News

With ‘Tenet’ opening in multiple territories, this is a key weekend for European cinemas.

France, opening Wednesday August 26

As the population gears up for the country’s traditional September Rentrée, marking the return to work and school after the summer, a number of films that were held back due to the Covid-19 pandemic are finally being released this week in addition to Tenet which Warner Bros France has opened on 800 prints.

They included Benoit Delépine and Gustave Kervern’s Silver Bear-winning comedy Delete History for Ad Vitam, which was originally scheduled for the spring and was one of the hits of the Berlinale this year,...

Locarno SwissBiz panel, a round-table featuring five local industry professionals that takes an often critical and always self aware look at the state of affairs in Switzerland’s film industry, was always going to be a bit different this year. But, while the Covid-19 situation was a key talking point, it served primarily to highlight existing issues facing distributors and exhibitors.

Much of the discussion was focused on what issues venues have and continue to deal with, and different ways to get content in front of the mainstream public, particularly as audience viewing habits have evolved in lockdown, perhaps permanently, trending toward streaming. It was crucial to those participating that a new ecosystem, beneficial to both traditional and new modes of distribution, be created and nurtured.

The day’s speakers were Joel Fioroni at Lux, an art-house exhibitor; Andreas Furler, founder and managing director of Zurich-based streaming platform Cinefile; Karin Koch,...

Single mother drama opened Critics’ Week at Cannes.

Curzon Artificial Eye has secured UK rights to Franco Lolli’s Litigante in a deal with Paris-based sales company Kinology.

The distributor plans to release the film exclusively on streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) on July 3.

The second feature from French-Colombian director Lolli opened Cannes Critics’ Week in 2019 and went on to screen at Zurich, Gent, Chicago and Torino. It also received a theatrical release in France on February 19, ahead of cinema closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Filmed in Bogota, the character-driven drama revolves around a female lawyer facing a...