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Greta Lee and Teo Yoo in ‘Past Lives’ (Photo Credit: Jon Pack / Courtesy of A24)

Past Lives took home top film honors at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, held on February 25th in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica. The film also earned Celine Song the Best Director award, with American Fiction‘s Cord Jefferson and May December‘s Samy Burch earning screenplay honors.

On the television side, The Last of Us collected two awards: Nick Offerman for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series and Keivonn Montreal Woodard for Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series. Beef also netted two wins, with Ali Wong awarded Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series and the show earning the Best New Scripted Series award.

2024 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Best Feature (Award given to the producer.)

All of Us Strangers

Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin,...

Another big award show took place this weekend (in addition to the SAG Awards), the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which celebrates indie film and TV. One thing about this awards show is that their idea of independent sometimes makes me scratch my head a bit, with HBO’s big-budget The Last of Us nominated a whole bunch in the TV category, along with Netflix’s Beef and several other streaming shows, which I’m not sure one could call independent. For films, there’s a $30 million budget cap. For TV, I’m honestly not sure what the benchmark is because Last of Us was notoriously an expensive show to shoot, costing at least $100 million.

Indeed, The Last of Us won some key awards on the TV side, winning Best Supporting Performance (for Nick Offerman) and Best Breakthrough Performance (for Keivonn Montreal Woodard). Over on the film side, American Fiction and...

Past Lives was named best feature at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which were handed out Sunday afternoon in Santa Monica.

In addition, Celine Song was named best director for her work on the film.

Elsewhere, Da’Vine Joy Randolph won the Spirit Award for best supporting performance, for her role in The Holdovers, repeating her win from Saturday night’s SAG Awards and other shows this awards season. Her co-star, Dominic Sessa, won the Spirit Award for best breakthrough performance.

American Fiction also collected two trophies: Cord Jefferson won the award for best screenplay, while Jeffrey Wright won for best lead performance.

May December won the award for best first screenplay for Samy Burch (story by Burch and Alex Mechanik). Four Daughters was named best documentary.

On the TV side, Beef was named best new scripted series, while Ali Wong won best lead performance for her role in the show,...

The best in independent film and television were honored at the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards!

Plenty of A-List stars were in attendance at the event on Sunday afternoon (February 25) at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, Calif.

Movies are only eligible for a Spirit Award if they have a budget of less than $30 million, so there are some awards favorites like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Killers of the Flower Moon that are not nominated.

American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives lead the pack this year with five nominations each.

Make sure to check out our post with photos of Every celeb who attended the event! Also check out our best dressed list.

Head inside to see the full list of winners…

Keep scrolling to see the full list of winners…

Best Feature (Award given to the producer)

All of Us Strangers

Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey

American Fiction

Producers: Cord Jefferson,...

The 2024 Independent Spirit Awards took place on Sunday at the traditional Santa Monica beach tent location, with Aidy Bryant hosting. “Past Lives” took home the coveted Best Feature award, with “Beef” being honored as Best New Scripted Series. Check out the full list of winners and nominees below.

Best Feature

“Past Lives”

Producers: David Hinojosa, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon

“All of Us Strangers”

Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey

“American Fiction”

Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair

“May December”

Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell, Grant S. Johnson, Pamela Koffler, Tyler W. Konney, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman, Christine Vachon

“Passages”

Producers: Michel Merkt, Saïd Ben Saïd

“We Grown Now”

Producers: Minhal Baig, Joe Pirro

Best Lead Performance

Jeffrey Wright, “American Fiction”

Jessica Chastain, “Memory”

Greta Lee, “Past Lives”

Trace Lysette, “Monica”

Natalie Portman, “May December”

Judy Reyes, “Birth/Rebirth”

Franz Rogowski, “Passages”

Andrew Scott, “All of Us Strangers”

Teyana Taylor,...

Ja Bayona’s Society Of The Snow was the big winner at Spain’s Goya awards on Saturday night (February 10), scooping 12 prizes including best film and director to become the third-most garlanded film in Goya history.

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall, was named best European film, and Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams won the prizes for best adapted screenplay and feature animation.

