News

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) unveiled its first wave of 60 selections on Monday, July 24. The slate includes 37 world premieres, seven international openings and 12 North American debuts and will be held September 7 – 17, 2023. See the full lineup of films (so far) below.

Among the standouts is “The Holdovers,” a caustic Christmas comedy from “About Schmidt” and “Sideways” writer-director Alexander Payne. Pundits expect the film could emerge from the festival as a major Oscar player in several races, including Best Picture. Craig Gillespie’s “Dumb Money,” a retelling of the GameStop short squeeze starring Paul Dano, and David Yates’ “Pain Hustlers,” a pharma satire with Emily Blunt, could land two previously overlooked actors their first Oscar spotlight.

See 14 most anticipated movies for July include ‘Oppenheimer,’ ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One,’ ‘Barbie’ … [Photos]

George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin” is a highly anticipated Civil Rights drama that Gold Derby users currently predict will...

After unveiling a few titles, the Toronto International Film Festival has now dropped the initial 60 films taking part in their Galas and Special Presentations line-up when the festival takes place from September 7-17.

Highlights include Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast, Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, Lukas Moodysson’s Together 99, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers, Michel Franco’s Memory, Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel, Christos Nikou’s Fingernails, and Ethan Hawke’s Wildcat.

The festival will also feature a number of acclaimed films from earlier this year, including Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster, Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera, Catherine Breillat’s Last Summer, Chloe Dumont’s Fair Play, John Carney’s Flora and Son, and Marco Bellocchio’s Kidnapped, and more.

See the lineup below.

Gala Presentations 2023

*Previously announced

Concrete Utopia Um...

The Toronto International Film Festival is back for another big year.

On Monday, TIFF announced a whopping 60 films in its first wave of titles for the 2023 edition of the festival.

Read More: Toronto International Film Festival 2023: Taika Waititi’s ‘Next Goal Wins’ Is The First Confirmed Title

Spanning both the Gala and Special Presentations sections of the fest, the lineup includes a number of big titles, including 37 world premieres.

“This year’s Galas & Special Presentations showcase a rich tapestry of talent, vision, and storytelling,” said Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF. “From thought-provoking narratives to breathtaking visuals and stories so unreal they have to be real, each work embodies the power of cinema to inspire, challenge, and move audiences. Get ready to experience an unforgettable celebration of film and a memorable and star-studded festival, showcasing the best of global cinema for film lovers in September.”

Several of the films at this...

Last Summer.Catherine Breillat holds eye contact with such intensity that it’s difficult not to feel a little intimidated in her presence. It’s an apt trait for a filmmaker of equally, and brilliantly, intimidating films. Unafraid, even eager, to cause discomfort, Breillat has dedicated her career to the cinematic excavation of taboo subjects and liberating female desire onscreen.With her first film in ten years, Last Summer, Breillat presents a reworking of May el-Toukhy’s 2019 film Queen of Hearts in which a lawyer, predominantly working on sexual assault cases, has an affair with her 17-year-old stepson. The project is challenging in the ways you might expect from the filmmaker, but somehow tamer, too; the sex is not explicit in the manner of Romance (1999) or Anatomy of Hell (2004), nor are the shocks quite as violent as they are in her widely celebrated Fat Girl (2001). Her approach here feels more...

The morning of the Cannes lineup press conference is often described by movie journalists as ‘Christmas for arthouse film-lovers’. Yesterday was no different, with fest head Thierry Frémaux returning in his role as Santa to dole out gifts to a bevvy of expectant industry and writers.

Below are some of the key talking points from another intriguing lineup, which will be officially unwrapped from May 16th.

To Compete Or Not To Compete?

As it stands, Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon will play Out Of Competition. However, Thierry Frémaux spelled out that he has been trying to convince Apple and Scorsese that their film should play in Competition. So far, the Moon is not for turning. The conversation is ongoing, so things could change — there is still space in the Competition. So what’s the issue? It was a real coup for the festival to get the Apple movie,...

No slot (yet) of Bertrand Bonello, Michel Gondry, Bruno Dumont, Robin Campillo, Catherine Corsini and Quentin Dupieux.

The opening film of Cannes 2023 is Maiwenn’s Jeanne du Barry, a period drama that delves into French history, was shot in Versailles and sees its US star Johnny Depp speaking French.

