2-D animated horror film “To Your Last Death,” starring the voice talents of Morena Baccarin, Dani Lennon, Ray Wise, Bill Moseley, and William Shatner, will premiere at the 20th anniversary celebration of London’s Frightfest, the UK’s largest international genre festival, on Friday, August 23rd, 2019.
Buddha in Africa, directed by KwaZulu-Natal-based filmmaker, Nicole Schafer, will make its South African Premier in the International Documentary Competition at the 40th Durban International Film Festival (18 to 28 July).
The Long Beach International Film Festival (LBIFF) will celebrate its eighth anniversary from July 31st through August 3rd on Long Island, and will screen an international slate of over 50 films, including feature-length narratives, documentaries, shorts and animated films that will compete for a series Festival Honors and Audience Awards.
The Wavescape Surf and Ocean Festival will feature a lineup of 19 films at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF). Wavecape will also bring Slide Night, featuring talks by ocean thought leaders on a wide range of topics – including science, sustainability, adventure and activism – to its program of films to be screened at DIFF from July 21 to 26, 2019.
The poster and trailer dropped today for Palestinian and Israeli comedy Tel Aviv on Fire, from Palestinian director Sameh Zoabi. Tel Aviv on Fire starring Kais Nashik, Lubna Azabal, Yaniv Biton, Nadim Sawalha, Maisa Abd Elhadi, Salim Daw, Yousef Sweid, Amer Hlehel, Ashraf Farah, Lattia Eido, opens on August 2nd at the Quad and Landmark 57 in New York and Laemmle Royal in LA
The 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ran June 28th to July 6th, and today the festival’s juries presented awards for the best films at the closing ceremony. The Father (Bashtata) directed by Kristina Grozeva, Petar Valchanov won the $25,000 top prize, the Grand Prix – Crystal Globe.
The 37th international Munich International Film Festival (Filmfest München) drew to a close with the presentation of awards, and “Bacurau” by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles was honored with the ARRI/Osram Award in the CineMasters competition, while Melina León’s “Song without a Name” received the CineVision Award for best international film by a new director. On Friday, the Brazilian-German co-production “The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão” received the newly created CineCoPro Award.
The August Virgin (La virgen de agosto) directed by Jonás Trueba won the prestigious FIPRESCI prize, awarded by The International Federation of Film Critics, at the 2019 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The jury commented, “The award goes to a modest, unpretentious film skillfully opening a number of issues and tackling a range of emotions while maintaining an inspiringly positive worldview.”
The new documentary, “The Other Boys of Summer,” which explores civil rights in America through the lives of the Negro Leagues baseball players, will be screened during MLB All-Star Week in Cleveland on July 6, 2019
The South Africa-meets-Bollywood Bhai’s Cafe, directed by Maynard Kraak, and described as a “poignant little gem of a film about family, love and urban gentrification” will officially close this year’s 40th Durban International Film Festival on Saturday July 27.
The Grand Prize award at the 17th annual New Zealand Mountain Film and Book Festival went to directors Alastair Lee and past festival speaker Leo Houlding for their film Spectre Expedition – To the End of the Earth. The winners of the Grand Prize award receive $1,000USD; the film was also awarded the Best Adventure Sports and Lifestyles Film.
Munich International Film Festival (Filmfest München) honored talented young filmmakers with the coveted German Cinema New Talent Award, with the award for best director going to Jan-Ole Gerster for his film “Lara” and Martin Lischke (“Leif in Concert“) received the award for best producer. Two awards went to people who worked on “I Was, I Am, I Will Be“: Nils Mohl and Ilker Çatak were honored for best screenplay, while the award for best actor went to Oğulcan Arman Uslu.