News

Strand Releasing has acquired North American rights to Carol Morley’s Typist Artist Pirate King from Metro International.

Strand previously handled Morley’s 2012 titleDreams Of A Life.

Typist Artist Pirate King had its world premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights festival in 2023 and it went on to play Glasgow and Galway film festivals.

It will now screen at festivals in North America in 2025 ahead of its theatrical release in the territory.

Monica Dolan stars as forgotten artist Audrey Amiss alongside Kelly Macdonald in an imagined road trip using real dialogue from Amiss’ letters and diaries.

Typist Artist Pirate King is...

​With her latest film, Typist Artist Pirate King,​ on Netflix, it’s a good time to survey the back-catalogue of one of the UK’s most thrilling film-makers, from a jaw-droppingly personal documentary to a misunderstood neo-noir

This time last year, British film-maker Carol Morley was tirelessly touring the independent cinemas of the UK, promoting her new film, Typist Artist Pirate King, one venue at a time. A quixotic account of an imagined road-trip between maverick British artist Audrey Amiss and former psychiatric nurse Sandra Panza (played respectively by Monica Dolan and Kelly Macdonald), it mixes tragi-comic fable with factual biography, and takes its title from Amiss’s own real-life passport description of her occupation. Like its subject, the film is alternately entertaining, inspiring and exasperating. But seeing Morley doing one packed audience Q&a after another – in which she described how a Wellcome screenwriting fellowship had led her to...

Exclusive: We can tell you that Matilda Firth has been cast in Wolf Man opposite Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott and Sam Jaeger.

The Blumhouse and Universal reboot of the classic monster follows a family that is being terrorized by a lethal predator. As previously announced Leigh Whannell directs and co-wrot the script with Corbett Tuck, Lauren Shuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. Jason Blum is producing. Ryan Gosling, Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, Mel Turner and Whannell are EPs. Pic is a production between Blumhouse and Motel Movies.

Wolf Man is currently lensing in New Zealand for a Jan. 17, 2025 theatrical release.

Firth will soon be featured in S.K. Dale’s Subservience, and recently wrapped the four-part drama series Coma for CBS Studios and Channel 5 Television. She can currently be seen on BBC 1/Channel 4 in Hullraisers. She was previously featured in Ian Fitzgibbon’s Christmas Carole and Carol Morley’s Typist Artist Pirate King.

Exclusive: Sex Education and Living star Aimee Lou Wood, recently announced for series three of The White Lotus, is joining Nick Frost (Fighting with My Family), Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You), Niamh Algar (Raised By Wolves) and Billy Howle (Under the Banner of Heaven) in crime-thriller Sweet Dreams.

Ahead of the EFM, Metro International Entertainment has boarded worldwide sales on the ensemble project from writer-director Carl Tibbetts (Black Mirror). The team is looking to shoot in October this year with additional casting underway.

Pitched as “a British Fargo“, the story begins when a local property developer is swindled out of a million pounds, triggering a chain of grisly and murderous events that rupture the fabric of the decaying English seaside town of Claypole. As the bodies pile up and the lies unravel, the promise of a brighter future conspires to bring the lives and ambitions of a few misguided...

Director Carol Morley says that owning DVDs and Blu-rays “makes archivists of us all”, as she expresses the filmmaker fear of their movie being deleted.

Director Carol Morley has made an impassioned defence of physical media – and cited the importance of actual disc releases for a director’s films – as her latest feature Typist Artist Pirate King is released on a joint Blu-ray and DVD edition.

The director told industry newsletter The Raygun that having her films removed from a streaming service after leaving one of her films in its hands was her “worst fear”.

Her passionate defence of DVD and Blu-ray formats comes as the creative community and many directors voice concerns over films vanishing without warning from streaming services. That’s even before some studios can finished films before they’re even released.

In a lengthy missive supporting the release of her film, she said that “the idea...

Albert Einstein had his theory of relativity, and Breaking Baz has his theory of party lift-off.

Friday night at the Universal filmed entertainment soiree, the moment of fusion came when Snoop Dogg hit the room at the Sunset Tower and was immediately embraced by Oppenheimer stars Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh.

No wait. Surely, it was when Blunt took Robert Downey Jr. in her arms and a giddy little waltz ensued.

Maybe the right molecular vibe kicked in when Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan arrived with Emma Thomas, its producer, and they fell into a lively conversation with Cillian Murphy and Downey Jr.

Perhaps it was when Colman Domingo sauntered in, resplendent in red. He stars in Netflix movie Rustin and WB’s The Color Purple, neither of them linked to Universal. Didn’t matter a jot. The warmth of the welcome for him was palpable. “I’m happy to be here,...

Writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner and The Wire creator David Simon were quick to point out the limitations of the range, while female screenwriters Emma Forrest and Carol Morley also had notes

Three months after the end of the Writers Guild of America strike, screenwriters have spearheaded a backlash to a new range of Barbie dolls.

