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Camila José Donoso’s “Antitropical,” William Reyes’ “Eva,” and Manuel Ponce de Leon’s “In All My Journeys I Am Returning” are potential highlights at this year’s Ventana Sur industry centrepiece, its Primer Corte, and Copia Final pix-in-post screenings.

Penned with “Chile, ’76” co-scribe Alejandra Moffat, the fourth film from José Donoso whose “Nona: If They Soak Me, I’ll Burn Them” saw limited theatrical release, “Antitropical” marks a step up in scale, says producer Roberto Doveris (“The Prince”).

Marking history in the making, “Eva” is the first film financed by the Honduran Institute of Cinematography. Produced with a sense of solidarity between Colombia, whose Candelaria Films produced with Reyes own Opida label and Fosforito Films, the production was boarded as an an associate producer by Jayro Bustamante’s high-flying La Casa de Producción which trained the non-pro cast.

Luciana Piantanida’s “All the Strength,” Carlos Sánchez Giraldo’s...

Oscar-nominated animation filmmaker Hugo Covarrubias will make his feature debut with the stop-motion film “Baptism,” set to pitch at Ventana Sur’s Animation! sidebar later this month.

Sticking with the medium that earned him an Oscar nod for the 2022 short “Bestia,” Covarrubias’ project is an animated, regressive psychological drama that unspools across three decades, following the daily, social and political lives of a middle-class family in Santiago.

The film’s intergenerational narrative is visited through the perspective of Héctor, who, after learning that the VHS tape of his belated baptism has been lost, begins to revisit blurry memories of his childhood and youth, filling in the blanks of his family’s history during the years of Chile’s military dictatorship.

“Baptism’ aims to capture the intricate tapestry of contradictions of a family and of our country through the different stages of the life of our protagonist,” says Covarrubias. “My vision...

Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks has snagged world sales rights to Sandra Gugliotta’s upcoming “Irremediable,” a dramatic thriller lead produced by Argentina’s Magma Cine.

“We are delighted to partner once again as a key sales and financing partner with one of Latin America’s most dynamic production companies, showcasing a distinctive director and an intriguing storyline,” said FilmSharks CEO-Founder Guido Rud.

Inspired by real events, the drama sheds light on the shadowy world of illegal adoption, delving into the secrecy and corruption as it follows a desperate woman who will do whatever it takes to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother.

Starring Maricel Alvarez and Alberto Ammann, it centers on Carla (Alvarez) who’s eager to start a family. She meets Amanda, a pregnant young woman who wants to give up her baby. As they get caught up in the murky adoption process, Carla and her husband, Pablo (Ammann...

San Sebastian — Is this the San Sebastián Catalan Film Festival? Always boasting a sterling presence at San Sebastián, Catalonia has a massive 27 titles this year, counting five projects in doc forum Lau Haizetara and including four of the five Spanish movies in main Competition and 10 in Made in Spain. Following a break-down of major section titles:

Main Competition

“Afternoons of Solitude,” (Andergraun Films, Ideale Audience, Lacima Producciones)

Albert Serra’s not at all obvious follow-up to Cannes competition player “Pacifiction,” a portrait of star bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey at work. The results remain to be seen. Serra has shot the disc feature “with respect and innocence, without prejudice nor provocation,” he tells Spain’s ABC Cultural.

“Glimmers,” (Inicia Films, Mod Producciones, Misent Producciones)

The latest from Pilar Palomero. A top-notch Spanish cast led by Patricia López Arnaíz and Antonio de la Torre drive the tale of a woman asked by...

Paris-based Luxbox, a sales company on a multiple standout Spanish-language debuts bowed at big festivals – from “1976” to “20,000 Species of Bees,” “Clara Sola,” “Song Without a Name” and “The Heiresses” – has swooped on international sales rights to “Simon of the Mountain” (“Simon de la Montaña”), in the run-up to the Cannes Film Festival.

The anticipated first feature of Argentina’s Federico Luis, “Simon of the Mountain” was announced Monday as one of seven movies confirmed for main competition at this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week.