Un Certain Regard will also open with a French title, Thomas Cailley’s Le Règne Animal, while the Competition refreshingly feaures two films by female French filmmakers, Catherine Breillat and Justine Triet, and the new film from Vietnamese-born, France-based Tran Anh Hung,

Breillat’s rise-from-retirement film is Last Summer, while Tran...

New films from Wes Anderson, Jessica Hausner, Nanni Moretti, Catherine Breillat, Todd Haynes, Ken Loach and Wim Wenders have all been selected for the 2023 Cannes competition.

The Cannes Film Festival (May 16-27) has unveiled its 2023 official selection already buzzing with the return of veteran auteurs In Competition including Todd Haynes, Jessica Hausner, Wim Wenders, Ken Loach, Nanni Moretti, Catherine Breillat, Wes Anderson, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Hirokazu Kore-eda.

They join the previously announced Martin Scorsese, whose Killers Of The Flower Moon was announced for Out of Competition but who still could end up in Competition, it was suggested at today’s press conference.

The Cannes Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 76th edition Thursday morning, and the Official Selection featured a record number of films directed by women filmmakers set to play in Competition.

The festival will debut six films by women in Competition. The selected films and filmmakers are La Chimera (Alice Rohrwacher), Club Zero (Jessica Hausner), Last Summer (Catherine Breillat), Anatomie d’une chute (Justine Triet), Banel et Adama (Ramata-Toulaye Sy), and Olfa’s Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania).

The previous record of five films by female filmmakers in Competition was set last year, with a lineup that included Kelly Reichardt with the Michelle Williams-starrer Showing Up, Claire Denis’s Stars at Noon, and the Charlotte Vandermeersch co-directed Le Otto Montagne.

So far, the festival has announced 19 films that will play in Competition, so the overall number of women filmmakers remains below the 50% mark. The wider Official Selection revealed this...

After finally breaking its own long-held record last year, this year’s Cannes Film Festival will once again feature more female directors in its starry competition section than ever in its 76-year history. While last year marked the first time the French festival programmed five films directed or co-directed by women in competition, 2023 marks a new uptick: it will be the first year the fest includes six films from female directors competing for the Palme d’Or.

Announced this morning, this year’s Cannes competition slate includes new films from Alice Rohrwacher (“La Chimera”), Jessica Hausner (“Club Zero”), Catherine Breillat (“Last Summer”), Justine Triet (“Anatomie d’une chute”), Ramata-Toulaye Sy (“Banel et Adama), and Kaouther Ben Hania (“Olfa’s Daughters”). With 19 films currently on the slate, that means a full 31.5 percent of them hail from female creators, a brand-new Cannes record. (Also of note: Sy is only the second Black woman...

In 2022, the Cannes Film Festival — which has faced growing pressure over the years for a lack of female representation among the filmmakers in its lineup — smashed its record for women directors in competition.

However, the news of five names from 21 films vying for the Palme d’Or didn’t quite make for something to be overly enthusiastic about.

This year looks to be different. Following Thursday’s official announcement by Thierry Frémaux, a record six female directors are set to compete for the top prize, and this time from a shortened total selection of 19 films (for a record 32 percent of the overall competition lineup).

Among the lineup are established names and Cannes returnees, including Alice Rohrwacher with La Chimera (her fourth film to bow at the festival), Jessica Hausner with Club Zero (her fifth Cannes premiere), doc-drama Olfa’s Daughters from Kaouther Ben Hania (making her main competition debut after...

Updated: The Official Selection lineup for the 76th Cannes Film Festival has been revealed, with 19 movies in Competition (see full lists below). Returning to the fray this year are such previous Palme d’Or winners as Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Nanni Moretti, Ken Loach, Wim Wenders and Hirokazu Kore-eda. Wenders also has a movie in Special Screenings while Kore-eda, with the Japanese drama Monster, is back-to-back in the mix after 2022’s Korean-language Broker.

Other familiar names who will launch new works in the Competition include Todd Haynes with May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore; Wes Anderson with the mega-ensemble Asteroid City; Jonathan Glazer and The Zone of Interest; and Aki Kaurismaki with Fallen Leaves.

