Lee Won-tae’s The Devil’s Deal, Paul Andrew Williams’ Bull, Vincent Grashaw’s What Josiah Saw, Masashi Ando and Masayuki Miyaji’s The Deer King, Rob Jabbaz’s The Sadness, and Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s The Deep House are among the new feature films added to the lineup of the 25th edition of Fantasia International Film Festival.
The Nashville Film Festival (NashFilm) returns for its 52nd edition with a week-long celebration of film, music and culture in central Nashville from September 30 through October 6, 2021.
Stony Brook Film Festival, now in its 26th year, kicks off on Thursday, July 22 with the world premiere of The 5th Man, a documentary on Paul Limmer, a former track coach at Bellmore’s Mepham High School. During his 50-year career there, Limmer racked up hundreds of wins, though director Trey Nelson focuses on the story of all the other kids – the ones who never felt “seen” – until Paul Limmer came into their lives.
The 2021 Locarno Film Festival will premiere the psychological thriller She Will, a powerful debut by Franco-British director Charlotte Colbert, along with the World Premiere of Sto minut iz zhizni Ivana Denisovicha (100 Minutes) by Russian director Gleb Panfilov, who already won a Golden Leopard in 1969.
The Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) will return to using indoor venues in Woodstock, Kingston and Saugerties for its upcoming 22nd anniversary slated for September 30 – October 3, 2021. Tom Quinn, CEO and Founder of the groundbreaking film distribution company NEON, will be the recipient of the Woodstock Film Festival’s 2021 Honorary Trailblazer Award.
The feature-film adaptation of the Tony Award–winning musical Dear Evan Hansen is the Opening Night Gala Presentation at the 46th Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, Dear Evan Hansen is the story of a high-school senior with a debilitating anxiety disorder whose private letter to himself as part of a therapy exercise lands in the hands of a fellow classmate, with tragic consequences. The incident propels Evan on a journey of self-discovery that leads him toward belonging and acceptance, not only among the people who love him, but also by Evan himself. Starring Tony winner Ben Platt as Evan, along with Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, and Nik Dodani, Dear Evan Hansen features songs from the original Broadway sensation.
Ryoo Seung-wan’s tense action thriller Escape from Mogadishu, starring Kim Yoon-seok (NYAFF Star Asia winner 2018) and Zo In-sung will kick off 20th edition of New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) at Film at Lincoln Center on August 6. The dramatic film is based on real events that took place in 1991 at the onset of the Somali Civil War, and depicts the perilous escape attempted by North and South Korean embassy workers who were stranded in the title city during the conflict. (Well Go USA is releasing the film in the United States and Canada.)
Acclaimed filmmakers including Laurent Cantet, Terence Davies, Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Claudia Llosa and Claire Simon will compete in the Official Selection at 69th edition of San Sebastian Festival running from September 17-25, 2021. Inés Barrionuevo will show her fourth feature film, while Alina Grigore, Zhang Ji and Tea Lindeburg will also present their first films.
The animated film Doom Cruise directed by Hannah Stragholz and Simon Steinhorst walked away €20,000 and the Saxon State Minister Promotion Prize in the National Competition at the 33rd Filmfest Dresden short film festival in in Dresden, Germany. In the hand-colored film a cruise ship is sailing to its demise as a metaphor to current societal themes.
Parallel Mothers (Madres paralelas) directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Penélope Cruz, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, along with Julieta Serrano and Rossy De Palma is the Opening Film, in Competition, of the 78th Venice International Film Festival (September 1 – 11 2021).
Julia Ducournau won the Palme d’Or for her film Titane at Cannes Film Festival, becoming only the second female director to win the top prize at the festival. In the film starring Agathe Rousselle, Vincent Lindon, Garance Marillier and Laïs Salameh, following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years.
