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The Bold and the Beautiful (B&b) spoilers for Friday, May 10, 2024, tease Li being one of the only people to make sense.

The Bold And The Beautiful Spoilers – Finn Finnegan Remains Delusional

John ‘Finn’ Finnegan (Tanner Novlan) couldn’t wait to run to Steffy Forrester Finnegan (Jacquline MacInnes Wood) and tell her that Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) was alive.

For some weird reason, he thought this news would be music to Steffy’s ears. Boy was he ever wrong.

Trending! The Bold And The Beautiful Spoilers: Steffy Forrester Turns Into A Rage Monster For This Reason

She nearly lost it and was ready to lose it some more when he told her he was happy and wanted to give her a second chance.

Steffy now wonders what her husband has been smoking to give him amnesia and make him forget that his crazy bio mom shot them both and left them...

When two crazy families get stuck inside an apartment for a night, a missing dagger and a fire scare are the least of the problems. Netflix’s new Egyptian family drama Face to Face can be criticized for a lot of things, but not for a lack of entertainment value. The tension between the in-laws over the divorce settlement of their kids is an engaging watch you wouldn’t want to miss.

Spoilers Ahead

What happens in the movie?

Sherif and Dalia have spent years together, and their relationship has been pretty much a fairytale on social media. They have a little boy together, and Adam’s the glue that helps the couple stick together through thick and thin. One night, the couple gets into a heated argument, and things go beyond their control. Dalia’s mother overhears the fight over the phone, and she comes to the house along...

Viaplay’s streaming service — specializing in award-winning Scandinavian series and films — is now available as an add-on subscription on Amazon’s Prime Video Channels in the United States.

Starting Wednesday, Prime members in the U.S. will be able to sign up for Viaplay for $5.99 per month (with a seven-day free trial available for eligible customers) through Prime Video Channels.

In February, Viaplay shut down its own app and direct-to-consumer streaming service in the U.S. and Canada, and the company has now focused its international distribution strategy in building growth via partnerships. Viaplay is already available in North America through partner platforms such as Comcast Xfinity, the Roku Channel and Xumo.

Viaplay said its U.S. content offering centers on “the Nordic region’s high-quality and psychologically penetrating series and films, from atmospheric and suspenseful crime dramas and provocative and stylish young-adult series to award-winning dramas and riveting documentaries.

Viaplay shut its direct-to-consumer service in February, but the Scandi streamer is still active in the U.S.

The platform has struck a deal to launch a subscription channel on Prime Video Channels, offering originals such as Börje – The Journey of a Legend, Furia and Gold Run.

The channel launches on Prime Video Channels today, offering access to Viaplay for $5.99 a month, with a free seven-day trial.

The development comes after Viaplay closed its subscription streaming app in North America after a turbulent 2023 in which the Sweden-based company made 25% of its staff redundant and restructured around a package of sports rights and unscripted content. Expensive scripted shows were axed and sold, and the streamer has since pulled out of North America and the UK.

Exits from the Baltics and Poland are also coming, with Group President and CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann telling shareholders the company “will be different” in its annual report last month.

Exclusive: German Films, the agency that promotes German cinema globally, has unveiled the seven participants for the ninth edition of its annual Face to Face campaign, which include talents who have worked on projects ranging from television series such as Deutschland ‘89 and Kafka to feature film Turning Tables.

This year’s edition, which is dubbed Face to Face with German Films – The Filmmakers, will showcase seven filmmakers who have made a lasting impact on the German film industry with their creative and artistic work. The initiative is considered a prominent platform for showcasing German talent to the international film and television worlds.

The participants this year are: actor Jan Bülow; writer and director Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay; actor Banafshe Hourmazdi; writer-director Moritz Müller-Preißer; production designer Mona Cathleen Otterbach; writer-director Eva Trobisch; and writer-director Soleen Yusef.

They are following in the footsteps of such respected filmmakers as internationally renowned stars Sandra Hüller,...

Welcome to our weekly rundown of the best new music — featuring big singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more. This jam-packed week is filled with iconic comebacks, including Lil Nas X’s buoyantly blasphemous track and Ariana Grande’s sassy house-infused single. Plus, 21 Savage returns to England in full force, Kid Cudi and Jay-Z deliver star-studded features, and Kali Uchis gives us a merengue-inspired gem.

Lil Nas X, “J-Christ” (YouTube)

Ariana Grande, “Yes, And?” (YouTube)

21 Savage, “Redrum” (YouTube)

Kid Cudi feat. Travis Scott, “Get Off Me” (YouTube)

Jay-Z feat.