Across the rest of the Official Selection, Steve McQueen’s Occupied City notably has a Special Screenings berth while Takeshi Kitano is in Cannes Premiere with Kubi. Anurag Kashyap nabbed a Midnight Screenings slot with...

The selection includes films by Wes Anderson, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Wim Wenders, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes and Steve McQueen.

The Official Selection of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival has been announced.

Scroll down for the line-up

The selection includes films by Wes Anderson, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Wim Wenders, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes and Steve McQueen.

As previously announced, ’s Jeanne du Barry, starring the director opposite Johnny Depp, will open the festival on May 16.

The festival’s longtime director Thierry Frémaux revealed the Official Selection at a press conference at the Ugc Normandie theatre in Paris today alongside incoming festival president Iris Knobloch.

I Know What You Did Last Summer is preparing to join the trend of legacy horror movies, but its upcoming movie is already facing a big horror reboot villain problem. The horror genre is still riding the wave of reboots and requels, and among those confirmed to be in the process of being rebooted is I Know What You Did Last Summer. Directed by Jim Gillespie and loosely based on the 1973 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan, I Know What You Did Last Summer was released in 1997 and helped revitalize the slasher genre in the 1990s, but after a failed direct-to-video sequel and a TV series, the franchise has struggled to stay relevant.

I Know What You Did Last Summer followed Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), her boyfriend Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr), and their friends as they were stalked by a hook-wielding killer after they accidentally ran over a man one night,...

The latest horror movie joining the trend of reboots and sequels is I Know What You Did Last Summer, and its upcoming movie is already solving a major franchise mystery left by the second movie. Back in 1997, I Know What You Did Last Summer helped revitalize the slasher genre in the 1990s and made way for a franchise that has struggled to stay relevant after its sequel was a failure as well as its direct-to-video standalone sequel and a TV series, but it might find a new audience with its upcoming legacy movie.

I Know What You Did Last Summer saw Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), her boyfriend Ray Bronson (Freddie Prinze Jr), and their friends being stalked by a hook-wielding killer after they accidentally ran a man over one night and dumped his body in the water while he was still alive. The sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,...

The folly of youth!

When Goldie Hawn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1970, for the 1969 comedy “Cactus Flower,” the 24-year-old was so sure she wouldn’t win she didn’t even go to the ceremony. What’s more, she didn’t even bother watching it on television. She had no idea she won until she got a phone call in the middle of the night.

At the time, she was filming “There’s A Girl In My Soup,” opposite Peter Sellers in London, but to fly back for the big night would not have been unheard of, even at a time when “Awards Season” was not yet quite the thing it is today.

But here’s where it gets weirder. According to a recent interview with Variety, Hawn had never even seen the moment from the telecast where her name was called. She didn’t even know it...

Screen’s team looks at which titles are lining up for a potential slot in either Official Selection or one of the parallel sections.

Speculation is mounting about which titles could make the line-up for the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 16-27 this year.

The submission process for Official Selection officially closes on March 21, ahead of the traditional Paris press conference in mid-April (the date is currently to be confirmed).

As filmmakers, producers and sales agents scramble to submit final titles, Screen’s team assesses which films from around the world are lining up for...

The recent announcement of an I Know What You Did Last Summer legacy sequel has quickly prompted speculation over character reprisals and the killer's return, but the answer has actually already been set up. The classic 1990s slasher movie retained a long-lasting cult following thanks to the deftly delivered mystery surrounding the killer's identity. Details of the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel are currently unrevealed, but many horror sequels have persisted and revived their primary antagonist upon much flimsier premises than I Know What You Did Last and its sequel previously established.

The I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel has already received much clout with the announcement that Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr are in talks to reprise their starring roles as protagonists Julie and Ray. While I Know What You Did Last Summer the killer, also known as the Fisherman, is revealed...

Paris-based sales company beefs up slate ahead of Berlinale market.

Paris-based sales company Pyramide International has boarded Anna Novion’s Le Théorème de Marguerite and Marie Garel-Weiss’s Sur La Branche and will kick off pre-sales for the French dramas at the upcoming EFM.

