News

Chinese actor-director Jiang Wen (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Let the Bullets Fly) will serve as the head of the main competition jury at the 15th Beijing International Film Festival, which will hand out its Tiantan Award.

The jury will also include Chinese American director and actor Joan Chen (The Last Emperor), British director David Yates (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Chinese actor Ni Ni, Finnish director Teemu Nikki, Swiss director and actor Vincent Perez, and art director Tim Yip from Hong Kong. The panel will select the winners across 10 award categories, including best feature film, best director and best screenplay.

The festival also unveiled its 15 main competition films, with organizers saying they received a record 1,794 feature film submissions from 103 countries and regions, marking a 19 percent increase over last year.

The three Chinese films in the main competition lineup are Hao Ming and Li Peiran’s Better Me,...

Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs has unveiled four emerging filmmakers for its Film Frontier Global Networking Program, including award-winning director Chie Hayakawa.

Hayakawa, whose acclaimed debut feature Plan 75 premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2022 and is anticipated to make this year’s selection with follow-up Renoir, is among the second cohort of directors chosen for the programme, which provides opportunities for overseas networking to help increase their international exposure.

The selection also comprises Minami Iizuka, an anthropologist and director whose documentary short Long Long Hair – made under the guidance of Bela Tarr – played at last year’s Tokyo; Keisuke Sakuma,...

As we continue to explore the best in 2024, today we’re taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, features, podcasts, news, and trailers, check out the highlights below and return for more year-end coverage.

Most-Read Reviews

1. The Goldfinger

2. From Darkness to Light

3. The Devil’s Bath

4. Only the River Flows

5. Longlegs

6. The Nature of Love

7. The 2024 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films, Reviewed

8. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2

9. Trap

10. Dune: Part Two

Most-Read Interviews

1. Richard Linklater on Sex, Murder, Hit Man, and the Infantilization of Culture

2. Will Menaker on the Year in Cinema: Oppenheimer, Scorsese, Friedkin & Beyond

3. Lee Daniels on The Deliverance, Shifting Culture, Douglas Sirk, and That Glenn Close Performance

4. “All Great DPs Become Alcoholics”: Rob Tregenza on Shooting Béla Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies

5. In a Violent Nature Director Chris Nash on Creating a New Kind of Slasher,...

Sites such as film discovery platform Letterboxd promote a new way of film-viewing, eschewing sneering gatekeepers for a more open-minded and eclectic experience

Amid all the dire news to come out of the movie business this year – a box office slump, a slowdown of production, growing unemployment in Hollywood, the closure of a dozen cinemas in the UK – good news seems to have come from the unlikeliest of places: cinephilia, pronounced “dead” by Susan Sontag in 1996, is alive and well and sporting a Mubi tote bag among the very demographic, 18- to 25-year-olds, whose gif-shortened attention spans are usually held up as spelling the death of the medium.

A recent Wim Wenders retrospective including Wings of Desire and The American Friend took £225,700 at the box office – more than double its distributor, Curzon, expected. A North American rerelease of Chen Kaige’s 1993 Palme d’Or winner Farewell My Concubine grossed $350,000. Even...

The Berlin Film Festival is to fete Tilda Swinton with an Honorary Golden Bear for her career achievement. The award will be presented at the Opening Ceremony at the Berlinale Palast on February 13, 2025.

“The range of Tilda Swinton’s work is breathtaking. To cinema she brings so much humanity, compassion, intelligence, humour and style, and she expands our ideas of the world through her work. Tilda is one of our modern filmmaking idols, and has also long been part of the Berlinale family. We are delighted to be able to present her with this Honorary Golden Bear,” said Festival Director Tricia Tuttle.

Swinton commented: “The Berlinale is the first film festival I ever went to, in 1986 with Derek Jarman and the first film I made, his Caravaggio. It was my portal into the world in which I have made my life’s work – the world of international filmmaking – and I...

In the last couple years I’ve conducted two very long interviews with Rob Tregenza, whose journey through cinema comprises four independent features of staggering vision (one being the sole film Godard produced outside his own direction), Dp duties for Alex Cox and (with remarkable strife) Béla Tarr, and ambitions for a fifth film. In our second conversation he surprised me: our first chat helped fuel The Fishing Place, a project he directed in Norway with elaborate crane systems (recalling his debut Talking to Strangers) and featuring, in his words, “the best [actors]––technically and artistically––I’ve ever had the blessing to work with.”

Tregenza’s own Cinema Parallel––distributor of Tarr and Godard when no American company bothered touching their work––will give The Fishing Place a one-week run at MoMA starting February 6 and in LA via Laemmle on March 7, ahead of which we’re pleased to exclusively debut a trailer.

