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"My father never listens to Bach." "How did you know Bach?" Blue Finch Films has posted their trailer for a superb Chinese thriller titled Brief History of a Family, arriving to watch soon. This first premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival last year, with stops at the Berlin, Atlanta, Sydney, Melbourne, Zurich, and Karlovy Vary Film Festivals. After the one-child policy ends in China, a middle-class family's fate becomes intertwined with their only son's enigmatic new friend. Unspoken secrets begin to unravel, putting unmet expectations and untended emotions under the microscope. Charismatic Wei and quiet Shuo become fast friends after an accident at school. Soon Shuo is a frequent guest at the Wei's family home, but as he embeds himself deeper into their lives, cracks begin to show. The perfect family have old wounds and dark secrets that cannot stay hidden. Starring Zu Feng, Guo Keyu, Sun Xilun, and Lin Muran.

Let the buzz begin as this year’s Glasgow Film Festival will open with Tornado and close with Martin Robertson’s Make it to Munich, in what is another world premiere.

Undoubtedly a highlight each year in the film calendar Gff kicks off on February 26th until March 9th and is bursting with variety. Some highlights include the UK premiere of Long Day’s Journey into Night starring Jessica Lange & Ed Harris, Argentinian crime-caper Kill the Jockey and On Falling from Scottish filmmaker Laura Carreira.

The festival will play host to a number of UK premieres including The Return, Bob Trevino Likes It as well as Luckiest Man in America starring Paul Walter Hauser to name but a few.

In Conversation With returns with a star-studded line-up of Jessica Lange and Glasgow’s own, James McAvoy, who will take a look back on their careers.

As with true Gff tradition is...

The world premiere of John Maclean’sTornado, starring Tim Roth and Jack Lowden. will open the 21st edition of theGlasgow Film Festival (Gff).

The survival thriller, which shot on location in Scotland, is set in 1790s Britain. A woman named Tornado, played by Japanese model and songwriter Kōki, finds herself caught in peril when she and her father’s travelling puppet show cross paths with a ruthless criminal gang.Lionsgate UK will release the film theatrically in the UK and Ireland from May.

Maclean’s previous film was 2015 western Slow West starringMichael Fassbender.

Gff closes with the world premiere of...

57 films selected from a whopping 11,153 submissions packed into eight curated Short Film Programs. Among the more notable folks we find Venezuelan Canadian-based filmmaker Jorge Thielen Armand of La Soledad (Venice’s Biennale College 2016) brings Pasta Negra to Park City – it tells the story of three Venezuelan women cross the border into Colombia to buy a packet of pasta. From the filmmaker who brought us one of our top 20 films of 2024 in Brief History of a Family (a 2024 Sundance-Berlinale selection) Jianjie Lin presents Hippopotami – this is set in the suburbs of a northern Chinese city undergoing urbanization, a quirky girl who wants to see animals in the zoo is taken for a ride that will forever change her perspective on life.…...

Bogdan Mureșanu’s The New Year That Never Came, a tragicomedy set on the brink of revolution in 1989 Romania, has won the Golden Pyramid for best film at the 45th Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff).

The international competition jury was unanimous in selecting the film, which premiered at Venice in September where it won best film in the Horizons strand as well as the Fipresci prize.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Ciff handed out an expanded set of awards at a glitzy closing cermony of this year’s edition, which marked a return for the longest-running film festival...

Η «Σύντομη Ιστορία μιας Οικογένειας», μια συμπαραγωγή μεταξύ Κίνας, Γαλλίας, Δανίας και Κατάρ, είναι μια σπάνια περίπτωση όπου οι ανατολικές επιρροές δεν μετατρέπουν μια ασιατική ταινία σε ευρωπαϊκή, αλλά αντίθετα, χρησιμοποιούνται για να ενισχύσουν ορισμένες από τις αισθητικές της, διατηρώντας ωστόσο την αρχική της «ουσία».

