![ALICE AND THE MAYOR [ALICE ET LE MAIRE]](https://images.vimooz.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05110928/Alice-and-the-Mayor-1024x577.jpg)
Now in its 32nd year, the 2019 AFI European Union Film Showcase, taking place December 4 to 22 at the American Film Institute’s historic theatre in Silver Spring, MD, highlights 46 films representing all 28 EU member states. Films include award winners, regional box-office hits, debut works by up-and-coming talents and new works by leading auteurs, plus 11 of the top contenders for this year’s Academy Award® for Best International Feature Film and 10 U.S. and North American premieres.
The Personal History of David Copperfield leads the nominations for the 2019 British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs). Armando Iannucci’s fresh take on Dickens’ novel about the ups and downs in the life of its eponymous character is recognized for Best British Independent Film and Best Screenplay amongst nine other awards. Dev Patel is nominated for Best Actor, with co-stars Tilda Swinton and Hugh Laurie competing in the respective Supporting categories.
The 15th Glasgow Film Festival will open on February 20 with the UK premiere of Jonah Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s. The coming-of-age comedy-drama written and directed by Hill, stars Sunny Suljic (The Killing of a Sacred Deer), Lucas Hedges (Lady Bird) and Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them), and follows a 13-year-old boy who begins to hang out with an older group of skateboarders while living in 1990s Los Angeles. The soundtrack features an original score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross alongside original ‘90s hip-hop.
Beats, a film by Brian Welsh[/caption]
Beats, a film by Brian Welsh about an unlikely friendship set against a backdrop of illegal raves in the 90s will world premiere at the 2019 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). Beats is part of IFFR’s Limelight program, which features the cinematic highlights of the year. Emmy Award-winning fimmaker Clara van Gool’s The Beast in the Jungle and Martin de Vries’s Camino, A Feature-length Selfie also world premiere within Limelight.
Beats is a raw, black-and-white portrait of a bankrupt United Kingdom in which music and drugs are the only things of interest. In summer 1994, with rave culture on the rise in a Scottish village, teens Johnno and Spanner have a final night out together before each going their own way in life.
In addition to Beats, IFFR’s Limelight program boasts two other world premieres, both by Dutch filmmakers: The Beast in the Jungle by Clara van Gool is a poetic adaptation of Henry James’s 1903 novella with a major role for dance and movement; and Camino, a Feature-length Selfie is Martin de Vries’s account of his hike to Santiago de Compostela.
Four Limelight titles were previously supported by IFFR: A Land Imagined by Yeo Siew Hua, Rojo by Benjamín Naishtat and Rafiki by Wanuri Kahiu were supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund and Birds of Passage by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra was presented at IFFR’s CineMart.
Other confirmed Limelight titles include Gaspar Noé’s Climax, Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux, Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy as Lazzaro and Hamaguchi Ryūsuke’s Asako I & II.
All confirmed 2019 International Film Festival RotterdamLimelight titles to date
Un amour impossible/An Impossible Love, Catherine Corsini, 2018, France
Asako I & II, Hamaguchi Ryūsuke, 2018, Japan/France
Ash Is Purest White, Jia Zhangke, 2018, China/France
The Beast in the Jungle, Clara van Gool, 2019, Netherlands/Luxembourg, world premiere
Beats, Brian Welsh, 2019, UK, world premiere
Birds of Passage, Cristina Gallego/Ciro Guerra, 2018, Colombia/Denmark/Mexico
Camino, een feature-length selfie/Camino, A Feature-length Selfie, Martin de Vries, 2019, Netherlands, world premiere
Capharnaüm/Capernaum, Nadine Labaki, 2018, LebanonClimax, Gaspar Noé, 2018, France
Donbass, Sergei Loznitsa, 2018, Germany/Ukraine/France/Netherlands/Romania
A Land Imagined, Yeo Siew Hua, 2018, Singapore/France/Netherlands
Lazzaro felice/Happy as Lazzaro, Alice Rohrwacher, 2018, Italy/Switzerland/France/Germany
Leto/Summer, Kirill Serebrennikov, 2018, Russia/France
Rafiki, Wanuri Kahiu, 2018, Kenya/South AfricaRojo, Benjamín Naishtat, 2018, Argentina/Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany
Vox Lux, Brady Corbet, 2018, USA
We Are Thankful[/caption]
The Slamdance Film Festival today announced the Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition programs, as well as the lineup for its new Breakouts section, for their 25th edition, taking place January 25-31, 2019 in Park City.
The feature competition lineup boasts 18 premieres, including 10 World, 4 North American, and 4 U.S. debuts. In addition to the United States, films come to Slamdance from countries around the globe, including Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Poland, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. All competition films are feature length directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million USD, and without US distribution. Featured films were selected by a team of Slamdance alumni via a blind submission process and are programmed democratically. Films in both categories are also eligible for the Audience Award and Spirit of Slamdance Award, the latter of which is voted upon by filmmakers at the festival.
“When it comes to discovering talent, Slamdance has consistently shown that its artist led community can do it themselves,” said Slamdance Co-founder and President, Peter Baxter. “In a milestone year, our competition lineup symbolizes this ongoing endeavor. It’s full of incredible talent representing a global diversity that we believe will play a significant role in our cultural future.”
In addition, the 2019 festival will see the return of the Russo Fellowship — a $25,000 prize launched in 2018 by celebrated festival alumni Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: Civil War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Infinity War) to enable a deserving filmmaker the opportunity to continue their journey with mentorship from the filmmaking duo. Presented by AGBO Films in partnership with the festival, the inaugural fellowship was awarded to filmmaker Yassmina Karajah for her narrative short Rupture.
Also announced today is the lineup for the festival’s all-new Breakouts section. Breakouts are films by non-first-time-feature directors who demonstrate a determined vision of filmmaking that is instinctively becoming their own. These artists continue to push boundaries in genre and form, and are beacons of light that predict the future of film. Slamdance’s goal is to help daring and resilient filmmakers connect with bigger audiences and take their well-deserved place on the world cinema stage. The 2019 Breakouts feature the work of several Slamdance alumni, including Steven Soderbergh, who executive produced Beats,and Canadian filmmaker Alexandre Franchi who received the Audience Award for best Narrative Feature at the 2010 festival for The Wild Hunt.
“Our newly minted Breakouts section celebrates a group of experienced directors, including some Slamdance alumni, who are genuinely intent on taking bigger risks with their storytelling and career paths,” said Paul Rachman, Slamdance co-conspirator and Breakouts programmer. “These are films from around the world that deliver a bold vision from filmmakers with drive and intent to establish their unique cinematic voices.”
Established in 1995, Slamdance is dedicated to discovering and supporting new talents in independent filmmaking. In addition to the Russo Brothers, notable Slamdance alumni include: Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity), Bong Joon Ho (Okja), Lena Dunham (Girls), Ari Aster (Hereditary), Gina Prince-Blythewood (Shots Fired), and Sean Baker (The Florida Project).