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Museum of the Moving Image and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have announced the winners of the 2023 Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize and 2023 Sloan Student Discovery Prize, who will each receive $20,000 to develop their science-themed screenplays.

Justine Beed of USC has won the Grand Jury Prize for her series pilot “La Forza,” while Lara Palmqvist of University of Texas at Austin was awarded the Discovery Prize for her feature script entitled “The Garden.”

Beed and Palmqvist were selected from a group of 10 nominees by a jury including Dr. Dwaipayan Banerjee (MIT), Dan Berger, writer/director Sophie Barthes (“The Pod Generation”), actor/writer/director Anna Konkle (“PEN15”), Dr. Reyhaneh Maktoufi (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) and Dr. Katina Michael (Arizona State University).

Additionally, an honorable mention was awarded to Emma Zetterberg of NYU, who penned the feature script “The Light in Your Eyes.” The winners will be celebrated at an event held on Jan.

This edition boasts the largest feature film selection programmed to-date at Emiff.

The Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival has unveiled its full line-up for the 12th edition of the Spanish festival, with a total of 140 projects, including German auteur Wim Wenders’ Cannes world premiere Perfect Days and a special spotlight screening of David Fincher’s Venice title The Killer.

This year boasts the largest feature film selection programmed to date at Emiff. Additional categories for long-form projects include the debut feature film competition, the Made In Baleares (Mib) feature film competition, Spotlight Screenings and the Drive In Cinema strand. Six...

The Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival, running from October 18 to 24 in the Spanish island’s capital of Palma, has unveiled its full line-up.

The festival will open with Spanish director Isabel Coixet’s new feature Un Amor, which recently world premiered at San Sebastian.

Coixet will also be feted with the festival’s Evolution Vision Award at the opening night ceremony.

Other honorees will include German-Spanish actor Daniel Brühl, best known for his roles in Goodbye Lenin, Rush and The Alienist, and Danish writer and director Susanne Bier, whose recent credits include The Night Manager and The First Lady.

They will both receive Evolution Icon awards while there will also be screenings of Brühl’s most recent film The Movie Teller, as the closing film, and Rush and Bier’s 2010 feature In A Better World, which won the Best International Feature Film Oscar.

The 12th edition marks the festival’s...

In a not-so-distant future where AI’s omnipresence rivals the air we breathe, director Sophie Barthes paints a thought-provoking canvas in The Pod Generation. Set in a world where technology has woven itself intricately into the fabric of life, the film spirals through the lives of Rachel (Emilia Clarke) and Alvy (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a couple torn between the allure of technology and the grip of tradition. This sci-fi flick promises a mind-bending ride but ends up feeling like a futuristic roller coaster that forgot to pick up enough speed.

The Pod Generation offers a cinematic glimpse into a world overshadowed by technological advancement. With a backdrop reminiscent of Black Mirror and the theme of pregnancy and motherhood in The Handmaid’s Tale, the movie sets the stage for a dystopian drama that sends shivers down your spine while whispering eerie truths about our society’s trajectory. AI is boss, making our...

Where to Watch Powered by "The Pod Generation" explores the concept of artificial wombs and the impact of technology on pregnancy. The film features an all-star cast, including Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor, who bring both humor and seriousness to their roles. Director Sophie Barthes raises important questions about the consequences of rapid technological advancement and the need for regulation to balance it with nature and humanity.

The Pod Generation follows Rachel, an executive at a tech company, who is given a rare and coveted spot at the Womb Center. The newfangled opportunity offers couples an artificial womb, which allows the mother to continue her life without the side effects of pregnancy while still giving the parents the ability to share the pregnancy experience. Rachel's husband Alvy is a botanist and nature purist, who is skeptical, but he ultimately agrees. The couple faces the usual pregnancy challenges along with new ones,...

The Pod Generation Release Date: 2023-01-19 The Pod Generation is an exciting new sci-fi rom-com that explores the impact of technology on fertility and family planning in the future. The movie features a talented cast, including Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor, and has generated high anticipation with its impending release. The story follows a couple, Rachel and Alvy, as they navigate the conflicts and emotions that arise from their differing relationships with technology as they undergo a technologically advanced gestation process at the Womb Center.

Starring Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor, The Pod Generation news has been coming in hot shortly before its scheduled release. The Pod Generation is an exciting new sci-fi rom-com, two genres not often blended, from the mind of writer/director Sophie Barthes (Madame Bovary). Filming for the futuristic movie took place in Belgium in March 2022 and The Pod Generation subsequently made its initial debut...