20,000 Species Of Bees, the feature debut of Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, received three Goyas for best new director and original screenplay for Solaguren, and best supporting actress for Ane Gabarain. The 15 nominations for Bees were the...

Netflix Original “The Society of the Snow” won best picture and director for J.A. Bayona at Saturday night’s 38th Spanish Academy Goya Awards.

Those plaudits were two of a total 12 prizes, the third-highest kudos count for any title in the Goyas’ near 40-year history.

The lineup of best picture nominees was, however, a reminder in itself of the high quality and diversity of Spain’s current film production output. These took in Estibaliz’s Urresola Berlin triple winner “20,000 Species of Bees,” David Trueba’s real-life tender love story “Jokes & Cigarettes,” Isabel Coixet’s probing “Un Amor” and Victor Erice’s “Close Your Eyes,” an “aching ode to film, time and memory,” Variety wrote in its review.

Even after Bayona took best director there was still genuine suspense whether he would also win best picture, after best adapted screenplay went to “Robot Dreams” and “Jokes & Cigarettes” took best actor for David Verdaguer.

Following a turbulent year marked by dueling industry strikes and the violent contraction–if not yet full pop–of the streaming bubble, 2024 has thus far been pretty good to Hollywood. It certainly helps that we’re in the middle of awards season, which for cineastes amounts to a three-month holiday largely characterized by voluminous binge-watching. And not just binge-watching of the year’s top films. For the curious, the season also offers up a smuggler’s bounty full of talking special post-screening Q&As, roundtables, filmmaker panels, celebratory cocktail receptions and more.

Traditionally Film Independent’s Directors Close-Up series has been a little bit of all of the above, presenting behind-the-scenes insight into the year’s most important works of cinema, straight from the mouths and brains of filmmakers themselves. As the virtual portion of this year’s programming winds down (see below), we’re looking ahead now to our...

Exclusive: Tubi has acquired North American rights to Spanish and English-language thriller Upon Entry from French sales firm Charades and Anonymous Content Independent.

The SXSW movie from writer-directors Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez recently received three Spirit Award nominations and three Goya nominations and will launch on the ad-supported platform on December 12.

Tense drama-thriller Upon Entry sees a couple held and interrogated by border agents determined to see if they have something to hide. Cast comprises Alberto Ammann, Bruna Cusí, Ben Temple and Laura Gómez.

Production companies are Zabriskie Films, Basque Films and Sygnatia with executive producers Carles Torras, Carlos Juárez, Xosé Zapata, Sergio Adrià and Alba Sotorra.

Internationally, the film has played at festivals including San Sebastian, Tallinn and Thessaloniki.

Spirit nominations include Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay, while Goya noms came for Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best New Director.

Tubi’s previous international pickups...

While the likes of Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Killers of the Moon will likely battle it out at the Oscars, Film Independent Spirit Awards is putting the spotlight on the indie productions of the year, with budget ranges from $10,000 to $28 million. May December, Past Lives, and American Fiction lead the nominations for the 39th ceremony, each taking five nods.

Other highlights include All of Us Strangers and Passages for Best Feature, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt and Earth Mama for Best First Feature, Kokomo City and The Mother of All Lies for Best Documentary, Glenn Howerton for BlackBerry, Marin Ireland and Anne Hathaway for Eileen, Marshawn Lynch for Bottoms, How to Blow Up a Pipeline for Best Editing, Godland and Tótem for Best International Film, and more.

See the nominations below ahead of the ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024 (a full two weeks before the Oscars), hosted by Aidy Bryant.

Best...

Erika Alexander stars as Coraline and Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious “Monk” Ellison in ‘American Fiction’ (Photo credit: Claire Folger © 2023 Orion Releasing LLC)

American Fiction, Past Lives, and May December lead the list of the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Each of the three films picked up five nominations and will be going head-to-head in the Best Film and Best Supporting Performance categories. Films and TV shows earning four nominations included The Holdovers, I’m a Virgo, The Last of Us, and Passages.

The 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards will be held on February 25 on the beach in Santa Monica. Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live) is on board to host.

“This year’s exciting group of Spirit Award nominees reflect the undeniable strength and vitality of independent storytelling – this is the beating heart of film culture today,” said Josh Welsh, President of Film Independent. “It’s especially thrilling to see so many nominees...