Clint Eastwood may be the most famous actor associated with Spaghetti Westerns, but there are many great films in the subgenre that don't feature him. Directors like Sergio Sollima and Gianfranco Parolini have made noteworthy contributions to the Spaghetti Western subgenre with their films Face to Face and ...If You Meet Sartana Pray For Your Death. Lee Van Cleef's work in Westerns extends beyond his roles alongside Clint Eastwood, as demonstrated in Death Rides A Horse and Day of Anger.

Clint Eastwood starred in the three most famous Spaghetti Westerns, yet some of the best movies in the subgenre didn't even feature the actor or his iconic Man With No Name character. Having origins as far back as the advent of filmmaking in Europe, the term Spaghetti Western refers to the slew of action films dramatizing the American West coming out of Italy, most notably from famed director Sergio Leone.

There are many diverse movie genres that uniquely resonate with audiences, but cinema's spaghetti Western subgenre has remained a niche fascination to mainstream crowds. Spaghetti Westerns first found popularity during the '60s as a colloquial term for the growing number of Westerns that were being made by Italian filmmakers.

The spaghetti Western has become an increasingly broad brand over time. Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the culmination to his gripping “The Man With No Name” Trilogy, is frequently viewed as peak spaghetti western content. However, there are many more worthwhile westerns that curious audiences need to check out.

A Bullet For The General Release Date: December 2, 1966

10 Excruciatingly Violent Westerns

Damiano Damiani's A Bullet for the General is one of the better examples of how a spaghetti Western can deliver a powerful political story rather than just bloody tales of revolution. Damiani's western...

Exclusive: Boutique distributor Juno Films has acquired North American and UK rights to Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Traveled, a portrait of the iconic Norwegian actress and filmmaker from director Dheeraj Akolkar (Liv & Ingmar). World premiering in the Classics section of the 76th Festival de Cannes, the doc will make its North American debut at Doc NYC ahead of a spring 2024 launch in theaters.

Best known as the muse and one-time romantic partner of Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, Ullmann performed in films of his including Persona, Cries and Whispers, Scenes from a Marriage, The Passion of Anna, and Autumn Sonata, among others. She received an Honorary Oscar in 2022, after scoring noms for The Emigrants and Face to Face, and has also helmed titles like Faithless and the Jessica Chastain starrer Miss Julie. Alongside her career in the arts is a run in philanthropy that’s seen her serve as a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador,...

"Face to Face" is a Danish crime series known for its unique format, with each episode consisting of a one-on-one interrogation in the pursuit of solving a brutal murder. The series boasts beautiful cinematography, dedicated performances, and engaging writing that keeps viewers hooked with every twist and turn. Created and directed by Christoffer Boe, "Face to Face" aims to be a standalone season that can be enjoyed by new viewers, making it an easy entry point for those new to Viaplay.

Face to Face, or Forhøret, is a Danish crime series coming to the US thanks to the streaming service Viaplay. It’s a unique take on the genre that sets it completely apart from crime procedurals in the US; each episode of Face to Face is essentially a one-on-one interrogation, with its protagonist attempting to get to the bottom of a brutal murder. The eight-episode series boasts beautiful cinematography,...

While Europe produces quality TV that often gets adapted to American television, it's common that we don’t get to watch several of them simply because they’re not on our radar. That’s one of the purposes of Viaplay, a streaming service that brings quality TV to American audiences. This month, Viaplay is bulking up its catalog with Face to Face, an intense interrogation drama starring Lars Mikkelsen (The Witcher). The streamer allowed Collider to exclusively debut the trailer, so we can now share it with you.

Projects cover wide range of topics from young audience development to green practices.

European exhibition network Europa Cinemas has selected 17 projects to support the third edition of Collaborate To Innovate, its scheme to reward innovative and collaborative projects developed by exhibitors in the region.

Europa Cinemas grants a maximum of €100,000 per project. The 17 new projects, representing 99 cinemas, will share a total support amount of almost €1.4 million.

Scroll down for full list of projects

Coming from 16 European countries, the 17 projects cover a wide range of topics: film literacy and young audience development, technological innovation and hybrid experiences, data optimisation and digital marketing (Crm), enhanced cinema-going experience,...

The cover of Time magazine once proclaimed Liv Ullmann “Hollywood’s new Nordic star,” a designation that never sat well with the Norwegian actress. She was a committed performer, starring in some of Ingmar Bergman’s greatest films of the Sixties and Seventies. She was an accomplished director, with a résumé that includes the Bergman-scripted 2000 gem Faithless. She became a vocal humanitarian, traveling to hardscrabble parts of the world as a Unicef ambassador. But a star? “I never became a star,” Ullmann tells Rolling Stone in a recent interview to...