Co-written by Federico Luis, the film’s editor Tomás Murphy and Agustín Toscano, helmer of Directors’ Fortnight title “The Snatch Thief” who also figures in the film’s key cast, “Simon of the Mountain” stars Lorenzo “Toto” Ferro, one of Argentina’s most rated young actors after his breakout performances as Argentina’s most notorious serial killer in Cannes 2018 Un Certain Regard player “El Angel...

With the 96th Academy Awards now only a month away, each weekend brings a new award show that reveals a new look at the shape of the Oscar race. Tonight, the auteurs behind some of 2023’s biggest films gathered at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles to celebrate the craft of filmmaking at the Directors Guild of America Awards.

Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, Christopher Nolan, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Alexander Payne were nominated for the night’s top prize, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film, with Oscar frontrunner Nolan walking away with the coveted trophy. Celine Song, Cord Jefferson, A.V. Rockwell, Manuela Martelli, and Noora Niasari competed for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film, which ultimately went to Song.

The show celebrated some of the best directors working in television, with awards in a variety of categories ranging from TV dramas and sitcoms to commercials and reality TV.

Christopher Nolan has won the feature-film prize from the Directors Guild of America for “Oppenheimer,” reinforcing his film’s status as the heavy favorite this awards season. The honor went to Nolan at the end of the 76th annual DGA Awards, which took place on Saturday night in Beverly Hills.

In the other film categories, Celine Song won the award for first-time directing for her gentle drama “Past Lives” and Mstyslav Chernov won the documentary award for “20 Days in Mariupol,” his on-the-ground report from the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Peter Hoar won the drama-series award for “The Last of Us,” in a category in which the other four nominees were all from different episodes of “Succession.”

The award for Comedy Series directing went to Christopher Storer for the “Fishes” episode of “The Bear.” Sarah Adina Smith won the award for TV movie or limited series for...

“Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan, Christopher Storer of FX’s “The Bear” and Peter Hoar of HBO’s “The Last of Us” were the top winners Saturday night at the Directors Guild of America’s 76th annual DGA Awards.

The DGA win seals Nolan’s frontrunner position to land the director Oscar at the March 10 Academy Awards. Celine Song took home the DGA medallion for first-time director for her much-praised A24 drama “Past Lives.” “Guys, this is so amazing,” Song told the crowd.

Judd Apatow hosted the three-hour ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The multi-hyphenate opened his monologue with a zinger rooted in the DGA’s image as being friendly with the studio CEOs and its history of never mounting a significant strike against Hollywood’s major studios. Apatow joked that his agents told him to hold out for more money for his fifth time as host of the DGA ceremony.

The 76th Directors Guild of America Awards took place on Saturday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. Pt with Judd Apatow hosting the in-person, non-televised ceremony. These kudos honored the best helmers of the year in movies and television, as voted on by more than 18,000 members of the directing guild. Scroll down for the 2024 DGA Awards winners list in three film and eight TV categories.

As always, the all-important feature film category is one of the most telling bellwethers for the eventual Best Director Oscar. The guild and the academy have only disagreed for Best Director eight times over the past seven decades, with the last three years lining up perfectly for Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (2022’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Jane Campion (2021’s “The Power of the Dog”) and Chloé Zhao (2020’s “Nomadland”).

This year, just three of the DGA’s nominees also reaped directing Oscar bids: Yorgos Lanthimos...

The Directors Guild of America Awards are on February 10, and while the race for Best Film Director looks like a runaway for Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”), Best First-Time Feature Director could be a little more suspenseful. The top two contenders are also first-time Oscar nominees this year: Celine Song for “Past Lives” and Cord Jefferson for “American Fiction.” They’re both Oscar-nominated for their screenplays, though. So which will be the industry’s choice for their direction?

As of this writing Song is the heavy favorite to win with leading odds of 31/10. Betting on her to win are all 11 of the Expert journalists currently making their predictions, 10 out of the 11 Gold Derby Editors who cover awards year-round, 23 of the Top 24 Users who got the best scores predicting last year’s DGA winners and 23 of the All-Star Top 24 who got the highest scores when you combine multiple years’ results. Jefferson trails in...

Judd Apatow will return to host the 2024 Directors Guild of America Awards, the organization announced on Friday.

This will be Apatow’s fifth time hosting the annual awards show, which will take place this year on Feb. 10 at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, California. The filmmaker hosted in 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023.

