Updated On April 22, 2024: With the addition of two new films to this year’s competition section, both directed by men, this year’s competition slate now includes 21 films, only four of which are directed by women. That tallies to just 19 percent of this year’s competition titles being helmed by women.
Our original story from April 11, 2024 follows.
Hot off last year’s record-breaking competition lineup — including seven films directed by women, plus an eventual Palme d’Or win for Justine Triet (only the third woman to win the festival’s top prize) — this year’s Cannes Film Festival has returned to old habits. The 77th edition will include (as of today’s announcement) just four films directed by women in the competition section, bringing representation down to 2021 levels (and returning the festival’s female-directed entries to a number that was only hit in 2011).
Among the competition titles announced today:...
Our original story from April 11, 2024 follows.
Hot off last year’s record-breaking competition lineup — including seven films directed by women, plus an eventual Palme d’Or win for Justine Triet (only the third woman to win the festival’s top prize) — this year’s Cannes Film Festival has returned to old habits. The 77th edition will include (as of today’s announcement) just four films directed by women in the competition section, bringing representation down to 2021 levels (and returning the festival’s female-directed entries to a number that was only hit in 2011).
Among the competition titles announced today:...
- 4/22/2024
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
M-Appeal has closed distribution deals in key territories for “Sex,” which had its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Panorama section.
The film, the first part of the “Sex Dreams Love” trilogy by Norway’s Dag Johan Haugerud, has garnered attention for its thought-provoking exploration of sexuality and gender roles.
All rights for the film have been sold to Pyramide Distribution for France, JinJin Pictures for South Korea and Cinobo for Greece.
“Sex” follows two men in heterosexual marriages, who have an unexpected experience that challenges them to reconsider their understanding of sexuality, gender and identity. One has a sexual encounter with another man, without considering it either as an expression of homosexuality or infidelity and discusses it with his wife afterwards. The other finds himself in nocturnal dreams where he is seen as a woman, stirring confusion and leading him to question how much his personality is shaped by the gaze of others.
The film, the first part of the “Sex Dreams Love” trilogy by Norway’s Dag Johan Haugerud, has garnered attention for its thought-provoking exploration of sexuality and gender roles.
All rights for the film have been sold to Pyramide Distribution for France, JinJin Pictures for South Korea and Cinobo for Greece.
“Sex” follows two men in heterosexual marriages, who have an unexpected experience that challenges them to reconsider their understanding of sexuality, gender and identity. One has a sexual encounter with another man, without considering it either as an expression of homosexuality or infidelity and discusses it with his wife afterwards. The other finds himself in nocturnal dreams where he is seen as a woman, stirring confusion and leading him to question how much his personality is shaped by the gaze of others.
- 2/20/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
It is meaningful to me to be back here, compiling a list of ten for Dn, following a year off last year. Coming back I feel my list is different to what it may have been without the break, where my film watching, cinema-going and general cinephilia took new forms that are still revealing themselves. Some notes:
There is no inclusion of Enys Men or One Fine Morning, which for me are 2022 films and though released cinematically this year I wish to leave that year well and truly behind me. I’ve only included films where there is a trailer link so there’s no room for Nariman Massoumi’s poetic short doc Pouring Water on Troubled Oil, currently screening at festivals though criminally getting overlooked at many that should show it, John Akomfrah’s stunning installation Arcadia, at The Box in Plymouth until June 2024, or finally, Mark Jenkin’s...
There is no inclusion of Enys Men or One Fine Morning, which for me are 2022 films and though released cinematically this year I wish to leave that year well and truly behind me. I’ve only included films where there is a trailer link so there’s no room for Nariman Massoumi’s poetic short doc Pouring Water on Troubled Oil, currently screening at festivals though criminally getting overlooked at many that should show it, John Akomfrah’s stunning installation Arcadia, at The Box in Plymouth until June 2024, or finally, Mark Jenkin’s...
- 12/29/2023
- by Neil Fox
- Directors Notes
The Society Of The Snow has garnered 13 nominations, followed by Close Your Eyes and Jokes & Cigarettes with 11.
Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species Of Bees leads the nominations for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, which will be presented on February 10, 2024.
20,000 Species Of Bees premiered in competition at Berlin, going on to win the Silver Bear for best performance for Sofía Otero, playing an eight-year-old girl who spends a summer working in the Basque Country’s beehives while exploring her identity.
The film scored 15 nominations, including best film, best director and four nods in the acting categories.
Ja Bayona’s...
Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species Of Bees leads the nominations for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, which will be presented on February 10, 2024.
20,000 Species Of Bees premiered in competition at Berlin, going on to win the Silver Bear for best performance for Sofía Otero, playing an eight-year-old girl who spends a summer working in the Basque Country’s beehives while exploring her identity.
The film scored 15 nominations, including best film, best director and four nods in the acting categories.
Ja Bayona’s...
- 11/30/2023
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Italian producer and Lido habitué Mario Gianani is at the Venice Film Festival this year with Saverio Costanzo’s drama Finally Dawn which world premieres in Competition on Friday.
The head of Fremantle-owned film and TV production company Wildside has worked with Costanzo for two decades, producing all his work, from feature directorial debut Private to his more recent series In Treatment and the HBO hit My Brilliant Friend.
They are back together for a new period piece set against the backdrop of the 1950s heydays of Rome’s Cinecittà studios.
Italian newcomer Rebecca Antonaci plays a young extra on a swords and sandals production who is swept up by its stars and taken on a memorable, life-changing night across Rome’s high society hotspots.
Antonaci is joined in the cast by Lily James as a capricious, magnetic and self-obsessed acting diva, Willem Dafoe, as a U.S. expat Rome art gallerist,...
The head of Fremantle-owned film and TV production company Wildside has worked with Costanzo for two decades, producing all his work, from feature directorial debut Private to his more recent series In Treatment and the HBO hit My Brilliant Friend.
They are back together for a new period piece set against the backdrop of the 1950s heydays of Rome’s Cinecittà studios.
Italian newcomer Rebecca Antonaci plays a young extra on a swords and sandals production who is swept up by its stars and taken on a memorable, life-changing night across Rome’s high society hotspots.
Antonaci is joined in the cast by Lily James as a capricious, magnetic and self-obsessed acting diva, Willem Dafoe, as a U.S. expat Rome art gallerist,...
- 9/1/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
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.
Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation (Youssef Chebbi)
Realized with a formally exacting chilliness, Youssef Chebbi’s slow-burning noir concerns police officers investigating the mysteries behind corpses who have died from immolation. While the nebulous, metaphor-heavy script leaves much to be desired, Chebbi’s Cannes, TIFF, and Nd/Nf selection excels at conjuring an atmosphere of dread and isolation amidst a derelict apartment complex.
