This is the third year that The Film Verdict has teamed up with European Film Promotion (EFP) to support European films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Here is a flashback to some of last year’s European films. Many of them went on to become multiple award-winners, and some are currently available for streaming in […]
By Liza Foreman In an era where film markets and festivals are undergoing rapid transformation, UniFrance, the organization responsible for promoting French cinema and TV worldwide, is deftly balancing digital innovation with enhanced physical presence. Under the leadership of Executive Director Daniella Elstner, the organization has revamped its flagship events while expanding its digital footprint […]
Chicagoan Lisa Nesselson has been writing and broadcasting about film, from France, for 40 years. Seventeen years with Variety caught the tail end of when the English-language trades, pre-internet, wielded genuine power concerning a ‘foreign’ film’s likely trajectory. Nesselson reviewed for SCREEN Int’l for 16 years and was the in-house film critic for French 24-hour […]
By Liza Foreman In the heart of Paris, where cinema is not just entertainment but a deeply revered art form, the 30th Lumières Awards ceremony unfolded on Monday, January 20th, 2025, at the Forum des Images. This year’s event was nothing short of a cinematic coronation, with Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez sweeping the evening with […]
Jo Mühlberger, European Film Promotion Deputy Managing Director, takes the time to chat with The Film Verdict on his way to Sundance from Hamburg. A familiar face in the international film industry, Jo has been one of the pillars of European Film Promotion for the last 25 years. The Film Verdict: The European Film Promotion […]
Join European fIlmmakers, sales companies and national film centers at the Europe! Hub at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel (The Yarrow), 2nd floor, 1800 Park Avenue, Thursday 23 to Monday 27 January from 9am-6pm EUROPE! HUB is hosted by the Danish Film Institute, German Films, Norwegian Film Institute and the Polish Film Institute See all […]
Last year was a landmark year for The Film Verdict, and 2025 will be full of changes.
Featuring films from the classic to the experimental, the 20 works presented in the Berlinale Shorts program will introduce a range of new filmmaking talent.
Timothée Chalamet will be honored with the Arlington Artist of the Year Award at the 40th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). He will receive this award during an in-person tribute and career retrospective on Tuesday, February 11, 2025. The event will showcase his performances in two highly acclaimed films: *A Complete Unknown* (directed […]
The European Film Commissions Network (EUFCN) has announced the jury for the eighth edition of the EUFCN Location Awards.Since its establishment in 2017, this annual award has been honoring outstanding achievements in the realm of filming locations across Europe. Each year, EUFCN members nominate one location from a film or TV series shot in their […]
Cairo Film Connection concluded its activities on Wednesday, November 20, at Sofitel El Gezirah Hotel as part of the 45th Cairo International Film Festival. Eighteen projects vied for recognition, with sponsors awarding 31 prizes to the participating filmmakers. Five additional awards were introduced by sponsors in the final 24 hours before the announcement, reflecting the […]
Cairo Industry Days Panels & Workshops The sixth edition of Cairo Industry Days, running from November 15-20, 2024, offers a dynamic lineup of masterclasses, panels, and workshops covering topics like production, sound designing, story writing, distribution, and pitching. Aimed at fostering essential discussions on industry challenges, Cairo Industry Days provides a platform for Arab filmmakers […]
Danis Tanovic, whose “No Man’s Land” won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, will serve as the president of the International Competition Jury at the 45th edition of the Cairo Film Festival. This choice was part of a concerted effort by the festival to draw in prominent figures from the global film industry to take […]
Dok Leipzig’s ‘5 x 5 Shorts from the East’ will present 25 short documentaries and animations from Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia and the Czech Republic. The screenings begin at 17:00 and are offered on a drop in as you want basis, with free admission at the Polish Institue. In cooperation with film institutions from the […]
The nominees for the 34th Annual Gotham awards are here. See below for nominated titles. The Awards with be handed out at Cipriaini Wall Street in New York City on December 2, 2024 Best Feature Anora READ THE REVIEW Sean Baker NEON Babygirl READ THE REVIEW Halina Reijn A24 Challengers READ THE REVIEW Luca Guadagnino; […]
DOK Leipzig is showing selected films online throughout Germany during the festival week. A new film or a short film reel will be available via the festival website’s DOK Stream function every day from 29 October to 3 November. These titles will be available for 24 hours, from midnight to midnight. Viewers can find them […]
Cairo Film Connection (CFC) has announced the selected projects for its 10th edition, which will take place during the 45th Cairo International Film Festival. The selected works include six from Egypt, two each from Tunisia, Iraq, and Lebanon, and one each from Kuwait, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, and Algeria. Selected films in post-production: “40 […]
IFFR’s Bright Future selection of feature-length debuts is characterised by original subject matter and an individual style, representing the cutting edge of contemporary filmmaking, while Harbour offers contemporary cinema that the festival champions. themes of self-discovery, societal norms and the human condition. Bright Future CAMP D’ÉTÉ Director: Mateo Ybarra Switzerland, France LATER IN THE CLEARING […]
At the 67th edition of DOK Leipzig, juries of acclaimed filmmakers, arts professionals, and an audience jury will award short and feature-length animated and documentary films in competition. International Competition Documentary Film The five jury members will present a Golden Dove to both the best feature documentary and the best short documentary, chosen from the […]
A total of 22 European films, including nine Oscar submissions for Best International Feature Film, are competing for the Arab Critics’ Awards for European Films. This event is jointly hosted by European Film Promotion (EFP) and the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) for the sixth time. Eighty-nine influential Arab film critics from 15 Arab-speaking countries will […]
The 2024 DOK Neuland program features eleven works in VR, AR, 360° film, gaming, installation, and participatory film. The exhibition takes place from October 29 to November 3 and is spread across four locations.in Leipzig: in the Museum of Fine Arts (MdbK), at the main station, in the Galerie KUB and in the Cinémathèque Leipzig. […]
The shortlist now includes 45 European feature films.