“It’s an honor to be hosting the DGA Awards for the 5th time,” said Apatow. “Just three more times and I’ll be eligible for health insurance.”

It was also announced that Beth McCarthy-Miller will return as awards chair this year.

“I’m honored to return as awards chair and to be a part of such a stellar night that highlights the amazing work my colleagues have done this year,” McCarthy-Miller said in a statement. “I’m thrilled that Judd will return as our host, keeping our ceremony grounded in connection, camaraderie, and, comedy.”

Apatow has directed, produced...

Winners to be announced at 76th Annual DGA Awards on February 10.

‘Barbenheimer’ filmmakers Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig are among the Directors Guild of America’s (DGA) Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film nominees for 2023.

Gerwig is the sole female nominee in the main category for Barbie (Warner Bros) alongside last weekend’s Golden Globe winner Nolan for Oppenheimer (Universal), Martin Scorsese for Killers Of The Flower Moon (Apple Original Films/Paramount), Alexander Payne for The Holdovers (Focus Features), and Yorgos Lanthimos for Poor Things (Searchlight Pictures).

The DGA nominations are a reliable guide to best director Oscar nominees,...

The five Directors Guild of America Awards nominees for Best Director are: our predicted Oscar winner Christopher Nolan (“Oppenheimer”), three of his closest rivals — Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”) and Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) — plus surprise nominee Alexander Payne (“The Holdovers”).

Payne got in over our predicted fifth Oscar nominee, Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”), However, in the 75-year history of the DGA Awards there have only been five years when the whole roster went on to reap Academy Award nominations.

Celine Song (“Past Lives”) had to settle for a nomination for First-Time Feature Director. Her competition: Cord Jefferson (“American Fiction”), Manuela Martelli (“Chile ’76”), Noora Niasara (“Shayda”) and A.V. Rockwell (“A Thousand and One”),

Winners will be revealed at the 76th annual DGA Awards on February 10. That is 12 days before final voting for the Oscars opens. The 96th Academy Awards take place on Sunday,...

“Barbenheimer” forever! Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan, the filmmakers behind last summer’s blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” are among the best feature film director nominees at the 76th annual DGA Awards.

The Directors Guild of America nominated five directors in total, including Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Yorgos Lanthimos for “Poor Things” and Alexander Payne for “The Holdovers.”

“In a year full of so many extraordinary films, DGA members have nominated an incredible group of gifted storytellers,” Directors Guild of America president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a statement. “Their films fused technical prowess with unique artistic visions that captured the depth of the human experience and left an indelible impact on audiences around the world. Congratulations to these superb directors on their well-deserved nominations.”

The DGA Award nominees are considered to be an important precursor to the Oscars. Conspicuous absences among this year’s crop include...

On Wednesday, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) announced its film nominations for the 2024 DGA Awards.

Nominees include Greta Gerwig (Barbie), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things), Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), Alexander Payne (The Holdovers) and Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon). In the first-time director category, Cord Jefferson (American Fiction), Manuela Martelli (Chile ’76), Noora Niasari (Shayda), A.V. Rockwell (A Thousand and One) and Celine Song (Past Lives) received nominations.

This is Scorsese’s 11th DGA nomination in the same category — he won for The Departed in 2007. Only Steven Spielberg has received more, with 13. Nolan now has five under his belt, with no wins so far. Payne was nominated twice before but didn’t win the award either year. Gerwig, whose nomination is the 13th time a woman has been nominated in the category, received a nod in 2018 for Lady Bird.

Last year, female directors were notably shut out from the nominations,...

The Directors Guild of America has officially unveiled the film nominees for the 2024 DGA Awards.

After announcing the TV nominations January 9, the Guild shared the film directors now in the running for the top prizes. The ceremony takes place on Saturday, February 10. Guild members can vote online starting today through Friday, February 9.

Greta Gerwig for “Barbie,” Christopher Nolan for “Oppenheimer,” Yorgos Lanthimos for “Poor Things,” Alexander Payne with “The Holdovers,” and Martin Scorsese with “Killers of the Flower Moon” are this year’s DGA nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film. Payne took a surprise best director spot from the likes of Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”), Bradley Cooper (“Maestro”), or Celine Song (“Past Lives”), featured in the next category instead.

For Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film, Nominated are: Cord Jefferson for “American Fiction,” Manuella Martelli for “Chile ’76,” Noora Niasari for “Shayda,” A.V. Rockwell...

There’s “an enormous amount of fresh talent coming through, and those new voices, that for the most part don’t come from the U.S.,” CAA Media Finance’s said at San Sebastian’s Creative Investors Conference this September.

Getting noticed ia another matter. Global content spend has near doubled in a decade, from $136 billion in 2013 to $250 billion this year, according to Ampere Analysis.

The same cannot be seen of media coverage of new movies. Quite the reverse: At most outlets, it has radically declined.

Enter Huelva. They also often announce undoubted new talent to track, as Latin America has built film schools and passed film laws, creating a seemingly bottomless well of new talent.

Also taking in Luis Mandoki’s 17th fiction feature, Daniela Goggi’s fourth the second and third respectively from Renée Nader Messora and João Salaviza, Huelva’s 12 competition movies have very often won significant prizes at prominent festivals,...

Kino Lorber has launched a new subscription streaming outlet, Kino Film Collection.

The $6-a-month destination for recent theatrical releases and hundreds of other films drawn from the company’s vast library will be available in the U.S. on Prime Video Channels.

Kino Lorber also operates Kino Now, a platform for rentals and purchases of arthouse and specialty films. The company has made several streaming moves of late. In 2022, it acquired MHz Choice and installed AMC Networks veteran Ed Carroll and former IFC Films head Lisa Schwartz in key management roles. Schwartz, Kino Lorber’s Chief Revenue Officer, will oversee Kino Film Collection. Last spring, Kino Lorber also formed a joint venture with First Look Media to operate both MHz Choice and First Look’s streaming service Topic.

Films available on Kino Film Collection at launch include new 4K restorations of The Conformist as well as key works by contemporary...

Kino Film Collection will offer recent theatrical releases and library titles.

Independent distributor Kino Lorber has launched Kino Film Collection, a US streaming service offering new Kino releases fresh from theatrical runs as well as films from the company’s 4,000-title library of classic, international and cult features.

The service, which will be available through Amazon’s Prime Video Channels for $5.99 a month, extends Kino Lorber’s growing digital operation. The distributor has recently acquired North American streaming services MHz Choice and Topic and launched TVoD service Kino Now.

Films from the company’s 4,000-title library already on the service...

Independent film distributor Kino Lorber has officially unveiled streaming service Kino Film Collection, available via Prime Video here.

The Kino Film Collection will be launched in the U.S. on the Amazon Service via Prime Video Channels for $5.99 per month. The Collection will feature new Kino releases fresh from theaters, along with hundreds of films from its expansive library of more than 4,000 titles, with many now streaming for the first time.

New 4K restorations of films like Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Dogtooth,” Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi,” Todd Haynes’ “Poison,” Tran Anh Hung’s “The Scent of Green Papaya,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night,” and Jia Zhangke’s “A Touch of Sin” are among highlights of the first offerings from Kino Film Collection.

Kino canon films like Fritz Lang’s historic “Metropolis,” F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu,” Robert Wiene’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Asteroid City (Wes Anderson)

Wes Anderson has done it all: India by train, Rhode Island by foot, the Mediterranean by sub, France by bike, faux-Germany by hotel, apple-orchard America by fox, animated Japan by dog, motel Texas by friends, New York City by family. But––despite the feeling that this couldn’t possibly be true––he’s never told a story in western America. In setting he hasn’t gone further west than Houston. Until Asteroid City: Arizona desert by quarantine. – Luke H. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Chile ’76 (Manuela Martelli)

Manuela Martelli’s debut film opens with a sequence that perfectly captures the tone and themes Chile ‘76 will explore. Carmen (played by Aline Kuppenheim) is at a paint shop,...

Natacha Kaganski has joined Luxbox as festivals and acquisitions manager and Solène Colomer has been named sales & marketing coordinator.

Previously, Kaganski spent four years as acquisitions manager at Wild Bunch, where she handled deals for the French and international market as well as coordination for multi-territories deals with the Wild Bunch group, such as Germany, Spain and Italy.