The full list of nominations for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards has been announced!

Movies are only eligible for a Spirit Award if they have a budget of less than $30 million, so there are some awards favorites like Maestro and Killers of the Flower Moon that are not nominated here.

Aidy Bryant is set to host the 2024 awards ceremony, which will take place on February 25. The event will no longer air on television and will instead stream on YouTube.

American Fiction, May December, and Past Lives lead the pack this year with five nominations each.

Head inside to check out the full list of nominations…

Keep scrolling to see the full list of nominations…

Best Feature (Award given to the producer)

All of Us Strangers

Producers: Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Sarah Harvey

American Fiction

Producers: Cord Jefferson, Jermaine Johnson, Nikos Karamigios, Ben LeClair

May December

Producers: Jessica Elbaum, Will Ferrell,...

American Fiction, May December and Past Lives lead the nominations for the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which were were announced Tuesday morning.

Each film garnered five noms, including best feature. Also nominated in that category are All of Us Strangers, Passages and We Grown Now.

The Robert Altman Award, which is given to one film’s director, casting director and ensemble cast, will be presented to Showing Up, directed by Kelly Reichardt. The casting director is Gayle Keller, and the ensemble cast includes André Benjamin, Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Heather Lawless, James Le Gros, John Magaro, Matt Malloy, Amanda Plummer, Maryann Plunkett, Denzel Rodriguez and Michelle Williams.

On the TV side, Jury Duty was tapped for the award of best ensemble in a new scripted series, an honor bestowed on one show (there are no nominees). The cast includes Alan Barinholtz, Susan Berger, Cassandra Blair, David Brown, Kirk Fox, Ross Kimball,...

The final month of the year has arrived, and with it an early Festivus bounty of news (very exciting!) about the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which are happening once again on February 25, back on the beach in Santa Monica. Last week brought tell of our incomparable new Spirit Awards host: SNL funnywoman and Emmy-nominated streaming series auteur Aidy Bryant. Now, the nondenominational secular-humanist Holiday Gnomes have brought us something potentially even more exciting… the nominees!

For the third consecutive year, the Spirit Awards will recognize outstanding achievement in uniqueness of vision, innovation and boldness in TV and streaming in addition to feature film. And for the second year, all acting categories are gender-neutral.

Noms were revealed in a livestream earlier today on Film Independent’s YouTube channel (like and subscribe!) by special guest presenters Joel Kim Booster and Natalie Morales:

Spirit Awards winners are voted on exclusively by Film Independent Members.

“American Fiction,” “May December” and “Past Lives” dominated the 2024 Independent Spirit Awards nominations on Tuesday, picking up five nods apiece. The three movies are all up for best feature, where they will battle it out against “All of Us Strangers,” “Passages” and “We Grown Now.”

The annual honors recognize the best of television, as well as film. “The Last of Us,” a sci-fi epic that was a ratings hit for HBO, and “I’m a Virgo,” an absurdist miniseries from Boots Riley that was produced by Amazon, led the small screen crop, with four nominations each. Only new TV shows that have run for one season and were released between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of this year are eligible for awards. That’s why some big-budgeted fare was deemed eligible or, in the parlance of the show, independent.

That’s not the case on the feature front, where films have to be...

“20.000 especies de abejas”, “La sociedad de la nieve”, “Saben Aquell” y “Cerrar los Ojos” encabezan las nominaciones a los premios Goya 2024.

El pasado jueves se anunciaron los nominados de la próxima edición de los prestigiosos Premios Goya, el destacado evento anual que celebra lo mejor del cine español. La gala de los Goya 2024 se celebrará el 10 de febrero en Valladolid, con la actriz y cantante Ana Belén y por Los Javis como presentadores. Aquí os dejamos con la lista de los nominados de esta edición:

Mejor PELÍCULA

20.000 especies de abejas

Cerrar los ojos

La sociedad de la nieve

Saben aquell

Un amor

Mejor DIRECCIÓN

Víctor Erice, Cerrar los ojos

Elena Martín, Creatura

J.A. Bayona, La sociedad de la nieve

David Trueba, Saben aquell

Isabel Coixet, Un amor

Mejor PELÍCULA Europea

Aftersun (Reino Unido)

Anatomía de una caída (Francia)

Las ocho montañas (Italia)

Safe Place (Croacia)

Sala de profesores...

