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

Both Sides of the Blade (Claire Denis)

In Both Sides of the Blade a romance breaks down and threatens to break up in a stylish apartment overlooking the sweet Parisian skyline. The director is of course Claire Denis, a filmmaker whose last work began in a place that looked like Eden and ended in a spaceship plummeting toward no less than a black hole. A baroque melodrama that might just maybe be a trolling farce, Both Sides of the Blade‘s concerns are of a more earthbound variety–though if the insistent strings of Tindersticks’ score are something to go by, they are of no less importance. – Rory O. (full review)

Where to Stream: Hulu

Demonlover (Olivier Assayas)

Like so many Olivier Assayas films,...

Trinity Fusion, developed and published by Angry Mob Games, has a new demo available in line with Steam’s Next Fest. A 2D platformer with action-roguelite sensibilities and a multiversal narrative concept, Trinity Fusion brings a fetching 3D-rendered presentation and an accessible combat system, somewhat reminiscent of Dead Cells without the pixels. This newest incarnation of the game takes a few steps forward, but it doesn’t yet feel like a fully-baked hit.

In our previous experience with Trinity Fusion, we appreciated some of its basic combat mechanics - especially when multiple enemy types were on the screen - and hints at the wider story doled out in the closed beta. The new demo doubles down on that story, threading active narrative sequences into the main game instead of leaving everything to simple hub interactions. There's no comparison to Hades' vibrant underworld hub, but its intriguing three-story cylindrical design stands apart from other action-roguelites.

InterviewThe 90-year-old starred in Malayalam film ‘Thiramaala’, directed two others, worked in Hollywood, is a published author, and more.CrisThomas Berly at his houseWhile we were looking for his house in the lanes of Fort Kochi, he was trying to hide a dead body under a couch, 90-year-old Thomas Berly (Burleigh) Kurishingal says, cooking up a story as he speaks. He is trying to explain time splicing to us, a film-making technique where time is edited instead of film, something he learnt many decades ago in the United States of America. Thomas, who started off as an actor in Malayalam cinema in 1953, went off to the US and worked in Hollywood with the likes of Frank Sinatra before coming back to Kerala and making a couple of films. His seafood business had kept him away from the movies, but he is once again ready with seven little stories to be made into films.

Revered writer-director Paul Schrader is enjoying a late career renaissance, with “Master Gardener” being his third successive film to premiere at Venice after “First Reformed” and “The Card Counter.”

The film follows Narvel Roth (Joel Edgerton), the conscientious horticulturist of the historic Gracewood Gardens estate, which is owned by wealthy dowager Norma Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). When she demands that he take on her troubled biracial great-niece Maya (Quintessa Swindell) as an apprentice, Roth’s spartan existence turns chaotic.

Schrader made Roth, a man with a past, a gardener because he felt that the profession is a “rich metaphor” for both good and evil. “On one hand, a white supremacist can say ‘We’re the gardeners, we pull out the weeds.’ On the other hand a humanist can say, ‘We’re gardeners, we help things grow.’ And both are using the gardening metaphor — one is evil and one is good,” Schrader told Variety.

Exclusive: Maya and the Three creator Jorge Gutiérrez has set I, Chihuahua as his first animated feature for Netflix, with actor and comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias coming aboard to produce and star. (Check out never-before-seen concept art created for the feature below.)

Written by Gutiérrez, Doug Landale and Candie Kelty Langdale, I, Chihuahua is billed as the ultimate underdog tale of Chacho—a scrappy masked Luchador Chihuahua, who embarks on a hilarious and action-packed journey around the world to fight for his family. After learning his beloved home is in danger, Chacho dons a Lucha Libre mask to become Luchacho. Our masked underdog then enters an international fight tournament, competing against a hilarious and eclectic mix of animal fighters from all over the world, in the lead-up to a final, epic fight against the nefarious beast known as Chamuco, The Widow Maker. Iglesias will produce alongside Tim Yoon.

“I cannot...

Ashwin Saravanan, who is directing the Nayanthara-starrer ‘Connect’, has married his co-writer Kaavya Ramkumar in a simple ceremony that was attended by close friends and family at a temple at Acharapakkam. The young director, who has delivered critically acclaimed hits like ‘Maya’ and ‘Game Over’, said: “We got married at a small temple in Acharapakkam […]...

For Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, VFX supervisor Sean Walker, along with his team at Weta, was tasked with bringing the Great Protector and the Dweller-in-Darkness to life. “The most challenging part with these insane, massive, mystical and mythical creatures, is that the human mind knows that these things can’t possibly live,” says Walker. “They can’t possibly be real, so everything that we do has to make it feel like you can touch them.”