She was involved in films likeVenice winner “Happening” by Audrey Diwan, Gaspar Noé’s “Vortex” or “Leila’s Brothers,” also taking part in first Wild Bunch productions.

Solène Colomer has one year of experience assisting the sales and production teams at Urban Group under her belt. She was involved in “Plan 75” by Chie Hayakawa and “If Only I Could Hibernate” by Zoljargal Purevdash which, as reported by Variety, has already made history in Cannes.

They complete the already existing team with president Fiorella Moretti and Jennyfer Gautier, head of international sales.

“Personally,...

Indian films are a box office mainstay and one, Jodi, from Rhythm Boyz Entertainment, hit big this weekend Stateside, grossing $734,000 on just 125 screens. In April, the film set a record as the most viewed Punjabi trailer in 24 hours (over 12 million views on YouTube).

“This has been happening more and more — Indian films popping into the top 5, or 10, or 15th” place in North America, said Paul Degarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, which compiled the numbers on Jodi. “It shows the strength of Indian cinema. That’s a really impressive number, almost three quarters of a million dollars at 125 theaters.” The ones that pop do really well on a per-theater-average, even if they make $1-$2 million or aren’t in the top ten, he said. Jodi’s PTA is $5.75k.

Some other breakouts this year include Waltair Veerayya, Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar and Dasara. Indian films may wind up being even...

Yes, anytime a film opens over $100 million is a positive event for theaters. And yes, for Marvel and Disney, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is an improvement over the lesser initial take for “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” ($106 million first weekend last February). Correct also is that it’s the second best opening of the year.

But the elephant in the room exists. Since 2013, Disney has opened their top summer season Marvel release on this date: Without even having to adjust for inflation, the new “Guardians,” with $114 million for its U.S./Canada gross, ranks dead last — nine out of nine. The falloff from last year’s entry (“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”) is steep — down $73 million from that one. And “Strange” was a sequel to a lesser series release than “Guardians.” This should be sobering: “Vol. 2,” on this same weekend in 2017, grossed at current ticket prices around $170 million.

Disney is taking over May with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5) and The Little Mermaid (May 26) taking over screens across the country. Right when the first trails off, the second takes its place. So, the smaller titles need all the help they can get to compete. As always, a memorable poster can pave the way.

Windows/barriers

The most recognizable image you can use to sell a film about Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer is The Girl with a Pearl Earring. Whether the Scarlett Johansson film or the countless memes (Pearl with a Girl Earring is a personal favorite), you don’t need to be well-versed in Renaissance art to know this masterpiece. The trick is therefore presenting it in a unique way.

For Close to Vermeer, the designers choose to simply take the title at its word. Wielding a magnifying glass, they bring us closer to this painting that we all know.

A long-retired Red Cross nurse whose only real plans for the winter of 1976 involve redesigning the inside of her family’s beach house and planning her granddaughter’s seven birthday party, Carmen — played by the elegantly unraveling Aline Kuppenheim — spends her days fussing around with the furniture and waiting for her doctor husband to return from Santiago on the weekend, oblivious to the discordant electric daggers of the Mariá Portugal score that cuts a hole into the soundscape around her. She dreams of a living room that’s soaked in the kiss-pink shade of a Venetian sunset, and at one point is so entranced by a vat of swirling paint that she hardly seems to hear the screams of a young leftist as they’re disappeared off a nearby street in broad daylight.

But Carmen is not quite as callous as her Westchester chic wardrobe might suggest. The empathy that...

It’s said that just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you, but in the case of Carmen (Aline Küppenheim), the protagonist of Manuela Martelli’s Chile ’76, paranoia may be a self-fulfilling prophesy. After all, as its title indicates, the film is set during Augusto Pinochet’s right-wing military dictatorship, three years after the coup that toppled Salvador Allende’s democratically elected left‐wing Popular Unity Government.

Carmen is a young grandmother, wife of a hospital administrator (Alejandro Goic), and former Red Cross nurse. She lives a complacent bourgeois life, insulated from anti-communist suspicion but not from her own neuroses, which she self-medicates with a steady intake of pills, alcohol, and cigarettes. When she and her family pay a visit to their seaside vacation house, the local priest, Father Sanchez (Hugo Medina), recruits her to secretly nurse a communist insurgent, Elías (Nicolás Sepúlveda...