The Society Of The Snow has garnered 13 nominations, followed by Close Your Eyes and Jokes & Cigarettes with 11.

Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species Of Bees leads the nominations for Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, which will be presented on February 10, 2024.

20,000 Species Of Bees premiered in competition at Berlin, going on to win the Silver Bear for best performance for Sofía Otero, playing an eight-year-old girl who spends a summer working in the Basque Country’s beehives while exploring her identity.

The film scored 15 nominations, including best film, best director and four nods in the acting categories.

Ja Bayona’s...

Three festival-goers will choose the winner of the international series competition.

Switzerland’s Geneva International Film Festival (Giff) has unveiled the programme for its 29th edition, with festival hits including Polite Society and The Sweet East, and a new format for its international series competition.

The festival includes 110 works, of which 53 are films, 27 are series, 28 are immersive experiences and two are installations.

Scroll down for the feature and series competition titles

Giff includes four competition sections: international feature, international series, international immersive and the convergent competition – the latter section featuring projects from all three formats.

All 12 titles in the international...

Five of the 19 films selected are world premieres.

Films from Álvaro Longoria, Itsaso Arana and Gerardo Herrero are among the 19 features selected for the Made In Spain strand of San Sebastian International Film Festival, the non-competitive showcase of Spanish talent.

Longoria will close the strand with the world premiere of La Vida De Brianeitor about a teenager with a physical disability who becomes an elite gamer.

Also world premiering is Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez’s documentary Perplexed Ants exploring workers trying to prevent the collapse of their industry.

The other world premieres include Juanma Betancort’s documentary Seed Of Son about...

Timm Kröger’s second film is a German-language psychological thriller.

Charades and Anonymous Content are partnering on sales for German director Timm Kröger’s The Theory of Everything ahead of its world premiere in competition in Venice, announced today.

The genre-blending black and white thriller set in the world of quantum mechanics is Kroger’s second feature. Set in the Swiss Alps, it is about a physicist attending an international convention where an Iranian scientist plans to unveil a groundbreaking new theory in quantum mechanics. Intrigued by a mysterious jazz pianist who seems to know intimate details about him, he...

When push comes to shove, the Transilvania Intl. Film Festival has always prided itself on pushing the envelope, preferring to err on the side of provocation where other fests might choose to play it safe. That mentality has been encoded into the fest’s DNA since its beginnings in the tumultuous post-Communist era, when civil liberties and artistic freedom were still far from guaranteed in the newly democratic Romania.

Yet after a turbulent period of unprecedented disruption, brought on first by the coronavirus pandemic and then by the widespread humanitarian and economic crises spurred by Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, even TIFF founder Tudor Giurgiu admits, “These were tough years.” The temptation might have been there to tinker with a formula that has made the festival such a success for the past two decades.

But for its 22nd edition, which runs June 9 – 18 in the picturesque medieval city of Cluj,...

‘Hounds’ is the feature debut of Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq.

Carles Torras’ Barcelona-based production outfit Zabriskie Films is moving into distribution with the acquisition of Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s feature debut Hounds.

Sold by Charades, the film is premiering in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and is a thriller about a father and son who make their living carrying out small jobs for the local mafia until one evening they are told to kidnap a man.

Casablanca -born director Lazraq graduated from France’s La Fémis school and his graduation short Drari, participated in Cannes Cinéfondation in 2011.

Hounds is...

‘Hounds’ is the feature debut of Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq.

Carles Torras’ Barcelona-based production outfit Zabriskie Films is moving into distribution with the acquisition of Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s feature debut Hounds.

Sold by Charades, the film is premiering in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and is a thriller about a father and son who make their living carrying out small jobs for the local mafia until one evening they are told to kidnap a man.

Casablanca -born director Lazraq graduated from France’s La Fémis school and his graduation short Drari, participated in Cannes Cinéfondation in 2011.

Hounds is a co-production...

‘Hounds’ is the feature debut of Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq.