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings follows Shaun (Simu Lu), whose real name is Shang-Chi, as he confronts his past when the Ten Rings organization, run by his father Xu Wenwu (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung), comes for him. Along with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina) and his sister Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), he returns to his mother’s homeland to protect them from the Organization and stop them from releasing a great evil.

Nick Fury’s trusted ally Maria Hill is stepping back into action.

Cobie Smulders will reprise her Marvel role as the tough-as-nails former Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the upcoming Disney+ series Secret Invasion, according to our sister site Deadline. (A rep for Marvel has not yet responded to our request for comment.)

More from TVLineHawkeye Recap: More Cookie, Please — Plus, Is Maya's Uncle a Crime Kingpin?Loki Season 2 Looking More Likely to Arrive Before Kang's Ant-Man 3 'Debut,' Per Latest Marvel Movie DelaysThe Book of Boba Fett: New Teaser Revisits His Sarlacc Pit...

KollywoodThe title and first-look poster from the film was unveiled on November 18, marking actor Nayanthara’s birthday. Tnm StaffTwitter/ Rowdy Pictures Marking the occasion of actor Nayanthara’s birthday on Thursday, November 18, the title of her upcoming movie was unveiled. Fondly known as the ‘Lady Superstar’, Nayanthara has signed a new movie titled Connect. Game Over fame director Ashwin Saravanan, who has directed the actor in the Tamil movie Maya, will be spearheading the venture. Sharing the news with fans along with the title and first look, Ashwin expressed that he is happy about the reunion with Nayanthara after six years. He also extended his gratitude to director and producer Vignesh Shivan for supporting his vision by backing the film through his production banner Rowdy Pictures. “6 years later & the reunion has finally happened. Extremely honoured to be working with the one and only! Thank you @VigneshShivNbrother & @Rowdy_Picturesfor backing my vision.

Jorge Gutiérrez’s long-awaited animated Netflix limited series, “Maya and the Three,” about a rebellious Mesoamerican teenage princess battling the gods of the underworld, celebrates the culture on an epic scale. Told in nine parts, it boasts a dazzling array of visual styles evoking hand-drawn 2D, stop-motion, and CG animation.

Indeed, “Maya and the Three” is proof that the Mexican animation auteur is at the top of his game. Then again, Gutiérrez is just getting started with what his wife and longtime collaborator Sandra Equihua calls the “Jorgeverse.”

“We’ve been in the industry for 21 years just trying to make stuff,” Gutiérrez said. “I finally feel like we’re being trusted to make [what we want] in a way that reflects who we are. […] We’re the same people from 20 years ago. It’s not like we’re different in any way. It’s just that now we’re given more opportunities.”

Fresh from CalArts,...

Random Media has acquired worldwide rights to The Kybalion, a faith-based documentary featuring appearances by Paula Roberts, Daniel Ryan, Bryan Contnoir, and Raymond Moody.

The film directed by Ronni Thomas (AMC’s The Broken and the Bad) and hosted by occult historian Mitch Horowitz is set in 1908, examining an occult manuscript that would mystify those interested in metaphysics and the unseen world.

The Kybalion, penned by a mysterious author known as Three Initiates, presented seven principles of ancient Hermetic philosophy. The film explores each in detail, via dramatic live-action sequences and animation, with psychics, mediums, alchemists, and parapsychologists giving their perspective on the principles, how they relate to their work and search, and what they reveal for all of us.

Eric Doctorow negotiated the acquisition deal for Random Media with Sebastian Twardosz of Savant Artists on behalf of the filmmakers.

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Women In Animation has set industry partners for its 2022 Scholarship Program,...

Ukrainian filmmaker’s third feature was postponed due to five years imprisonment.

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov is to showcase footage from upcoming feature Rhino at Bulgaria’s Sofia Meetings, which is taking place virtually from March 17-24.

It marks the third feature from Sentsov and was originally pitched at the industry platform in 2012, before being abandoned when the filmmaker was arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service in May 2014 and later sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. Sentsov resurrected the project after being released from prison as part of a prisoner exchange in September 2019.

Set in 1990s Ukraine, the drama centres on...

Exclusive: Transcendence outfit Straight Up Films has been joined by author Tony Robbins and screenwriter Angela Workman (The Zookeeper’s Wife) on feature project Man’s Search For Meaning about the experience of Holocaust survivor, psychiatrist and author Viktor Frankl.

Frankl’s grandson Alexander Vesely is also aboard for the film, which is being produced under Straight Up’s recently launched social impact banner Straight Up Impact.

Holocaust memoir Man’s Search For Meaning recounts Frankl’s life in Nazi death camps and lessons for spiritual survival. Frankl was captive in four camps including Auschwitz from 1942-45; his parents, brother and wife died during that period.

Born in Vienna in 1905, Frankl began counseling in the 1920s and corresponded with Sigmund Freud. After the war, he continued his work as a psychiatrist and neurologist in Vienna. With more than 16 million copies sold, Man’s Search for Meaning centers on the notion that...

