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The pair join jury president French actor Lambert Wilson in the international competition strand

Aftersun director Charlotte Wells and Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi are among the jurors for the 76th Locarno Film Festival (August 2-12).

The Scottish filmmaker and Iranian actor will sit on the international competition jury, led by French actor Lambert Wilson, alongside European Film Academy president Matthijs Wouter Knol and Lesli Klainberg, president of film at the Lincoln Centre.

Films competing at Locarno this year include Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World, Lav Diaz’s Essential Truths...

Aftersun director Charlotte Wells and Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi have joined the jury of the 76th Locarno International Film Festival and will judge the 2023 competitors for the festival’s Golden Leopard award. Ebrahimi also stars in Noora Niasari’s Sundance audience award winner Shayda, which will be the closing film in Locarno this year.

French actor Lambert Wilson, known for his performances in the Matrix films, will head up this year’s Locarno international jury as president. Also in the 2023 jury are European Film Academy director and CEO Matthijs Wouter Knol and Lesli Klainberg, President of Film at New York’s Lincoln Center.

The films of Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del presente sidebar, featuring works from first and second-time directors will be assessed by a three-person jury of Beatrice Fiorentino, general delegate of Film Critics’ Week at the Venice Film Festival, the French-Tunisian director Erige Sehiri (Under the Fig Trees...

The film opens in 2020. A woman paints her lips crimson while staring at her reflection in the mirror, studying the details of her wavy blonde wig and firetruck-red skirt. Satisfied with her examination, she relaxes her shoulders and turns to the other side of the room. The camera follows and lands on a child sleeping peacefully. The woman covers the slumbering body with a blanket, gingerly plants a kiss and leaves. Outside, in the dimly lit streets of Dakar, she is followed by a chorus of men wearing complementary red djellabas. “When a drop of water falls on Earth / it’s no longer Earth,” they sing as she walks down the street, “How life is full of surprises.”

The chorus, a staple in Moussa Sène Absa’s films, is particularly useful in Xalé, the director’s passionate thriller about gender violence and retribution. It’s the last installment in the...

Update The Joburg Film Festival defiantly went ahead with a screening of Ousmane Sembène’s “Black Girl” on Thursday, refusing to bow to political pressure after South Africa’s Film and Publications Board (Fpb) denied it permission to hold a public screening of the Senegalese director’s groundbreaking debut.

In a decision that shocked festival organizers and many of the African filmmakers in attendance, a Fpb reviewer recommended the film be submitted for “full classification” — a process that would determine its suitability for public viewing — “due to prejudicial element that contains acts of hate speech which is degrading of a human being.”

Within hours of this story’s publication on Friday morning in Johannesburg, Variety received word that the Fpb had reversed course and granted the festival permission to screen the film. The board has not yet responded to repeated requests for additional comment.

The decision came one day too...

Returning to Johannesburg cinemas for the first time since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Joburg Film Festival kicked off its 5th edition with a joyful relaunch on Tuesday night, as local luminaries walked a gold carpet in Nelson Mandela Square in honor of the festival’s slogan, “Our Stories. Our Gold,” and the crowd was serenaded with a soaring performance from South African soprano Zandile Mzazi and singer Thandiswa Mazwai.

The event, which runs Jan. 31 – Feb. 5, bowed with the African premiere of “Xalé” (pictured), from veteran Senegalese director Moussa Sène Absa, a story of female subjugation and self-liberation that opened last year’s BFI Film Festival and was the West African nation’s entry in the 2023 international feature film Oscar race.

The festival wraps with “The Umbrella Men,” by local helmer John Barker (“Wonder Boy for President”), a caper comedy about first-time bank robbers pulling a heist...

The inaugural Jbx Content Market kicks off Feb. 1 in Johannesburg with a program focused on emerging trends in the African screen industries, as the new event looks to establish a foothold on a continent that has seen both its production and its ambitions steadily rise amid continued global demand for content.

Running parallel to the 5th edition of the Joburg Film Festival, which takes place Jan. 31 – Feb. 5, the two-day showcase will host a series of events with a range of South African, African and international guests, as well as a market area where exhibitors can present both finished content and projects looking for partners.

The goal, said Joburg Film Festival executive director Timothy Mangwedi, is to create “a new voice and a new platform for African filmmakers,” while offering international executives access to “fresh talent” that has its eyes set on the global market.

“It’s about glocalized content. It...

In a scene from Senegalese filmmaker Moussa Sène Absa’s trilogy-concluding “Xalé” – the opening film at Joburg Film Festival – a bunch of kids sit on a beach and watch a movie as a projector throws grainy images on a white canvass while the magic of filmmaking transports them to another world.

About the scene, the 65-year-old director, who says he still wants to be a rebel filmmaker, tells Variety from Dakar he included the scene as a homage to his own past and how film can help transform lives.

