News

Alain Delon, the French actor most famous for his roles in the films of New Wave director Jean-Pierre Melville, especially “Le Samourai,” has died. He was 88.

“He passed away peacefully in his home in Douchy, surrounded by his three children and his family,” according to a statement released to the Afp news agency by his family.

In addition to “Le Samourai,” Delon also appeared in Melville’s brilliant heist film “Le Cercle rouge” and “Un Flic.”

Some of his other significant films were Rene Clement’s “Purple Noon”; Visconti’s “Rocco and His Brothers” and “The Leopard”; Antonioni’s “L’Eclisse”; Jose Giovanni’s “Two Men in Town”; and Joseph Losey’s “Mr. Klein.”

Although he triggered some controversies during the later part of his life due to his public comments on adoption of children by same-sex parents and affinity with far-right politicians, many prominent figures in France and abroad paid...

Curtain Up on the Cannes Marche!Even though the Cannes Film Festival will not show the films they have selected, the Market marches on.Because the interconnectedness of audience, film industry, movie stars, press, cineastes and cinephiles and just plan gawking fans is so crucial to making the festival what it is, the Festival cannot take place, but the Cannes Marche was brave enough to take the bait and rise to the occasion with its Cannes Online.Visit for updates!

The conference schedule is packed and this first day has been exceptional.

Of the three conferences I attended, Meet the Streamers was the finest articulation of what is happening today which might point to a future that changes the personality of arthouse theater curation. Richard Lorber of Kino Lorber (USA), Olle Agebro of Draken Film (Sweden) and Jaume Ripoli of Filmin discussed the projects they launched to reply to the Covid 19 emergency,...

Pluto TV is further extending its movie offering in Britain by launching a streaming platform, Pluto TV Indies, dedicated to independent films, arthouse award-winners, film festival circuit highlights, world cinema, and theatrical documentaries. The company plans to launch an additional Pluto TV World Cinema in the second quarter of 2019.

“At Pluto TV we are devoted to developing the right environment for quality content,” said Olivier Jollet, Pluto TV’s managing director for Europe. “Independent films create worlds filled with boundless energy, provocative exploration, and unencumbered narratives, but often their reach to a wider audience is limited, while film enthusiasts struggle to find offerings customized to their preferences.”

Pluto TV Indies joins Pluto TV Movies as the second film-only channel on Pluto’s U.K. offering, which launched last October. Pluto says its advertising-funded, free-to-watch model creates a “custom-fit environment for cineastes to discover new favorites and creators to showcase their work.

Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...

Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.

The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.

A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.

Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...

La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul)

Director: Rachid Bouchareb

Writers: Rachid Bouchareb, Zoe Galeron, Yasmina Khadra, Olivier Lorelle

Franco-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb continues a prolific shooting schedule with his latest project, La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul), which tackles an extremely topical scenario regarding terrorist recruits and Isis when a mother discovers her child has joined the dangerous organization. Recently, Bouchareb has been navigating the Us Pacific Southwest with English language items Just Like a Woman (2012) and his 2014 remake of Two Men in Town. For this latest, he pairs with regular co-writers Lorelle, Galeron, and Yasmina Khadra (who penned the exceptional 2012 film The Attack for Ziad Doueiri, which Bouchareb produced), and the film will be headlined by Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall and rising star Pauline Burlet (who appeared in La Vie En Rose as well as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past in 2013). Thus far, this sounds similar to Bouchareb’s 2008 film,...

Exclusive: In the second acquisition for the burgeoning sci-fi label, Allen Bain's Bainframe has acquired rights to Robert A. Heinlein's 1951 novella The Man Who Sold The Moon. The company will develop the timely project for television. Bain (Two Men In Town, Revenge Of The Green Dragons) founded Bainframe to tell stories that have "the power to inspire people to dream of a better tomorrow." This is the shingle's second rights buy, following Octavia E. Butler's…...

The French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb’s New Mexico–set crime drama Two Men in Town is playing on one tiny screen in New York and on VOD, neither of which is likely to do justice to its immense visual beauty or the subtlety of its performances. A shame, too, because it absolutely deserves to be seen. It’ll be easy for some to dismiss this as a familiar story told all too coolly, but look closer and you’ll see it has a raging heart.When we first meet William Garnett (Forest Whitaker), he’s preparing to leave prison after 18 years. He’s converted to Islam and become a model prisoner during his time; we see him meet with an aging cleric who gives him a book about religious fortitude and a new suit of clothes in honor of his freedom. "Redemption is always possible for the man who deserves it,...