2024 was a great year for horror movies. Especially if you looked into the margins.

While the genre sometimes struggled at the box office (with a few noteworthy exceptions) over the past twelve months, genre buffs looking for a good scare actually had plenty of options at every turn. There were surprisingly thrilling mainstream releases from major studios, dark horse smash hits from smaller distributors, and enough winners in the nooks and crannies of streaming to fill a dozen horror-centric lists. As a platform for creative endeavors from exciting filmmakers, horror has never been healthier.

Nor has it been scarier. The /Film team sat down to hash out and rank the 10 scariest horror movies of 2024, a process that involved cutting a lot of great movies and then somehow finding a way to rank the survivors. Movies like "Immaculate" and "Terrifier 3" barely missed the cut, while films like "Civil War" got...

Disney’s “Mufasa” is one of the last remaining Hollywood tentpoles of the year, and it might be director Barry Jenkins’ first and last time making an all-digital movie. Jenkins is the Oscar winner behind acclaimed dramas such as “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” and he said in an interview with Vulture that he knows what everyone is thinking: “On what planet do I, Mr. ‘Moonlight,’ make a prequel to ‘The Lion King?'”

“I can’t tweet about the Super Bowl without somebody reminding me that I’m making this fucking film,” he added. “I can’t … When I took this job, the idea was ‘What does Barry Jenkins know about visual effects? Why the hell would he do this movie?’ I think part of that I found very invigorating. People make these things, you know, with computers. So anybody should be able to do this. Anybody,...

Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 29th International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk), adding to her impressive collection of career recognitions that includes the Venice Film Festival’s career Golden Lion.

The award, which comes with a cash prize of INR1 million, a sculpture, and a citation, will be presented by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the festival’s opening ceremony on Dec. 13 at state capital Thiruvananthapuram’s Nishagandhi Auditorium.

Hui, 77, stands as a pivotal figure in Asian cinema, particularly known for her contributions to the Hong Kong New Wave movement. Her five-decade career has consistently focused on social issues, with particular attention to women’s experiences in Hong Kong society. Her work examines themes ranging from gender discrimination to the cultural shifts surrounding Hong Kong’s transition from British colonial rule to Chinese sovereignty.

Born in Anshan, China in...

I was delighted to be invited to the Tokyo International Film Festival, which came with the particularly desirable bonus of being elsewhere during the US election cycle’s final days. Taking into account the time difference on my date of return, I hoped an election-night nailbiter would let me fly back in unperturbed ignorance, but… The route back flew over the international date line; the metaphorical obviousness of literally going backwards in time to the States was too hamhanded for my taste, albeit appropriately overstated in keeping with the bludgeoning that’s about to occur. Before that hammer fell, the city more […]

The post Tokyo International Film Festival 2024: Dementia, Optimism and Béla Tarr first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

I was delighted to be invited to the Tokyo International Film Festival, which came with the particularly desirable bonus of being elsewhere during the US election cycle’s final days. Taking into account the time difference on my date of return, I hoped an election-night nailbiter would let me fly back in unperturbed ignorance, but… The route back flew over the international date line; the metaphorical obviousness of literally going backwards in time to the States was too hamhanded for my taste, albeit appropriately overstated in keeping with the bludgeoning that’s about to occur. Before that hammer fell, the city more […]

The post Tokyo International Film Festival 2024: Dementia, Optimism and Béla Tarr first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

UK arthouse theater chain and distributor Curzon has been acquired by Fortress Investment Group.

The deal was confirmed this morning, but we first reported yesterday that Fortress appeared to be the frontrunner to take control of Curzon after it was the only bidder for a handful of properties owned by Charles Cohen at a foreclosure auction Friday. Fortress bid $5 million for Curzon at the auction.

Charles Cohen acquired the Curzon brand in 2019. The deal included ownership of the company’s 16 UK cinemas, film distributor Curzon Film, and the Curzon Home Cinema streaming service.

Fortress lent Cohen $534 million backed by a handful of properties including Landmark and Curzon and sued him earlier this year for default. A New York State Supreme Court judge agreed to Fortress’ request for an auction to recoup what it could and set it for Nov 8.

Curzon said today in a statement that the Fortress deal will...

Fortress Investment Group has bought British arthouse exhibitor and distributor Curzon in a deal that it claims will secure the company’s future across exhibition, distribution and streaming.

The acquisition, announced Tuesday, saw Fortress acquire the company from Charles Cohen’s Cohen Media Group in a foreclosure auction involving multiple Cohen assets, including the Landmark cinema chain. Fortress had lent Cohen $534 million but sued him earlier this year for default. Cohen acquired Curzon in late 2019 amid a buying spree by the U.S. real estate developer.

