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Am 25. September wird der spanische Meisterregisseur Pedro Almodóvar, der gerade erst den Goldenen Löwen in Venedig gewann, 75 Jahre jung. Zu diesem Anlass gibt es von Arthaus auch die „Best of Almodóvar“-Box auf DVD und Blu-ray.

Einige der besten Pedro-Almodóvar-Werke in einer Box (Credit: Arthaus)

Am morgigen 25. September feiert die spanische Regie-Ikone Pedro Almodóvar seinen 75. Geburtstag. Anlässlich dieses Ehrentages erinnert Arthaus an seine DVD- und Blu-ray-Box „Best of Almodóvar“, die bereits am 22. August erschienen ist.

Es handelt sch dabei um eine limitierte Collector’s Edition mit einigen der besten Filme des Meisters und viel Bonusmaterial. Die enthaltenen Filme sind „Frauen am Rande des Nervenzusammenbruchs“, „High Heels – Die Waffen einer Frau“, „Mein blühendes Geheimnis“, „Live Flesh – Mit Haut und Haar“, „Alles über meine Mutter“, sein wohl bester Film „Sprich mit ihr“, „La Mala Educación – Schlechte Erziehung“, „Volver – Zurückkehren“, „Leid und Herrlichkeit“ und „Parallele Mütter“.

Pünktlich zum Geburtstag...

1980 war Pedro Almodóvar erstmals mit einem Film auf dem San Sebastian Film Festival vertreten. Bei der vom 20. bis 28. September stattfindenden 72. Ausgabe des Festivals wird er mit dem Donostia Award geehrt.

Pedro Almodóvar wird beim San Sebastian Film Festival mit dem Donostia Award geehrt (Credit: El Deseo Da S.L.U. – El Deseo da S.L.U. / Iglesias Más)

Der spanische Regisseur, Drehbuchautor und Produzent Pedro Almodóvar wird am 26. September im Rahmen des 72. San Sebastian Film Festival (20. bis 28. September) mit dem Donostia Award geehrt, mit dem das Festival einen außergewöhnlichen Beitrag zur Welt des Kinos würdigt. Wie das Festival heute mitteilt, wird Almodovar die Auszeichnung vor einem Screening seines aktuellen, ersten englischsprachigen Films „The Room Next Door“ erhalten. Überreicht wird ihm der Donostia Award von Tilda Swinton, neben Julianne Moore Hauptdarstellerin des Films über zwei Freundinnen, die den seit einigen Jahren abgerissenen Kontakt zueinander wieder aufnehmen und dabei tief in ihre Vergangenheit eintauchen.

When the companies behind Ira Sachs’ new drama about the shifting currents of intimacy in a troubled love triangle submitted Passages to the Motion Picture Association ratings board, they probably anticipated an R.

But the MPA came back with an Nc-17 rating, forcing the distributor to release the film (which premiered at Sundance earlier this year) unrated rather than risk commercial marginalization or impose cuts that would diminish its intensity. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Sachs painted the MPA as an outmoded relic of the 1950s, detecting a strong whiff of dangerous cultural censorship and possible homophobia behind the seldom issued Nc-17.

Let’s be clear: Passages — which Mubi opened Aug. 4 in Los Angeles and New York before expanding to other cities in the weeks to come — is a movie with a generous amount of sex, both gay and straight. But it’s neither particularly explicit nor remotely gratuitous,...

HBO Max is dead. Long live Max.

The new combined streaming service launched on Tuesday, and in addition to housing all of HBO Max and Discovery+’s content in one place, Max also plays host to a robust library of movies and TV shows streaming in 4K Uhd. At launch, more than 1,000 hours of programming are available in 4K, and Max says more will be added in the coming months.

Right now, you can stream all the “Harry Potter” movies, the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” trilogies, the “Dark Knight” trilogy, the “Matrix” films, “Dune,” “Joker” and even “The Wizard of Oz” and “Goodfellas” in 4K. Additionally, acclaimed (and cinematic) HBO series like “House of the Dragon,” “Barry” and “Succession” are also streaming in 4K, with additional shows (and seasons) to come.

Plus, all Warner Bros. movies released this year and going forward will be streaming in 4K Uhd...

Giddens Ko directs the Taiwanese gangster comedy romance.

South Korean outfit Barunson E&a has secured international sales rights to its first non-Korean film – Miss Shampoo, a Taiwanese gangster comedy romance directed by Giddens Ko – and will launch sales at the Cannes market.

Barunson E&a, which also has Kim Jee-woon’s Cobweb playing Out of Competition at Cannes, has international sales rights to Miss Shampoo excluding theatrical rights for Taiwan, which remain with production company Machi Xcelsior Studios, Southeast Asia (Clover Films) and Hong Kong.