Exclusive: Newen Connect is jumping on the Cleopatra bandwagon by leading its Sunny Side of the Doc slate with a documentary about the last queen of Egypt.

Cleopatra: Cracking the Enigma helms an eight-strong slate being shopped this week at the La Rochelle confab, as Newen attempts to exert dominance in the international doc market.

The four-part show for French network Rmc Découverte, which is produced by Label News, is based on unprecedented excavations and shows never-before-seen footage of attempts to lift the veil on the mysterious life of the iconic Egyptian ruler.

Cracking the Enigma comes fresh off the back of Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra docudrama, which generated headlines due to controversies surrounding the ethnicity of the lead, Adele James.

Speaking to Deadline, Newen Head of Factual Distribution Chloé Persyn said the distributor is not trying to ride the wave of the Netflix show’s controversy but instead take...

This summer, Nordic streamer Viaplay is offering both dark thrillers and documentaries. In the satirical Scandinavian horror “No Angel” streaming July 6, a popular 17-year-old girl does the usual round of parties and boys — with a twist. She’s also a serial killer.

Watch the trailer for ‘No Angel’:

In “A Road Less Traveled” acclaimed actress-director Liv Ullmann looks back on decades of a successful career. In the documentary — streaming on June 22 — Ullman recounts the struggles she endured to gain respect in the entertainment industry. Some of her famous collaborators are also interviewed, including Cate Blanchett, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, and Jeremy Irons.

Coming to Viaplay this Summer: June 1 The Architect June 8 One of the Boys June 22 A Road Less Travelled July 6 No Angel July 20 Black Sands Aug. 17 Fenris Aug. 31 Face to Face, Season 3 7-Day Trial viaplay.com Viaplay

Viaplay is a video on demand service focused on Nordic storytelling...

Exclusive: Nordic programmer Viaplay has set the slate of projects it will debut on the North American version of its streaming platform this summer.

The crop of projects will include a mix of films and series, including the three-part docuseries Liv Ullmann – A Road Less Travelled, which will debut on June 22. The doc, which features contributions from Cate Blanchett, Jessica Chastain, and Jeremy Irons, offers an intimate portrait of Ullman’s decades-long career.

Synopsis reads: Actor. Director. Script writer. Author. Activist. Honorary Oscar winner. Few women carry all these titles, and even fewer do it successfully to the level of Liv Ullmann for 62 years and counting. This intimate portrait explores the greatness, legacy and longevity in the life of a world-famous artist, but it also explores the struggles all women face in their fight for having a career, a voice and the respect they deserve – a fight that Liv Ullmann...

It’s been at least decade since Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and The Banshees fame played a proper live show, but that changes this year! Ahead of the enigmatic musician’s European tour this year, she had a warm-up show in Brussels at the Ancienne Belgique, performing a set that included many a Banshees classic.

Along with some of Siouxsie and The Banshees’ best-known songs like “Spellbound,” “Arabian Nights,” and “Cities in Dust,” Sioux also dug up her covers of The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger.” She also played a few songs from her 2007 solo album Mantaray.

And although Sioux’s hair has gotten a bit tamer since the Banshees’ heyday — and she’s swapped out the winklepicker boots for sensible sneakers — you could say her stage presence is still pretty “spellbinding” (sorry), complete with plenty of high kicks and weirdo moves. Kids, here’s a real “Wednesday dance” for you.

There are a number of reasons why Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever is not held in higher regard by fans of the Caped Crusader’s cinematic outings. Bat nipples, swapping Billy Dee Williams out for a scenery-chewing Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face, and a sequence in which Chris O’Donnell’s Dick Grayson demonstrates his suitability for the role of Robin via some laundry-based karate all rank pretty highly.

Yet if there is one element of the movie that has stood the test of time more than anything, it’s the soundtrack. Batman Forever arrived at multiplexes in 1995, and it was a time when movie soundtracks were still a key part of the marketing machine. Few would play that game better either than the first one with Bat-nipples.

From Prince to Paupers

The power of the soundtrack album had already been demonstrated to fine funky effect in Tim Burton’s...

Daft Punk have offered the first taste of the 35 minutes of unreleased music on their 10th anniversary edition of Random Access Memories with a behind-the-scenes take on the album standout “Fragments of Time” featuring Todd Edwards.

“The Writing of Fragments of Time” is what it says it is: an eight-minute, fly-on-the-wall recording of Edwards and Daft Punk’s Thomas Bang­alter collaborating on “Fragments of Time,” discussing melody and lyrics and the meaning of the song over multiple stitched-together takes.