Novion’s Le Théorème de Marguerite stars Ella Rumpf as the titular character, a brilliant mathematics student at France’s top university the Ecole Normale Supérieure. On the day of her thesis presentation, a mistake shakes up all the certainty in her planned-out life and she decides to quit everything and start afresh.

Rumpf notably starred...

"I Know What You Did Last Summer" almost worked as a phantom wave for the neo-slasher genre, hitting theaters in the wake of Wes Craven's game changer "Scream," and sneaking in just a couple of months before "Scream 2" in October of 1997. Spawning an inferior sequel, a third entry called "I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer" with an entirely new cast, and a recently canceled Prime Video series, the original film has stayed surprisingly relevant. Now, a legacy sequel is on the way with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. in talks to return. Once again, the "Last Summer" franchise is capitalizing on the resurgent success of the "Scream" series, giving genre fans even more reason to get a little nostalgic for the late '90s horror craze. 

For all the derivative tropes and fairly predictable jump scares in "I Know What You Did Last Summer,...

Sony Pictures has announced plans for an I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel, and would be wise to consider the lessons learned by other horror legacy sequels. The news follows the release of the Scream 6 trailer, the original of which was I Know What You Did Last Summer's slasher contemporary during the 1990s. The longevity of the Scream series and the success of the Halloween sequels, among others, have demonstrated the potential for horror franchises to return for a modern retelling. In order for the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel to be triumphant, the filmmakers must learn 6 things from their new contemporaries.

The promise of an I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel has been greatly bolstered by news that original cast members Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt are in talks to reprise their roles. Both Prinze and Hewitt appeared in the first sequel,...

"Don't hide from your demons." Indican Pictures has revealed the official trailer for an eerie indie horror-thriller titled Faceless, a new film from filmmaker Marcel Sarmiento, director of the strange genre films Heavy Petting and Deadgirl. His latest film is another strange concept that is especially unsettling - a man wakes up to discover he has received a full face transplant. As he attempts to make sense of things leaving the hospital, he's plagued by vivid, unexplainable flashbacks and stumbles around trying to find out what's going on. Brendan Sexton III stars in this as George, with a cast including Alex Essoe, Terry Serpico, Clayton Landey, and Blake Robbins. The trailer is just as peculiar and confusing as you might expect for a film like this, as it's a bit challenging to try and figure it out just from two minutes of footage. Check it out. Here's the first official...

For years, screenwriter Larry Karaszewski has been obsessed with the 1969 indie film Last Summer, a dark teen drama about youthful passions, angst and cruelty. Karaszewski, a Golden Globe winner whose credits include The People vs. Larry Flynt, Ed Wood and Dolemite Is My Name, has long wanted to share the film with others. There was just one problem: Last Summer had all but disappeared in physical form. The limited number of original prints were lost or damaged, and the only scrap he managed to find was a beat-up 16mm print from Australia, which he describes as "a mashup of the censored ...

Back in 1950, famed Hollywood director Joseph L. Mankiewicz released the soon-to-be-classic tale of stardom and backstabbing, All About Eve. The film won a whopping six Academy Awards and garnered another 17 wins and 18 nominations. All About Eve stars Bette Davis in one of her most well-known roles in a filmography of huge films, as Margo Channing, a superstar of the stage. Anne Baxter is excellent as Eve Harrington, the sociopathic, conniving starlet who manages to steal both roles and men. Marilyn Monroe has a small role as an actress in All About Eve, as well. Rounding out the...

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

Exclusive: The pilot for Last Summer, the Freeform thriller from Jessica Biel and and Michelle Purple, has assembled a robust cast in series regulars roles. Michael Landes, Brooklyn Sudano, Harley Quinn Smith, Chiara Aurelia, Mika Abdalla, Froy Gutierrez, Allius Barnes, Blake Lee and Nathaniel Ashton will star in the pilot, which recently kicked off production in Texas.

Written by Bert V. Royal (Easy A) and directed by Max Winkler (Jungleland), Last Summer is an unconventional thriller that takes place over three summers — 1993-95 — in a small Texas town when a beautiful popular teen, Kate (Abdalla), is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette (Aurelia), goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by ’95, the most despised person in America. Each episode is told from the Pov of one of the two main girls (Jeanette and Kate), which will have the...

Freeform has canceled its “Pretty Little Liars” spinoff “The Perfectionists” after one 10-episode season, the network said on Friday.

