Rebecca Hall’s Passing was awarded the honor of Best Movie About Women at the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC), 2021 awards, along with Best Screen Couple for Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson. The film based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 book, Passing, stars Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson as two light-skinned Black women, one of whom passes for white.
Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, and Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II took the top spots among films released in 2021 on Film Comment’s annual end-of-year survey. Of the films that screened at festivals worldwide but have not announced stateside distribution, Claire Simon’s I Want To Talk About Duras, Ted Fendt’s Outside Noise, and Kyoshi Sugita’s Haruhara-san’s Recorder received the top rankings.
The 2021 AFI European Union Film Showcase, taking place December 1–19 at the American Film Institute’s historic theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland will highlight 53 films representing all 27 EU member states, including 11 of the top contenders for this year’s Academy Award® for Best International Feature Film.
IFC Films released the official trailer for Benedetta, the drama directed by Paul Verhoeven based on the true story of Benedetta Carlini, a 17th-century nun in Tuscany who believed she saw visions of Christ and engaged in a lesbian affair with a fellow sister.
Eleven films will compete for the XV RTVE-Otra Mirada Award at the 69th edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival, running from September 17 to 25. The award is given to feature films on subjects close to the world of women; directed, starring or written by women; or also by men whose films show particular sensitivity towards the world of women.
The Perlak program of the 69th edition of San Sebastian Festival will showcase a total of 15 films from filmmakers like Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Todd Haynes, François Ozon and Paul Verhoeven, joined by important contemporary filmmakers, such as the last Golden Palm-winner Julia Ducournau, Céline Sciamma, Sean Baker and Joachim Lafosse. The writer Emmanuel Carrère will present her second fiction as a director, while the debuts by Shipei Wen and Charlotte Gainsbourg will also screen.
IFC Films acquired the erotic thriller Benedetta, directed by Paul Verhoeven. Verhoeven’s first directorial effort since his 2016 film Elle, Benedetta entangles sexuality, religion, and human ambition in its story of a young novitiate in 17th century Italy who begins an affair with another nun. IFC Films plans to release the film this year.