Mattel’s new “women in film” range, unveiled on Wednesday, includes a “studio executive Barbie”, a “film star Barbie”, a “director Barbie” and a “cinematographer Barbie”, but leaves the people responsible for scripts unrepresented.

2023 has been one of the most professionally exhilarating years of my life but also one of the hardest. I have been affected deeply by losing Tom Butchart suddenly in June, the childhood friend “the keeper of sacred knowledge and provider of affordable dreams” that I made Sound It Out (my 2011 film) about. We also lost my mother-in-law Pat and documentary titan Jess Search. The impact of these deaths have intertwined with hugely positive experiences that I could never have predicted, leaving me a little discombobulated, determined to live with boldness, albeit with a twinge of melancholy.

In February I received the Chicken & Egg Award, which is given to eight established filmmakers from marginalised genders a year. The recipients form a cohort, are given mentorship, and an unrestricted prize. I spent some of my award going out to New Mexico to experiment with the arts lab at the University of New Mexico...

Family dramedy to get 2024 theatrical release.

Bleecker Street has acquired US rights to TIFF premiere Ezra starring Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne, and Robert De Niro.

Tony Goldwyn directed from a screenplay by Tony Spiridakis about Brandel (Cannavale), a once successful late-night comedy writer turned less-successful stand-up comic who struggles through the failure of his career and marriage.

After moving in with his father Stan (De Niro), Max and his ex-wife Jenna (Byrne) remain at odds on how to best raise their autistic son Ezra (Fitzgerald).

The cast includes newcomer William A. Fitzgerald, Vera Farmiga, Rainn Wilson, and Whoopi Goldberg.

Bleecker...

Studiocanal launches short story adaptation ‘Cat Person’.

Thriller Five Nights At Freddy’s heads the new titles at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, as one of a selection of genre choices available to audiences on the pre-Halloween weekend.

Opening in 609 cinemas through Universal, Five Nights At Freddy’s is adapted from Scott Cawthon’s videogame franchise of the same name. The film stars Hunger Games actor Josh Hutcherson as a security guard at an abandoned entertainment venue, who discovers that its animatronic mascots move and kill anyone still there after midnight.

Directed by Emma Tammi, the film is produced by horror...

Audrey Amiss spent 30 years as a civil service typist – but led a secret life as an artist. Macdonald, Monica Dolan and Carol Morley relive the hectic shoot that turned her amazing life into a quirky road movie

Audrey Amiss was the talented daughter of Sunderland shopkeepers who made a splash in the press by winning a place at the Royal Academy’s schools in London. In her final term, she was hospitalised for the first of many mental breakdowns, after which she disappeared for 30 years into a job as a shorthand typist in the civil service. But unknown to anyone except those who tried to care for her, Amiss never gave up on her art. “I was once in the tradition of social realism, also called the kitchen sink school of painting,” she wrote. “But I am now avant garde and misunderstood.”

Film-maker Carol Morley had never heard of Amiss...

“It’s absolutely clear, there is a real appetite for British independent cinema in France,” said artistic director Dominque Green.

Sasha Polak’s Silver Haze scooped the top prize at this month’s Dinard Film Festival, the French seaside festival that spotlights UK and Irish cinema for French audiences, that ran from September 27 to October 1.

Berlinale Panorama title Silver Haze won the Golden Hitchcock for best film. Polak’s feature reunites the Dutch filmmaker with UK actor Vicky Knight, after working together on Dirty God in 2019. It is loosely based on Knight’s own experience as a child, in which she survived an arson attack.

’Silent Roar’, ‘Shoshana’ and ’How To Have Sex’ will also play at the French seaside festival that spotlights UK and Irish cinema.

France’s Dinard Festival of British Film has unveiled the line-up of its 34th edition, which includes Cannes titles Ken Loach’s The Old Oak, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest and Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex.

Also on the line-up is Charlotte Regan’s Sundance title Scrapper. The comedy drama stars Harris Dickinson and follows a young girl forced to confront reality when her estranged father returns, and is currently on release in...

Kelly Macdonald and Monica Dolan in Carol Morley’s Typist, Artist, Pirate King Photo: Courtesy of Glasgow Film Festival Following the special focus on The Souvenir director Joanna Hogg last time around, this year’s 34th edition of the Dinard Festival of British Cinema will explore the work of another highly individual female film-maker Carol Morley.

Besides some of her earlier titles Morley will present her latest film Typist Artist Pirate King, an affectionate imagining of the Sunderland-born artist, Audrey Amiss, whose career was hampered by mental illness. Until her death, aged 79, she continued to create and document original works of art, mostly drawn from her daily life.

Carol Morley is Dinard bound with four films Photo: Paul Marc Mitchell From this vast archival collection, Morley has created a snapshot tribute to Amiss (played by Monica Dolan), pasting scraps of artworks, diary entries and anecdotes into a fictionalised portrait of...