The news comes months after the series wrapped its 10-episode run in May.

Led by original “Pretty Little Liars” stars Janel Parrish and Sasha Pieterse, “The Perfectionists” was an adaptation of the book series of the same name by “Pll” author Sara Shepard. The spinoff transplanted Parrish and Pieterse’s characters to the town of Beacon Heights — where everything seems perfect, from its top-tier college to its overachieving residents — as it is rocked by its first murder.

Also Read: 'The Perfectionists': I Marlene King on Reviving 'Pretty Little Liars' With a New Generation of Liars -- and Two Returning Favorites

“Descendants” star Sophia Carson, Sydney Park and Eli Brown also starred in the series. “Pretty Little Liars” and “Famous in Love” showrunner I. Marlene King wrote the pilot and served as executive producer.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi has been cast as a morally and economically bankrupt matron in Italian director Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli’s movie adaptation of “The Time of Indifference,” author Alberto Moravia’s scathing critique of the Fascist-era bourgeoisie.

Seràgnoli, a young helmer known for “Last Summer” and “Likemeback” – which bowed at the Rome and Locarno fests, respectively – has started shooting his contemporary take on the widely translated novel in Rome. First published in 1929, when Moravia was 21, “Gli Indifferenti” captured the middle-class malaise of its time and established Moravia as a world-class writer.

The story sees members of an upper-crust Rome family reacting to a financial crisis that is undermining their social status. Mariagrazia, played by Bruni Tedeschi, is a widow with an unscrupulous lover, Leo, played by Edoardo Pesce (“Dogman”). She has two children by her dead husband: Carla, whom Leo has the hots for, and Michele, who is aware that...

In today’s TV news roundup, Freeform ordered “Last Summer” to pilot and PBS announced five new members of its board of directors.

Dates

“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” will return to Bravo for its 10th season on Nov. 6 at 9 p.m. Teresa Giudice, Melissa Gorga, Margaret Josephs, Dolores Catania, Jackie Goldschneider and Jennifer Aydin return as cast members. Danielle Staub will make appearances this season, as well.

First Looks

Susan Sarandon has lent her voice to the 10th season of Adult Swim‘s “Robot Chicken“ in a sketch that sees beloved characters from “Popeye” get tips on how to engage Generation Z, which Variety has obtained exclusively. The stop-motion animated comedy returns for this milestone season Sept. 29 with two back-to-back episodes.

Development

Freeform has ordered the one-hour thriller “Last Summer” to pilot from eOne. Taking place in the summers between 1993-95, the drama details the abduction of a...

Freeform has ordered a new thriller pilot from executive producers Jessica Biel, Bert V. Royal and Michelle Purple titled “Last Summer,” the cable channel said on Wednesday.

Here’s the description for the one-hour drama:

“Last Summer” is an unconventional thriller that takes place over three summers–’93, ’94, ’95–in a small Texas town when a beautiful popular teen, Kate, is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette, goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by ’95, the most despised person in America. Each episode is told from the Pov of one of the two main girls (Jeanette and Kate), which will have the viewers loyalties constantly shifting as more information is revealed.

“Last Summer” is written and executive produced by Royal. Iron Ocean Productions’ Biel and Purple will also executive produce, as will Winkler, who will also direct. The series hails from eOne.

Also...

Exclusive: Freeform has given a pilot green light to Last Summer, a one-hour drama thriller from writer Bert V. Royal, director Max Winkler, producer Jessica Biel and Entertainment One

Penned by Royal, with Winkler attached to direct, Last Summer is an unconventional thriller that takes place over three summers—‘93, ‘94, ‘95—in a small Texas town when a beautiful popular teen, Kate, is abducted and, seemingly unrelated, a girl, Jeanette, goes from being a sweet, awkward outlier to the most popular girl in town and, by ’95, the most despised person in America. Each episode is told from the Pov of one of the two main girls (Jeanette and Kate), which will have the viewers loyalties constantly shifting as more information is revealed.

Royal executive produces with Biel and Michelle Purple via Iron Ocean Productions and Winkler.

“At Freeform, we are constantly looking to tell bold stories that drive cultural conversation—Last Summer will do just that,...

