Easy to overlook in the looming shadow of the Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals (and all of the awards season hoopla they portend), Switzerland’s historic Locarno Film Festival has remained so distinct and essential precisely because of its refusal to concede to industry pressures or chase attention over artistry.
While the magical Piazza Grande has been home to its fair share of glitzy outdoor screenings over the years — last year saw the 8,000-seat town square transform into an impromptu “Bullet Train” station, for example, while this year’s fest will host open-air screenings of everything from “Theater Camp” to Federico Fellini’s “City of Women” — Locarno has always prided itself on providing a more curious and less hostile platform for elite auteurs whose work may not conform to the commercial demands of the international marketplace; recent winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Leopard award include Hong Sang-soo,...
While the magical Piazza Grande has been home to its fair share of glitzy outdoor screenings over the years — last year saw the 8,000-seat town square transform into an impromptu “Bullet Train” station, for example, while this year’s fest will host open-air screenings of everything from “Theater Camp” to Federico Fellini’s “City of Women” — Locarno has always prided itself on providing a more curious and less hostile platform for elite auteurs whose work may not conform to the commercial demands of the international marketplace; recent winners of the festival’s prestigious Golden Leopard award include Hong Sang-soo,...
- 8/1/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
As we approach 2023’s halfway point it’s time to take a temperature of the finest cinema thus far: we’ve rounded up our favorites from the first six months of this year, many of which have flown under the radar. Kindly note that this is based solely on U.S. theatrical and digital releases from 2023.
We should also note a number of stellar films that premiered on the festival circuit last year also had an awards-qualifying run, thus making them 2022 films by our standards––including One Fine Morning, Saint Omer, and Return to Seoul. Check out our picks below, as organized alphabetically, followed by honorable mentions.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (Kelly Fremon Craig)
Like Judy Blume’s treasured young adult classic, Kelly Fremon Craig’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret begins in 1970 with 11-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) getting the worst news any...
We should also note a number of stellar films that premiered on the festival circuit last year also had an awards-qualifying run, thus making them 2022 films by our standards––including One Fine Morning, Saint Omer, and Return to Seoul. Check out our picks below, as organized alphabetically, followed by honorable mentions.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (Kelly Fremon Craig)
Like Judy Blume’s treasured young adult classic, Kelly Fremon Craig’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret begins in 1970 with 11-year-old Margaret Simon (Abby Ryder Fortson) getting the worst news any...
- 6/13/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
“In Our Day,” the new Hong Sang-soo film premiering later this week as the Cannes Film Festival’s closing night film, has been acquired by Cinema Guild. A theatrical release is planned following its North American festival premiere later this year.
The picture stars Kim Min-hee, Song Seon-mi, Gi Ju-bong and Ha Seong-guk. This character dramedy marks Hong’s 30th feature film, this time using long, elaborate takes to articulate simple pleasures like an interspecies encounter, the discovery of a new drink and a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Also Read:
Rebel Wilson to Make Directorial Debut With Musical Comedy ‘The Deb’
“Adding to the rich tableau of his work, Hong Sang-soo’s ‘In Our Day’ not only makes us laugh, it makes us think about what it means to be alive,” Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly said in a statement. “It’s a gift that we hope continues and continues.
The picture stars Kim Min-hee, Song Seon-mi, Gi Ju-bong and Ha Seong-guk. This character dramedy marks Hong’s 30th feature film, this time using long, elaborate takes to articulate simple pleasures like an interspecies encounter, the discovery of a new drink and a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Also Read:
Rebel Wilson to Make Directorial Debut With Musical Comedy ‘The Deb’
“Adding to the rich tableau of his work, Hong Sang-soo’s ‘In Our Day’ not only makes us laugh, it makes us think about what it means to be alive,” Cinema Guild president Peter Kelly said in a statement. “It’s a gift that we hope continues and continues.
- 5/24/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
Hong Sang-soo’s latest film “In Our Day,” which will premiere on closing night of Cannes’ Directors Fortnight, has been acquired by Cinema Guild for North America.
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year.
“In Our Day” stars Kim Minhee as Sangwon, an actress who has recently returned to South Korea and is temporarily staying with her friend, Jungsoo (Song Sunmi), and her cat, Us. Elsewhere in the city, the aging poet Uiju (Ki Joobong) lives alone, his cat having recently passed away. On this ordinary day, each of them has a visitor: Sangwon is visited by her cousin, Jisoo (Park Miso) and Uiju, by a young actor,
Jaewon (Ha Seongguk). Each of them wants to learn about a career in the arts, but they also
have bigger questions.