Ο Του Γουέι ζει την ζωή της ανώτερης μεσαίας τάξης με τον πατέρα του, βιολόγο κυττάρων, και τη μητέρα του, πρώην αεροσυνοδό, που τώρα έχει «περιοριστεί» σε ρόλο νοικοκυράς με ελάχιστο λόγο στο τι συμβαίνει στο σπίτι της. Ως «προϊόν» της Πολιτικής του Ενός Παιδιού, ο Γουέι προορίζεται να εκπληρώσει τις επιθυμίες των γονιών του, και ιδιαίτερα του πατέρα του για το τι σημαίνει επιτυχία, δεχόμενος συνεχή πίεση να σπουδάσει στο εξωτερικό και, αναμενόμενα, να μάθει αγγλικά. Εκείνος όμως, προτιμά να ασχοληθεί με την ξιφασκία, προς μεγάλη δυσαρέσκεια του πατέρα του.

Μια μέρα στο σχολείο, ωστόσο, χτυπάει κατά λάθος με μια μπάλα μπάσκετ τον συμμαθητή του,...

The 20th Zurich Film Festival wrapped up this past weekend after celebrating many accomplishments in cinema. The international film event, held in Zurich, Switzerland, recognizes films and people in the movie industry through competitive awards.

In the main film competition, the movie “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” won the top Golden Eye award. The film’s director, Rungano Nyoni, Accepted the prize from the jury of five film experts led by acclaimed director Lee Daniels. Nyoni’s movie stood out from other strong competitors. Another competition highlight was giving special recognition to Jianjie Lin’s film “Brief History of a Family”.

The documentary competition also saw “Black Box Diaries” take the Golden Eye award. The film was directed by Shiori Itō and impressed the documentary jury led by Kevin Macdonald. They noted the film’s powerful story and filmmaking quality. Other documtentaries earning mentions included Sandi DuBowski’s “Sabbath Queen...

Concluding its 20th year, the Zurich Film Festival has named the winners this year’s Golden Eye.

As the festival wrapped up this weekend in Switzerland, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl and Black Box Diaries took home the Zff’s Golden Eye awards in the Feature Film and Documentary Competitions.

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl was selected by jury president Lee Daniels and members Souheila Yacoub, Jo Willems, Ewa Puszczyńska and Sophie Deraspe, with Jianjie Lin’s Brief History of a Family earning special mention.

Black Box Diaries was chosen by jury president Kevin Macdonald and members Franziska Sonder, Vincent Kelner, Anna Hints and Ben Bernhard, with Sandi DuBowski’s Sabbath Queen and Kinshuk Surjan’s Marching in the Dark recieving special mention.

Other winners include Les Courageux, Leeuwin and Die Heinzels 2: Neue Mützen, Neue Mission, with the latter two competing in Zff for Kids. Also honored at the festival were Kate Winslet,...

Japan’s leading indie film festival, Tokyo Filmex (November 23-December 1) has unveiled the line-up for its competition, opening and closing films, and other sections.

The festival, which marks its 25th year in 2024, will open with Jia Zhang-Ke’s Caught By The Tides, which played in competition at this year’s Cannes, and close with Hong Sang-soo’s By the Stream, for which actor Kim Min-hee won the Pardo for best performance at Locarno.

The 10 competition titles include the Georgian film April, directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, which won the special jury prize at Venice this year; Girls Will Be Girls, the...

Festival hits Anora, Emilia Perez and Maria, a new Stockholm Series strand for TV works, and a theme of ‘Men in Crisis’ are among the highlights of this year’s Stockholm International Film Festival (November 6-17), the programme of which has been announced today (October 9).

The international feature competition includes Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Berlin title La Cocina; RaMell Ross’ Telluride premiere Nickel Boys; and Gustav Moller’s Denmark-Sweden-France co-production Sons. It has an even split of 10 titles directed by women, and 10 by men.

Scroll down for the full list of Stockholm Competition titles

The 16-title documentary competition includes the world premiere of Garbo: Leave Me Alone,...

Jakarta World Cinema (Jwc) 2024 concluded its vibrant 8-day celebration of global cinema today, marking a triumphant closing with the screening of Bird, the latest film by acclaimed British director Andrea Arnold.