Cohen Media Group will release French-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb's "Two Men in Town," which stars Forest Whitaker, simultaneously in Theaters & on iTunes, tomorrow, March 6th, 2015. Whitaker teams up with the Oscar-nominated filmmaker in what was said to be the first film in a trilogy of English-language films for the director, that will explore the complex relationship between the west and the Arab world. "The questions I'm asking in my movies here in America are 'Where are we?' and 'Where are we going?' and 'Why do we need to have hope in this relationship?'" said the director of "Hors la Loi" ("Outside the Law"), his...

Festival to honour The Artist director with encore presentation of Oss 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies.

Hazanavicius is the subject of Focus On A Filmmaker on April 23, which sees an encore presentation of Oss 117: Cairo, Nest Of Spies, the Los Angeles premiere of The Search and a Happy Hour Talk panel.

A digitally restored version of Paris Texas (1984) will get its West Coast premiere, while there are North American premieres of digitally restored versions of Jean Renoir’s La Chienne (1931) and Francois Truffaut’s The Last Metro (1980).

Screenings include world premieres of digitally restored versions of Sandrine Veysset’s Will It Snow For Christmas (1966) and José Giovanni’s Two Men In Town (1973), as well as the first American presentation since 1961 of Philippe de Broca’s Five Day Lover.

Top brass will unveil the competition films on March 31. Colcoa runs from April 20-28.

Some people can hold a grudge against for a long time, one that not even 18 years in prison can wash away. This is a trailer for the Forest Whitaker drama Two Men in Town. Forest Whitaker and Harvey Keitel star in this remake of the 1973 French film Deux hommes dans la ville. Whitaker […]

Read Forest Whitaker Wants a Normal Life in Two Men in Town on Filmonic.

Finally, distribution news for a project we've been tracking since August 2011, when it was first announced, which I wasn't certain we'd ever see, despite all the recognizable talent involved. Cohen Media Group will release  Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb's "Two Men in Town," which stars Forest Whitaker, simultaneously in Theaters & on iTunes on March 6th, 2015. Whitaker teams up with the Oscar-nominated filmmaker in what was said to be the first film in a trilogy of English-language films for the director, that will explore the complex relationship between the west and the Arab world. "The questions I'm asking in my movies here in...

French-Algerian filmmaker and producer Rachid Bouchareb, who is being honoured with a career achievement award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, talked extensively about his career at a special ‘in conversation’ event.

Born to Algerian parents who moved to Paris just after the Second World War, twice Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb recounted how he was originally destined to work in manufacturing like his father.

“I was sitting at work one day when I decided to call the offices of a local broadcaster. I got through to a receptionist who I asked ‘how do people get into cinema’. She had more important things to do than talk to me but she gave me some names of schools nonetheless,” said Bouchareb, who would go onto make his first feature Bâton Rouge in 1985 with the support of the late producer Humbert Balsan.

The director, whose best known credits include Oscar-nominated Days of Glory and Outside the Law as well as...

French-Algerian filmmaker and producer Rachid Bouchareb, who is being honoured with a career achievement award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, talked extensively about his career at a special ‘in conversation’ event.

Born to Algerian parents who moved to Paris just after the Second World War, twice Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb recounted how he was originally destined to work in manufacturing like his father.

“I was sitting at work one day when I decided to call the offices of a local broadcaster. I got through to a receptionist who I asked ‘how do people get into cinema’. She had more important things to do than talk to me but she gave me some names of schools nonetheless,” said Bouchareb, who would go onto make his first feature Bâton Rouge in 1985 with the support of the late producer Humbert Balsan.

The director, whose best known credits include Oscar-nominated Days of Glory and Outside the Law as well as...

French-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchereb, who is being honoured with a career achievement award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival this year, talked extensively about his career at a special ‘in conversation’ event.

The director, whose credits include Oscar-nominated Days of Glory and Outside the Law as well as the more recent Two Men in Town starring Forest Whitaker and Harvey Keitel, revealed his love of cinema had unusual origins.

Referring to his childhood in the run-down Parisian suburb of Bobigny, Bouchareb recounted how he and his friends used to sneak into the local cinema for free.

“It was a game for us to see if we could get in… we’d get in through the toilet,” said Bouchareb. “We saw a lot of films without paying but it meant I never saw the beginning.”

Much of Bouchareb’s early filmography, capturing the experiences of immigrants in France and beyond, was inspired by his own experiences as the...

Days of Glory director and American Psycho producer to receive career achievement awards.

Abu Dhabi Film Festival (Adff) (Oct 23-Nov 1) is to honour French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb and Us producer Edward Pressman with Career Achievement Awards for their outstanding contribution to world cinema.

Both awards will be presented at the festival’s opening event on Oct 23 at Emirates Palace.

Bouchareb is best known for directing Dust of Life (1995), Days of Glory (2006) and Outside the Law (2010), all of which were nominated for Best Foreign Language Film awards at the Oscars.