The film stars Daniel Hong of Bad Education alongside Vivian Sung and Kai Ko, who...

Oscar award-winning veteran producer Gerardo Herrero, (“The Secret In Their Eyes”) returns to the director’s chair with “Under Therapy,” his stark and unnerving big screen rendition of playwright Matías Del Federico’s theatrical production. The project bowed in competition at the Málaga Film festival earlier this week and is set for broader theatrical release in Spanish cinemas on Friday.

Latido Films handles international sales.

Enamored with the staged rendition, Herrero was inspired to add a distinctly cinematic touch to the script, honoring its darker underpinnings amidst the narratives’ anxious banter.

“The first time that I saw the production, I fell in love with the work,” Herrero told Variety. “Despite the fact that the show’s very well directed, written and performed, for me it’s much lighter than the movie. The movie’s not a comedy, it’s a drama with humor,” he revealed. “I love that they laugh and that afterwards they freeze,...

As the race for limited series has become more competitive over the last decade, the art of the TV movie has seen an inversely proportional decline in popularity and visibility. The two formats have competed in separate categories at the Emmys since 2014 (the most recent separation), but Best TV Movie has been relegated to the Creative Arts ceremony the past two years, and it’s likely been even longer since it has been truly relevant. But the Disney+ film “Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” has the power to change that.

A hybrid live-action/CG animated film based on the late 1980s cartoon about the adorable anthropomorphic chipmunks first created by The Walt Disney Company in the early 1940s, the movie features comedians John Mulaney and Andy Samberg as the voices of Chip and Dale, respectively. Best friends since childhood, the two go on to become co-stars on the late ‘80s...

Remember “Blindspotting,” the 2018 comedy-drama indie that launched the careers of actor/writers/producers Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal? Well, in case you’ve forgotten, the film has been turned into a series by its creators, Diggs and Casal, who have gone onto things like “Snowpiercer,” “Hamilton” (Diggs), and “The Good Lord Bird,” “Bad Education” (Casal), respectively.

Continue reading ‘Blindspotting’ Trailer: The Hit Indie Film Continues As A Series With Many Of The Same Characters On Starz In June at The Playlist.

Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger’s production company Automatik has upped three executives to handle development and production, working across both film and television.

Gemma Levinson has been named vice president of feature development and production. Levinson’s credits at Automatik include HBO’s Bad Education, Kristen Stewart-starrer Seberg and Honey Boy, with an upcoming slate that includes Halley Berry-fronted Netflix feature The Mothership.

Mariel Redlin has been named television director of development, overseeing a slate that includes Tessa Thompson’s The Left Right Game and Amazon’s Dirty Diana, starring Demi Moore. She previously held roles at WME and BBC America, where she worked on projects ...

Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger’s production company Automatik has upped three executives to handle development and production, working across both film and television.

Gemma Levinson has been named vice president of feature development and production. Levinson’s credits at Automatik include HBO’s Bad Education, Kristen Stewart-starrer Seberg and Honey Boy, with an upcoming slate that includes Halley Berry-fronted Netflix feature The Mothership.

Mariel Redlin has been named television director of development, overseeing a slate that includes Tessa Thompson’s The Left Right Game and Amazon’s Dirty Diana, starring Demi Moore. She previously held roles at WME and BBC America, where she worked on projects ...

Antonio Banderas and Pedro Almodóvar at the Pain And Glory Cannes press conference Photo: Richard Mowe

A frequent visitor to the Cannes Film Festival Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar who turns 70 in September has yet to win the Palme d’Or despite being included in the Competition no less than six times.

Judging by the rave reviews and rapturous response he may well be in with a chance this time around. Even if he doesn’t, the reception for Pain And Glory, screened last night, will be recompense enough, judging by his comments when he met the media today (18 May).

Antonio Banderas at the Pain And Glory Cannes press conference Photo: Richard Mowe

With a nod to the inclement Riviera weather, he said “I have never seen such happy rain in my life. Obviously I can never forget last night, the experience we had is something unheard of and we are very happy.

Art imitates life in Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory,” which screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that the iconic Spanish director reimagines life — his life — as a fantasia borne out of the cinematic vocabulary he’s created over the last four decades.

“Pain and Glory” suggests that Almodóvar’s films were based on the preoccupations that developed when he was a child, but then refracts the life that formed his art through the style of that art. If there’s a house-of-mirrors aspect to this, the trickiness is one of the least important aspects of this lovely, gentle reverie, which has already opened to largely positive reception in Spain.

