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Chinese star Fan Bingbing (I Am Not Madame Bovary, The 355) and German actor/director Maria Schrader (I’m Your Man, She Said) will join jury president Todd Haynes to judge the competition films at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale announced Thursday.

Berlin unveiled its international jury for the 2025 event, which runs Feb. 13-23, which will see the Far from Heaven and Carol director heading up the four-woman, three-man jury that will pick this year’s Gold and Silver Bear winners.

Alongside Fan and Schrader, the 2025 Berlinale jury includes Moroccan-French director Nabil Ayouch (Much Loved, Horses of God), German costume designer Bina Daigeler (TÁR, Mulan), Argentine director Rodrigo Moreno (The Delinquents), and American critic and podcast host Amy Nicholson.

Haynes has a long history with the Berlinale. His debut feature Poison won the Teddy Award, for LGBTQ+ cinema, at Berlin in 1991.

The 75th Berlinale kicks off with...

After the Covid-19 pandemic forced last year’s in-person festivities and competition to be cancelled, the Cannes Film Festival will be returning in full force this year, running from July 6 until July 17. The top prize there is the coveted Palme d’Or, and this will be the first time it’s awarded since 2019 when Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” claimed it. That film would go on to win the Oscar for Best Picture, becoming the first to claim both prizes since “Marty” did it in 1955. This year’s jury will be headed by Oscar winner Spike Lee, who won the Grand Prix in 2018 for “BlacKkKlansman,” which went on to win him the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar.

The track record of a filmmaker at Cannes can sometimes offer tea leaves as to who might be in a good position to take the Palme. Eight of the entries this year come from...

Casablanca Beats is first Moroccan film to play in Cannes Competition since 1962.

Wild Bunch International (Wbi) has boarded sales on French-Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch’s Casablanca Beats ahead of its world premiere in Competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in July.

The film follows a group of youngsters living in the Casablanca slum district of Sidi Moumen as they participate in a workshop encouraging them to express themselves through hip-hop music and dance.

It was shot in Casablanca’s Les Etoiles de Sidi Moumen (The Stars of Sidi Moumen) cultural centre, which Ayouch created in 2014 with novelist Mahi Binebine.

“Roma” producer Nicolas Celis’ series debut “Perfect Monsters,” Nabil Ayouch’s “Blackout” and Cinenord’s “Ice Valley” were announced as the three winners of this year’s In Development Drama Producers’ Pitch section, run collaboratively by MipTV and Canneseries.

In Development is dedicated to the development and promotion of new international TV productions from established and new talents alike. A potentially major launchpad for the still-young projects, the pitching sessions saw 12 projects selected by members of the In Development advisory board. This year, 376 projects were submitted for consideration from 41 countries.

Participating projects pitched to often packed audiences of industry professionals. Three were selected for prizes handed out by In Development’s official partners: Federation Entertainment (“The Bureau”), which offers to co-develop, co-produce and distribute one of the selected projects, and French think tank “La Fabrique des Formats” and its investment fund, which offers financing for up to two series from...

Madrid — Nabil Ayouch, one of the foremost Arab World filmmakers, is preparing “Blackout,” a real-time, near-future social-issue thriller drama series set on the border of Europe and Africa in and around Ceuta, one of Spain’s enclaves in Morocco.

“Black-Out” is set up at Ayouch’s Paris-based Les Films du Nouveau Monde and Casablanca label “Ali N’ Productions – which backed his latest two movies “Razzia,” a 2017 Toronto Platform premiere and Moroccan Academy Award entry, and upcoming “We Will Be Reborn,” a realist hip-hop musical. It is one of the potential highlights among 16 drama series projects to be pitched next week in Cannes at this year’s second and expanded In Development, a joint venture of MipTV and Canneseries.

Moroccan broadcast network 2M has boarded the project.

Given that Ceuta is an integral part of Spain, so the European Union, the highly-fortified Ceuta border fence, consisting of two 20-foot fences and a road between them,...

In March, Kino Lorber acquired all U.S. rights to Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch's Les Chevaux De Dieu (Horses Of God) which premiered at Cannes 2012, and was Morocco's entry for Best Foreign Language Film consideration at the Academy Awards this year (although it didn't make the short list of 5 nominees).  Today, Kino has announced that the U.S.A. theatrical premiere of the film is set for Wednesday, May 14 at Film Forum in New York City. The film is loosely based on the terrorist attacks that took place in Casablanca on May 13, 2003. Ayouch was shocked by these attacks that were committed by a group of kids from a...