“I started seeing films like this in the open air, next to the beach. I shot ‘Xalé’ in the place I was born. This beach is my beach. It’s a bit of my own childhood. I felt that I had to include in ‘Xalé’ a memory of my own childhood – a moment where you can jump on a boat and...

Raw, raging realism clashes with melodramatic contrivance in Moussa Sène Absa’s “Xalé,” and that’s before a theatrical chorus of women seizes the screen to comment on the unfolding tragedy. The latest film from the veteran Senegalese director blends narrative styles and traditions with abandon, running the gamut from local folklore to Western-style soap opera, in an effort to make its tale of female subjugation and self-liberation as stretchily universal as possible. If that makes “Xalé” uneven practically by design, it’s consistently, colorfully diverting and honestly felt — it’s not hard to see why Senegalese selectors tapped it as the country’s international Oscar submission this year, though it lacks the finesse and political complexity of their recent, shortlisted entries “Atlantics” and “Félicité.”

In a market still largely unaccommodating of sub-Saharan African cinema, those films benefited from competition berths at Cannes and Berlin respectively. Having quietly premiered at...

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...

22 films will have their world premiere at the festival.

Stop-motion animation Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and Asif Kapadia’s Creature are among the 22 features having their world premiere at the 66th BFI London Film Festival.

Scroll down for full line-up

Pinocchio is directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson, and produced by del Toro, Lisa Henson (Jim Henson Company), Gary Ungar, Alex Bulkley, and Corey Campodonico (Shadow Machine).

The ensemble voice cast includes Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Waltz, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman, and newcomer Gregory Mann.

Creature,...

The 66th BFI London Film Festival is set to host the world premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the Oscar-winning director’s dark take on the classic fairy tale about a wooden marionette brought to life to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto.

The film will debut in the Royal Festival Hall at the Southbank Centre during the festival, which takes place October 5-15, 2022.

The stop-motion film was directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson and is from a screenplay by the Mexican filmmaker and Patrick McHale. The film’s voice cast includes Ewan McGregor as Cricket, David Bradley as Geppetto and Gregory Mann as Pinocchio. Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman and Christoph Waltz and Tilda Swinton also star.

The film’s music will be provided by the Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat, who has also written the score.

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

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

Tom Tykwer wins Best Director for Three,...

Screening tomorrow afternoon at 2Pm, as part of the The Master, The Rebel, and the Artist: The Films of Ousmane Sembène, Djibril Diop Mambéty, and Moussa Sene Absa screening series happening now at the Museum Of The Moving Image… Ousmane Sembène’s 1966 seminal film, Black Girl (aka La Noire de).

I’ve seen the film about a dozen times… but never on the big screen, and how I wish I could be present to see it tomorrow afternoon; alas, I will be on a panel at the Remixed & Remastered conference, which starts at 1Pm, and runs until at least 2:15Pm.

Underneath its deceptively simple story of a Senegalese maid, Diouana (played by the lovely Mbissine Thérèse Diop), and her relationship with the white French couple she works for, reveals a film rich with symbolism and complexities that are essentially reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism.

Forgot to post a reminder for this… If you’re a lover of black cinema… actually, scratch that… if you’re a lover of cinema, And you live in New York City, the next couple of months should be thrilling!

I already told you about the upcoming Charles Burnett and Euzhan Palcy retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in April and May respectively… well my fellow cineastes, below you’ll find even more goodness to add to your spring calendar, courtesy of the Museum of the Moving Image.

The series is titled: The Master, The Rebel, and the Artist: The Films of Ousmane Sembène, Djibril Diop Mambéty, and Moussa Sene Absa.

It began on April 2nd and will run through April 10th, happening at the Museum Of The Moving Image. I can’t encourage you enough to attend these screenings; it’s not often that you’ll find...

As I said in a previous post, it’s a wonderful time to be a New Yorker and film lover (specifically black cinema). In addition to the Charles Burnett, Euzhan Palcy, Ousmane Sembène, Djibril Diop Mambéty, & Moussa Sene Absa retrospectives coming up in April and May, there’s this, which Sergio initially alerted you to earlier this month. I’ll be reminding you of the others as well as their dates draw near. Click the image for details.

Wow! Need I say more…? If you’re a lover of black cinema… actually, scratch that… if you’re a lover of cinema, And you live in New York City, the next couple of months should be thrilling!

I already told you about the upcoming Charles Burnett and Euzhan Palcy retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in April and May respectively… well my fellow cineastes, below you’ll find even more goodness to add to your spring calendar, courtesy of the Museum of the Moving Image.

The series is titled: The Master, The Rebel, and the Artist: The Films of Ousmane Sembène, Djibril Diop Mambéty, and Moussa Sene Absa. Whaaat?