Latest film from the Japanese director of Oscar-winner ’Drive My Car’ has also landed deals in Benelux, Portugal and Taiwan.

Eve Gabereau’s Modern Films has acquired UK and Irish rights to Venice Competition title Evil Does Not Exist, the latest feature from Oscar-winning Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

Evil Does Not Exist, which is sold by Berlin-based M-Appeal, is the story of Takumi and his daughter Hana who live quietly in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a glamping site near Takumi’s house, which offers city residents a comfortable ‘escape’ to nature.

The event showcases UK titles and UK sales companies to mainly European buyers.

Animated features Kensuke’s Kingdom, an adaptation of a Michael Morpurgo novel directed by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry.and sold by Bankside, and Tim Harper’s Ozi - Voice Of The Forest, about an orphan orangutang, that is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and sold by Gfm, are among the high-profile projects that will screen to distributors at this year’s London Screenings.

The three-day event will take place at Picturehouse Central in Piccadilly Circus from June 19 - 21 2023,

UK and international sales companies will be...

An adaptation of the novel has premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

UK writer Martin Amis, the author of novels including The Zone Of Interest and London Fields, has died aged 73.

His wife, the writer Isabel Fonseca, confirmed to the New York Times that he died on Friday (May 19) at his home in Lake Worth, Florida, with the cause given as oesophageal cancer.

It was the same day that also saw Jonathan Glazer’s adaptation of Nazi drama The Zone Of Interest premiere to “remarkable” reviews at the Cannes Film Festival, where it plays in Competition for the Palme d’Or.

Film Fund (Exclusive)

Bitpix TV and Myco have partnered on a feature film development fund. Open to filmmakers worldwide, the fund, which was launched on Friday at the Cannes film market, aims to support three films a year each with a budget of up to $2 million per feature.

Bitpix TV is the official streaming arm of HollyShorts Film Festival while Myco is a decentralized content ecosystem formerly known as MContent

A number of short-form genre films will be showcased on Myco’s streaming platform where viewers can vote on their favorites, which will be selected for feature film development with the fund’s help. Among the package of help available is funding, consulting, mentorship, and production support from finance and production company Goldfinch.

The finalists and winners will be unveiled at this year’s HollyShorts, which is set to run from Aug. 10-19 at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Exclusive: Metro International has sold UK and Irish rights to Carol Morley’s Typist Artist Pirate King to Modern Films. Deal was finalized this week in Cannes.

Drawing from the extensive archives of forgotten artist Audrey Amiss, the feature is a road movie of her life. The film uses real events and actual dialogue from Amiss’s letters and diaries to create an imaginary trip where we explore the world as Audrey perceived it.

BAFTA nominee Carol Morley (Dreams Of A Life) directs from her original screenplay. BAFTA winner Monica Dolan (The Dig) and BAFTA nominee Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire) star alongside BAFTA winner Gina McKee (Phantom Thread).

Pic is produced by Cairo Cannon of Cannon and Morley Productions (Out of Blue) with Oscar winner Jane Campion, Anne Sheehan and Reno Antoniades as executive producers. BAFTA nominee Ameenah Ayub Allen (Rocks) is also producer.

The film drew largely positive reviews...

Florence Pugh is an actor who never seems to shy away from a challenge, but it took tenacity to survive career-related trauma while she was just getting her start. When the young actor was first hoping for her big break at the age of 19, she got cast as the lead on a TV pilot for a Fox show called "Studio City," but the role would break her heart instead. 

In "Studio City," Pugh was cast in the role of a rising young pop star, a role that felt perfect for Pugh because she sang and wrote songs for her YouTube channel under the name Flossie Rose. Unfortunately, she was soon under pressure from multiple directions to change her appearance, including her weight. The number of comments and intensity of them were enough to shake the actor, and things became even more painful when "Studio City" wasn't picked up, sending the...

Five years before her breakout role in the ultimate breakup movie, Ari Aster's "Midsommar," Florence Pugh made her feature-film debut in an indie British drama called "The Falling," written and directed by Carol Morley. At the time, Pugh's costar, Maisie Williams, was much more famous for her role as Arya Stark on HBO's "Game of Thrones." In "The Falling," Pugh and Williams play Abbie and Lydia, two best friends at a girls' school of the strict, "sit down, stand up" variety. Judging from the way the trailer positions its young stars with the words "starring Maisie Williams and introducing Florence Pugh," someone at BBC Films seems to have recognized that they had a significant new talent on their hands with Pugh.

Casting agents apparently felt the same way. A 2023 cover story in Vogue revealed that Pugh was just 16 when she tried out for "The Falling" in an open audition,...

The industry presence saw a return to pre-pandemic levels.

Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) has reported a 25% increase in cinema admissions for this year’s edition, which ran from March 1-12, compared to the hybrid 2022 edition, while the in-person industry presence has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels.