Hong’s 30th feature outing, “In Our Day” demonstrates a new...
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year.
“In Our Day” stars Kim Minhee as Sangwon, an actress who has recently returned to South Korea and is temporarily staying with her friend, Jungsoo (Song Sunmi), and her cat, Us. Elsewhere in the city, the aging poet Uiju (Ki Joobong) lives alone, his cat having recently passed away. On this ordinary day, each of them has a visitor: Sangwon is visited by her cousin, Jisoo (Park Miso) and Uiju, by a young actor,
Jaewon (Ha Seongguk). Each of them wants to learn about a career in the arts, but they also
have bigger questions.
Hong’s 30th feature outing, “In Our Day” demonstrates a new...
- 5/24/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Hong’s 30th feature premieres at Cannes on May 25.
Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, the closing night film of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, in a deal with South Korea’s Finecut.
Cinema Guild said it will release Hong’s 30th feature film in theatres following its North American festival premiere later this year.
The South Korean film follows an actress and old poet who each host a visitor and dodge questions posed by their guests using food, drink and games.
The feature has already sold to key territories, including France (Capricci), Spain...
Cinema Guild has acquired North American distribution rights Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, the closing night film of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, in a deal with South Korea’s Finecut.
Cinema Guild said it will release Hong’s 30th feature film in theatres following its North American festival premiere later this year.
The South Korean film follows an actress and old poet who each host a visitor and dodge questions posed by their guests using food, drink and games.
The feature has already sold to key territories, including France (Capricci), Spain...
- 5/24/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Ari Aster, the horror maestro behind Hereditary and Midsommar, is out with Beau Is Afraid on four screens as A24 presents the film in LA (AMC Century City and Burbank) and New York, in Imax on both coasts, followed next week by a regional Imax expansion and into to a wider national rollout April 21.
The film is getting some love from Martin Scorsese, who will join Aster in conversation Monday night after an Imax showing in NYC. Opening weekend will feature Q&As with Aster and cast, which includes Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan and Parker Posey.
The director has a dedicated fan base, and that’s invaluable in looking to break out with the specialty market still tentative compared with the Super Mario Bros-sized rebound of the broader box office. Presales indicate a strong debut.
Deadline’s review calls...
The film is getting some love from Martin Scorsese, who will join Aster in conversation Monday night after an Imax showing in NYC. Opening weekend will feature Q&As with Aster and cast, which includes Nathan Lane, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan and Parker Posey.
The director has a dedicated fan base, and that’s invaluable in looking to break out with the specialty market still tentative compared with the Super Mario Bros-sized rebound of the broader box office. Presales indicate a strong debut.
Deadline’s review calls...
- 4/14/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
With only two feature films, German director Helena Wittmann has established herself as one of the most distinctive voices in international cinema. Her 2017 debut Drift and her latest film, Human Flowers of Flesh invite audiences on transcendent, formally bold voyages, creating a space for reflection while feeling wholly transported to her locales. Starring Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia, with an appearance by Denis Lavant, her latest film follows a woman who sets sail on an aquatic adventure with five male members of the French Foreign Legion, none of whom speak the same language.
While in town for her New York Film Festival premiere last fall, I caught up with Wittmann to discuss her connection with the sea, casting, how she pulled off some of the film’s incredible shots, being inspired by Claire Denis, and more. Check out the conversation as the film enters a limited release this weekend, beginning at Metrograph and expanding.
While in town for her New York Film Festival premiere last fall, I caught up with Wittmann to discuss her connection with the sea, casting, how she pulled off some of the film’s incredible shots, being inspired by Claire Denis, and more. Check out the conversation as the film enters a limited release this weekend, beginning at Metrograph and expanding.
- 4/13/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Spike Lee, Chantal Akerman, Wong Kar-wai, Steven Spielberg, Claire Denis, Pedro Almodóvar, Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Nolan, Kelly Reichardt, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Charles Burnett, Lynne Ramsay, Lee Chang-dong, Yorgos Lanthimos, Mia Hansen-Løve, Bi Gan, Michael Haneke, and Hou Hsiao-hsien. Those are just a few of the directors who have been featured at New Directors/New Films throughout its 52-year history.
