Love Chaos Kin (Chithra Jeyaram, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars A thoughtful documentary protagonist is a boon to a filmmaker, able to elevate even the simplest of subjects beyond its narrative limitations. In Love Chaos Kin, from director Chithra Jeyaram (Foreign Puzzle), the topic at hand is full of layered complexities, though at its […]

(L–R) Kali Reis, Josh O’Connor, and Max Walker-Silverman attend the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of “Rebuilding” at Eccles Theatre on January 26, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by George Pimentel/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival) By Lucy Spicer Sundance Film Festival audiences know writer-director Max Walker-Silverman from his feature debut, A Love Song, which […]

The post “Rebuilding” Reminds Us to Seek the Balm of Community first appeared on sundance.org.

For many years, the Berlinale has been presenting specially curated programmes outside the festival time. These programmes go by the name of Berlinale Spotlight.

For the seventh time since 2018, the Berlinale initiative World Cinema Fund (WCF) is invited with a Berlinale Spotlight at the film festival “Around the World in 14 Films”. At its 20th edition (November 28 to December 6, 2025 at the KulturBrauerei cinema, the Delphi Lux and Neues Off in Berlin), “Around the World in 14 Films” will present an all-day Berlinale Spotlight: World Cinema Fund on Sunday, November 30. 

Photo: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo © Filmreederei GmbH

Alongside four current WCF films, the festival will also feature Félicité from 2017 as a “WCF Berlinale Retrospective” presentation. The five films are made by filmmakers from Chile, Egypt, Georgia, Thailand and Senegal: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes (Chile), Aisha Can't Fly Away by Morad Mostafa (Egypt), Dry Leaf by Alexandre Koberidze (Georgia), A Useful Ghost by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (Thailand) and Félicité by Alain Gomis (Senegal/France). The films will be presented on November 30, 2025 by WCF head Vincenzo Bugno, who will hand over his role to Sata Cissokho at the end of 2025 after 21 years.

Vincenzo Bugno: “At 'Around the World in 14 Films' 2025, the WCF once again presents films that had their world premieres at international festivals and achieved notable success. These films, with their formal and thematic diversity, reflect the funding identity of the WCF. They are bold works that take risks and move audiences. I would like to thank Susanne Bieger and Bernhard Karl from the bottom of my heart for the wonderful collaboration since 2018 and for the opportunity to bring WCF films closer to the 'Around the World in 14 Films' audience. Through this partnership, we have achieved something essential for us: not only supporting the production of these films, but also strengthening their visibility in Germany and their access to audiences."

"First and foremost, we would like to thank Vincenzo Bugno, who, together with his team, has shaped this unique Berlinale funding initiative for 21 years and, with his deep passion for global cinema, played a key role in its success. Thanks to the work of the World Cinema Fund, many wonderful discoveries from lesser-known film regions have found their way into the world of cinema. We are especially looking forward to the seventh edition of 'Berlinale Spotlight: World Cinema Fund'," say festival directors Susanne Bieger and Bernhard Karl.

The WCF has been funding films in regions with weak film infrastructures since 2004, and promotes cultural diversity in German and European cinema: WCF Profile

The five WCF films at “Around the World in 14 Films”

Script : Stormy Feathers  Writer : Reva Zane 1. Can you trace the origin of your love for cinema and screenwriting? Was there a singular moment—or film—that made you feel: “I want to do this”?      My love for cinema came long before I began screenwriting.  Watching the film Sabrina with Audrey Hepburn inspired  the notion …

The post InterviewStormy Feathers appeared first on Swedish International Film Festival.

Movie name: The Remaining ones Director names: Filip Koren   The Remaining Ones: Memories That Stay Forever This movie is a must-watch if you have a penchant to watch movies that have an unexpected plot. While we expect people to grieve when they have lost their loved ones, this movie is something different from what …

The post ReviewThe Remaining ones appeared first on Swedish International Film Festival.

Movie Name: Psycho Lovers Director’s Name: Sergio Hogosha     Hello Sergio! Welcome to SIFF! 1. As a first-time filmmaker, how are you feeling right now? Share your thoughts with us! I’m beyond excited to see the great response my first film’s been having so far, For me, it’s been mixed with a bit of …

The post InterviewPsycho Lovers appeared first on Swedish International Film Festival.

12 titles revealed featuring Academy Awards Contenders, Action Stars, and Iconic Women from Shu Qi to Charlie XCX

The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea IFF) has gathered together the best of 2025’s global festival circuit together for its Festival Favourites strand, which marks the MENA premieres of nine stand-out titles from the past year in film, and the Saudi premieres of two significant Egyptian films. Selections have been curated from festivals across the globe including Angouleme, Berlin, Busan, Cannes, Toronto and Venice International Film Festivals.

This year, the selection includes the Academy Award-nominated Japanese box office sensation KOKUHO, the award-winning directorial debut of Asian cinema icon Shu Qi (GIRL), a return to the killing fields of Rwanda starring France's Sonia Rolland (KWIBUKE, REMEMBER), Charlie XCX's weekend in Warsaw (ERUPCJA) and pulp actioners THE FURIOUS, from legendary Hong Kong producer Bill Kong, alongside Ben Wheatley and Bob Odekirk's night of west-meets-east insanity NORMAL. 

