#Festivals
TIFF 2022 Preview: Indigenous Icons, Women Warriors, Heroic Sisters, and More
Summer is winding down just as chatter about awards contenders is starting to heat up. The 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is nearly upon us, and the fest’s...
TIFF 2022 Women Directors: Meet Sophie Jarvis – “Until Branches Bend”
Sophie Jarvis studied at Simon Fraser University, where she made her short film “The Worst Day Ever,” which premiered at TIFF in 2012. Since then, she has gone on to direct primarily...
Venice 2022 Women Directors: Meet Georgia Oakley – “Blue Jean”
Georgia Oakley is a screenwriter and director with a particular fondness for convention-defying, female-led narratives. Her shorts have screened at dozens of international festivals, including SXSW,...
Venice 2022 Women Directors: Meet Soudade Kaadan – “Nezouh”
Soudade Kaadan is a Syrian director based in London. Her first feature fiction film, “The Day I Lost My Shadow,” was awarded the Lion of The Future for best debut at the 2018 Venice Film...
Michelle Yeoh to Receive Inaugural TIFF Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award
Michelle Yeoh is making history at the Toronto International Film Festival. The “Everything Everywhere All At Once” star has been named as the inaugural recipient of the TIFF Share Her...
Teaser Watch: Cate Blanchett Is a Conductor Fixated on Time, Power, and Art in Venice Pic “TÁR”
Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) understands the power she wields — and the power she doesn’t — in an atmospheric teaser for “TÁR.” The Venice Competition title appears to...
Charlotte Gainsbourg Set to Be Honored at Zurich Film Festival
The 18th Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) will celebrate Charlotte Gainsbourg for her “exceptional acting.” According to a press release, the “Nymphomaniac” star will receive the...
Laura Poitras’ “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” Acquired by Neon Ahead of Venice Premiere
“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” has yet to make its world premiere at Venice Film Festival or its subsequent outings at Toronto and New York Film Festivals, but it’s already been...
Michelle Yeoh to Receive Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Kirk Douglas Award
2022 is shaping up to be a very good year for Michelle Yeoh. She toplined the critical and commercial hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — which has become A24’s...
Trailer Watch: Marriage & Death Are Equally Appealing in “Catherine Called Birdy,” Lena Dunham’s TIFF Pic
Lady Catherine, who prefers to called Birdy (Bella Ramsey), does not want to get married. Can you blame her? She’s only in her teens and her father (Andrew Scott) just wants her to get hitched...
Awards Roundup: Honors for Dede Gardner, Sara Summa, and Milena Aboyan
Powerhouse producer Dede Gardner is set to be honored later this year at Austin Film Festival. According to a press release, she will be awarded the Polly Platt Award for Producing at the...
Trailer Watch: Laura Mora Centers a Found Family in Her San Sebastián Pic “The Kings of the World”
Featuring a roster of non-professional actors, Laura Mora’s San Sebastián-bound “The Kings of the World” (“Los Reyes del Mundo”) follows a group of five boys, aged 12 to 19,...
Heretic Acquires World Sales Rights to Marian Mathias’ “Runner” Ahead of Toronto Premiere
Marian Mathias is set to have a busy fall, with her feature debut “Runner” soon to enjoy its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in September, and its European premiere...
Awards Roundup: Dolly Parton Receives Philanthropy Medal, Ana de Armas Honored by Deauville Fest
A seasoned vet and an emerging talent will both be celebrated with awards this fall. According to the Associated Press, Dolly Parton will be among those receiving the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy...
Intramovies Acquires Sales Rights to Tereza Nvotovà’s Locarno Pic “Nightsiren”
International sales rights for Czech filmmaker Tereza Nvotovà’s new film, “Nightsiren,” have been snapped up by Intramovies ahead of the picture’s world premiere at Locarno...
Trailer Watch: A Young Law Student Discovers BDSM in Julia Murat’s Locarno Entry “Rule 34”
Ahead of its premiere at Locarno Film Festival this month, Variety has exclusively shared the first trailer for Brazilian filmmaker Julia Murat’s third feature, “Rule 34.” In it, we...