From September 21st to 28th, the international film festival captivated no less than 11,100 attendees through its offline screening in Cgv Grand Indonesia theatre, and 31,400 viewers through online streaming on KlikFilm. With a total of 42,500 attendees, this year’s offline screenings nearly tripled the attendance from last year.

Jakarta World Cinema presented 120 films from 61 countries, screened across various genres and styles, representing voices from around the world. This year’s festival featured a diverse selection of renowned titles, including Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez, Jia Zhang-ke’s Caught by the Tides, Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow, Greg Kwedar’s Sing Sing, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light, Muhammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Hong Sang-soo’s A Traveler’s Needs,...

Indian-French coming-of-age drama Girls Will Be Girls was awarded best film in the First Feature Competition of Jakarta World Cinema in Indonesia, which launched a competition section for the first time this year.

Directed by Shuchi Talati, the film is set in a boarding school in the Himalayan foothills and follows the teenage protagonist through her first love and the interference of a protective mother. The film premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where it won an audience award.

Best director in the First Feature Competition went to China’s Lin Jianjie for Brief History Of A Family, about a middle-class Chinese family in the post-one-child-policy era, who takes in their only son’s mysterious new friend.

Meanwhile, the Audience Award at Jakarta World Cinema went to Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, starring Demi Moore, which won the best screenplay award at this year’s Cannes.

The three-year-old festival,...

The Zurich Film Festival (Zff) has unveiled its full line-up for its 20th anniversary edition, which takes place from 3-13 October.

Zff’s main competition line-up comprises 14 films, with eight of them directed by women. Two of them are world premieres: Lucia Chiarla’s Es Geht Um Luis from Germany and Lisa Bruhlmann’s When We Were Sisters from Switzerland.

“This year the female gaze dominates our competition. Numerous films tell their stories through the eyes of women, for example Linda or Mother Mara,” Christian Jungen said.

The competition is aimed at discovering new talents compromising first, second and third directorial works,...

Now in its 23rd edition, the New York Asian Film Festival has been delivering high-octane thrills, riveting drama, hilarious comedies, and beyond from across Asia and the world for over two decades. This year’s edition is no different, offering highlights from Cannes (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In), Sundance (Dìdi (弟弟), Brief History of a Family), and Venice & TIFF, plus world premieres. Ahead of the festival kicking off July 12 at Film at Lincoln Center, we’re pleased to premiere the action-packed exclusive trailer.

“For so many, Asian films start and end with Parasite or Everything Everywhere All At Once (who could blame them?), but the real action is happening in the trenches of Asian cinema, where audacious auteurs and daring debutantes are unleashing a tidal wave of talent that’s about to crash on American shores,” said Samuel Jamier, festival director and president of the New York Asian Film Foundation.

It has been commonplace in academic circles to divide up and label Chinese filmmakers into generations that reflect socio-political currents as much as cinematic style.

Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, who were educated at the end of the Cultural Revolution, are considered the leading lights of the “fifth generation.” The rebellious cluster that followed them, Zhang Yuan, Wang Xioashuai, Jia Zhangke and Lou Ye are among those labelled as “sixth generation.”

But with substantial bodies of work under their belts and international reputations already established, the sixth generation are no longer quite so new, nor so angry.

The four Chinese films selected for the main competition – all world premieres – at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival represent a showcase of directors who are also known-quantities, but who are worthy of higher profiles. (The festival’s Asian Talent selection has a further selection of six more directors seeking to break through.

TorinoFilmLab (Tfl) has selected three international co-productions as winners of its 2024 Audience Design Fund, which provides financial aid and coaching for films at the distribution stage.

The three awarded projects are Indian director Kapadia Payal’s All We Imagine As Light; Egyptian directors Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir’s The Brink Of Dreams; and US-based Nepalese director Deepak Rauniyar’s The Sky Is Mine.

Each film is currently in post-production and will receive a €45,000 grant plus three online consultancy sessions to advise on innovative audience engagement and outreach strategies.