Normally at the top of these Don’t-Miss Indies round-ups, we like to make a little joke that’s somewhat topical. But if you’ve been paying attention to what’s been going on in Hollywood for the past couple of months, you’ll know that the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are no laughing matter (unless we’re talking about the writers’ signs.) In fact, right at press time not one but two of this months featured titles have been pushed, due to strike-related issues.

And while our blog deadlines being imperiled by the inhuman machinery of Late Capitalism is certainly a headache, our real concern is the wellbeing of our filmmaking community during this lean, labor-conscious strike period. Please consider donating to artist support funds like this or this.

Shortcomings

When You Can Watch: August 4

Where You Can Watch: Theaters

Director: Randall Park

Cast: Justin H. Min,...

The Pod Generation, starring Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor, is a sci-fi movie about a couple who uses an artificial womb to experience pregnancy together. The film explores the clash between technology and nature in a world where AI dominates, as the couple's differing views on their nursery demonstrate. The Pod Generation highlights the relevance of the conflict between technology and nature in our society today.

Screen Rant is thrilled to present an exclusive clip from writer/director Sophie Barthes' new sci-fi movie The Pod Generation. Barthes' third feature film is set in a world where technology has overtaken nature and AI is everywhere. A couple in New York, Rachel and Alvy, want to start a family, and as an executive at a tech company, she is given a rare opportunity. Rachel gets a spot at the Womb Center, which gives couples the chance to experience pregnancy together as equals.

Cold Souls and Madame Bovary director Sophie Barthes returned to Sundance Film Festival earlier this year with her latest feature The Pod Generation. Led by Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor, the film follows their characters living in a not-so-distant future in New York, taking a wild ride to parenthood after landing a coveted spot at the Womb Center, which offers couples a convenient and shareable pregnancy by way of detachable, artificial wombs, or pods. Ahead of an August 11 theatrical release, the first trailer has now arrived.

John Fink said in his review, “A sharp relationship satire that proves the more things change, the more they stay the same, Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation imagines a world of, to borrow Aaron Bastani’s idea, Fully Automated Luxury Communism. Are there poor people in this imagined futuristic world of the United States? (We can only identify the country because there’s a...

Most festivals don’t want protests. This one encouraged a picket line to form.

The Nantucket Film Festival, which took place June 21-26 on the foggy isle 30 miles off the Massachusetts coast, is uniquely oriented toward the craft of screenwriting. Stars certainly appear — Allison Williams brought the glamour this year — but pen and paper are more important here than primping and pompadours.

The WGA has been a longtime partner of the festival, and the biggest gala event was a Screenwriters Tribute honoring Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, the “To All the Boys I Loved Before” scribe Jenny Han, and Nicole Holofcener, whose “You Hurt My Feelings” screened in the lineup. That film is literally about an author, and so were several others that showed, including Christian Petzold’s “Afire.” And the biggest competition isn’t built around established names at all, but a screenplay contest geared toward finding new talent.

Though its global reputation doesn’t compete with the nearby showcase in Busan, which is perhaps the most high-profile event of its kind in Asia, the Jeonjun International Film Festival continues to be every bit as exciting as its more celebrated South Korean counterpart. At this year’s edition, sold out theaters for even the more obscure or low-key films attested to the buzz that the Jiff generates in the region. Crowds here also seemed to skew a good couple of decades younger than those that you see at the average festival, which bodes well for the future of filmmaking and cinephilia in all its forms, in Korea and further afield.

As usual, the focus of this year’s Jiff was on emerging talent, but there were a few notable releases directed by established filmmakers dotted throughout the schedule. Debuting at Sundance back in January, The Pod Generation is Sophie Barthes...

The 2023 Nantucket Film Festival, running June 21-26, with kick off with four films on its opening day lineup. For the 12th consecutive year, a Disney and Pixar movie will open the festival with “Elemental,” which premieres in May at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Also on Day 1 are Sophie Barthes’ “The Pod Generation,” coming off stops at Sundance and Sarasota — Barthes will also receive the inaugural Maria Mitchell Visionary Award for the film; SXSW-premiere documentary “Joan Baez I am a Noise,” with Baez herself in attendance; and Austrian documentary “Patrick and the Whale,” which premiered at TIFF 2022.

Recent Bleecker Street acquisition “Jules,” starring Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, and Jane Curtin, will be the closing-night film.

Guests announced to be in attendance include Michaela Watkins (“You Hurt My Feelings”), Allison Williams (“M3GAN”), Lola Tung (“The Summer I Turned Pretty”), Graham Greene (“Dances with Wolves”), and Julio Torres (“Problemista”).

Other films...

Director Sophie Barthes (“Madame Bovary”) futuristic comedy/drama “The Pod Generation” has been acquired by Roadside Attractions and Vertical after the feature’s Sundance debut back in January.

