Navras Katha Collage, Review: It might get a few ‘awards’, for…. Comedian Jerry Lewis, in the top league during the 50s and 60s, made a breakthrough movie in 1965, called The Family Jewels. Breakthrough, because he played seven roles in the film, all brothers, besides co-writing and directing it. I have been unlucky not to have seen this reportedly hilarious experiment, but I came close when I saw an Indian, Hindustani film, Naya Din, Nayi Raat (NDNR). Nine years after The ...

  The 10th edition of the European Genre Forum, the only European training programme for up and coming genre filmmakers, will present its eight projects from eight production countries during the final lab in Tallinn. For the first time, one of the projects will receive an award of 25,000 euros, consisting of one day rental of an LED stage, preceded by one day of pre-lighting for the production of a selected film.  The award, presented by a virtual production studio ATM VIRTUAL,...

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3: Grotesque? Yes. Burlesque: Yes. Statuesque? Yes. Humouresque: No. Maze: Yes. Amazing: No Bhool Bhulaiya literally means a maze or labyrinth, in Hindustani language. This one refers to the Adventures of a Fake Ghostbuster and his Pygmy Partner, who collapses at the slightest sign of danger. They are as fake as the royal family they are summoned to, to perform the task of busting the ghost of a princess, who was imprisoned in a large room, with heavy padlocks, 200 years ago. ...

The Tryon International Film Festival 2024 (TRIFF24) is kicking off its 10th anniversary of its weekend-long festival of independent films and filmmaking on November 22, 2024 in Tryon, NC, with Swedish film Just Like Me. The film takes the audience on a journey between laughter and tears in this heartwarming story by UCLA film student, Andreas Thelander.     Andreas Thelander is an award-winning film director from Sweden who completed UCLA's intensive 4-year master’s p...

Leading sales, finance and production company Protagonist Pictures is launching worldwide sales and reveals a first look image for Glenrothan, the feature directorial debut from Emmy and Golden Globe winner Brian Cox, best known for playing the ruthless family patriarch Logan Roy in HBO’s hit “Succession.”  The company will also screen exclusive footage for buyers at the American Film Market. The announcement came today from Protagonist’s CEO, Dave Bishop....

Margaret Qualley (The Substance, Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, Netflix’s The Maid) is set to star in psychological horror thriller film Victorian Psycho. Zachary Wigon (Neon’s Sanctuary) directs from a script by the acclaimed and best-selling author Virginia Feito (Mrs. March), based on her novel of the same name. This marks the second collaboration between Wigon and Qualley, following Wigon's film Sanctuary, which premiered at TIFF...

Academy Award-winner Jessica Chastain (Eyes of Tammy Faye, Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar), Academy Award-winner Brendan Fraser (The Whale, Killers of the Flower Moon), and Academy Award-nominee Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad,” Trumbo) have ed Academy Award-winner Al Pacino (The Irishman, Scarface) in the mystery thriller Assassination. The film is directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Bugsy) from a script by David Mamet, with Levinson and Sam Brome...

Cameras have started rolling on Bharat Nalluri’s highly anticipated FLAVIA, it was announced today by Protagonist Pictures’ CEO Dave Bishop. The company reveals an exclusive first look for the family mystery adventure, ahead of AFM where Protagonist Pictures is continuing international sales on the film. CAA Media Finance are handling US rights and arranged financing for the film.     Based on the New York Times bestselling series of books by Alan Bradley, Flavia is ...

This Halloween, Studio 100 International is thrilled to announce its collaboration with Lunch Films to develop the enchanting new animated family feature, “Halloween vs Day of the Dead”. This alliance unites the creative talents of Mexican independent animation studio Lunch Films and Munich-based Studio 100 International, a leading independent studio renowned for children’s and family entertainment. Combining their expertise, the two companies are set to transport audiences int...

Acclaimed filmmaker Jay Duplass (“Wild, Wild Country,” “Transparent,” “The Mindy Project”) is directing See You When I See You, starring Cooper Raiff (Cha Cha Real Smooth), David Duchovny (“Californication,” Reverse the Curse), Hope Davis (“Succession,” “Your Honor,” Asteroid City), Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart, “Dopesick”), Lucy Boynton (Bohemian Rhapsody, “The Politician”), and Ariela Barer (How To Blow...

Highland Film Group has come on board to handle international distribution rights to the horror thriller Witchboard, it was announced today. The re-imagining of the 1986 horror classic stars Jamie Campbell Bower (“Stranger Things,” The Twilight Saga), Madison Iseman (The Jumanji film series, Warner Bros.’ Annabelle Comes Home), Aaron Dominguez (Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building”), Mel Jarnson (Warner Bros.’ Mortal Kombat), Charlie Tahan (Netflix&rsquo...

  The growing business platform and trade fair in Northern Europe for audiovisual industry professionals Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event celebrates its 20th edition with a seven-day summit in Tallinn, accessible also online, focusing on hot topics such as green production and sustainability in the film industry.   Marge Liiske, the head of Industry@Tallinn& Baltic Event comments that even though 20 years has given the team a great deal of experience and the summi...