With this year’s edition, taking place at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, kicking off this Wednesday, we’ve rounded up 17 features worth seeing––some of which we caught at Sundance, Berlinale, Locarno, and beyond, and others new to us at the festival. All in all, this 52nd edition presents another exciting example of the boundless creativity of emerging filmmakers and points to a bright future for the medium.
Check out our picks to see below and learn more here.
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark,...
With this year’s edition, taking place at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center at the Museum of Modern Art, kicking off this Wednesday, we’ve rounded up 17 features worth seeing––some of which we caught at Sundance, Berlinale, Locarno, and beyond, and others new to us at the festival. All in all, this 52nd edition presents another exciting example of the boundless creativity of emerging filmmakers and points to a bright future for the medium.
Check out our picks to see below and learn more here.
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark,...
- 3/28/2023
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
One of the most exciting directorial debuts of recent years is Helena Wittmann’s 2017 feature Drift, a formally audacious aquatic journey. The German filmmaker returned to the festival circuit last year, at Locarno and the New York Film Festival, with her follow-up Human Flowers of Flesh, which proved a natural extension of her transportive cinematic interests in the sea while greatly expanding her canvas. Ahead of a theatrical release from Cinema Guild release beginning at Metrograph on April 14––alongside a full retrospective of Wittmann’s work, including Drift, 4 short films, and a live performance piece––we’re pleased to exclusively debut the new trailer and poster.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Human Flowers of Flesh follows, Ida (Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia), who, after a stirring encounter with the French Foreign Legion sets sail with her own corps of five men, none of whom speak the same language, to trace the route of this fabled troop.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Human Flowers of Flesh follows, Ida (Dogtooth’s Angeliki Papoulia), who, after a stirring encounter with the French Foreign Legion sets sail with her own corps of five men, none of whom speak the same language, to trace the route of this fabled troop.
- 3/16/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Cinema Guild has acquired North American rights for Belgian director Bas Devos’s film Here which won best film in the Berlin Film Festival’s Encounters section last month as well as the Fipresci prize.
The film revolves around a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels who is making preparations ahead of his return home to visit his mother for the holidays, not knowing if he will come back to the city.
While waiting for his car to be fixed, he meets a Belgian-Chinese woman bryologist, or expert in the study of moss and lichen, who is preparing her doctorate while working in her aunt’s restaurant. Her attention to the near-invisible stops him in his tracks.
Like Devos’s previous 2019 film Ghost Tropic, Brussels is inherent to the storyline as the director explores ideas of longing in contemporary urban life and the potential for enchantment that still exists...
The film revolves around a Romanian construction worker living in Brussels who is making preparations ahead of his return home to visit his mother for the holidays, not knowing if he will come back to the city.
While waiting for his car to be fixed, he meets a Belgian-Chinese woman bryologist, or expert in the study of moss and lichen, who is preparing her doctorate while working in her aunt’s restaurant. Her attention to the near-invisible stops him in his tracks.
Like Devos’s previous 2019 film Ghost Tropic, Brussels is inherent to the storyline as the director explores ideas of longing in contemporary urban life and the potential for enchantment that still exists...
- 3/14/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo’s latest film, “In Water,” has been bought by Cinema Guild for North American distribution on the heels of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
The film played in the Encounters section and is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year. Cinema Guild will be releasing “In Water” theatrically, despite a below-standard run time of just 61-minutes.
Described by Cinema Guild as Hong’s “most overtly experimental work to date,” “In Water” follows Seongmo (Shin Seokho), a young man who recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. He and his two friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot the movie together. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem is that Seongmo...
The film played in the Encounters section and is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year. Cinema Guild will be releasing “In Water” theatrically, despite a below-standard run time of just 61-minutes.
Described by Cinema Guild as Hong’s “most overtly experimental work to date,” “In Water” follows Seongmo (Shin Seokho), a young man who recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. He and his two friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot the movie together. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem is that Seongmo...
- 2/22/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy and Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
To be blunt about it, we’re reaching the sad, maybe inevitable stage where Beau Travail and its famous closing sequence are becoming subject to the dreaded “Seinfeld Effect,” coined to note where the original value of something is diminished by successive imitations. It’s not that Denis’ film and Denis Levant’s death dance would ever lose their impact for those new or returning to it, but that a prospective viewer could see a weaker future rendering or a jaded, comic social-media reference to the scene first, and then afterward eventually seek out Beau Travail, greeting it with a bit of a “huh, that’s where that’s from” or underwhelmed reaction.