The most important decision that Glen Keane made as director of “Over the Moon,” Netflix’s exquisite update of the ancient Chinese Moon Goddess fable, was going with Sony Pictures Imageworks in Vancouver as the animation studio. And he did so primarily because of their Oscar-winning work on “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

“We really benefited by them having just done ‘Into the Spider-Verse,’” Keane said. “They were approaching the subtlety in animation, celebrating a realism in that acting that really was just the best. I built on that whole team’s performance. We leaned heavily into drawing on ‘Over the Moon.'”

In “Over the Moon,” the Disney legend faced his most daunting challenge yet because the level of detail in the character animation was very new to him. But he was immediately drawn to Fei Fei (Cathy Ang), the 12-year-old girl obsessed with building a rocket to the enchanting...

Eight projects in development from eight countries in South-East Europe will receive €9,000 each. The 31st session of the See Cinema Network's general assembly took place online on 19 January, where the winners of the 2020 funding competition for feature-length projects in development were selected from the pool of 15 films – two from each of the participating countries. Each of the projects, which previously secured funding from their national film funds and have another co-production company from another South-Eastern European country on board, will receive €9,000. The winners include the new projects by up-and-coming filmmakers, such as Maya by Cyprus's Tonia Mishiali (Pause), who is also producing with her outfit Bark Like a Cat Films; Burek by Kosovo's Ismet Sijarina (Cold November), staged by Leonora Lushtaku; Planet 7693 by Montenegro's Gojko Berkuljan (Iskra), produced by Marko Jaćimović (A Production); That Burning Light by Greece's Efthimios Kosemund...

The content drought is finally over for Fortnite fans.

At long last, Epic Games has rolled out the next major update for its massively popular battle royale, in doing so revealing the theme as well as some of the content players can expect to see arrive over the next several weeks and beyond. As the name suggests, Season 2: Top Secret is all about stealth and subterfuge, with today’s Battle Pass trailer (above) revealing a number of cosmetics that players can expect to earn for completing a wide array of challenges.

Skins for human-cat hybrid Meowscles and a neat customizable Maya outfit – with unlockable upgrades – are up for grabs this time around, as too, is one for none other than Marvel’s Deadpool. The wise-cracking and unconventional superhero’s likeness will be obtained directly via Top Secret‘s Battle Pass and will require completion of a number of special and suitably-themed challenges.

Jennifer Winget who is known for TV shows like "Beyhadh" and "Kasautii Zindagii Kay? and her awesome acting skills have always loved by the audiences.

Jennifer played key roles in various serials in which she has acted. She is one of the popular actors of Indian television.

Also Read:?Beyhadh 2: Jennifer Winget to entangled everyone in her 'Maya' jaal

Jennifer Winget looks deadlier than ever as the lethal Maya. Sony TV shared a promo of Beyhadh 2 and captioned, ?You have heard love stories over aeons. Now it's time to witness the story of hatred, one that will cross all limits because #MayaAgain will be back in action. #StayTuned #ComingSoon #Beyhadh2 @jenniferwinget1?

She is entangled in red threads and performing Aerial Art. She is fierce and is never gonna stop. Laila Majnu, Heer Ranja pyaar ke kahi misaale hai par nafrat ki koi nahi ..Pyaar ki hadh hoti hai,...

Actor Kirti Kulhari, who is currently enjoying the success of her recently released film Mission Mangal, has had a busy 2019 and already has recieved much critical and audience acclaim!

The actor started her year with two back to back releases i.e Blockbuster Uri: The Surgical Strike and Amazon’s Four More Shots Please, followed by a short film titled Maya and now Mission Mangal.

Says a source, “After wrapping the promotions of Uri and Four More Shots Please, Kirti immediately got into the promotions of her first-ever short film Maya, for which she received Best Actor (Female) Award in the short film category of Filmfare awards, soon after that, she started shooting for Netflix series Bard of the Blood, followed by film Bataasha in Rajasthan Bataasha in Rajasthan. Kirti plays a musician in Bataasha. Soon after, the actor started shooting for the second season of Four More Shots Please in Udaipur.

Actress Kirti Kulhari who was last seen in two extremely appreciated Projects Uri: The Surgical Strike and Amazon's Four More Shorts Please, is shooting back to back for her upcoming projects.

Says a source, "After wrapping the promotions of Uri and Four More Shots Please, Kirti immediately got into the promotions of her first ever short film Maya, for which she received Best Actor (Female) Award in the short film category of Filmfare awards, soon after that, she rushed to Rajasthan and completed the shoot of Netflix' series Bard of the Blood. She also shot her next untitled film where she plays a musician in Rajasthan and is currently shooting for another series in Mumbai. Kirti will start shooting of her next project and promote Mission Mangal in July which is slated to release on 15th August 2019. It's definitely a busy year for Kirti."