His latest feature, Two Men In Town starring Forest Whitaker as an ex-convict and a Muslim convert, will screen as part of the Adff Showcase.

The film played in competition at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Adff will also host a public conversation with Bouchareb on Oct 24, where he will discuss his life and career as a director and producer.

Us producer...

Wall Street and American Psycho producer Ed Pressman is set to receive a career achievement award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, which starts Thursday. Pressman will be honored alongside French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb, who has been nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign-language film three times, most recently with Outside the Law in 2010. Bouchareb comes to the festival with his latest work Two Men In Town, starring Forest Whitaker as an ex-convict and a Muslim convert. Whitaker was the special guest at last year’s event. Read more The 'Star Wars' Effect: Why Hollywood is

read more...

You hear it all the time: Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News. But Americans were buying all the same, and to quote Screen International: “The current market is focused on smart money and smart deals, not volume of product”. Business at Afm was also solid though unspectacular. Moreover, the pre-buying of projects may be below the radar of this $3 billion business of international film buying and selling. TrustNordisk’s CEO Rikke Ennis says that 70% of their films are pre-sold. As you look at the upcoming Winter Rights Roundup due out in two weeks from SydneysBuzz.com/Reports, you will notice many of the films have been pre-buys this market and many films screening were already pre-sold during Afm in November.

And for all the complaints about Berlin, many sales agents set up private screenings before the market kicked off. What is that about?

Beki Probst, who has run the Efm since 1988, responded to the many media reports of a quieter market in an interview with ScreenDaily which sounds almost the same as the one she gave in 2009.

Quoting her current statement which I take the liberty of quoting here as it appears in Screen:

“I think that there was a good movement of business this year,” she said. In the opinion of Probst, there had been a muddying of the distinction between the Efm and the more general term of the ‘market’.

“Daphné Kapfer of Europa International representing 35 sales agents said that it was a very good Berlin, and Glen Basner of FilmNation commented that it was ‘the best Berlin’.

“Even Harvey Weinstein came just for 24 hours to sign a $7m check, and Aloft was bought by Sony Pictures Classics.

“It’s the players, and not the market, that is important. The players come here if they have the right line-up. All we can do is provide the best infrastructure, but what happens after that is up to them.”

"Sales agents were not sitting idle at their stands if one takes the example of one company in the Martin Gropius Bau: the CEO met with 90 buyers and the members of staff responsible for marketing had no less than 180 meetings in addition to ad-hoc discussions at events in the evenings."

Coproductions are the engine driving the business these days.

This year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market ended after two-and-a-half days with awards handed out to projects from Kazakhstan and Belgium.

The €6,000 Arte International Prize went to Kazakh film-maker Emir Baigazin’s planned second feature The Wounded Angel, the second part of a trilogy after his Silver Bear-winning Harmony Lessons. The €1.2m Almaty-based Kazakhfilm Jsc production has already attracted France’s Capricci Production as a co-producer and has backing in place from the Doha Film Institute and the Hubert Bals Fund.

The €10,000 Vff Talent Highlight Pitch Award was presented to Belgian director Bavo Defurne for his romantic dramedy Souvenir. The €2m co-production by Oostende-based Indeed Films with Belgium’s Frakas Productions and Germany’s Karibufilm already has backing from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Cinefinance and public broadcaster Vrt/ Een.

India-Norway’s $55 million film to be directed by Hans Petter Moland (In Order of Disappearance)’s The Indian Bride is an exciting example of an unusual pairing of countries.

Bavaria and Senator’s joint venture Bavaria Pictures’ The Postcard Killers to be directed by Mexican director Everardo Gout shows the international expansion of talent.

The Hungary-Austria-Germany co-production of Stefan Zweig’s Beware of Pity, or U.K.-Lithuania action comedy Redirected being sold by Content brings unusual European partners together.

U.S. born Damian John Harper’s coproduction with the German producers, brothers Jakob and Jonas Weydemann, on Los Angeles will be followed by In the Middle of the River now being developed with Zdf’s Das Kleine Fernsehspiel unit.

Shoreline’s The Infinite Man produced with Australia’s Hedone Productions in association with Bonsai Films with investment from South Australia Film Corporation through its Filmlab funding initiative, development assistance from Screen Australia is also a new sort of pairing.

Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me), Bac Films, 20 Steps Productions and Bruemmer & Herzog’s The President is shooting in Tbilisi, Georgia and is being directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

Italian-Canadian producer Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi’s Sights of Death starring Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer, Stephen Baldwin and Michael Madsen is directed by Allessandro Capone in Rome.

The Spain-u.K. co-production Second Origin is based on the best selling Catalan novel Mecanoscrit Del Segon Orgen.

