International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) announced the competition award winners for its 51st edition with the Tiger Award going to EAMI by Paraguayan filmmaker Paz Encina. Paraguayan director Paz Encina travelled to Chaco for this film. She immersed herself in Ayoreo-Totobiegosode mythology, and listened to heartrending stories about how the people are being chased off their land. Based on the knowledge she acquired, she made a dreamy, magic-realist film about a little girl called Eami.
IFC Films released the official trailer for Huda’s Salon, Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad’s political thriller which premiered at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival. The film starring Maisa Abd Elhadi, Manal Awad and Ali Suliman explores a dangerous clash between two women struggling to cope with life under occupation.
Focus Features acquired Brian and Charles, the Sundance breakout film directed by Jim Archer (who also directed the original short film). It stars David Earl, Chris Hayward, Louise Brealey, James Michie and Nina Sosanya. This marks Archer’s feature directorial debut after cutting his teeth shooting comedy sketches with friends before writing and directing several short films culminating in winning gold at the Young Director Awards in Cannes for the short film version of Brian and Charles.
Showtime acquired Nothing Compares directed by Kathryn Ferguson (Taking the Waters, Space to Be), the documentary charting Sinéad O’Connor’s phenomenal rise to worldwide fame and examines how she used her voice at the height of her stardom before her iconoclastic personality led to her exile from the pop mainstream. Focusing on Sinéad’s prophetic words and deeds from 1987 to 1993, the film presents an authored, richly cinematic portrait of this fearless trailblazer through a contemporary feminist lens.
Following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, Bleecker Street acquired Abi Damaris Corbin’s (The Suitcase) debut feature 892 starring John Boyega (Star Wars, Attack the Block), the late Michael Kenneth Williams in his final film role (“The Wire”, 12 Years a Slave), Nicole Beharie (Shame, 42), Connie Britton (Promising Young Woman, “Friday Night Lights”), Olivia Washington (Lee Daniels’ The Butler, The Little Things), Selenis Leyva (Spider-Man: Homecoming, “Orange Is the New Black”), London Covington (Hunters) and Jeffrey Donovan (“Burn Notice”, Changeling).
Now in its eighth year, the Nitehawk Shorts Festival taking place from March 2-6, will feature over 60 short films, with filmmakers in attendance for Q&As, including many based in New York City. Continuing its mission to represent diverse backgrounds, voices, and perspectives with our selection of exceptional short-form films, female-directed films make up a majority of this year’s festival program.
Inspired by David Blight’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography, “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom” and executive produced by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the HBO documentary Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches brings to life the words of our country’s most famous anti-slavery activist.
Here is the official trailer for Marvelous and the Black Hole, the coming-of-age comedy starring Rhea Perlman and Miya Cech, that premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Also starring in the film are Leonard Nam, Paulina Lulu, Kannon Omachi, Jae Suh Park and Jonathan Salvin.
Film at Lincoln Center and Cinema Tropical announce the seventh edition of Neighboring Scenes, the annual wide-ranging showcase of contemporary Latin American cinema featuring established auteurs as well as fresh talent from the international festival scene, February 24–28.
Miami Film Festival presents its 39th annual edition from March 4-13, 2022 in a hybrid format, with both in-theater and virtual presentations. The 2022 Festival will showcase more than 120 feature narratives, documentaries, and short films of all genres, from more than 35 countries worldwide.
A24 released the official trailer for After Yang, the critically-acclaimed sci-fi drama from visionary filmmaker Kogonada, starring Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, and Haley Lu Richardson.
