Author: CWB News Department

CWB News Department, collects and republishes most important news and stories about International and Independent cinema, by noting the original source of the articles

The US Academy’s 2024 international feature film shortlist of 15 titles includes many of the films most expected to appear on it, while also throwing in a few surprises. Films considered to be leading contenders for this award are present and correct, including the four eligible titles from the Golden Globe nominations for best foreign-language picture: The Zone Of Interest (UK), Society Of The Snow (Spain), Fallen Leaves (Finland) and Io Capitano (Italy). The Globes also nominated Anatomy Of A Fall and Past Lives, but France didn’t submit the former for the Oscar, and US film Past Lives is ineligible for the award. Other leading contenders making this season’s Oscar shortlist are The Taste Of Things (France), Perfect…

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“Slow,”  Marija Kavtaradze’s delicate romance, won the Crystal Arrow at the 15th edition of Les Arcs Film Festival from a jury presided over by Oscar-nominated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation”). Kavtaradze’s sophomore outing, “Slow” world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won best director. The film revolves around the bond between Elena (Greta Grinevičiūtė), a contemporary dancer teaching to deaf youth, and Dovydas (Kęstutis Cicėnas), a sign language interpreter class. “The Teachers’ Lounge,” meanwhile, won the jury prize. The satirical movie, directed Ilker Çatak, world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, in the Panorama section, and was just shortlisted…

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The U.K.’s “The Zone of Interest,” France’s “The Taste of Things,” Germany’s “The Teachers’ Lounge” and Spain’s “Society of the Snow” are among the 15 films that will continue to a second round of voting in the Oscar race for Best International Feature Film. Other films on a very European-centric list include Finland’s “Fallen Leaves,” Denmark’s “The Promised Land,” Italy’s “Io Caitano,” Japan’s “Perfect Days” and three documentaries, Ukraine’s “20 Days in Mariupol,” and Tunisia’s “Four Daughters” and Morocco’s “The Mother of All Lies.” Overall, nine of the 15 films on the list are European. Three are from Asia, two from Africa…

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The New York Film Critics Online bestowed its highest honor — Best Picture of 2023 — on Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon Friday. Christopher Nolan won the Best Director accolade for helming Oppenheimer, an epic that also earned its cast the Best Ensemble prize, while Cillian Murphy scored the Best Actor award and Hoyte van Hoytema was recognized in the Best Cinematography category. Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall was voted Best International Feature. Triet and co-writer, Arthur Harari, won for Best Screenplay, and Sandra Hüller earned the Best Actress honor. Da’Vine Joy Randolph won for Best Supporting Actress for The Holdovers and Mark Ruffalo…

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The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea IFF)  has announced the winners of the Red Sea Souk Awards – vital funding and in-kind grants to develop and boost new talent from Saudi, Arab and African directors. Three juries deliberated to finally select nine winning feature ideas and two TV series, whose creative visions will now benefit from generous prizes awarded by the Red Sea Fund and its award partners. A total of 24 new film projects screened as part of the Red Sea Souk, with 12 titles by filmmakers of African and Arab origin, alongside 12 Red Sea Lodge…

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If last year’s quintet of Oscar-nominated feature documentaries reflected a voting branch with an appetite for international stories, then it is one that is being well-served by the crop of films on offer this year. Last year, nominated international stories came from directors hailing from North America (Navalny, Fire Of Love), Denmark (A House Made Of Splinters) and India (All That Breathes), competing alongside a sole US story, All The Beauty And The Bloodshed. Navalny won the Oscar. This time around, leading contenders for the documentary Oscar include a diverse group of films that, as well as dealing with international subjects, come from international…

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Who knows whether the cinematographic genre of films set during the lockdown imposed by the Covid pandemic will fade out or become a subgenre, like the post-apocalypse zombie science fiction films in which the heroes wander around deserted cities. In Non riattaccare by Manfredi Lucibello, the sole Italian feature film in competition at the 41st Torino Film Festival, everything happens in real time over one night in March 2020, when the number of victims from the virus in Italy reaches almost a thousand a day. The coronavirus, however, has little to do with this story and the curfew only represents an opportunity to create…

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Immigrant stories manifest across multiple Oscar submissions this year. There’s Sweden’s Opponent and Australia’s Shayda, with their focus on Iranian expats trying to rebuild in another nation, as well as a vital narrative thread in Germany’s Teachers’ Lounge. The films from Italy and Belgium turn their gazes to Sub-Saharan Africa, though their perspectives are inverted. Io Capitano considers an odyssey from Senegal to the Italian shore, while Omen starts with a Congolese immigrant looking back to his origins. One is a journey in search of a new life, the other a reflection on an old life left behind. Each proposes a cinema hinged on the tension of modern…

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Most mainstream audiences in the west, other than those from Indian or Asian communities, usually know very little about Bollywood cinema and why it’s such a juggernaut of the global movie world. A truly massive industry, Bollywood churns out nearly twice the amount of films that Hollywood does yearly. With a huge roster to choose from, and films that are crammed with famous stars, filmmakers, singers, and globally respected choreographers, the industry shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Bollywood films continue to expand their reach, becoming a lot more widely known among western audiences in recent years…

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In Citizen Saint, Georgia’s Oscar Entry, directed by Tinatin Kajrishvili, On the main square of an oppressive mining town stands a cross depicting a saint, regarded by the local miners as their protector. One day, the cross is taken down for repair and the statue of the saint suddenly vanishes. When a mysterious stranger appears among them, the residents believe the saint has come to life, but after initially celebrating his presence, the residents realize that an ordinary man can’t protect them from misfortunes. This evocatively shot black-and-white satirical parable about a saint who descends the cross to live among mortals…

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