However, as edited by Daft Punk sound engineer Florian Lagatta,...

Samuel L. Jackson, Elaine May, Danny Glover also to be honoured.

Norwegian actor and director Liv Ullmann will receive an Honorary Award from the Academy at the 12th Governors Awards on January 15, 2022.

Ullmann worked with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman on The Passion Of Anna, Cries And Whispers, and Autumn Sonata, and earned best actress Oscar nominations for The Emigrants and Face To Face.

She made her directorial debut in 1992 with Sofie and later directed Faithless from a script by Bergman. The actor started her career in theatre in her native Norway, made her New York stage debut in 1975 in A Doll’s House,...

A noticeably disturbed man rides a crowded bus to some unknown destination when one of the stops sees him face to face with an old friend, Zohad. The friend wants to catch up and reminisce over past days. However, Zohad soon starts to notice something off with his friend Ali as he talks about the past and time lost. Through their conversation, he learns that Ali has been dealing with a dark past, that has lead him to an extreme solution.

“Face to face” is a rather deceptive short film, given the bulk of it taking place on a single bus and the opening dialogue feeling as about exciting as any conversation you would hear on public transit. However, the film does contain a rather engrossing twist near the end that puts the subject matter into something much more dark and tragic. With the production feeling geared towards this moment,...

Ingmar Bergman would’ve celebrated his 101st birthday on July 14, 2019. The Oscar-winning Swedish auteur helped bring international cinema into the American art houses with his stark, brooding dramas. But how many of his titles remain classics? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1918 in Uppsala, Sweden, Bergman started off as a screenwriter before moving into directing. His early hits “Summer with Monika” (1953), “Sawdust and Tinsel” (1953) and “Smiles of a Summer Night” (1955) helped make him a favorite amongst American audiences hungry for world cinema.

SEEOscar Best Director Gallery: Every Winner In Academy Award History

He hit his stride in 1957 with a pair of noteworthy titles: “Wild Strawberries” and “The Seventh Seal.” Both films dealt with the absence of God and the inevitability of mortality — the former concerning an aging professor (Victor Sjostrom) coming to terms with his life,...

As a journalist and author, Janet Mock has always searched for the truth and she has brought that sensibility to bear in a new direction this year as a writer, co-executive producer and director of Pose, created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals. The series has broken new ground for Lgbtq storytelling—specifically around trans people of color and the destigmatization of HIV—and continues Murphy’s pledge to be a driver of representation on screen. The episode titled “Love Is the Message” marked Mock’s directorial debut, and it was received with tremendous critical acclaim.

The sixth episode of Pose’s first season marked your first time behind the camera. What was it like for you on the first day?

What’s so great is that, as a director, your first day is your prep. As someone who is such a type A, it was so great...

Suddenly thirty years ago doesn’t seem that long back, especially as so much from that era is being resurrected, repurposed, and remembered. This month we celebrate the anniversary of Tim Burton’s Batman and Warner Home Entertainment is offering up all four films from that period in spiffy new 4K Uhd editions (a box set collection will be out in September). We will look at those DVDs divided in half, the two Burton films now and tomorrow the pair from director Joel Schumacher.

It’s been argued that this film made super-heroes palatable to Hollywood once more, although it can be said it took until 2008 before that became a reality. What we did get was this film coming after mainstream media began recognizing comic books had “grown up”. In 1989, we already had Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight, Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons’ The Watchmen, etc. set the table and get people to pay attention.

A version of this story about Pawel Pawlikowski and “Cold War” first appeared in the Down to the Wire issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine.

On the surface, it doesn’t make sense that the Best Director nomination Pawel Pawlikowski received for “Cold War” is the first actual nomination the Polish director has ever received. After all, the 61-year-old already owns an Oscar, which he received after his 2015 film “Ida” won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

But the official nominee and winner of the foreign Oscar is the country of origin, even if the director gets to accept it and take it home — so the shiny statuette that Pawlikowski has, which even has his name on it, officially went to Poland.

But the Academy’s Directors Branch made sure that Pawlikowski is now an official nominee, and an historic one to boot. Since the Best Picture category...

The last time two directors whose films weren’t in English got nominated for an Academy Award in the same year, Jimmy Carter was president.

It was 1977, and the directing nominations went to both Ingmar Bergman (“Face to Face”) and Lina Wertmuller (“Seven Beauties”), along with Alan Pakula (“All the President’s Men”) and Sidney Lumet (“Network”). And the Oscar went to … John G. Avildsen for “Rocky.”

More than 40 years later, it’s happened again, with nominations to Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”) and Pawel Pawlikowski (“Cold War”), along with Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman”), Adam McKay (“Vice”) and Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”).