In total, 33,667 people attended 295 Gff film screenings and events over 12 days, including sell-out screenings of the opening night gala, Adura ONashile’s Girl, closing night film, Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society and Under The Skin with a live soundtrack from BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

This figure doesn’t quite match up to the record...

Glasgow Film Festival ran from March 1-12, screening 123 features.

A joy-filled Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) drew to a close last night (March 12) with the UK premiere of Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, while Riceboy Sleeps scooped the festival’s only prize, the audience award, in what co-director Allan Hunter described as the “tightest” voting race in Gff’s audience award history.

Riceboy Sleeps is directed by Anthony Shim, and premiered at Toronto last year. It follows a South Korean family’s attempts to adapt to a new life in Canada, produced by Shim, Rebecca Steele and Bryan Demore. The family...

Glasgow Film Festival ran from March 1-12, screening 123 features.

A joy-filled Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) drew to a close last night (March 12) with the UK premiere of Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, while Riceboy Sleeps scooped the festival’s only prize, the audience award, in what co-director Allan Hunter described as the “tightest” voting race in Gff’s audience award history.

Riceboy Sleeps is directed by Anthony Shim, and premiered at Toronto last year. It follows a South Korean family’s attempts to adapt to a new life in Canada, produced by Shim, Rebecca Steele and Bryan Demore. The family...

Carol Morley’s warm and sympathetic film imagines the artist, whose mental illness curtailed her ambitions, on a tragicomic road trip to exhibit her work

With natural sympathy and warmth, film-maker Carol Morley has created this likable, generous, imaginative response to the work of the neglected English artist Audrey Amiss, played here with beady-eyed gusto by Monica Dolan. And if the movie finally has a bit of a soft centre, then this is partly because of Morley’s refusal to fetishise the supposedly transfigurative pain of mental illness.

Sunderland-born Amiss trained as a painter at the Royal Academy in the 1950s, had a breakdown and was in and out of institutions for the rest of her life, finally taking a secretarial job but restlessly creating unsold and unseen art, in the form of raw impressionistic sketches of her daily existence and an autofictional collage-journal of found objects – packaging, flyers, leaflets...

The breakthrough film for Carol Morley as she began making forays into fiction, The Falling has that quality of boldness and perversity which has come to typify her work, yet since its original release in 2014 it has struggled to find an audience. Nine years on, Shudder has come to the rescue, offering it a new lease on life, and one hopes that it will now get the attention it deserves.

It is, admittedly, a difficult film, and a film about difficult women. On a simple reading it might appear trite, too tidily explained, but one can’t really assume that everything is resolved at the end, or that the characters understand themselves as well as they might seem to. Morley’s work is full of unpredictable, confused characters – that is, characters who feel more fully human than an hour and 40 minutes or so of narrative fully makes room for. She.

Co-directors Allan Hunter and Allison Gardner getting ready for Gff 2023 Photo: Eoin Carey

The full line-up for the 19th edition of the Glasgow Film Festival was announced today. The event, which centres on the Glasgow Film Festival, will open with Adura Onashile's Girl, which was shot in the city, and close with the UK première of Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society.

Highlights of the programme include Mia Hansen-Løve's rich tale of love and responsibility One Fine Morning, Carol Morley’s fantastical road movie Typist Artist Pirate King, Jonas Chernick and Emily Hampshire romcom The End Of Sex, and Mickey Reece's deep dive into the psychology of music-making, Country Gold.

The ever-popular Frightfest strand, which attracts fans from all around the world, was announced last week. It opens with Quentin Dupieux's unlikely superhero story Smoking Causes Coughing.

This will be the last Glasgow Film Festival for co-director Allan Hunter,...

There are such a fine myriad of film festivals around the world, with all major cities spotlighting domestic talent, and showcasing the latest films from around the world to local audiences and visiting guests. While a small collective, namely Berlin, Cannes & Venice stand out on the European festival calendar, there’s another contender on the block; a simply brilliant celebration of cinema, with a mighty fine programme, and it takes place in the capital city of Estonia.

The Tallinn Black Nights Festival just closed its doors on the 26th edition of this annual, winter event, and we here at HeyUGuys were fortunate enough to have been invited along. Named ‘Black Nights’, we presume, because it gets dark every day around mid-afternoon, it’s a bitterly cold fortnight, where naturally you find yourselves gravitating towards the warm, cosiness of a cinema complex – and when doing so, there sure was a lot to indulge in.

Newen Connect is the distribution arm of TF1-owned Newen Studios.

Josephine Fontaine, a former ITV Studios and BBC Studios executive, has joined TF1-owned Newen Connect to handle English-language acquisitions across UK, North America and Australia.

Newen Connect is the distribution arm of TF1-owned Newen Studioss and marks the next step in Newen Connect’s rapid global expansion.