The Golden Bear Winner Black Coal, Thin Ice is a Boneyard Entertainment (New York & Hong Kong) co-production with Boneyard Entertainment China (Bec), Omnijoi Media (Jiangsu, China), China Film co-production.

A sign of the times is the Swedish Film in Berlin advertisement which lists all Swedish co-productions:

In Competition: In Order of DisappearanceOut of Competition: NymphomaniacBerlinale Special: Someone You Love Generation Kplus: A Christmoose StoryPerspektive Deutsches Kino: Lamento

All are with European co-producers as is Antboy a Danish-German co-production.

One of my favorites is Gallows Hill, being sold by Im Global and already picked up by IFC for U.S. Starring Twilight actor Peter Facinelli, U.K. actress Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos and Colombian model and actress Carolina Guerra, it was entirely financed from within Colombia by television network Rcn’s affiliate Five 7 Media which produced with Peter Block's A Bigger Boat, David Higgins and Angelique Higgins' Launchpad Productions and Andrea Chung. The screenplay was written by Rich D’Ovidio ( The Call, Thir13en Ghosts) about a widower who takes his children on a trip to their mother’s Colombian hometown.

Another interesting combo is the Australian-Singapore co-production Canopy being sold by Odin’s Eye which was acquired by Kaleidoscope for U.K., by Kinosmith for Canada and Odin’s Eye itself for Australia. After its Tiff 2013 premiere, Monterrey acquired U.S. rights.

Cathedrals of Culture, was produced by Wim Wenders’ production company: Neue Road Movies in Germany and co-produced by Final Cut For Real (Denmark), Lotus Film (Austria), Mer Film (Norway), Les Films d'Ici 2 (France), Sundance Productions / RadicalMedia (U.S.), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg In collaboration with Arte (Germany and France) and Wowow (Japan).

Grand Budapest Hotel is a co-production of Scott Rudin in U.S. and Studio Babelsburg in Germany.

Wouldn't you say there had to be an awful lot of business going on? If only the media knew where to look for it. Instead, they moan the same old tired tune, "Quality a bit soft. Not a lot of Big Titles. Not a lot of Big News". Oh well...

Efm Coproduction Market

Asian producer Raymond Phathanavirangoon, who was pitching the Hong Kong comedy Grooms by writer-director Arvin Chen at the Berlin Coproduction Market, announced that Germany’s augenschein filmproduktion will be a coproducer on Singaporean director Boo Junfeng’s second feature Apprentice. The film has already received backing from France’s World Cinema Support, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw of Germany and Germany's second network, Zdf’s Das kleine fernsehspiel unit. It also has Cinema Defacto as its French co-producer. Junfeng’s first film, Sandcastle, was screened at the Critics’ Week in Cannes in 2010.

Cologne-based augenschein, who produced Maximilian Leo’s My Brother’s Keeper, the opening film of this year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino and is handled internationally by Media Luna, is currently in post-production on Romanian filmmaker Florin Serban’s Box, his second feature after the 2010 Berlinale Competition film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle.

Argentinian filmmaker Santiago Mitre whose debut The Student established him as one of the brightest and most courted young directors in Latin America was in the Co-production Market with his untitled second feature which France’s Full House connected to along with Argentina’s Union de los Rio, Argentine broadcast network Telefe, Ignacio Viale and the ubiquitous Lita Stantic.

Full House was also at the Coproduction Market with Peter Webber’s Fresh about a young thief learning the art of pickpocketing in Bogota, Colombia. It will be co-produced with Rcn affiliate Five 7 Media and 4Direcciones in Colombia and by Webber himself.

Raymond van der Kaaij, the producer of Tamar van den Dop’s Panorama title Supernova, is now financing Sundance winner Ernesto Contreras’ next feature I Dream In Another Language. The Spanish-English language project will be produced with Mexico-based Agencia Sha, and it is now casting the American lead according to producer van der Kaaij of Revolver Amsterdam. Developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the winner of the Sundance-Mahindra Global Filmmaking Award, I Dream has already received support from Imcine in Mexico. Shooting is scheduled in Mexico for the end of 2014.

Revolver is now editing Bodkin Ras, the debut film of Iranian-Dutch director Kaweh Modiri, an English-language documentary-thriller set in North Scotland. The Dutch-Belgian-u.K. coproduction is set for release at the end of 2014.

Finnish film-maker Jukka-Pekka Valkeapaa’s is editing his latest feature They Have Escaped, which Revolver coproduced with Helsinki Film.

Trend of smart art genres

Another continuing trend, which began with Xyz and Celluloid Nightmares and continued with Memento, is the character-driven art genre films with tight budgets, like the Danish coming-of-age-werewolf-romance, When Animals Dream, directed by first timer Jonas Arnby, sold by Gaumont to Radius-twc for No. Americ. The Scandinavians, formerly making a mark with "Nordic Noir" are now making what they call "Nordic Twilight".

