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It’s been a whirlwind two weeks, and as relieved as attendees and observers around the world are that the 2023 edition of Cannes has come to a close, we’re already eager for next year’s. Though too much attention may have been paid to the wrong things – controversies regarding the opening night selection, “Jeanne du Barry,” and altercations with police over bicycles come to mind – cinema and its celebration ultimately took centerstage. By most accounts, 2023 was an improvement over two (understandably) subdued years.

This year’s Main Competition jury was headed by two-time Palme winner Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”) and co-jurored by Julia Ducournau (“Titane”), Paul Dano, Brie Larson, Denis Ménochet (recently seen in “Beau is Afraid”), Atiq Rahimi (“Our Lady of the Nile”), Damián Szifron (“Wild Tales” and this year’s “To Catch a Killer”), Rungano Nyoni (“I Am Not a Witch”) and Maryam Touzani (“The Blue Caftan...

As relieved as attendees and observers around the world are that the 2023 edition of Cannes has come to a close, we’re already eager for next year’s. Though too much attention may have been paid to the wrong things – controversies regarding the opening night selection, “Jeanne du Barry,” and altercations with police over bicycles come to mind – cinema and its celebration ultimately took centerstage. By most accounts, 2023 was an improvement over two (understandably) subdued years.

This year’s Main Competition jury was headed by two-time Palme winner Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”) and co-jurored by Julia Ducournau (“Titane”), Paul Dano, Brie Larson, Denis Ménochet (recently seen in “Beau is Afraid”), Atiq Rahimi (“Our Lady of the Nile”), Damián Szifron (“Wild Tales” and this year’s “To Catch a Killer”), Rungano Nyoni (“I Am Not a Witch”) and Maryam Touzani (“The Blue Caftan”). The Un Certain Regard series was presided over by John C. Reilly.

by Cláudio Alves

The festival is past its midpoint, and it's looking like this'll be a banner year. At least, that's the general tenor of the international coverage. The films of the moment offer a wide variety of cinematic approaches. Ramata-Toulaye Sy's debut feature Banel & Adama is being lauded for its rich visuals, while many have declared Todd Hayes's May December as a return to form with juicy acting across the board. And yet, one feels that the Cannes Best Actress frontrunner is neither Portman nor Moore, but Sandra Hüller, who dazzled viewers in Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall. Finally, Karim Aïnouz's first English-language feature Firebrand (starring Alicia Vikander and Jude Law) is an outlier earning harsh reviews.

For this Cannes at Home chapter, we consider Our Lady of the Nile which is not directed by Sy, but she co-wrote the script with the director. Then,...

Ruben Östlund has a bunch of cinephile buddies to help him hand out the big daddy of all film prizes this May with the festival unveiling who his fellow jurors are and at the top of the list of eight, we find a recent Palme d’Or winner Julia Ducournau. A youthful bunch with not many whites hairs, we also find British-Zambian filmmaker Rungano Nyoni (I Am Not a Witch), actor-director Paul Dano (he had a fine moment presenting Wildlife in the Critic’s Week), actor-short-film-filmmaker Brie Larson, Denis Ménochet who had a great Cannes Premiere showing last year with The Beasts (As bestas), The Blue Caftan filmmaker Maryam Touzani, Our Lady of the Nile filmmaker Atiq Rahimi and Damián Szifrón who delivered quite the comedy in Cannes with Wild Tales and now has To Catch a Killer (also known as Misanthrope in some territories) currently in its theatrical release.

The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the eight members of the main Competition jury, who will join its previously announced president Ruben Östlund at the 76th edition, running May 16 to 27

They comprise Moroccan director Maryam Touzani, French actor Denis Ménochet, British-Zambian screenwriter and director Rungano Nyoni, American actress, director and producer Brie Larson, American Actor and director Paul Dano, Afghan writer and filmmaker Atiq Rahimi, Argentinian director and screenwriter Damián Szifrón and French director Julia Ducournau.

Like two-time Palme d’Or winner Östlund, most of the jury members have strong Cannes pedigrees.

Having long collaborated on her husband Nabil Ayouch’s films such as Much Loved, Touzani made her feature directorial debut in Cannes Un Certain Regard with Adam in 2019 and returned to the section in 2022 with The Blue Caftan, which made it onto the Oscars long-list in the Best International Film category.