All We Imagine As Light is the second film from Kapadia Payal,...

This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres.

Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.

The closing film is the Asian premiere of “All the Long Nights,” directed by Miyake Sho and starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which also premiered in Berlin. Variety’s review of “Nights” called it “gently luminous.”

Chinese-language films selected for the Firebird competition include: “Borrowed Time,” “Brief History of a Family,” “Carefree Days,” Fresh off Markham,” “A Journey in Spring,” “Snow in Midsummer,” “Some Rain Must Fall” and “A Song Sung Blue.”

Foreign films for the Firebird competition’s other section include: “Arcadia,” “Arni,” “Ivo,” “Pepe,” “Sons,” “Sujo,” “The Tenants” and “Who Do I Belong to.

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.

Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.

Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.

Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...

Record market attendance, headline acquisitions by Sony and ongoing interest in starry packages tell only part of the story of a busy European Film Market (EFM).

An event brimming with late-arriving projects gave buyers plenty to consider and the mood was buoyant following what some had cited as the least productive AFM in decades last October.

“People had had a bit of a disappointing AFM in so many different ways, and everyone was ready,” said Ella Field, EVP of international sales at the UK’s Signature Entertainment, who described EFM as the most cost-effective market of the year. “Where there are great films,...

Hong Kong director Ray Yeung ‘s “All Shall Be Well” has sold in several key markets following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

Represented in international markets by Films Boutique, “All Shall Be Well” is playing in the Panorama section at the Berlinale and is eligible for the Teddy Award. The movies follows Angie (Patra Au Ga Man), a lesbian woman in her 60’s trying to save her family from unravelling and her world from crumbling after the abrupt death of her life-long partner Pat (Maggie Li Lin Lin). The movie also explores the limitations of Hong Kong laws which don’t allow same-sex marriage.

Films Boutique has sold the movie to Spain (Karma), Israel (Lev), Benelux (Vedette) and Switzerland (Trigon). The company is negotiating deals for France, North America and the U.K.

In an interview with Variety on the eve of the Berlinale, Yeung said the...

Parental conflicts arise when the younger generation’s goals differ from expectations, particularly in affluent families tied to societal status. Ideally, a parent’s love should outweigh ambitions, but conflicts arise when young individuals’ decisions deviate from expectations, causing tension. Fearing for their children’s prospects, parents may inadvertently stifle freedom, prompting individuals to seek solace outside the family and become susceptible to threats. In Jianjie Lin‘s debut film, Brief History of a Family the narrative tackles these common dissensions between children and their parents from a fresh perspective. The story revolves around a seemingly perfect family of three, whose stability is tested when the son’s mysterious classmate unexpectedly becomes the fourth member and depicts how China’s one-child policy that ended in 2016 still lingers among the middle class. This disrupts the delicate balance between parental guidance and the autonomy crucial for a young person’s growth.

One eventful day,...

Jianjie (JJ) Lin's debut feature “Brief History of a Family” stood out in the programming at Sundance this year. The Chinese-Danish co-production – one of this year's nominees in the World Cinema – Dramatic competition – surrenders to ambiguity. Unlike the many straightforward narratives at this year's edition, the film remains mum on who's on the side of good and evil – and perhaps, that underlines the thrill of the movie.

“A Brief History of a Family” premiered at Sundance 2024, and will play in the Panorama of the 74th edition of Berlinale. World sales is managed by Films Boutique and the screening schedule is available here.

Here, the spoiled Tu Wei (Muran Lin) lives a happy, upper middle class life with his two parents (Ke-Yu Guo and Feng Zu). Things begin to change, however, when he takes a high school classmate, Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun) under his wing after an accident at a basketball court.

Brief History Of A Family

Chinese director Jianjie 'JJ' Lin’s feature debut, Brief History Of A Family revolves around the shifting dynamics of a middle-class family. Wei, an only child in post one-child policy China befriends the reclusive Shuo, inviting him back home. Wei’s parents warm to the vulnerable teenager. As time passes, their friendship disrupts the dynamic Wei shares with his parents, as Shuo comes to resemble the son they’d quietly wished for.