Trend of remake rights

Another trend is that of remake rights. Film Sharks reports it makes more from selling remake rights than from licensing distribution rights.

The Intouchables is selling remake rights to more countries than only India as is the sale of Other Angle’s Babysitting remake rights. Negotiations are underway with Russia, Italy and Germany.

Fruit Chan is considering an English language remake of his 2004 cult horror film Dumplings.

The market is bit too calm?…Then let us look at Cannes…

Usually by Afm you can begin the Tipped for Cannes List (which Gilles Jacob detested), but even that is a little on the quiet side. I begin to question whether all media fueled news is accurate: the slow sales being reported, the lack of pre-Cannes buzz… Is the media really investigating deeply?

Of all the trades, while Screen has the most international news and deepest analyses, Variety reports things no other trade is covering. But…still the non-news of a quiet market persists as if it were headline news. We always hear this and we are still in an economic slump, so what we wish for is not apparent, but this is not news.

Tipped for Cannes

Tipped for Cannes are Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home staring Gong Li and to be sold by Wild Bunch, Stealth’s First Law starring Mads Mikkelsen (Cannes 2012 Best Actor Award for The Hunt); Self Made (Boreg) by Shira Geffen and to be sold by Westend, shot in Hebrew and Arabic by the production and sales team behind Oscar nominated 2011 drama Footnote, the second film after Geffen’s 2007 debut Jellyfish which won the Cannes Camera d’Or. MK2’s Clouds of Sils Maria by Olivier Assayas and starring Juliette Binoche, Chloe Grace Moretz and Kristen Stewart, and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water will be delivered in time for Cannes. Pyramide International is plannng for Leviathan, a modern retelling of the biblical story which deals with some of Russia’s most important social issues to be ready for Cannes. It is directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky (Stalingrad) as their followup to Elena. Gaumont-cj co-production, The Target, the Korean remake of Fred Cavaye’s action thriller Point Blank will be ready in time for Cannes.

Rumors and truths about people changing positions

Rumors about Dieter Kosslick replacing Berlin’s Culture Secretary who resigned after a tax evasion scandal in which he admitted to stashing $575,000 in a Swiss bank account…Charlotte Mickie has left eOne and knowing her, she is bound to find something good elsewhere as she's too good to lose...StudioCanals Harold van Lier now leads eOne’s newly ramped international sales team and Montreal based Anick Poirier leads its subsidiary label, Seville International. Jeff Nuyts is leaving Intramovies. Nigel Sinclair and Guy East seem to be leaving Exclusive Media the company they founded as discussions with partners from Dasym Investment Strategies Bv move forward. Kevin Hoiseth from Voltage Pictures has joined International Film Trust as their director of international sales...and of course, Nadine de Barros has founded her own company, Fortitude, and was holding court at the Ritz Carlton the buzziest spot outside of the Martin Gropius Bau.

What I Saw and What I Thought

For what it's worth, here is my limited list of screenings of films seen only in the last 3 days of the festival when I was no longer "working". I am including some I actually saw at Sundance.

First and foremost -- and to be written about further in a "thought piece" as I term the articles I think long about before writing and to include my interview with the director Goran Hugo Olsson's (The Black Power Mixtapes winner of Sundance 2011 World Cinema Documentary Film Editing Award) -- Concerning Violence (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S.: Cinetic), based on Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth and seen at Sundance this year next to Stanley Nelson's outstanding Freedom Summer (PBS) and Greg Barker's We Are The Giant (Submarine), is a call to action for new societal models ringing out loud and clear.

Golden Bear Winner, Black Coal, Thin Ice by Diao Yinan, a Chinese noir, lacked the momentum and substance I would have expected in a winning film, though it was a fascinating way to see today's urban China. Had I been on the jury, I would have chosen the Best Director Award winning Boyhood (Isa: IFC) by Richard Linklater. But perhaps because James Schamus, an American who loves Chinese films, was President of the Jury, there might have arisen a question of disinterested objectivity. I would have to hear what jurists Barbara Broccoli, Trine Dyrhom, Chistoph Waltz, Tony Leung, Greta Gerwig, Mitra Farahani and Michel Gondry would have to say about the deliberations.

Speaking of jury prizes, it was a surprise the much acclaimed '71 (Isa: Protagonist, now headed by our dear Mike Goodridge) won nothing, and good Alain Renais' Life of Riley (Isa: Le Pacte) received recognition. I found Christophe Gans' La belle et la bete (Beauty and the Beast) (Isa: Pathe) an overproduced unwieldy special effects-ridden mess, even though it was exec-produced by Jérôme Seydoux who also produced the masterpiece La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty), and starred his granddaughter Lea Seydoux. I'll stand by Cocteau's versoin. I heard Claudia Llosa (Milk of Sorrow)'s Aloft was also not widely admired.