Where to Stream: VOD
Carpet Cowboys (Emily MacKenzie and Noah Collier)
The tiny city of Dalton, Georgia, has left a large footprint in the daily lives of millions who most wouldn’t have stopped for a second to consider. Well, it’s probably more appropriate to say that millions have left large footprints in Dalton’s biggest export: this city...
Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation (Youssef Chebbi)
Realized with a formally exacting chilliness, Youssef Chebbi’s slow-burning noir concerns police officers investigating the mysteries behind corpses who have died from immolation. While the nebulous, metaphor-heavy script leaves much to be desired, Chebbi’s Cannes, TIFF, and Nd/Nf selection excels at conjuring an atmosphere of dread and isolation amidst a derelict apartment complex.
Where to Stream: VOD
Carpet Cowboys (Emily MacKenzie and Noah Collier)
The tiny city of Dalton, Georgia, has left a large footprint in the daily lives of millions who most wouldn’t have stopped for a second to consider. Well, it’s probably more appropriate to say that millions have left large footprints in Dalton’s biggest export: this city...
- 8/25/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"Yes, we want to build this house really for real at this altitude. Yes, we really want go on a glacier." They went to any length to make this film feel real, and authentic, and it's all the better for it. One of my favorite films of 2022 (and 2023) is called The Eight Mountains, an Italian drama about two friends who grew up in the mountains. I have been raving about it since the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, seeing it again at another festival in late 2022, following its release in spring of 2023. Co-directed by Belgian filmmakers Felix van Groeningen & Charlotte Vandermeersch (who are also married), the film is a remarkable look at how massively powerful mountains are in shaping the lives of humans. I get all emotional just thinking about it, as I'm a huge mountain nerd myself. I was lucky to get time to interview Felix & Charlotte earlier in 2023 - I'd...
- 8/23/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Cannes is the birthplace for any number of future Best International Feature Film Oscar nominees, like last year’s Grand Prize winner “Close,” or winners like 2021 Competition entry “Drive My Car.” This year’s possibilities include the UK’s rapturously received German-language from UK filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, “The Zone of Interest;” Argentina’s Un Certain Regard entry “The Delinquents,” a three-hour existential heist movie picked up by Mubi; or Japan’s “Monster,” the latest film from Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose “Shoplifters” scored both the Palme d’Or and an Oscar nomination. However, before they can be nominated they must be submitted — and that, as Academy members well know, is the rub.
The demand for reform boils down to this: Too often the decision of Oscar submissions belongs to decision-makers instead of filmmakers, and that can lead to some… frustrating choices. Last year India did not submit “Rrr” and Italy declined to...
The demand for reform boils down to this: Too often the decision of Oscar submissions belongs to decision-makers instead of filmmakers, and that can lead to some… frustrating choices. Last year India did not submit “Rrr” and Italy declined to...
- 5/19/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Cinema Italiano is on a roll, as reflected by the fact that this year Italy has scored three Cannes competition slots.
Despite the persisting sore spot that sees the country still lagging behind other European territories in terms of post-pandemic box office returns, Italy “continues to produce and invest heavily in film and is overcoming the crisis,” noted Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux after announcing the lineup.
The robust Croisette contingent marks the second time in 20 years that Italy lands three Cannes competition berths. Though the trio of selected directors — Marco Bellocchio, Nanni Moretti and Alice Rohrwacher — are all Cannes regulars “they represent three different generations of auteurs,” said Paolo Del Brocco, chief of state broadcaster Rai’s Rai Cinema arm that co-produced all three titles. And each of these films, he went on to point out, displays “very different ideas and cinematic visions.”
Moretti is back on the Croisette...
Despite the persisting sore spot that sees the country still lagging behind other European territories in terms of post-pandemic box office returns, Italy “continues to produce and invest heavily in film and is overcoming the crisis,” noted Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux after announcing the lineup.
The robust Croisette contingent marks the second time in 20 years that Italy lands three Cannes competition berths. Though the trio of selected directors — Marco Bellocchio, Nanni Moretti and Alice Rohrwacher — are all Cannes regulars “they represent three different generations of auteurs,” said Paolo Del Brocco, chief of state broadcaster Rai’s Rai Cinema arm that co-produced all three titles. And each of these films, he went on to point out, displays “very different ideas and cinematic visions.”
Moretti is back on the Croisette...
- 5/18/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
‘The Eight Mountains’ scores best average of new titles.
RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (May 5-May 7)Total gross to date Week 1. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney) £5.3m £24m 2 2. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Universal) £853,412 £51.1m 6 3. Book Club: The Next Chapter (Universal) £299,169 £299,169 1 4. Evil Dead Rise (Studiocanal) £258,167 £5m 4 5. Eurovision - Grand Final Live (CinemaLive) £235,465 £235,465 1
Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.25
Disney’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 comfortably held the UK-Ireland box office lead on its second weekend, as live-streamed screenings of Saturday’s Eurovision final broke into the top five titles for the weekend.
Guardians Vol. 3 added £5.3m to reach...
RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (May 5-May 7)Total gross to date Week 1. Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (Disney) £5.3m £24m 2 2. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (Universal) £853,412 £51.1m 6 3. Book Club: The Next Chapter (Universal) £299,169 £299,169 1 4. Evil Dead Rise (Studiocanal) £258,167 £5m 4 5. Eurovision - Grand Final Live (CinemaLive) £235,465 £235,465 1
Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.25
Disney’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 comfortably held the UK-Ireland box office lead on its second weekend, as live-streamed screenings of Saturday’s Eurovision final broke into the top five titles for the weekend.
Guardians Vol. 3 added £5.3m to reach...
- 5/15/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Sony looks for ‘Love Again’, with Celine Dion’s first on-screen role.
Universal comedy sequel Book Club: The Next Chapter leads the openers at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, starting its story in 612 cinemas.
Directed by Bill Holderman and written by Holderman and Erin Simms, the film follows four best friends who take their book club to Italy for the girls trip they never had.
It is a sequel to 2018’s Book Club, also directed by Holderman, which Paramount released and which opened to £721,512 in 519 cinemas at a £1,390 average. The film finished on a £4.2m cume; The Next Chapter...
Universal comedy sequel Book Club: The Next Chapter leads the openers at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, starting its story in 612 cinemas.
Directed by Bill Holderman and written by Holderman and Erin Simms, the film follows four best friends who take their book club to Italy for the girls trip they never had.
It is a sequel to 2018’s Book Club, also directed by Holderman, which Paramount released and which opened to £721,512 in 519 cinemas at a £1,390 average. The film finished on a £4.2m cume; The Next Chapter...