Fontaine will be the key contact for in-house Newen Studios’ UK producers and will consolidate or initiate new partnerships with English-speaking third-party producers. She is tasked with developing ambitious TV shows and supporting creative financing concepts with UK commissioners.

Fontaine...

Florence Pugh has rapidly risen to become one of the most formidable young actresses to hit Hollywood. After making her screen debut via the 2014 horror-drama The Falling, Pugh has quickly become a much sought-after actress that every filmmaker wants to work with.

Just a couple of months ago, Pugh earned her first Oscar nomination for her standout role in Little Women. While the arrow is clearly pointing upwards for Pugh and her promising career, let's contextualize her filmography as a whole. Here are Pugh's nine feature films, ranked according to IMDb!

Update: 2022/11/22 14:25 Est By Shawn S. Lealos

The Marvel Cinematic Universe locked up Florence Pugh for multiple movies. After her appearance in Hawkeye on Disney+, continuing with her fan-favorite Yelena Belova role, the MCU announced in 2022 that she will co-headline another Marvel movie. This will be The Thunderbolts, which will see Yelena re-team with her "dad" The Red Guardian...

Exclusive: Metro International is launching sales at the AFM on Guru Films’ cross-cultural rom-com Chennai Story starring Indian superstar Samantha Ruth Prabhu.

The UK and India-set film will follow Nikhil, a working-class South Asian Welshman, who following the death of his mother, travels to his ancestral homeland in Chennai, India, to locate his estranged father. In Chennai he encounters Anu (Ruth Prabhu), a street-smart private detective whom he hires to assist with his quest. More accustomed to fish and chips than authentic Masala Dosa, this frantic, colorful new world sweeps Nikhil off his feet, as does his undeniable chemistry with Anu which drives them closer together and on a collision course with her conservative parents. Additional casting is underway.

As previously announced, the film will be directed by BAFTA winner Philip John (Downton Abbey), written by Nimmi Harasgama and Philip John, and is based on novel The Arrangements of Love...

Oliver Stone to head features competition jury.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) has unveiled the programme for its second edition (December 1-10), with Studiocanal and Working Title’s romantic comedy What’s Love Got To Do With It? playing as the opening night gala.

Directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Jemima Khan, What’s Love Got To Do With It? stars Lily James and Shazad Latif in the story of two people from different cultures who fall in love. It launched at the Toronto International FIlm Festival in September.

Rsiff will close with the world...

The second edition of the industry platform also includes a Work-In-Progress showcase.

Projects from US filmmaker Lotfy Nathan and Italian-Iraqi director Haider Rashid are among the 23 titles selected for the project market of the Red Sea Souk, the industry platform of the Red Sea International Film Festival.

The project market is split into two sections: 12 projects in the market alone, with a further 11 market projects that have been developed in the Red Sea Lodge throughout the year, in workshops in partnership with the TorinoFilmLab.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

All market projects will compete for three cash prizes,...

The second edition of the industry platform also includes a Work-In-Progress showcase.

Projects from US filmmaker Lofty Nathan and Italian-Iraqi director Haider Rashid are among the 23 titles selected for the project market of the Red Sea Souk, the industry platform of the Red Sea International Film Festival.

The project market is split into two sections: 12 projects in the market alone, with a further 11 market projects that have been developed in the Red Sea Lodge throughout the year, in workshops in partnership with the TorinoFilmLab.

Scroll down for the full list of projects

All market projects will compete for three cash prizes,...

New section has 16 features, of which 10 are world premieres.

The world premiere of Carol Morley’s Typist Artist Pirate King is among the 16 features programmed in Critics’ Picks, the new competitive section of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

The section will host 10 world and three international premieres, with three further films screening out of competition including a gala screening of Estonian co-production Call Of God.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

Speaking about how Poff is trying to innovate with the section, festival director Tiina Lokk said: “The Critics’ Picks competition programme solves a challenge our programme team...

The director talks about his intellectual, political and hilarious body of work, as a retrospective is staged with contributions from his former students Carol Morley and Jarvis Cocker

In 1969, John Smith, now one of Britain’s most revered artist film-makers, but then a foundation student at North East London Polytechnic, was sitting in a pub transfixed by a Perspex sign. “Suddenly I realised – ah! – ‘toilets’ was an anagram of Ts Eliot. I thought: I must make a film about this one day.” Thirty years later, he was in another pub, his local in Leytonstone. “It had such a scummy toilet. I must have thought: this is a real wasteland.” And so he made The Waste Land (1999), an off-kilter adaptation featuring gurgling cisterns, khazi lighting, and a tired, maybe-pissed punter incanting Eliot’s line “the nymphs have departed” as a camera pans across a condom machine. It’s modernism Pete-and-Dud style.