About the best actress winning film The Little House (Isa: Shochiku could have marketed it more widely), I heard nothing at all, though it sounds really good. Kreuzweg (Stations of the Cross) (Isa: Beta) by brother and sister team Anna and Dietrich Brueggemann (any relation to our own Tom Brueggeman?) had a satisfying denouement and was quite engrossing with moments of humor lightening the heavy weight of the cross carried by 14 year old Maria played by Lea van Acken, a picture face out of a George de la Tour painting (Magdeline with a Smoking Flame or A Piece of Art). Macondo (Isa: Films Boutique - again! ) by Sudabeh Mortezai of Austria was a window on a world never seen before and very engrossing although the coming of age story was one we have seen before.

Not sorry to say I missed The Monuments Men and Nymphomaniac Volume I, but sorry that I missed Beloved Sisters (Isa: Global Screen) of Dominik Graf, The Grand Budapest Hotel (will see it in U.S.), Argentinian Benjamin Naishat's History of Fear (Isa: Visit) -- I'll catch it in Carthegena, Guadalajara or San Sebastian I'm sure, Jack, In Order of Disappearance which sounds like the sleeper hit of the festival, Argentinan (again!) La tercera orilla (The Third Side of the River), Lou Ye's Tui Na (Blind Massage) and Rachid Bouchareb's Two Men in Town (Isa: Pathe - again!), which I heard was rather flat which is not surprising, for when non-Americans try to make an American genre, it usually misses a certain verve, but still is such an interesting subject for him to tackle, Zwischen Welten (Inbetween Worlds) (Isa: The Match Factory) from Germany, another "American" subject, but here about a German soldier in Afghanistan, not an American one.

Among the Berlinale Specials, I wish I had seen Nancy Buirski's Afternoon of a Faun which everyone said was good (Isa: Cactus Three the doc production company of Krysanne Katsoolis and Caroline Stevens) and Volker Schloendorff's 1969 Brecht piece Baal starring Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta. I did see his Diplomacy (Isa: Gaumont) which was a great treat, erudite, intimate and reminiscent of the novels of Sandor Marai (Embers and Casanova in Bolzano). Wish I could have seen Wim Wenders' Cathedrals of Culture (Isa: Cinephil), Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez (Isa: Mundial) and In the Courtyard aka Dans la cours (Isa: Wild Bunch) starring Catherine Deneuve and The Kidnapping of Michel Houllebecq (Isa: Le Pacte - again!!). I will see The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden (Isa: The Film Sales Company) by Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller, produced by Jonathan Dana, Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller and Celeste Schaefer Snyder (Ballets Russes), back home. The Turning (Isa: Level K), an experimental omnibus produced by my favorite Australian producer, Robert Connelly who also directed in part and Maggie Myles, is also a must-see as is Errol Morris' companion piece to The Fog of War, The Unknown Known (Isa: HanWay) and Houssein Amini's Two Faces of January (Isa: StudioCanal) starring my favorites Viggo Mortenson and Kirsten Dunst. We Come as Friends (Isa: Le Pacte), by Hubert Sauper whose earlier film Darwin's Destiny astounded me, was worth watching although so often his films plunge one into a hopeless helplessness. Fresh from Sundance, it was raising controversy and the story of the Sudan is worth knowing. His particular and peculiar Pov is valuable. Watermark (Isa: Entertainment One), another social issue worth knowing about will have to wait for a more propitious time. Personally I'm hoping Israel's current venture into desalination of water will lead the world into peace and that I will rejoice watching the doc about that.

Difret (Isa: Films Boutique - again!), fresh from Sundance where I saw it was really good and it sold well. I got to hang out with the team at the Panorama party. Gueros (Isa: Mundial - again!), was a disappointment -- too like The Year of the Nail (though different) in tone. But what a great company Canana is!

Panorama's Finding Vivian Maier (Isa: HanWay - again!) is brilliantly interesting. It is about to be released in U.S. by IFC. I highly recommend seeing this documentary about an eccentric, unknown photographer. It premiered at Tiff 2013. Fresh from Sundance where it won a Special Jury Prize, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Isa: Submarine) was a treasure; Velvet Terrorists was about the oddest piece I have ever seen. About three former opponents of the Czechoslovakian Soviet Regime, each has continued to enjoy blowing up things. One is still training the next generation in urban guerilla warfare. They are otherwise unremarkable, sweet even, but twisted. What an odd documentary.

A quick look at the Market Films I have seen: of the 400+ premieres: Zero -- no I did see German Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, Two Lives (Isa: Beta), and I will soon be home to celebrate its nomination at the famous Villa Aurora, the former home of German expatriate writer Leon Feuchtwanger. So many more films look sooooo attractive! A pity I may never get to see them. I would need all the time in the world, and I have so little. I have so much and yet I want more!

