Category: European film industry

(Photo credit: Ildi Hermann)

The National Film Institute – Hungary supported the pre-production of The Orphan / Az árva, the third feature film by László Nemes.

László Nemes’ first feature film Son of Saul / Saul fia became a worldwide miracle winning many eminent awards, including the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award in 2016.

His self-titled feature Sunset / Napszállta debuted in the main competition of the Venice Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI Award.

Nemes is working with the team behind his earlier works. He again shares writer’s credit with Clara Royer, and the producers are Gábor Sipos, Gábor Rajna, and Judit Stalter representing Laokoon Film group.

The filmmakers are currently casting the role of a boy aged between 11 and 13. The producers will plan to release more information about the production in March 2021.

The internationally acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar was the winner at Saturday in Goya Awards with his semi-autobiographical film Pain and Glory, taking home seven of the 16 prizes it was nominated for.

Pain and Glory won the desired prize for Best Film at the 34th edition of the Goya Awards, the Spanish movie industry’s equivalent of the Oscars. Almodóvar was named Best Director, Antonio Banderas Best Lead Actor, and Julieta Serrano Best Supporting Actress. The movie also won the Goya for Best Musical Score and Best Original Script.

 Undoubtedly, the entire ceremony, which was held at the Martín Carpena sports arena in Málaga, was something of a tribute to Almodóvar. Actors Penélope Cruz and Ángela Molina, who has appeared regularly in Almodóvar’s films, awarded the filmmaker with the Goya for Best Director.

This year marked the first time Banderas had won a competitive Goya – he received an honorary award in 2015 – after being nominated on five occasions. The actor was visibly emotional as he accepted the award, and was given a standing ovation from the more than 3,200-strong audience, the largest number in the history of the Goya Awards.

Almodóvar used his acceptance speech to send a message to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of the Socialist Party (PSOE), “In the next four years, you are going to be the co-author of a script” of all Spaniards, said the director. “I hope things go well for you because that way things will go well for the rest of us.”

Pain and Glory are also nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best International Feature Film. On the red carpet on Saturday, Almodóvar let slip that Penélope Cruz will be co-presenting the statuette at the Academy Awards. Cruz and Banderas presented Almodóvar with an Oscar in 1999 for his film All About My Mother.

(Photograph credit: Sandra Myhrberg/Deadine)

Swedish actress Noomi Rapace (pictured) will next be seen in Ali Abbasi’s new “Hamlet” adaptation. Abbasi made a breakthrough with his minor horror hit “Shelly” but got to be a bigger name thanks to “Border” which met with great acclaim.

Certainly an original voice, but his comment on the film can be a little controversial given his edgy tone: “Shakespeare stole the Hamlet story from us. Now it’s our turn to claim it back and make a version so insane and so bloody that makes him turn in his grave.

Let’s make Hamlet great again!” Iranian-Swedish director actually gives Rapace the role of Hamlet. The gender-swap idea is interesting for the story and it’ll be written by “The Northman” scriptwriter which is in turn also loosely based on the origins of Hamlet.

In other news, those who love Danish auteur Lars Von Trier can be happy that he’s doing something. Not a movie this time;

The Kingdom by Von Trier, the TV show set on the neurosurgical ward of a Copenhagen hospital that ran for two seasons in the 1990s, is to return for a third and final five-episode run that will shoot in 2021.

Some of his modern fans may not be aware of the series but it was a cult show and seems he decided to follow the steps of “Twin Peaks” and bring it back. Filmiere.com will keep you updated about the cinema news from Scandinavia, just like we do from all around the world.

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(Photograph credit: TIFF)

Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round”, which reunites him with his beloved star Mads Mikkelsen swept the European Film Awards, reports Filmiere.com.

The movie has won four awards including the top prize (Best European Film) as well as Best Actor, Best Writing, and Director.

When accepting the top award, Vinterberg said, “None of my films ever could ever have been made without the support systems of my country and of European filmmaking in general.

My first film was about child abuse, my second one about the same and now we’ve made a film about four heterosexual white males teaching youngsters to drink. It could never have been possible outside of this continent and I’m super proud to be awarded in this continent.”

Meanwhile, Paula Beer won the Best Actress award for her performance in “Undine”. “Collective” won the award for best documentary, and “The Big Hit” was chosen as the comedy of the year. The innovative story-telling award went to Mark Cousins’ “Women Make Film:

A New Road Movie Through Cinema”. Overall many films had been awarded but “Another Round” is the one that won the hearts of European Film Academy members the most obviously. Even though it has no big effect on the Academy Award race, but it shows that there’s a passion for “Another Round”.

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(Photograph credit: 20^th Century Fox)

“Rest in peace beloved mother. Now you can fly free with your great spirit and you won’t have to suffer anymore. I will try to go on for your beloved grandchildren and especially for you who would never want to see me so grieved.

Even if without you I miss the ground under my feet, and I feel I have lost my only true point of reference. I am close to all those who have known and loved you. I will always be your Aria, Daria”.

This is what Italian actress Asia Argento, daughter of Dario Argento and Daria Nicolodi posted on her Instagram after her beloved mother’s death, Filmiere.com reports. Nicolodi was known for many things but most importantly she was a great collaborator to her husband Dario Argento.