- 5/12/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
At once epic and intimate, Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains spans several decades, but isn’t about any grand historic figures or events. Instead, it tells the story of two boys whose friendship fades as they become men, only for their bond to revive as life unpredictably marches on. The film is a beautiful work not only for its stunning outdoor cinematography (make an effort to see it in a cinema), but for its ability to capture the magic, regret, love and befuddlement that emerge as we grow older.
The film is framed as the memories of an Italian man named Pietro (Luca Marinelli), who recounts his relationship with his friend Bruno (Alessandro Borghi). The narrator begins during childhood, when his family leave the city for annual summer vacations in a dying mountain village in the Alps. Every other family with a child had already abandoned the town,...
The film is framed as the memories of an Italian man named Pietro (Luca Marinelli), who recounts his relationship with his friend Bruno (Alessandro Borghi). The narrator begins during childhood, when his family leave the city for annual summer vacations in a dying mountain village in the Alps. Every other family with a child had already abandoned the town,...
- 5/11/2023
- by Jeremy Mathews
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains and veteran Marco Bellocchio’s Exterior Night topped the 68th edition of Italy’s David di Donatello Awards on Wednesday evening.
The Eight Mountains won best film as well as best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.
Based on the novel of the same name by Paolo Cognetti, it stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as two men from different backgrounds who form a life-long bond during summers spent together as children in a remote mountain village.
The film world premiered in Competition at Cannes last year where it co-won the Jury Prize. Read the Deadline review here.
It is the second time in the history of the awards that a film by non-Italian directors has clinched the best film prize.
The last time was in 1971 when the Dino de Laurentiis-produced epic Waterloo by Russian director Sergei Bonderchuk,...
The Eight Mountains won best film as well as best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.
Based on the novel of the same name by Paolo Cognetti, it stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as two men from different backgrounds who form a life-long bond during summers spent together as children in a remote mountain village.
The film world premiered in Competition at Cannes last year where it co-won the Jury Prize. Read the Deadline review here.
It is the second time in the history of the awards that a film by non-Italian directors has clinched the best film prize.
The last time was in 1971 when the Dino de Laurentiis-produced epic Waterloo by Russian director Sergei Bonderchuk,...
- 5/11/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch took to Italy’s beautiful Aosta Valley to make their transcendental movie about male friendship – but couldn’t avoid their own personal issues
“You’re out of focus!” I’ve just logged in to Zoom to talk to Belgian directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, and they’re laughing already. “Like in Deconstructing Harry, you know that film?” says Vandermeersch I flap around, fiddling with my webcam, but nothing will correct the me-shaped smear on the screen. Like Robin Williams in the Woody Allen film, blurred outside of the cameras even when he goes home, I feel a flush of existential humiliation creeping up.
I could use a long stay in Van Groeningen and Vandermeersch’s transcendentally clarifying new film The Eight Mountains. A parable of the forking paths of two childhood friends – urbanite Pietro (Lupo Barbiero) and shepherd kid Bruno (Cristiano Sassella...
“You’re out of focus!” I’ve just logged in to Zoom to talk to Belgian directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, and they’re laughing already. “Like in Deconstructing Harry, you know that film?” says Vandermeersch I flap around, fiddling with my webcam, but nothing will correct the me-shaped smear on the screen. Like Robin Williams in the Woody Allen film, blurred outside of the cameras even when he goes home, I feel a flush of existential humiliation creeping up.
I could use a long stay in Van Groeningen and Vandermeersch’s transcendentally clarifying new film The Eight Mountains. A parable of the forking paths of two childhood friends – urbanite Pietro (Lupo Barbiero) and shepherd kid Bruno (Cristiano Sassella...
- 5/11/2023
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
“The Eight Mountains,” Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama about friendship, mountains and growing up, scored the top prize at Italy’s 68th David di Donatello Awards.
Besides winning best picture, the film also scooped statuettes for best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.
Given that the directors are not Italian, it was a particularly significant victory for “Mountains,” which was praised as “quietly magnificent” by Variety critic Jessica Kiang. The film, which is currently playing well on the U.S. arthouse circuit, tracks the decades-long friendship between two Italian boys named Pietro and Bruno — one from the city, the other a shepherd boy from the Alps.
“It’s pretty incredible,” commented a visibly moved Van Groeningen. “Two Belgians who win this prize in Italy for an Italian movie.” “Thank you for this declaration of love,” added Vandermeersch, his partner in life. “We love Italy very much.
Besides winning best picture, the film also scooped statuettes for best non-original screenplay, photography and sound.
Given that the directors are not Italian, it was a particularly significant victory for “Mountains,” which was praised as “quietly magnificent” by Variety critic Jessica Kiang. The film, which is currently playing well on the U.S. arthouse circuit, tracks the decades-long friendship between two Italian boys named Pietro and Bruno — one from the city, the other a shepherd boy from the Alps.
“It’s pretty incredible,” commented a visibly moved Van Groeningen. “Two Belgians who win this prize in Italy for an Italian movie.” “Thank you for this declaration of love,” added Vandermeersch, his partner in life. “We love Italy very much.
- 5/10/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch enter a new stage of their partnership, both professional and personal, through their co-direction of The Eight Mountains. Vandermeersch, primarily known for her work as an actress, had previously appeared in several of her husband’s other movies and received a screenplay collaboration credit on his Oscar-nominated The Broken Circle Breakdown. But as Van Groeningen began to approach shooting the adaptation of Paolo Coginetti’s novel that he’d co-written with his wife during pandemic lockdowns, he suggested that she join him in helming the film.
In many ways, their collaboration behind the camera gracefully complements the narrative that transpires in front of it. The Eight Mountains is a gentle two-hander following two friends, the impetuous Bruno and the introverted Pietro (played respectively as adults by Alessandro Borghi and Luca Marinelli), that charts the ups and downs of their relationship over the course of four decades.
In many ways, their collaboration behind the camera gracefully complements the narrative that transpires in front of it. The Eight Mountains is a gentle two-hander following two friends, the impetuous Bruno and the introverted Pietro (played respectively as adults by Alessandro Borghi and Luca Marinelli), that charts the ups and downs of their relationship over the course of four decades.
- 4/28/2023
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slant Magazine
“I didn’t expect to find a friend like Bruno in my life. Nor that friendship was a place where you put down roots, that remains waiting for you.” It’s with these words, delivered in wistful voiceover, that Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch open “The Eight Mountains,” their sublime and gently aching adaptation of the Italian bestseller by Paolo Cognetti.
Set against the breathtaking mountain vistas of northwestern Italy, the film — which won the jury prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival — first explores the bond between two young boys, one visiting a village in the scenic Valle d’Aosta region over the summer and the other born there to cow-herder parents.