In conversation with Eye For Film, Lin spoke about experiencing an existential crisis that set him on an unexpected path, his patient and detail orientated approach to filmmaking, and reimagining a traditional genre film.

Paul Risker: What appeals to you about filmmaking as a means of creative expression?

Jianjie 'JJ' Lin: I used to study biology and for a big part of my life I had very little to do with film.

Films Boutique has closed a raft of deals on the Chinese movie “Brief History of a Family,” which will play at the Berlinale in the Panorama section.

Chinese filmmaker Lin Jianjie‘s feature debut, “Brief History of a Family” premiered at Sundance and will be screening for buyers at the EFM as well.

Films Boutique has sold the movie to Benelux (September Films), Italy (Movies Inspired) and Spain (Karma Films).

The drama is set in the aftermath of an incident at the high school attended by Wei, an outgoing only son from a middle-class family, and Shuo, his quiet, perceptive classmate. Wei soon introduces his friend to his father, a cell biologist, and his mother, a former flight attendant. Learning that Shuo comes from a troubled background, Wei’s parents welcome this boy to spend more time in their home. Shuo slowly integrates himself into Wei’s family life and...

The Alexa 35 is booming! As IndieWire released its camera survey, it seems that the new Super 35 flagship from Arri is among the most popular cameras chosen by Sundance 2024’s filmmakers. The Arri 35 causes the notable Super 35 format to go back to the game. Furthermore, the Arri Alexa Mini is the most popular camera five years in a row. Watch the segmentation.

Sundance 2024’s Narratives: Camera Manufacturers’ chart

As you can see in the chart, Super 35 is the dominant format. As we thought that large sensors would pull down the notable Super 35, it’s not as simple as that, since the Arri 35 kicks the Super 35 to the popularity line again. Additionally, this is the first time that we have seen a solid presence of the Arri 35 in our charts. Head to head with the old (and mighty) Alexa Mini, the Arri 35 is climbing strong and may become the most preferred camera among storytellers.

Jianjie Lin’s Brief History of a Family is an immaculate sculpture, one of those art-film thrillers in which every element of every frame is under profound control. There’s no stray detail here, no spontaneous behavioral business for the audience to discover for itself.

The risk of this sort of film is lifelessness, as in any number of thrillers released each year by A24. But the potential benefit is a heightened suspense achieved by our implicit understanding that the filmmakers have the means and ability to do whatever they please. You’re in their hands, and they could be ready to work you over. Lin achieves and sustains this tension, as his eerie, underpopulated frames and pregnant foreshadowing create an understated unease.

Brief History of a Family opens with a medium shot of a teenage boy, Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun), attempting to do pull-ups on a playground. Shuo is...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

2024 Sundance Film Festival

Through Sunday, one can experience the 2024 Sundance Film Festival from the comfort of their own home, if it’s in the United States. Having seen over 50 titles in the lineup, in terms of films with tickets still available I can highly recommend Good One, Between the Temples, Tendaberry, Black Box Diaries, Ibelin, Kneecap, Didi, Brief History of a Family, Porcelain War, Sugarcane, Sujo, Seeking Mavis Beacon, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Union, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Realm of Satan. – Jordan R.

Where to Stream: Official Site (through Sunday only)

Amanda (Carolina Cavalli)

Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature doesn’t hit theaters for another few months, but you’d be forgiven if you thought it was actually Amanda, writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly humorous,...

Six Chinese-language genre projects have been unveiled by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, which has partnered with talent agency CAA China on an initiative to develop fresh titles.

Titled Hkiff Industry - CAA China Genre Initiative (shortened as Hcg), the scheme will showcase the projects to an industry audience at Filmart and the Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf), which runs March 11-13.

The selection includes Call Of Lobster, directed by Yin Chen-Hao and produced by Cheng Wei-Hao and Jin Pai-Lunn, who previously worked together on Taiwanese smash hit Man In Love. This comedy drama is...