But this year feels different.

“The indications are that things are opening up a bit,” says Pawlikowski.

The films in the category all broadcast directorial passion, one that springs as often from a political belief as from a personal connection to the material. Still, as Cuaron notes: “To do a political film,...

German screen arts have not in the recent past been “associated with words such as ‘glamorous’ or ‘great actors’,” points out Mariette Rissenbeek, head of promotional entity German Films, but that is changing, and this year the org’s annual program Face to Face With German Films seeks to build on the growing reputation of Teutonic thesps.

During the Berlinale’s Drama Series Days sidebar, Face to Face will shine a spotlight on six emerging German actors, who were chosen from the rising ranks of thesps who crossover between film and TV. It’s a versatile bunch who developed their acting chops performing theater or ballet or music, and in some cases now have multi-disciplinary artistic careers. But what’s boosted their status as global German industry ambassadors is starring in hit international skeins such as “Deutschland 83,” “Babylon Berlin” and “Dark.”...

Goteborg, Sweden — Christoffer Boe and a stellar Danish cast are on board Miso Film’s series “Face to Face,” produced for the Nent Group.

The show, currently in production, will be sold worldwide by Fremantle. This is Boe’s second TV series produced by Miso Film’s Peter Bose and Jonas Allen after “Warrior,” and his first TV drama for Nent Group’s Nordic streaming service Viaplay.

The Danish director, who struck gold in 2018 with the local pic “The Purity of Vengeance,” last year’s biggest B.O hit in Denmark, and the drama series “Warrior” – delves deeper into crime with “Face to Face” (“Førhøret” in Danish), co-penned by Jakob Weis (“That Time of Year”).

An exceptional all-star cast have joined the director: Ulrich Thomsen (“The New Pope”), Lars Mikkelsen (“Ride Upon the Storm”), Nikolaj Lie Kaas (“Britannia”), Trine Dyrholm (“The Legacy”), David Dencik (“MacMafia”), Lars Ranthe (“Pros and Cons...

The Best Director Oscar nomination this year for Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma”) came as no surprise — and he has long been the front-runner to win — but not everyone predicted that he would be joined by Pawel Pawlikowski (“Cold War”). It’s rare enough for one foreign language film director to earn a nomination in that category, let alone two. In fact, this is the first instance of two such directors nominated at the same time in 42 years.

SEE2019 Oscar nominations: Full list of Academy Awards nominees in all 24 categories

The last time it happened was when Ingmar Bergman (Sweden’s “Face to Face”) and Lina Wertmuller (Italy’s “Seven Beauties”) were up for Best Director in 1976. That year was also historic because Wertmuller was the first woman ever nominated for directing.

You could arguably also count 2006. That year Clint Eastwood was nominated for the Japanese-language “Letters from Iwo Jima,” while Alejandro...

16 January 2019 (Hong Kong) – Legendary action master Sammo Hung is the 43rd Hong Kong International Film Festival’s Filmmaker in Focus, it was announced today.

This is a well-deserved recognition for the all-round virtuoso who stands as a living testimony of Hong Kong cinema’s Golden Age and for his trailblazing career, having worked his way from actor, stuntman, martial arts choreographer, to director and producer for over half a century.

The 43rd Hong Kong International Film Festival will be held from 18 March to 1 April 2019. Festival tickets for the public can be booked online (at www.hkiff.org.hk) and all Urbtix and Hk Ticketing outlets from 28 February 2019.

The retrospective honoring Hung will feature 10 of his seminal works, along with a newly published commemorative book. Hung will also attend a Face to Face seminar at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on 30 March 2019, to share his views of and experiences in the...

Pawel Pawlikowski already made history for Poland by winning the nation its first Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for “Ida” (2014). Could he make history again this year by becoming only the third Polish filmmaker to be nominated for Best Director — and the first for a Polish-language film? He’s a dark horse contender for “Cold War,” a period romance about star-crossed lovers that was inspired by Pawlikowski’s own parents.

The best known Polish director to make the cut at the Oscars was Roman Polanski, who was nominated three times, for “Chinatown” (1974), “Tess” (1980) and “The Pianist” (2002), all of them in the English language. He ended up winning the Oscar for “The Pianist,” but his artistic legacy has been marred by his personal legacy. He pleaded guilty to statutory rape in 1977, and he has been living abroad as a fugitive since 1978.

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Liv Ullmann in Autumn Sonata Photo: Courtesy of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival has announced it is inaugurating a Lifetime Achievement Award with Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann as it's first recipient.