The feature follows Emilia Clarke’s Rachel and her partner Alvy (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an upscale New York couple living in a future world where natural childbirth is considered passe. When Rachel gets a coveted position at the city’s Womb Center, where children are birthed in egg-like pods, the couple decides to go on a journey towards parenthood that asks the question of what “natural childbirth” truly is.

“Today, every filmmaker dreams to have a theatrical release. Roadside Attractions and Vertical have made this dream possible,” Barthes said in a statement. “The Pod Generation could not have found a better home, with such a dedicated, innovative and experienced team. I’m thrilled to start this adventure with a team truly in love...

Pod Generation — the sci-fi Sundance feature starring Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor — has landed at Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment in North America. It is palnned for a theatrical release this summer.

The feature, which won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Park City festival, is written and directed by Sophie Barthes and is set in the very near future world where AI has infiltrated all aspects of life.

The Pod Generation, according to the film’s synopsis, “follows Rachel (Clarke) and Alvy (Ejiofor), a New York couple who are ready to start a family. As a rising tech company executive, Rachel lands a coveted spot at the Womb Center, which offers couples the opportunity to share pregnancy on a more equal footing by way of mobile, artificial wombs, or pods. Alvy, a botanist and devoted purist about the natural environment, has doubts, but his love for...

Exclusive: Roadside Attractions and Vertical have nabbed North American rights to the futuristic fable The Pod Generation, starring 4x Emmy nominee Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Academy Award nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave), which opened this year’s Sundance Film Festival and claimed its Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. It’s slated for release exclusively in theaters this summer.

The third feature written and directed by Barthes (Cold Souls) is set in the very near-future world where AI is all the rage and technology has trumped nature in nearly every aspect of life. Its protagonists are Rachel (Clarke) and Alvy (Ejiofor), a New York couple who are ready to start a family. As a rising tech company executive, Rachel lands a coveted spot at the Womb Center, which offers couples the opportunity to share pregnancy on a more equal footing by way of mobile, artificial wombs,...

Sundance documentary “Stephen Curry: Underrated” and SXSW television premiere “I’m a Virgo” will open and close Sffilm, the 66th annual San Francisco International Film Festival.

Sffilm unveiled the full lineup for the fest along with the openers and closers. The Bay Area film festival, which screens in theaters across San Francisco as well as Oakland and Berkeley, will host 50 feature film programs (includes Workshop and “mid-lengths”), 46 shorts, and one TV screening (“I’m a Virgo”). Both directors behind “I’m a Virgo” and “Underrated” — Boots Riley and Peter Nicks — grew up in the Bay Area, more specifically in Oakland. Other films from Bay Area filmmakers whose projects will screen include W. Kamau Bell’s “1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed,” Savanah Leaf’s “Earth Mama,” and Babak Jalali’s “Fremont.”

“It is Sffilm Festival season once again and I cannot wait to share this year’s program with local audiences,” Jessie Fairbanks, Sffilm’s director of programming,...

Sophie Barthes on the production design of The Pod Generation: 'The whole intention was to do feminine sci-fi' Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute The near-future is given a refreshingly feminist slant in Sophie Barthes Pod Generation. The comedy drama, which was one of the Day One films at this year’s Sundance, sees couple Rachel (Emilia Clarke) and Alvy (Chiwetel Eijiofor) grappling with whether to outsource their pregnancy. The latest technology means pods are available to make the whole process a lot less stressful - with the foetus kept safe at a pod centre - but while Rachel warms to the idea, with help from some pressure at work, retro-loving Alvy is less enthusiastic.

In the first part of our interview with Barthes, she told us about her influences and her concerns about what the near-future might bring. Beyond the philosophy of the film - which tackles everything from...

Emilia Clarke as Rachel and Chiwetel Eijiogor as Alvy, alongside Rosalie Craig as Womb Center Director Linda Wozcheck. Sophie Barthes: 'For me, the film is a political statement made as a satire and comedy, so at least we can laugh about it, instead of crying' Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Institute The Pod Generation - which had its world premiere at Sundance last month, sees French-American director Sophie Barthes return to scrutinising an imagined near-future, as she did in her debut Cold Souls. This time around it’s giving birth that has been outsourced but as Rachel (Emilia Clarke) and her retro-loving husband Alvy (Chiwetel Eijiofor) prepare to become a mum and dad courtesy of a pastel-coloured pod, they find things are quite as simple as they first appear.

The film – which picked up the Alfred P Sloan award at Sundane for its use of science – touches on everything from...