Continue reading ‘The Eight Mountains’ Directors On Their Acclaimed Cannes Friendship Drama, Filming in The Italian Alps & More [Interview] at The Playlist.
Set against the breathtaking mountain vistas of northwestern Italy, the film — which won the jury prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival — first explores the bond between two young boys, one visiting a village in the scenic Valle d’Aosta region over the summer and the other born there to cow-herder parents.
Continue reading ‘The Eight Mountains’ Directors On Their Acclaimed Cannes Friendship Drama, Filming in The Italian Alps & More [Interview] at The Playlist.
- 4/28/2023
- by Isaac Feldberg
- The Playlist
Editors note: This review was originally published May 18 after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival where it co-won the Jury Prize. It opens in New York theaters Friday.
After breaking out internationally in 2012 with his Oscar-nominated drama The Broken Circle Breakdown, and making his Hollywood debut in 2018 with Beautiful Boy, Felix van Groeningen makes his Competition debut in Cannes with The Eight Mountains, perhaps the most understated film of his career so far.
This is a gentle tale of a decades-spanning friendship that seems a little out of its depth in such a heavyweight showcase. With terrific cinematography and two engaging leads, it’s easy on the eye — as well it should be at two hours and 27 minutes — but it’s lackluster in its telling and pales next to Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, which covered similar themes of adolescence and young adulthood last awards season.
After breaking out internationally in 2012 with his Oscar-nominated drama The Broken Circle Breakdown, and making his Hollywood debut in 2018 with Beautiful Boy, Felix van Groeningen makes his Competition debut in Cannes with The Eight Mountains, perhaps the most understated film of his career so far.
This is a gentle tale of a decades-spanning friendship that seems a little out of its depth in such a heavyweight showcase. With terrific cinematography and two engaging leads, it’s easy on the eye — as well it should be at two hours and 27 minutes — but it’s lackluster in its telling and pales next to Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God, which covered similar themes of adolescence and young adulthood last awards season.
- 4/28/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
An intimate story of friendship projected across the vast alpine Italian landscape, Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains is a stirring, at times spiritual experience of reconnection on both human and environmental levels. Starring Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi, the decade-spanning story adapted from Paolo Cognetti’s novel gives its audience the proper space to breathe in the surroundings while our characters attempt to find a footing in their lives.
Ahead of the U.S. release of the Cannes winner, I had the pleasure of speaking with the Belgian directors about the complex process of crafting a Dutch script that was then translated into English and then into Italian, what their collaboration process entails, their personal connections to the film, setting the perfect pace, and their visual inspirations.
The Film Stage: I love the juxtaposition in the movie, where you have the most beautiful, vast surroundings possible,...
Ahead of the U.S. release of the Cannes winner, I had the pleasure of speaking with the Belgian directors about the complex process of crafting a Dutch script that was then translated into English and then into Italian, what their collaboration process entails, their personal connections to the film, setting the perfect pace, and their visual inspirations.
The Film Stage: I love the juxtaposition in the movie, where you have the most beautiful, vast surroundings possible,...
- 4/27/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Last fall, five days before Italy announced its official Oscar submission, filmmakers Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch were nervous. The Belgian couple, who co-directed the intimate Cannes winner “The Eight Mountains” in the Italian Alps and learned the language for the project, hoped that their commitment was enough to convince the committee tasked with selecting the submission that it fulfilled their requirements.
“We want to make the Italians proud of this film, so we pray that they will feel proud enough to send it,” Vandermeersch told IndieWire at the time. “If our nationality diminishes that pride or that sense of ownership, we can’t help that, but we do think that it’s less and less important in the world of today.”
The following week, the country snubbed “The Eight Mountains” in favor of another Cannes selection, Italian director Mario Matone’s crime drama “Nostalgia;” one month later, it...
“We want to make the Italians proud of this film, so we pray that they will feel proud enough to send it,” Vandermeersch told IndieWire at the time. “If our nationality diminishes that pride or that sense of ownership, we can’t help that, but we do think that it’s less and less important in the world of today.”
The following week, the country snubbed “The Eight Mountains” in favor of another Cannes selection, Italian director Mario Matone’s crime drama “Nostalgia;” one month later, it...
- 4/26/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
It can be surprisingly difficult to find a movie with an authentic, lived-in sense of how friendships truly unfold over the course of many years. What we so often get instead are hollow pastiches and tired tropes that hardly scrape the surface of what actually draws two individuals together from very different walks of life — and why. Maybe there's something to be said for a more matter-of-fact approach that gives such weighty topics room to grow, recede, and adapt at a glacial-like pace.
While that's usually considered a critique, this is at least one of the many reasons why "The Eight Mountains" stands in such stark relief from its peers. In the opening act set in 1984 Italy, two children become fast friends over the course of a single summer in the mountainous village of Grana — not through some shared trauma or because they instantly recognize some deep, soul-baring connection to one another.
While that's usually considered a critique, this is at least one of the many reasons why "The Eight Mountains" stands in such stark relief from its peers. In the opening act set in 1984 Italy, two children become fast friends over the course of a single summer in the mountainous village of Grana — not through some shared trauma or because they instantly recognize some deep, soul-baring connection to one another.
- 4/25/2023
- by Jeremy Mathai
- Slash Film
The Cannes Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 76th edition Thursday morning, and the Official Selection featured a record number of films directed by women filmmakers set to play in Competition.
The festival will debut six films by women in Competition. The selected films and filmmakers are La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher), Club Zero (Jessica Hausner), Last Summer (Catherine Breillat), Anatomie d’une chute (Justine Triet), Banel et Adama (Ramata-Toulaye Sy), and Olfa’s Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania).
The previous record of five films by female filmmakers in Competition was set last year, with a lineup that included Kelly Reichardt with the Michelle Williams-starrer Showing Up, Claire Denis’s Stars at Noon, and the Charlotte Vandermeersch co-directed Le Otto Montagne.
So far, the festival has announced 19 films that will play in Competition, so the overall number of women filmmakers remains below the 50% mark. The wider Official Selection revealed this...
The festival will debut six films by women in Competition. The selected films and filmmakers are La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher), Club Zero (Jessica Hausner), Last Summer (Catherine Breillat), Anatomie d’une chute (Justine Triet), Banel et Adama (Ramata-Toulaye Sy), and Olfa’s Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania).
The previous record of five films by female filmmakers in Competition was set last year, with a lineup that included Kelly Reichardt with the Michelle Williams-starrer Showing Up, Claire Denis’s Stars at Noon, and the Charlotte Vandermeersch co-directed Le Otto Montagne.
So far, the festival has announced 19 films that will play in Competition, so the overall number of women filmmakers remains below the 50% mark. The wider Official Selection revealed this...