Antonio Banderas plays a film director named Salvador Mallo, who happens to dress like Almodóvar and live in a house that looks just like Almodóvar’s house.

It’s a process that happens to nearly all punks eventually. Except for the spiky crest of hair, which still suggests the defiant look of a strutting dooryard rooster, there’s little about Pedro Almodóvar’s appearance today that reflects the bad-boy director’s anti-establishment roots. In “Pain and Glory,” it is frequent collaborator Antonio Banderas who rocks that coif, which instantly signals to audiences that the tormented filmmaker he plays was inspired, at least in part, by the man who launched his career with “Labyrinth of Passion” and “Law of Desire” more than three decades earlier.

Both the character and his creator have mellowed in that time, during which Spanish society has relaxed its stance toward the counterculture to whom he gave voice. (The film opened in Spain two months before its premiere in competition at Cannes. Sony Pictures Classics will release it on Oct. 4 in the U.S.

Pedro Almodóvar, the punk chronicler of post-Francoist Spain, turns inwards for his 21st feature Pain and Glory, which arrives in competition at Cannes as a summation of his storied career, a quasi-self-portrait of an artist as an older man. Even for Almodóvar, this is an especially personal work, anchored by the director’s on-off muse Antonio Banderas in perhaps his greatest performance and sweeps through the Spanish maestro’s recurrent themes: high melodrama and kitsch comedy, piety and carnal lust, sex and death, human pain and transcendent glory.

Banderas dons Almodóvar’s signature spiky hair as film director Salvador Mallo, struck by writer’s block in a role superficially akin to Marcello Mastroianni’s in 8½. But Pain and Glory lacks the showiness that became Fellini’s trademark in his post-neorealism years. Instead, like 2016’s Julieta, this is a muted, exquisitely plotted and sometimes deeply serious late-period work from Almodóvar, which...

Exclusive: Joyous Aretha Franklin music doc Amazing Grace has sold around the world for Endeavor Content.

The stirring Doc NYC and Berlin Film Festival title charts the Queen of Soul’s brilliant 1972 performance at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles. Neon released the film in U.S.

Deals have closed with Metropolitan in France, Weltkino in Germany, You Planet and Caramel Films for Spain, NonStop Entertainment in Scandinavia, Iceland and Baltic States, Paradiso in Benelux, Alambique in Portugal, Seven Films in Greece, and Salim Ramia in the Middle East.

The film has also landed with Edko in Hong Kong, Shaw in Singapore, Jinjin in South Korea, Movie Cloud in Taiwan, Spi International in Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Czech, and Captive for airlines.

Neon released stateside on April 5 and StudioCanal released in the UK on May 10 and will launch Australia/Nz later this year.

The Cannes Film Festival competition began today with the premiere of Jim Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die,” but top North American distributors can’t afford to be distracted. They serve a market in which only the most carefully calibrated selections will thrive — and those who hesitate will almost certainly lose to the streaming buyers. With some of the best stuff already bought, theatrical distributors are forced to to look toward films that have yet to be shot.

Before the festival, HBO Sports scooped up “Diego Maradona,” British documentarian Asif Kapadia’s follow-up to Oscar-winning Cannes hit “Amy.” And after a 20-year symbiotic relationship, Spc acquired Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain & Glory” at the script stage two years ago, which now looks like an early contender for top prizes. Spc now has rights to all his films, and will book repertory Almodovar tributes in many cities around the film’s October opening.

Written and directed by Lucrecia Martel, the Argentine auteur behind La Cineaga and The Headless Woman, Zama is the long-awaited adaptation of Antonio Di Benedetto’s classic of Latin American modernism.

Zama transports us to a remote corner of 18th-century South America where Zama, a servant of the Spanish crown, slowly loses his grip on reality. Zama brings a 21st century perspective to bear on the history of colonial catastrophe in the Americas. Marooned in an a colonial outpost, the titular Don Diego De Zama (a soulful yet funny Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Bad Education, Y Tu Mama narrator, Arrancame la vida) waits in vain for a transfer to a more prestigious post.

Martel, in a perfect coupling of literary source material and cinematic sensibility, renders Zama’s world as both absurd and mysterious as he succumbs more and more to lust, paranoia and a creeping disorientation. A fever dream, the...

Credit where it’s due: Few films have done more to unite the international film community than “Zama.” The minutes-long opening titles list over 20 different production companies and regional supports. The nominally Argentinian film is a joint venture between nine other countries as well, and the end credits name figures as diverse as Danny Glover, Pedro Almodóvar, and Gael Garcia Bernal among the many other who jumped on to help this project through a troubled, many year production. Finally complete, Lucrecia Martel’s film promises to be significantly more divisive.