The Pod Generation was one of the success stories of this year's Sundance Film Festival, having won the coveted Alfred P. Sloan Award before their premiere even took place. Written and directed by Sophie Barthes, who tackled the themes of technology and emotional detachment rather differently in Cold Souls, the satire envisions a world where women of a certain economic class can opt out of "natural" pregnancy and use the Womb Center's pods as a surrogate instead. But though it asks many interesting questions about the nature of parenthood, it is as much a romantic comedy as it is a philosophical exercise.

The Pod Generation stars Emilia Clarke (still beloved for Game of Thrones) as Rachel and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) as her husband Alvy. Their happy marriage in a somewhat futuristic New York City experiences some turbulence when Rachel decides to register for a...

A Thousand and OneU.S. – DRAMATICGrand Jury PrizeA Thousand and One (A.V. Rockwell)Directing PrizeSing J. Lee (The Accidental Getaway Driver)Audience Award The Persian Version (Maryam Keshavarz)Special Jury Award: ActingLio Mehiel (Mutt)Special Jury Award: Creative VisionMagazine Dreams (Elijah Bynum)Special Jury Award: Ensemble CastTheater Camp (Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman)Waldo Salt Screenwriting AwardMaryam Keshavarz (The Persian Version)

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project U.S. – DOCUMENTARYGrand Jury Prize Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson)Directing Prize Luke Lorentzen (A Still Small Voice) Audience Award Beyond Utopia (Madeleine Gavin)Jonathan Oppenheim Editing AwardDaniela I. Quiroz (Going Varsity in Mariachi)Special Jury Award for Freedom of ExpressionBad Press (Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler)Special Jury Award: Clarity of VisionThe Stroll (Kristen Lovell, Zackary Drucker)

ScrapperWORLD Cinema – DRAMATICGrand Jury Prize Scrapper (Charlotte Regan)Directing Prize Marija Kavtaradze (Slow)Audience AwardShayda (Noora Niasari)Special Jury...

By Abe Friedtanzer

Just how far are we from being able to manufacture babies without a woman actually having to be pregnant? According to Sophie Barthes, the writer and director of The Pod Generation, she conceived her film as science fiction but it should now be considered closer to documentary, given medical and technological advances that make its events feel not nearly as distant as they once did. The way in which she presents a couple deciding to have a baby leans decidedly towards the humorous, sending up the way society portrays pregnancy, motherhood, attachment, and much more.

In the near future, Rachel (Emilia Clarke) is a successful employee at a major tech company, and learns that, along with a promotion, she’s also eligible for a large subsidy for the Womb Project, which enables parents to grow a baby in a pod...

Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center have unveiled the lineup for the 28th edition of Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, an annual celebration of contemporary French filmmaking. The event will take place March 2–12.

It kicks off with a screening of Alice Winocour’s “Revoir Paris,” which stars Virginie Efira as a translator named Mia, who survived a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant and is unable to resume life as usual. In an effort to regain a sense of normalcy, Mia returns repeatedly to the site of the shooting, forming bonds with her fellow survivors. Efira is best known for her star turn in Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta.”

“It is a such a pleasure to open this year’s edition with the French critical and box-office hit ‘Revoir Paris’ in the presence of director Alice Winocour and actress Virginie Efira, who just received our French Cinema Award in Paris,” said Daniela Elstner,...

Winners include Cynthia Lowen for ‘Light Mass Energy’, abut pioneerin physicist Mileva Maric Einstein.

US not-for-profit scientific organisation the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has selected four filmmakers to receive a combined 70,000 in funding as part of the Sundance Institute’s Science-in-Film intitiative.

Writer John Lopez received the 25,000 Sloan Commissioning Grant for Incompleteness, an adaptation of Rebecca Goldstein’s book. Set in the lead up to the Second World War, the story follows Kurt Godel, a logician who falls in love and discovers two mind-bending proofs that shake mathematics and philosophy to their cores.

Previously a writing fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Episodic Lab,...

“The Pod Generation” has garnered the first award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

Sophie Barthes directed the sci-fi film, which stars Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor as parents whose child is being grown in a pod. The dark comedy took home the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Sundance Institute Science-in-Film initiative top cash prize of 20,000. The prize is selected by a jury of film and science professionals and presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character. The 2023 jury for Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize included Dr. Heather Berlin, Jim Gaffigan, Dr. Mandë Holford, Shalini Kantayya, and Lydia Dean Pilcher.

The jury shared that it selected “Sophie Barthes’ futuristic romantic comedy, ‘The Pod Generation,’ for its bold, visually-arresting depiction of a brave new parenthood in which AI and artificial wombs provide technological benefits...