Carles Torras’ Barcelona-based production outfit Zabriskie Films is moving into distribution with the acquisition of Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s feature debut Hounds.

Sold by Charades, the film is premiering in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and is a thriller about a father and son who make their living carrying out small jobs for the local mafia until one evening they are told to kidnap a man.

Casablanca -born director Lazraq graduated from France’s La Fémis school and his graduation short Drari, participated in Cannes Cinéfondation in 2011.

Hounds is a co-production...

The Romanian film festival runs June 9-18.

Transilvania International Film Festival has announced the line-up for its 22nd edition which takes place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

The official competition is made up of 12 features while the documentary strand, entitled What’s Up Doc?, will screen 10 titles. All of the films are from first and second-time directors.

Among the competition selection is Ion Bors’ Carbon which premiered in San Sebastian’s New Directors strand last year, having won the festival’s Wip Europa Industry and Wip Europa awards the previous year. The dark comedy, surrounding the Transnistrian conflict of the 1990s, is...

‘Aftersun’ distributor Condor has picked up the thriller for France.

Condor Distribution has taken French rights to Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez’s feature debut Upon Entry as Charades continues to secure sales for the Spanish psychological thriller in key territories worldwide.

The film recently won the audience award at the Reims Polar festival in northern France, following its world premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival last November where it won the Fipresci prize in the feature debut competition and its North American premiere at SXSW in March in the Narrative Spotlight section.

Upon Entry is based on...

Filmmakers Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez brought their feature film directorial debut, Upon Entry, to the South By Southwest film festival earlier this month. The duo also co-wrote the screenplay, which was inspired by various aspects of their own experiences with immigration and the stories of their loved ones. The form of immigration presented in the film may surprise some audiences, done by plane from Europe with papers in order — but the cruelty displayed by the American officers meant to welcome the travelers will, unfortunately, be familiar.

Upon Entry follows a committed couple, Diego and Elena, as they make their way to the United States from Spain. Elena is a contemporary dancer from Barcelona, while Diego is an urbanist, but neither appears able to appease the immigration officers when they are inexplicably called in for questioning. Over the course of the film, they undergo a grueling interrogation meant to...

26th edition wrapped on Sunday.

Estíbaliz Urresola’s 20,000 Species Of Bees and Kattia G. Zúñiga’s Sister & Sister won top awards at 2023 Málaga Film Festival, taking best Spanish film and best Latin American film, respectively, as the Andalusian event closed on Sunday.

In other key awards at the festival’s 26th edition, Gerardo Herrero’s Under Therapy earned a special jury prize director and Matías Bize claimed the best director prize for The Punishment.

20,000 Species Of Bees won the Berlin Silver Bear for best leading performance for young Sofía Otero last month and added the Golden Biznaga for...

Estíbaliz Urresola Solaguren’s celebrated Spanish feature “20,000 Species of Bees” and Kattia G. Zúñiga’s Panamanian drama “Sister & Sister” took the top prizes at the Malaga Film Festival, garnering the Golden Biznagas for Spanish and Latin American pictures respectively.

“20,000 Species of Bees” also won best supporting actress for Patricia López Arnaiz and picked up the Spanish Cinematographic Informers Association’s Feroz Puerta Oscura award. The film’s success follows two awards in Berlin, including a Silver Bear for Sofía Otero for her portrayal of a young girl going through a gender crisis.

For Zúñiga, the Golden Biznaga is sure to help further propel “Sister & Sister,” an autobiographical story about two teenage sisters who travel from Costa Rica to Panama in search of their absent father. Pic drew upbeat reviews in Malaga following on its SXSW world premiere.

Also making waves at the Malaga Festival, which runs...

“Please follow me.” With just three simple, courteous words, the lives of Diego and Elena are forever changed in the psychological drama “Upon Entry.” And after those three words are uttered early on in the suspenseful, methodical film by directors Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez, the tension only increases with each passing moment.

Read More: SXSW 2023 Preview: 25 Must-See Film & TV Projects To Watch

You see, Diego (Alberto Ammann) and Elena (Bruna Cusí) are a happy couple who has just landed in Newark from Barcelona and are on the cusp of beginning their new life in America.