Technically an adaptation of Antonio Di Benedetto acclaimed modernist novel, “Zama” reads just as much like an open declaration of war against the line that separates form and content. The source text told the story of an 18th century magistrate driven to madness while waiting for his next post; the film forces the viewer to go mad right there with him.

The Locarno Festival will pay tribute to Spanish cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine on Aug. 10.

Organizers said Tuesday that he will get the Vision Award, a prize honoring technical achievements and advancements in film.

Alcaine is best known for his work with Pedro Almodovar, defining the strong colors and high-contrast landscapes in films including Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989), Bad Education (2004), Volver (2006) and The Skin I Live In (2011).

He is credited with helping to define the look of Spanish cinema in the 1980s, also working with directors from...

Characters like the one that gives its title to My Cousin Rachel are usually played with broad strokes, either to elicit extreme sympathy, or total disdain, and yet what Rachel Weisz does in Roger Michell’s adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel is unlike either of those, it’s a performance so layered that it would unfair to say it lies even in between. We are supposed to mistrust Rachel from the moment we first hear her name, after all she is the stranger who has seduced Philip’s (Sam Claflin) saintly cousin, made him renounce his bachelorhood, and abandon his beloved England. Not only that, but according to some suspicions, she might have even been behind his untimely death, meaning there is nothing left for Philip to do but seek revenge.

And yet upon meeting Rachel, Philip discovers something quite unexpected, rather than a severe gorgon, he finds her to be quite sensitive,...

A kidnapping service lies at the center of Pat Healy's feature film directorial debut, Take Me, which will be released by The Orchard on May 5th following its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – February, 2016 – The Orchard announced today that the company will release director Pat Healy’s feature debut Take Me, starring Taylor Schilling opposite Healy. The Duplass Brothers serve as executive producers while Mel Eslyn and Sev Ohanian serve as producers of the film, which will have its world premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, followed by a theatrical and digital release May 5th.

The acquisition marks an ongoing relationship with the Duplass Brothers and The Orchard as part of an output deal. The Orchard has worldwide theatrical, digital rental and sales, cable/satellite VOD, airline, DVD and soundtrack rights. Netflix will be releasing the film on its worldwide streaming platform later this year.

The Cannes Film Festival has announced that Pedro Almodóvar will serve as 2017’s jury president. Almodóvar’s most recent film, Julieta, was in competition at Cannes last year, and he’s had a number of other entries in years prior. His Bad Education was the opening night selection in 2004. “I am very happy to be able to celebrate the Festival de Cannes 70th anniversary from such a privileged position,” Almodóvar said in a statement. “I am grateful, honored and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.“

In 2016, George Miller, hot off Mad Max: Fury Road, took on the role Almodóvar will now assume. He ...

Spanish auteur said he was “grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed.”

Pedro Almodóvar will preside over the jury at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in May, 25 years after he served as a juror under Gérard Depardieu.

“I am very happy to be able to celebrate Cannes Film Festival 70th anniversary from such a privileged position,” Almodóvar said in response to the invitation by president of the festival Pierre Lescure and delegate-general Thierry Frémaux.

“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.”

“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the...

Spanish auteur said he was “grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed.”

Pedro Almodóvar will preside over the jury at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in May, 25 years after he served as a juror under Gérard Depardieu.

“I am very happy to be able to celebrate Cannes Film Festival 70th anniversary from such a privileged position,” Almodóvar said in response to the invitation by president of the festival Pierre Lescure and delegate-general Thierry Frémaux.

“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.”

“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the...

Spanish auteur said he was “grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed.”

Pedro Almodóvar will preside over the jury at the 70th Cannes Film Festival in May, 25 years after he served as a juror under Gérard Depardieu.

“I am very happy to be able to celebrate Cannes Film Festival 70th anniversary from such a privileged position,” Almodóvar said in response to the invitation by president of the festival Pierre Lescure and delegate-general Thierry Frémaux.

“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.”

“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the...

Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar is the next President of the Jury for the Festival International du Film de Cannes, which begins on the Riviera on May 17 and runs through May 28, 2017.

Cannes executives Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux stated:

“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film. A long and loyal friendship binds Pedro Almodóvar to the Festival, where he was a member of the Jury under the presidency of Gérard Depardieu.”

The filmmaker said:

“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.

Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar is the next President of the Jury for the Festival International du Film de Cannes, which begins on the Riviera on May 17 and runs through May 28, 2017.