The Sundance Institute Science-in-Film initiative with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation named Sophie Barthes’ The Pod Generation as this year’s Feature Film Prize winner.

In addition three artists grants went to recipients for three projects in development. The prizes were handed out at a reception following the Appetite for Construction panel at Filmmaker Lodge. The four filmmakers received a total of 70,000 in funding through the Prize and three artist grants for projects: Benjy Steinberg for The Professor and the Spy received the Sloan Episodic Fellowship, Cynthia Lowen for Light Mass Energy received the Sloan Development Fellowship, and John Lopez for Incompleteness received the Sloan Commissioning Grant.

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What is the cost of convenience and progress? It’s a question at the heart of many science fiction movies, including the new film from writer/director Sophie Barthes, “The Pod Generation,” which recently won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

In her third Sundance premiere, Barthes explores a future where artificial intelligence provides an abundance of conveniences, from detachable artificial wombs to “nature pods” where wilderness is “domesticated, purified, and controlled.” Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor star as a tech executive and her botanist husband who are struggling to decide whether to rely on nature or technology to bring their child into a world where everything has become commodified.

We spoke with Barthes to learn about the origin and evolution of the film, her own relationship to technology, and why she decided to approach the topic as social satire rather than a dystopian nightmare.

Ahead of its premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, The Pod Generation took home the prize for the Alfred P. Sloan Award, which goes to a feature that contains themes related to science or technology. The film asks the very important yet simple question, “What if women did not have to carry babies and could grow them in pods instead?” Directed and written by Sundance alum Sophie Barthes, the film tackles parenting from a philosophical lens with a satirical approach that never runs out of steam. Barthes’ world building is sensational and includes a breathtaking production design from Clement Price-Thomas. A good balance of emotional impact and humor, The Pod Generation warrants considerable discussion about the road to parenthood.

The story follows a New York couple, Rachel (Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke) and Alvy (Chiwetel Ejiofor), in a not-so-distant future where technology provides more convenient living. A rising tech company executive,...

“The Pod Generation” is one of those sci-fi films set in a future that looks just teasingly enough like our own world to heighten the differences. Somewhere near the end of the 21st century, Rachel (Emilia Clarke) and Alvy (Chiwetel Ejiofor) wake up each morning in a sprawling high-rise apartment where the window shades glide up with the light, a laser makes your toast, and Siri doesn’t just help you — she wants to have a conversation. Folio, the company where Rachel works, creates and markets AI assistants (the one they’re about to introduce looks like a mounted eyeball), and everyone there is a notch more screen-centric than we are. But you can see that’s where we’re heading.

All of this is presented as “progress” that’s also a sly satire of progress. But then Rachel gets called into the office of a senior executive who informs her,...

Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in The Pod Generation written and directed by Sophie Barthes, and starts with Rachel (Clarke) imagining she’s pregnant–but it was just a dream. Her smart home helps her begin the day with 3D printing toast, making coffee, and picking her outfit for the day. Her husband Alvy (Ejiofor) is a bit more grounded. He’s a botanist and professor who encourages his wife and his students to reconnect with nature. Rachel hasn’t told her husband that she’s on the waiting list for Pegazus womb clinic (a place that grows babies in pod eggs), and her consultation date is finally arriving.

In this near future society, anything considered natural is seen as foreign because people have forgotten how to interact with nature. Alvy wants a natural birth, but Rachael doesn’t want pregnancy to interfere with her cushy job. When she tells him,...

In the not-so-far-flung future, a New York Couple (played by Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor) manage to snag a spot at the coveted Womb Center, which offers conveniently detachable vessels that foster fetuses without a human toll. This is the premise of Sophie Barthes’s latest film, The Pod Generation, a meditation on the rampant commodification of natural processes in our tech-obsessed culture. Cinematographer Andrij Parekh—Barthes’s husband and long-time collaborator—delves into the specifics of shooting the film, including his painstaking efforts to utilize as much natural light as possible. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and […]

The post “The Cinema Gods Smiled Upon Us”: Dp Andrij Parekh on The Pod Generation first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In The Pod Generation, the third feature film from French-American director Sophie Barthes, the process of pregnancy and birth has been offloaded from human bodies, relegated to artificial pods that produce fetuses. New York-based couple Rachel and Alvy (Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor) are excited to learn that they’ve been selected to attend the ultra-exclusive Womb Center, where these quasi-artificial offspring are conceived. However, even within the confines of this futuristic world, technologies of convenience must be questioned and contended with. Editor Ron Patane discusses his initial excitement at the prospect of working on the film, aspects of The Pod […]