China began loosening its one-child policy in 2015 until finally, in 2021, it abolished all restrictions on the number of children a family could have. Young Chinese filmmakers are beginning to grapple with the fallout of those prior decades in new fiction films that demonstrate how the Chinese family unit has been irreversibly transformed. Writer and Director Lin Jianjie, making his feature debut, eases us into his inquiry by using genre conventions – namely the ‘outsider intruding a family’ framework, deployed in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Teorema” and Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn.

Continue reading ‘Brief History Of A Family’: Post One-Child Policy China Gets The ‘Saltburn’ Treatment In Tense Domestic Thriller [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.

A Different Man.The Berlinale have begun to announce the first few titles selected for the 74th edition of their festival, set to take place from February 15 through 21, 2024. This page will be updated as further sections are announced.COMPETITIONAnother End (Piero Messina)Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)La Cocina (Alonso Ruiz Palacios) Dahomey (Mati Diop)A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)The Empire (Bruno Dumont)Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)My Favourite CakeLangue Etrangère (Claire Berger)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Joobeur)Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)Sterben (Matthias Glasner)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)Sleep With Your Eyes Open. ENCOUNTERSArcadia (Yorgos Zois)Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)Demba (Mamadou Dia)Direct ActionSleep With Your Eyes Open (Nele Wohlatz)The Fable (Raam Reddy...

Chinese filmmaker Lin Jianjie’s debut feature “Brief History of a Family,” which is being sold by Films Boutique, has debuted its trailer (below), following its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the Sundance Film Festival.

The film, which will make its European premiere in the Panorama program of the Berlin Film Festival, was received warmly by Variety critic Carlos Aguilar. In the review, Aguilar says the suspenseful drama was “elevated by its consistent visual inventiveness.” He adds that although at first it seems to be the story of a “cunning infiltrator wreaking havoc in an unsuspecting household,” it then “reveals itself as a tale of wish fulfillment for everyone involved.” Aguilar says that it is this approach which “turns Lin’s debut into an engrossing brain-tickler.”

The drama is put in motion by an incident at the high school attended by Wei, an outgoing only son from a middle-class family,...

Elevated by its consistent visual inventiveness, Chinese writer-director Jianjie Lin’s suspenseful drama “Brief History of a Family” could appear, at first glance, as a clear-cut case of a cunning infiltrator wreaking havoc in an unsuspecting household. Yet the closer we observe, the more it reveals itself as a tale of wish fulfillment for everyone involved. No doubt comparisons to “Saltburn,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” or “The Talented Mr. Ripley” will abound, but what Lin conceived is far more subcutaneous, with a sobering tone and disinterested in building up to a grand plot twist — though the resolution is unexpected.

Hit with a basketball while doing pull-ups, 15-year-old Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun) injures his leg. As an apologetic gesture, the guilty culprit, Tu Wei, a fellow classmate from an affluent family, invites Shuo to play video games and to stay over for dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Tu react, impressed...

Berlinale co-directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek are going out with a bang in their final year, with a lineup unveiled today featuring the latest works by Olivier Assayas, Bruno Dumont, Mati Diop, Hong Sang-soo, Abderrahmane Sissako, Jane Schoenbrun, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Matias Pineiro, Travis Wilkerson, Kazik Radwanski, Annie Baker, and more.

When the co-directors were asked by Screen Daily about their departure, Chatrian said, “It’s quite simple. Mariette and I had a mandate of five years. It is true that at the beginning I said that I was willing to go on because there was a shared will with the [German] Ministry [of Culture] to go on. But then the people who have the responsibility to see the future of the Berlinale thought this structure of two leaders was not the right one and I don’t consider myself able to run the festival alone. And that was the decision of the Ministry.

Children often complain about not being able to choose their parents, but the opposite is true as well, and rarely explored in fiction with the elegance and pithiness of Jianjie Lin’s directorial debut Brief History of a Family. Set in modern China, where the emerging middle class is trying to form an identity, the film presents us with two sets of characters whose stories become intertwined in unexpectedly powerful ways.