“If they find me here, they will torture me:” In September of 1973, the armed forces of Chile, led by U.S.-backed General Augusto Pinochet, staged a coup d’etat that overthrew Salvador Allende, the democratically elected socialist president. Pinochet’s dictatorship would be brutal, as thousands of dissidents were either kidnapped or killed in the years to come. This dark era in Latin American politics is the backdrop of “Chile ’76,” the debut feature film from young Chilean filmmaker Manuela Martelli.

Continue reading ‘Chile ‘76’ Trailer: Political Thriller from Kino Lorber Is An Intimate Portrait of Life Under A Brutal Dictatorship at The Playlist.

The summer season is upon us and, per each year, we’ve dug beyond studio offerings (though a few potential highlights remain) to present an in-depth look at what should be on your radar. From festival winners of the past year to selections coming straight from Cannes to genre delights to, yes, a few blockbuster spectacles, there’s more than enough to anticipate.

Check out our picks below and return for monthly updates as more is sure to be added to the calendar.

Riceboy Sleeps (Anthony Shim; May 2)

So-Young (Choi Seung-yoon) didn’t want to leave South Korea. She had no choice. The father of her newborn son committed suicide and, as an orphan who was never adopted, she had no other family. So, with nowhere to turn and a boy who couldn’t legally become a citizen due to being born out of wedlock, she immigrated to Canada to start anew.

To title your film after a year, as actor-turned-filmmaker Manuela Martelli does, is a bold statement. For Chileans, after all, “1976” (renamed “Chile ’76” for North American markets) will conjure up a host of reactions tied to what was one of the bloodiest years of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship. And yet this dazzling debut feature is grounded not in the resistance movement against Pinochet, nor on the political maneuvring that led to thousands having been disappeared. It focuses instead on a housewife’s day-to-day routine, as she slowly finds her insular world rocked by events that soon spiral out of her control. Following a successful festival run beginning at Cannes last year, the film will be released Stateside by Kino Lorber from May 5.

Carmen (Aline Kuppenheim) leads an intentionally sheltered life. When we first meet her she’s most concerned with getting the right shade of pink for the summer house renovation...

Sony’s Screen Gems has moved up the domestic release for its rom-com Love Again, starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Sam Heughan and Celine Dion as herself, from May 12th to May 5th.

The film evacuates a highly crowded weekend that will see the opening of the Penélope Cruz drama L’immensità, IFC Films’ buzzy Berlin title BlackBerry, Robert Rodriguez’s Ben Affleck starrer Hypnotic, Focus Features’ Book Club: The Next Chapter, Viva Pictures’ animated pic Rally Road Racers, Sony’s manga adaptation Knights of the Zodiac, Sony Pictures Classics’ Yogi Berra doc It Ain’t Over and IFC Films’ Trace Lysette-led drama Monica.

Competitors on its new weekend include Lionsgate’s action-thriller One Ranger with Thomas Jane and John Malkovich, Disney/Marvel’s franchise ender Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Kino Lorber’s drama Chile ’76.

Written and directed by Jim Strouse — the filmmaker behind titles including The Incredible Jessica James,...

"I'm not a common criminal." "What are you then?" Kino Lorber has debuted their official trailer for Chile '76, an acclaimed Chilean drama based on a true story, from actress turned director Manuela Martelli. This premiered in the Quinzaine des Cinéastes sidebar at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival last year, and is also playing at New Directors/New Films in NYC on April 7th. Set in Chile, 1976. Carmen heads off to her beach house. When the family priest asks her to take care of a young man he is sheltering in secret, Carmen steps onto unexplored territories, away from the quiet life she is used to. Aline Kuppenheim stars as Carmen, as she is "inadvertently drawn into the world of the Chilean political opposition and must face real-world threats she is unprepared to handle, with potentially disastrous consequences for her and her entire family." The cast also includes Alejandro Goic, Hugo Medina,...

One of the highlights of New Directors/New Films this year is Manuela Martelli’s Chile ’76, which comes from Cannes Directors Fortnight and BFI London Film Festival (where it picked up Best First Feature). The suspense thriller set amidst Chilean political opposition follows a woman who shelters an injured young man who is hiding in secret. Ahead of the Nd/Nf premiere this week, followed by a release from Kino Lorber on May 5 at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center in NY and May 12 at Laemmle Theaters in LA, a new trailer has arrived.