Switzerland’s Academy Award entry, LATE SHIFT, follows a day in the life of a nurse portrayed with thrilling precision by Leonie Benitsch; SAIPAN explores the tensions surrounding Ireland’s 2002 World Cup bid — in which a match against Saudi Arabia played a pivotal role — while PRIMAVERA transports Jeddah audiences to 18th-century Venice for a critically acclaimed rendezvous with Antonio Vivaldi. Meanwhile, THE SECRET AGENT, the Cannes-winning Brazilian period drama directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and honored with Best Director and Best Actor, unfolds as a gripping political story set against the backdrop of Brazil’s 1977 military dictatorship.

From the Arab world, two Egyptian films that have made their mark on the festival circuit have been selected – THE SETTLEMENT by Mohamed Rashad and MY FATHER’S SCENT by Mohamed Siam both immerse viewers in complex family relationships with particular focus on fatherhood, spotlighting strong and tender characters with stand-out on screen performances.

Faisal Baltyuor, CEO of the Red Sea Film Foundation, commented: “The ‘Festival Favourites’ program represents the culmination of an exceptional cinematic year, bringing together twelve films that have shone at major international festivals. Each title has been carefully curated by our team to offer audiences in the heart of historic Jeddah a remarkable window into world cinema — reaffirming our belief in the Festival’s role as a bridge between East and West, and in presenting cinematic experiences that enrich the cultural landscape and strengthen Saudi Arabia’s position as a leading destination for film.”

Red Sea International Film Festival – Festival Favourites

ERUPCJA 

Country: USA, Poland

Pete Ohs

Charlie XCX takes the lead in Eurpcja, Pete Ohs' observational drama featuring an ensemble cast of characters who criss-cross, connect and re-connect at pivotal junctures. Bethany (Charli XCX) is on a romantic getaway with Rob (Will Madden), who plans to propose, but she hasn’t been entirely honest about her past, or her friendship with Nel (Lena Gora) a florist. Every time they meet there’s a seismic event, an Erupcja (eruption) which leads them down different paths.

GIRL

Country: Taiwan R.O.C.

Shu Qi

Girl marks the directorial debut of superstar Shu Qi, icon of Asian cinema and muse of Hou Hsiao-hsien. Her self-penned, deeply personal coming-of-age drama is set in a cramped hom

Never-before-seen footage of Selena Quintanilla and her family’s band offers new insights into the musician’s legacy in Isabel Castro’s documentary “Selena y Los Dinos.” By Lucy Spicer November may have just begun, but it appears the gift-giving season is underway for lovers of independent film, who can enjoy the release of 13 projects that premiered […]

The post Release Rundown: What to Watch in November, From “Selena y Los Dinos” to “Come See Me in the Good Light” first appeared on sundance.org.

When the esteemed French actor Juliette Binoche took to the stage for a Q&A session following the screening of her directorial debut, In-I in Motion, she expressed the hope that, rather than just answering questions about the film, the questions themselves would teach her something new about the movie. “So let’s rock and roll,” she told the crowd.

Photo by Laurent Hou

 
Binoche had presented the film on October 28 in the Special Screenings section of the 38th Tokyo International Film Festival. And in a very literal sense, rocking and rolling is what it’s all about. A documentary that covers the process of creating the dance/performance theater piece In-I, which toured the world starting in 2007, In-I In Motion is extremely physical, even if much of the discussion that takes place in the film is about expressing emotions in an honest and visceral way.
 
As Binoche told the audience, the process started with a massage from the dancer/physical therapist Su-man Hsu.
 
“I was shooting a film in London,” she recalled,“ and Hsu, who was the trainer and rehearsal director, gave me shiatsu, and at the end she asked me if I wanted to dance, and I said yes.” Binoche admitted that she wasn’t much of a dancer, but the experience made her want to explore dance more. So Hsu suggested she saw a production called Zero Degree, which was directed by dancer Akram Khan. A collaboration was proposed and two years later the two started working on In-I.
 
As the film points out in the beginning, the kernel of the project came from Khan teaching Binoche about dance as Binoche taught Khan about acting. The production was so successful that when they took it to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, Robert Redford saw it and later convinced Binoche to make a film about it. As it happened, Binoche had videotaped almost all the rehearsals.
 
“We had 170 hours of rushes,” she said. “I didn’t have a script, so I had to write a narrative while I was editing—I had no through line for the film.” What provided a structure was sound.“ I found how you could link scenes with sound. It really opened my mind.”
 
Programming Director Ichiyama Shozo, acting as moderator, then introduced the single-monikered Japanese actor-producer MEGUMI, who acted as associate producer of In-I In Motion. She and Binoche had met at the Cannes Film Festival, when MEGUMI launched the first Japan Night event, she explained, and she helped her bring the film to fruition.
 
But it’s Hsu whom Binoche credits with sparking the idea. “Su-man knew from her own experience how I could benefit from learning dance,” she said. “She herself became a dancer relatively late, at 17. I was 42 years old at the time, and she saw my potential.”
 
Hsu appears often in the film, providing movement advice during the process of transforming the “story” into a dance piece. The movie also shows the input of acting coach Susan Batson, who barks instructions as Binoche and Khan improvise while exploring various traumatic episodes embedded in their memories. The result is often startling. In the beginning, the dancing looks more like groping, as the two performers act out their aggressions in line with Batson’s direction.
 
“It’s why I asked Susan to participate,” said Binoche. “She