To Disco Boy’s credit, while its core themes and imagery are second-hand, it does attempt to build, expand on, perhaps modernize Beau Travail, not unlike Helena Wittmann’s recent Human Flowers of Flesh, which premiered last...
To Disco Boy’s credit, while its core themes and imagery are second-hand, it does attempt to build, expand on, perhaps modernize Beau Travail, not unlike Helena Wittmann’s recent Human Flowers of Flesh, which premiered last...
- 2/22/2023
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
“Music,” Angela Schanelec’s German drama, has been bought by Cinema Guild for North
American distribution following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year. The film tells the story of a a pair of wayward young people who abandon their
newborn child on a stormy night in the mountains of Greece. Taken in by a family of farmers, Jon grows up without knowing his father or mother. Years later, after a tragic accident, he is sent to prison, where he meets Iro. The two form a connection, expressed through music, that will, by turns, haunt them and uphold them the rest of their days. Freely inspired by the story of Oedipus, Schanelec’s latest is as terrifying as myth and as gentle as a folk song.
“With Music, Angela Schanelec continues to...
American distribution following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.
Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year. The film tells the story of a a pair of wayward young people who abandon their
newborn child on a stormy night in the mountains of Greece. Taken in by a family of farmers, Jon grows up without knowing his father or mother. Years later, after a tragic accident, he is sent to prison, where he meets Iro. The two form a connection, expressed through music, that will, by turns, haunt them and uphold them the rest of their days. Freely inspired by the story of Oedipus, Schanelec’s latest is as terrifying as myth and as gentle as a folk song.
“With Music, Angela Schanelec continues to...
- 2/21/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy and Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
New German titles, festival favourites and a Ukrainian competition,
Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness heads the festival favourites that will screen at the 30th anniversary edition of Filmfest Hamburg later this month.
It will be joined by Cannes title Cristian Mungiu’s R.M.N., as well as local Hamburg filmmaker Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers Of Flesh , Kilian Riedhof’s You Will Not Have My Hate and Ann Oren’s Piaffe, which all premiered at Locarno, and Venice titles Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin, Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Houman Seyedi’s World War III,...
Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness heads the festival favourites that will screen at the 30th anniversary edition of Filmfest Hamburg later this month.
It will be joined by Cannes title Cristian Mungiu’s R.M.N., as well as local Hamburg filmmaker Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers Of Flesh , Kilian Riedhof’s You Will Not Have My Hate and Ann Oren’s Piaffe, which all premiered at Locarno, and Venice titles Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin, Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Houman Seyedi’s World War III,...
- 9/14/2022
- ScreenDaily
Human Flowers of Flesh (2022).I’ve always known that the context of any screening affects our response to a film, but I think I came to understand this on a gut level only recently. It’s only when you travel to a different landscape that you can really comprehend—in your body as much as in your mind—how much your environment shapes your aesthetic experience. I was at the Locarno Film Festival in August, for instance, and I found myself drawn to movies that wouldn’t normally have moved me, the type of slow cinema that’s popular on the festival circuit but which sometimes leaves me cold. Maybe I was more open-minded about this kind of film because of my unusually relaxed surroundings. Maybe it was the psychic energy of the location itself—Locarno, nestled on the shore of Lake Maggiore, surrounded on all sides by steep, lush...
- 9/7/2022
- MUBI
Human Flowers of Flesh.For its second edition under director Giona A. Nazzaro and the first fully physical iteration since 2019, the Locarno Film Festival sought to reestablish itself in 2022 as one of the preeminent destinations for cinephiles looking to simultaneously discover fresh talent, take in new work by veteran directors, and dive deep into film history. While Nazzaro’s stated intention to make the festival more audience-friendly—if not outright commercial—was met with skepticism by critics accustomed to Locarno’s tradition of championing art cinema, it’s clear after two years that these comments didn’t portend a drastic realignment of programming values so much as anticipate a reevaluation of the festival’s perceived strengths. Due to the elimination of a couple of sidebars, the curatorial focus is now centered directly on the International Competition and Filmmakers of the Present sections, with even some clever cross-pollination between these strands...