The post “With This Film, It Came Full Circle”: Editor Ron Patane on The Pod Generation first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In the not-so-far-flung future, a New York Couple (played by Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor) manage to snag a spot at the coveted Womb Center, which offers conveniently detachable vessels that foster fetuses without a human toll. This is the premise of Sophie Barthes’s latest film, The Pod Generation, a meditation on the rampant commodification of natural processes in our tech-obsessed culture. Cinematographer Andrij Parekh—Barthes’s husband and long-time collaborator—delves into the specifics of shooting the film, including his painstaking efforts to utilize as much natural light as possible. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and […]

The post “The Cinema Gods Smiled Upon Us”: Dp Andrij Parekh on The Pod Generation first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

In The Pod Generation, the third feature film from French-American director Sophie Barthes, the process of pregnancy and birth has been offloaded from human bodies, relegated to artificial pods that produce fetuses. New York-based couple Rachel and Alvy (Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor) are excited to learn that they’ve been selected to attend the ultra-exclusive Womb Center, where these quasi-artificial offspring are conceived. However, even within the confines of this futuristic world, technologies of convenience must be questioned and contended with. Editor Ron Patane discusses his initial excitement at the prospect of working on the film, aspects of The Pod […]

The post “With This Film, It Came Full Circle”: Editor Ron Patane on The Pod Generation first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Well, the pandemic! We were supposed to shoot this film in New York in July 2019. The pandemic made this impossible. I tried to set up the film in Australia for a while, but that didn’t work out. Finally, I had to start from scratch and find the financing in Europe—and shoot New York in Europe! We brought a New […]

The post “I Had to Start From Scratch and Find the Financing in Europe” | Sophie Barthes, The Pod Generation first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Well, the pandemic! We were supposed to shoot this film in New York in July 2019. The pandemic made this impossible. I tried to set up the film in Australia for a while, but that didn’t work out. Finally, I had to start from scratch and find the financing in Europe—and shoot New York in Europe! We brought a New […]

The post “I Had to Start From Scratch and Find the Financing in Europe” | Sophie Barthes, The Pod Generation first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

It’s been three years since Hollywood touched down in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival, with the 2023 fest offering a hybrid format of both in-person and online attendance after two years of purely digital incarnations. While the virtual festivals still produced major sales — 2021’s Coda being the most noteworthy — the overall market has lagged, with dealmaking continuing into the months after the close of the festival and mid-range deals becoming scarcer. Sellers are particularly excited for the return of in-person premieres, hoping that this will mean a return to urgency, if not a return to all-night bidding wars.

Here are this year’s titles that are sure to entice buyers, whether they are sitting in the Eccles or on their couch at home.

Aum: The Cult at the End of the World

Directors Ben Braun, Chiaki Yanagimoto

Buzz The doc, which could satisfy a streamer’s true crime or nonfiction thriller needs,...

With Covid-related production and release delays mostly in the rearview mirror, those arriving this week at the Sundance Film Festival will face another potential conundrum.

The hope among filmmakers and interested sellers is that the dual requirements of a two-tracked exhibition system — films for theaters and movies for streaming — will fuel a bull market. Fears abound that as streamers claim to restore fiscal sanity while Wall Street no longer cares about subscribers and content spends, the reckless content splurges of the past will cease to drive eyes-are-bigger-than-your-stomach purchases.

Save for Amazon’s Prime Video and Apple TV+, which arguably can still overbid, studios and streamers might be less willing to throw money at high-profile but commercially questionable titles. Concurrently, fears of an upcoming Writers Guild strike could lead to more wealth being spread around toward more movies in another variation on content-for-content’s sake spending.

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Sundance 2023 Jury Set With Marlee Matlin,...

The Pod Generation

We thought there was an outside chance that this third feature film The Pod Generation from French-American filmmaker Sophie Barthes would premiere late in ’22, but instead it’s heading (and among the opening films) to Sundance and it already bagged one prize in the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film award. Production on the film took place in Belgium in March of ’22, with Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor toplining. After Cold Souls (2009) and Madame Bovary (2014), Barthes returned to a space she knows well – human condition at a crossroads with science fiction with her brand of satire.…...

The Sundance Institute has named the participants and projects set for the 2023 editions of a pair of its flagship programs: the Screenwriters Lab and Screenwriters Intensive.

Lab participants will include Joseph Sackett (Cross Pollination), Sean Wang (Dìdi (弟弟)), Abinash Bikram Shah (Elephants in the Fog), Gabriela Ortega (Huella), Walter Thompson-Hernández (If I Go Will They Miss Me), Hadas Ayalon (In a Minute You’ll Be Gone), Bernardo Cubría, John Hibey & Joshua Penn Soskin (Kill Yr Idols), Dania Bdeir & Bane Fakih (Pigeon Wars), Rashad Frett & Lin Que Ayoung (Ricky), Farida Zahran (The Leftover Ladies), Masami Kawai (Valley of the Tall Grass) and Audrey Rosenberg (Wild Animals).