Kirti added, "2019 started on...

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has come on board to present the Hindi version of the Tamil-Telugu film "Game Over", starring Taapsee Pannu

"I am very kicked about presenting this game-changing film in Hindi. This film proves yet again that the quality of filmmaking from the south is just outstanding and it's great to see how Ashwin Saravanan (director) has pushed the boundaries and has made a genre-bending film, something that we all have never seen before," Kashyap said in a statement.

The film marks Taapsee's return to the Tamil film industry. She had earlier featured in "Aadukalam" and "Vandhaan Vendraan".

The upcoming film is a thriller that unfolds inside a house.

"For whatever little trust I have built in my audience for my choice of films. I am very confident that I will strengthen the belief further with 'Game Over'," she said.

The film is being produced by Y Not Studios and Reliance Entertainment.

Srijit Mukherji made the film “Jaatishwaar” (A Musical of Memories) to pay tribute to a cult song with the same name by Kabir Suman, one of the greatest songsmiths of modern Bengal. The story of “Jaatishwar” revolves around Hensman Anthony, a 19th century Bengali Kabiyal poet and singer of Portuguese origin, who is reincarnated as Kushal Hazra in modern day Bengal. The narration spreads over two centuries and depicts the evolution of Bengali modern music through the ages of Kirtan, Tappa, Bhatiali and other types of folk music, with an underlying love story. The film contains some brilliant performances from all the actors and some outstanding melodies by the maestro Kabir Suman. In 2014, the film was recognized with the maximum number (four) of awards in the National Film Awards of India.

Rohit Mehta is a Gujrati boy from Kolkata who falls in love with Bengali girl Maya, who is an...

Maybe it's Maya's time to shine.

Danielle Savre's character, bisexual firefighter Maya Bishop, has been part of the colorful ensemble of Station 19, the Grey's Anatomy spin-off now in its second season on ABC.

Maya is Savre's first lead role on network TV. Previously the actress/singer had starred on the MTV music drama Kaya and the TLC drama Too Close to Home.

Maya spent much of Station 19 Season 1 serving as an enabler for her best friend, Andrea “Andy” Herrera, one of the station's two lieutenants, along with Jack Gibson, Andy's ex-boyfriend.

Related: Station 19 Season 2 Episode 10 Review: Crazy Train

This season Maya, a former Olympic gold medalist in the 1,000 meters, is stepping up. On the recommendation of Chief Ripley and Captain Sullivan, Maya applied for and got promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

Only intervention by Sullivan with the chief kept Maya from being transferred to another station.

The 17th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles is nearly upon us and the feature and short film lineups have been announced. Opening on April 11th with a special screening of Sriram Raghavan's stellar Andhadhun and tribute to leading lady Tabu, Iffla continues through the 14th with a number of fantastic films and events. The festival closes with the world premiere of Megha Ramaswamy's The Odds and a screening of Tiff alum and acclaimed documentary Reason by Anand Patwardhan I can definitely recommend the above-mentioned Andhadhun, Slamdance award-winner Cat Sticks, Aditya Vikram Sengupta's Bengali Rotterdam alum Jonaki, Dar Gai's Nambau Dev In Search of Silence, and the shorts Bebaak by Shazia Iqbal and Maya by Vikas Chandra. I'm very much looking forward to digging...

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

For the upcoming animated comedy adventure “Missing Link,” stop-motion studio Laika set the bar very high. To execute the designs created by director and writer Chris Butler, artists would have to speed up their 3D printing of character faces — and those faces would have to be the most complex they’d ever created.

“Missing Link” centers on Sir Lionel Frost (voiced by Hugh Jackman), a self-styled investigator of myths and monsters whose skill is not acknowledged by his small-minded high-society peers. So Frost travels to the Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of the legendary Missing Link (voiced by Zach Galifianakis). Other voice actors include Zoe Saldana, Timothy Olyphant and Emma Thompson.

Laika, based in Portland, Ore., brought to “Link” its signature handcrafted stop-motion animation, which it couldn’t have developed without the speed of 3D-printing technology. While the concepts of hand crafting and digital printing may seem at odds with each other,...

Mia Hansen-Løve is one of my very favorite directors working today. Her infinitely wise films about the passage of time, the beautiful characterizations of the people who inhabit her work, as well as her willingness to always expand her cinematic universe at whatever the cost, leaves me in awe. Her new film Maya isn't an exception to this rule. Structurally daring, logistically ambitious but always heartfelt,  Hansen-Løv is reaching a new height. I got a chance to talk to her while she was in New York for Rendez-Vous with French Cinema at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Stuck in traffic and suffering from a cold, I was about ten minutes late for our appointment, but she was so accomodating and kind to me. I...