Financial details of the successful Fortress bid weren’t disclosed, but encompass Curzon’s 16-location theatrical footprint with 46 screens across the U.K., alongside its distribution arm Curzon Film and the Curzon Home Cinema streaming platform. The company said that the move secures positions for Curzon’s 350-plus workforce.

The venerable British outfit, which dates back to 1934, has been expanding its theatrical presence in recent years,...

Japanese black-and-white film Teki Cometh took the top Tokyo Grand Prix prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

The film also won Best Director for Yoshida Daihachi and Best Actor for Nagatsuka Kyozo.

Teki Cometh is based on a novel by Tsutsui Yasutaka. The film follows Watanabe Gisuke, a 77-year-old widower and retired college professor of French literature, living alone in an old Japanese-style house his grandfather had built. However, one day, an unsettling message appears on his computer saying that the enemy is coming.

The festival’s Special Jury Prize went to Colombian film Adios Amigo by Ivan D. Gaona.

Anamaria Vartolomei from Traffic took the Best Actress prize.

Chinese film My Friend An Delie, the debut feature by actor-director Dong Zijian, received the award for Best Artistic Contribution.

The Audience Award went to Yang Lina’s Big World, which follows Chunhu, who has cerebral palsy. During one summer,...

Yoshida Daihachi’s black and white drama Teki Cometh dominated the awards ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF)today (November 6), winning the grand prix and the prizes for best director,and best actor.

Based on a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, the film centres around a retired and widowed college professor who receives a sudden and unsettling message telling him that the enemy is coming.The film marks the latest in a string of literary adaptations from Daihachi including Pale Moon, The Kirishima Thing, and Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers! which premiered at Cannes Critic Week in 2007.

Teki Cometh,...

Yoshida Daihachi’s black and white drama Teki Cometh dominated the awards ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF)today (November 6), winning the grand prix and the prizes for best director,and best actor.

Based on a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, the film centres around a retired and widowed college professor who receives a sudden and unsettling message telling him that the enemy is coming.The film marks the latest in a string of literary adaptations from Daihachi including Pale Moon, The Kirishima Thing, and Funuke Show Some Love, You Losers! which premiered at Cannes Critic Week in 2007.

Teki Cometh,...

Yoshida Daihachi’s Teki Cometh proved to be the big winner of the Tokyo International Film Festival’s major awards categories that were revealed Wednesday night at a glitzy ceremony in the Japanese capital.

Teki Cometh, a feature adaptation of a book by celebrated Japanese novelist Tsutsui Yasutaka, won the festival’s top prize, the Tokyo Grand Prix, as well as the best director honor for Yoshida and the best actor award for star Nagatsuka Kyozo. The meditative film, featuring monochrome cinematography, tells the story of a retired professor of French literature (Nagatsuka) who gives the odd guest lecture and plans his own end based on when his money will run out. Old friends and former students come to visit. During one of his rare excursions, he encounters an attractive young French literature student, played by Yumi Kawai.

The festival’s special jury prize went to Adios Al Amigo, Colombian...

In a stunning sweep of the main awards, Japanese drama “Teki Cometh” snared three top prizes at the closing night ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival on Wednesday.

The film was named as the Tokyo Grand Prize, or best film, winner. Its helmer Yoshida Daihachi was named best director. Veteran lead performer Nagatsuka Kyozo was also named best actor.

“Teki Cometh” is based on a 1998 novel by Tsutsui Yasutaka about a retired professor, Watanabe Gisuke, who is quietly living out his last days when he receives a mysterious message on his PC that his “enemy” (teki) is coming.

Lensed in black-and-white, the film begins as a record of his daily existence, from his meticulous meal prep – he is a something of a gourmet – to his platonic relationship with a former student (Takeuchi Kumi) that smolders with an unstated but evident mutual passion. But once the enemy announces his presence,...

Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr in recognition of his “extraordinary career and long-standing contributions to the film industry”.

The award will be presented during a Special Talk event at the festival, featuring Bela Tarr and Japanese filmmaker Yoji Yamada, to be held on November 1 at the festival’s Tokyo Midtown Hibiya venue. TIFF is taking place October 28-November 6.

Bela Tarr’s credits include the 438-minute film Satantang, which received the Berliner Zeitung Reader’s Jury award at Berlin film festival in 1994; Werckmeister Harmonies, which premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2000, and The Turin Horse, which won the Silver Bear Jury Grand Prix and the Fipresci Prize at Berlin in 2011. Since then, he has been working to foster the next generation of filmmakers by establishing a film school in Sarajevo.

In February 2024, Bela Tarr led a filmmaking workshop in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan,...

Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr is set to receive a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming 37th Tokyo International Film Festival.

The director, known for epic Satantango, Werckmeister Harmonies and Berlinale award-winner The Turin Horse, will be at the festival to present short films produced during a workshop he led in Fukushima, Japan in February. Tarr will also participate in a talk with veteran Japanese filmmaker Yoji Yamada on November 1, where he will receive the award.

Previous recipients of TIFF’s lifetime achievement award include Chinese director Zhang Yimou and Japanese production manager Teruyo Nogami, actor Tatsuya Nakadai and director Nobuhiko Obayashi.

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced they will present renowned Hungarian director Béla Tarr with a lifetime achievement award at this year’s event. Tarr is known for groundbreaking films that changed the style of international cinema. His four and a half hour long 1994 movie “Satantango” was an early work that captured global attention for its unique storytelling and visuals.

Ichiyama Shozo, TIFF’s programming head, recalled “Satantango” screening over 20 years ago saying it “broke boundaries of traditional films through its distinct pacing and kept viewers engaged for its full runtime.”

Throughout his decades long career, Tarr’s films have been selected for major festivals around the world. His 2000 film “Werckmeister Harmonies” played at the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival in France. In 2011, “The Turin Horse” won both the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize and a critic’s award at the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany.

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr as the recipient of its lifetime achievement award for the upcoming 37th edition of the festival.

Tarr, known for his distinctive cinematic style, gained international recognition with his 438-minute film “Satantango” (1994), which earned him an award at the Berlinale. His 2000 film “Werckmeister Harmonies” screened in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, while “The Turin Horse” (2011) won the Silver Bear Jury Grand Prix and the Fipresci Prize at the Berlinale.

Since announcing his retirement from feature filmmaking after “The Turin Horse,” Tarr has focused on educating the next generation of filmmakers. He established the film.factory school in Sarajevo in 2012 and has conducted workshops worldwide.

The 37th TIFF will showcase short films created during a recent workshop led by Tarr in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The festival will also host a special talk event featuring Tarr and present the lifetime achievement...

Tsai Ming Liang Guide: As the 20th century drew to a close, cinema, like other art forms, was undergoing a metamorphosis. Hollywood, in a desperate attempt to keep audiences engaged, embraced new technological advancements, such as improved visual effects. It sought to captivate the masses by blurring the lines between reality and imagination, producing sci-fi blockbusters like “Terminator 2” (1991), “Jurassic Park” (1993), and “Armageddon” (1998). However, thousands of miles away from sunny Los Angeles, another group of filmmakers across Europe and Asia consciously took cinema in a different direction. Rather than helping audiences forget the fourth wall, they aimed to reinforce it, creating films that were acutely aware of their own impact, intentionally distancing viewers from the on-screen events by withholding the cut.

In contemporary film theory, this shift is referred to as ‘Slow Cinema.’ To an avid cinephile, it is now a fairly common term. Maestros like Béla Tarr, Pedro Costa,...

AMC and Oble Studios’ Hungarian revenge period drama “Fata Morgana” executive produced by Bela Tarr, the Irish/Canadian spy thriller “The Reluctant Contact” from writer Stephen Burke, and the Estonian/ Swiss/Danish fantasy thriller “The Code of Thule” feature among the 10 series in development, selected for the TV Beats Co-financing Market in Tallinn Variety has learned in exclusivity.

Other possible standout dramas set to lure co-financiers take in the Icelandic/Danish crime “Norröna Murders,” the Finnish live-action/animation/doc hybrid “The Women I Think About at Night,” based on Mia Kankimäki’s best-selling novel, and Slovenian psycho-thriller “Bunker” starring “Triangle of Sadness”‘ Zlatko Burić.

The co-pro pitching showcase due to run Nov. 19-20 in the Estonia capital, is the centerpiece of TV Beats, the series strand of the five-day Industry @ Tallinn & Baltic Event, held parallel to the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Nov. 8 to 24), and run for the first time...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSGrand Tour.SAG-AFTRA is on strike against ten major video-game companies after two years of contract negotiations, on which the union has said it remains “far apart” from management on “fair compensation and the right of informed consent for the A.I. use of their faces, voices, and bodies.”Teamsters Local 399 and other Hollywood Basic Crafts unions have ratified their new contract, securing 7% wage increases for about 8,000 workers.The New York Film Festival (September 27–October 14) has announced its Main Slate selections, including Cannes and Berlinale favorites All We Imagine as Light (Payal Kapadia), Dahomey (Mati Diop), Anora (Sean Baker), and Grand Tour (Miguel Gomes).After a report that David Lynch would likely never direct again due to debilitating emphysema,...