Those set for the Intensive are Keisha Rae Witherspoon & Jason Fitzroy Jeffers (Arc), Shireen Alihaji (Blue Veil), Spencer Cook & Parker Smith (Lame), Jesahel Newton-Bernal (Leche), Cynthia Lowen (Light Mass Energy), Rebin Zangana (Qareen), David Liu (Santa Anita), Urvashi Pathania (Skin), Ciara Leina`ala Lacy (Untitled...

After two years of virtual and hybrid event offerings, the Sundance Film Festival is set to celebrate the first fully in-person edition of the landmark fest when it rolls out next week in Park City, Utah. As ever, this year’s festival boasts a wide variety of new films from some of our favorite filmmakers, plus an assortment of rising stars, new talents to keep an eye on, and perhaps a few surprises.

This year’s program includes new films from Nicole Holofcener, Ira Sachs, Brandon Cronenberg, Sebastian Silva, Cory Finley, Justin Chon, Nicole Newnham, Maite Alberdi, Roger Ross Williams, Sophie Barthes, Lana Wilson, Davis Guggenheim, Rebecca Zlotowski, and Anton Corbijn.

Looking for big stars? Sundance has them, too, as notable actors at this year’s festival range include Jonathan Majors, Daisy Ridley, Sarah Snook, Ben Whishaw, Alexander Skarsgard, Mia Goth, Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat, Thomasin McKenzie, Anne Hathaway, Emilia Jones,...

Sundance has announced the 16 jurors granting awards at this year’s film festival, ranging from playwright Jeremy O. Harris to Oscar winner Marlee Matlin.

This year’s Sundance Film Festival will take place from Jan. 19-29 in Utah, marking its first return to Park City since the pandemic. The awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 27, with grants bestowed for feature and short films.

Jurors are Harris, Matlin and Eliza Hittman for U.S. dramatic competition; W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz and Carla Gutierrez for U.S. documentary competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir and Funa Maduka for world cinema dramatic competition; Karim Amer, Petra Costa and Alexander Nanau for world cinema documentary competition; Madeleine Olnek for the Next competition section; and Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji and Deborah Stratman for the short film program competition.

“The jury plays a crucial role in the festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing...

The Sundance Film Festival makes its fully in-person return to Park City next month, from January 19 – 23, after two consecutive all-virtual events. This year’s lineup of 101 feature-length films (so far) is packed with buzzy titles, from Susanna Fogel’s “Cat Person,” based on the viral 2017 New Yorker short story about a toxic date; to “Eileen,” the Ottessa Mosghfegh adaptation starring Thomasin McKenzie and Anne Hathaway; and “Infinity Pool,” the latest sleek sci-fi from Brandon Cronenberg and starring Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth.

Filmmakers first-time and veteran filmmakers will land in Park City this January, bringing breakout features to the U.S., Documentary, and World Cinema Dramatic competitions, as well as in the Premieres section, among others. On the documentary side, new nonfiction offerings about the lives of Michael J. Fox, Judy Blume, and Little Richard will be presented.

The lineup includes new films from Nicole Holofcener, Ira Sachs, Brandon Cronenberg,...

There are six UK productions and four UK co-productions in the line-up.

The UK is well represented in the 2023 edition of Utah-based festival Sundance, with debut features including Girl, Scrapper, Rye Lane and documentary Is There Anybody Out There? joining the line-up, which was announced in full yesterday (December 7). Five of the UK filmmakers selected are Screen Stars of Tomorrow.

This year’s festival takes place as a hybrid event, running from January 19-29 as an in-person event, with a selection of films available online from January 24-29.

Six UK productions and four UK co-productions have made the 99-strong line-up...

The Sundance Institute has announced the feature film lineup for the 2023 festival, taking place January 19 – 29, 2023, in person in Utah, along with a selection of films available online across the country January 24 – 29. The selection includes Competition titles, the Premieres section, and the Midnight section, with 101 feature-length films representing 23 countries, 94 percent of which are world premieres.

This year’s program includes plenty of familiar names, with new films from Nicole Holofcener, Ira Sachs, Brandon Cronenberg, Sebastian Silva, Cory Finley, Justin Chon, Nicole Newnham, Maite Alberdi, Roger Ross Williams, Sophie Barthes, Lana Wilson, Davis Guggenheim, Rebecca Zlotowski, Anton Corbijn, and many more.