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

Mia Hansen-Løve’s best films envelop the viewer so persuasively in their currents of feeling that it can take you a moment or two to notice how coolly and methodically constructed they are: the revealing agility of her camera placement, the sharp economy of her editing, the often rich irony of her musical selections, all subtly contributing to character portraits of granular depth. In “Maya,” her sixth and most internationally-minded feature, those virtues hit you straight away, only to reveal more grace and precision in the framing than in the rather hazily conceived characters themselves. A study of a European man’s healing Indian odyssey that gives in all too frequently to hoary colonial romanticism, this is the first stumble in Hansen-Løve’s hitherto impressive filmography — the kind of directorial misstep that at least makes it clear how deft her footwork usually is.

Coming off Hansen-Løve’s best and most...

While everyone in the known film universe debates whether to preserve the traditional theater-going experience versus embrace the inevitable future of that seems to have already arrived – a streaming service takeover – French director, Mia Hansen-Løve, is firmly on the side of film. Her newest project, “Maya” – a quiet, melancholic meditation exploring a journalist’s capacity for care after experiencing a major trauma – is currently still seeking Us distribution, and in an illuminating interview, published by Indiewire, the filmmaker concedes that she’s only willing to compromise her creative process up to a point, and her new movie may not be released in America, it’s still up in the air.

Continue reading ‘Maya’ Filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve Would “Rather Kill Myself Than Make Any Compromise” With Her Art at The Playlist.

An overstretched film producer shoots himself in the head when the bank refuses to extend him the credit he needs for his latest movie, leaving his widow to finish the project. A mediocre French DJ fritters away the best 20 years of his life before coming to grips with the fact that he’ll never be Daft Punk. A middle-aged professor doesn’t know what to do with herself after her husband leaves her for a younger woman; she’s not unhappy so much as burdened by the unbearable lightness of freedom.

It would be an understatement to say that change does not come naturally to the characters of Mia Hansen-Løve, a 38-year-old auteur whose first six films have established her as one of modern cinema’s most compelling voices — these are people who define themselves by their partners and vocations, and would rather kamikaze their entire lives than dare to adjust course.

National Award winning actress Tabu will be honoured at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles in April. Announcing the lineup of films and the other activities of the festival, Christina Marouda, Iffla Executive Director, said in a statement: "We have been discussing honouring Tabu for a long time, and this year felt like the right time. Her work and personality embody everything that Iffla is about -- being fearless, versatile, independent in spirit, unwilling to compromise, brilliant in the range of her performances, and simply beautiful."

"With half of the festival's 2019 lineup directed by female filmmakers, this couldn't be a stronger celebration of women in Indian cinema," he said.

While Tabu's recently released film Andhadhun will be the opening film of the festival, other female filmmakers' work will also be showcased on the occassion. With several feature, shots and documentaries -- films will be shown in nine languages.

'Taking...

Gilles Lellouche’s “Sink or Swim,” Mikhaël Hers’s “Amanda,” Louis-Julien Petit’s “Invisibles” and Eva Husson’s “Girls of the Sun” are set to screen at the 24th edition of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema showcase which is co-organized by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and UniFrance.

After world-premiering out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, “Sink or Swim” became a box office hit in France and got nominated for 10 Cesar Awards. The film is headlined by a popular French cast, including Mathieu Amalric (“At Eternity’s Gate”), Guillaume Canet (“Rock’n Roll”), Virginie Efira (“Elle”) and Leila Bekhti (“Midnight Sun”).

“Girls of the Sun,” which competed at Cannes, stars Golshifteh Farahani (“Paterson”) as a resistance fighter part of an all-female battalion made up of former captives of extremists who have vowed to reconquer their own land.

Inspired by a true story, “Invisibles” follows the journey of...

A&E IndieFilms and Sundance Institute have selected four recipients for their inaugural “Brave Storytellers Award,” an honor that is intended to provide financial support for documentary filmmakers. The winners are Cecilia Aldarondo, Jemka Autry, Margaret Brown, and Yoruba Richen.

Each honoree will receive $25,000 in seed funding, as well as year-round mentorship from staff of the Sundance Institute, a non-profit filmmaking organization. A&E IndieFilms will then work with Sundance Institute to support the recipients’ projects through development, production and distribution.

The projects being supported by the grants cover a range of subjects. Richen’s “American Reckoning” will grapple with the FBI’s recent series of investigations into hundreds of unsolved civil rights era murders. Autry’s “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” examines the prosecution of the jazz singer on drug charges. And Aldarondo’s “You Were My First Boyfriend” reexamines life in high school.

Brown’s project is dubbed “Africatown,...

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and UniFrance have announced the complete lineup for the 24th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, the celebrated annual festival that exemplifies the variety and vitality of contemporary French filmmaking, taking place February 28 – March 10 in New York.