“Pugh has never turned in a bad performance, bringing emotion, texture, and richness to everything from ‘Lady Macbeth’ to ‘Little Women’ and ‘Midsommar,'” writes IndieWire’s Kate Erbland in her review of “Don’t Worry Darling”: the psychological thriller-turned-pr disaster that’s dominated Hollywood rubbernecking in summer 2022.

“She excels at turning her characters — all women on the verge — into fully realized people, unafraid to tap into their worst impulses alongside their most admirable ones.”

In director Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling,” Pugh plays mid-century housewife Alice Chambers in what many critics have dismissed as a run-of-the-mill suburban dystopia drama.

The film’s premiere this weekend closes out weeks of tabloid drama But for Pugh, whose performance has nevertheless been widely praised, it’s the latest in a string of unabashed big screen wins.

Pugh made her acting debut with a supporting performance in Carol Morley’s “The Falling,...

Exclusive: Metro International has pre-sold UK rights to feature Late In Summer to Lionsgate UK.

The period drama is due to star Emily Watson (Breaking The Waves) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Farming) alongside Harriet Walter (Succession) who has newly joined the cast.

Set just as WWII draws to a close, the film will chart how a brief encounter leads to a love affair that ignites a dormant passion in a lonely farmer’s wife and an American GI. With the world around them conspiring against their relationship, it’s not long before the realities of their existence force them to make a very difficult decision.

Debbie Gray produces through Genesius Pictures. BAFTA-nominee Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner) has joined as executive producer. Novelist Talitha Stevenson will make her directorial debut from her own script. Her creative team includes revered cinematographer Christopher Doyle (In the Mood For Love...

Exclusive: Director Joachim Hedén (Breaking Surface) is underway in Belgium on shark attack thriller The Last Breath, written by Nick Saltrese (Prayer Before Dawn).

The survival thriller follows five college friends who go scuba diving into a recently uncovered WWII shipwreck in the British Virgin Islands, where they find themselves trapped by great white sharks. Above is a first look image from the movie.

The film will be led by an ensemble cast including Jack Parr (Peaky Blinders), Kim Spearman (As I Am) and Erin Mullen alongside Julian Sands (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Hedén’s collaborator on Breaking Surface, Eric Börjeson (Let The Right One In), is cinematographer, and Ian Creed (Uncharted) is dive supervisor.

Metro International Entertainment is handling worldwide sales and has pre-sold the film in a raft of territories including to California in Latin America, Telepool in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, L’Atelier D’Images in France,...

When James Caan agreed to be in her movie, director Carol Morley found herself on a rollercoaster ride. She recalls their months of sparring, bonding over avocados – and watching a master give his all

I can’t remember calling him James. It was Jimmy from the off. An email came from his agent: Jimmy wanted to talk about my script but he’d prefer to meet me in person. Could I come to Los Angeles? I was on the next flight. I wanted him badly for the role of Tom Rockwell, a retired air-force colonel with a lot to hide, for my film Out of Blue, a neo-noir adaptation of the Martin Amis novel Night Train, starring Patricia Clarkson as the detective investigating the death of Tom’s daughter.

I met Jimmy at the Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills hotel, the beating heart of old Hollywood. I expected him...

When Oscar nominee James Caan died Wednesday in Los Angeles at 82, he left behind one final performance opposite Pierce Brosnan in the hitman thriller Fast Charlie, for which he’d wrapped production in New Orleans.

The film from director Phillip Noyce is based on Victor Gischler’s Edgar Award-nominated novel Gun Monkeys. It centers on Charlie Swift (Brosnan), who has worked for aging mob boss Stan (Caan) for 20 years, skillfully operating as a prolific fixer and efficient hitman. When a rival boss moves to eliminate Stan and his entire team, he fails in wiping the team clean. Now on his own, Charlie will stop at nothing to avenge his friend, and has no plans to leave anyone alive.

James Caan Dies At 82: Obituary, Reactions, Photo Gallery & More

Fast Charlie‘s ensemble also includes Gbenga Akkinagbe, Morena Baccarin, Toby Huss and more. Richard Wenk wrote the film,...

Here’s our annual rundown of the 10 largest awards given out by the British Film Institute’s Film Fund across 2021. Backed by National Lottery money, the grants are a key supporter of indie cinema in the UK.

This year also saw long-time Film Fund chief Ben Roberts, now BFI CEO, hand over the keys to the fund to new director Mia Bays.

Top of the list is The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, an adaptation of Rachel Joyce’s popular novel about a man who embarks on a 450-mile walk across the UK in the belief that his journey will save the life of an old friend. Jim Broadbent is starring in the pic, which Joyce is adapting herself. Hettie Macdonald, who helmed Normal People with Lenny Abrahamson, is directing. Producers are Kevin Loader with Juliet Dowling and Marilyn Milgrom.

Second on the list is Typist Artist Pirate King[/link], the...

Afternoon International Insiders, Max Goldbart here. It’s been another busy week but don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with all the latest news and analysis. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.