- 4/13/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
After finally breaking its own long-held record last year, this year’s Cannes Film Festival will once again feature more female directors in its starry competition section than ever in its 76-year history. While last year marked the first time the French festival programmed five films directed or co-directed by women in competition, 2023 marks a new uptick: it will be the first year the fest includes six films from female directors competing for the Palme d’Or.
Announced this morning, this year’s Cannes competition slate includes new films from Alice Rohrwacher (“La Chimera”), Jessica Hausner (“Club Zero”), Catherine Breillat (“Last Summer”), Justine Triet (“Anatomie d’une chute”), Ramata-Toulaye Sy (“Banel et Adama), and Kaouther Ben Hania (“Olfa’s Daughters”). With 19 films currently on the slate, that means a full 31.5 percent of them hail from female creators, a brand-new Cannes record. (Also of note: Sy is only the second Black woman...
Announced this morning, this year’s Cannes competition slate includes new films from Alice Rohrwacher (“La Chimera”), Jessica Hausner (“Club Zero”), Catherine Breillat (“Last Summer”), Justine Triet (“Anatomie d’une chute”), Ramata-Toulaye Sy (“Banel et Adama), and Kaouther Ben Hania (“Olfa’s Daughters”). With 19 films currently on the slate, that means a full 31.5 percent of them hail from female creators, a brand-new Cannes record. (Also of note: Sy is only the second Black woman...
- 4/13/2023
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Distribution executive Jasper Basch is returning to Variance Films, this time as its new Head of Distribution. He will be departing his role as IFC Films’ as its’ Director of Sales and Distribution toward the end of this week, marking the third senior staff departure for the company in two weeks.
Basch originally started his career at Variance rising to become Manager of Distribution. Basch will work with Variance Films Founder and President Dylan Marchetti, partner Kristen Osborne, and distribution executive Ryan Markowitz.
“I’m thrilled to be rejoining Dylan and Kristen at Variance Films. Variance was my first employer after graduating college, and growing with them was a wonderful experience. To get to do so for a second time is a privilege beyond anything I could have hoped for,” said Basch.
“The industry is increasingly realizing how critical proper theatrical distribution is to the success of a film,...
Basch originally started his career at Variance rising to become Manager of Distribution. Basch will work with Variance Films Founder and President Dylan Marchetti, partner Kristen Osborne, and distribution executive Ryan Markowitz.
“I’m thrilled to be rejoining Dylan and Kristen at Variance Films. Variance was my first employer after graduating college, and growing with them was a wonderful experience. To get to do so for a second time is a privilege beyond anything I could have hoped for,” said Basch.
“The industry is increasingly realizing how critical proper theatrical distribution is to the success of a film,...
- 4/11/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman and Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
After dabbling in the Hollywood drama with Beautiful Boy, Felix van Groeningen is back, reteaming with frequent collaborator and partner Charlotte Vandermeersch for her co-directorial debut. The Eight Mountains tells the story of estranged childhood friends who reconnect to fulfill the wishes of a recently deceased relative. Conveyed with an epic reverence for the beauty of the world, it’s also remarkable just how intimately keyed-in the directors are to this bond tested by lost time and societal differences. While this journey is perhaps long in the tooth, the Cannes Jury Prize winner is certainly worth seeing on the largest screen possible. Ahead of an April 28 release from Sideshow and Janus, the new trailer has now landed.
Jose Solis said in his review, “There must have been something in the air at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where two of the top prizes went to Belgian films about the impossible standards...
Jose Solis said in his review, “There must have been something in the air at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where two of the top prizes went to Belgian films about the impossible standards...
- 4/7/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"He's high up on his mountain, unaware of the problems we're facing down here." Janus has revealed the official US trailer for The Eight Mountains, made by the filmmakers Felix van Groeningen & Charlotte Vandermeersch. It's set to hit theaters in the US at the end of April, then open in UK cinemas in May. The film initially premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival last year playing in the Main Competition. The Eight Mountains is set mostly in Italy. Pietro is a boy from the city, Bruno is the last child of a forgotten mountain village. Over the years Bruno remains faithful to his mountain, while Pietro is the one who comes and goes. Their encounters introduce them to love and loss, reminding them of their origins, letting their destinies unfold, as Pietro and Bruno discover what it means to be friends for life. Starring Luca Marinelli as Pietro and Alessandro Borghi as Bruno.
- 4/7/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Felix van Groeningen‘s last film, 2018’s “Beautiful Boy” with Steve Carrell and Timothée Chalamet, was his English-language debut. But Groeningen returns to his roots, at least artistically, for his latest. The director teams up with his wife, Charlotte Vandermeersch, for the fourth time to co-direct “The Eight Mountains,” which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year.
Continue reading ‘The Eight Mountains’ Trailer: Cannes 2022 Jury Prize Winner Hits NYC Theaters On April 28 at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘The Eight Mountains’ Trailer: Cannes 2022 Jury Prize Winner Hits NYC Theaters On April 28 at The Playlist.
- 4/7/2023
- by Oliver Weir
- The Playlist
Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes last year, the U.S. trailer arrives today for Belgian directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains, adapted from the novel of the same name by Italian author Paolo Cognetti. The film stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as, respectively, Pietro and Bruno, two childhood best friends who first meet in the Italian Alps and then re-connect later in adulthood. The Eight Mountains will be released stateside this spring by Sideshow and Janus Films. The film’s official synopsis reads: Pietro, a city boy who visits the tiny mountain village of Grana […]
The post Trailer Watch: Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 4/7/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes last year, the U.S. trailer arrives today for Belgian directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains, adapted from the novel of the same name by Italian author Paolo Cognetti. The film stars Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi as, respectively, Pietro and Bruno, two childhood best friends who first meet in the Italian Alps and then re-connect later in adulthood. The Eight Mountains will be released stateside this spring by Sideshow and Janus Films. The film’s official synopsis reads: Pietro, a city boy who visits the tiny mountain village of Grana […]
The post Trailer Watch: Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 4/7/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
As news about the 2023 Cannes lineup begins to trickle in, American audiences are finally getting a chance to catch up on some of the films that played at last year’s festival. Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s “The Eight Mountains” made waves when it competed for the Palme d’Or and won the Prix Jury prize in 2022, and now the film is just weeks away from premiering at arthouses in New York and Los Angeles.
The film tells the story of a close relationship between two young Italian boys who spent their childhoods together in a mountain village before going in different directions. At Cannes, critics praised the film’s attention to detail and the way it used elements of nature to conjure the feelings of magic that childhood friendships can create.
“Here, you feel it all, because there is so much heartfelt detail,” Ella Kemp wrote in...