Continue reading ‘Upon Entry’ Review: An Immigrant Couple’s Relationship Is Torn To Shreds In This Captivating Psychological Drama [SXSW] at The Playlist.

The festival opens on March 10 and will include super-sized industry progrramme Mafiz.

The 26th edition of the Malaga Film Festival kicks off today, giving the Spanish and international industry the chance to discover the latest films and talent emerging from the local and Latin America landscapes.

Twenty films will screen in the main competition. They include new films from returning Malaga filmmaker Elena Trapé, who won the best film and best director award in 2018 for The Distances. She’s in competition with a drama called The Enchanced, starring Laia Costa, about a young mother who has recently separated and is missing her young daughter.

Exclusive: Upon Entry, from directors Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez, will make its North American debut at SXSW later this week, and we’ve got the trailer to go with it (check it out above).

The psychological thriller is about a couple traveling from Barcelona, Spain who get stuck at immigration control in New Jersey’s Newark-Liberty Airport. While detained in an intense interrogation, their dreams of moving to the U.S — and their relationship — begin to unravel.

Here’s the official synopsis: Diego (Alberto Amman), a Venezuelan urbanist, and Elena (Bruna Cusi), a contemporary dancer from Barcelona, move to the United States with their approved visas to start a new life. Their intention is to boost their professional careers and start a family in ‘the land of opportunities.’ But upon entering Newark airport’s immigration area, they are taken to the secondary inspection room, where border officers will...

Charades and WTFilms have teamed on “Vermin,” a horror movie set in the French projects with a cast of local up-and-coming actors, who star alongside real spiders.

The movie will mark the feature debut of Sébastien Vaniček, who previously directed critically acclaimed shorts such as “Mayday.” Harry Tordjman at My Box Films is producing.

“Vermin” stars Théo Christine (“Suprêmes”), Finnegan Oldfield (“Final Cut”), Jérôme Niel (“Smoking Causes Coughing”), Sofia Lesaffre (“Les Misérables”) and Lisa Nyarko.

The film is currently in shooting in Paris, with a March 3 end date. It will distributed in France by Tandem. France Télévisions pre-bought the movie and Netflix got the pay TV window in France.

“Vermin” is set in an underprivileged suburb that has been thrown into chaos following an invasion of venomous spiders. Ordered to be placed in quarantine, the project sees inhabitants living on lockdown alongside terrifying spiders that are becoming bigger and bigger.

“Upon Entry,” a gripping psychological thriller tackling an immigration story, has been boarded by Charades and Anonymous Content ahead of its North American premiere at SXSW.

The movie marks the feature debut of Alejandro Rojas and Juan Sebastián Vásquez and is based on the their personal experiences as emigrants.

The cast is led by Goya-winning actors Alberto Ammann (“Narcos”) and Bruna Cusí (“Summer 1993”), as well as Laura Gómez, best known for her role in “Orange Is the New Black,” and Ben Temple.

“Upon Entry” had its world premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival last November, where it won the Fipresci Award, and will next play at SXSW in the Narrative Spotlight Section.

“Upon Entry” tells the story of Diego and Elena, a young couple moving to the U.S. from Spain. Upon their arrival at the Newark airport with their approved residence visas, the two are unexpectedly held and...

Festival runs March 10-18. Further selections to be announced in early February.

The world premiere of Paramount and eOne’s spring tentpole Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will open the 30th edition of SXSW in Austin, Texas, on March 10.

The action fantasy quest story stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, and Regé-Jean Page and is directed and co-written by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. It opens in the US on March 31.

SXSW runs March 10-18 as an in-person event only. In addition organisers announced feature and short Competition entries, the Headliners and Midnighters line-ups, and select titles...

Swiss-Kosovar feature ‘The Land Within’ takes best first feature film.

Hilmar Oddsson’s Icelandic dark comedy Driving Mum won the Grand Prix for best film in Competition at the award ceremony of the 26th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), held on Saturday, November 26.

The Official Selection jury, headed by Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi, said Driving Mum “charmed us all with its transparent, simple but bold film language, with its graceful sense of humour, with its unpretentious way of speaking about burning questions of personal life. A film which tells us that it is never too late.”