The 2019 Opening Night selection is the New York premiere of “The Trouble with You,” the latest comic whirlwind from Pierre Salvadori (“In the Courtyard”), which was recently nominated for nine César Awards including Best Film, Director, Screenplay, and all four acting categories. A standout of the 2018 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, this hilarious yet tender film stars Adèle Haenel as a woman coping with the recent loss of her husband, and features supporting performances by Audrey Tautou, Vincent Elbaz, and Damien Bonnard.

“This year’s Rendez-Vous brings together established French filmmakers and exciting emerging talents in a lineup that showcases the artistry and innovation at the heart of French cinema,...

Rookie filmmaker Bing Liu’s “Minding The Gap” beat out the competition to win top honors at the 34th Annual Ida Documentary Awards at the Paramount Theatre on Saturday night. The portrait of a group of skateboarders took home Best Feature, Emerging Filmmaker and Best Editing. Liu had accepted a Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where the Pov film was acquired by Hulu.

Other winners include Floyd Russ’s “Zion” (Best Short), Netflix’s “Wild Wild Country” (Best Limited Series), HBO’s “John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls” (the ABC News VideoSource Award), PBS’ Pov (Best Curated Series), Showtime’s “The Trade” (Best Episodic Series), Mel Films (Best Short Form Series), and Jayisha Patel’s “Circle” (the David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award). Both Melissa Haizlip’s “Mr. Soul!” and Steve Loveridge’s “Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.” won Best Music Documentary,...

Rookie filmmaker Bing Liu’s “Minding The Gap” beat out the competition to win top honors at the 34th Annual Ida Documentary Awards at the Paramount Theatre on Saturday night. The portrait of a group of skateboarders took home Best Feature, Emerging Filmmaker and Best Editing. Liu had accepted a Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, where the Pov film was acquired by Hulu.

Other winners include Floyd Russ’s “Zion” (Best Short), Netflix’s “Wild Wild Country” (Best Limited Series), HBO’s “John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls” (the ABC News VideoSource Award), PBS’ Pov (Best Curated Series), Showtime’s “The Trade” (Best Episodic Series), Mel Films (Best Short Form Series), and Jayisha Patel’s “Circle” (the David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award). Both Melissa Haizlip’s “Mr. Soul!” and Steve Loveridge’s “Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.” won Best Music Documentary,...

Jaws on the floor, anyone?  We went into tonight's Arrow thinking the biggest deal would be the arrival of Katherine McNamara's Maya, but we were wrong. Sure, she got herself an epic entrance, taking down a guy twice in a cage match after the reveal that she was Blackstar, the person with whom Felicity last spoke before her alleged death. She didn't have much to say, but what she did say did not appear to be the whole truth, so clearly there's a lot more we have to learn from her.  The big surprise of the night was that the new Green Arrow is none other than Oliver Queen's secret half-sister! She's a badass who might be even better at exercising than Oliver himself, and at first,...

Since the earliest of trailers promoting Arrow season 7 hit the web, we’ve all been pondering the identity of the new Emerald Archer prowling Star City. At first, I assumed it to be Roy Harper, but that solution seems less and less likely with each passing week. And as I continued getting closer looks at the vigilante, I began believing them to be a woman.

Well, it seems like my suspicion may be vindicated next week during “Unmasked” when Katherine McNamara makes her debut as Maya. Described as “a scrappy street fighter and thief from Star City,” this new gal entering the fold is suddenly garnering much attention.

Seen below in an image revealed by TV Line, Maya has a slender frame matching that of the one boasted by the new Green Arrow. Plus, you have to admit that hype surrounding her just in time for an installment titled “Unmasked” seems a little too convenient.

Film FestivalAmong the world cinema are films by directors Kim Ki-duk, Jean-Luc Godard, Jahar Panahi, Spike Lee, Lars von Trier and Olivier Assayas. Asghar Farhadi's 'Everybody Knows' is the inaugural film. Tnm StaffStill from 'Everybody Knows'iffk has not broken its tradition. There is going to be a Kim Ki-duk film this time as well among the 90 odd pictures coming from various parts of the world. It's called Human, Space, Time and Human. Then there's Jean-Luc Godard's The Image Book. Banned Jafar Panahi’s 3 Faces. Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman. Lars von Trier’s The House That Jack Built. And Olivier Assayas’s Non-Fiction. In the world cinema category, are 26 films having their Indian premiers and two with their Asian premiers. Asghar Farhadi's Everybody Knows is the inaugural film. Asghar's film About Elly had won the Golden Crow Pheasant (Suvarna Chakoram) at Iffk, 2009. Everybody Knows tells the story of...