The 79-year-old star, who is also a Un Children's Fund goodwill ambassador, forged her early career as an associate of Ingmar Bergman - starring in 10 of his films during the Sixties and Seventies. She was nominated for twice nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars - for Jan Troell's The Emigrants, for which she won a Golden Globe, and Bergman's Face To Face. She also received two BAFTA nominations - for Face To Face and Scenes From A Marriage.

Ullmann made the move into directing in 1992, with Sophie, selected that year as Denmark's candidate for the Foreign Language Oscar.

In tribute to her collaboration with Bergman and in celebration of what...

Above: French poster for Django Kill… If You Live, Shoot!. Artist: Enrico de Seta.Starting today, the Quad Cinema in New York will be playing what must be the most entertaining and esoteric genre series of the summer. In advance of the release of the delirious nuovo spaghetti western crime thriller Let the Corpses Tan, the Quad has invited directors Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani to program ten personal favorites that have influenced their new film.The resulting curation is a fabulous mix of genres and locations, with films both well known (John Boorman’s Point Blank) and relatively obscure. The majority are from the filmmakers’ favorite period of the late ’60s and early ’70s—as the Quad’s introduction says, “apart from Quentin Tarantino, few writer/directors active in film today have the lifeblood of 1960s and 1970s cinema coursing through their veins as fulsomely as Hélène Cattet and...

Over 200 projects announced, including 37 world and 70 UK premieres.

UK documentary festival Sheffield Doc/Fest has unveiled the programme for its 25th edition, which runs from June 7-12 this summer.

Amongst the titles are a screening of McQueen, Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui’s film about the late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen composed of archival footage and personal testimonials.

Last month Sean McAllister’s A Northern Soul was announced as the opening night film.

Scroll down for the full list of films in competition

The 2018 official competition jury includes documentarian Mark Cousins, director Sophie Fiennes and artists Liv Wynter and Samson Kambalu.

Festival to close with premiere of What A Wonderful Family! 3: My Wife, My Life from Yoji Yamada.

Two Taiwanese films will open this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff, March 19-April 5) – Jay Chern’s Taiwan-Japan co-production Omotenashi, and Maren Hwang’s Xiao Mei, which recently played in Berlin.

The festival will close with the world premiere of What A Wonderful Family! 3: My Wife, My Life from Japanese veteran filmmaker Yoji Yamada.

This year’s Filmmaker In Focus is Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin, who started her career in the 1970s and starred in Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express.

It’s not easy to land a Best Director Oscar nomination — even for a white man. Of the hundreds of filmmakers recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in nine decades, just 10 have been African American or women — which is why 2018 nominees Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig are so rare. Not one black Best Director has won since John Singleton became the first nominee with “Boyz in the Hood” in 1991. Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to ever take home a gold statue, for 2009’s “The Hurt Locker.” The only Asian director asked to accept top honors is Ang Lee, who prevailed for both “Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi.”

Many great filmmakers have been nominated for their work outside of directing, including Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, Sam Peckinpah, and Rob Reiner, but have never been invited to the Best Director party at all. Still more picked...

Above: 1960 Us first release one sheet for A Lesson in Love (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1954).Starting on February 7, The Best Show in Town may well be Film Forum’s Centennial Retrospective of the gargantuan six-decade oeuvre of Ingmar Bergman. 47 films over five weeks, 40 of them brand new digital restorations. Usually in these circumstances I gather as many posters as I can find from a filmmaker's career, but collecting posters for all of Bergman’s work would be a monumental task. And so I’ve decided to cut to the chase and select my ten favorite posters for his films.Most American posters for Bergman’s films—especially those from the 60s and 70s—are unusually wordy and quote-heavy, relying on critical acclaim to sell the latest product from the master. But, as much a visual stylist as a cerebral provocateur, Bergman has inspired many poster artists to great heights over the years.

The cast announcements for upcoming Ozploitation film The Shinjuku Five are coming in thick and fast as; with the producers announcing today that Robert Rabiah has joined the cast playing Victor Brascoiano, the owner/operator of a Japanese Av company. Rabiah joins the already announced Aussie actor Roger Ward and Aliens star Ricco Ross in the cast of the film, which comes from Black Forest Films & Lady of the Light Productions.

This is not the first time Black Forest Films has worked with Robert Rabiah, the actor previously appeared in theor 2016 film The Perfect Nonsense. Rabiah also appeared in Australian classics such as Chopper, Face to Face and the recent hit Ali’s Wedding.

Set to film in Japan and Australia, The Shinjuku Five is written and co-directed, alongside Jasmine Jakupi, by Addison Heath (Mondo Yakuza, The Viper’s Hex) and stars Yoji Yamada, Saya Minami, Cris Cochrane, Tim Jason Wicks...