Scroll down for...

Taylor Sheats, the 22-year-old Texan fatally shot along with her younger sister by their mother last week, had a strained relationship with her mom, Taylor's former boss tells People. Elizabeth Balles, a teacher at Kids R Kids, a Katy, Texas, daycare center, supervised Taylor for six months in 2015 when she co-taught Balles's class of three- and four-year-old children. Balles tells People Taylor would sometimes talk about her relationship with her parents, Christy and Jason Sheats, as well as their relationship with each other. "Her mom's relationship with her was kind of rocky but her [and her dads] was rock solid," Balles says. Balles...

Taylor Sheats - the 22-year-old shot dead by her mother in Texas last week, along with her 17-year-old sister - was ready to move out and move on from her home, a childhood friend tells People. "She always seemed a little anxious to get started, to get her own thing going," Austin Crockett says of Taylor, who he met in the second grade when his family moved from Fort Worth to Katy. They were neighbors for years, until Crockett and his family left the Houston suburb, he says. The two stayed in touch and talked once a month. Crockett says...

Taylor Sheats, the 22-year-old who was fatally shot by her mother last week along with her 17-year-old sister, worried about her mother owning guns, a childhood friend tells People. Taylor and Madison Sheats were fatally shot last Friday by their mother, Christy Sheets, who opened fire on them after calling a family meeting. Authorities say Sheats had a history of mental illness and that they had been called to the house three times for suicide attempts, though they did not specify whether the calls were in reference to Christy Sheats. Matthew Wiley, a childhood friend of Taylor, says days before she died,...

Taylor Sheats, the 22-year-old fatally shot alongside her younger sister Madison by their mother in Texas last week, was set to marry her longtime boyfriend on Monday - just three days after her death, according to a Facebook post. Maria Lugo, a relative of Taylor's boyfriend Juan Sebastian Lugo, wrote in a Facebook post, "Y'all were apart of our family, and that will never change. The greatest in-laws any one could ever have, and the sweetest, most wholesome and caring girls in my life. I look up to y'all so much. Y'all were a light in the midst of this crazy world.

Taylor Sheats, the 22-year-old fatally shot alongside her younger sister Madison by their mother in Texas last week, was set to marry her longtime boyfriend on Monday - just three days after her death, according to a Facebook post. Maria Lugo, a relative of Taylor's boyfriend Juan Sebastian Lugo, wrote in a Facebook post, "Y'all were apart of our family, and that will never change. The greatest in-laws any one could ever have, and the sweetest, most wholesome and caring girls in my life. I look up to y'all so much. Y'all were a light in the midst of this crazy world.

The Visual Effects Society has announced the nominations for the 13th Annual Ves awards "the prestigious yearly celebration that recognizes outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games and the VFX supervisors, VFX producers and hands-on-the-keys artists who bring this work to life."

Ves members selected the nominees and Laika's "The Boxtrolls," Disney's "Big Hero 6," and Fox's "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" topped the nominations receiving 5 nods each.

The Visual Effects Society (Ves) is a global professional honorary society and the entertainment industry's only organization representing the full breadth of visual effects practitioners including artists, technologists, model makers, educators, studio executives, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and producers. Ves. almost 3,000 members in 33 countries worldwide contribute to all areas of entertainment . film, television, commercials, animation, music videos, games and new media. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Ves has member Sections in Australia, Bay Area (CA), London,...

The Visual Effects Society has announced the nominees for its 13th Annual Ves Awards, which recognize outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Among the nominees — Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Guardians of the Galaxy, Interstellar, Maleficent, The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies and X-Men: Days Of Future Past – for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture. The awards will be held February 4 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. See the complete list below.

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Photoreal/Live Action Feature Motion Picture

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Joe Letteri

Ryan Stafford

Matt Kutcher

Dan Lemmon

Hannah Blanchini

Guardians of the Galaxy

Stephane Ceretti

Susan Pickett

Jonathan Fawkner

Nicolas Aithadi

Paul Corbould

Interstellar

Paul Franklin

Kevin Elam

Ann Podlozny

Andrew Lockley

Scott Fisher

Maleficent

Carey Villegas...