WIP LATAM INDUSTRY AWARD UN CABO SUELTO / A LOOSE END DANIEL HENDLER (URUGUAY) Best Digital / Deluxe Content Services Spain / Dolby Iberia / Laserfilm Cine y Video / Nephilim producciones / No Problem Sonido / Sherlock Films EGEDA PLATINO INDUSTRIA AWARD FOR THE BEST WIP LATAM CUERPO CELESTE NAYRA ILIC (CHILE) Country(ies) of […]
By Liza Foreman SAN SEBASTIAN – Being the top dog at UniFrance, the French audiovisual export body, is not only a key job in the film industry, but also a good viewpoint from which to observe trends in the business. For Daniela Elstner, the organization’s Executive Director, one of her key observations, currently, is the […]
The short film “Antón,” directed by Mikel González Beorlegui, and “Cafunè,” directed by Lorena Ares and Carlos Fernández de Vigo, are the winners of the first and second Loterías awards in the competitive section for short films addressing social issues, organised by the San Sebastian Festival and the Sociedad Estatal Loterías y Apuestas del Estado […]
By Liza Foreman In a groundbreaking fusion of European cinema and the gaming world, UniFrance is set to launch the second edition of MyMetaStories, a film festival that brings the art of filmmaking into the virtual realm of Minecraft. Running from October 11 to November 3, 2024, the event aims to bridge the gap between […]
By Liza Foreman San Sebastian loves French films, and this year is no exception. Speaking with The Film Verdict on the eve of this year’s festival, UniFrance’s Executive Director Daniela Elstner talked up the plethora of films screening at SSIFF, and plans to expand the export body’s presence and press activities at major festivals. It’s […]
The Jury of the Official Selection of the 72nd edition of the San Sebastian Festival will be chaired by Jaione Camborda, whose film ‘Rye Horn’ won last year’s Golden Shell. In the 2023 review of ‘Rye Horn’, TFV Critic Deborah Young states “Jaione Camborda displays her talent directing a cast of non-pro actors in scenes […]
The San Sebastian Film Festival will host its third annual Creative Investors’ Conference on September 24 and 25 as part of ‘Spanish Screenings: Financing & Tech’. The gathering will consist of panels and discussions open to festival industry badgeholders, as well as private networking activities. The conference, organized with CAA Media Finance, will feature top […]
First-time filmmaker Truman Kewley describes his emotions screening ‘Beautiful Friend’ to audiences, in a journey that began at last year’s Oldenburg Film Festival.
Hungary has chosen the historical drama “Semmelweis,” directed by Lajos Koltai, as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the upcoming Academy Awards. The movie depicts the story of Ignác Semmelweis, a doctor who fought against a mysterious epidemic in a maternity clinic in Vienna in 1847. Despite challenging traditional theories, he […]
Director Na Gyi and his wife, Myanmar Academy Award-winning actress Paing Phyo Thu, are the festival’s 2024 Tribute Honorees.
