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The action-drama has also been selected for Toronto’s contemporary world cinema strand.

Screen can unveil the first trailer for Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash, which will world premiere in the international competition at the Locarno Film Festival (August 4-14).

From Indonesian director Edwin, it stars Marthino Lio as a fighter driven to rage by his secret impotence. He has a chance to finally find happiness when he falls in love with a tough female fighter, played by Ladya Cheryl.

Edwin’s previous films include Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly, which premiered at Rotterdam in 2009, and Berlin...

Having won international acclaim with his arthouse features Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly and Postcards From The Zoo, single-named Indonesian auteur Edwin takes a turn to more commercially oriented cinema with his upcoming teen drama Posesif. A story of young love between a national level diver and a new boy at her high school, conflict soon grows - first as the relationship distracts from family and other obligations and then, more notably, as the yong man's attentions become darker and more controlling. So while this is very much meant for a broader audience than the bulk of Edwin's work to this point there's clearly still an edge to it. Posesif releases on Indonesian screens later this month and while there are no subtitles on...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

24 participants have been selected for the 10th Asian Film Academy, which will have Hungarian director Bela Tarr as its dean.

In Korea, the Busan International Film Festival (Biff) has announced its selection of 24 fellows for the 10th Asian Film Academy (Afa). Hungarian director Bela Tarr will be this year’s Afa dean.

Biff says the number of applicants this year has increased by “more than 52%” and the competition was stiff. Applicants included filmmakers who had already been invited to “renowned film festivals” including Cannes.

The fest notes “growth in the Chinese film industry has led to an increased number of applicants from China” and ventures the influence of Television, the 17th Biff Closing Film from Bangladesh, has encouraged more young filmmakers from that country to keep applying.

The number of female applicants, which has been growing yearly, “now represents 1/3 of the total applications in 2014”. Seven of the final 24 participants this year are female.

The 24 fellows...

The Indonesian director known as (just) Edwin has started on a Dutch-Indonesian co-production called Exotic Pictures. Working from a script by himself and Marco van Geffen, Edwin will look at, and I quote from the press notes by production company Lemming Film: "...the long and suppressed history between the Dutch and the Indonesians through war, sex, desire and betrayal." The renowned filmmaker, who won multiple awards with his previous features Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly and Postcards From The Zoo, is currently studying at the Dutch Film Academy, where his subject is "porn and history". Sounds like he's the right man for this job! The story of Exotic Pictures takes place on the Indonesian island of Bali during the forties and fifties, and will...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

While at Cph:dox I attended a seminar titled “An Interactive Audience” spotlighting new works in transmedia. One of the projects discussed was 17,000 Islands, a work commissioned by the festival’s own Dox:lab, directed by Indonesia’s Edwin (Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly) and Norwegian transmedia doc director Thomas Ostbye, and produced by interactive producer Paramita Nath. The project, in which Edwin and Ostbye make a film that is then “destroyed” by its viewers over the internet, sounded fascinating, so afterwards I pulled Edwin aside to learn more.

First, here’s the description of the project from the Cph:dox catalog:

17000 Islands is an interactive transmedia documentary. In Indonesia, Jakarta, there is a Disneyland style museum park named Taman Mini. It attempts to present the diverse cultures of Indonesia in a condensed and manicured form – an idealized image of the 17.000 Islands of Indonesia. Fascinated by this idealized and artificial representation, Indonesian...

While at Cph:dox I attended a seminar titled “An Interactive Audience” spotlighting new works in transmedia. One of the projects discussed was 17,000 Islands, a work commissioned by the festival’s own Dox:lab, directed by Indonesia’s Edwin (Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly) and Norwegian transmedia doc director Thomas Ostbye, and produced by interactive producer Paramita Nath. The project, in which Edwin (pictured) and Ostbye make a film that is then “destroyed” by its viewers over the internet, sounded fascinating, so afterwards I pulled Edwin aside to learn more. First, here’s the description of the project from the Cph:dox catalog: 17000 …...

The 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival is still going strong more than a week into its impressive programme of World Cinema. Today's viewing included a couple of notable independent films from two of Asia's more interesting and less explored countries, as well as a revisit of arguably the most interesting zombie movie of last year.Day 9 (31 March)Postcards From The Zoo (dir. Edwin, Indonesia)Winner of this year's Edward Yang New Talent Award, Indonesian director Edwin delivers his second feature film, following the well-received Blind Pig Who Wants To Fly in 2008. Postcards depicts the life of Lana, abandoned in Jakarta's zoo when she was just a small child. She grew up in the beatnik community of homeless drifters/unofficial attendants who live on the grounds...

HollywoodNews.com: The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, today announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film selections, along with selections for the out-of-competition Viewpoints section—the program established last year that highlights personal stories in international and independent cinema. Forty-six of the 90 feature-length films were announced. The 11th edition of the Festival will take place from April 18 to April 29 at locations around New York City.