Jaime Grijalba said in his review, “Manuela Martelli’s debut film opens with a sequence that perfectly captures the tone and themes Chile ‘76 will explore. Carmen (played by Aline Kuppenheim) is at a paint shop, choosing and mixing the color that she’ll use at the beach house she has with her husband, a...

Manuela Martelli tells the story of the early years of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from an unusual perspective: that of an upper middle class woman named Carmen (played by Aline Küppenheim) whose life comes undone after she takes in an injured young man. “Chile ’76” made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last year, arrives at New Directors/New Films in New York this week, and opens later this Spring from Kino Lorber. Check out the trailer, an IndieWire exclusive, below.

Set during the early days of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, “Chile ‘76″ builds from quiet character study to gripping suspense thriller as it explores one woman’s precarious flirtation with political engagement. Carmen (Aline Kuppenheim) leads a sheltered upper middle class existence. She heads to her summer house in the off-season to supervise its renovation while also performing local charitable works through her church. Her husband, children, and...

Spike Lee, Chantal Akerman, Wong Kar-wai, Steven Spielberg, Claire Denis, Pedro Almodóvar, Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Kelly Reichardt, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Charles Burnett, Lynne Ramsay, Lee Chang-dong, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mia Hansen-Løve, Bi Gan, Michael Haneke, and Hou Hsiao-hsien. Those are just a few of the directors who have been featured at New Directors/New Films throughout its 52-year history.

With this year’s edition, taking place at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, kicking off this Wednesday, we’ve rounded up 17 features worth seeing––some of which we caught at Sundance, Berlinale, Locarno, and beyond, and others new to us at the festival. All in all, this 52nd edition presents another exciting example of the boundless creativity of emerging filmmakers and points to a bright future for the medium.

Check out our picks to see below and learn more here.

Astrakan (David Depesseville)

Astrakhan fur is unique: dark,...

Manuela Martelli’s debut film opens with a sequence that perfectly captures the tone and themes Chile ‘76 will explore. Carmen (played by Aline Kuppenheim) is at a paint shop, choosing and mixing the color that she’ll use at the beach house she has with her husband, a shift head at one of the most important medical institutions in Santiago, Chile’s capital. While browsing an almanac with pictures of European cities, pointing at colors of sun-kissed buildings, we can hear a disturbance outside: a woman is being pulled over by the military and yells as she’s taken away.

At the same time as we hear the woman shouting her name and ID, a drop of pinkish paint falls from the mixer onto Carmen’s elegant, pristine shoe. When Carmen leaves the store, cans of paint in the hands of the vendor helping her, we glimpse the aftermath of what happened.

Friends, Romans, theater lovers, lend me your ears! The 2023 Tony Awards nominations prediction center is now open, with 23 plays competing for Broadway’s top honors. Be sure to log your early predictions now to see if you can pick which dramas will win over the Tony voters.

Best Play is always a crowded field thanks to a slew of limited engagements that pepper the Broadway calendar, and this season is no different. 18 new works will attempt to be singled out as one of the five nominees.

“Leopoldstat” opened in October to a rapturous response from critics and audiences. It’s the latest drama from Tom Stoppard, who has won this category more than any other playwright. Featuring a vast ensemble cast which includes David Krumholtz, Brandon Uranowitz, and Faye Castelow, the gut wrenching story follows a Jewish family over multiple generations. It’s one of the rare straight plays that...

Lassoing international film titles as far back as last year’s Manuela Martelli’s Chile ’76 and Saim Sadiq’s Joyland and as recent as Berlinale’s Abbruzzese’s Disco Boy, Lila Avilés’ Tótem and Tia Kouvo’s Family Time, the 2023 edition of the New Directors/New Films is loaded in special filmmaker guests from all corners of the globe. One of our Sundance faves in Savanah Leaf’s Earth Mama will open the fest and Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s Sundance-Berlinale preemed Mutt will be the Closing Night film. Here is the complete lineup and screening dates.