“In This Darkness I See You”, a work-in-progress film project by Lebanese director Nadim Tabet won El Gouna Film Festival Award in the Final Cut program at the Venice International Film Festival. Final Cut is a program dedicated to supporting Arab and African film projects in the post-production stages. In addition to an invitation to […]
The 25th anniversary of the Sebastiane award at the San Sebastian Festival will include the special screening of the film ‘120 Beats Per Minute’, winner of the Sebastiane Award in 2017, on Sunday 22nd at the Príncipe Cinemas (18:15), attended by its director, Robin Campillo, and its leading actor, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart. Throughout its history, […]
The Oldenburg film festival will honor German filmmaker Dominik Graf, who made his debut in the late 1970s. He is part of a generation of filmmakers that aimed to revolutionize mass entertainment with straight forward and economical storytelling, Additionally, heis an active participant in public discourse about the values of genre film in Germany, having […]
The Film Verdict had the opportunity to speak with the Amministratore Delegato of Rai Cinema, Paolo Del Brocco, just before he was leaving for the Venice Film Festival. TFV: Paolo, your mandate has been renewed and you have just had a significant year that brought to fruition many of your initiatives. At the Berlin Film […]
Jo Mühlberger began working for European Film Promotion (EFP) in 1998 after working for the Berlinale, the European Film Market and Filmfest Hamburg. As EFP’s Deputy Director he is part of the strategic team within EFP, developing activities to promote the spirit of European cinema and talent around the world, representing the organisation at various […]
European Film Promotion (EFP) is highlighting 17 European titles from a long list of outstanding European films that will be part of this years‘ line-up at the Toronto International Film Festival. Some 17 national film promotion institutes plus five world sales companies are taking part in the various promotional opportunities offered by EFP, including the […]
The international jury for the Venezia 81 competition of the 81st Venice International Film will consist of nine international film personalities, who will award the Golden Lion for Best Film and the other official awards. French actress Isabelle Huppert will act as chair of the Jury of the Venezia 81. Huppert won the Best Actress […]
La Biennale 2024 Masterclass series will unfold 29 August – 6 September. The classes and conversations will take place at the Match Point Arena, set up at the Tennis Club Venezia on the Lido (Lungomare Marconi, corner via Emo, in front of the Hotel Excelsior, free entry for accreditation holders at the 81st Venice Film […]
The feature film ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ by Mohammad Rasoulof will represent Germany at the 97th Academy Awards® for Best International Feature Film. This decision was made by an independent jury of experts appointed by German Films from the 13 films submitted for consideration. The jury statement reads, “‘The Seed of the Sacred […]
This year marks the 30th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival. SFF is the largest and most premier festival in Southeast Europe. The festival was launched during the siege of the Sarajevo during the Bosnian war. The first Sarajevo Film Festival was held from 25 October to 5 November 1995. With the siege of Sarajevo […]
This year marks the 30th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival. SFF is the largest and most premier festival in Southeast Europe. The festival was launched during the siege of the Sarajevo during the Bosnian war. The first Sarajevo Film Festival was held from 25 October to 5 November 1995. With the siege of Sarajevo […]
This year marks the 30th edition of the Sarajevo Film Festival. SFF is the largest and most premier festival in Southeast Europe. The festival was launched during the siege of the Sarajevo during the Bosnian war. The first Sarajevo Film Festival was held from 25 October to 5 November 1995. With the siege of Sarajevo […]
The selection committee appointed by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture has included REINAS by Klaudia Reynicke and DOG ON TRIAL by Laetitia Dosch in the preselection. Both films are currently enjoying Swiss premieres at the Locarno Film Festival on the Piazza Grande. After an initial meeting, a seven-member selection committee has selected REINAS and […]
The Film Verdict (TFV) launches the industry’s first trade audio film reviews with THE FILM VERDICT ON POINT (TFV On Point), a new podcast series that will turn TFV film reviews into audio broadcasts, hosted by Sarah Vianney.
This year, the Sarajevo Film Festival’s Masterclass program offers the opportunity to gain insights from experienced film professionals. The Masterclass series will be held from August 17th to 21st, with sessions taking place at the Festival Center (Bosnian Cultural Center, Branilaca Sarajeva 24): Entry to the Masterclass sessions is free, with tickets available online at […]
The European Film Academy has announced their selection for this year’s feature film section, Part 1.The selection includes 29 productions as the first part of the Academy’s Feature Film Selection process. There are 26 European countries represented – both EU and non-EU, the list of the selected films reflects the excellency of European filmmakers demonstrating […]
On September 26th, Pedro Almodóvar, the director, screenwriter, and producer, will be honored with the Donostia Award at the 72nd edition of the San Sebastian Festival. The award recognizes his extraordinary contribution to the world of cinema. The presentation will take place at the Kursaal Auditorium before the screening of his latest movie, “The Room […]
Ascona-Locarno is a decidedly green destination. To preserve the stunning landscape of the Ascona-Locarno region, the area is served by an extensive network of public transportation, a comprehensive bike-sharing system, and numerous cable cars, allowing visitors to explore the territory in an eco-friendly way. Getting here is simple: enjoy your journey from the start by […]