Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) announced the lineup for the 37th edition, which will run March 2 to 12, 2022. The festival will feature 48 world premieres and 95 U.S. premieres from 54 countries, along with tributes featuring the year’s top talent, panel discussions, and free community education and outreach programs.
The 12th annual Athena Film Festival (AFF) at Barnard College will take place as a hybrid event, running in-person from March 11 to March 13, 2022 on the Barnard campus and virtually from March 11 to March 20, 2022. The annual festival will include film screenings, in-depth conversations and panels with filmmakers and industry experts, a series of programs that support the pipeline of women creatives, and a wide variety of events focused on celebrating and amplifying the stories of bold, courageous women leaders.
Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center announced the complete lineup for the 27th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, the celebrated annual festival that exemplifies the variety and vitality of contemporary French filmmaking, taking place March 3–13 in the Walter Reade Theater in New York City.
Slamdance announced the winners of the 2022 Slamdance Film Festival with the Grand Jury prize for Narrative Features going to Hannah Ha Ha, directed by Jordan Tetewsky and Joshua Pikovsky; and the Grand Jury prize for Documentary Feature went to Forget Me Not, directed by Olivier Bernier.
The Toronto Black Film Festival (TBFF) celebrates its 10th anniversary, kicking off on February 16 with Krystin Ver Linden’s Canadian premiere of Alice, starring Emmy Award-winning actress, Keke Palmer and Grammy Award-winning rapper, Common. Inspired by the true events Alive tells the story of a woman of servitude who narrowly escapes her oppressor, to discover the surprisingly mind-bending reality that exists beyond the tree line. Then, as of 9pm EST all the films will be accessible online. The Festival will close with Paul Tom’s documentary feature, Alone, about unaccompanied minors who left their home country behind to start over in Canada in hopes to live a better life.
Ashland Independent Film Festival (AIFF) in Ashland, Oregon announced that its 21st Annual Festival, originally scheduled for April 14 – 28, will now take place virtually on their Eventive Channel from April 1 – 10. Due to the recent circumstances and news surrounding COVID-19, the organization made the decision to postpone their Live Festival to ensure the health and safety of their patrons, in addition to the community at large.
Disney+ unveiled the official trailer for Gillian Jacobs-directed documentary film More Than Robots, set to premiere at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Film Festival on March 14, 2022. On Friday, March 18, the documentary will stream exclusively on Disney+.
AFI FEST 2022 officially announced its dates and opened the call for entries. The 36th edition of AFI FEST will take place in Los Angeles, CA, on November 2-6, 2022.
South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festivals announced the full program for the 29th edition of the SXSW Film Festival set to take place in-person from March 11-20, 2022, with select films available online.
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.
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.