Opening Night

Earth Mama

Savanah Leaf, USA, 2023, 97m

New York Premiere

A devastating and evocative portrait of motherhood refracted through the prisms of race and class, Savanah Leaf’s auspicious debut feature is a deeply affecting work of cinematic humanism.…...

After screening at the Toronto International Film Festival and coinciding with its San Sebastian bow, Variety has been granted exclusive access to the trailer for “La Jauria,” the first feature effort from award-winning Colombian director Andrés Ramírez Pulido (“El Edén”).

The film tracks the visceral journey of two estranged friends, Eliú (Jhojan Estiven Jimenez) and El Mono (Maicol Andrés Jimenez), who share an uneasy reunion after they’re sent to a remote and unconventional rehabilitation center to serve their sentence for a vicious crime. There, they grapple with accountability, moral fortitude and redemption. This raises questions about the unfettered nature of depravity looming in the thick, languid atmosphere.

Produced by Jean-Etienne Brat & Lou Chicoteau at Paris-based Alta Rocca alongside Johana Agudelo Susa and Pulido’s Valiente Gracia, the plotline folds naturally into the scenery with visually haunting scenic textures that collide with ethereal sound.

“Since the writing of the script,...

It’s been a banner year for Chile’s audiovisual industry. According to statistics compiled by promotional org CinemaChile, the country’s cinema amassed 45 international awards during the first half of 2022. Since then, more prizes have been rolling in. Among the latest is actress-director Manuela Martelli’s feature debut “1976” which won best debut film at the Jerusalem Film Festival aside from scooping three main plaudits at the 26th Lima Festival, including Best Film.

One question is how did Chilean cinema reach this point. It could be partly due to a new generation of women cineastes and platform backing, both driving the next stage of growth in Chilean cinema, its creative confidence and sense of artistic urgency.

The country produces an average of 30 films a year, of which at least five receive international acclaim any given year.

“Being a small market of merely 19 million inhabitants obliges us to go beyond...

A theatrical release is planned for the end of the year or early 2023.

New Wave Films has picked up Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title 1976 for UK-Ireland distribution from Paris-based sales agent Luxbox.

The drama is the directorial debut of Chilean actor Manuela Martelli. An upper middle-class woman has a secret awakening during the early years of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s regime, and gets drawn into the political opposition when she is asked by the family priest to take care of an injured man who is in hiding.

A theatrical release is planned for the end of 2022/early 2023.

Chilean writer-directors Omar Zuniga...

“1976,” the awaited first feature of Chile’s Manuela Martelli, has closed first new major territories for sales company Luxbox before its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight later this upcoming week.

The film is produced out of Chile by writer-directors Omar Zúñiga (“The Strong Ones”) and Dominga Sotomayor (“Too Late to Die Young”) at auteur-focused Chile-based Cinestación (“Too Late to Die Young”) as well as Alejandra Garcia and Andrés Wood, another celebrated Chilean director (“Violeta Went to Heaven”) at Wood Productions. Nathalia Videla Peña and Juan Pablo Gugliotta at Argentina’s Magma Cine co-produce.

“1976” is set, as its title implies, in 1976, one of the bloodiest years of Augusto Pinochet’s hugely bloody dictatorship. Carmen, the wife of a well-heeled Santiago de Chile doctor heads off to her beach house to supervise its renovation during the holidays.

The local priest appeals to her to help cure a young man who’s escaped from jail.

Paris-based Luxbox has shared in exclusivity with Variety a first trailer for Manuela Martelli’s “1976,” one of Chile –and indeed Latin America’s – most anticipated feature debuts of the year which world premieres at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.

“1976” is produced by two of Chile’s most go-ahead outfits – Cinestación headed by director-producer Domingo Sotomayor (“Too Late to Die Young”) and Wood Productions, founded by Andrés Wood whose “Machuca” starred both Martelli and Aline Kuppenheim, the absolute protagonist of “1976.”

The film is set, as its title implies, in 1976, one of the bloodiest years of Augusto Pinochet’s hugely bloody dictatorship. It tells, as can be seen in the trailer. Kuppenheim plays Carmen, the wife of a Santiago de Chile doctor who heads off to her beach house to supervise its renovation during the holidays.

Carmen has all the accoutrements of a well-heeled middle-class wife and mother, sporting in the trailer a pearl necklace,...