Following last summer’s restoration of Swedish auteur Jan Troell’s directorial debut Here is Your Life (1966), Criterion presents the director’s most notable accomplishment from his most prolific period, the one-two punch of The Emigrants (1971) and The New Land (1972). Though technically released as two distinct features, they are more of a conjoined saga detailing the travails of America’s Scandinavian ancestors. Richly attenuated, they’re adapted from the celebrated series of four novels by Vilhelm Moberg, Upon a Good Land, hailed as cornerstones of Swedish literature. Until now, these, along with most of Troell’s 1970s titles, (who is known best for his 2008 masterpiece, Everlasting Moments) have been largely unavailable, a pity considering the level of achievement and a handful of Academy Award nominations (including a Best Picture nod) between both features. It’s difficult to imagine a more authentic depiction of the early immigration experience, narratives which have...

Ingrid Bergman ca. early 1940s. Ingrid Bergman movies on TCM: From the artificial 'Gaslight' to the magisterial 'Autumn Sonata' Two days ago, Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” series highlighted the film career of Greta Garbo. Today, Aug. 28, '15, TCM is focusing on another Swedish actress, three-time Academy Award winner Ingrid Bergman, who would have turned 100 years old tomorrow. TCM has likely aired most of Bergman's Hollywood films, and at least some of her early Swedish work. As a result, today's only premiere is Fielder Cook's little-seen and little-remembered From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1973), about two bored kids (Sally Prager, Johnny Doran) who run away from home and end up at New York City's Metropolitan Museum. Obviously, this is no A Night at the Museum – and that's a major plus. Bergman plays an elderly art lover who takes an interest in them; her...

Joan Crawford Movie Star Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her work, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades after her death, Crawford, the star to end all stars, remains one of the iconic performers of the 20th century. Deservedly so, once you choose to bypass the Mommie Dearest inanity and focus on her film work. From the get-go, she was a capable actress; look for the hard-to-find silents The Understanding Heart (1927) and The Taxi Dancer (1927), and check her out in the more easily accessible The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). By the early '30s, Joan Crawford had become a first-rate film actress, far more naturalistic than...

Criterion repackages one of its earlier Ingmar Bergman inclusions this month, restoring his brilliant, enigmatic 1972 masterpiece Cries and Whispers for Blu-ray release. Financed with Bergman’s own money, the auteur had difficulty securing an American distributor, eventually finding an unlikely champion in Roger Corman, of all people, who had recently established his own releasing company, New World, and was in search of prestige titles to build artistic merit.

Rushed to theatrical release to qualify for Academy Awards consideration, it would secure five nominations, including for Best Picture and Director, winning Best Cinematography for Sven Nyqvist, before going on to be selected to play out of competition at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival (awarded the Vulcain Prize of the Technical Artist). In Bergman’s illustrious filmography, it’s unnecessary (and incredibly difficult) to endow any one title as his best from a body of work that sports a myriad of celebrated examples spanning seven decades.

Ingmar Bergman leaves his mark the way a nightmare leaves a scar. His films haunt you, they're hard. You confront the difficulty, it mends, and you're stronger for it. He maintained a strict intimacy in his work environment. His cast and crew rarely succeeded more than 30 closely knit members, and even fewer remained while shooting. With this light ensemble he produced classics in surplus that explored grand ideas with minimal means. But when I say classic, I don't mean the way people consider Forrest Gump one. I mean a hard classic, the kind that filmmakers pay their inspirational dues, and critics and historian's sob over with glee.  

 

They're what you'd consider a "Capital-g Great Film", which means the experience can prove grueling for those lacking the trained appetite. And for those initiated, prepared to combat the attrition, there's that hard-earned reward to bask in later. What distinguished films like Persona,...

Bleeding Light Film Group/Vtc

One in four people suffer from mental illness in their life, therefore craziness in all its different flavours fascinates and equally appalls humanity at large. The fascination with madness was adopted as a thematic concern in cinema as early as 1920 with Robert Wiene’s classic German Expressionist film, The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari.

That was far from the end of it, and no director would approach insanity with such gusto as Swedish master Ingmar Bergman who made many very intelligent films that revolved around insanity including Face To Face – in which a psychiatrist has a nervous breakdown, Hour Of The Wolf – which could nearly be called a horror movie it evokes the sensation of encroaching madness so well. It is fair to say, that if you want to wallow in mental health misery, Bergman delivers the goods.