The film tells the story of a close relationship between two young Italian boys who spent their childhoods together in a mountain village before going in different directions. At Cannes, critics praised the film’s attention to detail and the way it used elements of nature to conjure the feelings of magic that childhood friendships can create.
“Here, you feel it all, because there is so much heartfelt detail,” Ella Kemp wrote in...
- 4/7/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
The calm before summer movie season usually delivers some of the year’s most interesting movies––artistic gambles to try reaching audiences before blockbusters take over the multiplexes––and this April is no different. From some of the best films we saw on the festival circuit last year to a few promising 2023 premieres, we’ve rounded up 15 films worth seeking out in what amounts to a major month.
15. Air (Ben Affleck; April 5)
Returning to the director’s chair for the first time in seven years, following 2016’s Live by Night, Ben Affleck’s latest feature is immersed in the world of sports marketing. Air, from a Black List script by Alex Convery, follows the real-life story of Nike’s quest in signing Michael Jordan. Led by Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, who would go on to sign the greatest athlete of all time, the film is a fairly rousing crowd-pleaser...
15. Air (Ben Affleck; April 5)
Returning to the director’s chair for the first time in seven years, following 2016’s Live by Night, Ben Affleck’s latest feature is immersed in the world of sports marketing. Air, from a Black List script by Alex Convery, follows the real-life story of Nike’s quest in signing Michael Jordan. Led by Matt Damon as Sonny Vaccaro, who would go on to sign the greatest athlete of all time, the film is a fairly rousing crowd-pleaser...
- 4/5/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"This place is wonderful. I never want to leave." Picturehouses in the UK has revealed their official trailer for the lovely film The Eight Mountains, the latest from filmmakers Felix van Groeningen & Charlotte Vandermeersch. It's set to hit theaters in the US at the end of April, then open in UK cinemas in May - and this one is a must watch on the big screen. Some of the most spectacular mountain cinematography I've ever seen. It initially premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival last year playing in the Main Competition. The Eight Mountains is the story of a friendship. Pietro is a boy from the city, Bruno is the last child of a forgotten mountain village. Over the years Bruno remains faithful to his mountain, while Pietro is the one who comes and goes. Their encounters introduce them to love and loss, reminding them of their origins, letting their destinies unfold,...
- 4/4/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Picturehouse Entertainment has debuted an exclusive trailer the Cannes Film Festival 2022 Jury Prize Winner ‘The Eight Mountains.’
The film is the story of a friendship. Of children becoming men who try to erase the footprints of their fathers, but who, through the twists and turns they take, always end up returning home.
Pietro is a boy from the city, and Bruno is the last child of a forgotten mountain village. Over the years Bruno remains faithful to his mountain, while Pietro is the one who comes and goes. Their encounters introduce them to love and loss, reminding them of their origins, and letting their destinies unfold, as Pietro and Bruno discover what it means to be true friends for life.
Directed by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, the film stars Alessandro Borghi & Luca Marinelli.
Also in trailers – “I do not bend, I do not break…” Trailer drops for ‘White...
The film is the story of a friendship. Of children becoming men who try to erase the footprints of their fathers, but who, through the twists and turns they take, always end up returning home.
Pietro is a boy from the city, and Bruno is the last child of a forgotten mountain village. Over the years Bruno remains faithful to his mountain, while Pietro is the one who comes and goes. Their encounters introduce them to love and loss, reminding them of their origins, and letting their destinies unfold, as Pietro and Bruno discover what it means to be true friends for life.
Directed by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, the film stars Alessandro Borghi & Luca Marinelli.
Also in trailers – “I do not bend, I do not break…” Trailer drops for ‘White...
- 4/4/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
There must have been something in the air at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where two of the top prizes went to Belgian films about the impossible standards set up by masculinity leading to tragedy. Lukas Dhont’s Close, which centers on the end of the friendship between two teenagers over a harrowing school year, won the Grand Prix. The Jury Prize went to Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains, which concerns the end of a friendship between two men who meet as boys during a summer that marks them for the rest of their lives.
Whatever its pictorial beauty, often significant, this adaptation of Paolo Cognetti’s bestseller exemplifies my distaste for films that depict toxic masculinity without questioning it, or even suggesting there is nothing heroic or brave about refusing to leave behind damaging practices as long as they perpetuate some limited idea of what constitutes manhood.
Whatever its pictorial beauty, often significant, this adaptation of Paolo Cognetti’s bestseller exemplifies my distaste for films that depict toxic masculinity without questioning it, or even suggesting there is nothing heroic or brave about refusing to leave behind damaging practices as long as they perpetuate some limited idea of what constitutes manhood.
- 2/3/2023
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
When Pietro’s (Lupo Barbiero) father passes away and leaves him a plot of land in the small Alpine village of Grana, he decides to return to the mountainous locale to build a house. Upon his return, he bonds anew with Bruno (Cristiano Sassella), who he first met when he visited with his mother as an 11-year-old boy many years ago. The winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, The Eight Mountains from directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch is an engrossing look at a friendship that transcends time and distance. Editor Nico Leunen tells Filmmaker […]
The post “I Studied Experimental Filmmaking, Not Editing”: Editor Nico Leunen on The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Studied Experimental Filmmaking, Not Editing”: Editor Nico Leunen on The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/27/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
When Pietro’s (Lupo Barbiero) father passes away and leaves him a plot of land in the small Alpine village of Grana, he decides to return to the mountainous locale to build a house. Upon his return, he bonds anew with Bruno (Cristiano Sassella), who he first met when he visited with his mother as an 11-year-old boy many years ago. The winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, The Eight Mountains from directors Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch is an engrossing look at a friendship that transcends time and distance. Editor Nico Leunen tells Filmmaker […]
The post “I Studied Experimental Filmmaking, Not Editing”: Editor Nico Leunen on The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I Studied Experimental Filmmaking, Not Editing”: Editor Nico Leunen on The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/27/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains introduces us to Pietro (Lupo Barbiero) as a young boy visiting the small mountain village of Grana with his mother. During this trip, he meets Bruno (Cristiano Sassella), a herder who also happens to be 11-years-old. Many years later, Pietro’s father passes away, leaving him a long-neglected plot of land in Grana. Upon returning to the Alpine town, he reunites with Bruno, who aids him in rebuilding a house on his newly-inherited land, strengthening a friendship that had previously […]
The post “Cows Are Terrible to Work With”: Dp Ruben Impens on The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Cows Are Terrible to Work With”: Dp Ruben Impens on The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/27/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The winner of the Jury Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains introduces us to Pietro (Lupo Barbiero) as a young boy visiting the small mountain village of Grana with his mother. During this trip, he meets Bruno (Cristiano Sassella), a herder who also happens to be 11-years-old. Many years later, Pietro’s father passes away, leaving him a long-neglected plot of land in Grana. Upon returning to the Alpine town, he reunites with Bruno, who aids him in rebuilding a house on his newly-inherited land, strengthening a friendship that had previously […]
The post “Cows Are Terrible to Work With”: Dp Ruben Impens on The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Cows Are Terrible to Work With”: Dp Ruben Impens on The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/27/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Our film was almost entirely shot in the Italian Alps and we knew this would be demanding. Because of the hard logistics of getting to our locations, the height at which we would be filming and because of the weather. The crew needed to be up for an adventure, and so did the cast. We only realized how true this […]
The post “We Saw This Actor Completely Detach From the Project” | Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “We Saw This Actor Completely Detach From the Project” | Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/26/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? Our film was almost entirely shot in the Italian Alps and we knew this would be demanding. Because of the hard logistics of getting to our locations, the height at which we would be filming and because of the weather. The crew needed to be up for an adventure, and so did the cast. We only realized how true this […]
The post “We Saw This Actor Completely Detach From the Project” | Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “We Saw This Actor Completely Detach From the Project” | Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch, The Eight Mountains first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/26/2023
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Kicking off this Thursday, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival gives us a first glimpse at the year in cinema. Ahead of the fest, we’ve highlighted the films we’re most looking forward to and now we’re providing a trailer round-up for those interested in a preview of the lineup.