She actually co-wrote a horror masterpiece “Suspiria” and also starred in “Inferno”, another great mark in Argento’s filmography and overall Italian horror cinema history.

Although her relationship with Argento ended in 1985, she went on to star with Asia in his “The Mother of Tears,” the final installment of his supernatural horror trilogy “The Three Mothers.” Many international filmmakers such as Edgar Wright and William Friedkin honored her work. May she rest in peace.

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(Photograph credit: 01 Distribution)

The news from Italy comes a bit of a twist, Filmiere.com can claim because while of course, those two categories are not necessarily related but Italy was expected to send “Life Ahead” to the Oscars because of the buzz surrounding legendary actress Sophia Loren’s final performance.

Instead, they went with a Venice-premiered documentary. Shot over the course of three years between Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, and Lebanon, “Notturno” follows different people from near war zones in the Middle East, trying to start again with their everyday lives and features a lot of cruel scenes.

Director was previously representing Italy at the Oscars in 2017 with “Fire at Sea” which didn’t get nominated. We’ll see if this one will have a different result.

Italy has a strong history in the international feature category, winning honourary prizes for its first three entries before it became a competitive section, including for Vittorio De Sica’s The Bicycle Thief in 1950.

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(Photograph credit: “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon” cover)

Scottish auteur Lynne Ramsay has made four feature films in total and she’s got rave reviews for all of them, including a Cannes win for her most recent “You Were Never Really Here”. Her “We Need to Talk About Kevin” gains more popularity year after year as well.

Her previous two feature films are beloved by cinephiles. Despite being an all-around acclaimed filmmaker, Ramsay hasn’t been prolific in movies that much but she’s back now. To handle a Stephen King adaptation! More interestingly, it’s produced by George Romero’s former wife.

Filmiere.com shares the official synopsis of the acclaimed novel with you: “On a six-mile hike on the Maine-New Hampshire branch of the Appalachian Trail, nine-year-old Trisha McFarland quickly tires of the constant bickering between her older brother, Pete, and she recently divorced mother.

But when she wanders off by herself and then tries to catch up by attempting a shortcut, she becomes lost in a wilderness maze full of peril and terror. As night falls, Trisha has only her ingenuity as a defense against the elements, and only her courage and faith to withstand her mounting fears.

For solace, she tunes her Walkman to broadcasts of Boston Red Sox baseball games and follows the gritty performances of her hero, relief pitcher Tom Gordon.

And when her radio’s reception begins to fade, Trisha imagines that Tom Gordon is with her – protecting her from an all-too-real enemy who has left a trail of slaughtered animals and mangled trees in the dense, dark woods…” If you haven’t read the book, you can imagine that it sounds King enough and probably Ramsay will do wonders with the material.

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(Photograph credit: The Playlist)

The next Claire Denis’s movie is with Vincent Lindon and Juliette Binoche, both previous collaborators. French auteur is seeming can’t work in Central America for obvious reasons but she’s not staying without work.

She had to make “Stars at Noon” with Robert Pattinson and Margaret Qualley but the project got delayed because of a pandemic, Filmiere.com reports. However, she seems to have a new film on working in France which may be ready for next year’s Cannes edition.

The plot details and almost anything else is under wraps right now. Many sites waited on the project before reporting, which has now come in courtesy of a benefit auction listing.

Denis has just made her biggest production in “High Rise” and her films are usually acclaimed. It’s interesting what she will do with the new film. We’ll keep you updated.

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(Photograph credit: Venice Film Festival)

Iranian director Majid Majidi has made some of the most impressive and emotionally stirring films in world cinema about the plight of underprivileged, exploited, and abused young people, and became one of Iran’s most celebrated filmmakers.

“Sun Children” or “Khorshid” got strong reviews in its Venice film festival premiere. Now Iran picks it up for their Oscar submission. Majidi represents his country for an impressive sixth time in the international feature category.

His first, Children Of Heaven, received one of only three nominations from 25 previous submissions in 1999. While Iran’s main successes came from Ashgar Farhadi films, still Majidi is a big name that can make a return to the category again.

The official plot is “12-year-old Ali and his three friends who are entrusted to find treasure underground, as they attempt to support their families” Filmiere.com will keep sharing news on world cinema and award season.

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(Photograph credit: Empire magazine)

Abel Ferrara had always been one of the most unpredictable and imaginative, yet intellectual and wild names of American independent cinema but he’s more of a European auteur now; given he spends most of his time in Europe, making movies there, and working with European stars from Juliette Binoche to Gerard Depardieu.

Then, of course, his frequent collaborator Willem Dafoe. Now he’s going to work with Abel Ferrara, Filmiere.com reports.

Who knows if they’ve met through Dafoe since Hawke is currently filming “The Northman” for Robert Eggers with Dafoe and recently collaborated with Paul Schrader, another one of Dafoe’s frequent directors on “First Reformed”.

As for the new film, it’s more ambitious in comparison. “Zeros And Ones is a film of lockdown and war, danger and espionage, American soldiers, Chinese middlemen, Mid Eastern holy men, provocateurs, diplomats, rogue elements of the CIA and KGB,” said Ferrara.

“I cannot wait to roll the cameras next week in a way that is safe because this film was written during and with an understanding of the pandemic.” All these sounds are certainly interesting and intriguing. Hopefully, this project will come alive.

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