Cannes executives Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux stated:

“For its 70th edition, the Festival de Cannes is delighted to welcome a unique and hugely popular artist. His works have already carved out an eternal niche in the history of film. A long and loyal friendship binds Pedro Almodóvar to the Festival, where he was a member of the Jury under the presidency of Gérard Depardieu.”

The filmmaker said:

“I am grateful, honoured and a bit overwhelmed. I am aware of the responsibility that entails being the president of the jury and I hope to be up to the job. I can only tell that I’ll devote myself, body and soul, to this task, that it is both a privilege and a pleasure.

Here’s the latest episode of the 365Flick podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on Podomatic and Libsyn, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

365Flicks Podcast – Episode 60: Kev Has Beef With La La Land?

The guys at 365 HQ are back in the studio to talk all things Movie, Tv and just generally geek related. We kick off with our usual General Banter and Pimpage before moving into our News of the Week… Including Terminator 6, Neil Bloomkamps Alien 5, All Girl Remakes and Kev Gushes over Power Rangers 2nd Trailer. We finish up the news with the Oscar Nominations and who we hope will take the Gongs. Next up is the Quickie Review section in which Kev talks about: La La Land, Deepwater Horizon, Patriots Day,...

Seventy-three unproduced screenplays comprise this year’s Black List, an annual ranking of well-regarded scripts that have yet to make the leap from page to screen. More than 250 executives in the film industry voted on this year’s edition, and their consensus is that Elyse Hollander’s Madonna biopic “Blond Ambition” is the “most liked” of them.

Previous screenplays that have appeared on the Black List and gone on to be produced include “Spotlight,” “Arrival” and “Manchester by the Sea.” Full list below:

“Blond Ambition” by Elyse Hollander (48)

“Life Itself” by Dan Fogelman (35)

“The Olympian” by Tony Tost (35)

“The Post” by Liz Hannah (35)

“Voyagers” by Zach Dean (28)

“In the Blink of an Eye” by Colby Day (25)

“O2” by Christie LeBlan (22)

“Untitled Lax Mandis Project” by Seth Spector (22)

“Dark Money” by Matt Fruchtman (21)

“Letters from Rosemary Kennedy” by Nick Yarborough (21)

“Linda and Monica” by Flint Wainess (20)

“Hala” by Minhal Baig (19)

“The...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Always Shine (Sophia Takal)

With the excess of low-budget, retreat-in-the-woods dramas often finding characters hashing out their insecurities through a meta-narrative, a certain initial resistance can occur when presented with such a derivative scenario at virtually every film festival. While Sophia Takal‘s psychological drama Always Shine ultimately stumbles, the chemistry of its leads and a sense of foreboding dread in its formal execution ensures its heightened view of...

To celebrate the imminent release of “Julieta,” Pedro Almodóvar’s 20th feature film, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing “The Complete Pedro Almodóvar Collection” on iTunes today. All 19 of the renowned Spanish auteur’s previous films are now available together, marking a first. Watch a video preview below, and find the collection here.

Read More: Pedro Almodóvar ‘Julieta’ Selected as Spain’s Foreign Language Oscar Submission

The collection features new high-definition transfers of 15 of these films, while nine of them are available in HD for the first time in America; “Pepi, Luci, Bom” and “Labyrinth of Passion” have never been released domestically at all. iTunes is also offering extras on a bundle of the filmmaker’s more recent releases, namely “All About My Mother,” “Talk to Her,” “Bad Education,” “Volver” and “Broken Embraces,” for “The Pedro Almodóvar Iconic Collection.”

Read More: Pedro Almodóvar on the Version of ‘Brokeback Mountain’ He Wanted to Direct: ‘More Sex,...

Sony Pictures Classics has set a Dec. 21 theater release for Pedro Almodóvar’s 20th film “Julieta,” and acquired the remainder of his film library. The new acquisitions include “Pepi, Luci, Bom;” “Labyrinth of Passion;” “Dark Habits;” “What Have I Done to Deserve This?;” “High Heels” and “Kika.” The full library also includes “Matador,” “Law of Desire,” “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” “The Flower of My Secret,” “Live Flesh,” “All About My Mother,” “Talk to Her,” “Bad Education,” “Volver,” “Broken Embraces,” “I’m So Excited!” and “The Skin I Live In.” “Julieta” premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

The Tampere Film Festival will have its 46th edition from March 9th until March 13th in the city of Tampere (Finland). The festival is one of the most important short film festivals in Europe and the only one accredited by the Fiapf (International Federation of Film Producers Associations) in Finland. The programme consists of International and National Competitions and a diverse special programme, showcasing both new short and documentary films around the world and older archive gems of filmic art. This year there will be six short films from Asia.