IFFI, other Film Festivals, and the Media: Partners or undesirables? When the first film festival as held in Bombay in the year 1952, by the Films Division, 30 years after the first international film festival was held in Venice, nobody would have expected we would be holding the 55th edition in 2024. In the 50s and early 60s, festivals were not held in India regularly, only sporadically. In the 70s it became an annual feature, hence only 55 festivals are spread over 72 years. Since then, it ha...

The 28th edition of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) sets focus on German cinema and has chosen the world premiere of David Dietl's Long Story Short to open the festival. With the extensive focus programme, the festival celebrates the 70th anniversary of German Films and the 25th anniversary of the Goethe-Institut in Estonia.  The focus programme comprises 15 new German films and 3 retrospectives, including three world premieres and three international premieres in ...

Sonu Nigam on Society Achievers’ September cover: Surprise? Kirti Azad has been there. If cricket and politics can make you a society achiever, why can’t singing? Society Achievers continues the legacy of late Nari Hira’s Lana (La for Lalu Bajaj and Na for Nari) Publishing Company, which has undergone several changes since its formation in the early 1970s, as Lana Publishing Company, Magna Publishing Company, HiBa. Hi for Hira and Ba for Bajaj, his partner, a swimming champi...

Kanguva teaser, trailer and songs launch: Everybody loves everybody else Suriya Sivakumar, Disha Patani, Bobby Deol, K. E. Gnanavel Raja, Jayantilal Gada and Devi Sri Prasad was the quorum this afternoon at the Fun Republic, Andheri, Auditorium 2. Director Siva was busy giving finishing touches to the film, and excused himself, but Suriya said that he was extremely excited at the Mumbai event, but just could not fly down. But they were nowhere to be seen when I arrived, horribly late for a 12...

Works in Progress, which presents films in production or post-production looking for sales agents or festivals for international premieres, presents 17 projects in three categories: Baltic Event Works in Progress, International Works in Progress and Just Film Works in Progress. The selected projects include first features by Student Academy Award winners and a European Film Award winner and new titles by established directors.  All projects will be screened during Industry@Tallinn & ...

Nikolaj Nikitin, the curator of Critic's Picks Competition reveals the carefully curated side competition programme (Launched two years ago) lining up 10 exclusive world premieres from around the globe.  The conception of the third edition of Critics’ Picks competition is to present the most daring and caring voices of world cinema and show contemporary masterpieces. For the third year in a row, The Critics’ Picks programming ...

MAMI’s Mumbai Film Festival treats media like dirt, and then denies accreditation ScreenShots from the MAMI website and information about the (now deleted) Registration Google Form, for PRESS Accreditation at the Mumbai Film Festival, October 19-24. All clicked around 12.45 pm-1.45 pm, on 20 October 2024. You have to go through more than a dozen stages before your application is even accepted by the Festival authorities. Getting Accreditation is another story altogether. Read on. Plea...

    Goodbye Julia von / by Mohamed Kordofani © Pierre de Villiers / Rushlake Media GmbH At the 40th jury session of the Berlinale World Cinema Fund (WCF), the juries made ten funding recommendations for projects from Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Egypt, Iran, Lesotho, Nepal and Sudan. The current funding pot of eight production and two distribution grants amounts to a total of 260,000 euros.   “At a time when the complexity of the world is ...

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is thrilled to announce that it is hosting the Asian premiere of Gladiator II, the highly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s 2000 Oscar-winning masterpiece. The Asian Premiere screening will be held on November 5 at one of TIFF’s main venues, with the glamorous stars and crew of Gladiator II on site: The film’s leading man Paul Mescal, making his first visit to Japan, along with Fred Hechinger, Connie Nie...

Citadel Honey Bunny Trailer launch: Leaping into the past, via the present and the future Wait and watch. November 7, 2024 is the date. The third? chapter in the series. With credentials that span India and the USA, and is set in Mumbai, shot in locales like Bhayandar. No set-pieces for Raj and D.K., who believe in the wild outdoors. It comes on the heels of the Italian edition, and covers the ‘generation gap’ in the Indian segment (read on). The heady mix of James Bond and Jane B...

Dharma’s Dharmatic Decision: Will it make a difference? Film critics in Mumbai received a communication last week from Dharma Productions, which has been the talk of the community since then. Dharma was founded in the 1970s by the late Yash Johar, and is currently owned by the Johars, Karan and his mother, Hiroo Yash Johar. On the Dharma website, we are told that: “The name Karan Johar is synonymous with prestige, elegance, versatility and success. He is amongst a prolific group...

Fotos: Berlinale Series Market: © Juliane Eirich / Co-Pro Series: © Carlos Collado   Serialised filmmaking has long been an integral part of the Berlinale, as both a cultural showcase in the public programme and as an important creative and business exchange within the Berlinale Pro* industry programmes. In 2025, the Berlinale reaffirms its commitment with exciting new series due to be presented in the public programme, at the Berlinale Series...

Anna Hints, the winner of Baltic Film Competition at PÖFF 2023 for her documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood. Photo: Erlend Štaub.    Tallinn Black Nights Festival adds the sixth competition programme, Doc@PÖFF, to it's 28th edition taking place in November 2024. Submissions are open until the 25th of August.  Doc@PÖFF will the existing competitions - The Official Selection, First Feature, Baltic Film, Critic's Pick...