The Festival was curated by a new programming team this year. Frédéric Boyer has joined Tff as Artistic Director, having most recently served as Artistic Director and Head of Programming for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, has expanded his role in overseeing the Festival program. Genna Terranova has been promoted to Director of Programming and Cara Cusumano returns as Programmer.

“It’s been so gratifying to watch the new programming...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced half of this year’s movie showcase, the 11th edition of the New York celebration set for April 18-29. James Franco’s behind-the-scenes General Hospital feature, Francophrenia, will have its North American premiere in the Viewpoints section – the program established last year that highlights more personal stories. “He’s kind of constructed this really interesting and well-crafted film about that experience that plays with the boundaries of documentary,” says Genna Terranova, Tribeca’s director of programming. “It’s a bit tongue in cheek, as James himself can be. He’s a bit enigmatic and the film is as well.

With The Five-Year Engagement set as the opening title for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, they’ve announced more of the line-up today with World Narrative & Documentary Features as the Viewpoint titles. We’ve got the next film from The Exploding Girl director Bradley Rust Gray, Jack and Diane (as well as a first look about featuring Juno Temple, thanks to Styd).

There is a new Harmony Korine short as well Kate Bosworth‘s While We Were Here and The Girl, starring Abbie Cornish. James Franco also has his latest film, Francophrenia, featuring footage from his performance on General Hospital. Nothing sticks out too greatly yet, but if I see something as interesting as Beyond the Black Rainbow or Magic Valley like last year, I’ll be a happy man. Check it out below and come back Thursday for the rest of the announcement.

World Narrative Feature Competition

• All In (La Suerte En Tus Manos...

SXSW kicks off later this week, but once your done slurping the BBQ sauce off your fingers, pack your backs and head north to Manhattan as the Tribeca Film Festival is gearing up to unspool in April. To whet cinephile appetites, organizers have dropped the lineup for the World Narrative Feature Competition, World Documentary Feature Competition and Viewpoints lineups and there are plenty of titles to take note of.

Among the narratives, the anticipated "Jack And Diane" from Bradley Rust Gray will make its world premiere. Starring Juno Temple and Riley Keough, the film takes a teenage lesbian love tale and twists the formula, with one of them revealing she's a werewolf. Add to that a cast rounded out by Dane DeHaan, Jena Malone and pop star Kylie Minogue (as a tattooed lesbian, of course) and you can see why this will be one of the hottest tickets at the fest.

The Berlin International Film Festival has just announced the first five films lined up for the Competition and five more for the Berlinale Special. The 62nd edition runs from February 9 through 19.

Update: The Berlinale's also announced that the members of the International Jury, presided over by Mike Leigh, will be Anton Corbijn, Asghar Farhadi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jake Gyllenhaal, François Ozon, Boualem Sansal and Barbara Sukowa.

Competition

Captive

France/Philippines/Germany/Great Britain

By Brillante Mendoza (Serbis, Kinatay, Lola)

With Isabelle Huppert, Katherine Mulville, Marc Zanetta

World premiere

From Ioncinema: "Based on a real-life event that occurred in 2001. It centers on Thérèse Bourgoin (Huppert), a French woman who works for a humanitarian organization on Palawan Island in the Philippines. While she is transporting equipment to Puerto Princesa, she is kidnapped by mistake with a colleague by Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf, who are fighting for Mindanao independence."

Dictado (Childish Games)

Spain

By Antonio Chavarrías (Susanna,...

Now that the fall “awards festival” circuit is finally at a close — but with Sundance looming in the distance — it’s easy to forget about Biff — the Berlin International Film Festival, that is. (See, I even have to give the name.) This might have something to do with their less-than-huge lineup; in terms of films playing in competition, last year’s biggest art house title was The Turin Horse, while the most mainstream was probably Margin Call. Nothing too slim, but not much compared to Cannes, Venice, or Tiff.

The first round of titles to play this coming February (via Twitch) do carry a few major titles, though. Among them are The Flowers of War (which we were quite ecstatic about), Guy Maddin‘s Keyhole, Extremely Loud…, Kevin Macdonald‘s Bob Marley documentary, and an expansion of Werner Herzog‘s Into the Abyss. A few other foreign titles carry potential,...

Don—The King is Back (Don 2) directed by Farhan Akhtar will have a special screening at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. The festival announced on Monday the first five films for Competition and films to be screened at Berlinale Special.

Don 2 is an Indo-German co-production and will release in theatres in India on December 23, 2011. Mathias Schwerbrock of Germany is associated with the film as a co-producer along with Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani and Gauri Khan.

The other films to be screened at Berlinale Special are: documentary Marley by Kevin Macdonald from Great Britain and the USA, the Spanish film La chispa de la vida by Álex de la Iglesia, Guy Maddin’s Keyhole from Canada, as well as Werner Herzog’s documentary series Death Row from the USA.

The 62nd Berlin International Film Festival will be held from February 9-19, 2012.