International Competition

Animals Section

The Animal Book by Hyun-a Cho and Sujeong Kim – South Korea | 2015 – 5 min.

One Quiet Night, there is a car riding in the secluded road. The driver is dozing off at the wheel, as he falls asleep at the wheel, his car strikes and kill a lot of animals. A lot of species of animals art from many different of habitats.

After premiering at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival in the Galas Program, via Cohen Media, the double 40th César Award nominated The New Girlfriend received a limited theatrical release a year later for a meager box-office take just under one hundred and fifty thousand. Based on a novel by Ruth Rendell, Francois Ozon’s playful subversion of gender dynamics hinges on camp, recalling a legion of vintage queer classics from decades ago (as well as Ozon’s own darker, challenging early filmography when the auteur was referred to as a terrible enfant). As politically correct agendas continue to be applied to queer characters, engulfing deliberations of appropriate representation, items such as Ozon’s film have become a rarity in the English language market. But there’s a perverse mixture of dark comedy and psychological unrest portrayed here, and Ozon gleefully captures a neglected energy of queer cinema once again relegated to the periphery of good taste.

He may've just won Hollywood's attention by snagging the coveted trophy for best actor in a television series, comedy or musical, but Gael García Bernal has long been an indie darling. Though it's his first Golden Globe win, it definitely wasn't the actor's first impressive performance. Wondering where you've seen Mozart in the Jungle's intense New York Symphony maestro before? Here's a primer on the Mexican heartthrob making headlines this awards season. 1. He revved our engines in The Motorcycle Diaries.Bernal made a lasting impression in the 2004 biopic The Motorcycle Diaries, where he played the young Che Guevara on...

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Cheer on local talent with these potentially great UK films from 2016, including drama, comedy, action, horror, fantasy & more…

While Batman Vs Superman, Captain America: Civil War, X-Men Apocalypse and other mega franchises are expected to dominate cinemas in 2016, let’s hear it for the films below. None are sequels, few have titanic budgets, all of them are British and each of them has the potential to be great.

2016 looks to be a particularly strong year for UK crime drama, with Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire, Adam Smith’s Trespass Against Us and Michael Apted’s Unlocked on their way. Military thrillers are also well represented this year, with Gavin Hood’s Eye In The Sky, Fernando Coimbra’s Sand Castle, and Simon West’s Stratton incoming. There’s also comedy, fantasy, drama, horror and even a musical waiting for you below.

A Street Cat Named Bob (dir.

In bringing the story of transgender pioneer Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne) to the screen, Tom Hooper reunited with costume designer Paco Delgado and production designer Eve Stewart, both of whom received Oscar nominations for the director’s previous outing, “Les Miserables.” With “The Danish Girl,” the two are once again given the opportunity to meticulously recreate the styles and settings of a bygone era, and this time, their work could pay off in wins. -Break- Subscribe to Gold Derby Breaking News Alerts & Experts’ Latest Oscar Predictions Delgado currently holds third place in our predictions with odds of 9/2. Known for his work with Pedro Almodovar (“Bad Education” in 2004 and “The Skin I Live In” in 2011) and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Biutiful” in 2010), the costumer could benefit from the academy’s bias for period dramas in this category, which you could usually just call Best ...

The team behind Sony Pictures Classics will collaborate with Pedro Almodóvar for the tenth time on the drama following a North American deal with El Deseo.

Silencio charts the life of a woman, Julieta, from 1985 to present day as she wrestles with madness and embarks on a series of journeys revolving around the disappearance of her daughter.

Almodóvar’s twentieth film stars Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suárez, Daniel Grao, Dario Grandinetti, Inma Cuesta, Michelle Jenner and Rossy de Palma.

The Spc team and Almodóvar first worked together on Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown at Orion Classics.

The association continued at Spc with I’m So Excited, The Skin I Live In, Broken Embraces, Volver, Bad Education, All About My Mother, Talk To Her and The Flower Of My Secret.

The team behind Sony Pictures Classics will collaborate with Pedro Almodóvar for the tenth time on the drama following a North American deal with El Deseo.

Silencio charts the life of a woman, Julieta, from 1985 to present day as she wrestles with madness and embarks on a series of journeys revolving around the disappearance of her daughter.

Almodóvar’s twentieth film stars Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suárez, Daniel Grao, Dario Grandinetti, Inma Cuesta, Michelle Jenner and Rossy de Palma.

The Spc team and Almodóvar first worked together on Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown at Orion Classics.

The association continued at Spc with I’m So Excited, The Skin I Live In, Broken Embraces, Volver, Bad Education, All About My Mother, Talk To Her and The Flower Of My Secret.