Comedy animation Harold And The Purple Crayon heads the new releases at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, opening in 595 cinemas through Sony.

The live-action/animation fantasy comedy is adapted from Crockett Johnson’s 1955 children’s book of the same name, with the film serving as a sequel to the book.

Harold And The Purple Crayon follows a character in a book who can make anything come to life by drawing it; and who draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world.

Zachary Levi leads the cast, which also includes Lil Rel Howery, Zooey Deschanel, Jemaine Clement,...

Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky’s 2000 film moves slowly around a small town where a very strange circus has arrived. Its eerie power has only grown in a time of rising fascism

Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr and his co-director and editor Ágnes Hranitzky now have their 2000 film rereleased, 24 years on as part of a career retrospective; it is an eerie monochrome vision of power, group hysteria, cosmological breakdown and the end of the world. When I first saw this film I responded to what might be called its spiritual aspect, its mystery, its unknowability, and of course its distinctive style: the extended dream-tempo takes, the murmuringly restrained dialogue achieved through overdubbing and the long trudging walks through an unforgiving landscape. There is a quite extraordinary closeup sequence in which two men simply walk together down a city street in wordless silence, for minute after minute, their faces juxtaposed in semi-profile. That...

Locarno has unveiled the half-dozen titles set to screen in this year’s 13th edition of its First Look sidebar, spotlighting works in progress. Each year, Locarno chooses one country to feature in the First Look section, and 2024 is Spain’s turn.

This year’s call for projects received 40 submissions, with a first pre-selection made by a committee that included Xavier Garcia Puerto (Tallinn Back Nights Festival/Rec – International Festival of Cinema in Tarragona), Susana Santos Rodriguez (IndieLisboa/IFFR) and Cecilia Barrionuevo (Ecam – Escuela de Cinematografía y Audiovisual de Madrid).

Locarno’s First Look competition jury is comprised of the Artistic Director of Venice’s International Film Critics’ Week Beatrice Fiorentino, Istanbul Film Festival director Kerem Ayan and Programmer for the International Film Festival Rotterdam Mercedes Martínez-Abarca.

In addition to cash and service prizes valued at tens of thousands of euros, First Look will offer a platform for producers to...

Disney’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” made a splash in its debut weekend, earning £17.3 million ($22.2 million) at the U.K. and Ireland box office, according to numbers from Comscore.

The superhero team-up film easily claimed the top spot and became the highest opener of the year in the territory, outpacing its nearest competitor by a wide margin. Universal’s “Despicable Me 4” held strong in its third week, adding £3.1 million in second spot for a cumulative total of £25.3 million. Warner Bros.’ “Twisters” maintained its position at No. 3, pulling in £1.5 million in its second week for a £7.9 million total.

Disney’s “Inside Out 2,” the previous highest opener of the year, continued its steady performance in its seventh week, crossing the £50 million mark with a £1.1 million weekend in fourth place.

Rounding out the top five, “Longlegs” added £724,320 in its third week for a total of £5.6 million. Further down the chart, Paramount’s...

TIFF has announced the competitive Platform lineup today with a jury that includes Oscar nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan as its Head, South Korean filmmaker Hur Jin-ho and award-winning American filmmaker and essayist Jane Schoenbrun. Jin-ho directed last year’s A Normal Family which made its world premiere at TIFF.

Named after Jia Zhang-Ke’s groundbreaking second feature, Platform, the nine-year old program showcases bold and distinct directorial voices and emerging international talent. This year there’s ten in the sidebar from 17 countries. Of those Platform films that continued on to bigger success are Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, which received multiple Oscar nominations, winning Best Sound and Best Film Editing. The 10 films in the section are eligible for the Platform Prize, an award of $20,000 Cad given to the best film in the program.

Previous jury members include: Claire Denis,...

The Hungarian film director is known for his existentially daunting black and white films. He explains why he left his home country to run his own film school, and why he loves Chekhov, Hitchcock – and Gus Van Sant

For years, Béla Tarr’s daunting films were unavailable in the UK and he was the much-discussed fugitive genius of high European cinema, the Col Kurtz of the movies, hidden deep in the jungle of ideas.

But in the 80s and 90s the work of the Hungarian auteur began to be shown in Britain and connoisseur audiences were stunned or puzzled or electrified by his extremely long movies. Often adapted from the equally revered and difficult novels of Hungarian modernist László Krasznahorkai, these films were edited and latterly co-directed by his wife Ágnes Hranitzky and featured the music of Mihály Vig.

If Béla Tarr’s mammoth 1994 opus Sátántangó allegorized the fall of communism on Hungary in its depiction of widespread social anomie and grotesque jockeying for power, 2000’s Werckmeister Harmonies (the first of three features on which he receives a co-director credit with wife Ágnes Hranitzky) might be taken as an extreme literalization of Francis Fukuyama’s notion that the end of the Soviet Union represented the so-called “end of history.”