But beyond Swedish gloominess, insanity is a theme...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

With the addition of Marion Cotillard’s lead actress nomination for the Belgian film Two Days, One Night, 32 actors and actresses have been nominated for their performances in foreign-language films. Cotillard was nominated for her role as a young mother and wife struggling to salvage her job in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardennes’ film, which was chosen as Belgium’s submission to the foreign-language category but failed to secure a spot on the Oscar shortist.

Though her performance did land a Critics’ Choice Award nomination, the Oscar nomination did come as a surprise for many pundits.

Cotillard was previously nominated for the French foreign-language film La Vie En Rose (2007) and won. She is one of six actors or actresses to win for a non-English role and is also the most recent winner.

The first acting nomination for a foreign-language performance went to Sophia Loren in 1962 for...

Jose here. The first thing I tell Liv Ullmann is that I remember being ten years old and having my father introduce me to the work of Ingmar Bergman.

That Swedish legend directed her in more than ten films including Persona, Cries and Whispers, and Face to Face for which she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. She offers me a warm smile, touches my shoulder and says “oh, thank you”. During our conversation I realize how much she “talks” with her hands, which she uses to draw figures on a table, to mimic camera moves and also to touch her face in an expression of awe, as she talks about the work of the actors she directed in her adaptation of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie (opening today in NYC).

She hadn’t directed a film in almost fifteen years (since 2000’s Faithless), but was compelled to return...

Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2014 semi-finalists (photo: ‘Two Lives,’ with Liv Ullmann and Julia Bache-Wiig) Out of 76 submissions, nine movies have been selected as semi-finalists for the 2014 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. Listed in alphabetical order by country, the films are: Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen, director. Best Actress European Film Award winner Veerle Baetens and Johan Heldenbergh star as a couple whose love is put to the test after their daughter falls seriously ill. Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker / Epizoda u zivotu beraca zeljeza, Danis Tanovic, director. Set in Bosnia’s Roma (gypsy) community and based on real-life events, this 2013 Berlin Film Festival Grand Prix winner stars Berlin’s Best Actor Nazif Mujic as a scrap-metal collector and salesman desperately trying to save the life of his wife, who has been denied medical assistance because she lacks health insurance.

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: March 25, 2014

Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Liv Ullmann (l.) and Bibi Andersson get into each other's heads in Ingmar Bergman's Persona.

By the mid-sixties, Ingmar Bergman (The Magician) had already conjured many of the cinema’s most unforgettable images. But with 1966’s radical psychological drama Persona, this supreme artist attained new levels of visual poetry.

In the first of a series of legendary performances for Bergman, Liv Ullmann (Face to Face) plays an actress who has inexplicably gone mute; an equally mesmerizing Bibi Andersson (Wild Strawberries) is the garrulous young nurse caring for her in a remote island cottage. While isolated together there, the women perform a mysterious spiritual and emotional transference that would prove to be one of cinema’s most influential ideas.

Acted with astonishing nuance and shot in stark shadows and soft light by the great Sven Nykvist (Fanny and Alexander), Persona is a penetrating,...

Adèle Exarchopoulos (‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’) and Cate Blanchett (‘Blue Jasmine’): Best Actress tie two years in a row at Los Angeles Film Critics Awards (photo: Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos in ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’) (See previous post: "James Franco Tattoos, Gold Teeth: Lafca Winners." Another non-Hollywood Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s selection was Best Actress co-winner Adèle Exarchopoulos, cited for her performance as a young woman who falls in love with blue-haired Léa Seydoux in Abdellatif Kechiche’s controversial Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Color. The lesbian romantic drama also took home the Lafca’s Best Foreign Language Film Award. Blue was also the luckiest color, at least in the Best Actress category: Cate Blanchett was Exarchopoulos’ co-winner, for her performance in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine, in which she plays a character somewhat similar to A Streetcar Named Desire...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 17, 2013

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Ingrid Bergman (r.) and Liv Ullmann are mother and daughter in Autumn Sonata.

The 1978 Swedish film drama Autumn Sonata was the only collaboration between cinema’s two great Bergmans—Ingmar, the iconic director of Wild Strawberries, and Ingrid, the monumental star of Casablanca.

Ms. Bergman, portraying an icy concert pianist, is matched beat for beat in ferocity by the filmmaker’s recurring lead Liv Ullmann (Face to Face) as her eldest daughter. Over the course of a long, painful night that the two spend together after an extended separation, they finally confront the bitter discord of their relationship.

Evocatively shot in burnished harvest colors by the great Sven Nykvist (Fanny and Alexander), Autumn Sonata ranks among one of Ingmar Bergman’s greatest later dramatic works.

Presented in Swedish with English subtitles, the Criterion DVD and Blu-ray editions of the film...