Kino Lorber has acquired all U.S. rights to Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch's Les Chevaux De Dieu (God's Horses) which premiered at Cannes 2012, and was Morocco's entry for Best Foreign Language Film consideration at the Academy Awards this year (although it didn't make the short list of 5 nominees).  The film is loosely based on the terrorist attacks that took place in Casablanca on May 13, 2003. Ayouch was shocked by these attacks that were committed by a group of kids from a neighborhood that he knew very well, and with this film, he wanted to essentially humanize the suicide bombers, and show that they themselves are/were also...

Kechiche’s Adele wins best film and best director. Best francophone, foreign film goes to Ayouch’s Horses Of God.

Abdellatif Kechiche’s Adele: Chapters 1 & 2 (aka Blue is the Warmest Colour) was the top winner at the Lumière Awards, France’s version of the Golden Globes judged by the international press community in Paris, on Monday evening (20).

Kechiche’s passionate lesbian love story, which has ignited the public and critics at home and abroad, clinched best film and best director.

The special jury prize went to Rebecca Zlotowski’s gritty romance Grand Central, set against the backdrop of a nuclear power station.

Other titles in the running for best film included 9-Month Stretch, Grand Central, Mood Indigo, Quai d’Orsay and Renoir.

The previous two winners of best film at the Lumières, The Artist and Amour, went on to triumph at the Oscars. Adele, however, was not submitted for Academy Awards consideration. France instead...

Kechiche’s Adele wins best film and best director. Best francophone, foreign film goes to Ayouch’s Horses Of God.

Abdellatif Kechiche’s Adele: Chapters 1 & 2 was the top winner at the Lumière Awards, France’s version of the Golden Globes judged by the international press community in Paris, on Monday evening (20).

Kechiche’s passionate lesbian love story, which has ignited the public and critics at home and abroad, clinched best film and best director.

The special jury prize went to Rebecca Zlotowski’s gritty romance Grand Central, set against the backdrop of a nuclear power station.

Other titles in the running for best film included 9-Month Stretch, Grand Central, Mood Indigo, Quai d’Orsay and Renoir.

The previous two winners of best film at the Lumières, The Artist and Amour, went on to triumph at the Oscars. Adele, however, was not submitted for Academy Awards consideration. France instead put Renoir forward this year.

In other prizes...

Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch's Les Chevaux De Dieu (Horses of God) which premiered at Cannes 2012, is Morocco's entry for Best Foreign Language Film consideration at the Academy Awards for 2014.  The film is loosely based on the terrorist attacks that took place in Casablanca on May 13, 2003. Ayouch was shocked by these attacks that were committed by a group of kids from a neighborhood that he knew very well, and with this film, he wanted to essentially humanize the suicide bombers, and show that they themselves are/were also victims. Jonathan Demme has officially attached his name to the film, hoping to help its Oscar chances, but also to...

Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch's Les Chevaux De Dieu (God's Horses) which premiered at Cannes 2012, is Morocco's entry for Best Foreign Language Film consideration at the Academy Awards this year.  The film is loosely based on the terrorist attacks that took place in Casablanca on May 13, 2003. Ayouch was shocked by these attacks that were committed by a group of kids from a neighborhood that he knew very well, and with this film, he wanted to essentially humanize the suicide bombers, and show that they themselves are/were also victims. Jonathan Demme has officially attached his name to the film, hoping to help its Oscar chances, but also to ensure that it's...

Even when you are your home country’s Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film, it’s hard not to get lost in the competition among all the participating countries. Morocco’s selection, the Nabil Ayouch-directed Horses Of God, has gotten the support of Oscar-winning helmer Jonathan Demme, who has signed on as presenter of the film. Inspired by the real-life 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca, the film explores how ordinary people can come to be involved in such desperate, unfathomable actions. The pic was acclaimed in Cannes, and Wild Bunch is selling distribution rights in the U.S. In a statement, Demme called the film “simply one of the very most powerful pictures that I have ever seen. Extraordinarily gripping and moving, the cinematic style is really breathtaking. I can’t remember being so blown away by the marriage of visuals and storytelling since the first time I saw...

Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch's Les Chevaux De Dieu (God's Horses), which premiered at Cannes 2012, and early this year at Fespaco, will represent Morocco at the Academy Awards early next year for its foreign category. To recap from our post back in January of this year, the lauded film is loosely based on the terrorist attacks that took place in Casablanca on May 13, 2003. Ayouch was shocked by these attacks that were committed by a gang of kids from a neighborhood that he knew very well. The filmmaker wanted to essentially humanize the suicide bombers, and show that they themselves are/were also victims. Pierre-Ange Le Pogam’s Stone Angels distributed and...

Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch's Les Chevaux De Dieu (God's Horses) premiered at Cannes 2012 and will next screen at the twenty third (23rd) edition of the Pan-African Film & TV Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco), which will take place from February 23 to March 2, 2013. The film is loosely based on the terrorist attacks that took place in Casablanca on May 13, 2003. Ayouch was shocked by these attacks that were committed by a gang of kids from a neighbourhood that he knew very well, and with this film, he wanted to essentially humanize the suicide bombers, and show that they themselves are/were also victims. The film has...

★★★★☆ Set in a slum on the outskirts of Casablanca, Horses of God (Les Chevaux de Dieu, 2012) is a powerful drama based on the events leading up to the Moroccan suicide bomb attacks of 16 May, 2003. The film's director, Nabil Ayouch, has crafted an original and moving adaptation of Mahi Binebine's novel The Stars of Sidi Moumen, mixing social realism with a more ambitious and epic grandeur. There are three main characters who we first meet as children, playing football. Yachine is the goalie, Nabil is his closest friend and Hamid is his tough brother who protects him even though he criticises Yachine's close relationship to Nabil.

Read more »...

Les Chevaux de dieu (English title: God’s Horses)

Directed by Nabil Ayouch

Written by Jamal Belmahi

Morroco/France, 2012

What is it that is so controversial about Islam that more than a few people get antsy whenever said religion is brought up as a topic of conversation? It is actually more violent than other religions? Is there something else about, something specific, that rubs outsiders the wrong way? It seems strange considering that an immense portion of Earth’s inhabitants adhere to its teachings, about one quarter to be precise. How can so many people be wrong, or be practicing the ‘wrong religion?’ Be that as it may, the fact remains that, in this early 21st century, the world’s population is keeping a keen eye on Islam in all its depictions, and not always for the most enviable of reasons. As with so many religions, there are practitioners who...

Montreal’s Festival Du Nouveau Cinema (10.10 – 10.21) announced their line-up today for their 41st edition and among the smorgasbord of subtitle offerings dating back to this year’s Rotterdam, Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, Venice and Tiff editions, we’re knee-deep in avant-garde world cinema from the established auteurs Assayas, Vinterberg, Ozon, Sang-Soo, Joao Pedro Rodriguez, Larrain, Loach, Reygadas, Ghobadi, Mungiu and Miguel Gomes. Heavy on offerings from Quebec and France, the fest also manages to offer a stellar snapshot of the up-and-comers from all corners of the globe. Among the notable titles in the (Competition category) International Selection we’ve got Pablo Berger’s Blancanieves, Ursula Meier’s Sister, Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s Francine (which received its theatrical release earlier this month) and Rodrigo Plá’s La Demora. Loaded in Cannes items, the Special Presentations is the fest’s A-list selections (see filmmakers named above) and the one pic...

14th Mumbai Film Festival (Mff) announced its complete lineup today in a press conference. Mff will be held from October 18th to 25th at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Ncpa) and Inox, Nariman Point, Liberty Cinemas, Marine Lines as the main festival venues and Cinemax, Andheri and Cinemax Sion as the satellite venues. Click here to watch trailers and highlights from the festival.

Here is the complete list of films to be screened during the festival (October 18-25)

International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors

1. From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes)

Dir.: Gustavo Fernandez Triviño (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 111′)

2. The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis)

Dir.: Armando Bo (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 91′)

3. The Sapphires

Dir.: Wayne Blair (Australia / 2012 / Col. / 103′)

4. The Wall (Die Wand)

Dir.: Julian Pölsler (Austria-Germany / 2012 / Col. / 108′)

5. Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis)

Dir.: Mads Matthiesen (Denmark / 2012 / Col. / 93′)

6. Augustine

Dir.: Alice Winccour (France / 2012 / Col.

Cannes 2012 is done, and as is usually the case every year, there was very little representation from the African Diaspora, and we've pretty much highlighted the small handful of feature films of note that fall under that category - from Senegalese filmmaker, Moussa Touré’s La Pirogue (The Pirogue), to the the award-winning Beasts Of The Southern Wild. Add to that Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch's Les Chevaux De Dieu (God's Horses). A first-time Official Selection at Cannes, the film is loosely based on the terrorist attacks that took place in Casablanca on May 13, 2003. Ayouch was shocked...