The first five titles in Competition:

Captive...

The 9/11 drama "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" from Stephen Daldry ("The Hours") and China's official 2011 Oscar bid from Zhang Yimou ("Hero"), "The Flowers of War" will make their European premieres out of competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival. Joining Mike Leigh as International Jury President are Anton Corbijn, Asghar Farhadi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jake Gyllenhaal, François Ozon, Boualem Sansal and Barbara Sukowa. The festival also announced three of its competing titles with "Captive" starring Isabelle Huppert, Spain's "Childish Games" from Antonio Chavarrias ("Volveras"), and the Indonesian/German/Chinese co-production "Postcards from the Zoo," directed by Edwin ("The Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly"). Five films are slated for the Berlinale Special. Included are "Keyhole" from Guy Maddin, the Bob Marley documentary...

Jake Gyllenhaal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anton Corbijn Get Berlin Festival Jury Duty The 62nd Berlin International Film Festival has set its first five competition films, and has selected the Stephen Daldry-directed Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close and the Zhang Yimou-directed The Flowers Of War to screen out of competition. The selected productions and co-productions are from Indonesia, Spain, the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong/China, the Philippines, Great Britain, Germany, the U.S. and France. Here are the films so far: Captive, France/Philippines/Germany/Great Britain. By Brillante Mendoza (Serbis, Kinatay, Lola.) With Isabelle Huppert, Katherine Mulville, Marc Zanetta. World premiere. Dictado (Childish Games), Spain. By Antonio Chavarrías (Susanna, Volverás, Las vidas de Celia) With Juan Diego Botto, Barbara Lennie, Mágica Pérez. World premiere. Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close, USA By Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours, The Reader) With Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow,...

Cannes's 6th Cinefondation Atelier has a lineup of directors which this year includes more known auteurs than previously. It has also joined with Mexico's Expresion den Corto for a summer residence program in Guanajuato, Mexico. Both programs include a dozen of the best young filmmakers in the world, offering them a platform designed to propel their careers with master's classes, workshops and meetings with public and private organizaitons to help obtain financing for their film projects.

The Cannes lineup of 15 films this year includes 4 films by first time directors one of whom is a woman and 2 Latino filmmakers.

Debuting directors:

Taiwan based former actress Show-Chun Lee from France, a protege of Claude Miller with Shanghai-Belleville

Karoly Ujj Meszaros from Hungary with Liza, the Fox-Fairy, a comedic serial killer nurse romp

Diego Quemada-Diez from Mexico with La Jaula de oro

Ruben Sierra Salles from Venezuela with Lucia

A third Latino filmmaker...

Those compiling their best of the year lists would do well to consult the roll-call of gong-winners handed out by an august band of international critics

Any perspicacious film festival-goer or festival-watcher will have noticed that one of the prizes awarded at most festivals, in addition to the Golden Palms, Golden Lions or Golden Leopards etc, is the Fipresci (Federation International de la Presse Cinematographic) – aka the international film critics' award. In principle, this should be the most prestigious and sought-after prize of all, because the juries are made up of professional film critics (usually five, each from a different country) who are paid to tell the public what is good or bad and why.

Unfortunately, the Fipresci prize does not carry with it any money but, in theory, it does help the film gain a distributor. However, on one occasion, I remember that a director, who had just won the Fipresci prize,...

I usually begin these type of "Sundance Institute" updates by stating that these are the future names to watch out for on the indie film scene or in future editions of the festival, but the truth of the matter is, this year's batch of twelve are names we already mention on this site. Filmmakers such as Craig Zobel and Cherien Dabis are returning with their latest screenplays-in-progress and folks such as Lance Weiler, Sean Durkin (producer of Afterschool) and Edwin (multiple fest winner Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly) are making this an 2010 group to watch out for. - I usually begin these type of "Sundance Institute" updates by stating that these are the future names to watch out for on the indie film scene or in future editions of the festival, but the truth of the matter is, this year's batch of twelve are names we already mention on this site.

Toronto -- The Hong Kong cop drama "Overheard" from co-directors Alan Mak and Felix Chong will open the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival on Nov. 11, organizers said Tuesday.

The 13th edition of the country's biggest Asian film festival will close Nov. 15 with the indie South Korean film "Breathless," Yang Ik-June's debut feature that has picked up a string of festival awards.

In all, 49 Asian and Asian-language films from 14 countries, including Canada, will unspool at the Reel Asian festival.

These include Toronto screenings for Malaysian director Mamat Khalid's "When the Full Moon Rises," which earned top prize at the Malaysian Film Festival, and Taiwanese director Chen Yu-Chieh's "Yang Yang," the audience choice winner at the Taipei Film Festival.

Also Toronto-bound is Japanese director Yoshihiro Nakamura's "Fish Story," the Rotterdam competition title "Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly," by Indonesian director Edwin, U.S. director H.P. Mendoza's "Fruit Fly,...