Watch: A Woman Observes Another’s Trial in This Clip of Alice Diop’s “Saint Omer”
In Alice Diop’s latest film, “Saint Omer,” a novelist looking for inspiration attends the trial of a woman accused of killing her toddler daughter — and she’s shaken up...
Chinonye Chukwu’s “Till” to Premiere & Host Community Screenings at New York Film Fest, Releases Trailer
Today, July 25, on what would have been Emmett Till’s 81st birthday, several announcements have been made about “Till,” Chinonye Chukwu’s historical drama about Till’s...
Teaser Watch: Kirsten Carthew Takes Us to an Arctic Wasteland in “Polaris”
Sparse on dialogue and rich in atmosphere, a new teaser for “Polaris” introduces us to a girl trapped in a frozen wasteland. Kirsten Carthew’s apocalyptic fantasy is set in 2144,...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Erika Alexander – “The Big Payback”
Erika Alexander is known for her acting roles in “Living Single” — garnering two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress and Comedy Series — “Get Out,”...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Kyra Sedgwick – “Space Oddity”
Kyra Sedgwick is an award-winning actress, producer, and director. She is best known for her Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama “The...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Katie Holmes – “Alone Together”
Katie Holmes has appeared in several notable films, ranging from the action blockbuster “Batman Begins,” to critically acclaimed art house pictures such as “The Ice Storm” and...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Sarah Elizabeth Mintz – “Good Girl Jane”
Sarah Elizabeth Mintz is a writer-director working in New York and Los Angeles. She received her BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she completed her thesis film...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Irene Taylor – “Leave No Trace”
Irene Taylor is a Peabody and Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated director and producer whose documentaries have shown theatrically, at film festivals, and on television worldwide. Her most recent film,...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Alex Heller – “The Year Between”
In addition to being selected for the TFI Network, Alex Heller’s “The Year Between” was one of five projects selected for AT&T Presents: Untold Stories, the million-dollar pitch at the...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Kristy Guevara-Flanagan – “Body Parts”
Kristy Guevara-Flanagan has made award-winning documentary films focusing on gender and representation for two decades, including feature docs “Going on 13,” “Wonder Women! The...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Maya Forbes – “The Good House”
Maya Forbes made her directorial debut with “Infinitely Polar Bear” (2014) which she also wrote. She was a writer on HBO’s “The Larry Sanders Show” and has since...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Becky Hutner – “Fashion Reimagined”
Becky Hutner is a Toronto-born filmmaker living in coastal England. Her filmmaking journey includes five years in London creating short-form work in the fashion and culture space for DUCK...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Johanna Hamilton and Yoruba Richen – “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks”
Johanna Hamilton is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her previous work includes “1971″, which chronicled the break-in at an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania that revealed the...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Cynthia Lowen – “Battleground”
Cynthia Lowen is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and award-winning writer whose work uses the power of story to catalyze meaningful change, confronting timely social issues from bullying to online...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Nadia Hellgren – “Civil”
Nadia Hallgren is an award-winning filmmaker from The Bronx, New York. She directed “Becoming,” the 2020 Netflix feature documentary about former First Lady Michelle Obama....
