They remain bound in spirit, singing the same words: one day, we will know why we live and why we suffer.

The Daughters of Fire received an enthusiastic reception in Cannes when it played as Special Screening Jean-Luc Godard’s Trailer of the Film that Will Never Exist: “Phony Wars” and Wang Bing’s 2023 Palme d’Or contender Man in Black.

For its North American theatrical release in late 2023 or early 2024, Cinema Guild is planning to play the short alongside Korean director Hong Sangsoo’s Berlinale 2023 Encounters title In water,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSOn July 13, SAG-AFTRA issued a strike order, joining the WGA, who have been striking since May. In an incendiary speech, the guild’s president, Fran Drescher, said: “SAG-AFTRA negotiated in good faith and was eager to reach a deal that sufficiently addressed performer needs, but the AMPTP’s responses to the union’s most important proposals have been insulting and disrespectful of our massive contributions to this industry…Until they do negotiate in good faith, we cannot begin to reach a deal.” This Vulture Q&a with Jonathan Handel, author of Hollywood on Strike!: An Industry at War in the Internet Age, delves into the details of the work stoppage.Applications are open for Open City Documentary Festival & Another Gaze’s third annual critics’ workshop, which will take place in early September during the festival.