It begins April 2nd and will run through April 10th. I can’t encourage you enough to attend these screenings; it’s not often that you’ll find this combination of talents under one roof! And on the big screen too.

Berlin International Film Festival

La Fete/MSA Prods./Productions de la Lanterne

BERLIN -- "Madame Brouette", a Senegalese movie shot in French, doesn't contain much of a story. But the highly theatrical style of director Moussa Sene Absa lets the film unfold in a colorful, ritualistic manner, almost like a Greek tragedy.

The film screened in competition here, where it clearly is out of place. Yet its lively style makes "Brouette" an exotic selection for other film festivals even if theatrical distribution in Europe or North American is unlikely.

The story is as weak as it is predictable. Men mistreat women throughout the movie, which takes place in the shadier districts of Dakar. Finally, a woman gets her revenge. But Absa, who wrote the script with Gilles Desjardins, interjects songs and movement from peripheral characters, creating the effect of a Greek chorus, commenting on the action.

The movie opens as a corrupt cop called Naago Aboubacar Sadikh Ba) staggers from his lover's bedroom with several bullets in his body. Events leading up to his murder are seen in flashback as friends, onlookers, detectives and a TV news reporter fill in details.

Mati (Rokhaya Niang), nicknamed Madame Brouette or Madam Wheelbarrel, pushes her cart of bric-a-brac through market streets, eking out a meager living for herself and young daughter. A divorcee, she has sworn off men. (For good reason, if the portrait of Senegalese men here is at all accurate.) Inexplicably, she gets sweet-talked by Naago.

Mati dreams of opening a small restaurant with her best friend (Kadiatou Sy), who has escaped an abusive marriage. Even when things turn sour as her father banishes her because she is pregnant and her lover turns out to be a heel, she perseveres. She finally opens the restaurant on money earned by smuggling.

The actors all attack their roles with vigor, though with little subtlety. Senegalese music and graceful camerawork by Jean-Jacques Bouhon give the trite tale considerable vitality. Costumes and design add even more color. You just wish Absa had deployed his eye-catching style on a story with more substance.

One of two opening-night films at the sixth Pan African Film Festival (through Feb. 16 at the Magic Johnson Theatres), the 1996 feature "Tableau Ferraille" from Senegal is a choppy but engrossing tale of modern Africa, where the drive toward free-market economies and political reforms could lead to chaos or to the continent's long-delayed goals of self-reliance and social stability.

Writer-director Moussa Sene Absa's smooth and insightful direction helps one through the hurry-up storytelling that makes several abrupt leaps in time and frequently cuts off scenes before they achieve full dramatic impact.

In Wolof and French with English subtitles and set primarily in a seaside village called Tableau Ferraille ("scene of junk"), the film is steeped in Muslim culture, including a kind of Greek chorus wearing blue robes. Known as Bay Falls, the chorus is composed of members of an Islamic sect stressing hard work, mutual support and economic independence.

With evocative visuals, stirring musical accompaniment and a talented cast, "Tableau" is centered on the rise and fall of a modern politico by the name of Daam (Ismael Lo), who is torn between two women and two worlds. Schooled in Europe and taking as his "first wife" village beauty Gagnesiri (Ndeye Fatou Ndaw), Daam is a local hero when he's elected a deputy, but he's publicly embarrassed and disappointed when his wife cannot become pregnant.

While his right-hand man Gora (Amadou Diop) is committed to changing things for the better, he's unable to stop Daam from falling for sophisticated Kine (Ndeye Bineta Diop), who becomes the lead's "second wife" and quickly becomes pregnant. Kine exerts her influence, but she's also unhappy when Daam fails to provide her with more of the luxuries of life.

Throughout, Daam's relationship with the powerful, unscrupulous village businessman President (Thierno Ndiaye) grows more problematic. The latter seeks to benefit from Daam's success in the political arena when a lucrative contract to build a bridge is bid for by several parties. In a fateful decision, Kine provides President with confidential information that allows his company to win the project, leading to damaging accusations that Daam used his influence, although he did no such thing.

Several subplots fill out the story line.

TABLEAU FERRAILLE

ADR Prods.

La Sept Cinema, MSA Prods.,

Canal Horizons, KUS Prods.

Writer-director: Moussa Sene Absa

Cinematographers: Bertand Chatry,

Makhete Diallo, Jean Diouf, Murielle Coulin

Editors: Pascale Chvance,

Caroline Coudine, Virginia Descure

Music: Madu Diabate

Color/stereo

Cast:

Daam: Ismael Lo

Gagnesiri: Ndeye Fatou Ndaw

President: Thierno Ndiaye

Kine: Ndeye Bineta Diop

Gora: Amadou Diop

Ndoumbe: Seynabu Celine Sarr

Running time -- 90 minutes

No MPAA rating...