We first meet Yan Shuo (Xilun Sun) as he’s literally hanging for dear life while attempting a pull-up in the schoolyard. When he falls and hurts his knee, he’s taken to the nurse by Wei (Muran Lin), a fellow schoolmate who pities him. The two become fast friends, and soon Wei invites Yan Shuo over to play video games and talk about their lives.

Both boys––products of the controversial one-child policy used to control overpopulation in...

First-time mainland Chinese director Lin Jianjie (aka JJ Lin) makes a splash this weekend with the premiere of his “Brief History of a Family.”

Asking questions about family in the era since the end of China’s ‘One Child Policy,’ while also borrowing genre tropes such as the idea of the intruder and blood, it is a polished and ultra-modern fable that sees a teenage schoolboy ingratiate himself into another boy’s family.

Variety spoke to biologist-turned-filmmaker Lin on the eve of his Sundance debut.

How did you get from zero to making your first feature?

[After graduating in biology] I did two short films at film school. I went to Tisch Asia, which had a campus in Singapore. We also had an exchange program with Tisch in New York. At school, you may have a lot of ideas, but not all stay with you. This one did. Every once in a while, I...

The Berlinale has completed the lineup for its Panorama, Generation, Forum and Forum expanded sections, with new films from Levan Akin and Andre Techine, plus the debut feature of US playwright Annie Baker.

Swedish filmmaker Akin, who scored an international hit in 2019 with And Then We Danced, will open the Panorama strand with Crossing, about two people travelling from Georgia to Istanbul in search of a young transgender woman.

Scroll down for the full list of Panorama, Generation and Forum features

Also among the 31 films in Panorama are My New Friends from French filmmaker Techine, starring Isabelle Hupert, Hafsia Herzi...

Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun, a Scotland-set drama starring Saoirse Ronan, will have its world premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival, screening in Berlin’s Panorama section.

The drama is adapted from Amy Liptrot’s best-selling memoir about a recovering alcoholic — played by four-time Oscar nominee Ronan — who returns to her home on the windswept wilderness of Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Fingscheidt made her debut with System Crasher at the 2019 Berlinale. Her English-language follow-up was 2021’s The Unforgivable, a Netflix drama starring Sandra Bullock.

The Outrun is among the first 11 titles picked by Panorama for its 2024 lineup.

Other Panorama highlights include Andrea Gets a Divorce, an Austrian drama from famed actor and comedian Josef Hader, starring Birgit Minichmayr (Everyone Else) as policewoman Andrea trying to escape the confines of her provincial town; Paradises of Diane from Swiss directing duo Carmen Jaquier and Jan Gassmann, about the antihero Diane, who...

Films starring Saoirse Ronan and Justice Smith are set for Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section.

Panorama announced its first 11 titles on Thursday, seven of which are world premieres. The lineup includes Nora Fingscheidt’s “The Outrun,” which stars Ronan as an antihero who must embark on a journey to find herself. “After years of excess in London, she seeks silence and self-reflection in her Scottish homeland,” the film’s logline reads.

Directed by Jane Schoenbrun, “I Saw the TV Glow” — which stars Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine and Danielle Deadwyler, among others — is also part of the program. In a press release, the festival called the film “one of the most idiosyncratic and fascinating works of the year, effortlessly crossing boundaries of genre, gender and trauma in this eye- and soul-opening trip.”

The annual Panorama Audience Award will be presented on Feb. 25. Berlin Film Festival is set to take place beginning Feb.

The Berlin Film Festival today unveiled the first titles set for the 2024 edition of its Panorama sidebar section. Scroll down for the full list of titles announced today.

The lineup includes eleven titles, seven of which are world premieres. A total of 16 countries have been involved in their production. The fest said the topics connecting the titles are rebellion and antiheroes.

Among the set is Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun, centered around antihero Rona, played by Saoirse Ronan, who has to go on a long journey to find herself: after years of excess in London, she seeks silence and self-reflection in her Scottish homeland. The film also stars Paapa Essiedu.

Danielle Deadwyler stars in I Saw the TV Glow from Jane Schoenbrun. The pic follows a teenager called Owen who is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night...