Ventriloquist demons go viral in Talk To Me, the feature film debut of twin brothers and co-directors Danny and Michael Philippou. While the A24 horror venture marks their first official foray into feature filmmaking, the duo have been uploading action-packed videos onto their YouTube channel, RackaRacka, since 2013. Unlike Kyle Edward Ball, another YouTuber-turned-filmmaker whose chilling feature debut Skinamarink released earlier this year, the Philippou’s prior output wasn’t necessarily horror-focused. To date, their channel is mostly comprised of stunts, comedy sketches, satirical vlogs and prank videos. This decade-spanning commitment to making content is likely what primed the brothers to helm Talk […]
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 […]
Neither Barbie production designer Sarah Greenwood nor set decorator Katie Spencer had Barbie dolls growing up. “Or a DreamHouse, or anything,” recalls Greenwood, who joined Filmmaker on Zoom alongside Spencer following the record-breaking opening of Greta Gerwig’s feminist smash hit. “I was probably a little judgmental about Barbie until this film — I fell into that camp. But I kind of readdressed my thoughts after meeting this Barbie, and [its creator] Ruth Handler.” Spencer adds, “And [after] meeting Greta. We were a part of the backlash generation. Even if we wanted a Barbie, I don’t know that our parents would have […]
On Monday, TIFF announced the gala and special presentation titles for this year’s festival, which runs from September 7 through 17. Now the documentary slate has been revealed, which includes 93-year-old veteran filmmaker Frederick Wiseman’s French restaurant doc Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros, Errol Morris’s John le Carré exploration The Pigeon Tunnel, Roger Ross Williams’s anti-blackness investigation Stamped From the Beginning, co-directors Caroline Suh and Cara Mones’s Louis C.K. takedown Sorry/Not Sorry, Pierre-Henri Gibert’s Agnès Varda tribute Viva Varda! and more. TIFF’s opening night doc film will be Copa 71, Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s film about an international women’s soccer tournament […]
After TIFF’s first wave lineup announcement yesterday, the lineup now arrives for the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival, which will take place from August 30 through September 9. Last week, it was revealed that Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers would be pulled from the festival due to talent (namely Zendaya) being unable to attend due SAG-AFTRA strike rules. Originally programmed as the festival’s opening night selection, Edoardo de Angelis’s Comandante will now kick off the fest. At a glance, lineup highlights include new films from Pablo Larraín, Rysusuke Hamaguchi, Michael Mann, David Fincher, Ava DuVernay, Sofia Coppola, Richard Linklater, Wes […]
A new trailer lands today for Our Father, the Devil, writer-director Ellie Foumbi’s feature debut that earned her a spot on our 25 New Faces of Film list last year. Selected for funding through the Venice Biennale College Cinema in December 2019, the film first screened as a “work in progress” at Venice in 2021 before premiering a final cut at Tribeca in 2022, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. Here’s the plot of the film, per an official synopsis: Nominated for the 2023 Best Feature Independent Spirit Award, Ellie Foumbi’s elegant moral thriller and debut feature […]
“To get a good script is a thrilling thing,” said Oscar®-nominated actor Lesley Manville during this month’s SCAD Lacoste Film Festival. “It was a privilege when a good script would plop through the letterbox—it now pings through your email.” Manville’s good humor and insights infused the event, which took place July 1-2 in France’s Luberon Valley at the international location of the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). Fittingly, the festival paid homage to tradition as it looked to the future—while having a great time in the here-and-now. “La Maison Basse, with walls dating back from the 12th century, […]
With the full Venice Immersive slate announced yesterday, the Venice Classics lineup has now been revealed ahead of the 80th edition of the Venice International Film Festival. Curated by Alberto Barbera in collaboration with Federico Gironi, this year’s Venice Classics slate features newly restored versions of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven, Agnès Varda’s The Creatures and much more. Alongside recent restorations, several films in the lineup boast new “Director’s Cut” labels, including Andrei Tarkovsky’s masterpiece Andrei Rublev, which, according to the curators, “will be presented in the reconstruction of the complete original version, which was censored […]
The full Venice Immersive lineup, the XR (Extended Reality) section of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, has been announced today. Described as being “entirely devoted to immersive media” and encompassing “all XR means of creative expression,” the program will be held just a short distance from the Lido on the island Lazzaretto Vecchio (dubbed Immersive Island for the fest). Press previews will be held on August 29 before opening exclusively for press and industry on August 30. The public and all other festival accredited visitors will be able to see the program between August 31 and September 9. Per […]
Jennifer Reeder’s follow-up as a writer-director to her 2019 feature debut Knives and Skin, the first trailer arrives today for Perpetrator. The film had its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale before having its North American premiere at Tribeca Festival earlier this summer. In my interview with Reeder ahead of Berlinale ’23, I briefly elaborate on the film’s premise: Precocious 17-year-old Jonny (Kiah McKirnan) has a no-frills home life with her deadbeat father, supported by her after school hustle as a petty thief. Her mother has long been out of the picture, only exacerbating her feeling of isolation when she […]