American Film Market Trends

Solid packages: It’s hard to recall an AFM that had as many solid packages as this one. The emergence from Covid lockdowns and the lack of a market in Toronto this year have helped boost the offering. Since we were last in your inbox, we’ve also broken news of buzzy new projects from Martin McDonagh, Daisy Ridley (pictured) and Mathieu Kassovitz, and Guy Ritchie and Jake Gyllenhaal. Yesterday, we announced a new UK road trip from arthouse director Carol Morley which has Jane Campion aboard as an exec-producer. AFM has traditionally been known for its brawn, and while that is available this market, what stands out is the number of prestige dramas. Buyers we’ve spoken to have been particularly high on the scripts for movies like Firebrand and Lee.

Who runs the world?: As the market draws to a close, that leads us to another interesting – and positive – trend, which also counters the AFM norm: the number of strong female-fronted packages. Between Lee, Firebrand, MindFall, Ballerina, Role Play, Beth And Don, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Mamma Mafia, rarely can there have been as many female-fronted projects leading the slates of the major sellers. Now we wait for the deals to drop.

Climate Content Pledge

Cop-in: David Attenborough may have been appearing on TV screens for nigh on seven decades, but until now the question of what television can do to help combat global warming was on the fringes. That all changed at this week’s Cop 26 in Glasgow, as 12 UK networks signed up to a Climate Content Pledge, which includes an uprooting of commissioning processes to consider climate themes and a doubling down on shows that help audiences understand how the world can reach net zero.

‘Collective responsibility’: Signatories to the pledge include the heads of the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 along with Discovery and Sky in the UK. Speaking at Cop, C4 CEO Alex Mahon said broadcasters have a “collective responsibility” and can use their different programming strengths to reach more audiences. Those strengths equate to quiz shows and entertainment for ITV, sport for Sky and, according to former scientist Mahon, Celebrity Trash Monsters for C4. UK TV truly is the home of plurality.

Middle Eastern In The Spotlight

Strike while the Irons is hot: Andreas had the exclusive on production wrapping on Cello this week, a Jeremy Irons and Tobin Bell horror that is the first in a new wave of English-language projects looking to film in Saudi Arabia, which has been ramping up its film and TV ambitions. Only a handful of sizable English-language movies have shot in the country in recent decades. The Russo Brothers’ Cherry was the biggest back in 2019 but the number of productions is growing as investment increasingly flows in and out of the controversial state, which remains a lightning rod for debate due to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and human rights abuses. Oh and something about a UK football team.

Growing interest: Among productions to shoot in the country recently are a Discovery Channel documentary on the AlUla region, narrated by Irons, and an AlUla brand campaign commercial directed by Bruno Aveillan. National Geographic is due to film two programs on the region and the area has seen multiple travel programs. This month, production is due to get underway on the Gerard Butler action-thriller Kandahar from Thunder Road, which will be one of, if not the biggest, English-language movies to shoot in the country. It’s all happening. At the Cannes Film Festival this year, Saudi officials were touting the striking AlUla valley, new production facilities and the country’s film and TV tax rebate of 35%. The nation is due to host its first major film festival next month, the Red Sea International Film Festival. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

Midas Man on ice

Help!: Another hot one from Andreas this week, who had the scoop on one of the most talked about films of the moment, Midas Man, pausing production, with director Jonas Åkerlund unlikely to continue. Åkerlund is “taking a break”, according to the production, with sources indicating he is unlikely to return. More likely to come on this one as the Brian Epstein biopic seeks a new director.

New Look BBC Comedy Team

Petrie Dish: BBC Comedy Director Jon Petrie (pictured), the most powerful person in UK comedy commissioning, unveiled his new-look team this week, picking producers from some of the nation’s biggest shows in his first major intervention since taking over from Shane Allen in September. In comes Trying’s Emma Lawson, E4’s Navi Lamba and Stath Lets Flats producer Seb Barwell (temporarily), as the seven-strong team is firmed up. Petrie’s move reassembles a team that was decimated last year with a spate of departures, as his predecessor Allen, Head of Comedy Kate Daughton and Commissioning Editors Sarah Asante and Alex Moody all departed within a few weeks of each other.

Russian Out Of Space

The Challenge: Don’t miss Diana Lodderhose’s exclusive sit-down with Russian director Klim Shipenko and actor Yuliya Peresild, who last month became the first film crew to shoot scenes in Outer Space for upcoming film The Challenge. Well worth your time.

Essentials...

Exclusive: BAFTA-nominee Carol Morley (Out Of Blue) is underway in Yorkshire, England, on under-the-radar new feature Typist Artist Pirate King, which will star BAFTA winner Monica Dolan (The Dig), Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire) and BAFTA winner Gina McKee (Phantom Thread).

Metro International has boarded sales on the feature and is launching it this week during the virtual AFM. Oscar winner Jane Campion (The Power Of The Dog) is among exec-producers.