Forest Whitaker plays a profoundly troubled man struggling to hold onto his sanity and do the right thing in director Philippe Caland’s intriguing horror-thriller, Repentance. Years after a drunken car crash that almost took his life, Tommy Carter (Anthony Mackie) has reinvented himself as a therapist and spiritual advisor. His successful book release draws the attention of Angel Sanchez (Whitaker) who convinces Carter to take him on as a personal client. Opening February 28th, the film also stars Mike Epps, Sanaa Lathan, Nicole Ari Parker and Ariana Neal. We recently landed an exclusive interview with Whitaker who revealed how the project grew out of a small film Caland had previously made, what it was like acting opposite Mackie in some very intense scenes, why he loves shooting on location in New Orleans, what he looks for in a project, how he stays true to his acting roots, why it...

Brenda Blethyn in Vera on AcornTV. RLJEntertainment.com

Two-time Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn was ecstatic when her agent told her she had been cast as the lead role in a new detective series. The show was to be based around the Vera Stanhope novels by author Ann Cleeves. Brenda quickly began reading the novels so she could learn more about her new role.

“I started reading the series and Vera didn’t appear until halfway through the first book. She was described as a lumbering bag lady who looked as if she had nowhere to go. I thought ‘hold on a minute, why have they chosen me for this role,’ but I read on and I fell in love with her.”

In talking to Brenda Blethyn it quickly becomes apparent that she is nothing like the TV detective. She is warm, funny and she has a distinctly Southern accent. She is also quite stylish.

Though the annual Berlin Film Festival may have reached its 64th year, this year’s event is the very first HeyUGuys have had the distinct pleasure of covering. We can also proudly boast to having seen all 20 of this year’s films in Competition. So, with the award ceremony taking place tonight, to see which feature will take home the much coveted, prestigious Golden Bear, we’ve provided a run-down of all competing productions…

The Unmissable

The festival certainly got off to a good start, as the opening night film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, by American auteur Wes Anderson is one of the very best on offer. The quaint, whimsicality that alleviates the director’s work is matched on this occasion by a tender, emotional core to create one of his finest pieces yet. Polarising he may be, given his often contrived stylistic approach, but this seems to be a...

Rachid Bouchareb’s Two Men in Town opens with a visually striking sequence, as we see the silhouettes of two men, engulfed in combat in the vast wilderness, while the evening sun creates a serene tranquillity, contradicting the violence on show. Such an opening act sets the precedence for a vivid, picturesque feature, as the way the blistering hot sun beats down on the dusty sand throughout is reminiscent of classic westerns of old. However sadly any such comparisons to quintessentially classic movies are made only in regards to the aesthetic, and sadly, not the content.

The man carrying out the vicious attack we see in the opening act is William Garnett (Forest Whitaker), a former sheriff, sentenced to an 18 years in confinement for murdering his deputy. However upon his release, the recently converted Muslim wants nothing more than an easy life, taking on a job at a local farm,...

Indiewire is in Berlin to cover the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. Because we'll be posting so much throughout the run of the festival, we've compiled this Berlinale master list to help you keep track of all our coverage. Keep checking back daily until the festival wraps on February 16th for all the latest reviews, acquisitions and interviews out of the festival. Reviews:Critic's Notebook: Why You Should Care About the Berlin Film Festival Forest Whitaker Impresses As Paroled Criminal In Uneven 'Two Men In Town,' A Remake At War With Itself'Full Metal Jacket' Meets 'High Noon' In Tense Wartime Action Drama ''71,' Starring Jack O'ConnellSexual Depravity Takes On Nightmarish Proportions In Josephine Decker's 'Thou Wast Mild and Lovely,' Starring Joe Swanberg Wes Anderson's 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' Is a Delightful Action-Comedy As Only He Could Make ItWas 'Snowpiercer' Worth the Battle For the Director's Cut?...

Joining the titles already announced—including films by Alain Resnais and Dominik Graf—the following films complete the lineup for the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival's Competition section.

Bai Ri Yan Huo (Black Coal, Thin Ice)

People’s Republic of China

By Yinan Diao (Night Train, Uniform)

With Fan Liao, Lun Mei Gwei, Xuebing Wang

World premiere

Boyhood

USA

By Richard Linklater (Before Midnight, Me & Orson Welles)

With Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Ellar Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater

International premiere

Chiisai Ouchi (The Little House)

Japan

By Yoji Yamada (Tokyo Family, About Her Brother)

With Takako Matsu, Haru Kuroki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Chieko Baisho

International premiere

Historia del miedo (History of Fear)

Argentina / Uruguay / Germany / France

By Benjamin Naishtat - feature debut

With Jonathan Da Rosa, Claudia Cantero, Mirella Pascual, Cesar Bordon, Tatiana Gimenez

World premiere

Jack

Germany

By Edward Berger

With Ivo Pietzcker, Georg Arms, Luise Heyer, Vincent Redetzki, Jacob Matschenz,...