But where Fukuyama’s words summarized a new world order of Westernized democracy and internationally inter-reliant capitalism, Werckmeister Harmonies runs with the idea to apocalyptic ends. Set in a small Hungarian town, the film presents a haunting monochrome world where the overcast gray sky represents the closest thing to full daylight as one can get. Otherwise, everything seems to exist in an inky void of starless night, dotted only by the faint glow of fading streetlights.

Populating this fading world...

Gun Van Sant's 2002 film "Gerry" is based loosely on a real-life incident in 1999 wherein Raffi Kodikian and David Coughlin, best friends for years, got lost while hiking in southern New Mexico. After a few days in the dry wilderness, the pair ran out of food and water, and feared starvation and dehydration. Kodikian claims that hunger and thirst began killing Coughlin. He begged Kodikian to murder him to end the pain ... which Kodikian did. Kodikian was eventually found and tried for second-degree murder.

"Gerry" is a fictionalized version of the same incident, envisioning the painstaking process of walking out into the desert ... and losing all sense of reality. Van Sant, however, transformed the story into a semi-abstract, narrative-free feature that involves more walking than talking. The two main characters Gerry (Matt Damon) and Gerry (Casey Affleck) walk next to each other, rarely talking. They walk behind one another. They walk out ahead.

Writer-director Chris Nash’s feature directorial debut, In a Violent Nature, opens in eerie serenity, with a gorgeously layered image of a forest seen through a deteriorated window frame. Birdsong and gentle breezes take aural precedence, though there are off-screen human voices of an evidently teen-to-twentysomething variety that clash discordantly with all the verdant beauty. The camera eventually tracks laterally, rack-focusing to reveal a locket hanging around a pipe. A hand enters frame, removing the bauble from its perch. Big mistake, as evidenced by the psychotic demon that soon emerges from the peaty earth below.

This is Johnny (Ry Barrett), a hulking, skin-mottled figure so obviously inspired by Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees that the hockey-masked undead spree killer could sue for residuals. But Nash and his crew aren’t out to brazenly imitate their forbear so much as affectionately and provocatively rework him and his murderous exploits. The...

What new perspective can one bring to the horror genre? With his directorial debut, Chris Nash answers this question with a resoundingly brutal and formally fascinating answer. Primarily following a murderer’s steps and slashes through his travels terrorizing those near a remote cabin, the wonderfully Béla Tarr-esque In a Violent Nature sticks to its meticulous conceit and delivers one of the most chilling horror movies I’ve seen in years. Ahead of a May 31 theatrical release from IFC Films, which will be unrated, the new trailer has arrived.

Here’s the synopsis: “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year-old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and...

On the indie side of filmmaking life, Sean Price Williams has seen it all. He’s worked with the Safdies, Alex Ross Perry, Nathan Silver, Robert Green, and Athina Rachel Tsangari, and often more than once. He’s the premier chronicler of New York City independent movies behind the camera, typically shooting on celluloid, and bringing surreal, gritty poetry to character-driven stories that feel on the ground like portraits of versions of ourselves.

One of the most unabashedly movie-loving cinematographers working today, Williams last year moved to directing for the sprawling, scratchy-edged tale of East Coast youth, “The Sweet East,” which remains in theaters and features stars like Jacob Elordi, Simon Rex, Jeremy O. Harris, and Ayo Edebiri.

But even more recently than that directorial debut, he released a “1000 Movies” book via Metrograph Editions, a simple, unadorned paperback that offers, rather than commentary, pages listing his favorite essential films and...

Artificial Eye, the arthouse distribution company established in 1976 by Curzon Cinemas, is set for a re-launch as a theatrical and home entertainment label.

Founded by Andi and Pam Engel, the label gained recognition for releasing independent, arthouse, and foreign language films, promoting films from directors such as Béla Tarr, the Dardenne Brothers, and Trần Anh Hùng.

Artificial Eye went on hiatus in 2014, after being part of the Curzon group since 2006. In 2019, we told you Curzon Group and its subsidiaries, including Artificial Eye, had been acquired by U.S. indie distributor and exhibitor Cohen Media Group. Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure was one of the last films released under the previous version of the label.

Curzon has continued to release critically acclaimed films under the Curzon Film label led by Managing Director Louisa Dent. One of their successes has been Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, the highest-grossing foreign-language film ever at the UK box office.

Werckmeister Harmonies released in the Criterion Collection on April 16th.

