European Film Academy will honor Elia Suleiman with the European Achievement in World Cinema Award for his impressive dedication to cinema at the 35th European Film Awards Ceremony in Reykjavik. He is the first Palestinian director to win the European Achievement in World Cinema Award.
The 31st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will screen 188 films from 81 countries, opening with An Almost Ordinary Summer, directed by Simone Godano, on Friday, January 3, and close with Military Wives, directed by Peter Cattaneo on Sunday, January 12.
Elia Suleiman’s IT MUST BE HEAVEN was named Best Film at the CineCina Film Festival – THE ROAD, the first edition of its world cinema film festival. At the filmmaker award ceremony Yuri Bykov won Best Director for his work on THE FACTORY, and Na Renhua won for Best Performance for her work in A DOG BARKING AT THE MOON.
Ninety-three countries have submitted films for consideration in the International Feature Film category for the 92nd Academy Awards®. An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (more than 40 minutes) produced outside the United States with a predominantly non-English dialogue track. Ghana, Nigeria and Uzbekistan are first-time entrants.
Destin Daniel Cretton’s JUST MERCY will open the 28th Philadelphia Film Festival on October 17. This heartrending and inspirational film tells the story of author and social justice activist, Bryan Stevenson, played by acclaimed actor Michael B. Jordan of FRUITVALE STATION, CREED, and BLACK PANTHER fame. Additional Opening Night titles include PARASITE, opening Masters of Cinema; CUNNINGHAM, opening Spotlights; COME AS YOU ARE, opening Made in the USA; BIKRAM: YOGI, GURU, opening Non/Fiction; and THE LODGE opening After Hours.
Elia Suleiman’s whimsical, yet thoughtful film IT MUST BE HEAVEN – the Palestinian 2020 Oscar submission, will open the 2019 CineCina Film Festival on Friday, October 25 at the DGA New York Theater. The film features the beloved filmmaker observing the goings on around him in Nazareth, Paris and France. Through his eyes, we see moments, and fragments of life and human interaction that can surprise and delight one moment, and be very familiar the next.
The Brazilian mystery-thriller THE FATHER’S SHADOW (A SOMBRA DO PAI) by Gabriela Amaral Almeida will open the 32nd edition of exground filmfest in Wiesbaden, Germany. The festival will be hosting the German premiere of the film, which also serves as the kick-off for this year’s Country Focus on Brazil.
The Santa Fe Independent Film Festival (SFiFF) revealed the first 10 titles that will be featured on the 2019 lineup. Films announced include I Was At Home, But… directed by Angela Schanelec – winner of the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival; It Must Be Heaven directed by Elia Suleiman – Palestine’s submission to the 2019 Academy Awards, and The Whistlers directed by Corneliu Porumboiu – Romanian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.
For 12 days from October 2 to 13, the 63rd BFI London Film Festival (LFF) will showcase 229 feature films including 41 documentaries, 7 animations, 13 archive restorations and 7 artists’ moving image features. The program also includes 116 short films.
Elia Suleiman’s new comedy film, It Must Be Heaven, which won FIPRESCI prize of the international film critics for Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival has been selected by Palestine as the country’s submission in the Best International Feature category at the 92nd Academy Awards.
The European Film Academy announced the 46 films on this year’s EFA Feature Film Selection, the list of feature-length fiction films recommended for a nomination for the European Film Awards 2019. With 31 European countries represented, the list illustrates the great diversity in European cinema.
11 films set in Asia, Europe, North America, and Central America will comprise the 2019 Masters program of the Toronto International Film Festival. The Masters lineup has titles that run the gamut, from dramatic true stories to dark comedies, from a black-and-white narrative to a documentary film, with a healthy dose of introspection and socio-political commentary throughout. The slate will bring two World Premieres to Toronto.