An update to a project we first profiled in August 2011 and have been following since. Forest Whitaker has teamed up with Oscar-nominated Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb to star in the first film in a trilogy of English-language films that will explore the complex relationship between the west and the Arab world. "The questions I'm asking in my movies here in America are 'Where are we?' and 'Where are we going?' and 'Why do we need to have hope in this relationship?'" the director of Hors la Loi (Outside the Law), his most recent work, and London River before that (both films we've covered on S&A) said. Titled Enemy Way, in the film, Whitaker plays a Muslim...

French-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb is close to completing post-production on his upcoming drama Enemy Way, starring Forest Whitaker and Harvey Keitel.

Whitaker plays a former prisoner and Islamic convert who is pursued by a vengeful police officer played by Keitel in the film which is a strong contender for Cannes selection in 2014. The picture was filmed in the Us state of New Mexico for nine weeks this spring.

Algeria’s Agence Algerienne pour le Rayonnement Culturel (Aarc) is also hoping the film will be a contender for the 2015 Academy Awards. Bouchareb’s Outside The Law was among the final five films nominated in the foreign-language category of the 2011 Oscars.

Paris-based Pathe International is handling sales on the film, co-produced by Aarc, Algerian Tassili Films, French Pathe Cinema, France 2 Cinema, Solenzara, Belgian Scope Invest and Taghit LLC and the Cohen Media Group in the Us.

Aarc has become a key player in the Algerian film industry following a 2012 law...

Algerian cultural agency Aarc is showing first images of Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina’s Crépuscule des Ombres at the Dubai Film Market.

It is the first work in 30 years from Lakhdar-Hamina, best known for Chronicle Of The Years Of Ember, which won the Palme d’Or in 1975 and remains the only Arab or African film to have clinched Cannes’ top prize.

Set in the Algerian desert and epic in scale, Crépuscule des Ombres revolves around a local freedom fighter and two French soldiers, one in favour of Algerian independence, the other against.

French actor Samir Boitard, who starred in hit French TV series Spiral, plays the Algerian revolutionary opposite Nicolas Bridet and Laurent Hennequin as the soldiers.

Aarc started investing in cinema in 2012 as part of a state-backed initiative to build up Algeria’s film industry. To date it has supported roughly 100 works. As a key backer, it handles rights for all the titles, either partially...

Algerian cultural agency Aarc is showing first images of Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina’s Crépuscule des Ombres at the Dubai Film Market.

It is the first work in 30 years from Lakhdar-Hamina, best known for Chronicle Of The Years Of Ember, which won the Palme d’Or in 1975 and remains the only Arab or African film to have clinched Cannes’ top prize.

Set in the Algerian desert and epic in scale, Crépuscule des Ombres revolves around a local freedom fighter and two French soldiers, one in favour of Algerian independence, the other against.

French actor Samir Boitard, who starred in hit French TV series Spiral, plays the Algerian revolutionary opposite Nicolas Bridet and Laurent Hennequin as the soldiers.

Aarc started investing in cinema in 2012 as part of a state-backed initiative to build up Algeria’s film industry. To date it has supported roughly 100 works. As a key backer, it handles rights for all the titles, either partially...

• What’s worse? Being in Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius erupts, or getting possessed by demon spirits in the middle of the woods? Evil Dead’s Jessica Lucas will be able to tell us soon enough. She’s just been cast in Paul W.S. Anderson’s Pompeii with Emily Browning, Kit Harington, and Kiefer Sutherland, which began filming in Italy last month. Best known for her role in the TV series Cult, Lucas can be seen next in Are We Officially Dating? alongside Zac Efron and Miles Teller (Project X). [Deadline]

• Robert De Niro will take the ring once more, this time...

Harvey Keitel, Brenda Blethyn, Ellen Burstyn and Luis Guzman have all joined the cast of Enemy Way. They will join Forest Whitaker in the drama.

In the film Whitaker will play “a man struggling to rebuild his life in a small New Mexico town after 18 years in prison. Keitel will play the Sheriff who launches a campaign to return Whitaker’s character to prison for life.”

Rachid Bouchareb is directing from a script he co-wrote with Olivier Lorelle and Yasmina Khadra.

Its nice to see Keitel in something that has the potential to be good. The last thing I saw him in was Little Fockers, or as I like to call it Wasting Good Actors to Beat the Focking Shit Out if a Tired Premise.

Source: Variety...