Béla Tarr is an auteur with a reputation befitting the Criterion Collection. The Hungarian filmmaker utilizes beautiful visuals — typically in black and white — and unsettling realism to explore the unpleasant truths of existence. It’s fitting that his first feature to receive a proper physical release in the Criterion Collection is 2000’s whimsical mystery The Werckmeister Harmonies. Even better, we get two for the price of one with the inclusion of his debut feature, Family Nest, included in the special features.

Werckmeister Harmonies Plot

A peculiar circus, consisting of a massive and mysterious whale, sets up shop in the center of a small town. As curious spectators flock to the unconventional attraction, a primal violence bubbles to the surface of the sleepy village.

The Critique

A spectator examines the mysterious whale.

Also Read: Criterion Collection: The Runner Review

Werchmeister Harmonies...

U.K. outfit Curzon — part of the Cohen Media Group — is set to relaunch Artificial Eye, the arthouse distribution label that was established in 1976 and has been on hiatus for the last decade.

The label, first founded by film enthusiasts Andi and Pam Engel and part of the Curzon group since 2006, became renowned for releasing independent, foreign-language and arthouse title to U.K. audiences, including those by Béla Tarr, the Dardenne Brothers and Trần Anh Hùng. Its library boasts over 400 critically acclaimed films from directors including Wim Wenders, Michael Haneke and Claire Denis. Ruben Östlund’s “Force Majeure” was one of the last films released under the previous incarnation.

Led by managing director Louisa Dent, who has been with the company since 2008, Curzon has continued to release critically acclaimed films under the Curzon Film label — including Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” the highest-grossing foreign-language film ever at the U.K.

The UK’s Curzon is to relaunch its specialist UK/Ireland distribution label Artificial Eye, as a theatrical and home entertainment brand.

The first release under the banner will be Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s Berlinale Competition title My Favourite Cake.

Led by Curzon managing director Louisa Dent, the acquisitions team will curate additions to the Artificial Eye catalogue, focusing on director-led world cinema and discoveries from emerging filmmakers.

Artificial Eye was founded in 1976 by Andi Engel and Pam Engel. The label released leading independent, foreign-language and arthouse titles, including films by Bela Tarr, the Dardenne brothers and Tran Anh Hung.

I was very gratified by the response to last year’s interview with Rob Tregenza, a Zelig-like figure of modern cinema. Our very long, multi-Zoom conversation covered a life in film: four features, cherished experiences with Jean-Luc Godard, and hopes he hadn’t reached the end. What I didn’t quite find time for was, and I am embarrassed to even note it, the matter of his shooting stretches of Béla Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies, most notably its iconic opening sequence. By any token this is a major contribution to contemporary cinema for Tregenza’s part and––by that token, at least in my estimation––a major oversight on my own.

With Criterion’s 4K Uhd release of Werckmeister Harmonies arriving this month––about a year since Janus Films’ extremely successful theatrical tour––I figured it was time to ask Tregenza about his experience shooting the film. I did not...

From On Demand To Linear

Asian TV channels operator Celestial Tiger Entertainment and myTV Super, the Ott platform of Hong Kong’s Television Broadcasts Limited (Tvb) are to launch PopC, a movie channel dedicated to Chinese online films, with content supplied by mainland China streamer iQiyi. It launches in Hong Kong from May 1.

“The idea of PopC first came about when we saw the amount of great, high quality movies that were being produced for the online space in China. The domestic reception and online hit rates for these movies are just phenomenal, and we want to bring them to an international audience outside of China by curating them all in one great channel.” said Ofanny Choi, CEO of Cte.

Its lineup will take on revolving themes on a daily basis, from fantasy-adventure, to Chinese heroes, suspense, action and comedy.

Taipei-budapest

The Taipei Film Festival has reinstated its “City in...

It really needn’t be said how much Christopher Nolan’s Best Picture winner “Oppenheimer” has brought the aftershock of the atomic bomb ripping through the public consciousness again.

So the current zeitgeist is as good as any for boutique distributor and arthouse restoration outfit Arbelos to uncover a lost 1961 gem: Peter Kass’ 1961 “Time of the Heathen.” Set in the immediate aftermath of the atomic bomb, the avant-garde drama was shot by American science-fiction artist Ed Emshwiller as cinematographer. The film’s bold visuals are on full display in the exclusive trailer, hosted by IndieWire, below for the re-release of “Time of the Heathen.” Arbelos will open the film at New York’s Film at Lincoln Center on May 10 and at LA’s American Cinematheque on May 12.

Kass, who died in 2008, was best known for his work as a theater instructor in New York, collaborating with the likes of Faye Dunaway,...