Among the most exciting and ambitious of the six original animated projects announced by Netflix earlier this month is Jorge Gutierrez’s Mesoamerican fantasy epic, “Maya and the Three.” The filmmaker recently talked with Variety about the series’ origins, inclusive casting and new ways that studios look for talent.

Gutierrez only ever pitched “Maya and the Three” one time, and only when the people at Netflix pushed him to share his dream project that he didn’t believe anyone would let him make.

“So I sat down on Jan. 25th of this year and that was the first time I ever pitched ‘Maya,’” he recalled. “No art, no writing, just an idea. And here I am 11 months later, knee deep in production.”

Although it was only an idea at the time, its roots run deep for Gutierrez. He pointed to two main inspirations: the need for a “bad-ass” female Mesoamerican hero,...

"What are you doing in Goa?" Les Films du Losange has revealed the first official trailer for the indie drama Maya, the latest film made by acclaimed French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve. This film is mostly in English, as it's about a French war journalist who makes it home after being held captive in Syria. He travels to Goa, India where he meets an intelligent young woman and spends time trying to recover. Roman Kolinka stars as the French man, and Aarshi Banerjee stars as Maya, with a small cast including Suzan Anbeh, Judith Chemla, Anjali Khurana, and Pathy Aiyar. I saw this at the Toronto Film Festival where it premiered (read my full review), and it's a bit low key, but still contains all the uplifting, honest emotions that make Mia Hansen-Løve's films so wonderful. See below. Here's the first official French trailer for Mia Hansen-Løve's Maya, direct from YouTube...

Shortlist of 15 films to be announced on December 17.

Us box office hits Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Rbg, Three Identical Strangers and Free Solo have made it on to the 166-strong longlist of documentary feature Oscar hopefuls.

The shortlist of 15 films will be announced on December 17. Thursday’s (8) longlist includes Fahrenheit 11/9, Crime + Punishment, Generation Wealth, Maria By Calas, The Price Of Everything, Pope Francis – A Man of His Word, Ruben Blades Is Not My Name, Shirkers, They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead, Trust Machine, and Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. are also in contention.

A...

At their inaugural Fall Lunch in held in Los Angeles on Thursday, Cinema Eye Honors unveiled their first round of awards, including their annual list of significant nonfiction film subjects and a list of the year’s ten top Nonfiction Short Films. They also released nominees in four categories: Broadcast Film; a new award for Broadcast Series; the Heterodox Award, which recognizes fiction films that blur the line between fiction and documentary; and the annual Audience Choice Prize, voted on by documentary lovers around the world.

Netflix, Focus Features, and Hulu hosted the event at Casita Hollywood with many of the year’s top filmmakers on hand, including Kirby Dick, Morgan Neville, Matt Tyrnauer, Jimmy Chin, Rj Cutler, Lauren Greenfield, Alan Hicks, Laura Nix, and Brett Morgen. The full list of nonfiction film and craft nominees, including the five nominees for Outstanding Nonfiction Short Film, will be revealed on Thursday,...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

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Two-time Academy Award-winning Actor Christoph Waltz Announced As A Special Guest At The 2018 Virginia Film Festival

Festival Officials Also Announce High Profile Additions To 2018 Program Including Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk And Julian Schnabel’S At Eternity’S Gate

Additions Also Include Sundance Award-Winning Documentary Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.

Charlottesville, Va – October 10, 2018– Two-time Academy Award-winning actor Christoph Waltz will be a special guest at the upcoming 2018 Virginia Film Festival, Vaff officials announced today. The Festival also announced program additions including Moonlight writer and director Barry Jenkins’ latest film, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate, which stars Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh. The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia and the Office of the Provost and Vice Provost for the Arts.

Selection includes seven foreign-language Oscar submissions.

Nadine Labaki’s Lebanese drama Capernaum and Matteo Garrone’s Italian film Dogman are among seven foreign-language Oscar submissions that will play in the World Cinema section of AFI Fest 2018 presented by Audi.

Festival brass announced on Tuesday (16) 28 titles from 27 countries in its international showcase. The other Oscar submissions are Radu Jude’s I Do Not Care If We Go Down In History As Barbarians (Romania), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s Never Look Away (Germany), Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters (Japan), László Nemes’s Sunset (Hungary), and Nuri Bilge Ceylan...

Yórgos Lánthimos’s “The Favourite,” Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria,” Claire Denis’s “High Life” and Ethan Hawke’s “Blaze” are among the many well-received films from Venice and Toronto set to be having their French premiere at La Roche-sur-Yon Festival which is headed by Paolo Moretti, the new topper of Cannes’s Directors Fortnight.

The international competition lineup of this 9th edition is headlined by “The Favourite,” Timur Bekmanbetov’s “Profile,” Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Maya,” and Berlin’s Golden Bear winner “Touch Me Not” directed by Adina Pintilie.