Notable actors at this year’s festival range from Jonathan Majors in “Magazine Dreams,” Daisy Ridley in “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” and Sarah Snook in midnight opener “Run Rabbit Run.” Other notable names found throughout the lineup include Ben Whishaw, Alexander Skarsgard, Mia Goth, Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat, Thomasin McKenzie,...

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Take two.

After last year’s in-person festival was canceled at the last minute because of the winter Covid-19 surge due to the Omicron variant, the Sundance Film Festival is returning to Park City for the first time since 2020 with a line-up of 101 feature-length films, representing 23 countries, that was annoucned today.

The U.S. Dramatic Competition section features thirteen titles. The Jonathan Majors-fronted Magazine Dreams, Randall Park’s directorial debut Shortcomings, and the latest from Will Ferrell and Jessica Elbaum’s Gloria Sanchez, Theater Camp, are among those vying for the top festival prize.

As for non-fiction, several bio-docs centered on big-name talent are festival bound, including Michael J. Fox (Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie), Brooke Shields (Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields), Little Richard (Little Richard: I Am Everything), and Judy Blume (Judy Blume Forever). Years past have seen docs on Taylor Swift,...

Selection includes new work from directors Nicole Holofcener, Davis Guggenheim, Sophie Bathes, Brandon Cronenberg.

Established and new filmmakers will take a bow at the hybrid 2023 Sundance Film Festival as festival organisers announced 99 features selected from a record number of submissions. There is new work from Holy Spider star Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Cynthia Erivo, We Are Lady Parts creator Nida Manzoor, Nicole Holofcener, Davis Guggenheim, Sophie Bathes and Brandon Cronenberg.

Scroll down for line-up

Anticipated World Cinema Dramatic Competition selections include UK duo Scrapper directed by Charlotte Regan and sold by Charades, and Girl by Adura Onashile. Both were supported...

The Pod Generation

Fatigue, odd food cravings, varicose veins, and stretch marks – while parenthood ain’t all it’s cracked up to be, what if men had to take out the trash and…carry a child for nine months? Likely to tackle philosophical, psychological and moral questions in one basket, Sophie Barthes will finally return behind the camera this coming March after an eight year absence. The US-based French filmmaker umbilical cord lassoed Emilia Clarke and Chiwetel Ejiofor for a sci-fi rom com that could, if all goes well, land on the fall festival circuit of Telluride, Venice, TIFF and/or NYFF. After Cold Souls (2009) and Madame Bovary (2014), Barthes’ line of thinking for The Pod Generation is the “idea of the artificial womb as either doom or liberation for women is inherently comedic material.” …...

“Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke and Oscar-nominated Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”) are set to headline “The Pod Generation,” a sci-fi romantic comedy that will be directed by Sophie Barthes. MK2 Films has boarded international sales, and CAA Media Finance is handling domestic rights.

Set in a near future where AI is all the rage and nature is becoming a distant memory, the story revolves around Rachel (Clarke) and Alvy (Ejiofor), a New York couple who are ready to take their relationship to the next level and start a family. Rachel’s work gives them a chance to use a new tool developed by a tech giant, Pegasus, which offers couples the opportunity to share pregnancy on a more equal footing via detachable artificial wombs, or pods. Alvy, a botanist and devoted purist, has doubts, but his love for Rachel prompts him to take a leap of faith.

Exclusive: Director-cinematographer Andrij Parekh, who recently won an Outstanding Directing Emmy for HBO’s acclaimed drama series Succession, has signed a one-year exclusive television deal with the premium cable network. As part of the pact, Parekh will serve as cinematographer on the upcoming HBO limited series Scenes From A Marriage, directed by Hagai Levi, and is also set to direct an episode of the third season of Succession.

After working for over two decades as a cinematographer, Parekh last month won his first Emmy award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series. He was honored for the “Hunting” episode of Succession‘s second season, which featured the infamous “Boar on the Floor” scene.

Parekh was the cinematographer on the pilot episodes for Succession and the Emmy-winning limited series Watchmen, on which he made his directing foray with the fourth episode, “If You Don’t Like My Story Write Your Own.

In an unexpected trajectory (along the lines of a Lance Hammer or Markus Schleinzer), with close to two decades of production and locations department gigs that include Jean-Marc Vallee’s Demolition, Sophie Barthes’ Cold Souls and Julie Delpy’s Two Days in New York, Jeff Brown should be debuting his feature film debut sometime in 2019. His passion sci-fi/horror project The Beach House is an off the radar offering that found a great trio of indie producers in Sophia Lin, Andrew D. Corkin and Tyler Davidson and recently surfaced at the Ifp’s No Borders program. No details on the players.…...