Ahead of our coverage, bookmark this page for a continually updated round-up of trailers and clips, kicking off with Polite Society, A Common Sequence, Infinity Pool, Rye Lane, Slow, and more.
Check out the trailers below thus far in alphabetical order and we’ll be publishing reviews soon, so follow along here.
The Amazing Maurice (Toby Genkel)
Blueback (Robert Connolly)
A Common Sequence (Mary Helena Clark and Mike Gibisser)
Deep Rising (Matthieu Rytz)
Divinity (Eddie Alcazar)
The Eight Mountains (Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch)
L’immensità (Emanuele Crialese)
Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg)
Joyland (Saim Sadiq)
Mamacruz (Patricia Ortega)
Other...
Ahead of our coverage, bookmark this page for a continually updated round-up of trailers and clips, kicking off with Polite Society, A Common Sequence, Infinity Pool, Rye Lane, Slow, and more.
Check out the trailers below thus far in alphabetical order and we’ll be publishing reviews soon, so follow along here.
The Amazing Maurice (Toby Genkel)
Blueback (Robert Connolly)
A Common Sequence (Mary Helena Clark and Mike Gibisser)
Deep Rising (Matthieu Rytz)
Divinity (Eddie Alcazar)
The Eight Mountains (Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch)
L’immensità (Emanuele Crialese)
Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg)
Joyland (Saim Sadiq)
Mamacruz (Patricia Ortega)
Other...
- 1/18/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Italy in 2022 made several landmark strides in the international entertainment arena: an Italian play, Stefano Massini’s “The Lehman Trilogy,” garnered five Tony Awards, a prize the country had never conquered; Roman rock band Måneskin scored a Grammy nomination; and even as domestic box office plunged this year, Italian film exports mushroomed.
Massini’s five-hour play, which follows the three Lehman brothers from their arrival from Germany in New York in 1844 up to the 2008 bankruptcy of their global financial services company, prompted Sam Mendes to stage an English-language adaptation, which ultimately triumphed at the Tonys. Now a high-end TV series based on his play is being developed by producers Domenico Procacci and Lorenzo Mieli with Florian Zeller attached to direct. Procacci, speaking to Variety, praised Massini for managing “to tell so effectively a story that doesn’t have any Italian elements, since most of it takes place in the U.
Massini’s five-hour play, which follows the three Lehman brothers from their arrival from Germany in New York in 1844 up to the 2008 bankruptcy of their global financial services company, prompted Sam Mendes to stage an English-language adaptation, which ultimately triumphed at the Tonys. Now a high-end TV series based on his play is being developed by producers Domenico Procacci and Lorenzo Mieli with Florian Zeller attached to direct. Procacci, speaking to Variety, praised Massini for managing “to tell so effectively a story that doesn’t have any Italian elements, since most of it takes place in the U.
- 12/21/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Often, when embarking on the recent Variety tradition that is this feature — designed to highlight some of the year’s best yet least-Oscar-likely performances — one particular turn will emerge as the poster child. A performance that, for many reasons, really ought to have a shot at Oscar but, being in a language other than English, has little chance. This year, that slot goes to Vicky Krieps who, in Marie Kreutzer’s “Corsage,” does not so much play Empress Elisabeth of Austria (a role previously defined by Romy Schneider in the saccharine “Sissi” trilogy) as entirely reimagine and reclaim her.
Rather like with Mads Mikkelsen in Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” Krieps has the kind of stateside profile that will help “Corsage” stay in the conversation for the best international feature film Oscar shortlist. But the odds of her getting an individual best actress nod remain far slimmer — a shame, given...
Rather like with Mads Mikkelsen in Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” Krieps has the kind of stateside profile that will help “Corsage” stay in the conversation for the best international feature film Oscar shortlist. But the odds of her getting an individual best actress nod remain far slimmer — a shame, given...
- 12/16/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
“The donkey is cute, but this is not a Disney movie,” said Jonathan Sehring, the former IFC Films head whose young distribution outlet Sideshow, with Janus Films, presents Jerzy Skolimowski’s Cannes Jury Prize winning Eo at two NYC theaters this weekend. “We launched Sideshow for great movies that would otherwise get overlooked to give them the best release that they can possibly get,” he told Deadline.
Eo hits the big screen a year after the partners opened Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, tenderly leading the three hour-long Japanese film about a bereft theater director overseeing a production of Uncle Vanya through a decorated awards season expansion that garnered four Oscar nominations, a win for Best International Feature and some solid box office coin.
“It’s not something we invented. It was a very traditional platform release for, what we hoped when we acquired it, would be a critically acclaimed film.
Eo hits the big screen a year after the partners opened Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, tenderly leading the three hour-long Japanese film about a bereft theater director overseeing a production of Uncle Vanya through a decorated awards season expansion that garnered four Oscar nominations, a win for Best International Feature and some solid box office coin.
“It’s not something we invented. It was a very traditional platform release for, what we hoped when we acquired it, would be a critically acclaimed film.
- 11/18/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Fremantle bosses Jennifer Mullin and Andrea Scrosati opened up about the company’s three-year deal with Angelina Jolie at Cannes’ Mipcom.
“She had plenty of other opportunities,” said Mullin, Group CEO for the super-indie, which produces everything from “Got Talent” and “Idol” to “My Brilliant Friend” and Luca Guadagnino film “Bones and All.”
