Starring Tilda Swinton and Idres Elba, a tale in the style of Arabian Nights or Aladdin where interracial love is finally allowed in the guise of mythology. — Life is a story we tell ourselves and Tilda Swinton, playing an uptight academic specializing in mythology lets her imagined self go as Edris Elba swoops her into a cosmic flux. Going into this movie with a very critical eye, I wondered how George Miller, a white Australian male would…

‘Monica’ Premieres at the Venice Film Festival This Weekend! August 27, 2022 — ‘Monica’ begins in extreme closeup of a beautiful but unhappy woman. We do not know what makes her so unhappy; she is quiet, uncommunicative and lives in a sort of darkness, using her cel phone to call and to talk to people who do not answer her calls. Opening as…

The start of the Global Peace Film Festival film festival is just around the corner— but there is already plenty to watch on their YouTube channel: interviews and panels are now live that give depth and context to the program. Check it out and consider subscribing to the GPFF YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/eRtwFrw #filmfestival #peace — Tickets are on sale now (peacefilmfest.org) Global Peace Film Festival has had an impactful relationship with the distributor, Bullfrog Films Inc, over the years. Bullfrog is one of the longest lasting non-theatrical distributors. Its clients used to be libraries, universities and schools but they now include all sorts of special interest groups. The company has evolved…

The Film Circuit begins with Telluride, a small but perfect film festival in the mountains of Colorado as simultaneously Venice unfurls the films that will soon be released in the wonderful arthouse cinemas of Europe, followed closely by Toronto whose films foretell the coming year’s Oscars nominees. It is a very exciting time to be on the festival circuit. — And simultaneously with these great screenings are sidebars, panel discussions, workshops, master classes and all around great networking for filmmakers around the world.

A corsage is not a flower but a corset gripping the very guts of Sisi, the Empress of the Hapsburg Empire. Married at 16, by 40, hating aging and gaining weigh, Sisi pines away, never finding a pathway toward life. Quite the opposite of my other favorite films of Cannes, ‘Plus que jamais’/ ‘More Than Ever’, ‘Revoir Paris’ / ‘Paris Memories’ and ‘Un beau matin’/ ‘One Fine Morning’, where the female portagonists heed their inner voices to lead them on their unique pathways to peace, this film nevertheless features a top performance of Vicky Krieps (‘Plus que jamais’, ‘The Phantom Thread’) in a modern rendition of celebrity royalty.

The cast of Michael Grandage’s My Policeman — Harry Styles, Emma Corrin, Gina McKee, Linus Roache, David Dawson, and Rupert Everett — are the first-ever film ensemble to receive this honour Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, has announced that the ensemble cast of My Policeman — Harry Styles, Emma Corrin…

What a production! I have not seen ‘Triangle of Sadness’ yet. I want to, though it was not on the top of my list during Cannes this year. Looking at the credits, I am wondering what it took to get this produced. — IMDb synopsis of this film: A cruise for the super-rich sinks thus leaving survivors, including a fashion model celebrity couple, trapped on an island. I could ask a few of my friends about their involvement in its production, e.g., Jim Stark, Micah Green, Philippe Bober, Lizzie Francke, Mike Goodridge…I wonder…

Discussions in Europe are taking place regarding a new funding chapter that puts social and cultural value above economic impact and yet takes into consideration the power of streaming and the rights’ holders share in this newest form of distribution. — Doreen Boonekamp, CEO of the Netherlands Film Fund for a decade, was also Chair of the OMC Group of Member States’ Experts on Co-production, an important arena for sharing experience and best practices from different EU Member States and different parts of the audiovisual value chain. This OMC Group aims for further development of Europe’s pluralism, freedom of artistic expression and cultural diversity, integrating them into a single business model which also favors talent retaining ownership of intellectual property rights as digital production and distribution mature.

My favorite films this year were small, female-centered and female-directed movies. I have never been partial to female oriented or directed films before, so perhaps the year of COVID has transformed my own understandings and/ or it has altered the directing choices women make. Or maybe they were just better than the male-made pictures this year, though only three out of 18 films competing are directed by women, four years after the festival pledged to improve gender representation. Five films directed by women — out of 15 films total — will be shown as official selections in the festival’s Un Certain Regard. Selections for the festival are chosen by the selection committee. Maybe it, like the new French Oscar Selection Committee needs to be overhauled.