"The Night Of The Iguana: Close Encounters In The Jungle"

By Eve Goldberg

The Night of the Iguana, Tennessee Williams’s last great play, was turned into a 1964 movie which, in its day, was as famous for its behind-the-scenes spectacle as for what actually appeared on screen.

Today, Iguana is rarely mentioned alongside the other classic Tennessee Williams film adaptations: Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Suddenly, Last Summer. Despite a tremendously talented cast, compelling characters, and a can’t-look-away examination of our anguished, redeemable humanity, Iguana is often neglected.

So, it’s high time for a fresh look at this movie — with a focus on its journey from stage to screen.

The Play

"Shannon!" shouts Maxine Faulk from the veranda of her run-down hotel on the coast of Mexico. Thus opens Tennessee Williams’ 1961 play. The setting is 1940. Recently widowed Maxine greets her old friend, Reverend Shannon,...

"The Night Of The Iguana: Close Encounters In The Jungle"

By Eve Goldberg

The Night of the Iguana, Tennessee Williams’s last great play, was turned into a 1964 movie which, in its day, was as famous for its behind-the-scenes spectacle as for what actually appeared on screen.

Today, Iguana is rarely mentioned alongside the other classic Tennessee Williams film adaptations: Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Suddenly, Last Summer. Despite a tremendously talented cast, compelling characters, and a can’t-look-away examination of our anguished, redeemable humanity, Iguana is often neglected.

So, it’s high time for a fresh look at this movie — with a focus on its journey from stage to screen.

The Play

"Shannon!" shouts Maxine Faulk from the veranda of her run-down hotel on the coast of Mexico. Thus opens Tennessee Williams’ 1961 play. The setting is 1940. Recently widowed Maxine greets her old friend, Reverend Shannon,...

Montgomery Clift would’ve celebrated his 98th birthday on October 17, 2018. The iconic actor gave only a small number of onscreen performances before his untimely death in 1966 at the age of 45. Yet several of those titles remain classics. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 12 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

A product of the Actor’s Studio, where he studied under Lee Strasberg and Elia Kazan, Clift had a successful Broadway career before moving to Hollywood. Among his notable stage credits was the role of Henry in Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Skin of Our Teeth.” Like James Dean and Marlon Brando, he was one of the original method actors, calling upon past memories and experiences to inform his performances.

He came to the attention of movie audiences in 1948 with a pair of releases: Howard Hawks‘ western “Red River” and Fred Zinnemann‘s WWII drama “The Search.

Following his first feature in 2014, the Rinko Kikuchi-led “Last Summer”, Italian writer-director Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli returns with “Likemeback,” a young women-led drama exploring smartphone addiction. This time around, he follows three Italian teenagers – played by Angela Fontana, Denise Tantucci and Blu Yoshimi – on a boat-based vacation in Croatia, celebrating the end of high school. They share everything on social media, but their addiction to those platforms, along with conflicts concerning their insecurities, take multiple dark turns that look to be life-ruining.

As “Likemeback” received its world premiere at this year’s Locarno Festival, Seràgnoli spoke to Variety about the film’s themes concerning social media, collaborating with his stars on the story, and the appeal of setting a social media cautionary tale out at sea.

When did you start cultivating an interest in the relationship we have with technology and our phones?

I didn’t have Facebook until two years ago.

Kim Gordon isn’t typically a list maker. “It’s sort of the thing I hate but once I start getting into it, it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, this is fun,'” she says with a laugh. “I started out with the theme of classic breakup songs, but then it kind of morphed into the general relationship songs.”

Mostly, she came up with the theme because she thought it would be easy. “I listen to a lot of melancholy music,” she says, laughing. But it could have gone another way.

Film editor Thomas Stanford, who won an Academy Award for his work on West Side Story, died Saturday, his family reported. He was 93.

Stanford collaborated with director Sydney Pollack on three films — The Slender Thread (1965), Jeremiah Johnson (1972) and The Yakuza (1974) — and with helmer Mark Rydell on two: The Fox (1967) and The Reivers (1969).

Born in Germany and educated in Switzerland and England, Stanford received his first editor credit on Joseph L. Mankiewicz's Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).

He later worked on movies including In the Cool of the Day (1963), Emil and...