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.
Sight and Sound, the BFI’s international film magazine, named Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II the Best Film of the Year. Hogg’s glorious follow up to The Souvenir (2019) stars Honor Swinton Byrne, alongside Richard Ayoade, Tilda Swinton, Jaygann Ayeh and Harris Dickinson in this semi-autobiographical portrait of the birth of a filmmaker. This is the second time Joanna Hogg has topped the Sight and Sound annual poll, following The Souvenir coming in first place in 2019 and the first time a woman has topped the Sight and Sound poll twice. This is the third year in a row where the poll has been topped by a British film.
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.
The nominations were announced today for the 31st Annual Gotham Awards, singling out 29 feature films, 16 series, and 32 performances for recognition in twelve award categories.
AFI FEST unveiled the full lineup for this year’s festival including Parallel Mothers, written and directed by Academy Award® winner Pedro Almodóvar, which will screen as a Red Carpet Premiere at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre on Saturday, November 13.
Here is the official trailer for What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?, the Georgian romance drama having its North American premiere this weekend at the 59th New York Film Festival. The film, directed by Alexandre Koberidze, received its World Premiere at the 2021 Berlinale, where it won the FIPRESCI prize. What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? opens theatrically in NY on November 12 at Film at Lincoln Center and Metrograph, and will expand nationwide.
The 57th Chicago International Film Festival running October 13 – 24, 2021 announced the new directors and international feature competitions lineup showcasing films from countries around the world, including Colombia, Jordan, France, South Africa, Cambodia, the Faroe Islands, Germany, and more. This year’s competitions will include the World Premiere of Babushkas of Chernobyl director Holly Morris’ documentary Exposure and the International Premiere of Franziska Stünkel’s The Last Execution.