- 8/29/2022
- MUBI
And Then, the Sea Comes Back: Helena Wittmann and Angeliki Papoulia Discuss “Human Flowers of Flesh”
Human Flowers of Flesh (2022).In Helena Wittmann’s first feature, Drift (2017), two women holiday in Sylt, the northernmost island in Germany. Theresa and Josefina return to the port city of Hamburg temporarily and then, across a cut, Theresa appears alone in Antigua. Soon afterward, she sails across the Atlantic, via the Azores, back to Hamburg—but before she sails, Theresa stops at a beach in Antigua, where she gathers shells and dried coral.Within the first ten minutes of Human Flowers of Flesh, Wittmann’s follow-up to Drift, a woman hands another woman a piece of dried coral—“from Antigua,” she says in French. She is not Theresa and the film does not return to Antigua. Ida, played by Angeliki Papoulia, nonetheless shares with Theresa the experience of a trip there, where she came across a shoreline “like the cemetery of a coral reef.”Human Flowers of Flesh shares a...
- 8/29/2022
- MUBI
Following the Main Slate and Spotlight announcements, the 60th New York Film Festival has unveiled its Currents section. The slate of boundary-pushing work features Bertrand Bonello’s Coma, João Pedro Rodrigues’ Will-o’-the-Wisp, Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers of Flesh, Alessandro Comodin’s The Adventures of Gigi the Law, Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós’s Dry Ground Burning, Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher, and Ashley McKenzie’s Queens of the Qing Dynasty, plus new shorts by Bi Gan, Mark Jenkin, Simón Velez, Nicolás Pereda, Courtney Stephens, Ben Russell, and more.
“Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness in contemporary cinema, and this is, by design, the most expansive section of the festival,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director, New York Film Festival. “There are familiar names here—including multiple filmmakers who will be known to NYFF and Flc audiences—as well as some electrifying new talents,...
“Each Currents lineup is an attempt to distill the spirit of innovation and playfulness in contemporary cinema, and this is, by design, the most expansive section of the festival,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director, New York Film Festival. “There are familiar names here—including multiple filmmakers who will be known to NYFF and Flc audiences—as well as some electrifying new talents,...
- 8/18/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
“Rule 34,” a challenging and sexually explicit film from Brazilian director Julia Murat, has emerged as the surprise winner of the Golden Leopard award at this year’s Locarno Film Festival — an edition where typically audacious and formally ambitious work dominated the program. Marking a strong ceremony for female filmmakers, the main competition jury at the Swiss festival also handed an impressive three awards — best director and a brace of acting prizes — to gritty coming-of-age drama “I Have Electric Dreams,” an auspicious debut feature from Costa Rican writer-director Valentina Maurel.
A character study of a young female law student pursuing a parallel calling in amateur online pornography — while defending female abuse victims in her day job — “Rule 34’s” title stems from the popular online meme that “if it exists, there’s a porn version of it.” Murat’s film wasn’t among the buzzier entries in this year’s competition,...
A character study of a young female law student pursuing a parallel calling in amateur online pornography — while defending female abuse victims in her day job — “Rule 34’s” title stems from the popular online meme that “if it exists, there’s a porn version of it.” Murat’s film wasn’t among the buzzier entries in this year’s competition,...
- 8/13/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Hans-Christian Schmid’s ’We Are Next of Kin’ to open German festival.
Filmfest Hamburg has lined up world premieres of films by Fatih Akin, Hans-Christian Schmid and Alrun Goette for its 30th anniversary edition, which runs from September 29 to October 8.
Golden Bear-winner Akin’s biopic of the German rapper and label boss Xatar, Rheingold, starring this year’s European Shooting Star Emilio Sakraya, will have its first screening on the director’s home turf in Hamburg.
Schmid’s adaptation of Johann Scheerer’s autobiographical novel We Are Next Of Kin, which chronicles the kidnapping of Scheerer’s literary scholar and...
Filmfest Hamburg has lined up world premieres of films by Fatih Akin, Hans-Christian Schmid and Alrun Goette for its 30th anniversary edition, which runs from September 29 to October 8.
Golden Bear-winner Akin’s biopic of the German rapper and label boss Xatar, Rheingold, starring this year’s European Shooting Star Emilio Sakraya, will have its first screening on the director’s home turf in Hamburg.
Schmid’s adaptation of Johann Scheerer’s autobiographical novel We Are Next Of Kin, which chronicles the kidnapping of Scheerer’s literary scholar and...
- 8/11/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.