Ménochet’s Cannes credits include Quentin Tarantino...

Best Friend Forever has boarded Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s debut feature “Banel & Adama,” a lushly lensed Senegalese female emancipation drama. Now in post, the movie is expected to have its world premiere later this year.

‘Banel & Adama’ is set a remote village of Northern Senegal where Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. Longing for a home of their own, they have decided to live apart from their families. When Adama refuses his blood duty as future chief and informs the village council of his intentions, the whole community is disrupted and chaos ensues.

Sy studied at France’s prestigious film school La Femis and previously directed the short film “Astel” which played at Toronto, New Directors/New Films and Clermont, where it won the Special Jury award, among 80 festivals to date. Ramata, meanwhile, previously co-wrote “Our Lady of the Nil” which played at Toronto, and “Sibel” which played at Locarno and Toronto.

In today’s film news roundup, “Phoenix, Oregon” is being offered at a discount, Fantastic Fungi Day​ is set for March 26, and the opening of Methodfest has been shifted to May.

Release Strategy

Dark comedy “Phoenix, Oregon” will launch Friday simultaneously in theaters that are still open and at home for a “matinee” discount price of $6.50.

Producers will share all revenue on a 50/50 basis with the group of theaters where “Phoenix, Oregon” would have been shown. The theatrical-at-home option will be available in the U.S. and Canada.

“Phoenix, Oregon” centers on a graphic novelist and a chef who seize an unlikely opportunity to reinvent their lives by quitting their service industry jobs to restore an old bowling alley and serve the “world’s greatest pizza.” The cast includes James Le Gros, Jesse Borrego, Lisa Edelstein, Reynaldo Gallegos, Diedrich Bader and Kevin Corrigan. “Phoenix, Oregon” is being released by Aspiration Entertainment...

“Sheytan vojud nadarad” (“There Is No Evil”) has won the Golden Bear Award at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlin jury announced at a ceremony on Saturday.

The film by director Mohammad Rasoulof consists of four different stories about military men in Iran who are asked to perform executions. It won in a competition lineup that consisted of 18 movies and also included Kelly Reichardt’s “First Cow,” Sally Potter’s “‘The Roads Not Taken,” Philippe Garrel’s “The Salt of Tears,” Abel Ferrara’s “Siberia” and Christian Petzold’s “Undine.”

Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” the story of two teenage girls traveling from Pennsylvania to New York City for an abortion, won the Grand Jury Prize, the festival’s second-place award.

Also Read: 'Never Rarely Sometimes Always' Director Explains Why Her Stars Auditioned in a Bathroom (Video)

Acting awards went to Elio Germano for “Volevo nascondermi” (“Hidden Away...

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s “There Is No Evil,” a drama about the impact of capital punishment on society and the human condition, won the Golden Bear at this year’s Berlin Film Festival on Saturday.

The seven-person festival jury, headed by Jeremy Irons, spread the prizes far and wide, with no single filmmaker dominating the awards.

American writer-director Eliza Hittman won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” a drama about teen pregnancy, while the Silver Bear for best director went to South Korea’s Hong Sang Soo for his Seoul-set drama “The Woman Who Ran.”

Rasoulof, who is unable to leave Iran due to a travel ban, faces a one-year prison sentence for “spreading propaganda.” The filmmaker released a statement on Friday expressing his sorrow at missing the premiere of “There Is No Evil”: “I am sorry that I will not be able...

Berlinale 2020: My Name Is Baghdad received the Grand Prix of the international jury in the 14plus section, while The Wolves won it in the Kplus section. The awards for the Generation 14plus section of the 70th Berlin Film Festival have been unveiled. The members of the Youth Jury Generation 14plus have awarded the Crystal Bear for the Best Film to French-Belgian-Rwandan co-production Our Lady of the Nile, helmed by French-Afghan director Atiq Rahimi, already world-premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last September. A Special Mention was given to British documentary White Riot by Rubika Shah, world-premiered at the London Film Festival last October. The Grand Prix for the Best Film from the Generation 14plus International Jury went to Brazilian film My Name Is Baghdad, directed by Caru Alves de Souza, and a special mention was given to Voices in the Wind by Japanese master Nobuhiro Suwa. On the other.

French outfit is handling a trio of Berlinale titles including Golden Bear contender All The Dead Ones.

Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired world sales rights to Teboho Edkins’ documentary Days Of Cannibalism ahead of its premiere in the Berlinale’s Panorama Dokumente section.

Shot in the southern African country of Lesotho, the work explores the impact of the arrival of a wave of Chinese entrepreneurs on its rural communities, which traditionally made their living from cattle farming.

Edkins, who describes the feature as a “contemporary documentary western”, captures the simmering tensions as forces of capitalism challenge the old order and traditions.

Paris-based company Indie Sales will head to the Paris-set industry showcase UniFrance Rendez-Vous With French Cinema with five anticipated French movies, including “Welcome to the Jungle” with Catherine Deneuve.

The other titles are the comedies “Enormous” and “Man Up!,” as well as the ecological tale “Fishlove” and the drama “Under the Concrete.” All five films will be having their market premieres at the Rendez-Vous which kicks off Jan. 16.

Co-directed by Hugo Benamozig and David Caiglioli, “Welcome to the Jungle” stars Deneuve as possessive mother and renown ethnologist who sets off to rescue her beloved son, a young and naive anthropology researcher, in the Amazonian jungle. The adventure comedy also stars Vincent Dedienne (“The Rose Maker”), Jonathan Cohen (“Budapest”) and Alice Belaïdi (“Odd Job”).

“Enormous” is wacky romantic comedy directed by Sophie Letourneur and starring Marina Foïs (“Polisse”) as a world-renowned pianist whose pregnancy turns into a nightmare. Foïs stars opposite...

Matteo Garrone to present ‘Pinocchio’ as the first Berlinale Special Gala.

The Berlinale has revealed the first films set to be screened at the 70th edition of the festival.

They include the live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, from Italian director Matteo Garrone, which is the first Berlinale Special Gala to be announced – a category that replaces ‘out of competition’. It will mark the international premiere of the film, starring Roberto Benigni, which is released in Italy this weekend.

Scroll down for full list of titles

The first 18 films selected for the Panorama strand have also been named, including 11 world premieres.

Among...

Matteo Garrone to present ‘Pinocchio’ as the first Berlinale Special Gala.

The Berlinale has revealed the first films set to be screened at the 70th edition of the festival.

They include the live-action adaptation of Pinocchio, from Italian director Matteo Garrone, which is the first Berlinale Special Gala to be announced – a category that replaces ‘out of competition’. It will mark the international premiere of the film, starring Roberto Benigni, which is released in Italy this weekend.

Scroll down for full list of titles

The first 18 films selected for the Panorama strand have also been named, including 11 world premieres.

Among...

The 2020 Berlin Film Festival, the first edition under new artistic director Carlo Chatrian, has unveiled its first wave of titles.

Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio, starring Roberto Benigni, will have its international premiere at the festival as a Berlinale Special Gala. The team have removed the ‘out of competition’ classification this year and those films will now play as Special Galas. Pinocchio is released theatrically in Italy this weekend and Berlin will mark its festival premiere.

“Garrone succeeds in re-telling the well-known story with his very own world of images. Although he is faithful to Carlo Collodi’s ideas, he has nevertheless created a very personal Pinocchio that is much more cheerful than we’ve experienced before,” commented Carlo Chatrian on the selection.

Also announced today were four films in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino program, which presents debut features. The section will open with Kids Run from Barbara Ott, whose graduation...

In Scholastique Mukasonga’s semi-autobiographical novel Our Lady of the Nile, the author describes a Catholic boarding school she attended high on a hill in Rwanda. The girls came from the country’s elite and were educated to be the future ruling class, until the long-simmering conflict between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi broke out into genocide, and 27 members of her family were killed.

In this terrifying film adaptation, director Atiq Rahimi shifts his lens from his native Afghanistan, the setting of Earth and Ashes and The Patience Stone, to the misty jungles of Rwanda in 1973, 20 years before the ...

In Scholastique Mukasonga’s semi-autobiographical novel Our Lady of the Nile, the author describes a Catholic boarding school she attended high on a hill in Rwanda. The girls came from the country’s elite and were educated to be the future ruling class, until the long-simmering conflict between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi broke out into genocide, and 27 members of her family were killed.

In this terrifying film adaptation, director Atiq Rahimi shifts his lens from his native Afghanistan, the setting of Earth and Ashes and The Patience Stone, to the misty jungles of Rwanda in 1973, 20 years before the ...