Given the uniqueness and weirdness of the films of Bela Tarr, it's surprising that more of his films are not part of the Criterion collection. Here's hoping that his masterpiece Werckmeister Harmonies is but the first. A stark and deeply humanist portrayal of a small town sinking under the weight of its own desperation, it's a singular vision of a dystopian state that has already arrived, even if it's hidden in small parts of the world, and well worthy of a 4K/Blu-ray release. It's what must be a typical evening at the local bar in this (presumably) average town in Hungary, and the barman is calling the rather early closing time of 10pm. But before everyone leaves, they insist that János (Lars Rudolph), of the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Xueni is a dynamic multifaceted artist who weaves her dance, acting, and directing background to craft narratives rich in emotion and nuances. Raised amidst diverse cultures, she earned her B.A. at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Further, she refined her cinematic skills at Famu in Prague, where she had a chance to study under the mentorship of Bela Tarr. Her latest short, “Fir”, was the result of her studies in the Czech Republic and was nominated for Best Student Film Award at Czech Lion Awards held by Czech Film and Television Academy (ČFTA).

Fir review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative

Shan, a Chinese girl is sitting on a couch playing with her toy dog, while her mother talks to the phone. The next scene shows the girl playing hide and seek in her school, but when she opens her eyes to search for her friends,...

What new perspective can one bring to the horror genre? With his directorial debut, Chris Nash answers this question with a resoundingly brutal and formally fascinating answer. Primarily following a murderer’s steps and slashes through his travels terrorizing those near a remote cabin, the wonderfully Béla Tarr-esque In a Violent Nature sticks to its meticulous conceit and delivers one of the most chilling horror movies I’ve seen in years. Ahead of a May 31 theatrical release from IFC Films, the first trailer has now landed.

John Fink said in his Sundance review, “A slow-cinema spin on well-burnished tropes, In a Violent Nature largely strips the artifice of the slasher formula, which dictates a deformed man must hunt down attractive teens or young adults in either the woods or suburbia. A film built around a mythology that comes to life, as our killer rises from a grave, Chris Nash...

Cinephiles will have plenty to celebrate this April with the next slate of additions to the Criterion Channel. The boutique distributor, which recently announced its June 2024 Blu-ray releases, has unveiled its new streaming lineup highlighted by an eclectic mix of classic films and modern arthouse hits.

Students of Hollywood history will be treated to the “Peak Noir: 1950” collection, which features 17 noir films from the landmark film year from directors including Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Huston.

New Hollywood maverick William Friedkin will also be celebrated when five of his most beloved movies, including “Sorcerer” and “The Exorcist,” come to the channel in April.

Criterion will offer the streaming premiere of Wim Wenders’ 3D art documentary “Anselm,” which will be accompanied by the “Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing” collection, which sees the director curating a selection of films from around the world that have influenced his careers.

Contemporary cinema is also well represented,...

April’s an uncommonly strong auteurist month for the Criterion Channel, who will highlight a number of directors––many of whom aren’t often grouped together. Just after we screened House of Tolerance at the Roxy Cinema, Criterion are showing it and Nocturama for a two-film Bertrand Bonello retrospective, starting just four days before The Beast opens. Larger and rarer (but just as French) is the complete Jean Eustache series Janus toured last year. Meanwhile, five William Friedkin films and work from Makoto Shinkai, Lizzie Borden, and Rosine Mbakam are given a highlight.

One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...

Directed by Neo Sora, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus” records the final performance of its namesake composer and musician prior to his death from cancer in March 2023. Per Sora, Sakamoto’s son, “Opus” is less a documentary than a concert film, capturing 20 tracks — electronic, orchestral, and everything in between — from his multifaceted career as they’re played on the piano in crisp black and white, in lighting that transitions from night to day and back to night.

As he explains, it was no small task to chronicle what he knew could be his father’s last artistic gift to the world. But when speaking about the film, Sora maintains a studied objectivity that focuses more on the process of making it than the feelings behind it — much less about his father in general. Even as a fan of Sakamoto’s since the days of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor,” it’s...

Though based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1958 crime novella The Pledge (which was also the source for Sean Penn’s 2001 film of the same name), György Fehér’s Twilight plays more like an existential horror film than a noir or police procedural. Indeed, the ins and outs of the investigation into the mysterious murder of a child are of little concern to Fehér, who crafts a mood piece that’s keyed to the aura of dread and despair that grips a community in the wake of this and other similar murders.

Set in a small, remote Hungarian town surrounded by vast hills and dense thickets of trees, Twilight exists in a sort of metaphorical purgatory. Throughout, the film’s spare black-and-white images, deliberate pacing, and glacial camera movements, coupled with the near-constant rumbling ambiance that dominates the soundtrack, brilliantly conjure how an unseen but ubiquitous evil haunts the townsfolk. Long tracking...