“Our idea is to shed light on contemporary films that were discovered in other festivals than Cannes in order to give our audiences an alternative image of cinema,” said Moretti.

Among the stars and filmmakers expected to attend La Roche-sur-Yon is Hawke who will be on hand to present his latest directorial outing, “Blaze” (pictured), as well as Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed” in which he stars.

Superhero spin-off posts healthy £8m bow, including previews.

Today’s Gbp to Usd conversion rate - 1.30

Full screen RankFilm / DistributorThree-day gross (Oct 5-7) Running gross Week 1 Venom (Sony Pictures) £5.6m £8m 1 2 Johnny English Strikes Again (Universal) £4.1m £4.1m 1 3 A Star Is Born (Warner Bros) £3.1m £4m 1 4 The House With A Clock In Its Walls (eOne) £902,203 £6.8m 3 5. Night School (Universal) £859,330 £3.1m 2 Sony Pictures

Venom, a spin-off from the Spider-man franchise taking place outside of the Marvel cinematic universe, opened to an impressive £5.6m Fri-Sun. From 557 locations, that’s a site average of £10,054. With Wednesday/Thursday previews, the total five-day opening was £8m.

Fall releases continue to show promise for a strong fall season. “Free Solo” (National Geographic/Greenwich) is the standout, with exceptional initial results for this documentary about a perilous Yosemite mountain wall climb. While the Robert Redford vehicle “The Old Man & The Gun” opened to lower initial figures, Fox Searchlight should be able to push it to upcoming success as it goes wider.

“Solo” wasn’t the only documentary draw, as two initial runs for “Matangi/Maya/M.I.A” (Abramorama) did excellent initial business in New York and Los Angeles. Meantime, holdovers “Colette” (Bleecker Street) and “The Sisters Brothers” (Annapurna) found more interest in their second weekends, and “The Wife” (Sony Pictures Classics) continued to set a strong pace in wider release.

Opening

Free Solo (National Geographic/Greenwich) – Metacritic: 83; Festivals include: Telluride, Toronto 2018

$300,804 in 4 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $75,201

Toronto’s documentary audience award-winner showed major audience appeal.

Director, producer, actor and Sundance founder Robert Redford is apparently closing out one area of his impressive resume with the opening of The Old Man & the Gun, which played at the recent Telluride and Toronto film festivals. Also starring Casey Affleck and Sissy Spacek, the title by writer-director David Lowery opens in limited release this weekend en route to hundreds of locations next month via Fox Searchlight. Fellow Telluride and Toronto title, Free Solo, from Meru filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, also makes its bow in a busy weekend of new Specialty roll outs with a film that records of feat of human endurance from National Geographic Documentary Film and Greenwich Entertainment.

The Orchard is opening All About Nina, the feature directorial debut of Raising Victor Vargas writer, Eva Vives in New York and L.A. ahead of an expansion to hundreds of theaters. Neon is launching...

Fans were left with a major cliffhanger at the end of Station 19 Season 1 Episode 10. Several characters were trapped in a raging skyscraper fire, and things were certainly looking grim. 

We won't have to wait much longer to find out who survives when Station 19 Season 2 Episode 1 premieres on October 4, but until then, we thought it might be fun to consider each character's odds of survival. 

Related: Enjoy Unlimited access to thousands of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video

Of course, it's entirely possible no one will die, but being that this is a Shonda Rhimes show, we have to at least consider the likelihood someone will perish. Who's the most likely candidate? Check out our slideshow and then let us know if you agree! 

1. Andy - 100% When we left off, Andy was making her way down the stairs just as the explosion went off. She was distraught...

In a creative spurt that will have given us give her seminal film Things to Come (review) in 2016, the Tiff world preemed Maya (2018) and Bergman Island (2019) in a breakneck pace of a film per 18 months, Mia Hansen-Løve came to Toronto with Roman Kolinka (who has become a three film in a row muse) and first time actress Aarshi Banerjee. This ode to Goa feels like a distant cousin of Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger in terms of how it’s protagonist journalist embraces a change in identity while haphazardly being aided or guided by a young women.…...

The Notebook is covering Tiff with an on-going correspondence between critics Kelley Dong and Daniel Kasman.aKashaDear Kelley,The festival definitely is changing now: the industry-oriented market side of the event has finished, so many sales agents and distributors and other such folk have decamped, even as premieres keep being revealed, and audiences are delighted (or exasperated). There's still plenty on my schedule and plenty more I want to share with you.Are there filmmakers for you, Kelley, whose sensibility you embrace but whose films you sometimes struggle to like? That, for me, is Mia Hansen-Løve, who has made six features to date, two of which I think knock it out of the park—The Father of My Children and Things to Come. But her other recent work, including Goodbye, First Love, Eden, and now Maya, may resonate with a sensibility of intelligent compassion and emotional insight, yet tell stories I find torpid.