Venice Film Festival chief Alberto Barbera has pulled off a pretty impressive feat this year by assembling a buzzy lineup with boatloads of stars set to disembark on the Lido, despite having less movies from the U.S. studios and streamers at his disposal. They include new projects from top international directors, including Martin McDonagh, Florian […]
Italian director Dario Albertini’s family drama “Armony” has secured Swiss distribution via Xenix Filmdistribution ahead of its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival’s Piazza Grande section. Sold internationally by True Colours, “Armony” is produced by Fremantle company The Apartment, Damocle and Rai Cinema in association with HBO Max. It stars Valerio Mastandrea, Asia Argento, […]
Venice Biennale chairman Pietrangelo Buttafuoco slammed the European Union at the film festival press conference on Thursday for withdrawing a €2 million ($2.3 million) grant in response to Russia’s participation in the Biennale’s arts exhibition this year. It was the first time the country has returned to the event since the invasion of Ukraine in […]
The Venice Film Festival has suffered its steepest decline in female representation in five years, with just one woman director selected for this edition’s main competition. It marks a dramatic fall from the six female filmmakers in last year’s edition, which saw Kaouther Ben Hania win the grand jury prize for “The Voice of Hind […]
Michelle Zhou’s debut feature “Big Little Things” has landed backing from Hong Kong-based Moebius Entertainment, which will handle worldwide sales and festival representation after the Hong Kong-U.S. co-production earned a berth in the Horizons section of the 83rd Venice Film Festival. The story centers on a woman who moves back to her native Harbin after […]
Films Boutique has boarded international sales on “The Difficult Bride,” Rubaiyat Hossain’s supernatural feminist drama selected for the Horizons competition of the Venice Film Festival, where it will become the first Bangladeshi feature film to screen. The cast includes three Bangladesh National Film Award winners – Azmeri Haque Badhon, Rikita Nondine Shimu and Sunerah Kamal […]
A fresh batch of buzzy prestige titles from top international directors headlined by Martin McDonagh, Florian Zeller, Danny Boyle, Werner Herzog, Lance Oppenheim, Nanni Moretti, and Hirokazu Kore-eda is set to bow from the Venice Film Festival. On a more populist note, the Lido will also serve as the launching pad for Oasis reunion doc […]
We are so very sorry that the ICO’s good friend and cultural collaborator of many years, Antony ‘Tony’ Rayns passed away earlier this month. In this piece, Simon Ward, former Deputy Director and later a Trustee of the ICO, pays tribute to Tony’s tireless work to promote independent cinema around the world. From the ICO’s beginning, […]
The post Tony Rayns Remembered (1948 – 2026)...
Bill Kong’s Edko Films has come on board to represent “We Are Born Good,” the debut feature from Hong Kong writer-director Yeung Leung Chuen, handling world sales on the Cantonese-language drama. The film will have its world premiere in the Discovery section of the Toronto Film Festival. Chung Suet Ying, who won best leading actress […]
South Africa’s Totem Zea and Dutch production company PRPL are teaming on “Third Wheel,” one of the big buzz titles this week at Fantasia’s Frontières Co-Production Market, combining entertainment in its propulsive psychological thriller drive plus a swingeing comment on post-colonial power dynamics in Africa. To be directed by Zoe Ramushu, whose short “It Takes […]