Drawing from the extensive archives of forgotten artist Audrey Amiss, the film is a road movie of her life, using real events and actual dialogue from Amiss’s letters and diaries to create an imaginary trip. The film explores the growing friendship between two women as they hit the road in an electric car looking for endings and reconciliation.

During research for the feature, The Falling and Dreams Of A Life filmmaker Morley uncovered a...

The director of The Trip and Greed has spoken to 15 successful directors to find out what we can learn from the films that – through industry reluctance and obstruction – were never made

My motive for writing a book was selfish. I’d been making films for a quarter of a century and, at the start of last year, I wanted to step back and think about the way I was working.

A book was a useful excuse to speak to other British directors about their experiences. And, during the first lockdown, many of them had enough time on their hands to oblige. So, by Skype and Zoom, I spoke with 15 people: Paweł Pawlikowski, Danny Boyle, Joanna Hogg, Asif Kapadia, James Marsh, Andrew Haigh, Carol Morley, Edgar Wright, Steve McQueen, Lynne Ramsay, Stephen Daldry, Ben Wheatley, Peter Strickland, Mike Leigh and Ken Loach.

Update: BBC issued the following statement in response to the letter featured in the Observer:

“We’re launching a new Radio 4 film programme later this year which will do even more to explore the expanding universe of cinema and screen. The changing nature of film distribution and availability, including on streaming platforms, has opened up new ways for us to take listeners on a journey through the best of cinematic storytelling.”

The statement continues, “The new show will explore the contemporary and the historical — digging deep into the relationship between past and present — with close reading and analysis. It will continue to feature serious and in-depth discussion with actors, writers, directors and critics. In addition to the new programme, Radio 4 dedicated arts shows will keep providing news of the latest film releases as well as expanded film criticism, discussion and major interviews with film makers.”

Earlier: More than 100 filmmakers and...

Exclusive: UK agencies The Artists Partnership, Sayle Screen and Sara Putt Associates are joining forces to create The Partnership Group.

The pact will see The Artists Partnership (which includes sister company The Development Partnership) investing in literary agency Sayle Screen and below the line agency Sara Putt Associates and taking a share in both companies. All three will sitt under the newly formed umbrella company.

Each company will retain their own current identity and brand name and we understand there won’t be any departures as a result of the investment. The move should give the firms more heft in an increasingly competitive UK agency landscape, and offer clients broader opportunities.

The Artists Partnership reps talent including Emily Blunt, Idris Elba, Regé-Jean Page, Joseph Fiennes, Willem Dafoe, James Norton, Kim Cattrall, Matt Dillon, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, John Cleese, Alfie Allen and Catherine Tate.

Sayle Screen reps directors including Yorgos Lanthimos,...

“People like the bullying and harassment principles, but they don’t quite know how to call it out.”

The film industry needs to cultivate “a whistleblower space” to combat bullying and harassment, according to British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts.

Speaking in a live Q&a as part of the BFI London Film Festival’s industry programme, Roberts responded to a question about how the BFI plans to ensure accountability in the independent film space in the face of systemic issues in the film industry including sexual assault, unconscious bias, and institutional racism.

“We know people feel bullied or harassed...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Joining in the international celebration of Federico Fellini's 100th birthday, Criterion is thrilled to announce Essential Fellini, a fifteen-Blu-ray box set that brings together fourteen of the director's most imaginative and uncompromising works for the first time. Alongside new restorations of the theatrical features, the set also includes short and full-length documentaries about Fellini's life and work, archival interviews with his friends and collaborators, commentaries on six of the films, video essays, the director's 1968 short Toby Dammit, and much more.

The edition is accompanied by two lavishly illustrated books with hundreds of pages of notes and essays on the films by writers and filmmakers, as well as dozens of images of Fellini memorabilia. Essential Fellini is a fitting tribute to the maestro of Italian cinema!

Fifteen-blu-ray Special Edition Collector's Set Features

New 4K restorations of 11 theatrical features, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks for...

On the day their gorgeous Agnès Varda box set arrives, The Criterion Collection has announced details on their next director collection. In celebration of his 100th birthday this year, Federico Fellini will be receiving a 15-disc box set featuring fourteen of his films, set for a release on November 24, 2020.

Titled Essential Fellini, the release features new restorations of the theatrical features, as well as short and full-length documentaries about Fellini’s life and work, archival interviews with his friends and collaborators, commentaries on six of the films, video essays, the director’s 1968 short Toby Dammit, and much more. It also includes two illustrated books with hundreds of pages of notes and essays on the films by writers and filmmakers, plus memorabilia. Check out a list of films and special features below.

List of Films

Variety Lights (1950)The White Sheik (1952)I Vitelloni (1953)LA Strada (1954)Il Bidone (1955)Nights Of Cabiria (1957)LA Dolce Vita...