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady – “Endangered”
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady are the directors of the Academy Award-nominated “Jesus Camp,” Peabody Award winners “The Boys of Baraka” and “12th & Delaware,”...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Natalia Sinelnikova – “We Might As Well Be Dead”
Natalia Sinelnikova is a writer and director based in Berlin. Her short film “Weeping Willows” was screened at various international festivals. In 2016, she was a member of the Debut Film...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Geeta Gandbhir – “Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power”
Geeta Gandbhir is an award-winning director, producer, and editor with over 25 years of experience in the film industry across narrative and documentary. Her documentary short, “Call Center...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Ivete Lucas – “Naked Gardens”
Using precise and illustrative cinematic images, Ivete Lucas collaborates with Patrick Bresnan to make verité stories that counter the mythic concepts of America. Their short films have premiered at...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Signe Baumane – “My Love Affair with Marriage”
Signe Baumane is a Latvian-born, Brooklyn-based independent filmmaker, artist, writer, and animator. She has made 17 award-winning animated shorts but is best known for her first animated feature,...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Lizzie Gottlieb – “Turn Every Page”
Lizzie Gottlieb has been directing theater and film in New York for 20 years. She founded an Off-Broadway theater company that developed and produced new plays. Her films include “Today’s...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Shirin Neshat – “Land of Dreams”
Shirin Neshat is an Iranian artist and filmmaker living in New York. She works in photography, video installation, and film. Neshat has held numerous exhibitions internationally, most recently at the...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Tessa Louise-Salomé – “The Wild One”
Tessa Louise-Salomé is a Paris-based director, writer, and producer whose work foregrounds visually poetic approaches to storytelling. Her films as a director include the Sundance Jury Prize nominee...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Pratibha Parmar – “My Name Is Andrea”
Pratibha Parmar is an award-winning British writer, director, and producer. Pratibha has worked across multiple genres – feature documentaries, short dramas, music videos, a narrative feature, and...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Nausheen Dadabhoy – “An Act of Worship”
Nausheen Dadabhoy is a Pakistani-American director and cinematographer whose work spans fiction and documentary. She lensed an Oscar-nominated live action short film, an Emmy-winning feature...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Jennifer Tiexiera and Camilla Hall – “Subject”
Jennifer Tiexiera is an award-winning documentary director, producer, and editor. She directed “P.S. Burn This Letter Please,” was a writer on “17 Blocks,” and produced and...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Hannah Marks – “Don’t Make Me Go”
Hannah Marks is an actress, writer, and director. She was previously named one of Rolling Stone’s 25 Artists Changing the World, and was also featured as one of Forbes magazine’s 30 Trailblazers...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Anna Jadowska – “Woman on the Roof”
Anna Jadowska’s feature “Touch Me” screened at the Berlinale and won Poland’s Grand Independent Cinema Prize. Her short “Corridor” was selected as part of...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Mali Elfman – “Next Exit”
Mali Elfman is a writer, director, and BAFTA-nominated producer who began her career with her micro-budget feature film “Do Not Disturb.” Since then she’s produced numerous films...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Annette K. Olesen – “A Matter of Trust”
Annette K. Olesen is a screenwriter and director whose feature film debut came in 2002 with family drama “Minor Mishaps.” The film was selected to compete at the Berlin International Film...
Tribeca 2022 Women Directors: Meet Sarah Adina Smith – “The Drop”
Sarah Adina Smith’s first feature, “The Midnight Swim,” won six top prizes on the festival circuit. Her other features include “Buster’s Mal Heart” and...
Cannes 2022 Women Directors: Meet Romane Gueret & Lise Akoka – “The Worst Ones” (“Les Pires”)
Romane Gueret studied cinema at the Sorbonne and took her first steps toward directing as an assistant director, casting assistant, and camerawoman. A trained actress, Lise Akoka discovered, in the...
Cannes 2022 Women Directors: Meet Charlotte Vandermeersch – “The Eight Mountains”
Charlotte Vandermeersch is an acclaimed Belgian stage and screen actress. She also sings and writes for film and theater. In 2011 she wrote a version of the screenplay of “The Broken Circle...
Cannes 2022 Women Directors: Meet Emily Atef – “More Than Ever” (“Plus Que Jamais”)
Emily Atef is a French-Iranian director born in Berlin. Her first feature film, “Molly’s Way,” won the Best Screenplay Award at the Munich Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize at...
Cannes Reminds Us (Again) of How Much It Is Holding the Film Industry Back
Last week I was wondering why I was feeling so calm and then I realized that I wasn’t preparing to go to Cannes. For several years before the pandemic, I joined the annual pilgrimage to...