Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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“Festivals Should Reflect Their Community”: Eric Allen Hatch on New/Next Film Festival’s Inaugural Edition
In November 2022, the Maryland Film Festival announced it would stop public-facing operations the following year, including the following year’s edition of the festival and new and repertory screenings at Baltimore’s Parkway Theater, in order to “prioritize a planning process to develop a new business model and plan that will chart the future trajectory of the organization.” Barely six months later, the New/Next Film Festival was announced, running from August 18 to 20 in the festival’s previous home, The Charles Theater, just a few blocks south of the Parkway. Leading the charge, or at the very least facilitating it, is […]
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Sundance Directors Lab 2023 Diary: Walter Thompson-Hernández
This week Filmmaker is publishing three diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2023 Sundance Directors Lab. We’ve already published writer-director Dania Bdeir’s as well as director-writer-producer Masami Kawai‘s. Next up is writer-director Walter Thompson-Hernández, who traveled to the Lab with If I Go Will They Miss Me. (He’s also a Filmmaker 2022 25 New Face.) Here’s the description: “Twelve-year-old Lil Ant begins to see mysterious figures — eerie men with their arms spread like wings — around his home. When his father, Big Ant, realizes his son sees these “airplane people” too, their family history emerges and reveals deeper meaning and […]
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Rockaway Film Festival Unveils 2023 Lineup
The Rockaway Film Festival announces today the full lineup for its sixth annual edition, to take place between August 19-27. The 2023 program features premieres, repertory screenings and live performances amid the sand and sea at Rockaway Beach. Screenings will be held at the festival’s flagship outdoor theater Arverne Cinema, which was constructed using pieces from the boardwalk that were destroyed during Hurricane Sandy. The opening night selection is Walt Disney’s Fantasia, with shorts by “cine-magician” Oskar Fischinger preceding the film. Other highlights of the festival include the New York premiere of Luke Lorentzen’s A Still Small Voice, which won […]
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TIFF Reveals 2023 Midnight Madness and Discovery Lineups
TIFF announces the lineups for its 2023 Midnight Madness and Discovery programs today, following documentary, Platform, as well as gala and special presentation titles. 10 films make up the Midnight Madness roster this year, featuring seven world premieres. Larry Charles’s Dicks: The Musical will serve as the opening night film, while Weston Razooli’s Riddle of Fire, which we covered out of Cannes, will close out the program. This year’s Discovery slate is comprised of 26 films, 23 of which are world premieres, across 25 different countries. The opening night Discovery title will be actress Patricia Arquette’s directorial debut Gonzo Girl. […]
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TIFF Reveals 2023 Platform Lineup and Jury
Having already announced documentary as well as gala and special presentation lineups, TIFF now unveils 10 world premiering films selected for this year’s Platform program. The 2023 Platform jury is also revealed today, consisting of of Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins, Cannes Jury Prize-winning director, writer, and actor Nadine Labaki and Anthony Shim, whose 2022 film Riceboy Sleeps won the Platform Prize last year. The Platform Prize—consisting of $20,000 CAD—is given to the best film as selected by the jury. Notable past recipients of the Platform Prize also include Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon (2021), Kamila Andini’s Yuni (2021), Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal (2019), Alice Winocour’s Proxima (2019), […]
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Sundance Directors Lab 2023 Diary: Masami Kawai
This week Filmmaker is publishing three diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2023 Sundance Directors Lab. We’ve already published writer-director Dania Bdeir‘s, and next up is director-writer-producer Masami Kawai, who traveled to the Lab with Valley of the Tall Grass. Here’s the description: “A TV/VCR combo set is thrown out, but it survives and circulates through the lives of various working class Indigenous characters of color in an Oregon town. They find forgotten memories, love, and connection through this seemingly obsolete object.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor My project Valley […]
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Sundance Directors Lab 2023 Diary: Dania Bdeir
This week Filmmaker is publishing three diaries from writers and directors who attended the 2023 Sundance Directors Lab. First up is writer/director Dania Bdeir, who traveled to the Lab with Pigeon Wars, a Lebanon-Canada-France production co-written by Bane Fakih. Here’s the description: “In the gritty world of Beirut’s pigeon wars, a relentless young woman and a dutiful young man form an unlikely alliance, challenging societal norms and political tensions while seeking redemption and self-discovery.” A complete list of Sundance Labs participants can be found here. — Editor Tuesday 30th: So many more people this time around (as opposed to January’s […]
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Deauville American Film Festival Reveals 2023 U.S. Indie Competition Titles
Today, the Deauville American Film Festival in France reveals the 14 U.S. independent films selected for competition at the festival’s 49th edition, to take place September 1-10. This year, French actor, director and producer Guillaume Canet will preside over the main competition jury, which also includes filmmakers Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Alexandre Aja and Léa Mysius and actress Rebecca Marder. We’ve covered several titles in this year’s lineup on the Filmmaker site: Vadim Rizov positively reviewed Babak Jalali’s Fremont out of Sundance, Scott Macaulay recommended Joanna Arnow’s The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed and Shane Atkinson’s LaRoy […]
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IDA Interim Executive Director Ken Ikeda Releases Letter on Documentary Workers United’s Two-Year Contract Ratification
Months of negotiations came to an end on Friday, July 21 when the Documentary Workers United (DWU) unanimously voted to ratify a two-year contract with the International Documentary Association (IDA), a non-profit that provides grants and general support to documentarians and the broader non-fiction film sector. “Our contract, our union, and our victorious ratification is a labor of love and care that would not have been possible without the continuous work of IDA workers, past and present,” DWU, which is part of the Communications Workers of America local 9003, said in a Twitter thread last week. Several changes ratified in […]
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Michael Mann’s Ferrari Announced as the 61st New York Film Festival’s Closing Night Film
Today, Film at Lincoln Center reveals that the 61st New York Film Festival’s Closing Night film will be Michael Mann‘s Ferrari. Starring Adam Driver as Enzo Ferarri and Penélope Cruz as his wife Laura, the film will have its North American premiere at this year’s NYFF, which runs from September 29 through October 15. A synopsis provided by a FLC press release reads: Michael Mann (Heat, The Last of the Mohicans, The Insider) brings his astonishing command of technique and storytelling to bear on this emotional, elegantly crafted dramatization of the life of the legendary race car manufacturer and entrepreneur Enzo […]