“First of all, [Jolie] is global. We are global. She has impeccable taste, she wants to tell ambitious, impactful stories. All of these notes really align with what we want to do.”
“She can tell any story she wants and we can put it anywhere in the world,” continued Mullin. “She felt that Fremantle would offer her the most flexibility and home where she can do her best work.”
The deal was signed in March. Jolie’s upcoming film “Without Blood,” based on a novel by Alessandro Baricco, was shot this summer in Rome, going into pre-production mere...
“She had plenty of other opportunities,” said Mullin, Group CEO for the super-indie, which produces everything from “Got Talent” and “Idol” to “My Brilliant Friend” and Luca Guadagnino film “Bones and All.”
“First of all, [Jolie] is global. We are global. She has impeccable taste, she wants to tell ambitious, impactful stories. All of these notes really align with what we want to do.”
“She can tell any story she wants and we can put it anywhere in the world,” continued Mullin. “She felt that Fremantle would offer her the most flexibility and home where she can do her best work.”
The deal was signed in March. Jolie’s upcoming film “Without Blood,” based on a novel by Alessandro Baricco, was shot this summer in Rome, going into pre-production mere...
- 10/18/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
First event will be staged in London next spring with Flemish initiative Connext.
The British Film Institute (BFI) is launching a quarterly initiative to bring UK producers and industry representatives together with potential international partners.
Talent from a particular country or region will be invited to screen films in the UK and participate in meetings, case studies and seminars about funding and coproduction opportunities. There will also be some public screenings.
The first event will be with Flanders and Belgian showcase Connext, and will take place in spring 2023 in London.
“It’s about developing a greater understanding of how to...
The British Film Institute (BFI) is launching a quarterly initiative to bring UK producers and industry representatives together with potential international partners.
Talent from a particular country or region will be invited to screen films in the UK and participate in meetings, case studies and seminars about funding and coproduction opportunities. There will also be some public screenings.
The first event will be with Flanders and Belgian showcase Connext, and will take place in spring 2023 in London.
“It’s about developing a greater understanding of how to...
- 10/10/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
The trailer of the upcoming drama film, ‘Eo’, directed by Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski, was unveiled recently. The film, inspired by Robert Bresson’s 1966 film ‘Au Hasard Balthazar’, follows the life of a donkey born in a Polish circus.
The film, which shared the Cannes Jury Prize with Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s ‘The Eight Mountains’, shares a vision of modern Europe through the prism of a grey donkey, Eo, who is torn away by animal activists from his beloved circus performer owner, and passed from hand to hand in the service of humans, reports ‘Variety’.
On his life’s path, Eo meets all sorts of people and experiences joy and pain, as well as disasters and unexpected bliss.
As per ‘Variety’, Skolimowski is an animal lover. He saw ‘Au Hasard Balthazar’ soon after its 1966 release. “This was the lesson I got from Bresson,” said Skolimowski, quoted by...
The film, which shared the Cannes Jury Prize with Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s ‘The Eight Mountains’, shares a vision of modern Europe through the prism of a grey donkey, Eo, who is torn away by animal activists from his beloved circus performer owner, and passed from hand to hand in the service of humans, reports ‘Variety’.
On his life’s path, Eo meets all sorts of people and experiences joy and pain, as well as disasters and unexpected bliss.
As per ‘Variety’, Skolimowski is an animal lover. He saw ‘Au Hasard Balthazar’ soon after its 1966 release. “This was the lesson I got from Bresson,” said Skolimowski, quoted by...
- 10/7/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
Watch the trailer for 84-year-old Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo, the director’s first film in seven years. The titular donkey is originally part of a traveling circus troupe (under the loving care of a young woman named Kasandra) before he’s shuttled off to a string of different owners. These subsequent caretakers oscillate between cruelty and tenderness, randomly determining the sweet donkey’s quality of life. Greatly influenced by Robert Bresson’s 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar, Eo premiered at Cannes earlier this year, where it tied for the Jury Prize with Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s The Eight Mountains. In his […]
The post Trailer Watch: Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Trailer Watch: Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 10/6/2022
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
It may officially be the year of the tiger in the Chinese Zodiac calendar, but in the world of film, it’s definitely the year of the wee donkey.
The humble equine features in films such as Searchlight’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” and even Neon’s “Triangle of Sadness,” but nowhere is this loyal beast of burden in the spotlight more than Janus Films and Sideshow’s “Eo,” from legendary Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski.
The film — which shared the Cannes Jury Prize with Félix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s “The Eight Mountains” — shares a vision of modern Europe through the prism of a gray donkey, Eo, who is torn away by animal activists from his beloved circus performer owner, and passed from hand to hand in the service of humans. On his life’s path, Eo meets all sorts of people and experiences joy and pain, as well as disasters and unexpected bliss.
The humble equine features in films such as Searchlight’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” and even Neon’s “Triangle of Sadness,” but nowhere is this loyal beast of burden in the spotlight more than Janus Films and Sideshow’s “Eo,” from legendary Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski.
The film — which shared the Cannes Jury Prize with Félix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s “The Eight Mountains” — shares a vision of modern Europe through the prism of a gray donkey, Eo, who is torn away by animal activists from his beloved circus performer owner, and passed from hand to hand in the service of humans. On his life’s path, Eo meets all sorts of people and experiences joy and pain, as well as disasters and unexpected bliss.
- 10/6/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Flanders Image, the promotional arm of the Vaf film fund of Belgium’s Flemish-speaking community, has unveiled the 80 projects selected for its annual Connext showcase, running as a hybrid event from October 10-24.
The showcase, which will hold a physical component in Antwerp from October 9-11, unfolds against the backdrop of a high-profile year for Belgian film and the cinema of its Flemish-speaking community in particular.
Lukas Dhont’s Close won Cannes Grand Prize and is now a frontrunner in the best international film category of the Oscars as Belgium’s submission; while Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch clinched Cannes Jury Prize for Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains (ex-acquo with Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo).
Rebel, the homecoming film of Bad Boys For Life directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, has also been making waves internationally after debuting Out of Competition at Cannes.
These films were all showcased at previous editions of Connext.
The showcase, which will hold a physical component in Antwerp from October 9-11, unfolds against the backdrop of a high-profile year for Belgian film and the cinema of its Flemish-speaking community in particular.
Lukas Dhont’s Close won Cannes Grand Prize and is now a frontrunner in the best international film category of the Oscars as Belgium’s submission; while Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch clinched Cannes Jury Prize for Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains (ex-acquo with Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo).
Rebel, the homecoming film of Bad Boys For Life directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, has also been making waves internationally after debuting Out of Competition at Cannes.
These films were all showcased at previous editions of Connext.
- 10/3/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
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