Colorful Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar is set to receive the Writers Guild of America, West’s Jean Renoir Award for Screenwriting Achievement, a prize that honors an international writer who has advanced the literature of motion pictures and made outstanding contributions to the profession of screenwriter. That can certainly be said of the iconic writer/director of such visionary masterworks as "Talk to Her," "Bad Education," "All About My Mother" and 1988 breakout "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." Recently, on the heels of announcing next film "Silencio," Almodóvar revealed that he turned down the chance to direct "Brokeback Mountain" because it would've meant making Hollywood-friendly alterations. He's the kind of subversive international filmmaker who's used to only answering to himself—and to his brother and coproducer Agustín Almodóvar, with whom he founded El...

BBC Three will broadcast around the clock and continue to commission original content as part of its move online.

Subject to approval by the BBC Trust, BBC Three will close as a broadcast channel next year, and proposals for the new-look service were set out on Wednesday morning (December 10).

In addition to on-demand content, BBC Three online will have a "daily stream" and the channel will also move away from genre-led commissioning, ordering content under two key editorial principles - 'Make Me Think' and 'Make Me Laugh'.

"Make Me Think would be a mix of documentary, current affairs, news and drama that would cover topics that offer new perspectives and open people's minds to new subjects or issues," said Damian Kavanagh, BBC Three proposal lead.

"Make Me Laugh would be centred around scripted comedy, like Uncle or Gavin & Stacey, plus personality-led entertainment that would be both provocative and edgy. Both...

Rai Com boosts slate with Partly Cloudy, Probably Sunny and Latin Lover.

Rai Com is to handle sales on Partly Cloudy, Probably Sunny (Tempo instabile con probabili schiarite), the new film by Marco Pontecorvo.

The comedy stars John Turturro alongside Italian actors Luca Zingaretti, Lillo and Carolina Crescentini. Pontecorvo was recently director of photography on Fading Gigalo, which Turturro wrote, directed and starred.

The film is produced by Panorama Films in collaboration with Rai Cinema and will be distributed in Italy by Good Films.

Pontecorvo, who also wrote the film, described it as “a bittersweet comedy, a sarcastic metaphor for the vices and defects as well as the virtues of Italy today.”

Rai Com has also added Cristina Comencini’s Latin Lover to its slate. Comencini was nominated for a Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar in 2005 with Don’t Tell.

Latin Lover, currently in post-production, stars Italo-French actress Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (“Saint Laurent”), Spanish stars Candela Pena (“All About My Mother...

Pedro holding up a copy of his "Bad Education" screenplayToday's Useless Trivia! Not one, not two, not three, but Four Oscar nominated writers of contemporary cinema share this birthday: Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), Pedro Almodóvar (Talk To Her), Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles), and John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator). Only Pedro has won for writing (though Bird is also a multiple Oscar-winner) but it's a neat and weird coincidence, yes?

Two Questions

What's your favorite Almodóvar screenplay (besides Talk To Her that is which rightfully scooped up the Oscar)?

Do you think Brad Bird deserved to win Original Screenplay in his years at bat (2004 and 2007) 

P.S. You guessed it: This year's Oscar Chart Updates for Best Screenplay, Original and Adapted are now available.

The Skin I Live In: Ozon’s Exquisite New Exploration of Gender Subversion

For his most playful and delightfully creepy film in years, Francois Ozon adapts crime writer Ruth Rendell’s short story for his latest, The New Girlfriend. Rendell has long supplied a bevy of European filmmakers with some of their most memorable titles, including Claude Miller’s Alias Betty (2001), Pedro Almodovar’s Live Flesh (1997), and perhaps, most notably, Claude Chabrol’s La Ceremonie (1994) and The Bridesmaid (2004). An excellent purveyor of strange and complicated relationships that often involve sublimated identities and tendencies that often lead to deadly scenarios, Rendell serves as an excellent template for Ozon with material that recalls the sexually transgressive explorations of his early career.

Claire (Anais Demoustier) and Laura (Isild Le Besco) have been inseparable friends since childhood. They’ve followed nearly the same life trajectory as well, both marrying handsome young men and what not.

Gael Garcia Bernal and Agnes B. both receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo.

The Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 15-24) launched its 20th edition on Friday night and staged a hat-trick of events to mark the occasion.

After the traditional welcome drinks reception on the Festival Square, festival director Mirsad Purivatra took to the stage of the city’s Open Air Cinema in front of an audience of thousands to award Gael Garcia Bernal with the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo.

The ceremony was held ahead of a screening of the Mexican actor and director’s breakthrough performance in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros (2000).

