Fantastic Fest 2019 announced its second wave of programming, and writer-director Rian Johnson’s hotly anticipated new mystery KNIVES OUT as closing night film. A tribute to the work of Agatha Christie, KNIVES OUT stars Daniel Craig as debonair Detective Benoit Blanc, sent to investigate the death of a renowned crime novelist played by Christopher Plummer.
This year’s Main Slate of the 57th New York Film Festival, September 27 – October 13, showcases 29 films from 17 different countries. Nine films in the festival were honored at Cannes, including Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or–winner Parasite; Grand Prix–winner Atlantics: A Ghost Love Story, directed by Mati Diop, an alum of annual FLC series Art of the Real and winner of the 2016 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist award; Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, NYFF’s Film Comment Presents selection and winner of both the Queer Palm and the Best Screenplay prize; Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory, awarded Best Actor for Antonio Banderas; Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Jury Prize–winner Bacurau; Young Ahmed, which brought home the Best Director prize for Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne; and three Un Certain Regard winners, including Oliver Laxe’s Jury Prize–winner Fire Will Come, Albert Serra’s Special Jury Prize–winner Liberté, and Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole, which collected the Best Director prize. Top prize winners from the Berlinale will also appear in the Main Slate: Nadav Lapid’s Golden Bear–winner Synonyms and Angela Schanelec’s I Was at Home, But…, which won the Silver Bear for Best Director.
Films directed by Taika Waititi, Marielle Heller, James Mangold, Rian Johnson, Marjane Satrapi, John Crowley, Alejandro Amenábar, Thom Zimny & Bruce Springsteen, Atom Egoyan, Chinonye Chukwu, Kasi Lemmons, Noah Baumbach, Craig Brewer, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Destin Daniel Cretton, Michael Winterbottom, Armando Iannucci, Steven Soderbergh, Todd Phillips, Lorene Scafaria, Fernando Meirelles, and Roger Michell are among the first round of titles selected for the Gala and Special Presentations programs at the 44th Toronto International Film Festival. This first batch of films from the 2019 Official Selection features 18 Galas and 38 Special Presentations.
The official program of the 72nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival was announced this week, along with tributes – the Leopard Club Award for Hilary Swank, the Vision Award Ticinomoda for Claire Atherton, the Premio Utopia for Enrico Ghezzi and the Premio Cinema Ticino for Fulvio Bernasconi.
Parasite by Bong Joon Ho which won the Golden Palm in Cannes, Les Misérables, the first feature film by Ladj Ly and Amazing Grace, the Aretha Franklin gospel concert documentary, are among eight films that will compete for the City of Donostia / San Sebastian Audience Award decided by the audience at the 2019 San Sebastian International Film Festival.
This year, Munich Film Festival will recognize the work of Danish documentary filmmaker Mads Brügger and world-renowned Cannes 2019 Palme d’Or winner South Korean writer-director Bong Joon-ho with two separate retrospectives. The two filmmakers will be bringing along their latest work: both Brügger’s true crime documentary “Cold Case Hammarskjöld” and Bong’s celebrated Cannes winner “Parasite” will have their German premiere in the CineMasters competition.
The South Korean film Parasite directed by Bong Joon-Ho won the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. The film is described as “A family tragicomedy depicting the inevitable collision that ensues when Ki-woo, the eldest son in a family of four unemployed adults, is introduced to the wealthy Park family for a well-paid tutoring job.” Bong Joon-Ho who is best known for his earlier films Okja and Snowpiercer is the first Korean director to win the top award at Cannes Film Festival.
The Official Selection of the 72nd Cannes Film Festival was unveiled this morning at the annual press conference. In addition to opening night film – Jim Jamusch’s The Dead Don’t Die, the competition lineup includes new releases from Pedro Almodóvar, Xavier Dolan, Ken Loach, and Terrence Malick. Films premiering out of competition include Nicolas Winding Refn’s Too Old to Die Young – North of Hollywood, West of Hell.