“Since your appearance in Amores Perros, you have played different characters in many films that have made up part of our programme,” said Purivatra.

“We admire you as an actor, a film director and a person who is trying to change the world. It is an honour to welcome you to Sarajevo and to...

Sherlock and Downton Abbey have been nominated for this year's TV Choice Awards.

The shows both made the shortlist for Best Drama Series alongside Call the Midwife and Waterloo Road.

Downton Abbey picked up two acting nods, with Allen Leech nominated for Best Actor and Joanne Froggatt for Best Actress.

Leech will be competing with Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as David Tennant (The Escape Artist) and Bradley Walsh (Law & Order: UK).

Also up for Best Actress are Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley), Laurie Brett (Waterloo Road) and Judy Parfitt (Call the Midwife).

Happy Valley was recognised in Best New Drama with The Crimson Field, The Musketeers and The Widower.

Game of Thrones and The Big Bang Theory are up for Best International Show, while Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway will battle Celebrity Juice and Gogglebox for Best Entertainment Show.

Best Talent Show is between Britain's Got Talent, The Great British Bake Off,...

Telefilm Canada has confirmed its financial support of nearly $13 million of Canadian tax payers' money towards the production of nine English-language feature films through the 'Canada Feature Film Fund', although there doesn't seem to be anything culturally 'Canadian' about most of their selections, other than the crews that will be working on them.

Among the films receiving money include a psycho horror with a demonic 'Santa Claus', a bio pic about a former Queen of Sweden, the 'relationship' between 'James Dean' and a photographer, a thriller involving a Satanic child abuse sex ring, and an inflatable Sex Doll drug smuggling story:

The films are "After the Ball" (Sean Garrity), "A Christmas Horror Story" (Steven Hoban, Grant Harvey, Brett Sullivan), "Aloft" (Claudia Llosa), "A Worthy Companion" (Jason Sanchez, Carlos Sanchez), "Life" (Anton Corbijn), "Regression" (Alejandro Amenabar), "Rest Home" (Michael Rowe), "The Girl King" (Mika Kaurismäki) and "Zoom" (Pedro Morelli...

For this hour long special edition of the podcast, we took Joe Reid's suggestion and are having ourselves a theme party. The theme is 2004, and on its tenth anniversary Nathaniel, Nick and Joe marvel at what a rich cinematic year it was and how well the highlights have endured. 

We begin with movies we think we should revisit or have shifted in our memory and then compare top ten lists. Movies discussed include but are not limited to: Dogville, Bad Education, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Tarnation, Before Sunset, Blissfully Yours, Shaun of the Dead, Sideways, House of Flying Daggers, Primer, Vera Drake, and Maria Full of Grace among others. 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download the conversation on iTunes. Continue the conversation with your own 2004 memories and revisits in the comments.

 ...

MasterChef: The Final was Friday's highest-rated show outside of soaps, attracting an average audience of 5.41 million (25.9%).

The hour-long finale, which aired from 8.30-9.30pm on BBC One, peaked with 6.28 million as the winner was crowned.

It was followed by Have I Got News For You, which drew an average audience of 4.49 million (23%) at 9.30pm.

BBC One's evening began with 2.73 million (17.4%) for The One Show at 7pm and 2.45 million (13.9%) for A Question of Sport at 7.30pm.

With guests Dawn French, Kirsten Dunst and Bear Grylls, The Graham Norton Show pulled in 3.10 million viewers (24.5%) at 10.35pm, followed by 900k (10.8%) for Bad Education.

With an average audience of 2.55 million (13.3%), Weekend Escapes with Warwick Davis was ITV's highest-rated show outside of soaps, narrowly outperforming drama series Lewis with 2.53 (12.7%).

BBC Two's evening kicked off with 1.41 million (8%) for Great British Menu at 7.30pm, followed by a slightly increased 1.47 million (7.6%) for The Minister at 8pm and...

Tim here. Cannes is in the air, and as we do, I’ve been thinking about festivals past, when I landed on the fact that this very day is the tenth anniversary of the premier of Shrek 2 on the Croissette. And just as I started writing up a whole thing about big English-language crowdpleasers and their history of opening up the festival, talking about the toxic reception that Grace of Monaco has received in that slot (as so many of them do), when I landed on the further fact that Shrek 2 wasn’t that year’s opening night film (Almodóvar’s Bad Education was). No sir, Shrek 2 was an official selection in that year’s main competition. Which feels genuinely insane – no other American animated film, to my knowledge, has ever competed at Cannes, so how would something as unapologetically commercial as Shrek 2 get the nod?...